River City Rumble

[CEValkyrie]

This event looks fun. Not sure if i'll be able to make yet.

[Tenny Schimo Fan]

I'd love to play in it as well. From the lengths and brief descriptions it sounds like a good mix of holes. I also tend to do better going blind into a fresh course. Just have to find a way to get there and recoup from BG!

[tjdub42]

This event is full at 120 players, with a big wait list to boot.  Chad hasnt' published the list of registrants yet, anyone signed up besides me?

[whofarted]

i was going to do it today - where'd you get your info?

[tjdub42]

Check the QC message board, Chad posted it late last night/early this morning.

[whofarted]

yea, i just checked that post out - i cant say that it comes as a suprise, it is going to be a good time.  on the bright side - i now have the money and motivation to kick some tail at Kenosha in two weeks.

[tjdub42]

I had an interesting experience at the River Cities Rumble Sunday.

The course was awesome:  24 holes; over two miles tee-to-pin; big, unavoidable water; the roughest schule you'll see; some very tight & often long fairways.  I managed to finish round one with only (yes, only) four 6's, two penalty strokes, & one lost Wraith.   All players were either happily surprised by the challenge or exhausted by it.  Sweet venue, and if they can make it permanent, it will be a requirement for all mid-western disc golfers.

However, with 120 players and 24 holes, after starting just before 9:00 AM my first round took 5 hours, and some cards weren't turned in until after 3:00.  The tournament staff made the tough decision of cancelling the second round for the intermediate & recreational players, leaving four players on a card for the other divisions in the second round.  I was a little relieved at the time, the thought of more circle 6's and lost discs was a heavy weight.  After sleeping on it, I'm pretty disappointed.  I was tied for 4th and was hoping to improve during the next round, but I still understand that it needed to be done.

This was my second tournament in the Quad Cities, and the second time the final holes have been completed after 7:00 PM.  The first tourney was the unsanctioned Iron Man, which I really enjoyed and by design ends pretty late.  It seems that these guys love to play disc golf so much, they plan these elaborate events that turn out to be difficult to pull off without problems.  I'm confident they will learn from the mistakes made this weekend and I look forward to playing in future tournament there.  Davenport is my home town and some amazing courses have been established since I was a kid.

One nice thing about being off in the afternoon was that I got to watch the pros play their second round.  I caddied for Terry Miller, who was in the lead group with Chris Sprague, Cale Leiviska, & a local pro Chad Hein.  Saw some amazing shots from all four, including a 330 downhill hyzer Sprague threw left handed (with the EXACT same form as his righty hyzer) and Cale's three on an 850+ ft hole.  Thanks to Terry for letting me tag along.

[Dan Michler]

i wasn't there, but it sounds like maybe next year they should try an Am nats style tourney where u play 1 round per day.  that'd make things alot easier.

[Chad Eng]

Tyler, I'm glad you had a good time. And don't worry, I'm not posting to pounce on your for being disappointed. I would be seriously disappointed as well not playing the second round. I'll try not to come off as sounding defensive, but I had to make a seriously tough call during the lunch break, and it wasn't one that I would ever hope to make again. Cutting our recs and intermediates from the second round killed me to do, but something had to be done at that point. Three other veteran TDs came up with a handful of solutions to remedy this - I'm eternally grateful to them - and the one we decided on I had to stand behind, as much as it killed me to do so. Since it was the first year, we had no idea the rounds would take 5+ hours. I assumed maybe 4, but that still put us in before dark. I got things moving on time and got the players meeting started and tee off on time. Next year, we've three or four options to relieve this problem as we hope to still play this event at this course. Multi-day or multi-course solutions are being looked at right now.

Again, it crushed me to have to cut ANYBODY, let alone the recs and ams. I offer my sincerest apologies to everyone in those divisions. I will await the judement of the PDGA board as to what will happen to me for making this call, but I am required to report everything, so there isn't anyway for me to sneak under the radar for this one (not that I planned to).

That being said, I'm glad you enjoyed the course. I spent a lot of time working on it and it sounds like most people enjoyed it and weren't angry at me (at least for the course design - just the cutting of divisions).

Finally, thanks for voicing your displeasure. I know it sounds corny, but not enough people do it tactfully. You didn't stand there and yell at me, or badmouth me on various messageboards, or take a swing at me. Like I said, I would have been just as disappointed not having a shot at the course (and placing higher) the second round. Maybe we'll do an Intermediate and rec only tourney out there this summer...we'll have to start at 5 am though...(ugggh). I appreciate your comments, and I am not taking any of this lightly. I'm not going to blow it off as a bad experience, I'm going to learn from it and work to make it better. That's why I'm thanking you.

Thanks again, for playing, Tyler. I do hope you'll come back to other QC tournaments, and don't let my performance taint your image of Quad City golfers (any more than it's already tainted, heh heh).

Chad Eng
Tournament Director
River Cities Rumble

[jack]

Great posts, Tyler and Chad.

I'll try to be brief, as I'm exhausted from getting home at 12:30 last night. The course is raw in that the rough is thick, every plant in Iowa is either poisonous or covered in thorns, and one of the teepads is on a significant slope. However, this course offers challenges that many golfers have yet to experience. The "dam" holes were spectacular, as was hole 18 (the 780-foot monster and home of my new highest single hole score: a no-circle 8 ). This course has significant elevation changes on more than half of the holes; water threatens your drive, approach, or putt on 11 holes (and there are parking lot and road OBs for an added challenge); once you get away from the densely wooded holes, the wind will play havoc with your shots; you have to walk at least 3 miles and maintain your focus on every shot. It's a gold caliber course in every sense.

From what I saw, two problems caused the 5-hour round. First, (this will come off as snobbish, but it's not intended that way) only a handful of players at this event were suited to the challenges presented by this course. It takes a long time to throw 100 shots. Second, the field should have been smaller. The second round (with foursomes in the Open division), only lasted 4 hours and we finished in twilight. I'm confident that this year's problems will be resolved and that the 2007 Rumble will be even better.

I don't have any complaints. Well, actually, my legs, back and arm are sore today . Anyway, GREAT payout, GREAT media attention, and no lost discs (yay!). I too wish everyone had been able to enjoy a second round; however, I respect Chad's decision and his guts to make that call.

I hope you were able to replace your Wraith with your payout, Tyler. Jeff Clark prides himself on the selection of discs carried by the Quad City club, and Iron Lion Disc Golf Supply (Chase Roberts' new company) had some quality merchandise and is deserving of everyone's support. Everyone be sure to get registered in time for the 2007 Rumble; it promises to be even better!

[Cannon Boy]

Sounds like a fun tourney.  wanted to go but did not sign up soon enough and it filled

[K.C.]

You'll be able to tell just how brutal the course was.  The scores are now online. 

[discglfr]

Someone recently wrote me and asked what I thought about last weekend's event.  So, I did NOT see any of the above posts before I drafted up my upcoming response.  I am glad that I didn't because as you'll see, it looks like I echo many things that were already said.  Here is what I wrote about last weekend:

Some of my thoughts about 2006 River Cities Rumble:

The course was one of the best courses I have EVER played in my life.  It was simply awesome.  Great shots, VERY fair, length, elevations, trees, ob, everything.

Now the big question is who you talk to about the actual event.  I KNOW some Am II players were very mad about not being able to play a second round.  I also KNOW some Am II players were perfectly fine to not go out and throw 100+ shots on an 11,000+ foot course.  It really comes down to who you talk to.

The event ran as smooth as it could for having 120 players and nearly 12,000 feet of golf.  They were smart in starting it off by 9 am however they made a few very simple ROOKIE mistakes. 

None of what I'm about to say is a secret, a jab, or vindictive.  These thoughts are made in a constructive way which provides some insight to hosting a better event.  I plan to talk much more with both Chad Eng and the David Gentry from the PDGA as to how this event can be even better next year.

1)  Split day formats.  This is tough with needing 24 baskets on temp land so this could NOT have been avoided this year.  I'm sure Chad didn't expect to have a FULL field nearly 1 week prior to the event.

2)  Shorter tees for certain divisions.  Again with nearly 12,000 feet of golf it could have had some shorter tees for some of the divisions but with it being a first time event with a full on a temp course, it was tough to forsee needing them.

3)  Limit the field to 4 per hole and have 96.  That helped speed things up somewhat aside from the fact that 30 or so Am II players weren't on the course second round. 

I can't say enough praise about the added cash, the course, and everything else that these guys did!  They did a great job they just made a few rookie mistakes.  My heart goes out to Chad for having to make the decision that he did for the afternoon round.  I CANNOT think of a better solution myself so I think he made a decision that hurt some but it was one of 2 or 3 possible options in my opinion and I hope people don't hold grudges because of it.

Long and short - I can speak about Chad and his staff - they did great and I would attend an event that he does again.  This is the first Quad Cities area event I've played in nearly 5 years so that's my best take on the QC area. 

Ter

[Chad Eng]

Thanks for all the kind words about the course and about the tournament. We've already begun work on making it a premier event next year (possibly an A-tier), with the addition of multi-day/multi-course action. We've got at least 2 more courses going into the ground in the next two months in our area, so we'll have some other opportunities to highlight our local selection of disc golf.

The only issue may be with the two day format is that the pros who have already commented to me on the event have asked that they still be able to play two rounds on the West Lake course. (That's a big ego boost for me.) We'll try to figure out a way to make that possible. I'm not a fan of three-day events, myself, but if enough people are interested, we will consider it. We're planning on even MORE money added next year, since that seemed to get some pro's attention - by the way, even *I* was impressed with the payouts!

I'm working with some key people on making this event a 100% success for next year. I don't want to start teeing off much earlier than we did, but we may not have to if we're going to be limiting fields, shifting pools and shifting courses.

Terry, thanks for the words also about the judgement call I had to make. It was tough, but something had to be done. I had a lot of guys backing me up and I had a lot of AMII guys say that one round was more than enough (and few other AMIIs that wanted a shot at the trophy/course). I think most people knew it was a choice between angering 3-5 AMIIs or angering 120 players who had to finish the round 2 hours after sundown.  - - of course it didn't make it any easier for me to have to tell people, but many expressed their appreciation for the decision.

Next year, I may just have to limit the fields (per pool) to 72 players. This will allow three-somes on the West Lake course and foursomes at the other courses we decide to use.

I also need to thank everyone for their constructive criticism. I appreciate the help, and I'm not easily offended. I am keeping track of all of the comments to ensure a smoother 2007 RCRumble.


Chad