2007 Am Worlds Milwaukee

[J.R.]

Ok.  Is Ziggy Bierekoven the next Ken Climo?  I'd never heard of him.  But he's winning in 16 and under  by 17 strokes, beating everyone in 19 and under and his rounds ratings average higher than the leader in Adv M (dunno if the ratings are really comparable and they are unofficial).  Either way, this kid is scary good.  Half of his rounds were over 1000...unofficially. 

[can't putt]

Give him hell, McManimal!  (photo from Am Worlds web site)

[damonshort]

random thoughts on Am Worlds, in no particular order...

I had a pretty bad year last year but things have been going comparatively better in non-IOS events (  )  this season. I'd set myself 5 goals for Worlds, in ascending order of expectations:

1. Shoot better than my ranking. (check. I was 33rd out of 55 going in, finished tied for 21st; only one guy finished above me who was lower-rated.)

2. Shoot better than my rating. (check, I think. The unofficial ratings have shifted a couple of times. I still think the GM scores 3rd rd @ Brown Deer are underestimated, my round wasn't good but 824 is a bit harsh I think. Conversely, my 4th rd @ Dineen shouldn't be anywhere near 917. Any version of the most recent calculations is still higher than what I was going in.)

3. Avoid major meltdowns. (check, to a point. Some goofy things happened towards the end of BD and it wasn't really the woods that caused them. Made some stupid choices at the end of the 2nd Dineen round, but in both cases there were no more holes to play to make matters worse. In general I held together pretty well; it was weird to see *other* people have meltdowns for a change... )

4. Shoot a 900 average. (nope; a couple shots here or there would have done it, as we've all
experienced, but 3 rounds were well over, and maybe the 1st rd will be too once it's official. [really shouldn't be though.] A small improvement under #3 would have guaranteed #4, which in turn might have ensured...)

5. Make the semifinals. (This was the 'least attainable' goal, but wound up being the one I came closest to [over-] achieving. Missed by one lousy shot... I can think of at least 10 shots that would've done it, but there were at least 5 shots I made during the week that I tend to screw up normally, and everyone's got similar stories, so I can't complain. But still.... on my next-to-last hole a long putt sat on the edge for what seemed like a full second before falling off... had I known that would've been enough who knows how I might have reacted, but since I figured I'd put myself out of it with a 5 a few holes earlier I was amazingly calm. [next time I get to Dretzka I'm going to practice #2, #3 and #17 in rotation for about 3 hours...])

Highlights:

Deucing my last 4 holes rd 2 @ Dineen. ("3 birdies in a row is a hat trick; or a turkey. What do you call 4 in a row?" .... "I'd call that a miracle.") Typically, I blew a 15-footer the first hole at BD that would've made #5.... I don't think I've ever strung that many birdies together in even a casual round, unless it was Vollrath or Lombard Commons.

Getting a 3 on Dretzka #6 to save my most solid round. It took a 20-min backup, a completely dumb-luck upshot, and a tentative putt under branches that went vertical and hung nearly silently in the chains. I don't recall ever getting anything better than a 5 on that basket position from either tee. (4d it the last round, which I was still ecstatic about...)

Not screwing up a critical upshot on Dretzka #3 (yeah, I know, it shouldn't have *been* an upshot) after a chipmunk scurried out of the trees across the fairway and cracked all of us up.

Playing a round with this good ole boy from NC who, even at our advanced age, threw thumbers on *every drive*. He couldn't putt to save his life, and some of them probably weren't legal, but it was fun to watch him.  He might have been part of the reason I was loose enough to shoot my best round. The homemade beef jerky was good too, even if it was 40% salt.

Lowlights:

Missing a putt from a contorted but makable lie while Juliana was watching. (I subsequently really needed those 4 straight birdies.)

Missing a putt from a contorted but makable lie at BD because none of us could figure out whether where my disc landed was in poison ivy or not.

Throwing an upshot at BD with a disc which, to a fault, had not faded left for the last month. It faded left.

Playing 2 rounds with a guy who's actually slower than I am. Worse, it took 5 holes of keeping score before he could get my name right. And he beat me by a stroke. I beat him the 2nd time though and wound up ahead of him for the week. Bwah-ha-haaaa.....

Finding the restroom at Dineen locked at 7 am. We should leave it at that, except to say that I'm very glad I carry extra supplies in my car. (and before you ask, I'd left the course, and was frequenting a local business establishment.) The round itself turned out OK though. As the great Louis Armstrong once said, "leave it all behind ya...." 

The courses:
There was a fair amount of complaining about how 'easy' the courses were (although not from anyone in my division). I see the point, to a point, but it did tend to level the playing field, and I've seen the statistical arguments from the PDGA board where it allowed holes that could play from a 2 to a 4 at any given point. (One weird example: Dretzka New #2 is an 'apparently' easy 2, I almost aced it on my first throw in practice. In the 1st round, nobody in my group was inside the 30' circle, it wasn't windy, nobody 2'd, and one of the guys on my card wound up tying for 2nd, and only shot one better than me that round...) So it took more than just a big arm to score well, and anything could happen in the wind, although it was generally a lot less windy this past week than it usually is at Dretzka.

I wouldn't say Dineen is a "World's level" course, unless you think Fairfield or Lombard is a "World's level" course, if only because I actually shot reasonably well there.  (certainly better than I've ever shot at Fairfield or Lombard....  ). Brown Deer, definitely; Dretzka "Original", at almost any placement, of course, and I can see that the 'longs to longs' placement would have made it nearly impossible to have 3 rounds there in a day for 'ams' (and would have destroyed all but the top players; then again, it *is* the 'world championship', even if you're playing for plastic....)   Dretzka New is tricky, the type of course that you should kill in in a casual round but might give you fits in a tournament (obviously) or if it's windy(which I didn't have to deal with.) Since it's right there w/ the original course, definitely worth the trip. Brown Deer, absolutely (tough, maybe extremely tough from other placements, but fair, and not as 'brutal' as initial reports suggested.)

I've only played one other Worlds, and that was Des Moines, where the courses are amazing, I only saw/played half of them, half of the half I played beat me to death, and it was combined with Pro Worlds, so there's really not a fair comparison here.

All that said, I'd only add that, although the courses were plenty tough enough for me, the general response of 'if you want to play long tees, play pro' to is an attitude better left to White House press secretaries....

In general, though, I had a GREAT time. Thanks to Terry and everyone involved who worked on this.

There were other club members who had a much better week than I did. Tell yer stories....

[Bruce Brakel]

I only had three goals

1. Make the semi-finals
2. Avoid having to take a year off to recover
3. Maintain my emotional composure throughout the tournament

I made the semi-finals.  I did not play great, ever, during the tournament, but never played worse than mediocre.

I think I'm mostly o.k.  My back is sore.  I'm going to take a couple of weeks away from throwing.  On the plus side, I lost a couple pounds.  I rode my new trike to work today and found out my legs are tired. 

I had a double o.b. 6 on a hole I birdied in practice.  To save 6 I had to make a 25 foot putt.  I then got three birdies on the next six holes to get back to par.  I think the whole tournament only had about four "Oh, Bruce!"s and two, "Crap!"s. 

Highlights

My jump putting saved me ten throws easy.  So I really sucked all week long but my jump putting was fantastic. 

I did not lose any discs.  I hate losing discs. 

I was not involved in any unpleasant confrontations.  I heard about a couple in my division but did not have any on my card. 

Dinner at Brown Deer.  We made chicken and rice on our Hillary propane stove.  It was a quiet, relaxing moment.

Kelsey and Kira collecting trophies.  Kira beat the winner in the 16 and Under division also. 

Lowlights

The whole thing was emotionally challenging because I was playing well below my potential. 

[Jon Brakel]

I took 579 shots on Saturday at Dretzka and I still didn't finish DFL! I started uploading them to the gallery last night and they're stil going!

[Chainmeister]

I had two three goals and met two of them. 
1-avoid DFL- did it because a guy much lower rated was playing.
2- have fun- did this in spades.  This was so much fun it should be illegal.  I am going to Kalamzao. Book it.
3- play consistantly.  Did not do this.

Highlights-

56 at new Dretzka- I was very consistent.

I was even better that afternoon when Damon and I went up to Sheboygan to play Vollrath.  I was -6 after 9 holes.  Reality then set in and I finished +2.

par on #6 at old Dretzka in last round.

Playing  with great guys from all over the country and all over the world for that matter.

Spending an afternoon at Dretzka putting for about an hour and a half and watching McManus and a guy from Colorado practice putting and short upshots. I then played the course at 530pm missing the free pizza and leaving the park at dark (and missing the monsoon during the glow doubles).  It was great to just hang out at the park and throw, throw, throw, practice, practice, practice.  Rubber armed, sweaty, happy, glowing feeling.

The pro demo.  Whoa! I think I averaged about 20 ft. farther on my drives the rest of the week simply by listening and  watching. 

Lowlights-

last four rounds of  sub-mediocrity.  I felt good and  actually threw well.  I just  kept making mistakes.  I came home wanting to go out and  correct everything I had done wrong the last two days.   Having played my best rounds in the first two I kept dropping from the middle to the bottom by the end of the week.

[discmonkey]

Comments:

-  Should have played Dretzka from the longs.  That's what I play when I go up there for casual rounds and if I can play well from them, you don't need to go pro to use them.
-  Dineen is easier than Faifield or Lombard.  I had a horrible case of the shanks, shot one of my worst rounds from the prespective of hitting my lines, and still shot 1 under and won my card and a bag tag.
-  This was my first worlds, so I didn't have any problems with anything with no frame of reference.  I had one of the best, most fun times I've had in a long time.
-  Great courses breed great players.  Playing those great course with those great players, breeds more great players.  Illinois has a loooooooooooooooooooooong way to go.

Lowlights:

-I played some of the worst golf this week that I've ever played.  I don't know if it was nerves, not sleeping well in the hotel or what, but I sure sucked it up.
-Missing 8, yes 8, 10 foot putts in one round.  Not hitting chains and bouncing out, missing them completely.
-Playing in the rain.
-Playing in a group with someone who gave up.  My last round, one of the guys in the group couldn't get done fast enough and my thought was "just go home now".
-And my biggest disappointment, playing over 100 ratings points below my rating on at least 1/2 my rounds.  WTF!!!???

Highlights:

-Parking (within 20') my drive right over Barry's head in the woods.
-Made at least 10-12 35'+ jump putts
-Made a 120' putt, uphill, under trees, in front of a gallery to save a 3 on the first long hole (600+') at Brown Deer.
-Playing with people from all over (everyone from Jay from Huk Lab - Oregon - to Shin Asaya from Japan)
-Actually being at the Am Worlds less than 3 years after I started playing this game.

I had a great time and a ton of really wonderful memories.  Definitely going next year!

[Bruce Brakel]

The ratings don't mean a thing yet because the pools are not separated.  The ratings calculator is assuming everyone played the New Brotzka Dineer Original course six or seven times.  Your rounds will rate a little lower when they are broken out except Brown Deer will rate much higher. 

I broke out the scores for the advanced women and ran them through the ratings calculator.  Kelsey averaged 918 for the tournament and had a personal best of 948 at Brown Deer.  Her lowest was an 898, so all of her rounds were higher than her current rating.  These ratings did not include the Master and Grand Master Womens' scores, so they might be a little higher or lower when they are official. 

[tjdub42]

New Brotzka Dineer Original. 

Best course I have EVER PLAYED!

[damonshort]

The ratings don't mean a thing yet because the pools are not separated.  The ratings calculator is assuming everyone played the New Brotzka Dineer Original course six or seven times.  Your rounds will rate a little lower when they are broken out except Brown Deer will rate much higher. 

that's what I originally figured, but I remember seeing the scores online Wednesday night and the BD ratings for GM were different from other courses w/ the same score, and sadistically lower, and they haven't changed since, whereas others have.  it'll get sorted out eventually, hopefully, maybe.

[tacimala]

I'm in agreement with everyone here that said that they had a blast. I definitely enjoyed the hell out of a week away from work filled with competitive disc golf.

My only goal of the tournament was to make the semi finals. Indirectly I guess my goal was to putt better. Both of these were met and I really only had one bad putting round out of 7.

Highlights:
- Shooting above my rating in 6 of 7 rounds.
- Making 7 jump putts outside of 50' and probably 18 more between 28 and 45.
- Taking 11 birdies in a row on Dretzka New holes 15 thru 7 to finish 9 down.
- Definitely the biggest highlight was all of the cool people I played with and met throughout the week. Val Jenkins caddied for Jay Harbour during the 3rd round on my card so that was cool (she even told me I was a sweet putter!)

Lowlights:
- Dineen
- The teepads were very slippery when wet. This definitely cost me several strokes over the week with my long run ups.
- Anything involving money pretty much.
- 4 days out of 5 with 8 AM rounds. Man am I tired!
- Being stuck on the random "ghost card" in a threesome in the semi-finals. We had to wait on over half the holes and this greatly affected my driving.

From an organizational standpoint this tournament was awesome! The scheduling was great, the flow was good and the courses were very well spruced up and in tip top shape. They made the best with what they had available. I never played with the same person twice and met a ton of cool people from all over the US. I even got to hang out with several top pro's which was fun too. I had not been playing well as of late and so I practiced hard the last two weekends and finally played well at Summit last Sunday. Come Monday I felt like I was feeling my putting game and then once the tourney started I definitely had. Of the 7 putts I hit outside of 50, 2 of them were at 90. I was really excited that I had found a groove in my putting and it was just in time. Finishing 29th at Am Worlds is a big accomplishment for me and I really feel like it will help me with my putting confidence in the future.

[damonshort]

I broke out the scores for the advanced women and ran them through the ratings calculator. 

I did this for the GMs (I'm having severe re-entry issues at my job today....  ) but it'll still be off since there were c. 17 masters in our pool and it changed after the shuffle and I have no way of keeping track of whom was where when. But even an approximation was rather reassuring; looks like maybe the adjustment up for BD more than offsets the adjustments down for the other courses, and I may have averaged 900+ after all... 

[Jon Brakel]

All my Worlds pix are up in the Discontinuum Gallery. The ones from Saturday are there in their original 8MP sizes so if you want to print, crop, zoom in, use as computer wallpaper, etc. its available without asking me. If you are going to publish some where please ask me first. To get the large size, click on the thumbnail pic then click on the bigger pic that opens. Finally right click on the big pic and select save picture. http://discontinuum.org/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=45&g2_itemId=165438

[Schwinn2]

Thanks Jon for taking all the pictures.  You always manage to catch my bad habits.  Seeing pictures of myself doing bad things makes me change my ways much quicker.  I remember how I used to grab my shorts with my left hand during my follow through.  You posted a USWDGC picture of me doing that, and within a month, I broke that habit. I had been trying to not turn my head so much when I throw.  I think I did that successfully for the first 4 rounds, but then when I got tired, I reverted to my old ways.  As the pictures clearly show, I am looking away from the basket when I throw.  Bad Marie! 

My goals were:

1. Play consistant. 
2.  Make the finals.
3.  Finish less than 10 over at Brown Deer.
4.  Don't get shot at Dineen.

I did all the above!  I had a great time and enjoyed playing many rounds with Kelsey. I'm glad she didn't give up when her back started acting up.  So if Kelsey averaged 928 at worlds, would I have averaged around 910?

[tjdub42]

My goals were to make the semis, limit my quantity of gak-ed 15-foot putts, and avoid the putting meltdown that plagued me at Geneseo & Rockford.

I averaged one missed short putt per round and had more 30-ft-plus saves than usual.  My meltdown round at Brown Deer was due to bad tee shots and was saved by some borderline acceptable putting.  My average rating should end up between 935-940 and that's a big improvement.  I think I missed the semis by seven throws.

My highlight was definitely the first round at Dretzka-New with a -6 & nine birdies, including a 90-footer on 8.  Also, Gary Camp & I played a practice round with Shawn Sinclair & Juliana Korver on Sunday.

I thought the courses were okay, although half the holes at Dineen were a joke.  I tend to agree with the "move up if you don't like the tees were playing" argument, but I don't understand why we wouldn't play the longs at Dretzka-Old.  The two courses at that park are very similar if you're playing the shorts only.

Huge props to Terry & everyone who helped him with the tourney.  Very organized and one-time.

[Fox Metro Discer]

Coming into Worlds I had 2 goals:
1) shoot every round under par
2) make the top 100

Unfortunately, I lost all hope of both my goals after the first round was done, shooting an even par 54 at Dretzka New. Combined with my 2 over 56 at Dretzka Original, I pretty much knew that my battle for top 100 was over. However, out of the abyss which was my disc golf game came a new goal; have a blast and have no regrets!!!

This was a goal I knew I could achieve and did. The weather was great, the people I played with all week, and the ones I met in between rounds were fantastic. I have never had a better time forgetting about the real world and living the dream for a week straight, although I think my back and shoulders are not all that happy.

All said and done I had a great time shooting below my rating for a week straight and cannot wait to do it again in Michigan!!!!!!

[Bruce Brakel]

I calculated ratings for the women in the women's pool.  Here they are:

1   Katie Stauss   33277      51   971   48   998   52   954   67   878   51   971   48   984   54   918   28   -7
2   Kelsey Brakel   16007   880   53   949   55   919   56   909   58   961   54   938   54   913   55   906   25   4
3   Paige Pierce   29190   861   54   938   52   952   57   898   65   896   55   927   48   984   54   918   28   7
4   Marie Schwinn   21297   884   54   938   54   930   53   943   60   942   55   927   55   901   55   906   29   9
5   Melody King   29858   895   59   883   56   907   58   887   57   970   52   960   52   937   54   918      9
5   Carla Gomez   25732   865   59   883   54   930   53   943   59   952   56   916   52   937   55   906      9
7   Liz Lopez   31162   864   56   916   55   919   53   943   62   924   54   938   56   889   55   906      12
8   Sandra Frazer   24354   877   58   894   55   919   60   864   66   887   55   927   55   901   52   941      22
9   Melissa Martin   30499   834   57   905   55   919   55   920   65   896   60   872   56   889   55   906      24
9   Jenny Garland   27324   902   61   860   53   941   52   954   66   887   53   949   57   877   61   836      24
11   Shelly Workman   23340   863   59   883   64   817   57   898   61   933   56   916   53   925   54   918      25
12   Dawn Pengelly   25745   855   54   938   61   851   59   875   70   850   58   894   53   925   59   859      35
13   Jenny Haug   28692   803   58   894   58   885   59   875   66   887   61   861   55   901            33
14   Kelly Welch   29595   812   62   849   53   941   59   875   69   859   62   850   55   901            36
15   Melissa Lancaster   29335   852   59   883   59   873   61   853   67   878   59   883   56   889            37
16   Terri Dickey   24893   856   60   871   57   896   59   875   67   878   65   817   54   913            38
17   Carla Olynyk   25163   834   60   871   61   851   59   875   67   878   66   806   58   865            47
18   Amanda Rabatin   29605   805   61   860   58   885   61   853   74   813   62   850   59   854            51
19   Holly Smart   29111   790   61   860   61   851   63   830   76   794   61   861   60   842            58
20   Amanda Hinkens   30589   761   63   838   62   839   63   830   74   813   67   795   58   865            63
21   Katrina Sue Kozar   28303   802   61   860   62   839   62   842   77   785   68   784   62   818            68
22   Jennifer Ashley   30928   743   66   805   62   839   63   830   77   785   64   828   64   794            72
23   Shelly Dunham   25537   752   70   761   65   806   65   808   78   776   67   795   63   806            84
24   Nikki Brodlo   28365   766   68   783   68   772   65   808   78   776   68   784   65   782            88
25   Anna Cole   25039   768   72   739   62   839   63   830   79   767   68   784   69   735            89
26   Trina Knoll   28465   728   73   728   67   783   69   763   75   804   65   817   67   759            92
27   Tammy Walsh   17586   798   70   761   67   783   71   740   81   748   71   751   70   723            106
28   Patricia Davis   31863   675   70   761   70   749   70   752   85   711   70   762   66   770            107
29   Tina Ludwikowski   32950   743   72   739   71   738   71   740   82   739   72   740   72   699            116
30   Sarah Hansen   33463      66   805   60   862   64   819   79   767   126   147   66   770            137
1   Karen Jaskolka   25797   882   56   916   57   896   55   920   71   841   61   861   54   913         32   35
2   Babette Martin   20239   824   62   849   62   839   63   830   70   850   56   916   60   842         29   51
3   Sarah McCourt   22354   786   60   871   61   851   60   864   76   794   60   872   63   806         30   59
4   Lisa Harbour   26232   839   61   860   62   839   61   853   69   859   65   817   62   818         34   63
5   Lesli Younger   21662   813   64   827   62   839   64   819   73   822   60   872   60   842            59
6   Sheila Calhoun   16515   800   62   849   64   817   64   819   70   850   63   839   62   818            61
7   Diana Brakel   16006   816   63   838   63   828   61   853   77   785   65   817   62   818            67
8   Marie Fry   18020   820   67   794   68   772   63   830   77   785   65   817   59   854            75
9   G. Rose Wasserstrom   11833   805   65   816   62   839   66   797   80   757   64   828   64   794            77
10   Jaymie Crafts   21005   781   65   816   70   749   68   774   75   804   71   751   63   806            88
11   Nadine Malm   26799   774   72   739   66   794   68   774   75   804   71   751   66   770            94
12   Sissy Hunter   31325   676   78   673   79   647   77   673   93   637   83   619   80   604            166
13   Chrissy Holton   28756   482   85   596   89   534   82   617   94   628   86   586   85   545            197
1   Patricia Stallman   25543   733   63   838   64   817   65   808   78   776   65   817   64   794         33   81
2   Cindy Graham   29169   809   64   827   65   806   63   830   78   776   65   817   68   747         33   85
3   Donna Dennis   23869   723   79   662   64   817   69   763   87   693   73   729   67   759            115
4   Carol Todaro   28758   503   86   585   84   591   88   549   108   498   84   608   81   592            207

They are in the excel spread sheet attached to this post also.  I don't know whether the template dropped out the non-gators rated below 800, but they mostly shot above and below their ratings like everyone else.  So these are unofficial but probably closer than what is on-line. 

[SERG]

So there's a good chance Katie's first rating puts here well into the 900's. Thanks for reminding she wooped me on the courses we played the same 

I think I only shot one round above my rating and will be moving down quickly in the ratings. Good thing ratings don't bother me.

On any given day, any given person can tear it up!