Michigan State Championships

[Bruce Brakel]

If you are looking for a disc golf tournament road trip for Labor Day weekend, the place to go is Ludington, Michigan.  Last year 178 players attended this tournament and this year they are expecting about 200 to 250.  But they are going with four pools so they can accomodate 384.  You can get information about the tournament at www.mdgo.org, so I'm just going to tell you what else you need to know:

You have to qualify to get in.

They have a Friday $10 qualifying event at the Beauty course the Friday before the tournament at 4:00 p.m.

This year, everyone who plays the qualifying round will get in and should also get in to the division of their choice. 

We just got back from playing a tournament at Flip City where Kira and I qualified.  Diana and Kelsey will have to play the qualifying round.  We're thinking of doing this instead of playing USWDGC because the courses up there are awesome.  Flip City now has concrete tees and each tee has a concrete follow-through so you're never rolling an ankle or following through into a mud hole.  The Beauty has been redesigned.  It is longer, less wooded and everyone says it is a better, more balanced course.  All of the holes have Mach V Chainstars now, no homemade baskets anymore. 

We saw a few northern Illinois / southern Wisconsin players this weekend.  The Enks were there and so was a guy who plays intermediate at our tournaments, Boone, can't remember the first name.  There were also guys from Texas, North Carolina -- once you've played Flip City, you make plans to come back! 

One other thing:  The distance from Chicago to Flip City and from my house to Flip City is the same.  I'm maybe 10 miles closer, but I do  a lot of off-interstate driving, so its like you are closer. 

[tacimala]

Not going to beat a dead horse here since I've said the same before, but this tournament is awesome. In fact it's probably my favorite tournament weekend each year, but the location/camping/friends is a big part of that.

The qualifying round is on Beast though, I believe Bruce. Not that it matters since no one has played either course anyways! I have played the doubles at noon several years in a row and then just paid my $10 and DNF'd the qualifying round, which is an option as well as long as you are there before 4.

You can camp right nearby the courses and Lake Michigan for like $22 a night per site.

[Bruce Brakel]

Taylor was right.  Friday Qualifying is on the Beast.  The noon doubles are on the Beauty. 

Don't count on camping without reservations unless you can go up there on Wednesday to get a site at one of the places that does not take reservations. 

[Bruce Brakel]

Almost 300 players.  Five great courses.  One Am Grand Master state champion.

[Bruce Brakel]

I did not want to divert the Aceman Cometh thread.  But Tom reminded me of this.

There was some talk among the TDs about the Sandy Point tournament.  Apparently the Mich St. Champs could not get A-tier status because of the Sandy Point tournament?  I'm actually fine with that.  Why give another $600 to the PDGA for a letter?  They put it in the $800 skins match instead, which was amusing. 

How was Sandy Point attendance?

MSC:

35 Open
53 Advanced
69 Intermediate
76 Recreational
63 All Micro divisions combined
296 Total

[OvEr HaNd AsSaSiN]

dang i think taylor broke his leg in the first round.. 794

[Arok]

Man Flip city was an amazing course. Played it yesterday after the tourney...

What an amazing layout!

[Bruce Brakel]

I shot -6 at Flip for the tournament.  That was 1000 rated in the pro pool but only 990 rated in the Intermediate pool.  That was the Flip round of my life.

Before the tee off Bill [the owner] was hanging out at tee 1 chatting,  I got out a $5 bill and said I'd like to buy some mulligans, and ran over and put it in the donation box.  That's the sectret to a good round there.  Buy some mulligans! 

Four or five things things make that course great:

The riduculously hilly terrain.  He has four big hills jammed into 35 acres. 
Walk up, throw down.  Great course design for hilly terrain.  There are plenty of uphill tee shots but even more downhill tee shots.
Variety.  There are challenging holes of every length from 670 fee to 170 feet.  And they are well mixed around the course.
Surprise.  When you are playing the course, you rarely know what the next hole will be from the one you are playing. 
Plot.  The roll aways, the must-birdie holes followed by the tough to impossible 3 holes, the identifiable physical landmarks, all give a well played round a plot like a well written story.  I like how 12 through 16 are progressively harder to three with 16 being basically a par 4.  But now that you've "ruined your round" with a couple of late bogies, you can get it back on 17 and 18. 

You know that one spot in the middle of the course at 8 and 13 where he has the geodesic gazebo?  Just having the gazebo gives you a landmark for saying, "That's where they passed the scorecard to me.  Instead of getting scorecard luck, I birdied five holes in a row!"

[pdga#7648]

dang i think taylor broke his leg in the first round.. 794

Ouch!! either that or they made him play blindfolded, or left handed!

[tacimala]

Not going to type the whole story out, but the gist of it is that I missed 4 holes to start that round. Tough to catch back up when taking 7's.

[pdga#7648]

that sucks Taylor. Sorry to hear about that. Maybe that round wont be used in the ratings? I had a 877 last year that always had NO by it as a used round.

[Arok]

I shot -6 at Flip for the tournament.  That was 1000 rated in the pro pool but only 990 rated in the Intermediate pool.  That was the Flip round of my life.

Before the tee off Bill [the owner] was hanging out at tee 1 chatting,  I got out a $5 bill and said I'd like to buy some mulligans, and ran over and put it in the donation box.  That's the sectret to a good round there.  Buy some mulligans! 

Four or five things things make that course great:

The riduculously hilly terrain.  He has four big hills jammed into 35 acres. 
Walk up, throw down.  Great course design for hilly terrain.  There are plenty of uphill tee shots but even more downhill tee shots.
Variety.  There are challenging holes of every length from 670 fee to 170 feet.  And they are well mixed around the course.
Surprise.  When you are playing the course, you rarely know what the next hole will be from the one you are playing. 
Plot.  The roll aways, the must-birdie holes followed by the tough to impossible 3 holes, the identifiable physical landmarks, all give a well played round a plot like a well written story.  I like how 12 through 16 are progressively harder to three with 16 being basically a par 4.  But now that you've "ruined your round" with a couple of late bogies, you can get it back on 17 and 18. 

You know that one spot in the middle of the course at 8 and 13 where he has the geodesic gazebo?  Just having the gazebo gives you a landmark for saying, "That's where they passed the scorecard to me.  Instead of getting scorecard luck, I birdied five holes in a row!"

That is a good round. I went with a buddy who doesn't play much but we played with this group of locals who were camping there. I carded 8 birds from the concrete but also took a 5 and two other 4's. I was just blown away by the quality of golf there and the rock formations on every hole were really cool. I loved the elevation changes there....