I played a bunch of tournaments this year and

[dana]

I'll give some reviews of the NT's and some other good (and maybe bad) non-local events.  This will be a work in progress...I'll try and include as much as I can recall about the tournament and my overall experience/trip.

Keep It Green Series- Bowling Green, KY- B Tier
I'm disappointed I was only able to play one of the Keep it Green, because this was a great event.  It had added cash, lunch and the pro's played a different course than the am's.  We were on the road after the event by like 3.  Disc Golf Shop and More hosted this top notch event.  It was great to cash at my 1st event of the year too! (Tourney was at Keirekas Park)

Sunshine State Shootout- Ocala, FL- NT
I flew down to St. Pete and visited a college roommate for a few days before the tournament.  He let me borrow his car (09 Buick Lacrosse!) to head to Ocala.  I slept in the car for a night or two before I got with a few ppl to split a hotel.  My favorite part of this event was playing practice rounds at the course on a golf cart.  The course is located next to a golf course on an old par 3 golf course.  Lots of long holes, fast greens and water.  You needed a big arm to compete here.  Many of the distances were off, which was annoying.  We played the 1st round at another course that was alright.  The player party had a poker run at the downtown bars.  There was also mini golf set up in the town square as well as a putting contest.  Tony Hoel dominated mini golf.  This 'player party' was the other highlight of the event.  I didn't play well at all.  Payouts were very weak and many people were pissed they attended.  It was nice playing in the warm weather.  Climo won in a playoff against Doss.  This is the location of the Players Cup, which is next month.

Dynamic Discs Glass Blown Open- Emporia, KS- A
This was my 1st DD event ever and man do they do it up right.  I drove the van down for this one and arrived a few days early.  I stopped in KC and got to play Waterworks for the 1st time.  t was nice golfing in good weather and I threw and threw and threw every course for two days straight.  Probably not that good of an idea, but it was fun and I enjoyed it.  Jones Park has 2 courses which are solid courses.  There were a few spots were it was crowded and you had to tee off near baskets.  I did not like that.  We also played Peter Pan, which was in a really neat park that had a lake.  The DD merch setup is like nothing I've ever seen.  They have so many ppl working and helping out with the biggest selection ever.  At the host hotel, where I planned on sleeping in my van, DD had free rooms reserved for Team DD.  I ended up getting to stay in a room for free w/ Nikko all weekend because he had the room to himself.  I kinda kicked myself for driving the van, when I could have taken the car and saved on gas.  Oh well.  I had moments of greatness during the tournament but then would follow with poor play.  Ended up out of the cash again.  The player party was awesome with great food at a sweet bar.  The bar had smoking hot waitresses, which was cool.  There was also a putting contest.  Josh Anthon was the last person to try and qualify for it.  He had just walked into the bar all gangster like and stepped up and nailed every putt at every station to get him into the finals.  The place was going wild.  I tried to qualify a few times earlier, it was fun putting with a crowd there cheering.

Mother Lode on the Mother Rode- Springfield, IL- B
This was a well ran tournament at some great courses.  Many people make their way to Springfield for the CCC, but not too many came down in the Spring for this one.  I'd suggest making it down there next year, especially if you are pro.  This event is geared a little more towards the pros with all of the added cash.  On Sunday, we played 1 round with tee times and that was fun and all, but there were so few people at the tournament it probably would have been better to just do a shotgun start.  Hopefully next year it will be a bigger tournout.  I went down to SP early in the week and stayed a few miles from the course at a college friends place.  We went out thursday and had a late night.  I was hurting Friday pretty good and thats probably a good thing, cause I would have been at the course all day wearing myself out.  I snuck into last cash with some AVG play.  Again, flashes of brilliance throughout the weekend with a lot of bad putting.  Really bad putting. 

Discontinuum Presents the Illiana Open- Lemon Lake, IN-A
Awesome event, most of you were probably there.  You all know the IOS is a well oiled machine.  My play on the weekend was all over the place.  Two bad rounds, 1 AWFUL and 1 good.  I played my worst round ever on the Gold.  I hit tree after tree.  No Cash! 

Beaver State Fling- Estacada, OR- NT
Registration initially filled up in about 30 minutes for this NT event.  I was on the computer trying to register right as it opened and I finally got in and registered myself and Bryan Marcotte after about 20 minutes!  After some debate, the TD's decided to move the Am side to the following weekend to open up more pro spots.  134 MPO players got in, with a total of 214 pros across all divisions.  My plan for the trip was to get up to Portland early and hang with a friend that lives up there and get a few practice rounds in.  Well, bad weather and an even worse car situation kept me off the course more than I would have liked.  The tournament took place outside of Portland in Estacada at Milo Mclver State Park.  Normally, Milo has one 27 hole layout.  For the event, they add in 9 "BSF" holes to make two 18 hole layouts.  This place was made for disc golf, both courses offered many different shots and holes.  There was some good elevation and a little bit of water.  Having a good roller definitely helped out in many places.  Another great thing about this tournament is that they allow you to camp right next to the course all weekend.  Bryan and his GF had gotten a hotel for the week, while me and another friend had planned on camping.  Cold temps and rain kept us from actually camping (although we did set up our tents). 

The whole atmosphere of the BSF was different than most tournaments, you just got the feeling that you were a part of something special.  I could definitely feel (and smell) the west coast vibes all weekend.  There were micro brew kegs all over there place, including tournament central that gave it a party atmosphere.  An 18 hole mini disc golf course was also set up for the whole weekend.  The tournament itself ran smoothly.  They ran tee times, but did it differently than I was accustomed to.  They actually had groups starting on both hole 1 and hole 10.  It worked pretty well, from what I can remember.   

My weekend play was avg at best and I missed cash by 1 stroke.  My lowlight was taking a double circle 8 on a hole during a round where I was playing my best golf of the year.  I think I posted about that round on here somewhere.  After the event we did some tourist stuff and took a trip to the coast.  The Oregon coast is very pretty.  My flight back home was not until the following Sunday.  I was planning on hanging with my friend for the week.  It rained every single day that week until Saturday.  Thankfully, Saturday we went to Hornings Hideout and played 2 sick courses.  The sun was shining bright that day too. 

[Steven Jacobs]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoy reading this.

[Brad]

Thanks Dana.  Cant wait for more.

[smyith]

im curious about what you thought of the Minnesota majestic.

[Tom McManus]

Any more to add?

[dana]

Minnesota Majestic- Twin Cities, MN- NT
This was my 2nd year coming up to MN for the Majestic.  Disc Golf is huge in MN.  I get up there and can just feel it in the air.  I traveled up a few days early to get some practice in at Blue Ribbon Pines and Highland SSA.  BRP is a private course that is absolutely immaculate.  Only thing that is missing from there is elevation, which Highland SSA has an abundance of.  A day of practice at BRP and then a practice round at Highland SSA later and it is tourney time.  During the player meeting, we were told the story of Brett Hanson.  Brett was a top ADV level player who was in a terrible car accident and left paralyzed.  Many of you probably know Bretts Dad, Alan who was one of the guys behind DGTV.  After an emotional player meeting, I was on my 1st hole (hole 2) and we heard the shotgun (yes, an actual shotgun) shot for the 2 minute warning.  Next thing I know, Timmy Gill is running up to our hole with his cart.  Timmy was inspired by Brett's speech and decided to play last minute!  I was pumped to get  to play with TG, oh and did I mention Cale Levisca was on my card too?  My round started kinda rough, I was +1 after two pretty easy par 3's and I had the gauntlet hole, hole 4 waiting for me.  Even though we were the 3rd card to play the hole, we had to wait for 15 minutes.  By the time we tee'd off, we had probably 3-4 groups behind us.  I had a bad drive that got a good kick into the fairway, only about 240 or so down the fairway.  I then nailed my upshot and parked it for the birdie 3!  That was a heck of a feeling getting a 3 on that hole.  The rest of the round was up and down until I got hot and started making some good shots and putts.  Next thing I know we hear a horn signaling a weather delay.  It was kinda strange because at that time it was not storming or anything yet, it just looked like it could.
To be continued..