2004 PDGA World Championships

[SERG]

Same here...just giving him a hard time. Although, at Parkside leagues, if you're the Am leader and can't be caught, you finish leagues playing in the upper division.

I can see his rating passing mine very soon. Keep up the good work, Adrian!

[Jon Brakel]

More pictures! Added pictures from Grand View and Water Works.

[Dan Michler]

Missed the semi-finals by 3 shots.  I was firmly above the cut line, but an 830 rated round in my next to last round got me out of it.  whoops!  congrats to brett on making the cut though.  i'll have to get revenge on him at fairfield in 2 weeks.  

[mirth]

Congrats Brett, yer so studly...

I'd take the time to do another update but I'm so damn tired... I'll do one after the semis tomorrow.

[Jon Brakel]

Congrats Brett, yer so studly...

I'd take the time to do another update but I'm so damn tired... I'll do one after the semis tomorrow.

Bruce is in 11th going into the semis. He is 4 strokes back from making the final four. He said he plans to leave nothing behind in trying to make up that gap. Today he had his SECOND hot round of Worlds. He carded a 58 at Walnut Ridge which not only was the hot round for advanced masters, it was the hot round by TWO strokes!

I had a funny conversation with Johannes Hogberg today. Ask me about it sometime in person. In cold words on a page it makes him seem like a jerk, but he really has a good sense of humor.

I'm really rooting for team Sweden. Having a couple of Swedes win makes it seem more like WORLD Championships.

[damonshort]

slightly biased predictions for the Worlds:

Open: Barry, Climo, Brinster, Cam Todd in the final 4. Longshots but not a real surprise: Keith Warren, Chris Heeren - Both of them will finish ahead of Russell. Barry will repeat, but not by much.

Women: Juliana and Des will be reallllly close. (2 Iowans, after all). Flip a coin.

Am Masters: Bruce willl make the semis, maybe the final 4.

Advanced: Brett and Dan will make the semis. They'll have to pay my share of the room if they don't 

Junior boys < 16: Adrian Jr. will make the finals, or be really close.

Junior Girls < 16: Kelsey is a lock, probably will beat one of the < 19s

Am Grandmasters: I'm ranked 28th out of 44; if I can finish 28th I'll be "satisfied", if I can make the final 16 (semis) I'll be ecstatic. I believe if I can keep my act together (forgetting about Peoria, among other things) I can make the top 20.

Amateur Mixed Doubles: Bruce and Diana will remain married after the tournament.

TDs of the week: Jon & Becky 

I will be enjoying this.

Place yer bets...

Open: Barry won by a lot, although I heard Climo mention to someone that it was essentially less than a shot per round - otherwise he was completely gracious about finishing 2nd and genuinely happy for Schultz, although he's clearly still hungry for it. Keith Warren tied for 5th, Cam Todd kinda crashed in the semis at Pickard and it was cool to see Schweberger get 3rd.

Women: Missed that one, although I guess Des made a hellacious charge in the last couple of rounds and only lost by 3 or 4.

Am Masters: Bruce tore it up, wasn't too far out from the final 4.

Advanced: Brett made it to the semis easily, Dan almost did.

Jr boys: Adrian, don't be discouraged, there were some ridiculously strong players in that division and you're well on your way.

Jr girls: Kelsey would've been 2nd in <19. Nice going!!

Am GM: Going in I was ranked 26th/28th out of 42 (2 didn't show); I finished 24th. Had 3 900+ rounds and 5 850ish rounds. Not one was close to my 871 rating, but my average was 873. My 1st round was solid but not spectacular; if I could've continued at that pace I would've stayed near the top 10. Most of rd 2 went OK but towards the end the wind picked up, I ran out of gas and on the very last hole I got a bad tournament roll on a layup putt...it was the same hole I'd blown a birdie putt on the round before, so it was an ominous sign...that 2nd round dropped me from the 3rd to the 6th card, and I remained on #6 or 7 for every round the rest of the week.

Ewing tore me up in the 3rd round, as I expected, but I had an emotional meltdown at Grandview (4th rd) after missing a fairly easy deuce putt after a great drive and subsequently shot myself completely out of it on the next hole. (I was missing routine putts all week but fortunately making some long 'saves' which could have otherwise made things a lot worse.) G'view was the only course I didn't get to practice all the way through due to scheduling and fatigue issues; I'd walked it on Sunday, and relatively speaking it might have been the easiest course so my lousy round there was particularly frustrating.

My best rated round was (I felt) a fairly flat 5th round at Ankeny; it was only a 58 but was one of the top 5 or 6 scores and it put me back into the semi hunt - before I butchered the 6th round   .

I was able to finish with a strong last round at WaterWorks though, my only one at par. So I wound up 2nd among IL players (4, maybe 5 of them), a mere 32 shots behind Al Babbe.  

The courses the old guys played were plenty tough enough, and it was a nice change to be able to outdrive people once in awhile   (During the last round, I was shooting with a pushing-60 guy from NC; after one of my better drives, he drawled, "How old are you really?" That was funny.)

So I said I'd be "satisfied", and I guess I am. The weird thing is, I didn't have what I'd consider a 'great round', but the solid rounds would have been enough to make the semis easily if I'd had 6 or 7 of them rather than only 3. It was quite an experience and I'm still a little bit numb. And sore, although not as much as yesterday.   Other than one annoying individual (think of a 50ish version of Spaz) they were all great guys to play with.

Speaking of ratings; they really are getting this system down, apparently. There's a guy from IA with the exact same rating as mine (871). We played 2 of 3 rounds in Peoria, 4 of 8 at Worlds, after 7 rounds I was one shot ahead of him (although I crushed him mercilessly in the last round.   )

Out of 42 GMs, 22 shot better than their ratings, 19 shot worse. On avg the old guys shot 2 pts better than their rating. Only 2 guys with lower ratings shot better than I did, 6 with better ratings shot worse.

I've been too tired today to do much of anything besides unpack and screw around with numbers, so here are some more: (semis rounds for Bruce and Brett not included):

(sorry if this doesn't line up)

Player      Rating     Worlds Performance (unofficial)

Bruce       933          924
Brett        929          936
Dan         921           922
Nate         905          915
Damon     871          873
Adrian      847          838

So far only one of Kelsey's rounds was rated, for reasons I don't understand; she played the same courses at the same time as the GMs (except for playing the short tees at Ewing), but apparently rounds are rated separately according to division, which frankly doesn't make sense to me. She had a 780 round at Maytag vs. her 758 rating -  But that round was rated at 802 for a GM with the same score   . In fact, based on GM scores/ratings (and not counting Ewing) her performance was about 802 for the entire week.  

[CEValkyrie]

I'm finally settled in. My system is still out of whack & I probably shouldn't have attended leagues today.

Here is a summary of the week.

On Friday night I was able to play Sinnissippi Park in Sterling with Dan for bag tags. What a great course.

Saturday we headed to Des Moines, checked in & got player pack, then headed out to practice.
Our players packs included a duffel bag, towel, t-shirt, champion starfire, soft challenger, frisbee disc, clip board, tape measurer, 3 minis, innova sticker, worlds sticker, & a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.
We threw practice rounds at Des Moines Area Community College & Carroll Marty.

On Sunday we practiced at Big Creek with Jon. We then headed to Walnut Ridge and played for bag tags. Sunday night was the player meeting. It was interesting but I almost blew my top when this juggler put me to sleep and performed about 45 minutes.

We had a 7:30AM tee off Monday morning @ DMACC. It was very wet on the ground and the wind was blowing hard. I felt like I was playing bad. I ended up shooting a 55 to start Worlds. I ended up finding myself in 2nd place after the first round. I was very surprised at the scores. Our 2nd round was at Carroll Marty @ 3:30PM. I shot a 56 and was the worst on the lead card. I lost some ground but not much.

We got to sleep in on Tuesday. We headed out for our 2nd Round at Big Creek for an 11:30 tee off. What a tough course. I felt very happy shooting a 58 and held my ground. That night the Great Shuffle took place. Dan & I were happy we made the top pool and would be playing at the same time the rest of the week. That night we went out to Ewing to practice.

Wednesday started the downward spiral. We had another 7:30AM tee off at DMACC. I was driving very well but could not stick any putts. The wind was blowing like crazy. I managed to go into the water on a birdie hole. I had a chance for a fairly easy circle 3 & blew it. I managed to 3 putt it and took a circle 5. I shot a 59. A player in my group holed out the wrong disc and ended up taking a 2 stroke penalty. He ended up missing the semi final cut by 2 strokes. In the afternoon we headed to Walnut Ridge. This was by far the worst I played all week. I could not hit a fairway to save my life. I did birdie quite a few holes and hit some big putts. I could have easily shot +15.  After that round Dan & I headed to Grandview to walk the course. We were both tired & sore & decided not to throw the course since it was the easiest we would be playing all week.

Thursday we had another 7:30AM tee off. We played Grandview. I shot a 54 on the easiest course of the week. I was pretty bummed. I picked it up in the afternooon. I shot a 52 at Carroll Marty, 4 strokes better then the first time I played there. I had a stretch of 7 birdie chances over holes 16 thru 4. I only hit 3 of them. I was very discouraged after I pretty much parked #1 & missed a 15 footer. I was just happy to get thru the hole & down the hill, then to blow the putt, really bummed me out. I played that day but wasn't able to get over the hump and have a good day to move up.

We got some much needed rest and had a 11:30AM tee off at Ewing. My body wasn't quite right Friday & I couldn't get my drives going. I managed to shoot a 63. I did see a guy take a circle 10 on a hole. I held on and ended up making the semis.

Saturday morning I headed back to Walnut Ridge to redeem myself. I got off to a rocky start. On the 2nd hole I got pissed off & played a hole very poorly to say the least. I took a 7 on the 2nd hole. I ended up shooting a +7, 4 strokes better than the first round at Walnut Ridge. My only 2 of the round was 400 foot hole #1 which I 2'd the first round as well.


During the week I played 9 tournament rounds and 2 tag rounds against Dan at Walnut Ridge/Sinnissippi. Right there I played 11, 18-Hole rounds for 198 holes. Dan & I also practiced at DMACC, Carroll Marty, Big Creek, & Ewing. I have no idea how many holes we played but my body is feeling it. It was a very fun week. I got to meet some very cool people and some very crazy people. I learned a ton from the experience and saw a lot of things I need to work on to become a better player. One thing that did pay off is that I took very few risks. I had only 1 penalty stroke over 9 rounds.

The courses were AWESOME & very TOUGH. I was very surprised at the quality of courses. We didn't even play 2 of the courses that the pros played. The tournament was very well run and I really want to try Worlds again.  

[Dan Michler]

I definitely agree with Brett that I was a little too tired for leagues this morning     oh well, I can't help myself.   Man that was an awesome week though.   Thanks to Damon for reserving a room and splitting it with Brett and I.  Thanks to Brett for chauffering me around for the week and grilling out on that state of the art grilling machine    I was glad Brett and I managed to stay in the same pool all week.  (also glad it was the top pool   )

1st round at DMACC I was -1 with 3 holes left.  i rushed a 15 footer and the wind picked it up and took it 30 feet past the basket.  stupid double bogey.  got pissed off and bogeyed an easy 3 on the next hole and then finished up with another bogey.  +3 was still a solid round out there though and i was on the 3rd card.

2nd round (Carroll Marty) i played solid golf but took another stupid double bogey which kept it from being a very good round.  still on the 3rd card though.

3rd round on the nasty Big Creek tore me up.  I salvaged a +8 which kept me in the top pool.

4th round at DMACC I struggled in the wind and couldn't make a putt.  I started putting with my Orc    and kept the round from being a complete disaster with a +6.  

5th round at Walnut Ridge was horrible.  I got a little fatigued and stupidly didn't eat anything before the round and I really fought my game.  +11 didn't knock me out of it though.  I was still in position to make the semis.

6th round and Grandview I got dialed in and had 7 deuces, but unfortunately made a couple bad upshots and took 4 bogey strokes on a course that u shouldn't be bogeying.  -3 was still one of the better rounds out there and I moved up into position to maybe crack the top 20 which was my goal at this point.

7th round at Carroll Marty I was determined to shoot under par and move closer to the top 20.  This was my downfall.  A tourney roll which cost me 3 strokes and then another bad kick on a drive put me at +3 with 5 holes left.  I still was thinking under par stupidly.  I put a drive in the woods and then i was seriously pissed and let my emotions ruin my round.  I made a bunch of stupid half effort shots after that which left me with a ridiculous +8, the worst anybody shot out there that day.  Never be a baby like me and give up on a round.  Now i regret it horribly because after a solid, but not spectacular 8th round I ended up missing the cut by 3 shots.  

so much for the top 20, I ended up 88th       atleast I got $80 in free plastic for 88th.  I was real happy for Brett who played real smart, consistent golf and picked up a 34th place finish.  he has really been improving his game.  man i hate losing to him though    there's always next time though.  I hope everyone gets a chance to experience Worlds though.  It really is worth it.

[Jon Brakel]

Bruce, Kelsey and I headed out to Walnut Ridge at 7:30am on Sunday morning after Worlds was over. I hadn't even seen the course and people kept telling me that it was the best course out there. Bruce had one of his Worlds hot rounds out there with a 58 and I knew that Brett had shot well into the 60's on his rounds there. We played the long tees in the thick morning dew. I was driving straight and strong and my upshots were on target. I was hitting my putts. I did nothing amazing but played probably my most consistent round of the year. Bruce shot +13, Kelsey shot +22 and I shot +6 for a 60!!!

[CEValkyrie]

Had I shot a 60 both rounds at Walnut Ridge, I would have moved up to 21st place. My 2nd round was a 61 and the included a 7 on hole #9.


I came home with $150.00 worth of Merchandise for my 34th place finish & a pretty good case of poison ivy.  

[tree]

I came home with $150.00 worth of Merchandise for my 34th place finish & a pretty good case of poison ivy.

I thought you stayed on the fairways?  

[Dan Michler]

I thought you stayed on the fairways? 

He had to help me look for my discs in the practice rounds!    

[Jon Brakel]

So far only one of Kelsey's rounds was rated, for reasons I don't understand; she played the same courses at the same time as the GMs (except for playing the short tees at Ewing), but apparently rounds are rated separately according to division, which frankly doesn't make sense to me. She had a 780 round at Maytag vs. her 758 rating -  But that round was rated at 802 for a GM with the same score   . In fact, based on GM scores/ratings (and not counting Ewing) her performance was about 802 for the entire week.  

Ratings are completely messed up for Worlds, but in an expected way. Kelsey's group appears to not have been rated because they weren't on the same "page" as the GMs. This will be fixed when the ratings are calculated. The other thing that is messed up is that once the "Great Shuffle" happened people in different groups previously were being rated together by round even though they had played different courses by round. Final ratings have the same problem. These instant ratings were designed for tournaments where all divisions are playing the same course.  

[myndcraft]

Did any of you peeps see a demo about the Quarterk-K by DiscWing or anything?

[Bruce Brakel]

Did any of you peeps see a demo about the Quarterk-K by DiscWing or anything?

Talking to Quarter-K / Discwing was onmy to-do list but I never saw them.

Kelsey's unofficial average rated round was 802.  She is biting her nails on whether she gets to play Intermediate at USWDGC or has to play advanced.

[dehaas]

i'm from ames, iowa...go to school at iowa state, and am gonna be moving into the chicago region in the next week or two.  i didn't play in the worlds, but lived across the street from the isu course, and have been playing the carrol marty course almost every day for the past 3 years.  i couldn't make it down to des moines to watch some of the other courses, but i definitely had a blast watching the ones in ames.  i'll keep my eyes peeled on this message board in the next few weeks...i'm looking for a league to play with once i get to chicago.

[mirth]

Where abouts in the Chitown area are you moving to? We should be able to give you a list of leagues in the vacinity of where you're gonna be.

[Dan Michler]

if ur on the north side, then come to Waukegan Sunday mornings at 10 and Libertyville Tuesdays at 6.  also, Lombard had leagues Wed. at 6 if ur closer to there.  if ur down south, then screw u     just kidding.

Nasty Nate talked to the Discwing guy I think.  He told me he asked the guy if the disc was overstable and the guy said he wasn't sure because he is just a beginner.  I guess this was some english guy who supposedly owns the company.

[mirth]

Its all about the wind tunnel testing.

[CEValkyrie]

I checked out the pdga discussion board today. Chuck Kennedy had the ratings for each course listed for good conditions. Hopefully they are close becuase it should help my rating.

Looks like I shot 958 rated disc golf for the week if those charts are accurate.

DMACC
55->1,000

Big Creek
58->974

DMACC
59->966

Carroll Marty
52->962

Walnut Ridge
61->961

Grandview
54->959

Ewing
63->942

Walnut Ridge
65->936

Carroll Marty
56->918