IOS #6 @ Round Lake, IL--10/20&21/07

[SERG]

I'm actually hoping a few of those dead trees to the right fall and open the gap a bit tempting more throws. I heard several players talk about throwing that way but never witnessed any. I was hoping to do so for the awwww factor .Any mistake throwing that route leads to a lost disc and retee. Putting thru the gap and taking a 2 would be sick to see.

Jamie Blough went hyzer with a Destroyer and it was awesome to watch (I was on hole 11). He landed about 15 feet from the pin and nearly 1/3 of his disc was stuck into the ground. Don't ask him about his putt.

If I remember correctly, only holes 11A, 12/18 and 14A had OB. The OB on 12/18 seems self explanatory: speed of play. As stated by many I don't think any of the OB was fair/unfair toward one group of players over another. I believe I watched some Advanced players throw at least 3 times into 11A.

My only problem/concern/comment is with 14A. I was told that the drop zone was used any time your disc went OB; is this correct? I would think that the drop zone should only be used if your drive goes OB. If I stay in bounds and am 15 feet from the basket I have a good chance of going OB again if I overthrow the basket. If I do go OB why do I have to go to a drop zone? If someone went over the basket to the backside OB they were penalized by having to go to the drop zone instead of playing where the disc went OB. It didn't happen to me but it's just a question. By the way, I thought that hold had the worst pucker factor. I liked it 

[mirth]

I saw Guther take the local route on 10 (we were waiting for his group to tee/play that hole as we'd finished 9). I don't recall how close he was to the pin but IIRC he did take a 2. It made me want to consider that route.....

[airspuds]

11a made my day

like Jon said  " hey nice 2 on a hole where people were taken 11's"

also the ob factor should keep you within reach of the leaders

i knew i was 7 back of the leader
usually that means ur out of luck buster
but with the wind and the ob that everyone had to play
there was a chance (slim but a chance never the less) to get back some strokes
quickly

i still dont know what i was thinking on 10 as it was our second hole in the first round
when i drove first but now i know how to play it

[pickax]

14a was all OB went to the drop zone. Made you think about running the putt. If it was just last in bounds, you'd take one stroke for going OB and tap in. Going back to the drop zone made you think again about running for it. I know some of the decisions were last minute, but a course routing sheet would have been really helpful.

[CEValkyrie]

I'm actually hoping a few of those dead trees to the right fall and open the gap a bit tempting more throws. I heard several players talk about throwing that way but never witnessed any. I was hoping to do so for the awwww factor .Any mistake throwing that route leads to a lost disc and retee. Putting thru the gap and taking a 2 would be sick to see.

Jamie Blough went hyzer with a Destroyer and it was awesome to watch (I was on hole 11). He landed about 15 feet from the pin and nearly 1/3 of his disc was stuck into the ground. Don't ask him about his putt.

If I remember correctly, only holes 11A, 12/18 and 14A had OB. The OB on 12/18 seems self explanatory: speed of play. As stated by many I don't think any of the OB was fair/unfair toward one group of players over another. I believe I watched some Advanced players throw at least 3 times into 11A.

My only problem/concern/comment is with 14A. I was told that the drop zone was used any time your disc went OB; is this correct? I would think that the drop zone should only be used if your drive goes OB. If I stay in bounds and am 15 feet from the basket I have a good chance of going OB again if I overthrow the basket. If I do go OB why do I have to go to a drop zone? If someone went over the basket to the backside OB they were penalized by having to go to the drop zone instead of playing where the disc went OB. It didn't happen to me but it's just a question. By the way, I thought that hold had the worst pucker factor. I liked it 

I really wish I could have seen that shot by Jamie!

You are correct on 14a. Any shot landing in the OB area went to the drop zone. Here was my thinking. I wanted to give pucker factor on drives, upshots, & putts.

1. You could play it safe. Pitch it up. Take a 3.
2. You could get aggressive and try for the 2. I added the drop zone to keep players from gunning at the basket and taking an easy circle 3.
3. The drop zone for all shots was added for scenarios like this.
A. Player plays it safe but now has a 20 to 50 footer for 2. Now there is some pucker factor on the putt. This player knows if he misses and goes OB he/she will have to hit another long putt rather than drop in. They are looking at a 2, 3, 4 or 5+ depending on that putt.
B. Player throws drive ob and goes to the drop zone. This player now has a shot at a circle 3. He jump putts or runs a long one OB. This takes an easy 4 out of the picture. That player has a decision to make.
4. Player throws and ace run. He/She drills it and goes crazy!

I play this course all the time. 14A  is the shortest and one of the easiest holes on the course. The OB made one of the shortest and most innocent holes turn into the most stressful. Had the OB been back 5 to 10 more feet and the drop zone played differently that pucker factor changes greatly.  The scoring range was crazy on that hole. This is exacly what I was looking for.

I played with one of the best putters i've played with all year.round 2. We have been on the same card a handful of times this year. He bangs putts inside the circle like they are nothing. After his drive he  was 15 feet from the basket on 14a. That is a gimme for him. He air balled it into the OB. He had just 2'd 12, 13, & 14. 5'd 14a.

[Todd. Fanning]

I dont know who to tell, but i was looking at the scores on PDGA.com and noticed my second round score was wrong, I shot a 54 that second round not a 57. just letting you guys know, thanks
Todd

[Bruce Brakel]

On Int and Rec day the rope overkill is just wrong. ESPECIALLY with wind like that. The swamp i understand being OB but the other OB marks were rediculous. Anytime a whole is taking some players double digit strokes to get through the whole that is that short there is a design flaw. Pro/Adv should have no problem handling that course marked up like that and I think that many of the IOS courses should have that more regularly implemented on Pro/Adv day. But Int/Rec are your average and inconsisent players who are working on their game. Having to play that kind of layout is discouraging. I had forgotten why I boycott this particular event but now I remember.

Lay

up

.

[Jon Brakel]

http://www.pdga.com/tournament/tournament_results.php?TournID=6616&year=2007&includeRatings=1#Intermediate

Scores are up for Sunday. Becky did the input today. Thanks Becky!!! 

Will check on Todd's score from Saturday.

[skipache]

anyone who can duece the local route on hole 10 deserves his two, that is a huge bomb over the top, a mando would take away all the risk/reward

[ChrisPUTTS]

Really enjoyed playing at the IOS 6.... great touney.  Thanks to all involved in setting it up.  Bruce, Jon, Brett, and anybody else involved in helping.  Couldn't ask for better weather in the third week of October (minus the wind).

I really liked the holes that had OB involved.  I had a plan on 11A to attempt to go for it, and if i was OB play my next shots as a layup, up, putt.  I was okay with a 5, but i would not want anything more than that.  Lucky both rounds i had no problem getting the green light.

Hole 12 was a no-brainer for me personally, two rounds of a Buzzz layup... and 14A was another conservitive hole, playing two safe drives staying on the right of the "fairway"..

I would have loved to watch somebody shoot the local route on hole 10 but the risk reward for me was just a lost disc, so once again.... played it safe...

[damonshort]

I never had any intention of going for it on 11A but still found different ways to screw it up. Good hole though.

I understand and agree with everything behind the redesign of 14A. My only suggestion would be some red flags along the OB line so it's clearer from the tee. I wasn't anywhere near the basket area on either round so personally it didn't matter, although it did make me wimp out on a long putt the 2nd round...  (knowing that my putting has been in the commode for the last month may have had something to do with that too.)

I did not miss the yellow rope that had been on #2 and #5 in previous years, although it only would've been an issue for me in one instance. (Actually, if it had been set up on #2 I would've laid up; as it was, I had 15-ft uphill birdie putts into the wind both rounds and even made one of them.)

Probably just having it on a couple of holes is plenty though, esp. for the lower day - although there won't exactly be a 'lower' day next year, but that's another topic. 

I hadn't played Fairfield since IOS last year - after which I decided I didn't care if I ever played the course again - and had no plans to play until Sat night since the weather was so great, if windy. Glad I did. Thanks again to the whole crew for another smooth and generous operation. I had no business 'cashing' but I'll take it. 

[Jon Brakel]

Playing holes with risk/reward will tend to help players that are willing to think about disc golf become better players. Forget the attitude that "it's not fair" and figure out how to take advantage of the situation. Play to your advantage on those types of holes. Lay up to save yourself a few strokes or jack your disc past the basket to achieve the same result. Whatever works best for your game. Winding up at every tee and chucking it at a basket on every tee is not going to teach you to play tougher courses. Making holes tougher for tournaments is a time honored tradition that helps separate players with different skills.

[pynnokyr300]

Well to answer the person who was wondering if i took a two on hole 10 the answer was unfortunately not (btw this is Guther) Reason being my drive was pin high 20 left of the basket. Good enough for CTP but with the wind NOT good enough for me to attempt a putt. Anytime i was outside 20 I made sure my disc stayed as close to the basket as was possible, deffinately was not in the mood for a 6 or 7 on any hole besides 18. As far as the OB I was pretty happy with the OB this year. I was upset last year when they had the ropes out for 12 and 18 on the edges of the fairway. Had a good drive taken away from me last year on 18. 11A was a fantastic hole in my opinion deffinately gave the open holes some variety. Im indifferent on 14A i liked the challenge of having to plan around a drive going ob and was kinda for and against the no matter when you go OB go to the drop zone. After reading the post about it tho it made alot more sense as to why they made it the way they did.

[pickax]

Jon- Are you going to have all the paperwork in by 10/30/07 to make Fairfield official for the next update? Sounds like it was a family effort to get the scores posted. Great teamwork yall.

[Jon Brakel]

Jon- Are you going to have all the paperwork in by 10/30/07 to make Fairfield official for the next update? Sounds like it was a family effort to get the scores posted. Great teamwork yall.

Most definitely!

[discmonkey]

Anyone else find it humerous that the hyzer route on ten is being referred to as "the local route" when not a single local that I know of takes it?  Al, Neal, and Chris Jordan are the biggest arms out there and none of them throw that route unless they're feeling cheeky.  BTW, about 75% of the time I play Fairfield (which is 3-7 times per week) I play long grass is OB on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 11a, 12, 13, and 18.  Anyone who says this course can't be tough should play it that way for a change, talk about some humiliating scores!!!

[damonshort]

I wasn't really paying attention.... are the baskets for 11a and 14a permanent now? I hadn't been up there for a year.

[pickax]

Yes for both. 11a is the practice basket.

[Jon Brakel]

Jon- Are you going to have all the paperwork in by 10/30/07 to make Fairfield official for the next update? Sounds like it was a family effort to get the scores posted. Great teamwork yall.

TD reports are in!

[CEValkyrie]

I dont know who to tell, but i was looking at the scores on PDGA.com and noticed my second round score was wrong, I shot a 54 that second round not a 57. just letting you guys know, thanks
Todd

Jon, were you ablet o check todd's score before the submission?