Discin In The Dark 2013

Well, that was certainly unexpected . . . I had no idea we would wake up to an inch or more of snow when I went to bed last night . . . either I didn't pay attention or the weathermen were just plain ... show more ›

Well, that was certainly unexpected . . . I had no idea we would wake up to an inch or more of snow when I went to bed last night . . . either I didn't pay attention or the weathermen were just plain wrong. Either way, Scott Slauson helped me out by bringing his sled and salt and shovel since my vehicle was filled with discs, trophies, lizard prizes, etc . . . and we played a round before league and shovelled and salted the teepads so we would have at least decent conditions tonight.

Thank you Scott for the help with the teepads and salt . . . it is always appreciated. Scott has probably done as much shovelling and salting as I have at VV in the past 3-4 years and it is helpful to not be the only one who helps take care of those teepads in winter.

The standings are listed to the right . . . but what you cannot see is just how awesome it was to have the Open and Intermediate Divisions decided completely based on tonight's scores. I love having multiple people in the hunt and seeing who can rise to the occasion. I am hopeful to continue to have divisional parity . . . where each division has decent attendance and it is anyones game in each division.

With that said . . . I expect my VV leagues to end up with 6 divisions next year. Open, Advanced, Intermediate and Recreational as the main divisions to go alongside the Junior and Womens Divisions (which I would sure love to grow next year too). I love having 10 people in a division, but I would like the divisions to be closer together in scoring moving forward. When discussing VV scoring, Open should be shooting better than (-8) or those people willing to play against better players for cash. Advanced should be shooting (-5) to (-8). Intermediate should be shooting (-1) to (-4) and Recreational should be shooting from Even Par (E) to (+5). I think those are better divisions and you will be grouped accordingly next year, so be forewarned . . . you will be placed based on your past scoring.

Thank you all for being such loyal attendees to this league and all of my leagues. I appreciate the fact that my efforts can draw 20+ people per week and it make sme feel so much better knowing that there is rarely anyone leaving VV angry or upset. We are out there playing a sport where we throw plastic discs through the air, around trees (although sometimes into them), in an attempt to get the plastic disc into a metal chained basket . . . how serious can we take ourselves when you really think about it? Either way . . . disc golf is all about fun and you all make it much more fun for me, so I appreciate the attendance and the help in making sure the leagues run smoothly.

Special thanks go out to Greg Weber, Nick Williams, Brian Williams, Josh Davies, Chad Niezgoda, Mark Olver, and Shaun Kirchner . . . as I know they put in the most time walking out to the farthest point on the course to help with putting the lights out. I know there are others who took the long walk from time to time, but those guys helped out more than anyone else in that regard, so thank you. I appreciate not having to put those lights out hours in advance and risk them all being stolen or broken, so I say thank you to anyone that ever helped put out or bring in those lights!

Discin In The Dark will definitely be back in 2014 . . . it is one of my favorite leagues to run and play . .. I simply love glow disc golf!

Divisional Standings (after dropping CURRENT 3 worst weeks) Open Division Scott 57 TJ 56.5 Mike 39.5 Bob 38 Drew 37.5 Pat 28.5 Joel 27.5 Intermediate Division JD 66 Greg 64.5 Kee ... show more ›

Divisional Standings (after dropping CURRENT 3 worst weeks)

Open Division

Scott 57
TJ 56.5
Mike 39.5
Bob 38
Drew 37.5
Pat 28.5
Joel 27.5

Intermediate Division

JD 66
Greg 64.5
Keegan 64
Josh 58
Brian 46
Greg 44.5
Chad 38.5

Recreational

Matt 26.5
Brian 20
Mike 15.5
Peter 10.5

$50 ace pool will be ready for the taking next week. If noone gets an ace we will again split the ace pool up with 50% of the funds going to divisional CTP contests . . . but you must enter the ACE POOL next week to qualify for these contests. The other 50% will go into my growing pool of funds that will be donated to local course development projects.

There were two errors in my scoring because I gave Brian Williams and Brian Allender the wrong scores. This mildly affected the payouts and the standings for the week and also for the season. I will m ... show more ›

There were two errors in my scoring because I gave Brian Williams and Brian Allender the wrong scores. This mildly affected the payouts and the standings for the week and also for the season. I will make sure everyone is up to date on the current standings including dropped weeks after tomorrow night. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for catching the mistake Brian.

OPEN: The Leaders: Scott Slauson 51 points TJ Webber 51 points The Contenders: Mike Harrington 36 points Bob Bawden 35 points Drew Retherford 32.5 points The Door Knockers: Pat Brah 27 ... show more ›

OPEN:

The Leaders:
Scott Slauson 51 points
TJ Webber 51 points

The Contenders:
Mike Harrington 36 points
Bob Bawden 35 points
Drew Retherford 32.5 points

The Door Knockers:
Pat Brah 27 points
Joel Kamoske 26.5 points

INTERMEDIATE:

The Leaders:
JD Cottrill 61.5 points
Keegan Wenzler 59.5 points
Greg Klein 57.5 points

The Contenders:
Josh Davies 53 points
Brian Allender 47.5 points

The Door Knockers:
Greg Weber 40 points
Aaron Zittnan 37 points
Chad Niezgoda 36.5 points
Shaun Kirchner 34.5 points

RECREATIONAL:

The Leader:
Matt Walczak 27.5 points

The Contenders:
Brian Williams 17 points (The displayed point total is wrong)
Mike Wand 15.5 points

The Door Knocker:
Peter Devine 9.5 points

WOMEN:

The Leader:
Jessica Evans 14 points

The Contender:
Loriena Harrington 13 points

The Door Knocker:
Tabatha Lewinski 6 points

It will be close in most divisions and it might come down to who wants it bad enough to show up the next two weeks regardless of weather. We had better turnout yesterday than we have had in 4 weeks!

We will not only be playing the normal 18 holes this week . . . we will also be playing 3 additional holes (which were added today) which will be used as permanent winter holes. Since 1, 15, and 18 in ... show more ›

We will not only be playing the normal 18 holes this week . . . we will also be playing 3 additional holes (which were added today) which will be used as permanent winter holes. Since 1, 15, and 18 interfere with the sledding hill (or vice versa) those baskets will be coming out and will be moved down to the new holes (played after Hole #12 and before Hole #13) for the entire winter. We cleaned up all of the fairways, cut down the trees and low branches that impeded the fairways, added gravel and rubber teepads and put the sleeves in the ground with concrete today during the workday along with a few other projects. Scott Slauson and I will be bringing our temporary Mach Lite baskets to be used on those three holes. You will need to have caution walking these fairways initially but I think it is worth the effort to get our baskets down there on Monday. Who is going to shoot the first (-21) is all I want to know?

Rather than update everyone on who did what this week I figured it was time to show you where you all stand after the 3 dropped week adjustment. In Open: Scott Slauson has 51 points but is droppin ... show more ›

Rather than update everyone on who did what this week I figured it was time to show you where you all stand after the 3 dropped week adjustment.

In Open:
Scott Slauson has 51 points but is dropping only 5 points to be at 46.
TJ Webber has 56.5 points but is dropping 12.5 points to be at 44.
I am currently at 39.5 points but am dropping 8 to be at 31.5
Bob Bawden is at 37 points but only dropping 6.5 to be at 30.5.
Drew Retherford is at 31.5 points but is dropping only 2 to be at 29.5.
Joel Kamoske is at 27.5 points but is dropping 2 to be at 25.5
Patrick Brah is also at 27.5 but is dropping 2.5 to be at 25.
Mike Finley sits at 19 dropping ZERO so he remains at 19.

In Intermediate:
JD Cottrill is sitting at 52.5 dropping ZERO so he is in the lead.
Keegan Wenzler is sitting at 58.5 dropping 9.5 to be at 49.
Greg Klein has 64 points but is dropping a whopping 17 to be at 47.
Josh Davies sits at 50.5 but is only dropping 4 to be at 46.5
Brian Allender sits at 42.5 dropping 3 so he is at 39.5.
Aaron Zittnan is at 37 dropping ZERO to be at 37.
Chad Niezgoda has 36.5 dropping ZERO to be at 36.5
Greg Weber sits at 40 dropping 5 to be at 35.
Shaun Kirchner is at 33.5 dropping ZERO also to be at 33.5
Mark Olver is at 25.5 dropping 2.5 to be at 23.
Nick Williams is at 18 dropping ZERO to be at 18.

In Recreational:
Matt Walczak who has missed the last 3 weeks is at 24.
Mike Wand who also missed the last 3 weeks is at 15.5
Brian Williams who entered the division late is at 15.
Peter Devine has been here every week and is at 8.5.
Jeff Fuchs has also missed the last 3 weeks and is at 7.

In the Women's Division:
Jessica, Loriena, and Tabatha all have missed 3 weeks so the standings are as published with Jessica at 14, Loriena at 13, and Tabatha at 6.

OK . . . 7:00 PM start stands for this week since I am not sure how many people will get this message in time . . . BUT I will allow anyone who wants to play between 6:00-7:00 PM to show up and form a ... show more ›

OK . . . 7:00 PM start stands for this week since I am not sure how many people will get this message in time . . . BUT I will allow anyone who wants to play between 6:00-7:00 PM to show up and form a group of 3-5 people and you can play early. It will be dark because of daylight savings time so I feel this would not be an unfair advantage to anyone playing between 6:00-7:00 PM. I will be going out at 7:00 PM regardless of who shows up early so I would appreciate at least 1 person to play with me at that time. If you can let me know when you are coming it might help coordinate groups so please give me a call or text at 262 894 3404.

I started a poll on the league info page at this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/562766197099352/621554661220505/?notif_t=likeif you do not have facebook, please respond with a comment here. Sin ... show more ›

I started a poll on the league info page at this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/562766197099352/621554661220505/?notif_t=likeif you do not have facebook, please respond with a comment here. Since daylight savings time is this sunday should we move the start time up to 6 PM for this and all future weeks? 6:30 PM or keep the start time at 7:00 PM still?

Keep in mind the Packers will be crushing the Bears by the time we finish this week regardless of when we start but the game does begin at 7:40 so if we moved up to 6 we might only miss the first 5-10 minutes of the game.

We still had 20 people this week despite the cooler temperatures. We had another ace by Chad Niezgoda who hit #16 (with a Glow Wizard he bought from me last week . . . Get them now before the price go ... show more ›

We still had 20 people this week despite the cooler temperatures. We had another ace by Chad Niezgoda who hit #16 (with a Glow Wizard he bought from me last week . . . Get them now before the price goes up!!!!). This was his first league ace so he was excited to take home some cash. We also had an impromptu costume contest this week. . . it was an idea that came to me earlier in the day and while I feel like it may have been short notice I couldn't pass up the chance at offering up something special for those dressed in costumes. SOOOOO . . . I will offer the same deal up again next week Monday for anyone who did not dress up this week. If you come in costume next week and play the round in the costume. . . you will be eligible for a mulligan . . . and the winner of each divisions best costume award (as voted on by the general league population) . . . you will also be given a tip about where to find a Glow Lizard. (all you perverts please refrain from comment).

In Open we had 8 people again . .. we had a 2 way tie for the win between TJ Webber and Joel Kamoske with their excellent rounds of (-12). Also in a tie were Scott Slauson and Drew Retherford this week with their (-10). For only the second time in all 8 weeks did it take double digits under par to take home some cash. I think people are stepping up their games and getting accustomed to playing in the dark!!! Either way it seems to be a battle at the top between TJ and Scott for first and second . . and Bob Bawden, Patrick Brah, Myself, Drew Retherford, and Mike Finley all have legitimate shots at taking home 3rd place in this long 12 week season. With the three worst point totals dropping it is anyone's game for 3rd place. Let's get it on (again . . . perverts . . . no comments please)!

In Intermediate we saw another consisten turnout again with 9 people playing this week. Keegan (one of those who had dressed up in costume . . . only to be bested by a man in a skirt and a wig (Greg Weber) had an excellent round (-9) to take home the big bucks this week. Following a few throws behind him were Greg Klein, Chad Niezgoda (ALSO ACED) and Josh Davies who all threw (-6) this week. In a 3 way tie for the final funny money was Greg Weber, JD Cottrill, and Nick Williams.with their rounds of (-3).

In Recreational we had only 2 players and Brian Williams had a 54 (Even) to take down the funny money this week.

Loriena was the only woman this week and she had a (+11) off her normal pace but still respectable. . . Loriena said she would have played better if she had some competition. Jessica I know you were hurting with an ankle injury, but we both hope to see you come back next week. I promise . . . NO SNOW!!! Tabatha and Lori . . . can we expect to see you again in the coming weeks?

21 people came to league this week on October 21st. It felt like 21 degrees out but was actually in the mid to upper 30's. I love that people are so dedicated to league that most come regardless of co ... show more ›

21 people came to league this week on October 21st. It felt like 21 degrees out but was actually in the mid to upper 30's. I love that people are so dedicated to league that most come regardless of conditions.

In Open . . . I came back with low expectations after a weekend away at Highbridge Hills where I definitely put some strain on my already aching elbow and shoulder. I was surprised I was able to shoot (-11) let alone win the division considering the discrepancy between the top two players (Scott and TJ) and the rest of the field in open is averaging 3-4 throws per round. Any given week one of us in 3rd through 8th place can drop a double digit round and take one of the top spots. I guess I got lucky on the week I did it, especially considering that there was a 3 way tie behind me at (-10) between Bob Bawden, Drew Retherford, and Scott Slauson. That allowed me an extra point in my attempt to rise or at the very least hold steady in the standings. Scott and TJ remain atop the standings with a healthy lead (45.5 and 43.5) over the rest of us: Me (33.5), Bob B. (28), Pat Brah (26.5), Drew Retherford (24), and Joel Kamoske (17.5) and Mike Finley (17). Drop the lowest point totals and that gets even more interesting!!! 3rd place will definitely be highly contested or someone needs to get really hot to challenge TJ and Scott.

In Intermediate we saw Brian Allender and Greg Klein shoot excellent rounds of (-7) (tying their personal Discin In The Dark best rounds) to tie for the win. A few throws back was Keegan Wenzler with (-3). Just behind Keegan at (-2) was Greg Weber, Josh Davies, and Chad Niezgoda splitting the last funny money spot. The leader in the division JD did not show this week so the standings got a little bit tighter this week. Keep in mind we do drop the 3 lowest point totals so it is anyone's game in Intermediate with 5 weeks to play.

In Recreational we had Brian Williams with another hot score (-5) after returning to the division. Coming in second this week was newcomer Jason Graettinger with his (+3). Thanks for bringing him along Drew R., I hope to see him at future league nights and he enjoys himself during this league.

In the Women's division we had 3 attendees this week which makes me happy to see. I am trying to establish a consistent Women's turnout in my leagues and having 3 is a success. Lori Lynn had a solid round of 54 (Even) this week to win the division. Loriena had her best glow round at (+4) to take second. Jessica remains in first place currently but depending on the lowest point totals, Loriena and Jessica are in a virtual dead-heat for the division.

I am starting to see some disparities in the scores in our divisions. Either we need another division between Open and Intermediate for those shooting (-4) to (-7), and/or we need to have a lower division that allows for people who regularly shoot over par. Nobody has complained but I definitely like to see scores within 5-6 throws each week in each division but it seems to be approaching the 10 throw differential between first and last. Leagues are meant to be fun and not necessarily about winning something every single week. The whole reason I pay out 50% of each division is so any given night a hot round can win something. I will not make a change in the middle of this league, but will take the statistics and make sure I have an appropriate amount of divisions moving forward. I hope everyone understands, I just do not want to turn anyone away from leagues because they simply feel like they are donating every single week. I want everyone to feel rewarded when they have a really good round.

We hit another record high attendance for this glow league with 29 people this week. I didn't think we would hit a high but a bunch of people showed up just before we headed out to get in on the Glow ... show more ›

We hit another record high attendance for this glow league with 29 people this week. I didn't think we would hit a high but a bunch of people showed up just before we headed out to get in on the Glow Throwing fun.

Again no ace was hit so the pot has built up to $78. How awesome would a $100 glow ace be???? I know I want one!

In Open we saw another (-14) as a top score, but this week it was Scott Slauson. TJ Webber maintains a 3 point lead (technically only because he played one more week than Scott. Scott would be in the lead if dropped weeks count) with his (-11). Coming in third was Bob Bawden with his best glow round (-10) in this league. Only one throw behind Bob was Patrick Brah . . . again beating me this week and inching closer to third place overall. I better get that putting issue I have been having figured out if I want to stay ahead of him. Mike Finley (F Bomb) and I (H Bomb) both tied again this week like we did in week 1 for splitting the last cash.

Intermediate saw a record 14 people attend this week. JD Cottrill, one of the founding members of Milwaukee Area Discers (MAD) was excited to be playing for tags tonight and it must have inspired him to keep the lowest tag #2 because he had his best round ever (-11) at VV (Even at night!!!) to take the win this week. Keegan Wenzler had a solid (-9) this week after helping make sales for me and also giving out free candy and water (along with Bob Bawden) to anyone who wanted some. Thanks for that nice gift to the disc golfers at VV tonight guys. Pete (Mohawk Pete for those who know him by that name) Schaumberg ended up in third with his solid (-7) after deciding to come to my league because he wanted to buy a Prometheus. Vince Johnson also had a decent round of (-6) for his first time at one of my leagues in quite a while narrowly escaping the 5 way tie for the last 3 FM spots. Greg Weber, Greg Klein, Josh Davies, Aaron Zittnan, and Nick Williams all had (-5) to split the $10 FM.

A little discussion about divisions and scoring averages . . .Someone with the initials BW has moved back down to Recreational after feeling like he pre-maturely moved up to Intermediate. I normally do not allow this (because I am trying to avoid people moving divisions simply so they can keep "cashing", but he had not been asked to move up after the summer season of leagues, he did so voluntarily despite his scoring average allowing him to keep playing Recreational. He does miss out on the opportunity for those points to transfer which is one downside to moving mid season. He will have his work cut-out if he wants to place in Recreational for the season. If anyone out there has questions eel free to ask me how the divisions are laid out and if you are in an appropriate division. I would be happy to explain how and why I do things. I believe I do what is fair for most people, but if there is a better way to do it, I am all ears.

In Recreational tonight we saw Brian Williams (<---- aforementioned BW) tie with Matt Walczak at (-1) to split the FM this week.

In Women, Jessica Evans returned to league this week and shot a (+8). Newcomer to leagues and even the sport (a few months) Carrie Daubner shot just 2 throws behind Jessica. It looks like the race might be tight each week between these two, Tabatha, and my wife (who was out with a cold this week). Thanks again for coming Haley Ferguson! It is fun to watch kids pick up a sport and show improvement! I hope you have fun with it.

Thanks again everyone . . . see you (or at least see your lights) next week. Same Time 7:00 PM seems to be an appropriate start time. Please vocalize if earlier is better in the coming weeks. I will not move the start time unless it is unanimous that people want the time moved up to 6:45 or 6:30.

News from this week . . . 1 of the glow lizards was found . . . albeit after the round was completed. I saw a crowd of 4 black lights scouring the landscape for anything that might be a lizard and whi ... show more ›

News from this week . . . 1 of the glow lizards was found . . . albeit after the round was completed. I saw a crowd of 4 black lights scouring the landscape for anything that might be a lizard and while the intent was for these to be found during the course of play . . . I guess I will have to allow the find and any future finds that come to me before I leave the course.

I will say this . . . it will be tough to find these lizards without a black light! I am not saying this because I have a bunch of black lights for sale (9 LED w/ batteries for $6 or the 51 LED w/ batteries for $20) . .. it is just a matter of fact that these lizards do not hold the glow very well, but a blacklight will shine those babies up in just one pass of the UV light.

One more small plug for these blacklights and the new product I am carrying (Glow VInyl). I was able to find a 6" wide roll of this stuff and will be offering it in 3" segments. a 3" x 6" piece will be $3. A 6" x6" piece will be $5. Anything larger than a 6" x 6" piece will be based on that pricing. I am working on being able to buy pieces big enough to do a complete vinyl cutout for a disc in case that is desired by anyone. I think it would be pretty cool to do your own jack-o-lantern glow vinyl cutout but I would need at least a 9" x 9" piece for that. I will keep you updated as I work on finding a source.

ENOUGH ABOUT THE SALES PITCH!!!

In Open we saw another solid round by TJ Webber who shot a (-14) this week. Scott Slauson was 4 throws behind him (-10) this week and goes 4 points behind him on the season. Drew Retherford had a good round this week with his (-9) while Joel Kamoske (who had earlier declared "I am donating every week in this league") and Pat Brah (a recent transplant from Intermediate) took his second cash in the last two weeks. I am sure he looks forward to continuing the hot streak but what he does not know is that I am headed out of town to play at least a dozen new courses and I intend to find my putting stroke before I return on Sunday. I do not intend to lose ground this week as my 2.5 point lead for third place over Patrick is in jeopardy every single week.

In Intermediate we saw Josh Davies (who was recently talked back into coming to leagues by Chad Niezgoda) shoot another hot round (-7) and get his second mention in the Weekly Recap. Shaun Kirchner (Leader) and JD Cottrill (who is sitting in 3rd overall) both had good rounds of (-6) this week. Shaun remains in the divisional lead over Greg Klein by 6 points but I imagine this division to be settled by only a couple throws! Last weeks hot shooter Shane Ferguson had a decent round when he shot (-5) along with Greg Weber (who was determined to change his recent trend of not being able to win any FM) and Greg Klein was only 1 throw behind at (-4) to take the final FM spot.

In Recreational we had Matt Walczak shooting a round (-5) that would have gotten him FM in Intermediate even. Mike Wand and Jeff Fuchs (both fairly new to league) shot decent rounds of (-1) to split the final FM spot. Please do me a favor and introduce yourselves to these guys and Tabatha this week . . . they are new to the league and I am sure they would love to meet some other people. Maybe this coming week I will assign groups to mix things up a bit. I would like to see the newcomers welcomed into our little group and introduced to some new people. We all know we share disc golf as a passion, so lets make it a point to welcome them and any other new players. Just go up and say hello!

The Womens division dropped to only 2 this week (which is not even a bad turnout in my mind). Tabatha Lewinski had her best league round this week with a (+14) and she would have likely contended even if Jessica and Loriena attended. Haley Ferguson improved her first league round score by 11 throws. I think Shane must have gotten her to keep her arm level and flat, because that clearly was the only thing keeping her from better accuracy. I am thrilled Shane is bringing her to this league and I am hopeful we have another fledgling disc golf woman in our midst!

No ace was hit again this week so the cash prize is up to $49 plus whoever enters next week. I love seeing the ace pool build . . . not only is it fun to give away large sums of cash . . but it usually helps improve attendance. I look forward to contending on a record attendance next Monday, 28 is our high for the glow league! The weather is supposed to be wonderful again so bring out a friend if you can.

Thanks again to the groups willing to take the long walk to set out the tap lights and pick them up on the way in. I appreciate it greatly as it helps protect our (yes that includes you all since some of your money goes directly into the lighting of the baskets) investment in these lights.

More lizards will be on the course this coming week too!

The weather is looking to be ideal again tonight . . . we will kick off the tee times at 7:00 PM again with a couple groups getting a head start to set the lights on the baskets prior to the rest of t ... show more ›

The weather is looking to be ideal again tonight . . . we will kick off the tee times at 7:00 PM again with a couple groups getting a head start to set the lights on the baskets prior to the rest of the group starting.

I promise to put at least one of the glow in the dark lizards on the course tonight .. . get your blacklights out and keep a keen eye out for those little lizards!!! I have decided whoever finds a lizard . . . will get a spin of the wheel of discfortune. Hold onto the lizard until the final night of league and we will have a big party spinning the wheel. If you cannot attend the final night of league that is fine, you will have to let me know in advance and we will have someone spin the wheel for you in your absence. I would simply like to do all of this the final week rather than every single week.

Well, it seems that most people were in favor of the LED tap lights we used this week for league. I will continue to use them this season foiscin In The Dark since they light up the chains better and ... show more ›

Well, it seems that most people were in favor of the LED tap lights we used this week for league. I will continue to use them this season foiscin In The Dark since they light up the chains better and the light doesn't ever get in your eyes either. I am going to experiment with a way to put two lights on each basket attached to something that can be somewhat secured to ensure these do not get walked off with. I may not get this accomplished by the end of Discin In The Dark, but it could be an improvement that happens for next years glow leagues.

Now for the recap: (Sorry it is late Chad, I know how you look forward to reading these.)

In Open TJ Webber had a hot round of (-13) which is the highest glow round I have heard of . . . I know TJ wasn't a fan of the glow sticks so these lights might have given him more putting confidence! Patrick Brah, who recently moved himself up to Open shot his best round in my leagues (-11) after shooting the same score in his practice round. Nice shooting Patrick . . . and yes . . . you will be getting some cash! Bob Bawden and I followed up with average (-9) rounds to split the last of the cash.

In Intermediate Shane Ferguson had what he believes ties his best round ever (-12). I played with him and when he passed me up on about Hole #8 he rode the momentum to the finish by birdieing 8 of the last 9 holes. It didn't even feel like a competitive round to me, it was just Shane and his daughter out having some fun together, with me tagging along for the round. Nice shooting Shane and thanks for coming. Chad Niezgoda had a great round of (-9) and he was equally excited to hear he had tied my score. Shaun Kirchner and JD Cottrill shot solid rounds of (-7) and Josh Davies, Aaron Zittnan, and Greg Klein are all walking home with a couple $ in funny money for their (-5) rounds.

In Recreational there was a three way tie for the win tonight between Matt Walczak, Mike Wand, and Dave Haecker with rounds of (-3). I do not expect a playoff in glow disc golf leagues, but if the three of you are here next week, you can make that decision together. You would not be playing for any more money than indicated here, just the points for the divisional standings.

In Women tonight we had 3 Women and a young girl. I always enjoy it when a division grows because there are bonds that can be formed by playing with new people. Loriena Harrington (my wife) had her second best glow score but takes home the win this week with her (+12). Jessica Evans was only 1 throw behind Loriena with a (+13). Tabatha is not far behind these two ladies in scores and it looks like any one of these three ladies could win any week. Thank you to Haley Ferguson for also attending the league. She certainly enjoyed the time out on the course with her dad Shane, and I can tell once she learns to keep the disc a little bit flatter she will be throwing 100-150' and shaving double digit throws off her score. I look forward to seeing her progression considering she really only recently got serious about playing more disc golf.

Thanks to all who attended this week, you all helped break this years attendance record for my glow leagues with 28 people playing.

I am bringing along the LED Tap Lights I bought to test out with league this week. I would like to try them and would like your feedback if you feel this is a better approach to lighting the basket th ... show more ›

I am bringing along the LED Tap Lights I bought to test out with league this week. I would like to try them and would like your feedback if you feel this is a better approach to lighting the basket than the glowsticks. These lights are fairly inexpensive but obviously I do not want them to get stolen or damaged. There are a few possibilities on how to handle this, but I first would like to hear your feelings on these lights before I make this into a bigger deal than it needs to be. I will be out to the course by 3:00-4:00 PM this week to set out all of my discs and other supplies. I will have to close up shop to go out and setup the lighting supplies and get back to the parking lot to check people in so if I am not at my vehicle I will be back within 45 minutes or so.

I apologize but I finally got all caught up on my other work (after being gone for a 4 day weekend of disc golf and golf). I travelled north through Green Bay to play a couple courses I have been want ... show more ›

I apologize but I finally got all caught up on my other work (after being gone for a 4 day weekend of disc golf and golf). I travelled north through Green Bay to play a couple courses I have been wanting to play for a while. There was another course in NC WI that I wanted to hit before heading through Rhinelander, Wausau, to Wautoma where my golf outing was.

In the end I was able to hit 10 courses . . . 3 in MI, 7 in WI with only 4 of those courses currently listed. I am still working on my quest to play all of the publicly available courses in WI by the end of 2013 but I seem to be adding as many courses to the list as I end up playing total. Every time I meet someone new I hear about a new unpublished course. That is not a bad thing for disc golf but it sure makes playing all the courses very difficult. Either way . . . the saying from Field Of Dreams seems to ring true . . . if you build it . . . they will come. I am always willing to play any course once because they all have redeeming values if you are willing to look beyond the current challenge it presents to you. Think about the beginners . . . think about the pros . . . think about the families who might enjoy a day of disc golf together on the course . . . once you realize almost all courses are good for the sport . . . you will appreciate the efforts and finances it takes to put each and every course in the ground.

With my philosophy of disc golf courses above out of the way . . . here is the recap on this weeks Discin In The Dark!

In Open . . . I had my best glow round ever (-11) to tie Scott Slauson for the divisional win . . . We may play off the win next week but I need to discuss it with Scott. I will do whatever he decides because I am indifferent about settling ties . . . many people want to have a clear decisive winner . . . when I say we both shot the same score . . .do we really need to play extra holes to determine who is better? TJ Webber and Joel Kamoske (-9) also tied for 3rd place with their (-9). They each will be getting a little cash back next week.

In Intermediate . . .We saw another tie between Aaron Zittnan and Greg Klein (-7) which is a really solid score for Intermediate. Greg also happened to hit an ace during his round to take home the $38 ace pool. A recent transplant from the Recreational Division . . . Mark Olver . . . shot a very solid round (-6) to take 3rd alone and Shaun Kirchner was only 1 throw off with his (-5) and his fourth place which will take the last of the funny money.

In Recreational . . . We had some disparity in scores ranging from (-3) to (+8) . . . but when I conferred with the newcomers in the division they seemed to feel like that week could have gone either way and their scores could fluctuate greatly but they were all competitive with each other. It was the first time a few of them have ever played glow disc golf . . . and I am happy to report . . . they all seemed to enjoy the league and playing in the dark and look to return next week! I am happy to see such good attitudes about the division they were placed in as well as their excitement to return. I will only ever ask someone to move up if I feel they have a clear difference of ability than the others in the division. Matt Walczak shot a (-3) to win the division this week and one of the newcomers Mike Wand was only 1 throw behind Matt with his (-2). Another newcomer Shaun Schilberg shot a (+2) to take third on the week and the last of the funny money. When I communicated with Jeff Fuchs (another newcomer) he mentioned that anyone of them could have had the best round of the night . . . which means he is a great sport and he will look to make himself the hot shooter on the night.

In the Womens Division we had 3 women this week!!!!!!! That might be a record for The Disc Golf Experince leagues. Jessica Evans (+6) and Loriena Harrington (+15) had been trying to talk up the league as women friendly . . . not sure if that is what enticed Tabatha Lewinski (+17) to show up . . . but I am happy to see 3 women attending any league . . . even if it is not mine. I hope to build on this success moving forward and I hope to see 4 or more women at Disc In The Dark next Monday at Valley View.

Thanks to all who came this week . . . and thanks to Scott Slauson for getting people checked in . . . I left Wautoma as soon as I finished my round of golf in a charity outing so that I could make it back in time . . . and I am glad to have made it in time to play.

Just an FYI . . . anyone who bought LED lights this past week . . . you were given a bonus . . . the lights are supposed to be 2 for $5 not 2 packages for $5. I will chalk it up as a mistake and you will receive the benefit of the mistake but all future purchases will be 2 lights (1 package) for $5. I will not go back and charge you the difference . . . but I also didn't want you coming to league expecting to buy more of these lights at that price. Thank you for understanding.

Scott Slauson will be your league director this upcoming Monday as I am unsure if I can make it from Wautoma back to Valley View in time for league. If I do make it and can play a quick round to try a ... show more ›

Scott Slauson will be your league director this upcoming Monday as I am unsure if I can make it from Wautoma back to Valley View in time for league. If I do make it and can play a quick round to try and catch up to a group . . . otherwise you might find me in the parking lot by the time you finish your rounds. I will have payouts from previous weeks and possibly even some new merchandise. I apologize in advance if I am unable to make it, but Scott should have no problems since he has run a few leagues for me in the past. I will see you all at some point on Monday.

Well . . . Labor Day has passed and for me that marks the beginning of glow season . . . where I play as many if not more glow rounds than I do daytime rounds. Unless I enter a tournament I usually le ... show more ›

Well . . . Labor Day has passed and for me that marks the beginning of glow season . . . where I play as many if not more glow rounds than I do daytime rounds. Unless I enter a tournament I usually leave the lights taped on my discs even.

Discin In The Dark 2012 was my first venture into running leagues. To my knowledge I had never heard of an organized glow league, although I had played in a few casual get-togethers with people to play glow in the past. We averaged 17 people in that 12 week season with a high of 34 people at Valley View and a low of 9 people at Brown Deer. We even had more than 9 in a decent downpour of rain at Miniwaukan so clearly we had a dedicated bunch of people committed to getting their round of DG in despite the early sunsets. I learned a few things during this first attempt and the one thing I wanted to improve upon first was lighting of the baskets. Last year I simply put out two glow sticks in the chains . . . but then a few people were calling for more lights so I put more glow sticks out. The problem with the glowsticks is they only show you where the chain edges are, they do not show you the basket and they do not show you the actual chains. We had been planning to use solar powered landscape lights on top of the baskets but felt like these needed to be secured and locked somehow to the basket so it would have ended up costing us $10-12 to protect a $4 light.

I have come up with a couple options . . .

There is something that is called EL wire and a battery pack. The wire could be secured to the baskets and the battery pack can be put out and taken in each week. This would also allow other people to buy (or rent) the battery packs from me for their own use. They could just hook up their battery packs to the wire and play their round and take their battery packs out when they are done.

The other option is to buy the LED tap puck lights that can be stuck to the underside of the basket (so the light shoots downward into the chains and illuminates the basket also) and removed each week. These are pretty inexpensive so even if a few gets stolen or damaged it wouldn't be the end of the world. I am going to purchase some of each option and see what you all think of the two options.

I also heard a few people saying that the MINI LED lights I sell are too bright. I have not had that problem because I use mostly opaque discs (Star PRO and DX) but if you use Champion plastic I could see how the brightness could be distracting. I have purchased some glow tape which I have heard good things about and will have those items for sale at future leagues.

NOW for the recap:

In Open we had 8 people playing tonight. Scott Slauson had the only double digit round (-10), TJ Webber playing his first glow round shot (-9), Drew Retherford posted a solid but quiet (-8) while two of his cardmates, Mike (F Bomb) Finley and Mike (H Bomb) Harrington tied at (-6) to split the last cash.

In Intermediate we also had 8 players because of an influx of last seasons Recreational players . . .Sorry if I jinxed you guys . . . I was not insulting you only stating that the division was going to be highly spread out in scoring with guys who averaged between Even and over 6 down. Perhaps I phrased it wrongly but I do encourage everyone to challenge themselves. I look forward to seeing you guys break the jinx next week. I did like how when one said he was moving up they all wanted to move up. I like the enthusiasm and drive to be competitive guys! Aaron Zittnan shot a (-6) to take the win this week. Then there was a three way tie at (-4) between Keegan Wenzler, Shaun Kirchner, and newcomer Brian Allender.

In Recreational Matt Walczak made his return from the summer off from Manic Mondays and shot a solid (-1) to take the win over Disc Dog this week.

We had another newcomer this week in Peter Devine who enters the Novice Division. Thank you for coming Peter and I hope to see some other people come out to give you some competition each week, so please do not be afraid . . . just come out and have some glow in the dark fun!

We had two in the Womens Division this week which was good to see . . . Jessica Evans shot (+6) which is not bad considering how much harder the course plays in the dark. She bested Loriena who apparently went with her own format of 1 disc night by using her Flying Squirrel on every shot. She figured it was the straightest flyer for her so since she cannot see the trees that would be her best bet at missing them.

I should be getting my lighted pens on Friday and my glow tape should also be available by next week as alternatives to the LED lights. I also do have some glow discs and UV Blacklight flashlights for sale to help light up your glow discs and glow tape so find what works best for you and go with it. I still prefer the LED Lights but see the value in the tape too.

If you want a real challenge . . . come on out to Brown Deer on Thursday to play Travelling Glow Throwers . . . it plays about 10 throws harder in the dark if you ask me, but still is a ton of fun!!!

Wrapping up one of my leagues next week and the other in just two weeks seems like an incredibly good decision . . . since it is virtually dark by 8:00 PM right now. We lose 2 minutes of daylight per ... show more ›

Wrapping up one of my leagues next week and the other in just two weeks seems like an incredibly good decision . . . since it is virtually dark by 8:00 PM right now. We lose 2 minutes of daylight per day right now and it will soon be upon us that it is dark by 7:00.

While the first couple holes that we play might end up in "dusk' like conditions for the first few holes. . . the rest of the round will be dark and the lights or glow sticks will be necessary. I have plans to permanently attach solar landscape lights to the baskets at Valley View. I just need to ensure that the lights cannot be damaged or stolen without good effort. Why anyone would try to steal one of these lights (when they are there for the greater good of the Valley View disc golf community) would be beyond me but I cannot put it past anyone at this point. I just need to figure out the best way to protect these lights. Scott Slauson found these lights on clearance last fall and we used them a couple of times on a couple holes. I would like to have them permanently installed each fall so that people can enjoy VV in the dark from the months of September, October, and November.

See you soon . . . or at least your shadow from the moonlight!