Travelling Thursday Throwdown   August 2, 2013 at 9:08am

Dretzka Original

Well . . . this was our only crack at the original 18 at Dretzka since next week has been voted on (by tonight's players) and we will be playing Hole 6-14 and the alternate 9.

In Open we had one player Todd Farnham (+6). . . who was out to have fun tonight and was trying all sorts of different shots. He played great this weekend at The Silver Cup so we know tonight was not his normal play. I also know first hand that he looks at league differently than he ever has . . . as a way to enjoy himself while trying new shots and discs. It didn't hurt that he was basically playing for his own money tonight so we could try all sorts of different shots he would not normally attempt with nothing else on the line.

In Intermediate . . . I had the hot round on the night (Even) despite bogeying my first hole (#16) and both of my card mates (Matt Atherton and Todd Farnham) scolding me for worrying about the score at that point. I understood their opinions but I knew it when I tried to throw a roller on #16 that the odds of me getting a 2 with a roller versus the chance of me getting a 4 because of one bad shot were more in favor of the bogey as opposed to the birdie. I should have just taken the straight out hyzer shot and simple layup for the 3 but I instead went for the perfect shot to try and deuce the hole. Then again . . . what is league for but to try new things that you can take to tournament play or to work on strategy and course management? Either way I still planned to have fun and enjoy the night . . . and I am sure we all did despite our scores.
Greg Klein who was also tied for the lead in the division shot the next best round of (+2) and he seemed equally indifferent to his score. We both thought we had not played well yet we both had the two best scores on the night. This shows me that we both care enough about our games to know when it wasn't a perfect round but neither of us are so worried about league scores that we have to pout when we don't think "EVERY" thing went our way. I am happy to say I get to play with people who take the good with the bad because it happens to all of us. Taking third on the night was the man who came into the night not knowing what division he was playing. I figured the most appropriate placement for Chad Niezgoda (+5) was Intermediate since he still placed for some funny money . . . but the other guys who he plays regularly with expected him to come in with a sub par round. I would rather you be middle of the pack if I am assigning you a division than have you place first in a division at the outset. I honestly thought Chad was better suited to Intermediate than Recreational . . . but the fact remains to be seen if tonight was indicative of his normal play or a really good or bad round. Either way . . . Chad you are going into Intermediate for the future rounds. If I am wrong . . . I will gladly hand over some funny money to account for the wrong divisional placement.

In Recreational we saw Shaun Kirchner have a solid round (4th overall on the night) of (+6) to take the top spot for the night. Troy Windorff followed only a few throws back with his (+10) to take the last of the funny money.

Overall I am a little bit surprised that nobody finished under par tonight . . . so perhaps the course was setup harder than I thought it was. Next week will definitely see lower scores since 9 of our holes will be on the Alternate 9 while we also play 6-14 of the original course. Normally when I play the Alternate 9 I shoot right around par . . . a few birdie opportunities but also a few easy bogies. I expect to see a few of the other players out-perform me since that alternate 9 seems to be harder on me than other players. I simply have not determined the reason behind it.

Either way . . . I was happy to have 9 show up tonight . . . and I look forward to seeing more than 9 next week. We did return 2 discs to their rightful owners tonight . . .so maybe we won a couple of people over for next week.