March Madness at Ox Bow

MARCH MADNESS INFORMATION COURSE LAYOUT, DISC MODIFICATIONS AND OB In an effort to maximize the player experience, compensate for course conditions, and a large number of first-time tournament pla ... show more ›

MARCH MADNESS INFORMATION

COURSE LAYOUT, DISC MODIFICATIONS AND OB
In an effort to maximize the player experience, compensate for course conditions, and a large number of first-time tournament players, the course layout has been modified.

Holes 4 and 9 will not be played. Instead we will play alternate hole 4T which is inside the Farmstead shelter. After you finish playing hole 3, walk to the right of the green and onto the park road. Turn left and proceed to the Farmstead shelter. The temporary tee is located by the latrine. The basket is located to the right of the pavilion. After you play hole 8 proceed to hole 10.

MA50, MA4 and MA3 will play the temporary short tees on holes 8, 12 and 13. The distances will be marked on the ground and the electronic scorecards.

Due to the recent rainstorm inclement and associated course conditions, you may choose the option to tee off from behind or to either side of the tee pads, but you may not tee off in front of the tee pad. Do not tee from the platform on hole 17. Instead you will tee off in front of the platform on a temporarily marked tee area.

All water on holes that are in-play will be considered “casual areas” for both rounds of the tournament. Players may play from their original lie or choose relief from the casual area without penalty. Relief allows a player’s lie to be relocated to the nearest lie which is farther from the target and is on the line of play, at the nearest point that provides relief.

If a disc is lost, all players in the group must aid in searching for the disc for three minutes after which time the disc will be declared lost and the player will incur a penalty stroke and must rethrow from their previous lie. Any player who does not actively aid in the search will be assessed a courtesy violation.

Generally speaking, the top of structures, all roads and parking lots are out of bounds. Park boundaries, the maintenance area, and the Elkhart River are also out of bounds. For a disc to be considered out-of-bounds, it must be completely surrounded by OB. The group will decide collectively if a questionable lie is out-of-bounds. A detailed list of OB for each hole will be available at tournament central.

SAFETY
Please be safe. Dress appropriately. Stay out of the river. Seriously. Players who venture into the river will be assessed a two-stroke penalty and may be disqualified from the event at the discretion of the tournament director.

PARK ACCESS
The park and course will be open by 7:30 a.m. Please enter through the auxiliary gate which is located about 1/4 mile north of the main entrance before the maintenance entrance and Ox Bow School. Look for a dirt road off of CR 45.

Once you enter the park, drive up the dirt road (parallel to hole 23) and turn left at the intersection. You can park by hole one or a little further up between holes 2, 19 and 20. Stable shelter is there. Bathrooms are also in that location.

CHECK-IN
Check-in will begin no later than 8 a.m. with the player's meeting at 8:15 a.m. and tee off at 8:30 a.m. All players must check in at tournament central which is located at the Stable shelter between holes 1 & 19. Ams will pick up their player package at check-in.

GROUP ASSIGNMENTS AND SCORING
Groupings and hole assignments will be posted on Friday evening (3/18) at the PDGA event page for March Madness at Ox Bow. Follow this link: https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/57474

We will be using PDGA live scoring for this event.
Log in to https://www.pdga.com/apps/tournament/score/login.
Access code: mmob22
Physical scorecards will also be available at tournament central.

KNOW THE RULES
This is a PDGA sanctioned tournament. It is your responsibility to know and follow the Official Rules of Disc Golf. You may read them here: https://www.pdga.com/rules/official-rules-disc-golf.

LOGISTICS
Please be mindful of the schedule. We will observe a strict one-hour break between the first and second rounds. There will be no players’ meeting between rounds. After lunch, you should go to your assigned hole and await the two-minute warning. You can find your assigned starting hole for the second round by accessing the live scoring page during the lunch break.

Please contact me with any questions. Thank you.

Jason Samuel
Tournament Director
March Madness at Ox Bow
574.849.3038

OX BOW COURSE UPDATE FOR MARCH MADNESS I walked the course at Ox Bow on Tuesday evening. Most holes are dry while some are soft but have no standing water and there are a few patches of mud on sele ... show more ›

OX BOW COURSE UPDATE FOR MARCH MADNESS

I walked the course at Ox Bow on Tuesday evening. Most holes are dry while some are soft but have no standing water and there are a few patches of mud on select holes. At this time the most problematic holes are 4 (the area around the basket is surrounded by standing water), 9 (standing water to the right of the basket and mud around the green) and 11 (standing water to the right of the basket). Hole 17 still has a lot of water to the right of the basket. If it does not recede further we will play to the old (short) basket placement that was used for Be My Valentine.

Looking ahead, there is a chance of snow over this coming weekend with falling temperatures before the weather clears and temps gradually rise into the 50s and 60s by the middle of next week. To me, that's a good scenario for the course to continue to improve.

I have made the decision to open up two more holes, thereby increasing our player cap to 88 at the moment. I've very confident 9 and 11 we be playable by March 19. However, I am not optimistic about hole 4 draining in the next ten days, but I'll keep an eye on it.

If you were one of the seven registrants on the waitlist, you should have received and email notification that you're now officially in the event, bringing our total number of players to 87.

MARCH MADNESS UPDATE I walked the Ox Bow disc golf course on Wednesday afternoon. Flood waters continue to recede. The spillway is closed but the foot bridge is open and Apple Orchard Trail is clea ... show more ›

MARCH MADNESS UPDATE

I walked the Ox Bow disc golf course on Wednesday afternoon. Flood waters continue to recede. The spillway is closed but the foot bridge is open and Apple Orchard Trail is clear.

Most of the holes are dry, a few are muddy and there’s winter storm debris scattered throughout the course. Four holes (4, 9,11, 12) still have large patches of ice or pools of standing water leaving them generally unplayable.

As is posted on the DGS tournament page: “Because March weather can be unpredictable, I am currently planning on 80 players on a 20-hole layout. However, get on the waitlist, because if weather permits, I will expand that to 24 holes of play and 96 players.”

Registration has filled and the waitlist is currently accepting players. With the tournament still two weeks away, I am confident we will be adding holes to the layout as the course continues to improve. As holes are added, players will be moved from the waitlist into the tournament. For now, I’m keeping the registration at 80 players on 20 holes and will re-evaluate again in a few days.