SHENANDOAH JUNCTION — For those unfamiliar with disc golf, eyebrows can be raised as they see what appears to be a net on a pole in the middle of a field or wooded area.
For those who have a love of the emerging activity, the course is a cherished place for enjoyment.
“Disc golf has been a part of Sam Michaels Park since 2018,” said Tommy Van Vliet, recreation coordinator for the Jefferson County park system. “While we started out slow, it has exploded in popularity over the past few years.”
The first organized meeting of the Eastern Panhandle Disc Golf Club was held in spring 2019, Van Vliet said, mentioning it attracted 14 attendees.
“Since then, each March through October, the club meets on Thursday evenings, in rain or shine, to play a round together,” he said, adding that most nights average between 15-20 players. “The league is free to play, and players of all skill levels join in.”
The open environment of the club has seen the membership grow significantly, with the numbers most recently rising to over 240 active members.
“Not only has disc golf grown rapidly in our area, but, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a renewed desire to be outdoors, disc golf, as a sport, has grown in leaps and bounds across America,” Van Vliet said.
According to Van Vliet, the Professional Disc Golf Association, founded in 1976, now has a membership of more than 200,000.
Sam Michaels Park is currently the only public disc golf course in Jefferson County. The course offers a mix of open field holes, shots through trees and across ponds and utilizes the natural features of the park. The range of difficulty challenges more advanced players, while the less-challenging holes encourage novice players to try the sport.
“According to statistics provided by UDisc, the official scorekeeping and course directory app of the PDGA, Sam Michaels Park Disc Golf Course was played an estimated 6,500 times in 2021, by nearly 700 unique players,” Van Vliet said.
“You can find players of all ages out on the course throughout the day, playing through rain, wind and even snow,” he said, mentioning that Sam Michaels Park was also the site of the Eastern Panhandle Disc Golf Club’s first Glow-in-the-Dark Disc Golf League.
The players in that league spread play over six weeks in October and November on Thursday evenings, using lights to illuminate each basket, along with flashing LED lights or glow-in-the-dark tape stuck to their discs, to enjoy the course in a fun new way at night. Prizes were awarded to the top three finishers over the six-week series, in both recreational and advanced level divisions. The rest of the money collected, as part of the series, was the first step in fundraising for continued growth in disc golf at Sam Michaels Park.
According to Van Vliet, plans made by members of the Disc Golf Club were approved by Jefferson County Parks & Recreation management to make additions to the course in 2022. The current expansion plans will add a new, second tee location to each hole, allowing players the option on each hole to choose between a more challenging starting position and one that is slightly easier and/or closer to the basket.
Additionally, each hole will also have a dedicated “juniors” tee location, allowing younger players or those new to the game to experience the course by starting each hole roughly 100-225 feet from the basket, without any large trees or obstacles to navigate. A small number of baskets will also be slightly moved to increase player safety with higher numbers of players on the course simultaneously.
To raise the additional funds needed for the planned work on the course, the club has organized a GoFundMe page to accept donations.
“Our current goal is to collect $3,500, which will cover the cost of all the planned updates, as well as serve to assist Jefferson County Parks & Recreation maintenance staff with the upkeep and maintenance of the course throughout the year,” Van Vliet said.
Any additional funds raised with the GoFundMe campaign will be put towards future disc golf projects in Jefferson County. Club members hope to raise more to self-fund this project, rather than asking Jefferson County Parks & Recreation for any additional funding.
“We hope that, with increased use and future tournaments being held at the course, that Sam Michaels Park Disc Golf Course and any other properties containing disc golf courses can be revenue-generating features within our parks & recreation system,” Van Vliet said.
Van Vliet can be reached via Jefferson County parks and recreation at 304-728-3207 for more information on the disc golf club.
Cranbrook’s professional disc golfer Casey Hanemayer has his sights set on his biggest year yet, and with an extension with his sponsor Prodigy Disc Golf and a spot on Team Canada for the World Flying Disc Federation’s (WFDF) World Team Disc Golf Championships in Croatia this summer, he’s off to a good start already.
“Being able to resign with Prodigy has been awesome, they have given me the support that I need to play this season,” Hanemayer said. “Since I signed with them two years ago the relationship has grown, and I am happy with everything that they have done for me.”
Hanemayer had a great year in the 2021 season, winning numerous tournaments, and securing himself a spot at the United Disc Golf Championships in Rock Hill, S.C., but this year he intends to play a lot more events in the U.S., less hindered by COVID-19 travel restrictions.
READ MORE: Cranbrook’s Casey Hanemayer qualifies for United States Disc Golf Championship
“This season is going to be my biggest tournament and travel season yet,” he said. “I’m going to be playing in multiple Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) events in the U.S., along with many tournaments in Canada.”
His trip to Varazsin, Croatia from August 17 to 20, will not be the first time Hanemayer has travelled internationally to play disc golf, and in fact not his first time representing Canada at the World Team Disc Golf Championships.
READ MORE: Cranbrook’s Casey Hanemayer performs well in Thailand disc golf tournament
“I played in the World Team Championships in Estonia in 2019 which was a great experience and I will be bringing that to this year’s event,” he said.
Hanemayer will be one of 10 Canadians, six of whom are from B.C., heading over to play in the event, which consists of multiple games, singles and doubles, all in a match play format.
According to CandDiscGolf.com This year the team assembled “features a mix of the highest-rated athletes and some of the most experienced Team Disc Golf Championship veterans Canada has to offer.”
“To be named to the team again is a great feeling and I hope with the previous experience I can play with more confidence and give Canada the best possible chance to win.”
Hanemayer plans for the first event of his season to be the Dynamic Discs Open in Emporia, Kansas: an historic venue for the sport and the site of this year’s 2022 PDGA World Championships. This year the DDO runs from April 28 to May 1.
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This week is homecoming at Newman, and the 2022 king and queen will be announced tonight during the halftime of the men’s basketball game.
The men’s game will start at 7:30 p.m. in Fugate Gymnasium and will follow the women’s game, which starts at 5:30 p.m.
The winner of Wednesday night’s Lip Sync Battle will perform during the halftime of the women’s basketball game, said Vanessa Rials, Newman’s Director of Multicultural Engagement and Campus Life.
Newman’s 2022 homecoming king and queen will be crowned during the break in the men’s game and will come from a pool of five male and five female finalists. All 10 candidates will be on the court for the ceremony, Rials said.
Students voted for the winners earlier this week.
“We encourage everyone to come,” Rials said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to celebrate our students and their accomplishments. Homecoming is a time to really hype up our school spirit and recognize some outstanding students.”
These are the 10 finalists for homecoming king and queen, all of whom are seniors:
Tejay Cleland is a communication major with a minor in journalism. While at Newman, he was a part of the baseball team as both a player and coach. He has been writing for the student newspaper, The Vantage, for two years, serving as both sports editor and editor-in-chief. He also is a reporter for KWCH-Channel 12 in Wichita.
Daniel Knolla is a biochemistry major on the pre-med track and he plans to attend the University of Kansas Medical Center next semester. He has been a part of many major theater productions, including the upcoming “Mary Queen of Scots,” and is also part of the Sloppy Joes. Knolla also is a Biology Lab TA.
Tyler Push obtained a bachelor’s degree last year with a double major in sports communication and business management. He returned to school this year to pursue his master’s degree in leadership business while also utilizing an extra year of eligibility to play basebal, which he has done for four years. He also is a member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and is the sports editor for The Vantage.
Steven Nguyen is majoring in English and secondary education in hopes of becoming a high school English teacher. He has been on the triathlon team for four years and has been a Campus Minister for three years. He also started and created a course for the Disc Golf Club, and as an ASC Scholar, he has spent time volunteering to work with inner city kids.
Brenden Schwartz is majoring in psychology and theatre and is a member of the honors program. He has been a captain of the Sloppy Joe Improv team for three years and an honors house leader for two years. He serves on the board for Pi Gamma Mu and is a writer for The Vantage.
Kayla Garvert is double majoring in management information systems and business data analytics. She is a St. Newman Scholar as well as an active member of the honors program and has served as a Traditions and Transitions facilitator for three years. She worked for the Student Life department for two years and also served as the Student Government Association’s vice president during her sophomore year.
Julia Myers is a senior business data analytics major. She is a member of the Newman triathlon team, an honors student, and an ASC scholar. She is also actively involved in Campus Ministry and was a student ambassador for three years. After graduation, she will start a full-time position as an aftermarket data analyst at Textron Aviation Defense.
Marie Moore is a biology major and hopes to attend medical school after graduation. For the past three years, she has been a microbiology TA, and within the past year, she has served as president of the Medical Professions Club. She also has been involved in the Sloppy Joe improv and has acted in four Newman productions. She is also a member of the honors program.
Anna Veltien is majoring in biology with a pre-medical technology concentration. She’s been a part of the Newman softball team for four years and has also served on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for the past two years. Over the past three years, she has served as a senator for the Student Government Association.
Allison Williams is majoring in both criminal justice and psychology and minoring in theatre. She has been involved in every theatrical and musical production put on during her time at Newman. She is involved in Pi Gamma Mu and Newman Theatre Club. She also has been accepted into the Clinical Forensic Psychology doctoral program at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles and plans to move there after her wedding this summer.
The Carthage City Commission has given a professional disc golfer permission to create a new disc golf course at the ballpark.
Miles Seaborn, who plays professionally, had previously asked the city to let him design and fundraise for a new course at the ballpark. He got that permission last week, with commissioners saying they were looking forward to the new amenity.
“There have been a lot of positive comments online,” City Manager Steve Williams said.
The project does not use any city funds; commissioners just gave approval for Seaborn to use city-owned land around the walking trail for the disc golf course. Seaborn plans to fundraise for each of the course’s holes.
Seaborn has been working to finalize a plan for the course, using the naturally wooded area around the walking trail. There will not be a lot of clearing to do; Seaborn said much of the area’s natural obstacles are something disc golfers prefer to keep.
He is planning nine holes, with two ways to play each for a total of 18 holes. The course will be accessed through the walking trail, but Seaborn says people will be playing away from the trail, so they won’t be hitting anyone.
“None of the holes cross or play close enough to the path to have any real impact on it,” Seaborn said. “And that utilizes a lot of the already-manicured space. So as far as new upkeep, they’re really not going to be. The idea is to do about a $700 hole sponsorship that pays for all the equipment and the installation.”
Seaborn previously designed a disc golf course in Logansport and has been playing the sport for 15 years.
“Designing is different than playing, obviously, but you know, I know kind of what I’m looking for. And I’m happy with this. I don’t know if you remember last time, but I’ve actually reversed the layout from what I thought it would be because it gives more room to make the holes a little bit more challenging. There will be two tee boxes on every hole. So there’s a more amateur, intermediate beginner tee box, something easier, then something a little longer for advanced players.”
Seaborn encouraged city commissioners to give the sport a try and also noted it’s good for kids of all ages.
“It’s a good activity for young kids too and youth,” he said, adding “the numbers, you know it’s been around for almost 50 years, the first 41 years of professional Disc Golf Association, they went from zero to 100,000 members. In the last four, they’ve gone from 100,000 to over 200,000 and COVID. So it’s exploding like crazy.”
February 23, 2022 by Charlie Eisenhood, Patrick Aubyrn, Kingsley Flett, Gabe LaBounty, Jesse Weisz, Cameron Guidry, Christopher Wiklund, Steve Andrews and Ben Murphy in Preview with comments
The 2022 disc golf season is finally here! The top professional players are warming up in the Nevada sunshine as the Las Vegas Challenge, the first stop on the 2022 Disc Golf Pro Tour, kicks off the touring season tomorrow.
Inside, we look at the stories that will define the next nine months!
PDGA/DGPT Unification: Tour Cards, Playoffs, and Media, Oh My!
In some ways, it’s remarkable how quickly the Disc Golf Pro Tour has gone from a shaky foundation to being the only game in town, with all the North American players and even top European athletes planning their seasons around it.
In the offseason, the PDGA ceded control of the professional side of the game to the DGPT, folding the long-standing National Tour into a single, unified Disc Golf Pro Tour. And the professionalization has been happening fast. Top players from 2021 (plus some European and other exemptions) get a slew of benefits as a Tour Card holder. The Pro Tour sold its media rights to post-production teams for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Minimum added cash is going ever higher.
And the season structure is getting more clearly defined as well. Now, Majors earn players DGPT points, too, and everything funnels into a multi-tournament playoff structure that whittles the field down from 150 at Green Mountain Championships to 96 at the MVP Open to 48 at the DGPT Championship, a model loosely modeled around the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup.
The DGPT is borrowing another concept from other professional sports: the play-in tournament. Major League Baseball recently added a Wild Card play-in game; the NBA also introduced two 4-team play-in tournaments to set its 16-team bracket last year. This year, the DGPT will offer six players in both MPO and FPO the chance to earn the final two spots in the Tour Championship: the next two players in the standings, then any players that won an Elite Series event or Major but didn’t directly qualify for the Tour Championship, and then any additional slots allocated to the next players in the standings.
All together, it stands as an inflection point in pro disc golf history, a changing power balance and new focus at the elite end of the sport.
– Charlie Eisenhood
Is this the Year of the Dark Horse?
Gregg Barsby holds a scorecard during 2018 Pro Worlds. Photo: Alyssa Van Lanen – PDGA
I first met Gregg Barsby in the car park at Delaveaga prior to the Pro Worlds in 2011. He approached me while I was flipping through racks of discs at the fly-mart and said, “hey man, I’ve got a few discs in the car to sell, they’ll be cheaper.” I followed the future world champ back to a little wagon-style car with its best years well behind it, by a decade or more. In the back was a jumble of clothes, a sleeping bag, and boxes of discs. Barsby’s tour included 31 tournaments that year. He would finish 16th that week in Santa Cruz and earn $575 in prize money on his way to $11,923 for the year. The few discs he sold me and anyone else would have supplemented that prize money, but I had to assume that he attended those 31 tournaments through a combination of sleeping in that car, couch surfing, and the kindness of strangers. If you talk with any pro about touring in those years, they make it sound like a lot of fun. But it’s not an ideal environment for peak athletic performance.
In the past half decade, the sport’s top players have begun to leave that lifestyle behind. Some travel with managers, they either fly-in and out of events, staying in quality accommodation, or travel in mobile homes that would make any van-life YouTuber envious. There are still a few zeros less in their paychecks than those of tennis players or golfers, but, in recent times, our handful of top performers have had a similar touring lifestyle to other pro athletes. This year, they will be joined by quite a few more.
As the increase in prize purses and sponsorship money trickles down to the second and third tiers of the sport, many other disc golfers are leaving the ramen noodles, Walmart carparks, and austere lifestyle behind to embrace a level of preparation that matches the very best in the game. Even a one percent improvement is the difference between being on the podium and not over a 72-hole tournament. I sense that the tide is rising right across the sport.
I wonder which players, then, will take the opportunity and become 2022’s dark horse? It might be Bradley Williams, who has been working hard in his offseason, especially on his putting stroke. Or will Ezra Aderhold break though? Maybe Missy Gannon will build on her stunning win in the DGPT Championship and carry that form through 2022? Or what about Gannon’s podium mate from that tournament Nathan Queen, who spent some of his winnings on some rolling tour hardware. Matt Orum will be touring full time this year (though he’s currently out for this weekend after getting his appendix removed). Has Madison Walker put her injuries behind her? Maybe Holly Finley will continue her relentless drive to the top?
What about the Europeans? Will Linus Carlsson or Eveliina Salonen show us that the game over there has grown in isolation and leapfrogged the US?
This list could go on, but the odds are that 2022’s dark horse won’t be on it. Gregg Barsby himself was a dark horse in 2018 when he won the World Championships. That’s the thing about dark horses: they always surprise you.
– Kingsley Flett
The Europeans Are Back
Kristin Tattar at the 2021 Great Lakes Open. Photo: DGPT
No need for a blurb here when we’ve got an entire series about the return of European disc golf to the world stage. Things get off to quite the start with the FPO feature card in round one of Las Vegas Challenge tomorrow: the top four highest-rated women in the world — Paige Pierce, Kristin Tattar, Eveliina Salonen, and Henna Blomross — will tee off on the same card. It’s the highest-rated FPO card in disc golf history. Really.
– Charlie Eisenhood
Power Players
Unfettered, infinite, and totally ethical growth is what capitalism is all about, but what is disc golf capitalism all about?
In recent years, we have seen a transition occur in the power dynamics between players and their manufacturers. Before 2019 or so, manufacturers were clearly in the driver’s seat when it came to the business side of the game. Players simply couldn’t support themselves on tour without their manufacturer sponsors who provided a stipend, gas money, plastic, and winnings bonuses. There were only a handful of companies involved in professional disc golf, and because of this, they dominated a relatively small market and could dictate the terms of their support without much consequence.
That has changed dramatically. At least at the top levels of the game, players are more valuable to a manufacturing company than the other way around. If the Luna was released as a regular putter in the existing Discraft lineup, would it have been as much of a cash cow? Probably not. Slap McBeth branding on it, and you have a major hit. MVP discs had a cult following but not a huge share of the market or conversation, then James Conrad makes The Shot and they sell more plastic in a couple days than they had over the course of the entire previous year. The PDGA tried to set up a new major with a new format, then the players complained and the PDGA backtracked and capitulated to the players’ demand for a more traditional format.
It seems right now that disc golf capitalism is perhaps a little more Marxian than we realized, where labor (the players) are indeed entitled to and obtaining the fruits of their labor. Fans will spend money on discs and merch, not because they necessarily need the product itself, but because they want to support their favorite player. Whether the plastic is molded in Michigan or California doesn’t really matter to many, but supporting an individual player does matter to fans.
Players and companies who have understood the paradigm shift have been the most successful over the past couple of years, Discraft is the perfect example. In their ads we see Brodie Smith, Paul McBeth, and Paige Pierce in the warehouse, with nary a mention of the actual product. They have been extremely successful in recent years. Innova has let players walk rather than pay them, and their advertising tends to be very product forward. Could they see some sales slippage?
In 2022, there will be new discs released, new merch to buy, new gizmos and gadgets to stuff your bag with, and you will purchase it not because it’s a DD product or a Prodigy doodad. You’ll buy it because you want to support Kona Panis and you like Kevin Jones.
– Chris Wiklund
#ContractYearCalvin
Calvin Heimburg. Photo: DGPT
Let’s take a look at the top five rated players in the world: Ricky Wysocki, Eagle McMahon, Paul McBeth, Calvin Heimburg, and Chris Dickerson.
Paul got paid. Ricky got paid. We don’t know how much Eagle gets paid, but he’s definitely getting paid. Chris Dickerson just bounced from Prodigy so that he can get paid (a Buzzzworthy offseason, no doubt). Further down the ratings leaderboard, Kevin Jones got paid.
Now it’s Calvin’s turn to get paid. Heading into the final season of his current contract with Innova, he’s surely doing just fine for himself, but, if he has a great season, he is going to have some serious suitors in the 2022 offseason. He knows this. The effort going into his social media has picked up quite a bit in recent months, and his game looks sharp: he was the standout player at the All-Star Weekend two weeks ago, showing off his powerful distance in the skills challenge and then finishing first (and beating Eagle) in the singles round.
He’s been one of the best players on tour for two years now, but his 2021 performance was a bit down compared to 2020. Take a look at his stats from the last two years:
There’s the obvious caveat that there were a lot more tournaments on a lot more course in 2021 than in 2020, but you can still see the slight percentage reduction in performance across categories (and relative rankings).
Could a contract year be just the ticket to push Calvin to new highs? You could hardly ask for more motivation heading into a season.
– Charlie Eisenhood
FPO Players to Watch
Stacie Hass at 2021 Junior Worlds. Photo: Kevin Huver — PDGA.
We spend a lot of time evaluating which players in the bottom half of the top 25 will elevate their status and challenge the stalwarts in the top 10. I want to highlight a few players I’m watching to break into the top 25 in 2022.
Let’s start with Holyn Handley and Stacie Hass, the latter my way-too-early frontrunner for DGPT Rookie of the Year Handley would be on my shortlist, too, but she is ineligible after playing four Elite Series/Majors in 2021. Hass was runner-up at Junior Worlds in 2021, and has since raised her rating 27 points to 912. Roll back the tape on the 2021 CCR Open—the kid can bomb. She also converted 76% of her C1X putts in her six UDisc rounds last year. Both are planning extensive U.S. tours.
I’m also keeping an eye on Leah Tsinajinnie. 2022 will be her second full season on tour. It would not surprise me to see her break into the 900-club before the Champions Cup. The ultimate frisbee convert finished 30th in DGPT points and 25th in PDGA NT points last year. Norwegian Lykke Lorentzen plans to visit the states several times this year in addition to playing on the European circuit. Lorentzen was my pick for Breakout Player of the Year in 2020 before the pandemic shut down international travel. Her work ethic is strong, and she spends just as much time in the gym as she does in the field.
Finally, Estonian Keiti Tätte will make her stateside debut this year (though she won’t debut at LVC as planned due to illness). She’ll be in good company, touring with Kristin Tattar and Silver Lätt. If somehow you haven’t seen her long throw-in for birdie at the European Disc Golf Championship, do yourself a favor and check it out. Based on her 937 rating, she is tied for 25th best in the world with Juliana Korver, Ella Hansen, and Alex Benson.
– Patrick Aubyrn
Brodie v. Stokely
Photo: Brodie Smith
Last year in our season preview, I set the over/under line for Brodie Smith’s ratings increase at 1015. He started the 2021 season at 999. He was able to eclipse that number and finished 2021 with a 1017 player rating, where he currently sits to start the 2022 season.
I believe Brodie is still at a point where fans consider him a new player and new to the tour. He was determined to not just be another celebrity or athlete that plays disc golf but to be thought of as a professional disc golfer and that alone. The transition took time but seems to have come to fruition.
As Brodie starts his third year on tour, a veteran of the sport, Scott Stokely, starts his very first year on the Disc Golf Pro Tour. Stokely has been playing in the Men’s Open division longer than Brodie has been alive but has not played in anything higher than a B-Tier in the open division since 2016. He was once rated in the 1020s with his all-time high at 1023.
Stokley is currently rated 992, and he has been in that general neighborhood for most of the last 15 years, with a few peaks around 1010. He has not been rated as high as Brodie is now since the year 2000.
So the question. Who will have a greater ratings jump in 2022: Brodie Smith or Scott Stokely? Secondary questions would be who will have the higher average finish at shared events? And who will have the highest single finish out of all the events they both play?
Scott Stokely
They are both currently signed up to play 11+ events with six in common, both starting in Vegas with the season opener this weekend. I’m sure more will be added for both players as further phases of the DGPT open up.
If I was setting over /unders for each player I would say:
Brodie Smith: 1025
Scott Stokely: 1010
My thinking is that it should be much easier (and faster) for Stokley to bump his rating higher with a 992 starting point, and Brodie is just now reaching that 1020 log jam of players. Getting to that 1025+ region is a different tier in the sport.
Perhaps the question on even more people’s minds: who will win more skins? Both Brodie and Stokely will be playing in the big money skins match at Eagle’s Crossing in April, with at least $11,800 on the line. They’re going up against Calvin Heimburg and Eagle McMahon. Maybe the question is whether they will win any skins at all.
– Darren LeMay
Load Management
The idea of “load management” was popularized by the NBA in the last few years as teams and players started to change how they prioritize the grind of the regular season against the possibility of being healthier and having more energy for the playoffs. Increasingly, players take games off for no reason other than getting some additional rest. This idea was already common in some other sports, such as baseball, where starting pitchers only take the field every fifth game because pitching is so taxing on their throwing arm.
This year has already started with a significant story around load management focused on Eagle McMahon and the health of his right shoulder. He hurt it last October, right before the DGPT Championship, and has been rehabbing it since. Months later, he says his backhand is pain-free, but he’s still not fully comfortable throwing forehands. Two weeks ago at the All-Star preseason event, he showcased a lefty backhand that was a better replacement for his forehand than most of us expected, and he’s also adjusted his tournament schedule to skip the Texas swing, which features courses that require a lot of forehands. His shoulder issues follow after his Discmania teammate, Simon Lizotte, had an elbow injury that first took him out over a year ago and is still affecting his shot selection.
As we see the calendar get packed more and more tightly with tournaments, including a full European swing, it will be interesting to see if load management gains popularity in disc golf circles and which players cite it as part of their decisions about which tournaments to attend — and which shots to throw.
– Ben Murphy
The Big Switch
Eagle McMahon throws a left-handed drive at the 2022 All-Star Weekend.
Speaking of that lefty backhand, one of the most talked about shots at the 2022 All Star Weekend was Eagle McMahon’s 360-foot park job on hole 12. Normally no one would notice Eagle parking an average par 3, but he threw it left-handed and brought gasps of surprise from DGN commentators Nate Doss and Terry Miller. Eagle is also not the only player experimenting with throwing backhands on both sides. Bradley Williams has also been developing his left-handed backhand during the off-season (nicknamed “Fritz”) and has shown its increasing effectiveness on his social media.
This might just be a way for players who are injured to be able to rest their elbows and shoulders from the stress of a power forehand, but it could also be a sign of a future approach to the game. With the difficulty many golfers have found in getting pro distance from their forehand and the injuries that some players with cannon forehands have suffered, is there a chance that “switch throwers” are going to become a thing in disc golf?
Backhand throws generate more spin (hence more distance) than forehands, so there’s a tangible reason for players to try to develop a backhand on both sides. Don’t expect a sudden sea change amongst current touring pros, but the young players still learning the game? They might have reason to start getting that off-hand field work working.
– Steve Andrews
Live Coverage: More Split Streams in 2022
Based on public statements from Jeff Spring and chatter I’m hearing behind the scenes, it looks like we will see more split streams for MPO and FPO this year. Recall last season the women teed off after the men most of the time, meaning the beginning of their round overlapped with the end of MPO. This approach was, in part, an earnest attempt to increase FPO viewership. The DGPT and DGN banked on retaining MPO viewers for the final nine holes or so of FPO; however, the tradeoff was that viewers interested primarily in watching FPO missed roughly 50% of that coverage.
At LVC, we’re seeing the first evidence that the Pro Tour will prioritize splitting the streams this season. That brings us back to the previous model, which had the women on the course first. In Vegas, the first FPO card is going out at 7:00 AM local time with the feature cards teeing off at 8:44 AM and 9:00 AM. As someone who often watches the women’s coverage to the exclusion of the open division, I applaud the change. I am certain the women’s field writ large enjoyed the afternoon tee times: for one thing, it usually meant better weather (remember that cold and snowy Jonesboro Open round from 2018?), but arranging tournament schedules to facilitate uninterrupted coverage of the FPO division is the right move on balance. Women’s disc golf is compelling in its own right without having to ride the men’s coattails.
On a related note: does this mean Catrina Allen has an early season advantage? Famous for rising in the five o’clock hour to hit the gym, the A.M. tee times won’t necessitate changing her alarm. I expect many of her competitors may take some time to adjust to the early wakeup call. The Europeans might also enjoy the early starts, as it will be the middle of the afternoon across the Atlantic.
– Patrick Aubyrn
Is Drew Gibson’s Play Style Sustainable?
Drew Gibson at the 2021 Ledgestone Open. Photo: DGPT
Gibson ended the season with a significant bang, threatening for wins at the DGPT Championship, USDGC, and Idlewild during the back end of the season. Additionally, he flashed a more dynamic putting game, even if you take away his supernova-hot run to keep pace with Nathan Queen in Charlotte.
Gibson may be the best midrange thrower in the game, but his audacious play style flies in the face of how others might play if their strongest asset was their midrange game. Gibson finished the season 96th in OB percentage, and frequently displayed no fear in putting himself in tough positions so long as he was also getting strokes on holes few others were touching. This led to highs and lows: for every Pro Tour Championship, there was a GMC, where he finished T-71st. It will be interesting to see if the putting strength continues, and if Drew’s brash, DeChambeau-esque strategy will pay dividends.
– Cam Guidry
Velediaz Ascendent?
Macie Velediaz at the 2021 TPWDGC. Photo: DGPT
Dynamic Discs announced Macie Velediaz’s one-year extension two weeks before revealing marquee signees Kona Panis and Valerie Mandujano. It feels like she’s been lost in the shuffle somewhat following those later announcements, but don’t sleep on her. Of the three, Mandujano boasts the highest rating at 950 with Panis clocking in a point shy at 949, but Velediaz is not far behind at 942. She only played six Elite Series tournaments in 2021 and finished in the top 10 four times: third place at the Dynamic Discs Open and the Music City Open, fourth at the Jonesboro Open, and seventh at the Throw Pink Championship. The Tennessean also boasted the fifth highest birdie rate in 2021 per UDisc statistics and was top six in all driving categories. If she can shore up her short game and bring down her OB rate, her stature will rise quickly. I want to see her raise her C1X putting percentage by 5% up to 67% (see: Eveliina Salonen, Maria Oliva, and Kristin Tattar) and lower her OB rate by 1.5% to around 11% (see: Valerie Mandujano, Ohn Scoggins, Ellen Widboom).
Velediaz seems unfazed by the limelight in her press appearances, but one can’t help but think those numbers will improve with more time on tour, which should increase her comfort in high pressure situations and on coverage. Her 2022 tour schedule includes all of the US Majors, nine DGPT stops, and two Silver Series, more than double last year’s slate.
– Patrick Aubyrn
What Will Ricky Wysocki Be Bagging?
Ricky Wysocki at the 2018 Tyyni. Photo: Marika Salmi
In The Bag videos may serve as an engagement machine for pros, but with so many players making a big switch this year, they’ll likely hold more water than normal when it comes to predicting the 2022 season. How Catrina Allen replaces her F7 or Dickerson his FX-2 both are interesting questions, but, for my money, I want to see how Ricky Wysocki’s bag shakes out after his move to Dynamic Discs. With two world titles under his belt with Trilogy, it’s likely that he has some old favorites he’s excited to dust off. However, there’s so much more to explore in the Trilogy lineups than when he last represented them. Harp vs. Slammer, Defender vs. Rive — we saw Ricky reach for the less heralded Innova Whale last season in big moments, what will he settle on for his putting putter in 2022?
Wysocki was a cut above in 2021, and while I’m a firm believer of archer over arrows, it’s still a focal point of at least the early stretch of the season. He talks about his plan for Las Vegas Challenge in today’s Upshot Interview Series.
– Cam Guidry
The “Grassroute” or Commercial Takeoff?
The Disc Golf Pro Tour is now the official pro tour of the PDGA.
For as long as disc golf has been around, it has had a well-deserved underground, grassroots reputation, but since its inception as an organized sport, it has also been a commercial venture. After all, the DGA and PDGA were founded by a department head of a 1960s toy company. Until the last two years, the spread of elite competitive disc golf has largely been in pockets around the United States and Northern and Eastern Europe with a national and international tour to connect everyone in the Frisbee Family diaspora.
The 2021 COVID outdoor sports boom brought exponential growth for disc golf on a level unheard of in the sport’s history, and the Disc Golf Pro Tour capitalized on several broadcast opportunities, but the last two years wasn’t without friction. The PDGA is a slow-moving machine by nature, as a non-profit with a board of directors elected by the player base, and was roundly criticized for poor handling of National Tour tournaments and Majors compared to DGPT stops, but elite tournaments will now be operating under the proven methods of the for-profit Pro Tour.
There has always been a push and pull between the sport’s executive level and the local player/organizer base. The grassroots nature of disc golf’s growth over the last 50 years is at a turning point with the tour unifying under the DGPT banner and more eyes on the sport than ever. The DGPT is still working out some kinks in their processes, but it is now the biggest growth engine disc golf has seen since Headrick’s network of regional pros. Disc golf’s elite players will enjoy a higher level of tournament administration proven by the DGPT in the past two years, but does this signal a larger move away from the grassroots spirit that brought many into the sport where top pros are easily accessible to and, in some cases, rely on fans to bolster their bags with out-of-stock discs?
Will the influx of new players who are often unaware of disc golf’s history change the culture of the game writ large? The 2022 season will be a bellwether for how much of disc golf’s grassroots kinship is sacrificed in the name of growth, and what influences will remain from the tight-knit group born of the PDGA’s transition from a profit-focused business to a player-run non-profit.
– Gabe LaBounty
The Next Rookies of The Year
Micah Groth could be in the running for 2022 Rookie of the Year. Photo: Hayden Henry — PDGA.
5-time world champion Juliana Korver raised eyebrows when she won the 2021 DGPT Rookie of The Year award. So much so that the DGPT felt they needed to change the qualification rules. Under the new rules, the DGPT Rookie of the Year will go to the MPO and FPO players with the highest point total who has not played in more than three DGPT Elite Series, National Tour, or Major tournaments in a single previous season. Players who have competed in two or more Majors in a single previous season are also ineligible.
These new rules narrow the field of which players are most likely to win the DGPT ROY in 2022. The more events a player attends, the more chances they have to amass the tour points needed to win, so the first place to look for contenders is this list of tour card recipients. Of the 84 men and 37 women who were able to get tour cards, I counted only seven players that would qualify for Rookie of the Year. In MPO, those players were Micah Groth, Issac Robinson, Kristo Raik, Lauri Lehtinen, and 2021 European Disc Golf Champion Niklas Anttila. For FPO, I found Aria Castruita and Keiti Tätte.
There is still a good chance someone without a Tour Card can place high enough at DGPT and Major events to win ROY. For example, 1035-rated Linus Carlsson does not have a tour card yet announced a pretty extensive tour in the US for the early part of 2022 and said the DGPT (and Majors) are his focus. Another contendor for ROY, Iceland’s Blær Örn Ásgeirsson, told me he had already registered for many of the early season tournaments before the tour card became available.
While the Europeans are probably the favorites to win the MPO Rookie of the Year award, perhaps a young American can follow the Gannon Buhr path to stardom. Buhr, the 2019 PDGA Junior World Championship, took the pro tour by storm in 2021 en route to his ROTY award. Micah Groth seems like a good candidate after his win at the 2021 NADGT-National Championship and third-place showing at PDGA Junior Worlds. On the FPO side, Aria Castruita has a very promising future after her wins at both PDGA Junior Worlds and the NADGT-National Championship. Stacie Hass, who finished second at 2021 PDGA Junior Worlds, also seems to be preparing for a full tour.
Either way, it is very unlikely we will have another ROY who comes into the season with a Hall of Fame-worthy resume. Sorry, Des Reading and Scott Stokely!
– Jesse Weisz
Who Will Finish the Year at #1 in the World?
Paige Pierce at the 2021 Ledgestone Open. Photo: DGPT
This is a question every year, of course, but it’s been a while since we’ve really seen the full field of elite disc golfers all competing together at the biggest tournaments. Paige Pierce finished at #1 despite a poor finish to her 2021 season, but she wasn’t at her sharpest for much of the second half of the year and was outright beat by Kristin Tattar twice, despite Tattar not playing many events. The race for the top spot in FPO feels more open than ever before after years of dominance from Pierce.
MPO, too, is intriguing. Multiple top players have new bags, some top pros are playing more extensive tours, and the ascendance of young talent like Calvin Heimburg, Eagle McMahon, and Kyle Klein seems poised to topple the Paul/Ricky era.
Could this be the year? People thought Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal would be mothballed a long time ago, too, and those guys keep winning majors. Ricky comes into the season at #1, and McBeth was the best player at the Majors in 2021, despite getting Worlds ripped away from him from 247′ away.
But their grasp on the top spot is no longer assured. Eagle McMahon is only one rating point behind Wysocki and is two ahead of McBeth, and Heimburg and Chris Dickerson are not far behind. Adam Hammes and Klein are surging. And who knows just how good the Europeans will be after two years off the tour?
America’s SBDC at Tarleton State University’s presents an upcoming webinar titled “Use Youtube to Grow Your Business” at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23.
Learn how to use YouTube and the power of video to promote your business or brand.
In this workshop we’ll cover:
• Creating and organizing a YouTube channel
• Adding videos and streaming with YouTube Live
• Video ad formats
To register, go to register.gotowebinar.com/register/692259536711535628
Center hosting COVID-19 vaccine clinic
Doctors Medical Center, a primary care health clinic, located on the main campus of the Comanche County Medical Center (CCMC) offers COVID-19 vaccines and boosters every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Moderna vaccines are customarily administered 10-11:30 a.m., Pfizer vaccines from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Get on the schedule by calling the clinic at (254) 879-4910.
Doctors Medical Center is located at 10201 Highway 16 North, Comanche (midway between De Leon and Comanche).
Hearsay hosting live music, comedian
Hearsay Wine Bar, 270 W College St., is hosting live music and comedy at its new patio bar from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23.
Come join us on the patio and listen to the Immediate Blues music and stand-up comedian Bill Muncey. Hearsay Wine Bar is open 4-10 p.m.
For more information, call (254) 434-2244.
Senior Center hosting Chili Cookoff
Stephenville Senior Citizen Center, 164 E. College St., is hosting a Chili Cookoff at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, for National Chili Day.
Setup will be from 10-10:45 a.m. with judging beginning at 11 a.m.
This is for amateur cooks only and individual entries, no teams. Contestants may be of any age.
There is a $5 entry fee.
For more information and specific rules, contact the center at (254) 918-1288 or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stephenvilleseniorcitizencenter/
Volunteers sought to plan Dublin Easter Egg Hunt
Would you like to be involved with planning and holding a community Easter Egg Hunt in April? Dublin DQ’s manager Shanna Phelps, has stepped up and offered to lead a group of volunteers to make an event happen here in Dublin.
Join volunteers at the Dublin Texas Chamber of Commerce, 110 S. Patrick St., at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25 to flesh out ideas and plan the event.
We need your help to make this event happen for our community.
Homelessness Help hosting free lunch
Homelessness Help is hosting a free lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Family Center of Graham Street Church of Christ, 375 Graham St.
The organization will continue this on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.
Homelessness Help is dedicated to preventing, reducing and combating homelessness in Erath County by ensuring that an effective system of care and services is in place.
For more information, call (254) 595-3646 or email [email protected]
Open house to benefit fishing team
Outdoor Specialties, 10402 IH 20 Access Road, Eastland, is hosting its second annual open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26.
There will be raffle drawings for the following: Raptor X 42” Zero Turn Mower; Tracker Off Road 300 4Wheeler; and a 2022 Bass Classic XL w Mercury Motor
Tickets are $25 each or five for $100. You do not have to be present to win.
The event will feature door prizes, giveaways, pro staff seminars, and a food truck.
To purchase tickets, call (254) 629-8877 or stop by Outdoor Specialties.
All proceeds from the event will benefit the Eastland County High School Fishing Team.
CASA hosting informational sessions
CASA for the Cross Timbers Area is providing online informational sessions on Tuesdays through March 29.
Dates are: March 1, noon-1 p.m.; March 8, 6-7 p.m.; March 15, noon-1 p.m.; March 22, 6-7 p.m.; and March 29, noon-1 p.m.
These are no-obligation introductions to CASA and its mission to provide abused and neglected children in foster care with CASA volunteers who can speak up for their well-being.
Join CASA staff and current Advocates as they discuss what it means to be a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA, the increasing need for additional volunteers, and how community members can help make a difference in the life of children in foster care.
All sessions will be held via Zoom. For more information or to sign up for a session, visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/www.CASAfortheCrossTimbers
Clark Gardens, 567 Maddux Road, Weatherford, announces a new month-long event, “Grow at Clark Gardens”, highlighting nature-based activities while encouraging healthy lifestyles.
Throughout the month of March, “Grow at Clark Gardens” will host events, both weekdays and weekends, designed to enrich the lives of our local citizens and tourists through art, wellness, gardening, and other nature-based activities.
Each week will wrap up that week’s topic with a weekend vendor market. There will be vendor booths with locally made goods and local services offered. Vendor markets will be Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For weekly topics, visit www.clarkgardens.org
General admission is $7 for seniors 65 and older; $9 for adults; and $5 for children ages 4-12. In addition, optional fees will be available for purchase through vendors and professional events located throughout the garden.
For more information, contact Nigel Benavides at (940) 682-4856.
Senior Center hosting country dance
Stephenville Senior Citizen Center, 164 E. College St., is hosting a country and western dance from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, March 1.
Dust off those dancing shoes and come boot scoot to music by Cowboy Country Productions, sponsored by Andy’s Tires.
The center hosts a dance each first Tuesday of the month.
Entries sought for St. Patrick’s Festival parade
The community of Dublin is gearing up for its annual St. Patrick’s Festival and is seeking parade entries for the event.
The parade is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12, with check-in beginning at 9 a.m. at the corner of North Post Oak and East Clinton streets.
Judging of entries will begin at 9 a.m. with awards presented before the parade begins.
There is no entry fee, but an entry form must be filled out. No candy or other objects are allowed to be thrown from vehicles.
For more information or to enter the parade, visit the Dublin Chamber of Commerce at 110 S. Patrick St., email [email protected] or text (254) 300-6263.
Shamrock Shootout part of St. Patrick’s festivities
The Shamrock Shootout 2022 disc golf tournament will be held in conjunction with this year’s St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin.
The tournament is set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 12, at Dublin City Park, 216 N. Highland Ave.
Hosted by the Dublin Disc Golf Club, this doubles tournament is a bring-your-own-partner event with entry fee of $25 per person.
There are three divisions: beginner, advanced and open. This is a two-round, 19-hole course.
For more information or to join the tournament, find the Dublin Disc Golf Club on Facebook.
Shamrock Shuffle 5K part of St. Patrick’s event
The Shamrock Shuffle is scheduled for Saturday, March 12, as part of the St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Dublin.
Race time is 7:30 a.m. and starts at the Dublin Public Library, 206 W. Blackjack St.
Entry fee for the 5K is $25 before March 1 and goes up by $5 after March 1. Children younger than 10 are admitted for $15. T-shirts are guaranteed for entrants who pay the fee before March 1.
Race packet pickup is 3-7 p.m. Friday, March 11 at Titan Fitness.
Race day registration is from 6-6:45 a.m. Awards will be given after the race for the top three male and female age divisions and to the overall male and female winners.
5K division include: 5 and younger; 6-10; 11-15; 16-19; 20-24; 25-29; 30-34; 35-39; 40-44; 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-69; 70-79; and 80 and older.
For more information or an entry form, contact Titan Fitness at (254) 445-3001, http://www.titanfitnessdublin.com/ or via Facebook.
Senior Center hosts monthly Book Club meeting
The Stephenville Senior Citizen Center has lots of fun upcoming books as part of its Book Club.
The Book Club meets each first Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. at the center, 164 E. College St., to discuss the book.
Upcoming books include:
• March 3: “Welcome to the Departure Lounge” by Meg Federico
• April 7: “The Things We Cannot Say” by Kelly Rimmer
• May 5: “The Spiral Shell” by Sandell Morse
• June 2: “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir
• July 7: “News of the World” by Paulette Jiles
For more information contact the center at (254)918-1288.
Foster’s annual auction set for March 5
Foster’s Home for Children, 1779 N Graham St., will host its annual auction on Saturday, March 5.
The Outdoor/Silent Auction begins at 9 a.m. The indoor auction begins at noon with vehicles, etc., to follow.
A barbecue lunch will be available for $5 beginning at 11:30 a.m.
You can support the children at the Foster’s Home either by donating an item or bidding on an item.
Contact Lacy Barton at (254) 968-2143 to donate an item.
Tilden residents enter the city library, bundled up against the cold. They greet each other between sips from their thermoses, then take a seat. Jordan Grummert-Rasmussen and Amanda Kowalewski, extension educators for Rural Prosperity Nebraska, welcome the attendees and begin the first meeting of the Entrepreneurial Communities Activation Process program.
Through a series of surveys, townhall meetings, and the creation and execution of locally designed projects, the ECAP program helps rural Nebraska communities revitalize their towns through entrepreneurship and business development.
“ECAP provides communities the space to reflect on their successes and assets, and in turn learn from and leverage these capacities to improve the quality of life for residents,” Grummert-Rasmussen said.
ECAP has two aims: to strengthen already existing assets and introduce new vitality to communities. The aims are defined by community members, who lead the discussions, set goals and complete projects.
Marilyn Schlake, co-lead for Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s Community Economic Development team, which heads ECAP, emphasizes the focus on each community’s individuality.
“It takes about two to three months to do this process,” she said. “Then (residents) have a plan to start moving forward. But the community decides all that.”
Molly Navratil, a Tilden City Council member, attended the inaugural ECAP meeting with hopes that moving forward didn’t mean abandoning the community’s culture.
“I hope that Tilden keeps its strong, awesome, positive identity,” she said, “but is able to grow in the things that it needs to leap into the future.”
Tilden is taking its first steps in the program, but communities across the state have already seen major improvements by participating.
In 2018, Plainview began the process with a communitywide survey that asked questions about housing, child care, food access, and community culture and vision. Within three years, it welcomed 19 new businesses and created 75 new jobs, remodeled its city park, received multiple federal grants and created a $200,000 revolving loan fund.
“Our main street is full. I have no buildings left,” said Susan Norris, director of Pierce County Economic Development. “ECAP focuses on the positive. It’s such an organic process.”
Plainview is only one example. Auburn is working on downtown revitalization efforts. Osmond is upgrading communitywide broadband service. Hadar created a disc golf course in its city park and is developing a 93-house subdivision.
While Tilden was beginning the ECAP process, just up the road, Atkinson residents were holding the “graduation” session of their year-long program, and they had much to celebrate. Participants reminisced about the progress their community has made, from expanding child care options to updating the community welcome packet — which is delivered to new residents in person — to creating a service-based website, which will launch in the coming months.
“Atkinson has benefitted from the ECAP program because I feel like we were comfortable, and this program came in and challenged us,” said Pam Winer, general property manager of the Sandhills Hotel and president of Atkinson’s Chamber of Commerce.
The crowning event was a career fair for high school students to explore opportunities in Atkinson, which resulted in many students earning employment and internships at local businesses.
Some people participated in the program for personal reasons, like Patti Skrlda, who promised her deceased father she would help “keep Atkinson alive,” she said.
Others joined the team from a professional standpoint, like Sheryl Hiatt, who works for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.
“The ECAP process really lays the groundwork for economic development and community development,” she said. “My thing tonight is, I really want to know what’s next.”
A lot falls under that umbrella of “community development,” whether it’s a new restaurant, better child care centers, expanded housing or a revitalized main street. Either way, the spirit of ECAP is in its name — it’s a process.
From completing the first survey to cutting the ribbon on opening day, locals continually strengthen the economic climate in their communities long after the program is “finished.” Atkinson understood this concept, as the final slide of their celebratory presentation asked, “Ideas for future projects?”
WILTON — Wilton is moving forward with renovations at some parks & recreation facilities funded by Judith Bjorn’s $100,000 donation.
The Wilton Select Board authorized Parks and Recreation Department Director Frank Donald to spend up to $38,600 on renovations for the basketball courts at Kineowatha Park.
Donald was authorized to spend the funds on purchases of poles, backboards and paving for the court.
Donald anticipates they will enlist students at Foster Career and Technical Education Center to build the six poles. The town has previously enlisted Foster Tech students for other projects.
Donald said this is a plus for the students, town and community.
For the town, it saves quite a lot of money, Donald said in an interview. And it allows those kids to get some practical experience, take on different kinds of projects, he added.
Donald said that it gives the students “a sense of pride in the community.”
Bjorn donated $100,000 to the town’s parks and recreation department in December.
Bjorn told the town that she wanted the money “to be used to support your expensive programs for youth and families” and “enhance and continue [the parks and recreation department’s] excellent programs.”
The parks and recreation department then conducted an online survey to gauge what community members wanted the town to spend Bjorn’s donation on.
Donald said that of the 87 responses, 29 voted to renovate the courts and 27 voted to build a pavilion in the center of Kineowatha Park.
Other options included maintenance funds for upkeep on the disc golf course and lighting for the tennis and pickle ball courts. Some respondents also suggested work to improve the steep hill leading to the beach at Kineowatha — though Donald said there are some complications with that idea.
Donald currently has full approval for spending on the courts — barring some limits on paving.
He anticipates the new poles and backboards will be installed by late May and hopes the paving will be completed by the end of August.
Donald will return to the board in the future with solidified ideas and quotes for work on the pavilion.
In other business, Wilton is reopening the Share Shack at its transfer station. The announcement was made at the Select Board’s Tuesday, Feb. 4, meeting.
Selectperson Tom Saviello anticipates the Share Shack will reopen April 1. The date of the opening hinges on approval of a set of rules for the shack by the select board.
The Share Shack first opened in 2010 with the intent “to take usable items out of the waste stream for individuals who need them.”
The Town of Wilton’s website currently states that acceptable items include wooden furniture, housewares, tools, building materials and children’s toys. Among unacceptable items are air conditioners, dehumidifiers, glass doors, grills, large appliances, mattresses and box springs, stuffed or upholstered furniture, televisions and computer monitors.
The town closed the shack down at the beginning of the pandemic due to restrictions. It reopened in 2021 and closed again in November 2021 due to concerns of misuse.
At the board’s Nov. 11 meeting, Public Works Foreman John Masse explained the station has had issues with people dropping off “unacceptable items” and creating “pretty much a disaster” despite having “posters everywhere saying what you can and can’t put in.”
At the November meeting, Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri also said she’s seen people “hoarding” items, selling them at yard sales.
The board decided then to close the shack, review the policies, clean it out and figure out how to move forward.
Saviello told the board at the Feb. 15 meeting that the recycling committee is going to write up a set of rules that put limitations on donations and usage.
Saviello told the board the anticipated rules include barring more than one visit to the shack a day and the donation of items that are wrapped in boxes. He also suggested a policy that they clear out items that have been in the shack for a prolonged period of time.
However, Saviello was clear to say they would not to do anything to prevent Share Shack items from being taken and sold at yard sales.
Saviello added in an interview that the committee also plans to have a town employee oversee and approve what people put in the shack.
Saviello will return to the board with rules to approve at some point in March.
February 22, 2022 by Steve Andrews in Instruction, Opinion with comments
I love asking people about their bags and why they carry the discs they do. I was talking to a friend in our club and noticed that they had two Destroyers, a Raider, and a Boss. He also had three midranges that seemed very similar to me: an EMac Truth, a Roc3, and a Compass. When I asked him why he had those particular discs, each one came with a story – a great shot they had thrown with it or the tournament where they had won it. This was a bag built by adding discs, each carrying the memory of a great moment on the course.
Many people’s bags are like this, built like a collection of their favorite songs. They like each of these discs a lot and so their bag has become a kind of greatest hits of their plastic. But a collection of favorite songs does not always work together as a whole. Instead, you should think of your bag as an old-fashioned mixtape — all the tracks need to flow and sometimes this means leaving out a favorite that just doesn’t work or including a song that holds everything together.
The important thing is to see your discs as a set. Each one plays a role, and they cooperate to help you navigate the course. You want manageable and consistent gaps between your discs to help you always have the right tool for the shot you need.
Build Out from a Solid Core
Your discs must cover all the shots you will need from your shortest approach to your longest drive. How you get there will depend on the discs you decide are the “center” of your bag. This will be different for every player, depending on their power level and the kinds of shots they like to throw. If you love hyzerflips, you may need a completely different lineup than if you rely on flex shots. It is not just whether discs are “great discs” – it is whether they fit the shots you throw the best.
Your bag should start with a disc that you love. This tentpole disc will then determine the discs you choose to fill out the rest of your lineup. Once you have that disc, you can build outwards in two ways – by finding similar discs in other speeds and by filling gaps around your tentpole disc. For the first method, look for discs that allow you throw the same shot at different distances. For example, if you are a powerful forehand player who leans on the Raptor, you can build off that disc. If you throw the Raptor around 300 feet, then you need other discs that give you a similar flight but with different distance potential. You are essentially looking for a driver, midrange, and putter version of the Raptor. For example, this player’s bag might have a “spine” of the Force, Raptor, Malta, and Zone. With this lineup, they can throw the shots they like best and use one style of throw to cover a wide range of distances. On open courses, they might only throw this shot with these discs all day.
Another way to build out your bag is by adding discs that compliment the tentpole discs. As a player with only moderate power, fairways are often the most important discs I carry, and I like to build my bag out from my main fairway driver. I have had several discs in this slot as my bag has evolved and right now my bag centers on the Teebird3. It is exactly what a tentpole disc should be: it is straight enough to be a go-to disc for a wide variety of situations and flies over 300 feet while being stable enough to resist some wind. As one of the Innova “3” models, it is also flat enough to be a good fit for my sometimes shaky forehand.
I need to fill out my bag with discs that fill the gaps around my Teebird3. In my fairway lineup, that is a straighter fairway that works great in the woods, a less stable fairway for hyzerflips that ride right, and an overstable fairway that can hold up better in the wind and be more reliable on a forehand. For me, I put in a Leopard3, which is much straighter than a Teebird3, a Roadrunner for hyzerflips, and a Firebird, which is much more overstable. I will throw the Teebird3 whenever I can, but those other discs are there to give me very manageable gaps between the discs in my fairway lineup.
This is the place where some players cycle discs instead of adding extra molds. A different player might simply beat in a Teebird3 until it was flippy enough to fit that slot instead of adding in a Leopard 3. That is also a great approach. The goal is to have useful gaps between your discs so you can cover every shot you need, and every disc has their own lane. Getting there by cycling discs or adding discs can both work. You can also mix these approaches; I like to cycle my drivers while carrying multiple molds for my short game discs.
This is also where you need to pay attention to variations within a mold. I can find Leopard3s, especially in the halo plastic, that are almost as overstable as my more beat-in Teebird3s. But though I love the feel of those halo Leopard3s, I don’t carry them. Instead, I bag a mellow middle stability Leopard3 because I want to maintain the gap between my Leopard3s and the other discs in my fairway lineup. Every disc in my bag has a specific role; the Leopard3 is there to fly dead straight and land flat.
Sometimes, you find a new disc you love and want to include it in your bag. Resist the temptation to just toss it in without thinking about how it will relate to the other discs you already carry. When you add one, think about whether it overlaps with other discs in your bag. I fell in love with the Mako3 and, when I added it to my bag, I discovered I needed to move other discs out because their flights were too similar.
I love the Berg. It is a great disc, it fun to throw, and has a completely unique flight. But the strength of my play is my short game, and it has been fine-tuned by hours and hours of joyfully monotonous field work with a Harp. Adding the Berg would require moving things around and could affect one of the best parts of my game. Maybe I should do it, but until I can pull the trigger to really shake things up my stack of Bergs stays in the basement.
Discovering a Gap
Sometimes you find a gap when you confront a shot that just doesn’t seem to be in your bag. You might discover that your midranges are too overstable to hold the turnover you need or find out that your bag has trended too much to the understable side and you can’t trust your drivers or fairways in the wind. This happens frequently if you always do your fieldwork in calm conditions. After throwing in the field, I often find myself adding discs that go further with a little more turn and then find out that disc with a perfect little turn becomes a roller when the wind blows in a tournament round.
One way to find these kinds of gaps is by playing rounds with a limited bag. A few weeks ago, I went out and played a “mids only” round. When I started, I was happy with my midrange lineup – a very overstable RocX3, a mellow Mako3, and an understable Tursas – but my gaps collapsed when the wind started blowing. It wasn’t howling, but it was enough that the Mako3 was flipping over and the Tursas became a roller. These discs, which seemed very different from each other during my field work, became very similar with just a small change in the conditions. Another problem was that the RocX3 was so overstable it flew too short off the tee.
Before this round, I thought the Mako3 was my long stable midrange. It is…as long as there isn’t any wind. Once the wind picked up, I couldn’t trust the Mako3 or get the distance I needed out of the RocX3. I needed to make a change, so I moved to a more overstable Mako3 and replaced the RocX3 with a Westside Bard that gave me the same overstability with more distance. Now I have better gaps between my discs and can face changing conditions with more confidence.
Some gaps you will find in your bag are situational. You may discover that the straight mid that you love for most of your rounds isn’t that straight when you must throw down a wooded tunnel. The fifteen to twenty feet of fade at the end of the flight that you hardly notice on a wide-open approach may send you down a 30-foot ravine in the woods. I have Raiders that are reliably overstable on a calm day but flip in a 20-mph headwind.
When this happens, there are a couple of questions to ask – is this a common situation, or a shot you aren’t likely to need very often? If this is just a unique situation or an oddly shaped hole, then you probably don’t need to change anything. However, if the situation is common enough to necessitate a change, sometimes the solution is easy, such as just adding a more overstable driver. But if you have common shots that are hard to pull off – if you can’t throw turnovers very well, for example, and you play courses where they are necessary – your bag may have become too full of overstable discs and you need to think about making some changes.
It may also be that you don’t need a new disc, you need a new shot. You may just need more field work working on turnovers or forehands with the discs you have. Often it is a blending of the two, you may need a disc that can more easily hit a particular line and more time in the field dialing in that shot.
Everyone’s Gaps are Different
A forehand dominant power player should have a different bag than me, a righthanded backhand player who builds their bag around moderate stability discs and accuracy. Where his bag might be built around the Force, Raptor, and Malta, my bag may center on the Sheriff, Teebird3, and Mako3. These bags are completely different, but they are both built around the kinds of shots we throw the best and supplemented with discs that help close the gaps.
Your playing style will reveal the gaps that need to be filled. One of my weaknesses is my forehand – I simply can’t throw them for distance. On the other hand, I love throwing hyzerflips that ride out to the right. I have much more confidence on throwing with my standard slight hyzer angle whenever I can and letting the discs do the work. My bag reflects this – right now I carry a Roadrunner and a Tursas, two discs that are very understable and perfect for this shot. The problem is that there is about 100 feet between their average distances. That gap is unmanageably large. I need a disc that will sit between them and be reliable on a hyzerflip with a right finish and go about 300 feet. I am still looking.
If I developed a great forehand, I might not need to carry these discs at all and my bag would look completely different. That’s fine. Build your bag around the discs and shots you like to throw. If you don’t throw many forehands and you don’t have a lot of power, you may not need many overstable discs in your bag. If your main shot is a huge forehand flex, then you may not need many understable options. You want to fill in the gaps around your favorite discs but build a bag that fits your game.
Yes, we should all strive to throw every shot we need with every disc we have. If you have gotten to the place where you can carry a bag like Philo’s – only five molds broken in perfectly that you can throw on every angle – then that is great. And, to be honest, I envy you. Until then, build a bag that fits your game and gives you manageable gaps – each disc working together to allow you to get the most out of your game.
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