fall foliage

At Burbine Memorial Forest Disc Golf Course’s 10th hole, the difficulty for players isn’t in the distance — 270 feet from the top of the tee box to the basket — or the pond hazard in between, or even in the many ladybugs that like to live and flay around there.

Success or failure for the par 3 hole is all about choosing how to play depending upon the way the wind is blowing.

Mark Hay, a member of the Capital Region disc golf club, DisCap, was in charge of the 2nd annual Blues at Burbine disc golf tournament on Saturday. The event with 10 different divisions of competition drew 72 players, including amateurs and professionals, from throughout the state and the region, from states like Vermont, New Jersey and Massachusetts, to a picture-perfect fall day at the Montgomery County-owned Thomas H. Burbine Memorial Forest in the town of Charleston.

Hay, who lives in the town of Carlisle in Schoharie County, watched as a professional player fail to get his disc over the pond hazard at the 10th hole, splashing his disc into the water, incurring a penalty stroke.

“The wind is a huge factor on this hole,” Hay explained.

The pond hole has become one of the more memorable features at the Burbine course. First prize among professionals in the tournament Saturday was $350, but every player got a knit cap, pint glass and a disc stamped with the tournament logo, featuring a picture of the 10th hole, all paid for from registration fees, donations from the Thomas H. Burbine Family Memorial Fund and political candidate Steve Helmin, who sponsored the 4th Hole, in honor of his run for Montgomery County’s 4th Legislative District.

Hay said disc golf players typically have at least 20 different discs they use of varying sizes and capabilities. He said in disc golf the environment itself is a player in the game.

“You are going to choose your disc based on the wind,” he said. “If there’s a headwind, you’re going to use a disc that is more ‘overstable,’ that can fight through that wind better. If there’s a tailwind, you’re going to pick a disc that’s more ‘understable,’ to let it keep going straighter. The guy who just threw it in the water, he can throw the disc like 400 feet. So, it’s not a question of distance. It’s just picking that right disc, and what the wind is doing at the time.”

One could say the same thing about Montgomery County’s choice of pick the growing sport of disc golf as the county’s first…