Don’t call it frolf or frisbee golf. Players from as far as Clovis and Albuquerque gathered on Saturday (Aug. 13) and Sunday (Aug. 14) to rip and sling and fling their discs for the 9th Annual Drew Judycki Memorial disc golf tournament held at the Red River Ski Area Course. Among the professionals in the tournament, the word disc is omitted from disc golf. They simply call it golf.
“What beautiful golf,” one of the competitors in a professional five-some would say after the whole group got a star birdie frame. The term “star frame” denotes everyone getting the same score on a frame.
Judycki was a longtime Red River resident and Red River Ski Area owner. He ran the resort from 1984 to the time of his death on May 26, 2008 at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The logo for the competition shows him blazing down a ski trail as a young mustachioed man wearing a cowboy hat and holding an aspen log in his arms.
There was a strong turnout at the Drew Judycki Memorial, with 94 players taking the lift to the top of the summit to play 18 holes of disc golf on steep terrain.
The front side of the course is called the “The Sunny Side,” where players start off with a scenic tee shot, in which they have to account for the copper chairs of a ski lift. There are no shortages of uphill climbs on the course.
The B-tier professionally-sanctioned event requires players to be members of the Professional Disc Golf Association and the events must be pre-approved by a state coordinator.
Part of the disc golfer’s code is to play smart and never throw into a blind area or when players, spectators and pedestrians are within range. On the 18th hole, this rule was observed as Don Reitter was allowed to hike through without fearing for a flying frisbee. Reitter stopped to enjoy the show.
He said, “Looks like a really exciting event for participants. It’s been fun to watch. It’s amazing how good they can throw a disc.”
The group he was watching featured Jojo Baca, Travis Flett, Robert Huizar, Peter Sandoval and Jason Heimark, all of whom, incidentally, finished in the top five places of the men’s professional open (men 40 years of age and over). A man named Rocky The Great Armijo took fifth place in that division.
For the most part the group avoided landing their frisbees in the forest. Whenever they found themselves in…
basketball, golf, jason heimark, peter sandoval, place, putt, robert huizar, sport, tournament
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