August 23rd, just outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin
We left Kalamazoo in the early evening and arrived in Newtown, PA for the
Champion's Cup on Wednesday
morning, checking out the course at Tyler State park on tired legs. The
course is extremely wooded, with just two holes in the open. Very tough with a lot of
not so obvious routes to the baskets. Each basket has three pin positions, and we
would be playing them all.
That night we had to drive an hour north to the
closest campground on winding hilly roads. Nice place to stay but it would
be too much driving each morning before the rounds so we opted for a hotel
room closer to the park. East coast hotels are not known to be cheap, and the
best we could find for three nights ran us $220.
I was hoping to win my second SuperTour in a row, but ended up in 6th.
The good news is that Al won his first A-tier of the year over Craig
Gangloff and Joe Mela. Both of these guys are great players on this type of
course. Craig let loose with thumb-rollers that would make your jaw drop and
Joe ... well Joe throws everything great.
Editor's Note: Our deepest sympathies to the Mela family, who lost their 10-week
old son Michael to sudden infant death syndrome on August 29th. Please click here if you
would like to extend your sympathies to the family.
In the Women's division, Sue won her first SuperTour ever by a few strokes over
Dez Redding. Way to go Sue! Winnicrew scores the double-whammy.
There were many other fun things to do between
rounds at the Champions Cup. A 'ring of fire' putting contest between rounds
each day. A speed gun. A bunch of CTP's. Lunch delivered to the course was
great. It was a fine tournament and also the first time the 'Flying
Squirels' had run an A-tier event. The Ott family did great.
After the tournament, all the touring players went to a little restaurant north
of the park and had dinner together. Cam, Leslie and Mike headed south toward
Alabama, Belchik toward Florida. Some others went home and called it
an end to the touring season. Not the Winnicrew! We drove 21 hours to Milwuakee
where we'll play the Rumbletown Open this Saturday, and then to a Sunday-only
tournament in Joliet, Ill at Lemon Lake (we think). Then it's back through
Kalamazoo on our way to the MDGO finals in Ludington, Michigan.
While in PA I stumbled upon the local quarterly newsletter "Nice Up"
from the Sedgley Woods disc golf club. It's a fine little publication with
some good reading. Here's a tongue-in-cheek article I found interesting...
By Joe THE Mason
Lemonade and the smell of cut grass! Ahhhh... summer has arrived. I feel
the groove of a great golf season upon me! After all, all golf is great for
me, because what many of you may not know is that I, Joe THE Mason, am a
CHEATER! Yes, I confess. I just can't golf any round without cheating!
Why cheat, you ask? Well, it's not about how good I really am, it's all
about how good people think I am. And, what better way to let people think
about how good I am than by cheating! So, like the "Masked Magician", who
gave away all the secrets of magic, I will dedicate this article to let you
all in on how to cheat... and not get caught!
The best way is to always keep score. Keeping score is such a pain in the
butt for some people, that they don't care if you want to keep score for a
whole round. Yeah yeah yeah, the proper way is for everyone to share
scorekeeping duties. But, I've found that not everyone wants to do this, or
will do this reluctantly. So, offer to do the score until someone takes it
from you. Once you have control of the scorecard, the rest is cake!
First, don't be an idiot. If you write down that you got aces on 18 holes of
a round, you may raise an eyebrow or two. Best not to take this approach.
It's easier if you follow the simple plan I've outlined below:
- Many golfers will forget about a really bad drive by the time the whole
group putts out. So, if you have a crappy drive (say, the one that hits a
tree 20 feel in front of the tee), play your second shot as though nothing
happened. The more fuss you make about a bad drive, the easier it will be
for people to remember it. Assume that the bad drive causes you to take a
'4'... just write a '3'! Remember, experience has taught me that most
golfers will forget a bad drive if you don't whine about it!
- Never alter another golfer's score. They will always remember what they
shot. You'll open yourself up for easy detection if you change someone
else's score.
- If you get caught calling out a '3' for your score when you actually
took a '4', here's how to get around that. Say, "oops!" , and then scribble
over the '3' that you wrote, and write a '4'. Now, to make it look like you
accidentally made a mistake, scribble out a couple of other numbers on the
scorecard, and re-write the number when no one is paying attention. This
way, there will be lots of cross-outs on the card, which will help to hide
your "mistake". Although I just said to NOT change another golfer's score,
make a 'correction' on one or two of their scores too, and this will also
cover your tracks, but don't change their score. Just make it look like you
corrected what you wrote.
- NEVER, NEVER NEVER write a '2' for yourself unless you actually got a
deuce. It's easier to scam a '3' when you actually took a '4' than to try to
skimp a '3' down to a '2'.
- Never use an eraser. That's a great big flag on your forehead (and I
know about foreheads!!!) saying "Hey, look at me! I cheat!"
So, there you have it. Some tips on how to cheat. If you'd like to know how
well this has worked for, just check my tournament record! It's full of
first place finishes throughout North America! I am number one!
But, I must end this now because the editor is telling me that my article has
gone on too long. I guess I'll just have to do what I do best... shave a few
(key)strokes!
Got a question for Todd and the Winnicrew? 
