Sure has been a long time since I wrote anything. It's been a very busy few weeks.

Lets see... last time I wrote we were on our way to the Rumbletown Open in it's first year as a SuperTour. As I remember... uh... oh yeah! I played the final round of the tournament on the 3rd card with Mike (Worm) Young. He had a kickin' round, set the new course record, and won the tournament. Avery finished around 4th and got to play in the final nine skins match. I think I won my money back in the mix there someplace. The tournament went well. I had to make a competition director's ruling at the end on an O.B. call, but I think everything worked out well. Joe Weinchell and staff put on a great show on a very nice course. Check it out for the 'Real Ice Bowl' in 2002.

From there we drove the Winnie back home to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the Lumberjack Open. I handed my title over to Worm for that tournament as well. Wow, two in a row for Worm! Dave played well and made it into the final nine. I think I finished tied for 5th. Larry LaBond had so much money and so few players that I'm pretty sure he paid out half of every pro field. You players out there who don't make this tournament missed out on good cash, free food, and some very tasty Bell's beer... gratis.

Of course we ran some Maceman doubles events along the way. That's always fun and makes a couple bucks, but not much more. We were all set to head out to the East coast for the Eric Yetter Memorial in Erwina, PA. I woke up in the morning to see (the sound was off) one tower of the world trade center smoking. I figured that there was a fire inside. A few minutes later with the sound still off I saw the second plane crash into the intact tower. I woke Avery up and we watched the entire tragic episode unfold.

We still ended up driving to Avery's parents house in Medina that night. We saw gas prices ranging from $1.80 to $3 per gallon where they had been $1.30 just hours earlier. We made it to Medina without getting ripped off too badly.

The Eric Yetter tournament went well. Tyler Park is still a butt kicking, woodsy little bastard of a course. Al Shack somehow shot what will most likely be the only sub-par round here for the rest of eternity. He went on to win the tournament over Craig Gangloff (who kept it fairly close) and Joe Mela. Avery managed a top five performance while Dave and I tied for a lower cashing spot. The Tinnicum course on the second day of the event was beautiful. We spent a few days in Frenchtown at Buck's coffee shop and with our friends "Horrible" Pete, Buck, and others. If you ever get a week off in the fall or spring and want to go have a great time near a small town and a top notch disc golf course… you have to go to Tinnicum. Just drive into Frenchtown and stand in front of Buck's coffee shop for a few minutes with a bag of discs and you'll make friends fast. We love it there and hated to leave.

So now we come to a part of the tour where we have to make a decision. The next SuperTour was in Houston, followed by a SuperTour event in Miami, then a drive up to Augusta, GA for the US Championships. All told we would need to cover about 4000 miles in the next 14 days. We decided that instead of putting the wear and tear on the Winnie (not to mention paying $1000+ just for gas), and to save driving time (about 70 hours driving the Winnie), that we would (and did) drive the Winnie down to 'Mad Dog' McCree's house, rent a car, and leave the Winnie behind for a few weeks. We did so and picked up a fine 2001 Ford Taurus for 14 days. The Taurus had about 3,500 miles on it when we picked it up.... we should at least double that.

So, we packed up our car and transformed into the 'Rentalcrew.' Al and Sue dropped off their new Winnie at Don Johnson's Ace Run Ranch and drove their car to Houston also.

After a nice quick drive to Houston we met up with Larry Kruse who Ickbal had arranged a place to stay with via the PDGA message board. Larry probably didn't know quite what he was in for as he ended up with seven people sleeping on his floors and couches for three days. Thanks so much Larry.

The tournament featured buckets and buckets of pouring rain. It just rained and rained and rained. We wound up playing disc golf on grass tees in between 6-12 inches of standing water. It was no use trying to keep anything dry. The water was at least ankle deep everywhere. Even so, after four rounds and a couple of lightning delays, the tournament was completed and Sugar Shack notched another victory. Avery and Cam tied for second several strokes back. Dave was 8th and I was 9th... guess who has the monkey. The payout was good and as usual the event organizers here in Houston did a great job. It's a fine tournament and the "Wilmont" course rocks. More pros should come here to play.

I'm writing this on Monday, not sure when I'll get it out. We need to be in Miami by at least Thursday. We are supposed to stop in at Climo's on the way. USDGC is coming soon. I hope I do well, I need the money. At least I don't have to worry about the car breaking down..... do I?

-Todd and Crew

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