For the Old Dominion Showdown we took turns staying at 'The Grange' and John Biscoe's house. The first course we played for the tournament was The Grange. This course has undergone many improvements since we played here last year. The private course on Mike Trapasco's land now has nine gorgeous new holes to make 27 total, it has benches to sit at on most holes, and the improved tiki course was a blast. There was also an elimination bracket putting contest that went on in between and after the rounds where everyone played. By the end of the tournament it was down to myself and Carlton Howard. Carlton edged me by two points in the final match to take the title.

Another fun game featured the tiki course played at night. The tiki course was a little par 2 putting course that consisted of 9 holes in the woods. There were Christmas lights strung up throughout the course so you could see things and each basket had a little tiki torch on top to mark its location. Dave stayed up pretty late to post the top 2-round score but our old pal Mook-D stayed up even later and we found out the next morning that he had edged out Dave's score in the wee hours of the night.

The new 'big' course at Loriella Park was fantastic too. We figured we'd have a nice advantage here over the locals, but Avery was the only who could pick up ground on the field as he came back to pass me by a couple of strokes. Dave played well and finished near the top. I would have the Monkey for the Oklahoma Open on the next weekend. Cam and Worm tied for first and Cam came out on top after an extended playoff.

We packed up quickly after the tournament and headed straight to St. Louis, arriving at Linda's front door at 10am on Monday morning after a marathon driving session. Dave and Avery freshened up and continued on to Hal Baby's house in Kansas City then to Iqbal Jehan's house in Wichita, KS while I stayed behind to help Linda celebrate her birthday for a few days.

While in KC Dave and Avery had to replace a flat tire on the Winnie, using up our last spare tire. I hopped on a Greyhound and met the boys in Oklahoma on Friday morning for the weekends tournament in Tulsa. I officially don't like taking the bus. Hopefully I won't have to do that again.

In Tulsa we played a three course B-tier staying with Kevin McCoy and Billy Moody. Billy's house was a big party. Disc golfers and non-disc golfers everywhere with plenty of food being made out on the grill. Some of the best ham I've ever eaten! The courses were tons of fun and the notorious Okie wind didn't kick up until Sunday. The 'B-tier' kicked out just over $1,000 for first place, which went to Al Schack. Somehow I missed the cash by a stroke. Bummer. The fickle little Shule Monkey decided to join Dave for the VPO. Avery was the only Winnicrew member to cash. In the meantime I've been borrowing cash from people and have racked up a pretty good debt.

After the tournament we drove up to Iqbal's house in Wichita and hung out for three days at the Taj Mahal. That's what we call the huge (7 bathroom) house that IQ lives in. We hung out and talked shop with the Flying Eye Crew (Cam, Worm, and Lesli) while playing video games and watching movies. It was a fun time.... thanks Iqbal.

From there we drove down to the Veterans Park Open in Arlington, Texas. Rain threatened but didn't materialize. I played well the first day and found myself on the lead card for Sunday with Worm, Schultz, and Mike Sayre. After the 3rd (and final round) on Sunday I ended up in a tied for 7th, Avery tied for 9th, and Dave dropped out of the cash. Barry was the big winner. Cam moved into second, Worm dropped to 3rd, Al shot up into the mix in a tie for 4th. I collected up a little cash and paid off some of the gas money I had been falling behind on. Dave keeps the Monkey for next weekend's event at Z-Boaz. After the tournament the entire field played a round of Ace golf. There was a short 9-hole putter course that everyone threw two shots per hole on. All aces split $1000 cash. I had one of the eight aces and got $125 which I had already agreed to split with Dave and Avery. Avery also got a piece of Mike Sayre's ace. While at the VPO we stayed with Dave Draz. I'm sitting in his kitchen right now.

Our plans were to play Z-Boaz next weekend then drive up to Arizona to play the first tournament at the newly rebuilt 'Fountain Hills' course, but it has been postponed until Dec. 15th due to a SoCal tournament. So we're headed to Cali for that one and then do a little work for Innova during the off season and build up a bit of cash. Hopefully I'll be able to find the time and money to spend the holidays with Linda and my family.

In the meantime there is lots to do with the PDGA. We have a schedule to finish, a new rule book to distribute, a new course directory to publish and distribute, some new membership plans to iron out, a discipline committee to put together, an election to run, membership renewals, a tour poster to design and distribute, and tons more stuff. Should be a busy winter.

I'll let you all know how it goes...

-Todd and Crew

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