The Am tournament we ran turned out great. Lots of people, lots of fun, good weather. We worked at Innova and kicked out tons of discs for everyone out there. It'll be cool to see people throwing a disc that I hot-stamped.... hope they fly true for all.

We've been having a great time getting to know all the people who work over at Innova and getting a bit closer with our sponsor. We put in some long days and have been going over to a fitness center every few days. Dave and Avery have been hitting the gym pretty hard. I go when I can... lots to do with the PDGA this time of year.

I'm in St. Louis now at Linda's house. Dave is in Michigan and Avery is back home in Ohio. We'll be flying back to the Los Angeles area a few days after new years and get back to work until the tour starts again in late January.

A couple days ago we traveled out to Phoenix to play in the Thrills at the Hills tournament. It was an all-star field. The timeless Steve Wisecup took honors with four consistent rounds. Micah Dorius finished 2nd followed by Steve Rico, Dan Ginelley, Avery, Me, Dave, Bamba Rico, and about 5 more cashing Pros in a 30+ player field. Not bad. It was a little cold but the looming rain merely loomed. The wind didn't get too bad but there is a ton of OB to be found even on calm days at Fountain Hills. I'll get my revenge on this course at 'The Memorial' (formerly the Bob West Memorial) in March.

It was a fun trip. The Winnicrew piled into a mini-van with Dan Duron, Sam Hielman, and Chris Brophy. We dubbed ourselves as 'Team Odyssey' (the model of the Mini-van) and Chris drove us the 12 hour round trip out to Phoenix. When we got back Sunday night we piled our luggage into Dan's truck and he took us over to the airport. Thanks Dan and Chris.

Oh -- speaking of thanks -- we finished up the artwork for our 'thank you' discs for 2002. We really like it! It's pretty cool. The thank you discs are a run of about 75 discs with our thank you hot-stamp. They're all numbered and stuff. We give one to each of the households that we stay with during the year. That's the only way to get one.

Here's some year end stats for the Winnicrew:

Sanctioned tournaments: 45. Dave actually played 46 sanctioned events by flying to a January event in Florida. 46 events in one year is a new PDGA record. The old record was 43 events by me.

Earnings: about $31,000 for the Winnicrew in 2001. Each of us earned just over $10,000.

Entry Fees: The Winnicrew paid about $9,500 in entry fees this year.

Gas and Oil: We spent about $6,500 on gas and oil. This is figuring $1.10 as the average price per gallon and using about 50 quarts of oil.

Three year total: I figure I have toured about 105,000 road miles total in my 3 years. Whew...

Tires: I think we only had to replace about 8 tires this year. The left front needs to be replaced so I'll bump that figure to 9 tires.

Repairs: No major engine problems, but 3 alternators, 1 oil pump, a couple belts, and a bunch of nuts and bolts here and there. We had one major engine tune up (need another soon) and the brakes could use some looking at. The Winnie should make it through another season but I'm not counting on much more than that. Anybody got one we could use after 2002? We'll find something.

People on Tour: I count 13 people that toured full time in 2001. I know of 2 more for sure for 2002. At least 15 other players made it to many major events. Is disc golf getting big yet? Soon..... total combined purse for all PDGA events in 2002 is expected to be one million dollars.

I just wanted to finish this update by writing that again.... 2002 PDGA purse expected to be $1 million.

sounds great,

-Todd and Crew

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