You'll never guess what happened yesterday. Dave got his first SuperTour win. More later...

After the holidays we all flew back into Los Angeles airport. Due to some flight delays Dave and I came in on different flights about 1 minute apart. We gathered our luggage and Avery called on the phone to let us know that his flight had been cancelled and he couldn't get into town until the following morning. We told him to change his flight to San Francisco and we'd pick him up there. Dave and I rented a car and drove through the night to the Petrified Forest just north of Frisco. Roger Canselor and James Swinger greeted us when we arrived and we snoozed for a few hours before running down to the airport to get Avery.

With the crew back together, we all piled into our rented Grand Marquis and went out to play Stafford Lake. It seemed like a beauty of a course situated in some big hill country. Only problem was that it had been rainy and the course was wet and muddy. We'll have to try it out again later in the year when we come back through town for some other tournaments.

The next day we traveled out to DeLavega and played that course for the first time. Nice course with lots of up and down hill shots. Pretty challenging but it wasn't set up in the most difficult configuration. Roger drove us around downtown San Francisco for a bit and we got a good nights rest before the long drive back to Rancho Cucamonga and more work.

Over the next couple of weeks we stamped a bunch more discs and played in two more tournaments before heading off to 'The Big Show' in Texas. One tournament was the grand premier of Reese Swinea's Fly-18 series of tournaments that will be held on ball golf courses throughout the U.S. on Mondays and Tuesdays following major SuperTour events. The opener for these tournaments was at Mission Trails golf course in San Diego. The course was fabulous. A great mix of shots on a fairly woodsy ball golf course. Staked-out O.B.s and an O.B. cement culvert that winds through the course made things extra tough. Some cool temperatures and a bit of wind made it challenging for all. Climo won out in the end, coming from behind to edge Shawn Sinclair. The Winnicrew was unable to cash and took a pretty big financial hit. We blew about $600 on entry fees, practice fees, cart fees, parking fees. We're starting to realize why ball golf is a wealthy man's sport. Back to work.

We put in another week of hot stamping and cataloging, then 'Team Odyssey' reunited for another road trip. This time we headed up to Fresno, CA for an unsanctioned tournament on a temporary course in a town that doesn't have a course… on a really cold day. Didn't sound too promising. Somehow 114 players showed up to compete. I got edged out by a stroke by Jim Oates, a Lissaman, and a young up-and-comer who's name slips my mind (I didn't get to play with him and he won the playoff for 1st).

Back to work for Monday after the long drive back from Fresno (seems like it's a long drive everywhere in California) and we rented a Ford Focus for two days to get to Dallas / Ft. Worth for 'The Big Show', a MaceMan production. 23 hours and 1400 miles later we pulled up to Brian Mace's door and handed him a check for $1,040... Our entry fees for the upcoming two SuperTours and two B-tiers over the next nine days. It's a good thing we've been working, because I don't know where these entry fees would come from otherwise. We crashed at Brian's that night along with Billy Crump, who is an integral part of the USDGC machine. Billy just might be touring along with Brian McCree and Brian Schweberger this year. Brian and Brian (hereafter known as Brian squared) should be joining us out in California in a few weeks for the Wintertime Open.

Next day met up with the Flying Eye Crew (World Champ Cam Todd, Lesli Herndon, and Mike Young) and practiced a little for the Lewisville Open, which is the first leg of 'The Big Show'. I turned in our Focus (I can't believe we fit all our stuff in that tiny car) and we all camped out at the Lake course. The Winnicrew will be getting driven around by the Flying Eye Crew and/or/with help from Al Schack and Sue Stephens.. Thanks you guys!!! We just couldn't afford to A) bring the Winnie or B) rent a car for the full two weeks. We'll be riding back to Los Angeles with our pals too.

So, here we are at Lake Park Campground in Lewisville, TX. At the opening SuperTour (The Lewisville Open) we played two courses. The first was mostly open and mixed long and short. There was plenty of OB and the wind was up. After the first day I was leading by one over Dave and Nolan Grider (a new Team Innova player). Shawn Sinclair was three back and local Mike Sayre was five behind.

On the second day we played a sweet little woodsy course with some mature trees and a pretty lake. When all was said and done... Dave had beaten me by a stroke. I was one shot better than Shawn. I even deuced six of my last seven holes but couldn't catch Dave, who was making jump putts from everywhere.

Welcome to disc golf 2002… it's gonna be a big year!

-Todd and crew

Got a question for Todd and the Winnicrew? Send it here. Be sure to include "2002 Tour" in the subject header.