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Josh drives on hole 1 at FH. It's a 300 footer across (shallowish) water. This is a very nicely maintained course, easy to find (mostly) tees and baskets. Lots of walkers and kids, dogs and so on (Jeff met one the hard way on hole 8). This course does a lot with its water. Also you see rolling hills, some excellent use of various (mostly non-native) trees. There is a shitload of grass. It's a cool course, but in weirdo suburbia craziness. This is what I envisioned Phoenix to be.
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Jeff teeing off on hole two. His shot (like his shot on 1) found water. There is a whole lot of water.
Case in point.
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Ander throwing a forehand on hole 6 (?). This is one of several great holes on the course. Tight, low fairway, downhill. Water takes your disc if you overthrow it, underthrow it, hook it, etc.
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Case in point.
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A great shot of the six hundred foot fountain. This thing is immense. It is incredibly picturesque. Also incredibly man-made. As artificial as you get. On a couple holes you get spray. It is pretty sweet. Would be better if you had to throw around it or through it, of course, but then the world does not always deliver our desires. Also this is a possible book cover for me. Thanks Josh.
Two holes previous Jeff threw a, shall we say, errant drive, way left, over some pedestrians. The disc just passed over a teenage girl's head, stirring her hair up (possibly it clipped her) like sand from a bunker. This did not bode well for the day. Said girl seemed entertained. We played away fast. Josh hit a ten-year old kid in the leg the previous week on Groves in Tucson. Good times. That was kind of hilarious, actually. This, a little less so. Note: be more careful with drives.
*Two holes previous Jeff threw a, shall we say, errant drive, way left, over some pedestrians. The disc just passed over a teenage girl's head, stirring her hair up (possibly it clipped her) like sand from a bunker. This did not bode well for the day. Said girl seemed entertained. We played away fast. Josh hit a ten-year old kid in the leg the previous week on Groves in Tucson. Good times. That was kind of hilarious, actually. This, a little less so. Note: be more careful with drives.
This round wasn't too close. Ander shot +3, winning by 8 strokes. Josh and Jeff (who was the agua king this day) ended up close though. Josh, having never won or tied a round with Jeff, had a 25 foot putt for the tie on 18. Good putt. It was forever in the air. Just hit the lip and missed. Backtrack: the above photo is Jeff driving downhill on a nice, if maybe too open (there's a lot of this in Phoenix, it turns out, though this hole, like many is saved by the vista, the water, and the cool palms) hole. On to the next course. We stop in at the disc golf pro shop (Spinners on the Green) which abuts the Shelly Sharpe Memorial Disc Golf Course at Vista del Camino (Scottsdale, AZ), which is a grandiose name for a fairly plain course.
Again, water running through the center of the course. Lots of 300' or so holes, some with water in play (not enough!), a couple with good tree action or OB to offer. But overall this course was a letdown. Flat (with a couple exceptions), open, water (but no fountain). Very samey in this player's opinion. I wouldn't return to this one if I didn't live close, or if it wasn't right by the pro shop (and a bar called Duke's featuring 50 tvs showing sports and one (not showing sports, oddly) in the men's bathroom so you could see it from any stall/urinal. Quality. They had $2.25 burgers. We avoided the burgers. No photos of this course. It was okay. Long holes. Oddly they had 2 baskets for many of the holes (though only one tee per hole) so that it was oftentimes unclear which basket you'd play to. Instead, we think, it might be better to use the baskets to BUILD MORE AND BETTER HOLES, and put in some am/pro tees. This could be a good course with some work. #11 (we started on #12 since the pro shop abuts #12) is a very good finisher, though. Across water, 490' to the basket, maybe 150' to the fairway, but OB on the left (bitchy) and water the length of the hole on the right. We played with a dude who claimed to have some good game but we didn't see it fully deployed. This last hole we played from the old tee, about to be decommissioned, for a shorter tee. Not sure why. It's always sad when things die.
Anyhow, I played this round well. Shot -3. Should have shot better (what the crap, putting?), but I also put in two 50 footers so that's a plus.
Again, water running through the center of the course. Lots of 300' or so holes, some with water in play (not enough!), a couple with good tree action or OB to offer. But overall this course was a letdown. Flat (with a couple exceptions), open, water (but no fountain). Very samey in this player's opinion. I wouldn't return to this one if I didn't live close, or if it wasn't right by the pro shop (and a bar called Duke's featuring 50 tvs showing sports and one (not showing sports, oddly) in the men's bathroom so you could see it from any stall/urinal. Quality. They had $2.25 burgers. We avoided the burgers. No photos of this course. It was okay. Long holes. Oddly they had 2 baskets for many of the holes (though only one tee per hole) so that it was oftentimes unclear which basket you'd play to. Instead, we think, it might be better to use the baskets to BUILD MORE AND BETTER HOLES, and put in some am/pro tees. This could be a good course with some work. #11 (we started on #12 since the pro shop abuts #12) is a very good finisher, though. Across water, 490' to the basket, maybe 150' to the fairway, but OB on the left (bitchy) and water the length of the hole on the right. We played with a dude who claimed to have some good game but we didn't see it fully deployed. This last hole we played from the old tee, about to be decommissioned, for a shorter tee. Not sure why. It's always sad when things die.
Anyhow, I played this round well. Shot -3. Should have shot better (what the crap, putting?), but I also put in two 50 footers so that's a plus.
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Flashback one week to playing with Erik at Marana Rock (Tucson). Beautiful day. Josh and Jeff had come out to join for one round and the two of us played another, then put in 18 at Santa Cruz River Park (Tucson). A couple quality shots of Erik throwing into the morning:
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(Note the cracked mud—still a little gooey underneath the surface; this is the leftovers of the big flood we played through a couple months back. Discs are entombed underneath it, I am sure, for future anthropology.
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(Note the cracked mud—still a little gooey underneath the surface; this is the leftovers of the big flood we played through a couple months back. Discs are entombed underneath it, I am sure, for future anthropology.
Flash back now again to three non-disc photos worth chronicling quickly:
(Tucson Day of the Dead parade, disturbing)
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(My neighbor has a war going on with the other neighbor, Griswold-style, for Xmas decoration dominance. Great. 22 inflatable things on the lawn (well, lawn is not the best word for it) and house. Word is that he will colonize our carport for some more of them. The compressor runs most of the night. It competes with the kreepy krawly chugging to clean the pool. 80s and sunny here. Don't know about the rest of y'all. Time to come down for a visit?
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(Creepy light-up Kennedy at The Shelter, a strange Tucson bar.)
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