I meet Mark and Eric at Acorn Park in Roseville, MN, a northern suburb of Minneapolis, for a couple rounds. This is not the best course in the cities (probably Kaposia or North Valley/Inver Grove, or maybe even Cottage Grove) but it’s the closest for most of us and offers enough variety for all our games that it’s the one I play most often.
I stop off at Fairway Flyerz, the excellent disc golf pro shop on Rice Street just north of Acorn, to pick up some discs. I choose a bright orange flx challenger (thus bringing my total to four of these discs, for use in standardizing my backyard putting) and one of the ace race 2008 midrange prototype discs which appears to be sort of similar to a Roc or Buzz, but maybe a little less stable. I throw it one time later in the round and it wings a tree. Things don’t augure well for this disc. The proprietor at Fairway Flyerz informs me there are two very promising new courses in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis that I will have to revisit in the summer. They sound difficult and lovely. Perhaps I'll play them in the week around the yearly Madison meet up.
Round one scores: Mark and Eric tie at +14. Ander shoots +2. Few birdies are made. I think I got one or two. Ehling got one as I remember it, though I could be on crack. Often I am on crack. Most holes are in the short position to compensate, perhaps, for the difficult tees and heavy snow. The upside is that the lake on hole 1 (below, center, in the dip) is frozen, taking the teeth out of that hole:
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We shot pretty close, as is usual, for the first half of the course. The first half is shorter, and a little easier in terms of the variety of shots (and birdies to be had). Scores start to separate around hole 9 or 10. Eric found himself in the snow (as we all did). He was dismayed, as if regarding his shot in utter disbelief:
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Mark Ehling flourishes to conclude his drive on 4:
I like the shot of the disc in the air. That's a goal for me when shooting these, especially since my cell phone camera is not great.
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Later Mark finds the heavy rough on the left on 8 (below--this hole is also more toothless thanks to the frozen lake on the left). He manages to get out and save bogey. This is a good hole like many on this course, a big hyzer shot or maybe a hammer. It plays 250 maybe from the long tees (which we always play). It’s not incredibly difficult to par but there are few birdies to be had on a day like this. I actually birdie this both times today. Go me.
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Later, Eric fires on 12, a great 400’ dogleg left. If you leave it short and left you have a choice: either run a tiny gap to get back towards the green, or else play big around to the right. A straight shot of maybe 300' gets around the big trees and onto what qualifies as the green. Usually you're left with about 100' of work among sparse but difficult trees to get to putt. This is often a bogey hole, like several out here. See Eric's eclipse (I think) in the air, starting to hyzer left. That's where he'll play from both rounds.
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I ready a shot on 13, at a crazy angle thanks to Ehling's cinematography:
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18 is a really tough finishing hole. In order to have a shot, you MUST get your disc through the gap and get out to the fairway, which plays well uphill towards the basket. The foliage is down but the branches grow closer together each year and the gap is fairly intimidating. In the long position, the basket is probably 550’ away from the tee, and is a very difficult par. I don’t remember having parred this in the long. Your drive can be great but unless you can flip it and end up right there are only two ways onto the green. You can try to brave the trees on the left (straight ahead in the photo) or go big hyzer right, going around the trees hoping for a skip towards the basket. The hole is much more difficult because you really have to throw a drive out right from the tee box to get an angle on the green and you're just thinking about getting it in the fairway so not to drop a stroke to your competitors. In the winter, they move the basket short in front of the tree line, probably about 450'. A much easier par, though by no means simple. Again, the drive is everything. The wind is a major factor on these last three holes which are the most exposed on the course--otherwise you're among the trees. Eric and Mark contemplate their shots, Eric’s in the past (he got out) and Mark’s in the future (so will he):
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Stopping for a lunch at the Flameburger between rounds, I get the Super Cheese Flame:
Sorry, Sean. No nachos on the menu.
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Round two: Ander +1, Mark +9, Eric withdraws (WD) with three holes to play in order to make a vet appointment for his cat Applejack who is a very fine cat indeed. We start on hole 3 bypassing some chumps. We will always wonder whether he would have taken Mark out or not on this round, since they decided not to play off their tie from round one. It’s slow out there this second round because lots of people came out after a couple weeks of Minnesota subzero temperatures, and there is much looking around for discs that enter the wet snow leaving nary a trace. The more people play the harder the discs are to find--we're in the space between the snow getting panked down enough so discs don't bury and the snow being virgin enough that you can see the slashes where the discs entered, and follow them a couple feet underneath the snow to your disc. I lose my best starfire on the first hole. It was getting beat up anyhow. I need another one. It was even a very nice drive, a long putt for 2, but we are in a hurry so we leave off after looking for 2 minutes per PDGA rules and courtesy. This is the only proper lost disc of the day, which is pretty good. Eric loses an eclipse later, having dropped it after driving it on 15, though the loss did not occur in play (hence no stroke penalty was awarded).
And Eric in action on 13:
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I nearly aced this hole (13), probably my best shot of the round. It’s a long shot, probably 320’, that finishes left after flirting with the treeline on the right, which knocks down most hyzer drive. I turned my Beast over and it looked true but must have missed the basket by feet since it ends up just past on the left. Like many of the holes at Acorn it is complicated by trees and low ceilings and the placement of the tees. One tree has apparently been removed, thus easing this hole’s approach somewhat (you used to have to launch higher and throw a helix or hammer it or go huge hyzer; now you can drive hard at it and let it finish left).
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Eric and Mark, wet, trudge towards the basket on 17 (below, straight up, amidst all the snow). They both hit long putts to keep it tied. This hole really ought to be a birdie but it rarely is, frustratingly. It’s about a 280 foot downhill hole, so within range of a good shot for anyone. The wind is often swirling, however, and picks up on the top of the hill in particular.
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And that’s the game. Not bad rounds from Ander. Good rounds from Ehling considering his alleged couple years layoff. Eric was in for a better round for #2 but his cat, Applejack, is healthy and friendly. Eric has a really huge fucking house in Minneapolis, about which his cat frolics and tries to decipher the hydraulic heating in the walls and tiles. Here's to warmer weather. Go team!
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