Many apologies to Jeff Hoodock for putting the burden on him for the bag tags. Jeff has been very busy, and has not had a chance to work on this project. However, since the last post, Shawn Gatesman had a great idea. Shawn suggested we look into “cow ear tags”. Today, I purhcased a bag of tags numbered 1 – 25 for the price of $27.83. I can purchase additional tags in higher numbers for the same amount.
With tags now in hand, sales can begin immediately. The price will remain the same, $10 per player for 2009, with proceeds to help with improvements to the course.
I would like to have as many interested players to show up on Saturday, June 20 at 1:00 pm for a kick-off to the 2009 Bag Tag Challenge. All participants will need to purchase a tag, with the winner taking the number 1 tag, and the rest of the finishers claiming the remaining tags. Remaining tags will be available for purchase at the Rec Center Front Desk.

See you on the course!

Thanks to help from Jeff Hoodock, we will begin the 2009 Bag Tag Challenge with the Disc Golf Doubles on Wednesday, April 29. Jeff has agreed to make the first 30 “tags” with wood cut-outs, and some sort of numbering system. This should reduce the cost of new tags, and have more money raised to go towards club activities.

Tags for the 2009 season will be available for $10 per player, and will be available at the Front Desk of the Community Activities Center, after Doubles on April 29. If we get more than 25 tags sold, we will have Jeff work his magic to produce more tags.

As new are purchased, player information will be posted on this website. Password will be established, and provided upon registration. The same rules as last year will apply. If you don’t know what the challenge rules were, please let a club member know, and we will get you the proper info.

Recent feedback from some 2008 players

indicates a preference to re-use the tags from

last year. This would save a considerable

amount of club money that could be put to

better uses. We would still have to order

replacements for tags that are out of

circulation.

If the consensus is to re-use last year’s tags, we

would ask for all old tags to be returned to the

Rec. Center by Easter weekend. Then, tags not

returned could be replaced prior to a tag

tourney to establish the pecking order for 2009.

Please give your feedback through the comment

button, or e-mail to eds@harrisonburgva.gov.

Disc Golf Doubles began on Wednesday, March

11 with 10 participants. We resumed on March

18 with 16 players, who enjoyed the warm early

spring weather. Doubles will continue through

fall, as long as we have daylight. Based on

feedback at the Ice Bowl, we have pushed the

starting time back to 5:45 pm for the first group

to tee off. Subsequent groups will tee off after

that, so if you can’t get here as early, we should

still be able to get you in.

Doubles is a Captain’s Choice format, where

players are paired in a random draw. Expert

players may be paired with beginners. 

The better of two throws is chosen, and the next

 throw is taken from there. This is a very casual

atmosphere, and there is nothing to lose. So,

what’s your excuse for not playing? It is a great

way to meet new players and improve your

game.

The Harrisonburg Ice Bowl 2009 was a huge

success. With the sponsorship of Harrisonburg

Parks & Recreation, we were able to raise

$1,000 for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

Prize sponsorship totaled $782 from a total of

12 sponsors, including Harrisonburg Disc Golf

Club from 2008 Bag Tag sales. We collected

a total of 281 pounds of food for the Food Bank.

We had a total of 32 players, with the youngest

being 7 year old Sam Healy.

Top finishers per division on the Harrisonburg

Ice Bowl 2009, played at Westover Disc Golf

Course are as follows:

Open Division                         Score

1. Brad Fiala                                     67

2. Evan Hicklin                               68

3. Jeff Hoodock                              70

Intermediate        

1. Ben Blackmer                             72

2. Michael Mongold                     74

3. John Marr                                   75

Novice

1. Kevin Smith                                91

2. Doug White                                 95

Women

1. Jen Steele                                  101

Junior

1. Sam Healy                                 184

A huge thank you goes out to Mike Cast for all

of his help in Ice Day organization, and Jen

Steele for tabulating all of the entries and resuls.

And, after seeing what all goes into organizing

such an event, many thannks to Johnny

Griffin for all the hard work organizing the

first five Ice Bowls at Westover Disc Golf Course.

Sorry the site hasn’t been updated in a few weeks.  I got married on the 31st, and just got back from the honeymoon this week.  Tim is getting married this week so he hasn’t had time to work on the site.  I’m not sure what Ben’s excuse is, but I’m sure it’s good.  Please forgive us for not keeping up, we promise it won’t happen again. 

I worked on the rankings yesterday so they should be at least close to correct.  (Thanks to everyone who sent in their tag changes over the past 3 weeks.)

The Big News -

Many of you already know that I met with Lee Foerster from Parks & Rec a few months ago to inquire about the possibility of improving the tee boxes.  Lee liked the idea of adding concrete boxes ( like these ) to the course, but Parks and Rec doesn’t have the money in it’s budget to cover the cost of the entire project (they can help with part of the cost).  If the Harrisonburg Disc Golf Club can find a way to raise the remaining funds, and help install the boxes, we can have shiny new tee boxes.  We can start installing them as early as September. 

Sounds good, right?

Well, here is what needs to happen before we can move forward:

1.  We need to determine how much each installation will cost, and find a way to raise that money (our current budget is probably not going to go very far in this project).  Some ideas that Tim, Ben & I were floating around include: tournaments, donations, & selling movie tickets (fundraiser style).

2.  Once we have our plan, we need to come up with a detailed proposal including pricing estimates and pictures/sketches to present to Lee.  This proposal also needs to outline how the boxes should be installed, who is going to do what, and all of the other nitty gritty details.  I’ve already done quite a bit of research on the subject and I have a pretty good idea of where to head with this proposal, but help would be appreciated.

So that’s where we stand.  If anyone would like to help with this project, please contact me.  Let’s pull together and get some new tee pads.

The weeks of June 16 – 20, and June 23 – 27, local scouts will be having their annual Summer Camp programs in Westover Park, using Shelters 1, 2, 3, and 4. Due to their set-up, holes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and possibly 9 will be severly affected.

Due to their set-up, we will not host Disc Golf Doubles on Wednesdays, June 18, and 25. Also, we ask that players limit their use of the course during the duration of the weekday camps (and in the evenings, too). Weekends will be open. This may be a good opportunity for local players to explore some of the other courses in the area, such as Montgomery Hall Park in Staunton, Green County in Stanardsville, Maurertown in Shenandoah County, or Walnut Creek in Albemarle County.

Please spread the word to those who do not access this site.

See you on the course, but not the next two weeks!

Due to the thunderstorms this afternoon, and the prediction of severe weather this evening 6/4/08, Disc Golf Doubles will be cancelled tonight. We do not want a bunch of players in the far reaches of the park with thunderstorms approaching. Plus, as we all know, the course will be extremely soggy this evening.

On an unrelated note, I have attempted to post results of the past two doubles. As a neoposter, I realized today to follow the directions provided. I will attempt to post what I attempted prior. With a little luck, the other posts will follow.

I’m personally very happy to be even remotely involved in this group, and wanted to share this bit of positive feed back we received today:

Good day,

I just wanted to take an opportunity to say what a great experience I had at the Westover Course last week.  

Coming out to Virginia from tree-less Colorado, I was not sure how I would shoot in all those trees.  But with the Chris and Chris team(Bell and Jones?) showing me the course on Tuesday, and then getting a chance to play doubles with the Bowmans and Ed on Wednesday, I think I did ok.

Very impressive course, well maintained and layed out.  I will plan on hitting it again next time I return to the area.

Enjoy and thanks for making for a very enjoyable business trip!
Ron Sandoval

Pretty cool, huh?

With the promise of a DNR reporter and photographer at Doubles on April 30, we had 17 players participate. The reporter, Elizabeth Rome, and photographer, Michael Reilly were with various groupings throughout the 18 holes of Westover. I’m not sure when the article will print, but it will be in a supplement about “the Valley.”

We have had the best weather all spring for Wednesday Doubles. This past week was no exception. The sun came out in late afternoon, and warmed the course up nicely for the competition.  The first card featured Mike Cast and Rick Bowman paired against Mike Bowman and John Marr. This evenly matched card ended up tied at +1.

The second card featured the father/son combo of Steve and Ben Blackmer, paired against Johnny Griffin, and C. Jones. This card was won by Griffin/Jones with  -1, vs.  +5. The final card of the night featured Ryan Jones and Ben Earman against the final three leftovers, of Chris Bell, Aaron Bowman, and Ed Steele. This card was pretty close until the last few holes, where Ryan and Ben pulled out a victory with a score of -6 to -1, and they actually used some of Ben’s shots! (Sorry Ben, no offense intended.)

As usual, Disc Golf Doubles was as enjoyable as any other night of play. New players of all abilities are encouraged to participate. This is as low key as an event can get.

With time considerations, would anyone be interested in backing the starting time to 6:00? This might allow some players who work until 5 or 5:30 to get here and play. If there is enough feedback, we could have flights, where the first group tees off around 5:30, and another group gathers for 6:00 tee times. With the informal nature of doubles, this might be worth trying.

Thanks to all for supporting Disc Golf.