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2019 The Challenge at Goat Hill Park - Driven by Innova May 3-5
- Thread starter brutalbrutus
- Start date
brutalbrutus
* Ace Member *
teemkey
* Ace Member *
Do you think Jen Allen can hang on for the win?
Well i don´t really look good for FPO that it is 39!! throws between 1st and 2nd
teemkey
* Ace Member *
Apparently this is the first year Goat Hill had an FPO field. Though I'm surprised AJ couldn't get some DD FPO players to show. I think the Risleys might need to make some adjustments for FPO. That course was long, and the greens wicked.
I did enjoy watching the MPO distance competition. It's not a pure hyzer course, and watching Seppo throw those huge flexes was interesting (with speed gun & range finder data). A once a year guilty pleasure maybe, but 600+ drives are impressive even on video.
Thomas Gilbert looked like the real deal. At 19 y/o he was solid throughout the tournament. And he seemed to get along well with Jones & Paju.
I also enjoyed the three players Ian lined up to commentate.
I imagine the timing of it all is more to blame for the small FPO turnout than the course itself. The "tour" is next headed to the Bay Area, so the question after GBO for these players was do you want to drive from KS to SoCal then go to San Francisco or take a more direct line toward SF and hit an event more or less on the way instead? Emporia to Oceanside CA is ~1500 miles, then another 460 miles from Oceanside to SF. As opposed to the 1700 mile direct route from Emporia to SF broken up into two smaller chunks by playing somewhere in between.
It would appear that most of the touring players and particularly the women who played this weekend chose to skip the longer initial drive to a course most (all?) had never been to in order to take the more direct route toward SF and playing in Colorado (Bjerkaas, Gannon, King, Fajkus, Panis, Cox, Finley, McMorran) and Utah (Weese). That really doesn't surprise me as going from Emporia to Oceanside in a matter of a couple days is a big ask in general, but for FPO in particular since they're likely operating on a smaller budget than some of their MPO counterparts (just based on tournament earnings alone). Less driving means a bit more down time and more time to practice the courses as well.
teemkey
* Ace Member *
Sure, that's a valid evaluation. However, these are road warriors used to major drives between events, and many of the players have RVs and travel in groups, so the driving is shared (and sleeping is possible). It looked like the tee times were also unusually late (earliest around noon), to accommodate tired bodies. I think players could have chosen Goat Hill with (relatively) minimal inconvenience.
I'm not saying all the FPO players would choose to travel from Emporia to Oceanside. But I think Goat Hill was not considered by a number of players because no FPO division was offered in previous years.
Royalhghnss
Double Eagle Member
We all guessed what she would win by driving to round 1. I guessed 40, off by 1!
You make a great point that it really wasn't a hyzer fest like a lot of ball golf turns into. Really appreciated that in retrospect.
And thanks! All 3 were great on the mic.
The noon thing is because the Ams had the earlier tee times. (Separate event on pdga.com).
The Bolded statements are untrue.
Every PDGA event ever held at Goat Hill has OFFERED the FPO division, but no FPO Women have registered to play the past two years. There just are not a whole lot of full time FPO players in So Cal. Touring player Tina Oakley played in 2017, but chose not to play again this year, even though she was in town with Eric Oakley.
The TD would gladly welcome FPO players. He did a lot of promoting this year trying to get more Pro ladies out, but they just didn't sign up. I think Goat Hill without carts may be too long to be enjoyable for players without a 400 foot drive.
It appears Jen Allen will be back every year as she has a 400 foot drive, this course plays to her strengths and she enjoys the San Diego area.
teemkey
* Ace Member *
I stand corrected. I thought I heard a commentator say FPO wasn't offered.
Do you think Goat Hill could be configured to be more friendly to FPO? From your comment, I'm guessing that means alternate tees AND a short cut to the alt tee from the previous basket.
Goat Hill is long for a disc golf course. It may not be "rugged" but players cover a lot of distance and face continuous elevation changes over 18 holes no matter what tees they play. With tee times total walking distance is minimized as everyone starts at Hole 1 right next to clubhouse and warm up area. Playing four hour rounds without a riding cart is a challenge.
MPO played from Blue Tees. The Pro Ladies played the white tees which were different on some holes. Goat Hill did a good job of providing appropriate tees for the ladies. Some ams, am ladies and age protected divisions played from the more forward Red Tees.
But I am old and the hills and overall distance at Goat Hill add up. YMMV
Once upon a time disc golfers could ride carts, but eventually some inconsiderate disc golfer ruined it for the rest of us.
As Discette correctly pointed out, The Challenge has ALWAYS offered an FPO division, but there are not many FPO players in SoCal so the turnout over the years has been low. As the TD, I welcome and will do whatever I possibly can to support a larger FPO field. One possibility is to have FPO tee from the red tees instead of white. This would shorten the tees on 7 of the eighteen holes (on many holes one or more tee group (Red, White, Blue) share the tee location). This would knock the total tee to basket distance of the course from roughly 11,000 ft to roughly 9,000 ft.
I think the extra driving probably was a big reason we didn't get as many of the elite players, and the fact that Utah will be the site of 2020 Worlds. If The Challenge were to become a DGPT or NT stop in the future the drive wouldn't be an issue - everyone would be in the same situation. As it were this year, since GBO ended on Saturday players who drove were able to get to Oceanside by Tuesday or Wednesday - there were many practice rounds being played Wednesday. And our weather was FAR more pleasant than the weather in Utah or Colorado for the weekend. But then, it always is. ;-)
Thank you, Ian, for confirming that Goat Hill Park is not a "typical hyzer-fest golf course". Yes, length and power off the tee are important to have, but the combination of strong wind, targeted landing areas, considerable elevation change and challenging greens means that the winner will have a complete set of skills. Thomas Gilbert throws a mile, but he also threw accurately (92% fairway hits - 3rd) off the tee and with his approaches (72% C1 in regulation - 1st) and putted well (82% C1X - 6th).
We had a great event this year and I'm expecting that the elite players who attended will be back and will bring others with them. Innova Disc Golf provided invaluable support as our lead sponsor and the Golf Course management loves the event. We hope to have a mini craft beer festival on site next year to help draw spectators and raise funds. Players that skip the Goat will be missing out!
I think the extra driving probably was a big reason we didn't get as many of the elite players, and the fact that Utah will be the site of 2020 Worlds. If The Challenge were to become a DGPT or NT stop in the future the drive wouldn't be an issue - everyone would be in the same situation. As it were this year, since GBO ended on Saturday players who drove were able to get to Oceanside by Tuesday or Wednesday - there were many practice rounds being played Wednesday. And our weather was FAR more pleasant than the weather in Utah or Colorado for the weekend. But then, it always is. ;-)
Thank you, Ian, for confirming that Goat Hill Park is not a "typical hyzer-fest golf course". Yes, length and power off the tee are important to have, but the combination of strong wind, targeted landing areas, considerable elevation change and challenging greens means that the winner will have a complete set of skills. Thomas Gilbert throws a mile, but he also threw accurately (92% fairway hits - 3rd) off the tee and with his approaches (72% C1 in regulation - 1st) and putted well (82% C1X - 6th).
We had a great event this year and I'm expecting that the elite players who attended will be back and will bring others with them. Innova Disc Golf provided invaluable support as our lead sponsor and the Golf Course management loves the event. We hope to have a mini craft beer festival on site next year to help draw spectators and raise funds. Players that skip the Goat will be missing out!
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