Hawk Hollow Open 2011 - Images

[FredVegasDGC]

 

[FredVegasDGC]

 

[FredVegasDGC]

 

[FredVegasDGC]

 

[ironmon]

Tom Edwards
parked this chicken wing wraith under hole 1's basket
it flew straight as an arrow in the howling wind

The Hawk Hollow Open is done. The weather was clear & cool. Yesterday it was very windy and there was a little wind today.

For now I'm posting my favorite image from the weekend.

I'm not good with the names of the players or who finished where. If anyone wants to fill in the tourney details feel free.

I'll be posting the images in a Hawk Hollow Open 2011 Photobucket album.

 

[biscoe]

thanks iron...
fantastic work once again kevin... words really can't describe...

 

[FredVegasDGC]

Thanks John, It was fun. It's my way to contribute to the group, for letting me play your course & I got to meet a lot of great DG players.

I would have done it just for VR's BBQ, That was damn good!

 

[FredVegasDGC]

 

[FredVegasDGC]

So far The pics posted are from Saturday. There are definitely more pics of some than others. I tried to get everyone but the way the players were spread around and the layout of the course every now & then I ran in to the same players. If there were groups coming in to a basket & teeing off near by I would hang around that spot to get as much as possible. I did a little better on Sunday.

 

[t i m]

Hawk Hollow Open - tourney report

I posted up some details on our local board, but wanted to share a tourney report here as well, for those who are interested:

Hawk Hollow was awesome, as usual. Course was in good shape, and the cowpies were plentiful. Wind was strong, and possibly added a stroke or two to the average scores on Saturday, but it wasn't too bad -- I've played in much, much worse. For the most part, winds were consistent in strength and direction, making it pretty easy to play the wind -- the days that are hard are the ones that are really gusty or swirly and you can never guess what is going to happen. With HH on Saturday, you could plan your shots, and the wind made for some fun shows of greatness. I know of at least one person that crushed a Roc OVER the stream on the hole 10 teeshot BOTH ROUNDS on Saturday, just letting a midrange ride the wind.

Temps and conditions couldn't have been better both days -- brisk in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, but the cool was needed for walking up and down all those hills. Played with some great people both days and saw some amazing golf. Hawk Hollow remains one of the best (if not the best) pro-level course in the nation. Every hole is a challenge for its par, and with similar-skill players, almost every hole will produce score separation, which is how great courses should be. So it is always a joy to play Hawk Hollow, particularly with strong competition.

Personally, I played some fabulously unexciting golf to start the weekend. 18 hole score of a 70, without blowing up on a single hole. I took two 5s, twelve 4s and four 3s... nothing awful, nothing great... just a lot of mediocrity. Pulled it together a little better the other two rounds, where I made some mistakes, but had a lot more good shots to finish out 63, 62 for a 195 total -- 10 strokes higher than last time I played the HHOpen, back in 2009.

For better or worse, this year had the weakest pro open field that has ever played the HHO... two of the people who made the final four had scores that wouldn't have even cashed most years.

The Masters division had far stiffer competition -- more anecdotal evidence that the age division just isn't in the right place. I think the eight top Masters players had scores equal or better than the final-four open field, and one of the final four (Craig) is masters eligible, meaning that of your top 12 scorers for the event, only three of them were under age 40. I think all of the masters players would have cashed better in a combined field.

At age 33, I'm thankful to all the 40+ year olds for playing down, keeping the stiff competition out of my division. Haven't played much, but this was still my first time to cash this year, and there is no way that would have happened in a combined field.

For what it's worth, I'm guessing the winds on day one contributed a little bit to the score disparity -- I would expect older, more experienced players to be smarter in the wind, helping give them a little bit of an edge, and scores looked a little flatter on Sunday, supporting this. However, that still doesn't change the fact that they were still shooting lower scores overall...

To address the CULTURE of a HHO: Food, as always, was unbelievable. Easily the best chow at any disc golf event in the country. It's not just the barbecue and the amazing chicken/ham/mashed potatoes/etc., spreads that were put out on Saturday for lunch and dinner, but it's the incomparable homemade sauces and spices that give an extra kick of heat, flavor and love to every bite. Datil peppers, mangos, carrots, vinegar... yes, please slather that all over my BBQ sandwich... dehydrated Datil powder, yes, please dust that all over my dinner, salad, too.

So huge thanks go to the chefs. I'll run out of adjectives if I say more than that, so I won't even try.

Hot pepper eating contest had a record turnout this year, with seven of us sitting down at a table full of 18 different kinds of peppers... I hope someone posts the entire list here, but it was impressive. In a move that shocked everyone, 3x Champion Vegan Ray dropped out two rounds in, citing stomach issues, which gave me full liberty to bow out a round later without risking pain and suffering the next morning. Badger fell next, burned by a Trinidad Scorpion, a few more rounds in, with Adam following suit after he'd run out of weak/moderate peppers to eat (smart man) and 1x Champion Ben dropping out about the same time, suffering from the effects of a Naga Morich.

So somewhere around 10 rounds in, I think we were left with Di (spelling?), the first woman to participate in the event, going head to head with Chris French (last year's runner up) for the title. To everyone's amazement, it didn't look like Di was even feeling the effects of the peppers... minimal sweat, minimal outward signs of pain and suffering ... it was looking like a hard road for Chris, especially with all the smack talk coming from Di. But to the relief of all the Y-chromosomes in the room, Chris pulled out a victory over the newcomer (who had been impetuous/foolish enough to eat a Naga Morich and a Bhut Jalokia in quick succession), and dropped out with a whimper ~12 rounds in. Congratulations to Chris for his victory.

No idea what happened with poker ... but that aside, huge thanks to the Biscoe family for hosting such an event, to the volunteers who make it possible, to the cooks, to Kevin for taking AMAZING pictures, and of course, to John Biscoe for, well, everything.

At the player's meeting, Biscoe announced that this is the last PDGA tournament he plans on running, so hopefully someone (Bob Cannon looked likely) will step up and keep the tradition running next year. This is one of the best tournaments on one of the best course in the nation -- the fact that this doesn't fill every year with a long waiting list just amazes me. I hope to be back soon.

 

[jrawk]

I know of at least one person that crushed a Roc OVER the stream on the hole 10 teeshot BOTH ROUNDS on Saturday, just letting a midrange ride the wind.

Nice write-up.... Was this guy Trey? (our Kachtz)

 

[chris deitzel]

Nice action shot of my forehand on Hole 11. Though I'm not sure how the disc went from where it was in photo 2 to where it was in photo 3? Weird!!! I'm the guy with the yellow Vibram shirt....and yes that was a Birdie. woohoo. Had a great time. Didn't play great, but played with great people. Great times once again. THANKS

 

[FredVegasDGC]

Bored at work so I'm posting some more pics...

 

[FredVegasDGC]

 

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[FredVegasDGC]

Had enough yet? Well if you have, too bad. Because I gotta lotta more coming your way....

 

[FredVegasDGC]

 

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