High rated players

[djschnabel]

My cousin is playing the North Dakota State Championships this weekend, and I looked to see how he's doing (no updates yet). I noticed in the pro level there was a pretty highly rated player -Darrell Nodland-1031 rated-PDGA #7225- who I haven't heard of, so I took a look at his profile and I see that he only plays a couple of tourneys a year, and wins them all. In fact the last time he didn't get first was in 2006.

http://www.pdga.com/player_stats/20300/2010

He doesn't only win, but he wins buy a large margin. No doubt that he must be a solid player, but when you play disc golf in a less populated state (general population as well as disc golf population) how much emphasis can be placed on your rating? He has a low pdga number, so maybe he is very selective on which tourney's he plays, and maybe his rating is so high based on the lack of competition. As far as I know, maybe he is the poor man's Climo, just somebody who didn't travel to different tournaments and who could kick the @*#$ out of anybody else on the course.

Thoughts?

 

[MNcyclone]

Damn, he has been rated over 1000 for 11 years running. 11 years!!

 

[Cgkdisc]

Darrell Nodland is not over-rated. He is known by the top players when he kicked most of their butts taking fifth in the USDGC, one of the few times he was able to travel to play in a Major. http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/8844

 

[TNDiscGolfer]

Looks like he took a tie at 2nd place in 2004 USDGC too.

 

[mndiscg]

Darrell Nodland is not over-rated. He is known by the top players when he kicked most of their butts taking fifth in the USDGC, one of the few times he was able to travel to play in a Major. http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/8844

I've seen his rating and wondered about him before as well. Is there a reason why he isn't able to travel? Finances, career?

 

[djschnabel]

Thanks Chuck, I didn't go back that far. I guess what surprised me is that he is the only 1000 rated player in ND, I believe second was a 974. Heck, anybody with a heartbeat who signed up as a pro would be top 10 (there are only 9 right now).

 

[Cgkdisc]

He does engineering work and doesn't choose to travel to big events with his vacation time. He does much for the sport and has designed many of the courses in ND keeping him busy enough without touring.

 

[blur]

Wow, he sounds like a true DG Hero!!

Contributes to the community, remains humble, kicks butt

 

[tampora]

I just got back from that tournament at Patterson Lake. It saddens me that I could never convey how awesome it was.

For my $75 advanced ($100 pro) entry fee, I made out like a bandit from free goodies: 4 discs, 3 mini's, dri-fit nd championships shirt, disc towel, 4 days of camping on site, 3 days of free catering and beverages, and more that I don't remember.

In addition to a lot of other sponsors donating various amounts, the Nodland family themselves donated a huge chunk to the pro pot. Something silly like 50-60% of the field cashed. It was wonderfully obscene.

The course was insane.



Each day was a different layout: long, longer, and "wtf is he kidding us?" The day 3 course layout was over 11,000 feet.

Just to give some dimensions to the map: day 3 hole #7 was a 1650' par 5 with lots of mando and o.b. goodness. Hole 1 was 444 feet. There were only a couple par 3 holes on the course. Yet, no hole was wide open. Every hole had a plethora of ways to turn a great drive into a double-circle 7 or worse.

There were a few players there who had played in tournaments across the country, and all of them were in agreement that THIS was the greatest and most challenging course ever (in a single package).

We've all played in severe wind before, but this was whole new level of 'crap-your-pants' ferocity. I saw one person miss a 5' putt and have the disc carried 50' away. Many other times, I saw people lay up from similar distances.

The 'cliffs' hole, a huge sweeping righty-hyzer over the lake, was unreal. Until this tourney, I'd never heard pro's simply say, "hey, go spot me. I'm purposely throwing out of bounds.'

The pic below is years old and from the short tee box. Now, that line of trees is double in height and the long tee box has a 50' tunnel shot to get to this point. Yet, people would soar well over the tops of them from the incredible wind. Nodland threw a roller and watched it roll off the cliff 80' behind the basket of this 650 foot hole.

He. Is. Not. From. This. Earth.....

Kyle Pinkman ended up winning with consistent scores. Nodland finished second and didn't tear it up as much as we had hoped on the first day. Given that he's a family man with a great job, and spent his summer preparing the course for this weekend. I can't fault him for not being at his best.

 

[dmbrun2]

it sounds like darrell is an awesome guy

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

I loved that course, wish i could see it in prime condition, sounds incredible.

 

[chickenonabun]

this darrel guy sounds like a legend!

 

[dmbrun2]

ya i want videos!

 

[tarel]

sounds like he has a fan club up in here

 

[Mattallica]

sounds like he has a fan club up in here

dgcr man crush

a bromance in the making

 

[jesusfreak]

This guy sounds cool.

 

[tarel]

I think we need to get tshirts made.

 

[1978]

What do you do after making a 50' putt? Its called "Nodland'ing"


Im so embarassed by this post, lol.