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I Am Digitizing My VHS Tapes of Late 1990's Michigan Disc Golf

Central Scrutinizer

Central Scrutinizer

Double Eagle Member
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Joined
May 14, 2011
Messages
1,536
Location
Kalamazoo, MI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmw11JVshQk&feature=youtu.be

Hi there! I've had a stack of VHS home video footage from some Michigan tournaments sitting here forever and finally figured out how to digitize and edit them. Here is my first effort, a bunch of Juliana Korver footage with a few others in the 1999 In-Flight Open (Lansing, MI).

Nope, this isn't the high quality production you've come to expect from today's master filmographers. It's shaky home video footage where you hear the plastic of the tape recorder squeeze when I hit buttons. But it's there.

There was a backup on one of the tees and it gave me the opportunity to film a little MPO nearby as well, including Darren Harper and Larry LaBond for a little bit.

There's a little action from Sue Stephens as well, who was very recently featured hitting an ace on CCDG at, I think, Smuggler's Notch.

Forgive me if I didn't remember other names. I'll be happy to identify them with help!

Enjoy, and there will be more coming. Next up will be the 1998 DGLO final 9 with Stokely, Climo, both Rico brothers and Mike Moser. Lots of Lizard Lawyer footage with his megaphone too! That one will take a lot more time to trim up and make presentable. Maybe next weekend?

Cheers, my Frisbee Family!
 
There are two more tournaments I have for sure, both 1998 and 1999 DGLO. I also walked around the entirety of DeLaveaga with a camera. I believe I have some Flip City casual footage from around 1999 too. The crown jewel, should I find it again, is me throwing in 1992 or 1993. I'll bet it's a hoot!
 
Oh, yeah, I also got a bunch of freestyle footage with Ken Climo at the Y2K worlds. I decided to not film the actual tournament because somebody was filming for the event and I thought I'd just buy the tape when it came out (which I never got around to doing!). I've seen it on YouTube, though. I'll never forget Dr. Voakes pegging the crowd with an errant drive.
 
Central Scrutinizer said:
Oh, yeah, I also got a bunch of freestyle footage with Ken Climo at the Y2K worlds. I decided to not film the actual tournament because somebody was filming for the event and I thought I'd just buy the tape when it came out (which I never got around to doing!). I've seen it on YouTube, though. I'll never forget Dr. Voakes pegging the crowd with an errant drive.
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Too bad about 2000 Worlds. I spotted every day. I was working midnights at the hospital in those days. I would get off work, grab a six pack and head out to Cass Benton to spot. Players were pretty concerned about me putting away a few beers at 8 in the morning, lol. Tried explaining I was just unwinding after work, but still got some strange looks. We would get a raffle ticket for spotting. I won a basket that is still in my backyard. That was the golden age of disc golf. The sport had made leaps and bounds in discs and equipment.
 
ru4por said:
Too bad about 2000 Worlds. I spotted every day. I was working midnights at the hospital in those days. I would get off work, grab a six pack and head out to Cass Benton to spot. Players were pretty concerned about me putting away a few beers at 8 in the morning, lol. Tried explaining I was just unwinding after work, but still got some strange looks. We would get a raffle ticket for spotting. I won a basket that is still in my backyard. That was the golden age of disc golf. The sport had made leaps and bounds in discs and equipment.
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Cass Benton was an AMAZING course when it was brand-new! It was next level. I loved it even though it kicked my ass. I seem to remember getting to play a casual round with Al Schack there once in the early days. I know I did once and I'm pretty sure it was there. Damn, he was so good.

Yeah, I couldn't film any regular action prior to the final 9 because I was playing in the Am-1 side. I had one good round (at the original Kensington course tying a few others for 10th best just there) and a few not-so-good rounds. Finished way down the list tied at 140th out of 250, but had a stellar time for sure. My only worlds. It rained buckets when I played Toboggan, which was its debut. I remember my SE Teebird slipping out of my hand many times during that round. I never could figure out how to play well in rain, especially a monsoon.

When it came time for the final 9 with the HUGE crowds, I knew I wasn't going to get into position for good camera shots very often like I did for the DGLO tournaments (and even then it was often a challenge). So I decided to live in the moment and just watch. I stood right behind the players as often as I could. Climo, Jesper Lundmark, Dr. Rick Voakes, and ... who was fourth on the card? Was it Russell? Stokely? (His back was killing him by this point, though.) I sat maybe 50' away from the basket on Hudson Mills Monster #18 where Climo raised both hands in the air signifying #10 on his last putt.

When I hear debates about how modern players are so much better than in earlier eras, the discussion never seems to give enough credit to how GOOD those players were. And while I love today's immortal players too, if any of them were born a quarter century earlier, they'd have been just as good as the rest of the players at the time. Had Climo or Stokely been born in 1990, they have the athletic chops to be right up there or better than today's best too, with today's widespread form critiques, baskets that catch 90 mph putts, high-speed drivers faster than Cyclones and Gazelles, technology, and the MONEY to allow them to tour and train all day long instead of hold down regular jobs and crash on peoples' floors at night.

The video I just posted was shot six years before YouTube started. And you're right, that was the period where Disc Golf was really starting to take off. We all felt like we were a part of something special that was going to explode at any minute. I stand here now in 2020 marveling at the sheer number of courses in the ground. It's utterly amazing. I remember saying back then how every small town in America is going to have a basket course in the near future like they do softball fields, basketball courts and fancy playgrounds. We've made it! Here's hoping almost all of them open back up after the pandemic...
 
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That's awesome! Thank you for taking the time and effort to film, preserve, digitize and share your tapes! :) :cool:

I love the analog quality of vhs so much, it's warm and smeary and reminds me of my youth. ;)
 
Oh yeah, and by having pro and am at worlds at the same time, I got to say I played the same tees and baskets as Ken Climo for six rounds. He beat me by 83 for those 126 holes.
 
Jukeshoe said:
That's awesome! Thank you for taking the time and effort to film, preserve, digitize and share your tapes! :) :cool:

I love the analog quality of vhs so much, it's warm and smeary and reminds me of my youth. ;)
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My pleasure! I figured now is the best time ever to get this done with everybody thirsting for coverage and not getting it.
 
Central Scrutinizer said:
Cass Benton was an AMAZING course when it was brand-new! It was next level. I loved it even though it kicked my ass. I seem to remember getting to play a casual round with Al Schack there once in the early days. I know I did once and I'm pretty sure it was there. Damn, he was so good.

Yeah, I couldn't film any regular action prior to the final 9 because I was playing in the Am-1 side. I had one good round (at the original Kensington course tying a few others for 10th best just there) and a few not-so-good rounds. Finished way down the list tied at 140th out of 250, but had a stellar time for sure. My only worlds. It rained buckets when I played Toboggan, which was its debut. I remember my SE Teebird slipping out of my hand many times during that round. I never could figure out how to play well in rain, especially a monsoon.

When it came time for the final 9 with the HUGE crowds, I knew I wasn't going to get into position for good camera shots very often like I did for the DGLO tournaments (and even then it was often a challenge). So I decided to live in the moment and just watch. I stood right behind the players as often as I could. Climo, Jesper Lundmark, Dr. Rick Voakes, and ... who was fourth on the card? Was it Russell? Stokely? (His back was killing him by this point, though.) I sat maybe 50' away from the basket on Hudson Mills Monster #18 where Climo raised both hands in the air signifying #10 on his last putt.

When I hear debates about how modern players are so much better than in earlier eras, the discussion never seems to give enough credit to how GOOD those players were. And while I love today's immortal players too, if any of them were born a quarter century earlier, they'd have been just as good as the rest of the players at the time. Had Climo or Stokely been born in 1990, they have the athletic chops to be right up there or better than today's best too, with today's widespread form critiques, baskets that catch 90 mph putts, high-speed drivers faster than Cyclones and Gazelles, technology, and the MONEY to allow them to tour and train all day long instead of hold down regular jobs and crash on peoples' floors at night.

The video I just posted was shot six years before YouTube started. And you're right, that was the period where Disc Golf was really starting to take off. We all felt like we were a part of something special that was going to explode at any minute. I stand here now in 2020 marveling at the sheer number of courses in the ground. It's utterly amazing. I remember saying back then how every small town in America is going to have a basket course in the near future like they do softball fields, basketball courts and fancy playgrounds. We've made it! Here's hoping almost all of them open back up after the pandemic...
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Barry Schultz was the fourth on the final 9. I think that was the year Ron Russell broke is hand at Cass Benton and had to finish the tournament with his off hand. Still took 60th. A young Nate Doss took last cash.

You are right, Cass was a beast. I was at Cass for that monsoon, it was a mess. Good times, man.
 
I also remember seeing that a very young Gregg Barsby, like 12 or 13 years old?, was at this worlds too. He and I had identical scores for the event, but I don't know if juniors played the same tees as the adults. I was 27 and had been playing for 11 years, by the way.
 
Hey everybody! OpenShot (my freebie editing software) is processing the 1998 DGLO video right now. Then I attempt to get the whole thing on YouTube. As slow as our ISP is here, it will probably be tomorrow.

All this rain I have locally has kept me from the stay-at-home putting league I'm in and gave me the opportunity to slice and dice this footage.
 
Central Scrutinizer said:
Heh. It's 7.5 hours later...and 8% uploaded. Yikes. 40-minute video.
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Thanks for doing this to see what top tier Tournaments were like in the mid to late 1990's. There is some older footage from the 1980's from old Huntington Beach course the PDGA tournament and a few others courses in California nearby that had a Tournament too, a few worlds in 1990's and that is about it that is PDGA Sanctioned before YouTube came on the scene in the early 2000's. Also the 1978 or 1979 Wham-O World Frisbee championships on by two Different people with the same Disc Golf part the last 9 holes skipping a hole, that Tournament's Disc Golf from 1976 until 1981 was like the PDGA world Disc Golf championships since 1981.
 
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Casey 1988 said:
Thanks for doing this to see what top tier Tournaments were like in the mid to late 1990's. There is some older footage from the 1980's from old Huntington Beach course the PDGA tournament and a few others courses in California nearby that had a Tournament too, a few worlds in 1990's and that is about it that is PDGA Sanctioned before YouTube came on the scene in the early 2000's. Also the 1978 or 1979 Wham-O World Frisbee championships on by two Different people with the same Disc Golf part the last 9 holes skipping a hole, that Tournament's Disc Golf from 1976 until 1981 was like the PDGA world Disc Golf championships since 1981.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have seen those really early videos. They're holy. The one where Dave Dunipace's (girlfriend? wife?) holds a stack of the first Eagle is hallowed footage.
 
It's at 22% now. 30 hours later. It would have been faster for me to drive to YouTube headquarters with a DVD-R of this in person. I'll just keep that window open until it's done.
 
Central Scrutinizer said:
Yes, I have seen those really early videos. They're holy. The one where Dave Dunipace's (girlfriend? wife?) holds a stack of the first Eagle is hallowed footage.
Click to expand...

Yep and the Distance contest at the old Huntington beach course where Dave with a 175 gram Puppy sets the distance record using the 360 degree drive, same Guy Warhammer who did all those old videos on YouTube.

Then DGA has the good version of the Wham-O World Frisbee Championships at Irvine California at the old layout of the USC-Irvine Disc Golf Course.

How these guys were good with Catch discs and Disc Golf lids for driving I will never know. Yes I have seen amazing stuff with Innova lids or Discraft Rattler in the midrange slot but almost never off the tee unless the hole is ~200 feet or under.

I was trying to putt with my old Frisbee Jr Pro from early 2000's to improve my release timing, and it was near impossible to get the disc into an Innova Skill Shot basket. I came close 2-3 times that a normal putter or heavier true Disc Golf lid would have made it.
 
My first visit to a course with baskets was with my Wham-O 165. On Mach III baskets! Even though it didn't catch well, I didn't know any better and still enjoyed taking my routine 8's on holes. Then I bought a Stingray for $6 from PDGA #315. Yeah, I trimmed those scores with that baby.
 
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