My 2011 Worlds Experience - some stories...

[timothyasteele]

For anyone who went, I'm interested in what your thoughts and experiences were like...players to spectators to volunteers.

This was my first big DG Tour event, and I went to check it out with my 4 year old daughter and my cousin who has never seen any professional disc golf.

We went down for the day to see some semi-finals and the finals, with the goal of the day to have a few discs and minis signed for my daughter by Dave Feldberg and Ken Climo, and anyone else we bumped into. She likes Dave after seeing the you tube video of him playing his home course (Dexter), and has heard me talk about Ken Climo and seeing his name on so many of my discs!

First impression - great venue, beautiful CA weather, lots of happy smiling people, and a fun excited vibe from everyone.

We got there around 11:30, so we got some food (bacon wrapped hot dogs and a gyro), then we looked at some of the gear booths and I ended up meeting and talking to Jay from Huk Lab for awhile. He offered to send me some stuff at wholesale so I could mark it up and use it as a fundraiser for my course opening event. Great guy, so I bought a stool and some shirts, and then we were off to see some competition.

As we were wandering around trying to find the lead card, Feldberg, Owens, and a few others stroll on by going to hole 1. So we went over to watch them throw and holy smokes can they bomb. I feel like such an amateur after watching the lines they can hit with narrow gaps 300+ feet away.

All day, various players kept wandering by and me or my daughter would ask for their autographs on her minis, and they would smile and sign them for her. She had a blast! "Daddy, I love getting all my minis signed. Can we do this again?!" :thmbup::thmbup:

The best thing about this sport and the event is that all the players are so approachable. No security hounding you, no huge egos (that I could tell), just nice people.

After the semis, I had a brief chat with Nate Doss and Valerie Jenkins, then with Avery Jenkins, then I got lucky and snagged Ken Climo between holes for 2 signatures. He was cool - super good humored despite him missing his first Worlds in 23 years. We then bumped into Will Schusterick, and we talked for a good 5 minutes while he was practice putting. He asked my daughter hold old she was, "I'm turning 4 August 24th", and then she asked how old are you? Class act for a 19 year old kid. I then saw Nikko when he was grabbing some food, and had a long conversation with Dave Wiggins Jr. while watching the finals. He started at 5 or 6, so I told him I hoped my daughter could throw 550+ someday since she was starting even earlier.

Then we saw Paige Pierce 20 minutes after she won, and got her autograph. She said hi and told my daughter she has a younger sister who's learning too, and then high-fived my daughter! Big grins all around...

I went back to the booths to grab a water and there all alone in the DD booth is Eric McCabe. So we start talking and I find out he's moving to the Santa Cruz area! I told him about my new course and inquired as to whether he'd come up to Benicia to do a driving/putting clinic for a group of friends and kids once we officially open, and he said sure. Now that will be fun...

So, my daughter was bugging me all day after we saw Dave Feldberg earlier without getting her mini signed (he was busy playing), so when we finally caught up with him right before we left, it made our day. He was in a small group, congratulating Paige on her win, with a few others asking for an autograph. Here's how it went...

Me - "Hey Dave, can I get a quick autograph?"

D - "Sure, hold on a second."

So he turns to me, and my daughter politely asks him and he signs her mini. Then, I ask him to sign one of my primary 10x putters and he looks at me stunned.

D - "Wow! Where did you get this one??"

Me - "Well, I'm a big 10x Aviar fan, and I know you throw them so I thought it would be fitting for you to sign one. I have a few."

D - "And it even has the short range driver on it, and it's max weight, my favorite. I just cracked one...got any more of these?"

Me - "None in black, but I have a few others."

D - "Great, write your number or email address on this and we can trade"

Me - "Right on...give me a shout. Thanks!"

It was epic, and my daughter the whole time was just in shock that not only did we get to meet and get an autograph from him, but now he was asking Daddy for discs LOL!

We'll see if he emails or calls...very cool dude.

Lastly, we're walking out and Steve and Bamba Rico are hanging out. So I say hi, and we get a mini signed, and Bamba says, "does your daughter have a PDGA number yet?" I say no, and he says, "sign her up man, she's playing right!". So I think that will be part of her birthday gift...help support the cause, however flawed it may be.

Final impression - what a fun event, with so many dedicated volunteers, good food, great competition, nice folks, and what a way to try to make a living. I wish I could roll around the country and have their life for a year or so. Also met and thanked Dave Schott right before we left. He seemed very pleased and was beaming with a satisfied looking smile.

Final tally of signed Minis and disc for my daughter:

Dave Feldberg
Valerie and Avery Jenkins
Will Schusterick
Josh Anthon
Paige Pierce
Steve and Bamba Rico
Eric McCabe
Dave Wiggins Jr.
and Ken Climo on her chains aviar

So, who else has some good stories to share?

I'll post some pics later.

Tim S.

 

[Huk Finn]

Awesome! I had a great time also. I went to DeLa on Tuesday, and Pinto on Saturday for finals. The only autograph I really cared to get was Liz Lopez. Don't ask why, she is my 1.5 year old sons big crush

So I caught her at DeLa on saturday and she signed a 2011 Worlds Hurricane for me. Very cool friendly gal, amazing player as well!

I found the most amazing feeling black Wizard with a Worlds stamp on it, had to have it. Great time come and gone, now I just gotta figure out how to get better.

 

[Connor Jones]

Mannnnnnn,even I have to say that's pretty cool,awesome that your daughter was so excited about it all

 

[Todd Wiley]

wow.. what a great day. I hope to be able to do that with my daughter someday (she is 7 months currently)...

 

[jimbosprint]

First of all, thanks for starting this thread. I was going to post my experience in the main 2011 Worlds thread, but it seems to have taken a turn for the worse since I left on Friday.

With the Worlds courses not open to public play, we still wanted to get some golf in so we played Black Mouse in Felton on our way down to Santa Cruz. It's one of my favorite (think redwood forest on a hillside) and I always try to get in a round when in the area. Then we headed to Seabright Brewery in Santa Cruz to meet a friend for a couple pitchers.

We got to Pinto lake Saturday morning about 8:15 and walked the course. As we were walking back to hole 1 we saw someone sinking putt after putt while practicing on hole 2. Quickly realized it was Nikko and I had a feeling he would have a good day. We didn't follow his group but I did get to see him make a big putt on 18 in a strong breeze.

We followed the lead card for the semi-final round and saw some amazing golf. Doss was playing really well and consistent, but for a good part of the round Anthon was playing better golf. It wasn't enough however, and Nate really was playing like a world champ. Shusterick is a really talented golfer and fun to watch. He has a bright future in disc golf for sure. Robbings was not on top of his game that day and was obviously frustrated. He should be proud that he played so well all week and deserved to be on that card. When the semis were over I got Nate's autograph and did a little shopping at the Lat 64 booth. It was cool to talk to company reps and they gave me a free patch for buying a couple discs (a Flow and a Sword).

After watching the pros throw all morning, all we really wanted to do was throw some plastic! All the divisions and all the golfers in the area were all at Pinto Lake, so we decided to miss the finals and headed to an empty De Laveaga for an epic round in the Worlds setup.

Obviously we still hadn't had enough, because we got up this morning and played Hellyer and La Raza in San Jose before hitting the road home to Chico.

Thanks to all the volunteers and players for making it an unforgettable weekend of disc golf. :thmbup:

 

[timothyasteele]

Pics...

Daughter and cousin

2011 Champ on one of the final holes

A grinning Tom Schott

 

[woodstock]

Great Venue, Great people and great golf. To all the people who had there grumblings about the 60 bucks to volunteer, Na Na Na nu NA NA! Worth every penny. In the ropes following the lead card all the way to 18, Awesome golf! These guys are so frikkin good. All the swag and all the discs that I got signed, Nate on a Avenger, Climo on a 12x Roc, Nikko and Feldberg on my Lat 64 volunteer shirt. Worth every penny.

Talked to some fellow DGCR people also, Jimbosprint and Mike P.

Would definitely do it again. Tom Schott did a great job putting this thing together, hope I spelled his name right.

Volunteer tourney was just a Ace Race type round set up with temp holes. Group of ten people with a "Ringer". Some ringers were, Doss, Nikko, Valyrie and Jim Oates to name a few, who joined different groups as we played.

If you like disc golf then it does not get any better. Would do it again in a heart beat.

 

[basketcase15]

wow Tim, does it get any better???? thats once and a life time stuff man

 

[basketcase15]

After watching the pros throw all morning, all we really wanted to do was throw some plastic! All the divisions and all the golfers in the area were all at Pinto Lake, so we decided to miss the finals and headed to an empty De Laveaga for an epic round in the Worlds setup. :thmbup:

man thats a hard choice to make, skip the finals or play De Laveaga WORLDS PINS man idk what i would have done but good choice

 

[timothyasteele]

No, hard to get much better. Only way to improve it would have been Climo playing and winning his 13th. Some more pics.

Feldberg on Hole 1 of the Finals

Nate and Val talking to the champion of the 1980 competition (didn't catch his name)

Awards table

 

[JHern]

That was a great experience. We had the best volunteers ever, and Saturday went down amazingly well.

 

[JTacoma03]

Glad to see people with positive stories sharing. I haven't looked at that other thread since the other day and i think I'm going to keep it that way. Let the people vent and I'll move on.

I wish I had gotten to meet some people from the site during the day on Saturday, but I was running around with a camera.

Oh and for my worlds experience? One highlight was getting to shoot practice rounds for the DVD - even though I was technically working it was cool to see some high level competitors in that phase/mindset. I followed Double-G, Paige, Ricky Wysocki, EMac, and Patrick Brown who were intense about hitting lines and getting prepared but at the same time just cool people in general...from the way Paige was practicing I had a feeling she was going to take it. She is just an impressive golfer, regardless of gender.

And the other big news: on Sunday I made a bet with my boy Avery since he's a huge Oregon fan/alum and I bleed purple and gold (LSU fan/alum) - for those that don't follow football (shame on you ) the two teams open the season against each other at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas. If LSU wins, Avery changes his facebook profile pic for a week to one of him wearing a LSU shirt. If Oregon wins I must do the same with an Oregon shirt. Can't wait for Sept. 3!

 

[Doupie620]

Great thread...I met EMAC in a Burleson Dynamic Disc tournament...kinda...I walked with the lead group...if that can be construed as MEETING...lol

 

[Ripper]

Glad to see people with positive stories sharing. I haven't looked at that other thread since the other day and i think I'm going to keep it that way. Let the people vent and I'll move on.

Thanks for the hard work, vids and everything can't wait to see them! Enjoyed the coverage and Geaux Bayou Bengals!

 

[Marzac2]

Thought I'd repost this in here since it was in that other thread that went bad. I think some swore it off.

\/ \/ \/ re-post \/ \/ \/
Watched in person from 9am til it was finished. Got to see the lead mens and lead womens groups do the semi's and finals. It was a blast. Nate was in PRO form and no one was going to get too close to him if he had anything to say about it. Every time someone picked up a stroke on him, he would just throw a huge tee shot and park it. It was enough to discourage anyone from coming too close.

Will was playing very well, but had some bad throws that kept him from capitalizing when he was rallying. He also must have got REAL bad poison oak on the back of his neck at the start of the week. It must have been very annoying to deal with during this tournament. You could literally see the huge boils and blisters and they looked itchy as hell. His composure and professionalism can be seen every time he steps up to the pad. Great job Will.

Josh Anthon is a rough guy, but he has won a lot of respect from me over this last week of watching him play. He is NOT bothered by the pressure and this DG stuff just seems like another day in the park for him. I will say that on the final 9 holes he did get pretty upset when someone's camera made a bunch of noise as he was putting in a 10 footer. It bothered him and he missed the shot, so he didn't hesitate to let them know whats up in front of over 200 spectators. He also rolled a few shots as good as ANYONE. First at De La Vega, he parked hole 10 by rolling his putter over 350 feet. Nate laughed after he did that and said he wished HE had a putter that could do that. Then today I saw the impossible at Pinto Lake. Anthon parked another roller with his putter or mid on hole 3! This hole runs all along a hillside with more than a 30° slope and has a super tight corredor of trees too. His roller has to set up on a 30° hill side and roll along it over 400 ft to the pin. AWESOMENESS!

Page Pierce was my pick to take the ladies side. She has worked more on her game and it shows all the time. Every time I see her play, she seems to get a little better. Today on the final 9, she drove hole 1 farther that everyone... Farther than Nate-Will-or-Anthon. She then went on to hole 2 where she proceeded to out drive the men again. Some of this is luck, because the drives go through a lot of trouble (trees, OB, crowd), but she ended up farther and it is making a huge impact on what we think is possible for women's disc golf. I was more interested in the girls group due to the fact that the lead was closer and a battle was taking place. This is good.

Sarah Stanhope was super impressive this week. I spoke with her after the final and asked her if she has been secretly working on a backhand. She said she has been working on her backhand drives and she has worked more distance from those shots as compared to her forehand. She drove many holes backhand that I would have thought she would choose a forehand on and they surprised the hell out of me with their accuracy. She also told me that she is going to be working on her backhand approach shots (something she seems to feel uncomfortable with at the moment) and to look out for more improvement. Go Sarah!

Thanks to the players and staff that have such a huge love for this game and made all this possible. TRUST me that everyone involved with this PDGA Worlds is a DG fan first and foremost and carries a passion for our sport that can even make Liz Lopez cry.


Pictures HERE:

 

[jimbosprint]

There were probably 10 or 15 of us (from here on DGCR) all following that leader group Saturday morning. We should have planned a little better and found a way to meet up.

D'oh! :doh:

 

[Marzac2]

I met Dutch Viking who was one of the volunteers like me. Very nice guy. But I agree, we were a big presence there and could have met up. Woulda been great. Hindsight. I may be down to do one of the So-cal group meet ups in the future. Soon as I re-coop some funds I spent on the worlds trip.

 

[timothyasteele]

No one else has any stories to share about Worlds???

Tim S.

 

[chris717]

Worlds=Yawn zzzzz

 

[joesouthfla]

Brag post, and jealous