A couple of weeks ago I was playing doubles at Kit Carson Park in San Diego. It wasn't until after the round was over and I went home that I realized I was playing with Shane from Voodoo Disc Golf and disc golf legend John Kirkland (I'm fairly knew to the disc golf scene).
I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else before and who you played with or met?
In 2009 I got a job in Georgia working outside of Atlanta. I drove down with a friend approximately 2 months prior to starting work to live with the lil sister and help care for my niece down near Jacksonville (my friend was already an employee and was able to start work right off, so I just continued on south).
I had no courses anywhere nearby living in Saint Marys, Georgia. So about 2-3 weeks into my stay when my sister went in to Jacksonville for a day of shopping at the mall I begged and pleaded my way into getting dropped off at Ed Austin Park for the day. I started warming up and preparing but I didn't know the course too well. So I'm waiting around to see if any locals that are okay shots would show up so I could hitch onto a group.
This guy arrives a few minutes after me and starts warming up. He's got a cooler and about 3-4 discs. Might have been an XL or something like that, a Comet, and a Magnet (I'm 90% certain on the Magnet, coulda been APX... I do not remember). He starts banging 20 footers out of the car, one after another. Unorthodox form but very very accurate, and clearly confident. That automatic look you see in someone that's great at something. Not at all impressed, taking just enough time to settle into a stance, and then just popping them home.
So I ask him and his buddy: hey do you guys mind showing me around the course? I'm Chris. He introduces himself... and as soon as he introduces himself the thought pops into my head. "Ron." Unorthodox putter, Jacksonville, named Ron... Took me a few holes to just ask him straight up: "Are you #9999? Ron Russell?"
Sure enough.
We get to talking through the round, he finds out this is my only chance to golf all month and maybe my only chance for another month. So what does Ron Russell, the 2009 PDGA World Champion, say? He says "Well hey, if you want to crash I've got spare bedrooms and a big place to hang out and I can drive you halfway back tomorrow afternoon."
Long story short: Absolutely INCREDIBLE host. The dude's bachelor pad is sick. For all the 3 discs he carries he has a garage full of bins of his favorite molds. Big backyard, rec room above a big garage, sand volleyball pit dug out to a foot, outdoor bar with big screen TVs (not to mention the big screen panels in just about every room, and this is in 2009 not now). Could not have met a more gracious giving host.
Dude is probably still waiting on that one big hurricane to hit northern Florida so he can make bank and cash out on his roofing business and retire to play disc. Never wishing for a hurricane, but hoping he finds that one last big job so he can return to the game. Couldn't have met a nicer guy. He wasn't even golfing the next day. Just dropped me and a buddy of his at the course, we golfed, he got me back to Saint Marys. He just wanted to help me get to golf for one more day.