25 & 26 May 2013, Eddison Park, Canberra

Division winners:
Open Women : Emilie Cameron
Rec Women : Candice Roberts
Open Men : Luke Williams
Advanced Men : Andy Nicholls
Grand Masters : Jeff Brunsting
Masters : Matt Gallagher

Round Scores

Open Women
Emilie Cameron 76,77,76=229

Rec Women
Candice Roberts 94,85,94=273

Open Men
Luke Williams 57,55,60,30=202
Jonathan Jonas 59,59,61,33=212
Neil Roberts 63,57,61,31=212
Gavin Palmer 62,64,63,35=224
Bruce McNaughton 64,63,64=191

Adv Men
Andy Nicholls 57,60,59=176
Justin Lipscombe 60,63,67=190
Dom Lumsden 66,61,65=192
Allen Brunsting 70,67,70=207
Todd Nowack 70,75,75=220
Maunu Pokki 81,80,82=243

Grandmaster
Jeff Brunsting 64,71,74=209
Nick Summers 72,72,71=215

Shane Redfern 72, 74, DNP
Matt Gallagher 67,64,DNP
Jamie Bozza 82,83, DNP
Tournament report by Greg Sparksman

Ngunnawal country & Canberra’s less famous blue poles, the heavy metal variety, welcomed players to the foggiest & coldest tourney in 16 years. The fortnight before there was a big dump of snow in the Oz alps which added an early winter chill to the area. It did keep most of the public away from the park on both mornings then they spread out near trees making holes 5,6,11 &12 risky to play. I emphasise that in the government’s permit for use of the park their approval is granted on the provision we (DGers) don’t have sole use & the park must be shared;  we can’t ask picnics or cuddling couples to move, just leapfrog those holes & they can be played later; now PDGA rules allow you to interfere with a thrown disc to prevent accident or injury ; best solution is to move one hole near skatepark to the other side of course near canal? It is pouring rain as I finish this & in the past the parks have been closed for use after heavy rain, fog is better than rain for DG!
The course map was prepared by ex ACT DGer Andy Bairnsfather, much thanks to AB for such beautiful artwork.

Early this year fierce windy storms thinned the trees breaking off about 2 dozen large branches, yes the course had less aerial bunkers than last year!! The clumps of Mayfly eggs in fallen branches were collected & used to make the local delicacy high protein Mashed Mayfly served at lunch for the refined palette.
All players were keen to start each round, some delays were unavoidable. The nervous laughs at the start were soon replaced with hearty warming laughter & friendly competitive spirit, some advice offered on the wonderful scenery through the trees when a drive landed amongst the tall wood bunkers, bonus points on offer for hitting some guy loitering on 15th fairway.

Saturday’s fog was gone for the 2nd round but it hung around in the valleys & returned heavier on Sunday (mist in sunday’s photos). It was hard work for discs to fly in dense cold wet air. Sunday’s low temps were nasty: at 3am it was -3.3, 9am only 2.4, about midday 6 & with fog lifting temps rocketed up to 10.5 at 3pm when most players had got a quick getaway into warming cars; my planned post tourney speech was summed up by Nick’s short & sweet words! I did turn away to wipe some dust from my eyes!!

It is the players who take the time & effort to travel to Eddison Pk DGC that make the tourney a success. I have a deep gratitude to those players & didn’t get a chance to express my thanks to them for their support of this tourney on a shrinking course, we are a rare group who share the love of this great sport. Maybe no more winter events in ACT!!

Some of this year’s players are Edd veterans & know the course, special mention to those Edd 1st timers & to Bruce with his 2nd visit in 10 years, may there be many more. Now time to tell a short story of 10 years ago which I was going to before the 1st round – you were lucky & I’ll just include only the total DG numbers here !! In April 2003 AFDA Individuals happened : 2 rounds of disc golf  were played on 2 days with other great frisbee games of Accuracy, Distance, MTA & TRC. The list of those DGers at Edd are worthy of mention : in 1st place was John Damiani 105, followed by Leigh Bird 118, Ian Thomas 122, Luke & Nick on 126, Marshall Harrington 128, Tim Marchbank & myself 132, John McNaughton 143, Ben Gage & Leon Smith 145, Dan Wilkins 146, Bruce 149, Damian Jaccoud 150, Nick Dosremedios 157, Helen Osmond 180, Kath Cole 182;  Anna Reynolds, Dom Ventura, John Horan & 6 others only played 1 round. I think it’s time to hold Individuals again but on a bigger & better scale!

There were 2 players who shared my award for “Top tourney throw ” over the weekend :

• Matt on #13 who threw a Discmania Frenzy flat & straight through the double mando ‘tree tunnel’ for a birdie from about 10m;
• Jeff on #7, his 3rd throw saw him on left side under trees with over hanging branches about 45 to 50 m from hole. He threw a 3 month old Buzz high enough to get a slight nick from a twig then slam into the sweet spot for birdie.

Jeff said he felt at home playing at Edd in the autumn as it has similar trees to courses in Michigan, where he has also played in snow. He said he started with Frisbees & wooden posts back in 1983, the year frizs began to evolve into discs. Eddison Park became the third course in Oz when we got 9 wooden posts in 1997 which were replaced over the next 2 years with poleholes – when new they looked gorgeous all bright blue; they still are the best artwork in the park & have proved resistant to vandalism.

In Rd1 there were no birdies on holes 2,6,7,12,13,15 & 17.
The next toughest holes getting only 1 birdie were : #4 & #5 both by Andy, #9 by Neil Roberts, #11 by Andy, #16 by Luke
most birdies scored were on #10 & #18 with 7, then on #8 with 6 birdies, #1 with 5 birdies.

In Rd2 there were no birdies on holes 4,15 & 17
the next toughest holes getting only 1 birdie were #6 by Luke, #13 by Matt
holes getting only 2 birdies were : #2 by Luke & Neil, #7 by Andy & Jeff, #8 by Justin & Allen, #9 by Luke & Neil, #10 by Bruce & Dom, #12 by Luke & Andy, #16 by Andy & Neil
most birdies with 4 were on holes 1, 3, 5, 11 & 18

In Rd3 there were no birdies on holes 7, 9 & 12
holes with only 1 birdie were : #6 by Neil, #11 by Andy, #13 by JJ, #14 by Luke, #16 by Bruce
#2 had birdies by Dom & Justin, #10 had birdies by Allen, Dom & Luke
most birdies with 6 were on #3, then on #4 with 5 birdies

Last year’s most contentious short holes 2 & 10 were forgotten, must have been the birdies on them this year!. There were some minor disagreements on course design only with the new 16th  tee, i.e. ‘too hard’,  ‘a nasty narrow gap at tee spoils a good fairway’.  I thought  maybe 2,10,13 & 14 might get some comments but none heard, long live short tough holes & the occasional very difficult long hole. Over the last few years the 16th tee has moved about & maybe it will again!! Need a players poll on the matter.

The Final was played using holes 3, 7, 8, 9, 2, 11, 12, 13 & 15.
To summarise the last 9 holes : Luke played mostly safe accurate disc golf holding onto a good starting lead of 7, taking the odd birdie to finish with a 10 throw lead. He had to bogey every hole for a different person to win. The contest was for 2nd place between JJ & Neil, that started on the first hole when Neil joined Luke with birdies while JJ & Gavin got pars, so now JJ only had a one throw lead. On #7 all parred then on #8 Neil’s second drive through a wide tree alley is near the hole for a birdie & equal share of second spot as JJ & Luke par while Gavin bogeys. On #9 all par, then it was on # 2 that 2nd place changed : Luke played the risk/reward drive down the road with perfect hyzer to land close for a birdie, Neil tries the same releasing slightly later than Luke’s & slams into large gum next to the road (see in finals photo) & he later gets a bogey; JJ & Gavin go straight at hole & score pars, so now JJ  holds 2nd place by 1. On #11 Neil birdies & JJ pars so both back to equal second place. On #12 all parred.  On #13 none showed any doubts or delays, stepping up to the tee confidently, all drove straight up the tree tunnel & parred the hole;  #15 had Luke, JJ & Neil scoring a 3 while Gavin took a 4 for fourth place.
Congrats to Luke for playing the heavy metal so skilfully, well spun Duke.

PS
2012 ACT DGO report was lost in cyber space so for the record the winners & runner ups were:
OM : Kurt Karlsson, Chris Finn, Neil, JJ, Kingsley Flett, Luke, Thomas Rosenquist, Greg Bowers
Adv M : Dom, Matt, Maunu
Rec M : Gavin, Pet Chriccola, Adam Chen, Rob Masters
Rec Women : Alicia Smith
GM : Nick
Results were put on PDGA site last year.
C. Finn has video of final 9 holes so hopefully copies will be available soon from Dude