Daylight savings time isn’t the best day/night in the world. Though I like the end result — longer days with the ability to do more things — I usually don’t like the day where the clocks are set forward.
Especially this year.
The day fell on the weekend where I had been planning on traveling down to New Jersey to play in a disc golf tournament. With the hours being pushed forward, even though I went to bed around 12:15, it was, in reality, 1:15. When that alarm went off at about 4:50 a.m., I was groggy to say the least.
And it was very dark out.
After a shower and something to drink, I grabbed all that I needed and was on my way to New Brunswick, N.J. Oh yeah, it was still dark out.
It continued to stay dark until I got near Middletown — or about 1:45 into my trip.
I’ve gotten to a point in my driving life where being on the road in the dark isn’t my favorite thing. I don’t mind driving at dark, but it’s not something I always want to do. Especially long distances on highways. So when the light finally broke through, I was quite happy.
I pulled into the parking lot at about 8:45 a.m., making pretty good time.
Now, the weather called for 52-55 degrees and sunny. I had my shorts on under a pair of wind pants hoping and praying that I could play a round or so and feel like it was late spring or early summer. The wind pants never came off.
It was OK out. About 50, but that sun stayed tucked behind a lot of clouds. And the wind was there, too, which made it chillier. It also played havoc on the discs.
Oh yeah, the tournament. That’s the basis of this post, isn’t it?
The reason I had traveled 3-plus hours to play in the March O’ St. Pat’s Madness was because Darren had talked me into it and I also know the tournament director, Bob (a stellar pro, mind you). That and it was PDGA sanctioned, so it’s nice to see if I can get my rating up a bit. We’ll see about that, though.
Anyhoo…
This was two rounds of a lot of fun. There were only four of us in the rec division, so we got paired up in back-to-back rounds and I’m not sure I ever had as good of a time playing this sport as I did Sunday. Darren and Joe battled for the championship (Darren won his first tournament crown by two strokes) as Dennis and I battled for the basement (of which I took by 11 strokes… I was rewarded with a plastic Irish mug as the person who finished DFL in the tournament. What’s DFL you might ask? Dead F… Last!)
Dennis made this group a blast right off the bat. He was dressed as a leprechaun (and had some Apollo Creed-type drawers) and used an Irish accent to really push it over the edge. Quite a blast all day.
Dennis and Darren check the scorecards following the tournament.
The tournament was a good time. It was the first full tournament I played in this year, so after 36 holes and that long of a ride, I was a bit sore. Not a problem as it was worth the trip down. I just would have enjoyed better weather.
I shot a 77 in the opening round of the tournament, followed by a 76 in the second. I was happy to improve, though I would have liked to have shaved more than one stroke off my first-round total.
Darren and Joe had a good battle for the division title. Both played really well and were battling with each other most of the day. It was good though as it didn’t ever get too chippy. It was good sportsmanship throughout and it was a lot of fun.
Here’s a couple of shots from the day:
Joe with an approach shot.
Dennis putts as Darren watches.
If you want to see the rest of the photos I took (not as many as I would have if I had not been playing), go check out my Flickr set.
One other photo I’d like to share is a small group photo. It’s one of people who had a little “Irish” look going on. These were the people who dressed up a little for the day, including Dennis — who supplied the beer hats. I donned one for the first round, but switched to the Guinness derby I am wearing in the photo for the second round. Quite the fun group.
Trying to act all Irish, my lads!
I obviously didn’t take that image as I am in it — but Darren did well enough with my camera!
I also took some videos!
I’ll post one or two here that you guys can watch here, but the rest of them can be viewed on my YouTube channel. My issue? YouTube seems to be cutting off the final two or three seconds of a video so it can show the thing at the end showing you similar videos. Very annoying as a few of these videos are better to the end.
The first one features a sweet putt… behind the back!
This is one of three that I have of Dennis performing after the tournament. Good stuff.
The pros also had one heck of a battle with the winner earning a one-stroke victory over Bob, the tournament director. I’m sure it would have been fun to watch.
I’ll look forward to returning to the course in July for the Jersey Jam. The first day — Saturday — is for amateurs. The second day — Sunday — is for pros. I’ll play Saturday, of course, and then hope to stick around and take some photos and videos of the pros. I imagine it will be fun to watch.
More later!