(DP) - Jacksonville
After his last
stinging defeat, at the hands of Puma's padawon, Rick "Bushie" Pike
knew he had to do something. He puzzled and puzzled until his puzzler was
sore, and then he thought of something, he had always thought of before. "I know just what to do" he sneered
with a smile most unpleasant, "if I can't beat the apprentice, I will rarely
beat the Master, so I've have to scheme my way to a win". Little did he know, that Master Puma was
instructing his padawon on much the same topic.
"Simon, you
did very well, just as I had foreseen. However
the next challenge, will be a difficult test!" commented Puma. Simon "the Beast" Bouma, listened
intently, as he always did, when his master spoke. Puma told Simon how to proceed. Simon gasped and replied "No, I can't do
that! Master, you have years of
experience with Disc Golf and poker, and you might be able to pull this off,
but I, your lowly padawon, do not feel that I can do this!" Master Puma merely replied... "Use the
force, Simon! The force is strong
within you, let it guide you".
As Puma had
foreseen, Rick scheduled another disc golf outing with Simon. This time, Bushie selected Ed Austin Park for
the outing. "With all my years of
experience at that park, with all of the trees and the lake, Simon will bow
before me" thought Bushie. To
provide even a greater degree of schemeness, Bushie checked the forecasts and made
sure that the weather was going to be hot and humid on that day. Bushie grinned and then a small smile appeared
on his face, "That poor Canadian, Simon has only been in Florida for about
a month now, he does not yet know how the weather will affect him". Rick
has made sure to mention to Simon not to bring anything to eat or drink with
him as they could go out afterwards.
As Bushie had hoped
for, the weather was hot and humid on the appointed day. Thunderstorms were in the distance and the
humidity hung in the air like an apron on a clothesline. Simon and his trusty sidekick, Randi, the
newbie Reporter, arrived with smiles.
Rick sneered a smile as best he could.
"The course has more people than I expected" Bushie thought.,
"I can used this to my additional advantage". Bushie was also happy that Doc Becky had not
come along. "Becky has issues handling
schemes like this", Rick
thought. Simon was going to go warm up until
Rick mentioned the hordes of players and insisted that they wait over by the
first tee, in the full sun for a start of their match.
The match
started. Rick would give Simon some
course disinformation and after Simon threw, Bushie would throw his disc into
the different but more correct direction (most of the time).
It appeared that Simon was off his game on this day. The tremendous tee shots that he had at the
Springfield course were not on display.
Simon's approach shots were inaccurate.
Bushie, on the other hand was having a good day (by his standards). On one hole, Simon
taco'd a tree much to Bushie's delight.
By the time they came upon the lake, or rather, the small pond, Simon was
dehydrated. Luckily, the greenish brown
water, did not appeal to him or his discs. After navigating around the course, which
Bushie avoided going on walkabouts, they approached #18. This last hole has been shorten by over 100
yards. Although still a long hole it is now
easily reachable in 2 shots by even players of Bushie's abilities. In the end, Rick was delighted that his plan
had worked and he had beaten Puma's padawon.
Later that day,
Simon called his master and told him the exciting news. "I did it, I did it, master. It was difficult to throw that many poor shots
but I let Rick win. He was SO
happy!" Puma smiled and replied
"You have done well, Simon. I have
learned that if you beat Rick too many times without letting him get a victory
once in a while, he gets so demoralized, he stops playing entirely. Perhaps, that is why Doc didn't show up. This way, Rick will continue to get the practice,
he so desperately needs. Sadly, however,
even with the practice, he will not defeat me.
I have foreseen it. Continue this
course of action whenever you can. Beat
him sometimes and allow him to win other times.
Keep up his hopes. In October,
the hammer will descend on Bushie."
