It was a brisk day at Ed Austin Park when the gang started to assemble
for the 4th annual MLK disc golf get together. There was a chill in the
air as the temperatures approached 50. Bushman Pike tired of all his
recent last place finishes, desperately needing someone he could defeat,
brought a total newbie, his neighbor, Ryne "FM aka Fresh Meat" Edwards.
Eric "Birdie" Taylor was dressed as true Floridian, with a winter coat and
a warm winter cap. Suddenly, there was excitement in the air when quite
unexpectedly, Puma confidently stepped out of the car chauffeuring him to
the park and joined the growing throng. Several members of the group,
namely Birdie Taylor and Boom-Boom Bouma were elated, as they now had a
chance to go against Puma while others, Jason "Rusty" McCallister and
Bushman Pike had their slim hopes further squashed. Excitement rose even
further, when surprisingly, Ace Gilman drove up in his monster truck.
With everyone present, they strode to the first tee box. Bushie
narrowly avoided Pike's pine as threw his opening drive into the fairway.
Birdie Taylor signaled his intention of not holding back and launched a
massive drive that nicked a tree and yet, still cross the entire fairway
and continued straight to the far side of the field. Ace Gilman threw a
wild shot which hit the ground rolling, sadly, in the wrong direction, as
it came to a rest near the practice/warmup basket. Rusty curved a nice
drive around the trees and into a prime approach location. Puma's drive
was nicely situated in the middle of the fairway as was Boom Boom's. FM
signaled his strong desire to be a lumberjack, as his very first throw
attacked the trees but still make it to the fairway edge. In the end,
everyone made bogey except for FM with a very respectable double on his
very first basket.
On #2, Birdie launched a very impressive drive with Boom-Boom in hot
pursuit as they both made their first par of the day. Ace and Puma
drifted off to the left and settled for yet another bogey, with everyone
else making double.
On the tightly wooded #3, Birdie and Boom-Boom both went tree hunting,
allowing Ace and Puma to reclaim a stroke as they got yet another bogey
while everyone else got double except for Rusty who went tree hunting
multiple times and settled for a triple.
While Puma was finding new and innovative ways to turn pars into bogeys
with Ace following suit, Bushie managed to channel some of Birdie's force,
as they both got par on #4 with Ace, Puma and Boom-Boom settling for a
bogey, and FM finally tasting DG pain.
On #5, both Ace and Birdie went the long way around the trees, but both
made pars with most others took the more direct route but settled for
bogeys.
On the heavily wooded #6, Birdie notably made his 3rd consecutive par,
with Rusty breaking out of his slump with a par along with Boom-Boom.
Puma made his 6th consecutive bogies when he yet again clanked a par putt.
FM made his first bogey on this difficult basket. Puma had a good drive
and a reasonable approach and was eager to get his first par but clanked
yet another putt as he and most others bogied on the wooded and dog leg
#7.
Coming out of the woods, people made sure that no embers were left
behind since Birdie was on fire. Puma finally broke through with a par on
#8, matched by Birdie who made his 5th par of the day.
#9, the first water hole proved costly as Bushie and Rusty heaved their
discs into the pond. Puma watched as his disc floated down the cart path
and then sadly, turn towards the pond. It dropped down on the pond's bank
and as seemed to be the MO for Puma this day, the disc then proceeded to
roll to the water's edge. As Puma stood at the water's edge, he launch
his second throw over the water and watched as it curved gracefully
towards the shoreline only to watch it again hit the edge and roll into
the water. Standing in his now soggy sneakers, Puma managed to clank yet
another putt. What is surprising is that although Bushie threw his disc
into the middle of the pond, but he somehow managed to record a par???
This is just another fine, vintage example of PASS (Pike's Adjustable
Scoring System) at work. At the turn, Birdie was leading the pack with a
(5 pars, 2 bogies) +6, Puma remarkably in second at +8 (1 par, 8 bogies),
Ace at +9 (7 bogies, 1 par), Boom-Boom at +10 (2 pars, 4 bogies), Rusty at
+12 (1 par, 3 bogies), Bushie at a highly dubious +12 (with 1 par, 1
questionable par, 2 bogies), with FM trailing (with 1 bogey and 7 very
consistent doubles).
On the back 9, things started to heat up. Birdie, Ace, Boom-Boom and
Rusty all made pars on #10, followed by Puma clanking yet another bogey.
Birdie faltered a bit missing a long but makeable par putt on #11, while 4
others made par. #12 featured 5 pars. #13 was a bit brutal as only Ace,
who made his 4th consecutive par managed to gain ground on Birdie.
However, Birdie reclaimed his namesake, with his first birdie of the day,
on #14.
With the shellacking basically completed, Birdie glided to victory with
pars on the next 3 holes. Much like the championship round of years gone
by, Ace tried to match the Birdie's brilliant display of grace and power
but was deficient. Puma fought mightily and struggled all day but in the
end, he disappointed the assembled crowd as well as his posse. Puma
graciously admitted that Birdie was quite impressive and Puma did not have
his A game nor sadly, even a B game on this day.
Birdie scored a +3 on the back 9 to finish with +9. Ace at +12 (+4 on
the back 9), Puma at +15, Boom-Boom at +17, Rusty at +19 and Bushie with a
still highly dubious +21. FM survived his first course and vowed to
return. When will Puma avenge this loss? Stay tuned...
