Story: Gabb, Pics: Len Skap

Tournament organizers Greg Simmons and Brian Lucas and their friendly helpers greeted players on the Saturday morning for what was to prove a testing day of throwing in the wind.

Brief Briefing - it was a beautiful morning as Greg filled everyone in on the format - and fed them too!

The format for the Ace Race was quite simple.  You received your special Discraft Ace Race disc (well, 2 of in fact along with a cool mini disc, styley cap and stickers) that you were to use for the entire tournament...

Triangulation - it was a colorful display of the special Ace Race Discraft discs.

This was to be all about Hole in Ones, or Aces. The entire course was marked with shortened tees and each player would throw and see if they could score an ellusive Ace - or at least hit any metal of the basket - to the adulation of fellow players and the extensive gallery that was following proceedings.

Code Blue - as a stunning Memphis day developed, equally stunning local legend Dave Codey worked on developing his short drives on the downhill 4th.

And so the 37 eager players headed off to various points around the course to try their luck out with unfamiliar discs (the great leveler?) from unfamiliar tees.  

Under Way - one of the groups at the first tee. The casual nature of the Ace race made for a great day in the park.

On the Level, or is that Levee? - there was quite a wind for the golfer to contend with, especially up at the tees for 4 and 5.

I'd Rather Be Golfin' - another of the eager golfing groups heads past the third.

We followed a large group that consisted of many of the power houses behind the Memphis Disc Golf Club .  It was to prove very entertaining.  Amongst this gaggle of golfers was current Club President Brian Freidman along with Club Secretary and webmaster Brad Webb accompanied by other stalwarts of the Memphis disc golf scene that we will meet later.

From the outset, Brian was looking the one most likely to Ace.  With his precise 'pull' technique, his drives drew many excited calls, only to see the flying plastic fade to the left or fly over the top.  It was to prove a frustrating day for the Precise Pres from the standpoint of plastic-to-metal.

Note: Len also captured a fair bit of video of the day (mainly this group). He has put the best (or perhaps the worst) of it in a 3 minute YouTube vid which you can view here. You will get to see what we mean about the 'banter' that goes on between these fellows!

Precise  Pres - With his precise 'pull' technique, Brian's drives drew many excited calls of anticipation as his disc glided to the basket, only to see the flying plastic fade to the left or fly over the top.

Webb to Web - Club Secretary Brad Webb knew to be careful on the 8th - an overshot saw your disc land in some bush that hosted a couple of rather large spiders...

Arachnafrisbee - Part of the gallery on the 8th green was this fellow.

After a few holes, it was becoming apparent that this would not be as easy as it looked.  The wind was not helping, making the flight of the disc more up and down than the price of gas.  And the Discraft Ace Race discs were proving very consistently straight in their flight. This would normally be a great help, but so many players were used to playing the 'fade' shot and struggled to adjust.

Chunky Soup - inbetween cracking everyone up with his one-liners, Shaun was showing the odd patch of form, hitting metal 3 times. But he was to play with less consistency than a pot of Chunky Soup.

Another great hopeful in the group was local pro Zac Lambrecht who brought along his pal and relative newbie to disc golf Steve.  Young Steve showed enormous potential for the game and a lot will be expected from him in the near future.  A lot was expected from Zac right there and then yet, unlike UPS, he failed to deliver.

Zac Attack - He hit baskets, but overall Zac Lambrecht (pictured on the 2nd tee) was to prove inconsistent.  Maybe it was the fact he wandered around with two identical discs.  Maybe this was to confuse the competition, but we think it confused the tall pro more (he will still talk about his Ace on the 8th where his disc lodged into the side of the basket - with a 2nd throw!).

Two Hard - Hole 2 was one of the toughies. Its distance, overhanging trees and exposure to the wind meant golfers had to fire a fairly solid shot down the fairway.

Some holes were targeted by players as having the highest chance of success. Of the Aces we saw one on Hole 1, as did the short downhill 5th.  The Ace we witnessed on the 5th was the only one we saw in this 'top notch' group that had such high potential.  And it was to be the unsuspecting New Zealander Gabb who showed the lads how an aggressive 'putt' style would work.

Gabb is currently residing in Memphis and has been having a great time playing all the courses in the region inbetween riding his new mountainbike at Herb Parsons Lake .  "Back home we have to haul around portable baskets for our tournaments, because there are virtually no permanent courses," lamented the crazy Kiwi, "but the disc golf scene, whilst small, is very strong and we have a fantastic national tour."  Gabb helps run the NZ Disc Golf website - www.discgolf.co.nz - which is well worth a visit for its great stories.  He also captured one of the great Ace shots of last year : his leftie mate Marty winning a $285 Ace Pool at the 2006 Crater Cup in Auckland.

The Kiwi Shows How Its Done - top New Zealand Disc Golfer (well, that's what he tells us!) Gabb goes all-or-nothing on the downhill 5th. And it was to be "all" with a spectacular Ace.

What Could Have Been - after popping one in the chains in practice, Dave Codey could only just threaten the basket on the nicely shaded 14th.

Close Call - The group that Memphis Disc Golf cameraman Len Skap followed were sure keeping him awake. One would be forgiven for thinking they were aiming at him!

The tournament saw the players heading out for 2 rounds of 18. With one throw per hole, it meant that things went pretty quickly.  But there was enough walking to work up an appetite. An appetite that was fixed by hotdogs, crisps, drinks and lollies put on by Greg's church - many thanks to them for this.

 
Visualize, Conceptualize, Ignore the Guys -Relative newcomer to the sport Steve, was able to ignore the constant banter going on in his group to line up some very nice drives.  Look out for him on the circuit in '08.

So when the keen frisbee throwers gathered after 36 holes, they were to find there had been a total of 4 Aces thrown. Three of these were tied with a single metal also to their score. So it was to a quick throw-off to see who would pick up the awesome prize of a Discraft bag with one of every Discraft disc in it - value $300.  The winner with closest to the pin was the tall strong figure of Jason "The Rock" Holamn - well done! 

And hats off to Greg, Brian and their helpers for a great day. It is hoped that this will become a regular feature of the Memphis Disc Golf calendar.

Good On Ya Greg! -Despite the pressures of TD, Greg was still able to perform on the course, much to the delight of his loyal fans (OK, they're looking the other way, but it sure was a nice view over the lake!).

Its All Over Bar The Shouting - By hole 18, the crew were growing desperate. Despite a few 'metals', the Aces were few and they knew that is where the money was.  Great fun all the same.

The Rock - Jason proudly displays his reward - $300 worth of Discraft bag and one of every one of their discs.