Tour Beginnings
I moved to Texas for a couple of reasons, but most importantly it was because of the geographic location. From East Texas, you can be in literally a dozen or more different states in one days drive. It’s a perfect retreat to jump “off” the tour, recharge my batteries, and be more prepared for the long haul. That being said, I decided not to drive my van out to the desert but instead to take a flight and get a rental car. I figure I’d rather not put another 4000 miles on the odometer.
I’ve made this trip to the desert before, playing Vegas then the Memorial down in Phoenix area. I’m pretty certain that I figured out the best way to tackle those events...this time I flew to Phoenix and then drove the rental car from there up to Vegas! Kinda backwards, but in all honesty, the better rate on the rental, and then I wouldn’t have to drive back to Vegas once the events had ended and I’m exhausted.
It’s really a beautiful drive with the saguaro cacti and bone dry landscape. It really reminds me of those old roadrunner cartoons...they really made a great depiction of the desert. Four hours up the hills and you begin to get that Vegas vibe- the roads get a little bit nicer, more gas stations are offering gaming inside their establishment, you can just smell the corruption as you descend into the huge valley where Las Vegas is located along with other sprawling urban areas, such as Henderson which is where the LVC is held.
I just have to give a big shout-out to Ted Henderson (no, the town is not named after him) for finding a sweet Air BNB close to the course. Unfortunately, he couldn’t attend due to the snowpacalypse we dealt with just prior to this trip’s beginning. Apparently, there was just too much work for him to do, so hopefully I’ll catch him next time, but being the good guy he is- he kept the reservation on the place, and we found heads to fill rooms and make sure he didn’t take a big loss on the week, THANKS TED!
The Air BNB was awesome and I settled in just fine, alongside John Willis- immediately I thought about who in the house was going to get pranked.
Now I know a prank isn’t always cool unless done properly. Sometimes if you pull one on either the wrong person, or maybe it goes a little too far & it can be detrimental and not fun… there is an art to pulling a proper prank.
I won’t mention any names, but the opportunity was too good.
“Guy” we stayed with was maybe a little distracted when he arrived in an uber ride, so he didn’t bring his luggage into the house. When John and I were heading out to the store, a potential prank fell into into my lap & I couldn’t pass it up! We went ahead and loaded his suitcase in the back of my rental while we ventured out for groceries, and laughed about how he would be freaking out while we lazily made our grocery run.
(Note: not everyone wants to play when it comes to jokes, you have to know who you’re dealing with, and what potential comebacks you may encounter as retribution- Best to keep it light and fun!)
When we came back I obviously had the suitcase in the trunk along with groceries for the week, and we were gone for at least an hour. At this point “guy” was kinda freaking out a little bit, which had both John and I cracking up, thinking about our prank becoming reality! John and I played it down pretty well but I could see guy’s urgency, he was making calls to the uber ride trying to re-trace his movements. I played along for a second further, until I just decided to ask him to help me & carry in the groceries, where he found his suitcase in the trunk and all balance in life had been restored.
Coming out of Snowpacalypse, my golf game hadn’t really showed up and I played poorly at the LVC, missing the cut by a couple sticks. The only high note was I did make an Eagle 2 on my last hole in the event, 18 on the Factory Store course. But other than that, I enjoyed the company of many… it’s almost like the first day back to school from summer; Everyone is there, ready to let the disc fly!
A big shoutout to the Innova Only Collector Group Admins- those guys are all super nice, and we enjoyed a couple nights talking with them about specific runs of discs, what makes them special and other kinda geeky stuff when it comes to the production of discs. I myself am not much of a collector (although I do have a small collection) I’m more of a connoisseur of specific discs, such as the eagle, and coyote.
LVC week came and went, and back down the road we went 5 hours to Pheonix/Scottsdale. Just one night in a hotel, and then I would join my friends from Alabama at their Airbnb. Always a fun time hangin’ with the Bama boys, although I didn’t really see them too much during our stay. Our tee times were pretty much the complete opposite of one another, they all played in the mornings at a different course while I was playing mostly later in the afternoon.
The two weekends couldn’t have been more different, at the Memorial my game seemingly fell into place. I wasn’t necessarily throwing the disc at my best, however I was making good choices off the tee with my discs, specifically the Scorpius and stringing shots together.
I gave myself a lot of opportunity to score every round. My putting is what let me down in the desert, as I was struggling to get the disc home. I put a lot of shots in play. Ultimately, it was the birdie stretch at Vista where I feel like the tournament got away from me, only going three under par in the early parts of the final two rounds. When I crossed the street in rounds three and four, I made up ground on the field, shooting eight under on the back twelve holes each day. Carding good scores each round at Vista. This put me in a tie for 4th place, a solid finish although I know I can play better. Just have to put in that work, and I know more good results will follow.
Hope you enjoyed the little re-cap of my weeks in the desert. This year is quickly taking shape, I will be out on tour much of the season, playing events and hosting some Barsby Battle events in between tour stops.