Happy Halloween!

Frank Loves the Hill!

New snazzy scorecard available

I just realized that I didn't let you know that the scorecard has been updated with hole distances and sponsor props. Get it here.

Devens has its first NEFA Champ!

Congratulations to Devens local boy, Pro Grandmaster Ken Gary, who pulled off an impressive win on Saturday to claim his spot in NEFA and Devens history! Ken won his division after a hard-fought battle that lasted both rounds. Great job, Ken!

Our hero Ken



Ken's trophy disc



The rest of us, well, we've had better days...

John and Arty with Keith B, Jeff C, and Shawn M before round 1



Ed and Joy H with Bill D.



Mike C, Pete T, and John wait for the players meeting

Hillfolk head to NEFA Finals on Saturday

Ken G, Arty, Mike C, and I are headed down to Norwalk, CT Saturday for the end-of-season NEFA Points Finals at Cranbury Park. By playing in a certain number of NEFA Points tournaments this year, we each qualified for the event.

I've played in a few of these Finals before and it is a pretty good time. It's like the Super Bowl of New England disc golf. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but it is a gathering of the best golfers around with some serious money waiting to be won.

Mike goes in as the second-rated Pro Grandmaster, but as for Ken, Arty, and me, we snuck in because several players above us couldn't make it! No pressure for us. Just good times and hopefully a nice Cinderella run for one of us.

Free firewood from Devens Recycling Center

Update: Unfortunately, due to some "unfortunate incident", this has changed to people with commercial accounts only.

Course sponsor, Dave from Devens Recycling Center, has a pretty generous offer for you:

I have thousands of pallets available, all in great shape, mostly hardwood. Free for the taking, but some rules have to be followed to get them. You have to be weighed in and out so that I may keep track of how much material has left my facility. You can have a few or all of them.

Winter is right around the corner..... These pallets are like brand new, they came in for recycling into wood chips but during these times when people are looking for wood to burn, I thought it better to offer them to people to heat their homes first.

You can come M-F, 7 AM-5 PM or Saturdays 7 AM to 12 PM. I ask that you call
ahead and let me know you are coming. On Saturday, it is best to call my
cell phone.

David A. Stevens
Plant Manager
Devens Recycling Center

45 Independence Drive
Devens, MA 01434
978-772-6500-Office
978-835-2076-Mobile

dstevens@devensrecycling.com
www.DevensRecycling.com

Ace Race Doubles recap

After a quick lunch of hot dogs, pasta salad, chili, and all sorts of other donated food (thanks everyone, especially Chef Bobka), we headed out for one round of doubles.



It was great to see a big turnout for AM2 and Rec, as well as AM1. As you know, I love seeing new players out on the Hill!

In Rec, the DuCott brothers ran away with a 7-stroke victory, thanks in large part to Bob's ace on hole 2 -- his first-ever ace! Good timing since he also won a wad of cash from the ace pot. Congrats!

Bob picks up the Ace Pot!


Pete Nevius and John Rodenhizer shot the lights out in AM2 with a 49 to claim first place by 3 strokes. The two defined what doubles is all about with Pete driving like a mad man and John draining putts left and right. They tied the course record for doubles set by Dave James and me last year.

AM1 saw a very competitive match between the duo of Ken Gary and Donnie Phillips and Dave and me. We started off pretty hot with a few birdies and jumped to an early lead but lost our mojo on the back nine. At that point, Donnie hit the gas and the two old dudes mounted their comeback. By hole 18, we were all tied up and needed a good drive, approach, and putt to finish out the round. Easy enough to say, but it's hole 18, the Round Killer, after all.

Donnie and Ken drove first and Ken's drive made the corner and disappeared down the Hill. A pretty sweet shot to say the least. Dave and I took a different approach and took out our putters, hoping to land in the landing zone at the crest of the hill. My drive went left and bonked a tree. Not good. Dave's drive was better but cut the corner a little too early and went right, into the woods, but at least it was over the crest.

Our second shot was doable, but we still had to navigate some trees to get back out on the fairway and down to the basket. Dave threw a good approach shot, but was short. I threw a beautiful anhyzer that went right over the basket --- and unfortunately kept going down, down, down the hill. Not good.

Ken and Donnie ended up just about basket level, but well to the right, deep in the woods -- definitely an easy 3. After Donnie threw a great shot under the basket, Dave and I knew it was do or die time. We HAD to make the putt.

Dave stepped up and his putt went wide. With the title on the line, I stepped up and nailed the stinking downhill 35 ft putt to force extra innings. It was awesome. Definitely the most-pressured filled putt of my life. I was a bit pumped. :)

So, after checking the other AM1 scores, we headed out again for a sudden death playoff (and hopefully a repeat of last year's playoff hole-in-one by Dave).

Unfortunately, history did not repeat itself. We had not-so-good drives but Ken and Donnie did. As Dave and I were getting ready to congratulate our friends, they both missed their sorta far but doable birdie putts. An early Christmas present!

We pushed the next 2 holes and ended losing on hole 4 thanks to another great drive by one of those guys. Overall, it was a great match and there's a new Doubles Champ on the Hill. Nice job Ken and Donnie!

AM1 Dubs Champs, Ken and Donnie

Ace Race recap

Let me start off by saying, damn, do we know how to pick 'em! For the second year in a row we were blessed with absolutely beautiful Fall weather - cool, crisp, sunny, and plenty of color. Yay Mother Nature!

The Ace Race kicked off at about 10 AM with 24 golfers, many of whom were first-timers. This year we threw both rounds at once which helped moved things along faster and also gave everyone a better chance at dialing it in and hitting metal. With almost 60% of the contestants either aceing or hitting metal, I'd say that was a good move!

My group did pretty well with 2 aces and 9 metals. After nailing a beautiful laser on hole 5, I hit chains on 6 and bounced out. It was pretty exciting, none-the-less. Tim Sieger flicked a lazy shot up 15 for his ace and the rest of our group had plenty of near misses.

Joe Atwood also hit hole 5 to tie for second place with Tim in the Ace and metal department. Since there was a Halloween Buzzz up for grabs for second place (donated by Donnie), Tim and Joe had a CTP throw-off on hole 1, which Joe won. Nice job, guys. Tim didn't go home empty-handed though. All winners got homemade cookies, courtesy of Assistant TD, Marcy B., and everyone got some of that delicious cake!




Ace Race results:
Name, Aces, Metals, prize

• John Borelli 1 3: Bag, 10 discs, cookies
• Joe Atwood 1 1: Halloween Buzz, cookies (won playoff)
• Tim Seiger 1 1: Cookies
• Dave James 0 3
• Rob Walker 0 3
• Paul Lyman 0 2
• Steve Berthiaume 0 2
• Todd Canuel 0 2
• Jim Bobka 0 2
• John Rodenhizer 0 1
• T.M. Dyer 0 1
• Steve Legare 0 1
• Pete Nevius 0 1
• Ken Gary 0 1

Everyone else: nothing!

Ace Race photos

• More photos here courtesy of the Awesome Atwoods.

• Click the slideshow below for even more photos.

Aces Galore!

A great day for golf! Thanks for coming. Pix, video, and a recap later.

Congrats to Rec player Bob DuCott for hitting hole 2 for his first-ever ace, CTP, and ace pot all in one shot during doubles!

Ace Race Results
Name Aces Metal Payout
John Borelli 1 3: Bag, 10 discs, cookies
Joe Atwood 1 1: Halloween Buzz, cookies (won playoff)
Tim Seiger 1 1: Cookies
Dave James 0 3
Rob Walker 0 3
Paul Lyman 0 2
Steve Berthiaume 0 2
Todd Canuel 0 2
Jim Bobka 0 2
John Rodenhizer 0 1
T.M. Dyer 0 1
Steve Legare 0 1
Pete Nevius 0 1
Ken Gary 0 1

Everyone else: nothing!


Dubz
Name Score Payout

AM1
Ken Gary / Donnie Phillips* 49 $40 (won 4-hole playoff)
John Borelli / Dave James 49 $20
Chris Gagne / Rob Walker 52
Todd Canuel / T.M. Dyer 52
John Campos / Chuck Gerbrands 56
Jim Bobka / Shawn Dionne 57

AM2
Pete Nevius / John Rodenhizer 49 $50
Steve Legare / Mark Rooney 52 $20
Jason Johnson / Chad LeBlanc 55 $10
Justin DiMucci / Joe Walker 57
John Blanchard / Andrew DuQuette 57
Shane Gough / Phil Pelletier 64
Brian McNulty / Eric Spaulding 67
Steve Berthiaume / Pat Connelly DNF

Mixed
Joe Atwood / Kindred Atwood 66 $30
Mindy Atwood / Zane Atwood 74
Kevin Farrell / Sabina Farrell DNF

Rec
Bob DuCott / Michael DuCott 54 $30
Ray Karkman / Dave Laster 61 $10 (won playoff)
Doug Orleans / Tim Seiger 61
Tony Gordon / Marcy Rose 62


Speed
Name Final Adjusted Time Payout
Pete Nevius 3:07 $45, Trophy, cookies
Ken Gary 3:42 Cookies
Rob Walker 3:53 Cookies
John Borelli 3:55
Donnie Phillips 4:01
Jim Bobka 4:33
Dave James 5:03
John Rodenhizer 5:08
Tim Seiger 5:33


CTPs and Other Prizes

• Todd Canuel: Signed Disc CTP Hole 1
• Bob DuCott: Shirt and Nalgene Bottle CTP Hole 2
• Todd Canuel: Thermos CTP Hole 5
• Mindy & Zane Atwood: Snoopy doll CTP Hole 9 (Mixed)
• Blanchard/Duquette: Coffee & Tumbler CTP Hole 9 (AM2)
• Mark Rooney: Signed Disc CTP Hole 15
• Ken Gary & Donnie Phillips: Disc & DD Gift Cert Most # of Birdies
• John Rodenhizer: Disc Golf Bag Best Score & doesn't own a disc golf bag

Ace Race prize and discs

Here's what you are playing for


Here's what you are playing with

Eat up!

Even if you don't win a new bag full of discs at the Ace Race, you'll go home with a full belly, or at least elevated glucose levels!

All Ace Race contestants will get a free slice of this friggin' awesome cake! Yum!

Any leftovers will be available for purchase at lunch. Thank you Tracy Bolduc for this great cake!

Email Tracy Bolduc for your own cake or just to say how awesome she is!

Speedy run through

Rob, Pete, and I had a practice Speed round last night to finalize the rules and get a general idea of how things should work. Let me just say that damn, this is going to be a lot of fun!

With Marcy timing and Dave and his daughter cheering us on, we sped through the four holes. I went first and chucked a beautiful shot down hole 13; however, I took off running and forgot to watch where it went! And then there was the foxhole I fell into that sent me ass-over-tea-kettle, much to the amusement of the galley!

In between all the laughter, Dave shouted out where it had gone and I found my disc after a valuable 10 seconds had ticked off the clock. Total time for hole 1 was about 45 seconds.

Next I jogged up to tee 14 and heard the plonk of Rob's disc hitting a tree on 13. I set myself and launched a beauty up the Hill -- this time watching where it went before I took off after it. My legs were already feeling like tree trunks as I hustled after my shot. I made my approach and heard Rob yell "Fore" as I missed my putt and settled for a 4.

I headed to 15 sucking wind pretty good, but still moving. I threw a laser to basket 9 and it skipped past the basket. I ran down, missed the chippy putt and moved on with a disappointing 3. Rob was nowhere to be seen, but honestly, I don't remember much after my wipeout on the first hole -- I was on automatic drive.

On the way over to tee 10 I saw a crushed Dunkins paper cup on the ground and fought the urge to stop and pick it up. Once on the tee pad, I set myself and float a beauty down the hill that lands about 20 ft above the basket. I really don't remember running down the Hill.

I hear Marcy yelling something over at the finish line but can't waste any energy deciphering it. I nail the putt for a bird, run down to the basket, grab my disc, and sprint to the finish line at tee 11. Done and still alive at just over 4 minutes! I drop my discs and flop to the ground ready to explode. Damn, I am old.

Rob is close on my heels and ends up beating me by a few seconds. Pete, however, crushes us both by over 25 seconds with a 3:43.

The big question is what will early favorite Donnie Disc Golf shoot? He is clearly the man to beat, but one bad kick can change everything.

See you Saturday!

One spot left for Ace Race, Dubs trickling in

There's still time to join us this Saturday. Email me if you want in. But beware the consequences if you win. Jimmy found out the hard way last year.

• Note: We're having a potluck lunch. Please bring something to share. We'll have a small grill and maybe an electrical outlet for a crock pot.

• Updated reg list here.

It's a Three Pete

Thank you to all who showed up Sunday morning to work on the course. We had a very biblical-sounding turnout (three Peters, two Johns, and a Luke), plus Ken, and Marcy. Bobka and Arty also did some work on Saturday, and Dave J. built some Ace Race tees on Thursday. Nice!

It was a great group effort with people lending a hand where needed. While Luke and Peter M worked on filling up tee box 14 with dirt, Pete T and John R roamed the course looking for high dead branches to cut down with a pole saw and also put in some steps on the path to hole 8. Ken whipped up another sweet tee box on hole 17 and was joined by Peter M who helped fill it with dirt. Next up for Ken Gary Construction is a tee box for hole 4.

Pete N and Luke did some low brush cutting on the back 9 and Marcy and I cleaned up the landing zone on top of the crest of 18. John R and I also installed a tee box front piece thingy on the new tee for hole 5.

Wow, we did a lot in three hours and the course just keeps getting better and better!

Peter and Luke fill in tee box 14


Pete T takes out a limb on 5


John R makes quick work of a branch on 7


Tee box 14


Ken and Peter work on tee box 17

Any other 1s?

Well it's true -- if you come to a workday, good things happen to you. After 3+ hours of working on the course, we played a casual round and witnessed some Devens history.

Marcy hit her first-career ace on hole 9 with a Banger GT putter! We all knew it as soon as it left her hand -- it was friggin' beautiful. Crash! Witnessed by Pete N, Pete, T, John R, and me.

Marcy has only been playing for 5 months and is the only known woman to ace at Devens.

She was pretty happy.

Volunteers: Workday Sunday, 9 AM

Help us in a quick general clean-up and prep for the Ace Race. Meet in the parking lot at 9AM this Sunday, Oct 12 at 9AM.

After a few hours of cutting low brush, building tee boxes, shoveling dirt, cutting grass, building some stairs, and flagging the Ace tees, we'll head over to the Chili Cook Off, eat, and listen to some tunes. Then maybe back for a quick 9 holes or so before the Pats game.

Need loppers, shovels, wheelbarrow, railroad ties, elbow grease.

Let me know if you are coming. Email or call 978-433-6133. Thanks!

Let's Go Sox!

I think I posted this once or twice before, eh? Yeah boy!

OKC and let's get corked!

Saturday morning I met up with Josh and Suzy from Oklahoma City for a round. They were in town visiting relatives and had already played the Hill two or three times in their short visit.

They absolutely loved the trees, rocks, and elevation considering the biggest hills they have in OK are ant hills. Believe, I know. I've been there. Flat, flat, and more flat.

Thanks for coming, guys. Hope you enjoy the pix, and see you next time.

Josh nails his comeback putt on 10



Suzy putts across the Hill on 10



Suzy and Josh


The best part of the morning though was after our round when I was sitting in my truck killing some time on the phone before I had to head to work. Tony and Noah pulled in the parking lot and headed out toward the woods holding a drill and something that looked like a sign. I wasn't quite sure what they were up to and figured they were going out to fix the vernal pool sign on hole 6.

When they came back, they told me that they had installed a corkboard on our kiosk and attached the latest disc golf article that was in the Boston Globe. Tony was doubtful that it would hold up to the elements, but he was hopeful that it would help out short term.

It totally made my day. I love it when people give of themselves and help our course. So many people take, take, take, and never give. I don't know, even though it was a small gesture, it meant a ton to me and I appreciate it. Thanks a lot guys!

On that note, we are having a work day this Sunday, Oct 12 at 9 AM. Please come help us do some basic clean up, trimming, and installing some more tee boxes in preparation for our tourney. After, we'll head over to the Devens Chili Cookoff at 1 PM and maybe return for a quick round. Earn some good disc golf karma and lend a hand!


Noah, Tony, and Luke the Dog



The new corkboard

AR Player Packs ordered

Player packs have been ordered and are on their way. For the procrastinators who didn't sign up on time, I'll have a few extras up for grabs but don't count on them being available on Oct. 18.

• Check out your competition in the original post.
• Workday Sunday Oct 12, 9 AM. Then we'll head over to the Devens Chili Fest for lunch.

I wonder if Matt Stroika will play this year?

It's a Family Affair

We've got our first family signed up for the Ace Race and Dubs today. Mom and Dad Joe and Mindy, along with their ever-dangerous preteen sensations, Zane and Kindred, are ready to take it down.

"I'll bet my kid's college savings that my kids will whomp on any other kids in Dubs," a confident Joe said at today's press conference. "Bring it on, punks!"

Have you been out to the Hill with your family? Then join us at our fun event, Oct. 18. (No whomping allowed.)