Another tree falls, another tree gets pushed over

A pretty big tree fell over this week to the right of the fairway on hole 4. Shouldn't get in your way, but I'll probably limb it soon.

Someone pushed over a sapling on the edge of fairway 5 close to the basket and left it in the fairway. Thanks a lot! Jeesh...

Here are just a few of the WWs who showed up this week who know better than to break branches and trees.

Dan, Doug, Bradley



Will, Josh, John, Daniel

Hey, it's Wednesday!

Don't let the holiday screw you up. Today is Wednesday, not Tuesday!

See you at the WW tonight.

Thank you

Thank you to all who have passed through Fort Devens.
God bless America.

Win a 9-hole course and support AM Worlds

Here's your chance to win an instant 9-hole course. Just buy a special sparkle DGA Reef putter and you'll be entered in a raffle to win 9 DGA baskets.

Put them in your yard or be a hero and donate them to your favorite Devens disc golf course!

• Win 9 baskets (more info)

I'm heading to Ohio for the 2010 AM Worlds at the end of June. Anyone else out there going too? Let me know.

• Read about my trip to KC Worlds in 2009.

Hey jerks, read this!

Okay, time for my semi-annual plea to disrespectful golfers, smokers, litterbugs, and jerks in general.

What it boils down to is respect. Respect the course. Respect nature. Respect the men and women who have volunteered hundreds of hours and respect the sponsors who have donated hundreds of dollars to give you a free course to play.

That's it. It's really pretty simple -- don't be a jerk.


Disrepectful golfers

• Don't be a jerk and break branches or saplings that are in your way. Instead, try throwing better shots, staying in the fairway, and oh, I don't know, following the rules and being a good human.

Someone tried to bring this tree between basket 8 and tee 9 home with them



Another golfer left them a message




Smokers and litterbugs

• The course is not your ashtray or trash can. Put your butts in your bag. Crush your empties and pack them out. Don't throw them in the woods. It's not hard to do, really. In fact, they will weigh less than when you started your round.
  

Vandals and thieves

• Stay home. Unfortunately, someone has stolen the "Hill Yeah" sign that was on tee pad 14. Others rolled some log seats down various holes. Weeee, what fun!!!

I know there are probably just a few bad seeds out there, so if you see someone bending branches, throwing butts on the ground, or littering, educate them and let them know that they need to stop.

Everyone else
Thanks for playing the course and picking up trash during your round. We really have one of the cleanest courses around!

Don't forget, we accept PayPal donations of $5 for every few rounds you play to help pay for our yearly insurance bill and regular course maintenance and improvements. Just click the PayPal button to the right. Thank you and happy chucking!

Ho hum, another ace at league

For the third week in a row, there's been an ace at the Wednesday Weekly!

Starting it off two weeks ago was Frank Strauss who hit hole 10 for his first-ever ace and the first league ace of the year. That ace pot was worth $108.

Then last week, Andy Duquette hit hole 11 for $21 and just last night, Pete Nevius hit hole 9 for $15! Pete also got the hole 8 CTP.

Can we call that an an ace turkey for holes 9, 10, and 11?

Nice job, guys, but let's cool it for a few weeks and build up that ace pot again, okay?

But wait, there's more. Josh Poor has been the constant for each one of these aces -- he's been on each card! He says that next week he's going to start charging whoever is on his card since he is obviously the lucky charm.

Which disc is not officially in the basket?

Answer: All discs but the yellow one will complete the hole once the owner gets to the basket and removes it before it possibly falls down and out.

Check out the PDGA's new Rules School feature where rules are broken down, clarified, and illustrated. This week's rule deals with interference and answers the often-debated "Is this disc officially in the basket?"

Cinco de Ace-O!

¡Felicitaciones! Frank Strauss! Frank aced hole 10 last night and went home with 108 American pesos for his troubles. It is his first-ever ace and the first ace of this year's WW.

Frank shot a 51, took home the #1 tag, and also won the mini-margaritas and glass CTP.

It's good to be Frank.


Frank and Josh love their CTPs



Josh really loves his new tag!

Disco de Mayo tonight at the WW - 5:15

Since today is Cinco de Mayo, we figured we'd give away some appropriate CTPs and prizes at tonight's Wednesday Weekly. Up for grabs are margaritas, margaritas glasses, and a disc-o donated by Bradley Arnall.

Come ready to fiesta at 5:15!

Friends from across the pond

I've known for a while that I've got readers from all over the US and some over in Europe too, so I was excited to get a comment recently from Manja in Germany.

Manja and the Hyzernauts have started up a disc golf photo blog with photos from courses and cities around Europe. It's a new blog, but they already have some cool artsy photos posted. Check it out!

• Hyzernauts blog
  

Scroll down to the bottom of each page to find the <- and -> buttons on the right. If you read German, it'll be even more interesting I bet!

KOH photos - Rd 2 & awards

Here's the last batch. 90 more.

• Round 2
• Awards and post-game interviews

KOH photos - Check-in & Rd 1

Here you go. Enjoy!

• Check in (8)
• Round 1 action (121)

Tons of photos coming

Any guesses on how many photos I took Saturday? Just under 300 and some of them are actually in focus! I'm almost done weeding through them all and should get some up here later today. Must sleep now.

Here's one to get you through the morning.

Round ratings complete

Check out your unofficial round ratings for yesterday's King of the Hill. Shaun LaForce's 51 was rated 1001! Billy wasn't too far behind with a 996. Wow!

• Scores and ratings on PDGA

Billy the King

Pro Open winner Billy Dunne

Billy Dunne is King of the Hill!

Congratulations to Pro Open winner, 18 year old Billy Dunne, for taking this year's King of the Hill crown! Billy shot a hot 104 (-4) to win, but what makes his win even more impressive is that it was his first time playing the course. Nice!

And let's give a big Hill Yeah! to Andy Duquette for aceing hole 2 in Rd 2 and taking home $129! Hill Yeah!

Thanks for coming everyone. Marcy and I hope you had a great time and left with your bellies full and your brains full of good memories. Let us know if you hit it big on the scratch tickets in the players pack!

More stories, highlights, photos, and tales of near-death later.

• Pro Open - Billy Dunne 104
• Pro Master - Doug DeSalvo 120
• Pro GM - Ken Gary 111
• AM1 - Derek Brazauskas 110
• Adv Master - James Beaulieu 115
• Adv Women - Rachael Hudson 131
• AM2 - Leo Lacwasan 114
• Rec - Jeff Cooper 134

KOH rd 1 results

Rd 1 top scores, all playing same tees. Light rain off and on.

Pro Billy Dunne 52, Mike Dussault 55
Pro GM Mike Connell 54, Ken Gary 55
AM1 Derek Brazauskas 55, Aucoin, Burtt 56
AM Women Rachael Hudson 63
AM Master James Beaulieu 59
AM2 Leo Lacwasan 55
Rec Jeff Cooper 68

New Devens tags available tomorrow

Jim Bobka does it again! These are the best tags I've ever seen, but I'm probably a bit biased.

If you purchased one and are going to be at the KOH tomorrow, you can get it then. I have one extra to sell in this batch but will be taking orders for batch #2.

How many TDs do you know who bake you muffins?

Holy muffin madness!

I just walked into the kitchen and there are muffins everywhere! Marcy has had the oven cranking for the past few hours making blueberry muffins, triple berry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, corn muffins, and has just started on brownies for lunch! Plus there's mini bagels and cream cheese on the counter too.

You may get wet tomorrow, but at least you'll have a full belly. Come hungry, golfers!

We sorted through the CTPs and we are giving away over 30 items. What will the Queen of the Hill get this year? Can the ABBA Dancing Queen concert poster from last year be topped?

If anyone plans on donating a CTP, please let me know ahead of time.

See you on the Hill!

KOH preliminary hole assignments

Note that these may change depending on dropouts, so double-check after the players meeting.

UPDATED Friday, 9:15 PM

1

• Chris Carr
• Paul Rashaw
• Alan Rosa
• Gary Stansfield

2

• Bill Dunne
• Josh Rappeport
• Frank Strauss
• Rob Walker

3

• Mike Connell
• Bob Enman
• Ken Gary
• Doug DeSalvo

4

• Pete Charron
• Brad Harris
• Seth McQuade
• Pete Nevius

5

• Brittainy Brougham
• Kylie Hoke
• Rachael Hudson
• Erin Tivnan

6

• Matt Duquette
• Jimmy Blakeney
  
• Eric O’Connell
• Andy Powell

7

• Andrew Allen
• Zachary Burwick
• Leo Lacwasan
• Jason Thurlow

8

• Robert Ackley
• Travis Brougham
• Troy Dietrich
• John Giampapa

9

• Josh Connell
• Billy Dunne
• Mike Dussault
  
• Shaun LaForce

10

• Keith Burtt
• Adam Dodge
• Mike Murphy
• Donnie Phillips

11

• Chuck Gerbrands
• Mike Saimond
• Steve Walker
• Rick Williams

12

• Derek Brazauskas
• Virgil Rideout
• Pete Tolvanen
• Patrick Harris

13

• Luke Adolph
• Greg Aucoin
• Roger Gagnon
• Robert Underwood

14

• Jeff Cooper
• Tim Seiger
• Trenton Solomon
• Matt Valeri

15

• Bob Burdett
• Sean Curcio
• Jon Gerry
• John Williams

16

• James Beaulieu
• Arty Graustein
• David Hoey
• Eric Kevorkian

17

• Dan Brownell
• Max Burwick
• Andrew Duquette
• Dave Mallen

18

• John Hart
• Ed Hovestadt
• Eric Kaplan
• Alan MacLean

WW results and one crazy shot

Frank Strauss continued his hot WW streak with a 53 in A pool while Bob Burdett and Jason Johnson tied for first in the B pool with 59s. Donnie and Bob won the CTPs on hole 4. The question remains though -- will Frank stay hot for his first KOH? Is he tournament tested? We will see on Saturday!

Before league I was trying out my new Pro Katana and it kinda got away from me and veered toward the parking lot. I heard a thud and thought that can't be good. A few guys gathered around and started chuckling. Someone whipped out their camera phone and took a few photos. Uh oh, I thought. I just dented somebody's car.

Turns out I got lucky with this totally ridiculous shot. No skip, just straight in and no damage. Guess it was my lucky day.


Luke on 3



Dan N on 3

Teebox update

From the facts we've gathered it looks like the teebox was driven over around noon on Tuesday. Even stranger is that some players saw a State Police 4x4 driving up and around holes 11 and 12 at that time. Hmm...

In any case, we fixed the box and cut down the trees that the joyriders ran over and broke. All is well.

The coolest thing about this event was that when John R and I drove up to teebox 6 to fix it, a group of students from the Parker School (which borders the course) was already there with their teacher trying to fix it! How awesome is that?

The Wellness teacher has been taking her classes out to play a few holes the past few weeks and they decided to give back to the course. Thank you!

Vandals destroy teebox

I just heard that some losers have destroyed one of our new teeboxes. Sometime between Sunday and Tuesday, someone did some 4-wheeling around the course and drove over teebox 6. Thankfully, that's the only damage seen so far, but I think they also blazed a few new trails through the woods.

To help us nail down when this happened, please email me the day and time you last played there and saw the new teebox undamaged, or saw anyone driving around the course!

John R and I are headed over at 1:00 today to fix it and do some other course work. Join us if you can. If not, see you at league at 5:00.

Who wants free food?

More free stuff for you at the King of the Hill!

Skip breakfast and cancel your plans for dinner because you're getting free food pre- and post-KOH.

• Muffins, fruit, and of course POP tarts for breakfast
• Pizza for your ride home from course sponsor Nashoba Club Restaurant.

Just eat it eat it eat it eat it.



As for lunch, our tournament sponsor the Devens Grill has prepared a special lunch menu for us. Sandwich includes chips and a drink (soda, water). Order at check in.

• Ham & cheese $6
• Turkey sandwich $6
• Chicken Caesar wrap $6
• Veggie Wrap $6
• Steak & Cheese $9

Includes chips and a drink.

They are also offering 10% off your bill at the Grill Friday, Sat, and Sunday. Just mention you are in the KOH and be sure to thank them for sponsoring the event!

Thank you workday crew!

Wow, what a busy and productive day on Saturday!

Four new tee boxes completed and one refilled, two huge downed trees cut up on 14 and 18, one annoying overhanging branch on 18 removed, one large pile of logs cut, moved, and stacked on 4, one step inserted on 16, and the tee 5 area was prettied up with flowers.

Thank you for showing the Hill some love! I really appreciate your help.

• Andy B
• Andy D
  
• Chris
• Dan F
• Luke A
  
• Ken G
  
• John R
• Alan M
• Doug C
• Donnie P
• Rob W
• Bradley A

Our reward for a day of hard work was of course to test our product with a quick round. Early reviews are good, but it was a little weird being in an actual tee box! Sadly, although the view from tee 18 is more fair to those vertically-challenged players, the boulder just isn't as imposing to me as it was before. What do you think?


Rob on 18



Alan on 18



Chris on 4



John R on 6

Rock bottom

We hauled 9 million tons of rock up to 18 and lined the bottom of the box. After it is filled with dirt the hole may play a little different by being a little higher off the tee.

Maybe not, but I'm sure it'll feel different the first time you step up. I hope you short golfers appreciate us raising the box for you!

JoBo, DaFo, and JoRo

Tomorrow is fill fill fill along with some fairway clearing. Please bring wheelbarrows and shovels. Remember, lunch is on me!

18 takes shape

Bring rocks.

A good day for tee.... boxes

Ken, Dan, John, and I have put two in so far. Bradley is spiffing up hole 5.

We will need wheelbarrows, shovels, and strong backs tomorrow.

Over the Hill at the Hill

Yesterday was my 40th birthday. I guess I am now over the Hill. How appropriate.

Marcy made cupcakes for league night. Golfers ate them. Sugar rushes were had.

Congrats to Frank Strauss who shot a personal best 53 (-1) to win last night. Andy D, Jimmy B, and I were nipping at his heels with 55s.

Dan Fox and Luke A won the cash CTPs and also nice Budweiser St. Paddy's hats donated by Josh St. D.

In our first Skills contest, Jeff Cooper went home with a nice Innova microfiber towel by winning the "Roller to the Birthday Boy" competition.

Next week start time is 5:00. Get one last round in before the KOH!



It was shirt-optional day at the Hill with 80 degree weather in the first week of April!



Ed, Gizmo, Rob, Mike, and Luke in Ambush Alley on 8



"Mmmm... cupcakes!"

New waiting area in the works

We just picked up some landscaping supplies from "Uncle" Bradley Arnall. He is going to create a bigger waiting area around the kiosk on hole 1 and plant some flowers and other cool stuff. Thanks Bradley!

He'll be there tomorrow morning if you'd like to help. A few of us will also be there building some new teeboxes.

Spring Cleaning Workday: Sat, April 10, 9 AM

We're going to give the course a quick Spring cleaning this Saturday. Who's in? Earn some good karma for the King of the Hill!

Devens Workday

• Saturday, April 10
• 9:00 - Work
• Noon - I'll treat you to lunch!
• Noon-thirtyish - random dubs or more work

Bring: Shovels, gloves, trimmers, pruners, wheelbarrow, elbow grease

Course closed Sat. April 17

You've been warned! Be kind. Come to our workday this Saturday, April 10. Get free lunch. Play after work.

Lost your chips?

Does anyone belong to these? They were hanging on the kiosk. Email me if they're yours.

Spring has sprung!

Spring is officially here. The first porto-potties have sprouted in the parking lot!

Win a basket at King of the Hill sponsored by Devens Grill

Less than two weeks to go!

A few people have dropped out and the waitlist has shrunk. If you haven't signed up, chances are good you'll still get in.

• Registered golfers
  

Hole sponsors, your chances at winning a DISCatcher Traveler Disc Golf Target ($125 value) are pretty good. There's only 12 people in the raffle.

Thank you:

• Chris Carr, Josh Rappeport, Luke Adolph, Pete Nevius, The Borelli Bunch, Dave Mallen, Andy Duquette, Bill Dunne, Billy Dunne, DragonDiscGolf.com, Bradley Arnall, Ed Hovestadt
  

Everyone else, sponsor a hole and maybe win a basket. If nothing else, you'll have your choice of starting hole.

Thank you Innova Disc Golf for sending us a bunch of prizes to give away and Utopia Disc Golf for their donation too.

Devens disc hits the road

We took along a new Devens disc on our honeymoon and vowed to take a photo of it on every island in front of something cool. We kinda forgot and ended up with just a handful.

Here's the first one on the way to St. John, USVI. Notice the pasty-white arms and legs on day 1.