Making a different choice

Thanks in part to multiple people, was able to get the 500 points needed to qualify for the 2022 Worlds.

I have 2 events in August, one Labor Day, and one in November registered and still want to play a couple more fall events.

There are four choices all with positives and negatives:

Sep 12 Madison Meadows:

Positives: This is the cheapest option and by far the shortest drive. This is also an unrated event where I can win money.

Negatives: This event is a Sunday following a Monday event. Being unrated could mean I could be paired with people whose attitude conflicts with mine.

Sep 19 Lemon Lake MP50 

Positives: Would play Silver/Red courses which have become two best ones there I can play. Prefer MP50 mindset which recently was able to post lifetime best round.

Negatives: Most expensive option. Would be significantly worst player in the division. My best lifetime round in MP50 only placed me 7th out of 10.

Sep 19 Lemon Lakes MA50 

Positives: Most suitable field for my ability/age that will be playing on courses I played last weekend.

Negatives: Not a fan of most changes made to White course and Blue course has mostly dirt or grass tees some have not been completely leveled as well as multiple long walks between holes.

Sep 18 or 19 Joliet Prison round:

Positives: The idea of playing a round at that location is desirable. Since it is only one round, would have time before or after to make deliveries.

Negatives: Not the best place for discs which can easily get lost or damaged. Could end up in group with pro level players or beginners.

If I had to make a choice now, would go for the different experience. Knowing how popular that event has become, getting one of the 432 spots is not as easy as it initially sounds.

Actually decided on the most financially prudent choice especially with the potential covid situation.

139 grams

In October 2019, I played a one day event at Rogers Lakewood Park in Valparaiso, IN. Though a person who chugged more cans of Coors Light than he has discs in his bag beat me by a shot, I managed to finish in the last cash spot and was talked into getting a 139g Blizzard Katana. 

Blizzard plastic is lighter than other ones used and as a pro tested in a video, a player can throw it faster. I had purchased one before but it was so over stable, I could not throw it so was skeptical but figured I would give it a shot. On my way back to the car threw it and took off but went right into a couple of pine trees. It took five minutes in the fading light to find it.

I tried it after with mixed results including putting it way right into the dog park at 50 Acre on the alt hole towards the practice basket and it was the disc used for my two black aces on 1 at Fairfield Park in Round Lakes that December.

The following summer it was the disc I lost way right on 10 at Highland past 16 fairway that was eventually found by another player which I had to make a trip to Lockport to get out of the shed at Trinity.

In spite of that, that disc when thrown correctly can go 20-25 feet farther than anything else I can throw downwind. Last Sunday, doing so on #2 at Lemon Lake White got me in a position where I was able to throw a full Leopard to get a birdie.

The week before that was at Foxdale Park in Addison where the first three holes are bordered by the wall blocking noise from the connection between Interstate 355N and Interstate 290E. After a drive with my Leopard on 3 from the path as the tee was muddy, took out my Katana and launched it over the wall. 

I skipped 4&5 and when done, stopped along the expressway and among weeds one which cut my knee badly, found that disc.

One of the reasons I went to retrieve that disc is that I have purchased a couple other Blizzard plastic discs since to get a back up but unfortunately they fly like the first one I got and not that Katana which has almost become irreplaceable.

The following day, went to Madison Meadows. While getting my equipment, braces, and shoes, another car pulls up and two adults walk out to #1 carrying between them three discs. Since I had to work later that day, figured I could eventually pass them.

On #2 saw the left handed player throw a disc that as expected finished to the right and had an idea what was going to happen on #3 where the disc barely skipped into the pond that is on the right.

Knowing where it went in, hurried to the spot, removed my handle from by cart, and laid on the ground trying to retrieve the disc while one player was watching me.

Then I hear in a voice that sounded off, "Can I use this disc?" which the person next to me said would be fine.

I look back and filled with rage that made the time earlier this year when a dog took the only dry towel out of my bag seem calm, announced in a tone people could hear a block away, " THAT'S MY DISC!". I literally had to rip it out of his hands before putting it back into the bag he was standing next to before marching off to play #4.

Yes, it was the same Katana which is kept by itself in the side of the bag. It did not fall out. While I was helping the person retrieve his disc, he helped himself to one of mine. Thinking about it later, the two people were a father and adult son and the son appeared to be not fully aware of what he was doing and it is possible his father thought the disc was found and not taken from the bag. At least I hope that was the case as opposed to him thinking since I have a full bag of them, I could spare one.

I do carry backups in my car and have given some to other players to keep and in this case would have definitely offered one of them so they could keep playing.

Anyway when I was on #12 was asked how I am doing and stated lousy since someone tried to steal a disc from my bag while I was trying to help him retrieve a lost one. That was followed by a conversation explaining the difference between discs including showing the police officer the Katana with a slightly faded SHERLOCK 33461 written on the back side in black marker.

An open letter to one specific professional disc golfer

Thank you for playing Clash at the Canyons V. I hope you found Dellwood as enjoyable of an experience as I get when I play there.

I enjoyed the time spent there as a volunteer. However, what I could do was limited.

The previous Sunday was my fifth event in a six week period played at Northwood Park where you played in the 2019 Pro Worlds. That along with five league rounds, and way too much practice in that time frame became too much for my obese, arthritic 55 year old broken down body. After almost falling badly once each round that day, I was in so much body pain after the event could not stay in the car more than 30 minutes at a time on the 150+ mile drive home.

Though I wanted to do UDisc tracking for a group or spot on a hole (like I did last October at an event run by Dan Schlitter), it was best for me to stand guard at Clash #3 to make sure spectators and local park patrons would not head down the stairs to where they could get hit by those playing #4. After leaving tournament central on Saturday while carrying a hot dog and my chair, stumbled into a golf cart on my tired legs so it was a good thing I did not have to deal with navigating the course like I did in the am version of the event two weeks previously.

I was also spotting for #2 and on multiple occasions informed players where to mark their mini after going OB as well as answering questions by spectators who entered the course at that location.

It was an enjoyable experience watching friends and players while chatting with families of players as the made their way through #3 & #4.

For some reason your sarcastic comment to me stands out. I am familiar with the idea of not letting one negative comment offset all the positive ones received in two days from those who finished 117th as well as 1st (in three of the four divisions) but it does.

While driving home thought about myself and my game which I realized was not at the level where I could play MP50 at Clash and though am registered later this month for MP50 at Fairfield Park in Round Lake, am fully aware that I head there overmatched.

I now have new personal goals:

Get to 500 points to qualify for the 2022 Worlds in MA55+

Get back on the medication for my inflammatory arthritis which I decided to stop taking last year since the medication leaves me immunocompromised which I did not want to be during a pandemic

Decrease the physical load I put on my body by 10%. Reducing intake is the best way to do so and it will not be easy but that needs to happen if I want to maximize my limited potential.

I am hoping the last two will allow me to get my game to the point where I would feel comfortable playing MP50 at next year's Clash where I would hope to run into you on a practice day and thank you for inspiring me to be more than a stair guard.

Anyway, I want to personally invite you to play in Wacky Wednesday Fore in Evergreen Park, IL on August 18. If you do play, I will pay your entry fee as well as adding $100 to the pro payout. You will get a towel with a cartoon drawing of me on it and if you win, a trophy with one as well. The director of the event, Mike Walsh, knows about this and who you are.

Good luck with the rest of your 2021 season and am looking forward to seeing you again.

Ken Sherlock 

PDGA #33461

Making a choice

I encounter multiple views on the subject of abortion weekly from posts, news articles, and the nearby clinic which usually has protesters on the sidewalk on Saturday mornings.

This is the logic I use when dealing with this subject:

I do not like the idea of terminating a fetus. There is only one way for an unplanned pregnancy to happen and those who get pregnant should need to own up to their action.

However, there are situations where terminating a pregnancy is the correct thing to do (in spite of what my former Congressional representative Joe Walsh stated). 

If a fetus is determined to be non viable or dead, forcing a woman to deliver would be cruel.

If being pregnant puts the woman's life at risk, forcing her to deliver would be dangerous.

If the pregnancy resulted from a crime, forcing her to deliver would be unfair.

Anyone who disagrees with those three concepts really needs to examine their morals and imagine if that woman was their daughter.

There is one problem with allowing abortion in those cases: Where to draw the line on who is or isn't eligible. This is the same problem encountered when determining whose lives could be prematurely terminated to improve the human race.

(Side note: I could imagine the movie scene where I die as the song Joy by Apollo 100 plays followed by the caption: The Madman on the Loose is dead... And by one person, the world is a better place.)

Having guidelines to determine who is eligible for abortion would cause people to deliberately harm themselves to qualify for one the same way some people who are unable to get one do anyway.

The idea of making abortion a choice for all becomes logical in a world where population is increasing and the long term survival of the human race is not threatened by it.

Playing a sport

I often state I am a disc golfer with 850 ability and 1050 intensity which can occasionally make things frustrating and more difficult than necessary as I treat the sport like those on the pro tour.

Recently got into an online argument stating the first rule of disc golf is never hit someone with a disc as opposed to the founder of the sport who stated it is "have fun". Over this weekend, a local hole was rerouted due to players having fun as opposed to respecting the property that bordered the course.

There was another an online disagreement about enforcing disc golf rules and I stated unless it is obvious or gives another player a significant advantage, I won't call it.

If I see another player do something out of inexperience that does not really help, I won't call it but mention so the player can learn.

On both open amateur cards at an event last year got the other three on the card mad at me after calling out a significant violation (playing from OB and moving a branch out of the way with the left hand to give a path to throw).

Also lost an event last year by stopping the person who beat me by one shot from playing a shot while his back foot was OB which would have incurred a one shot penalty.

Anyway, to what inspired this post:

The routing from 11-12 at 50 Acre park has confused players as it goes a sharp angle to the right causing people to think 15 which is left but easier to notice is next. Two weeks previously at a club round, players unfamiliar with the course walked to 15, saw the sign, and had to walk back to 12.

In round two, a group went the wrong way in spite of arrows painted into the ground and started to play the hole. The group behind them which apparently did not either notice their error or attempt to stop them just passed them on the course.

One of the players who played the wrong hole ended up tied for second and got upset when I mentioned to the TD what happened. He confronted me about taking the game too seriously. Here is an example of what was stated:

If you want to call out rules, play pro.

That is not a serious offense.

Why does it matter if we played the wrong hole since we did not count it?

Would you have called out yourself for doing that?

We are playing for fun.

My replies (or what I wished I would have said)

I would love to play pro and I am actually registered for a July event in MP50+ (mixed pro 50+) but I am currently trying to qualify to again play in the world championship as an amateur like I did in 2019 where all rules are strictly enforced.

Playing a hole out of order is specifically listed in the rules (was not 100% sure it was at the time) and throwing the hole out of sequence in the middle of the round can give a player an advantage and if it did not count it could help a player decide on their shot when played for real. Anyway, how did all four make that mistake in round two after playing it correctly in round one?

If the hole was not completed, all shots made before the error should be considered a practice shot with only a one stroke penalty each. If the hole was completed, two shots would be added to the score for the hole made the first time played and technically shots made the second time playing the hole would be considered practice shots penalized one each.

I called a stance violation against myself four weeks ago that the others in my group did not see nor wanted to enforce but I insisted needed to be applied. Also on the (10)A temp hole, my right foot was less than an inch from the line on my drive and mentioned to the group that I almost foot faulted.

I never want to win because another player made a mistake and got penalty strokes but find worse a player winning in spite of making a mistake that would incur a penalty but not having one assessed.

WE ARE PLAYING A SPORT! (Really wanted to say that but also did not want to get into a fight).

New update

10PM: Home from long day delivering/work/delivering. Daughter tells me Apex Legends server crashed earlier due to demand and goes to bedroom before I fell asleep on couch

1AM: Got off couch, use bathroom, turn off light, get to bed. Gaming in bedroom.

5AM: Wake up for good. Check things on line. Gaming in bedroom still happening.

7:30 AM: Reminded delivery schedule starts at eight, head to shower. Gaming still happening.

7:40 AM: Out of shower. No gaming.

"All night gaming session over?"

"It wasn't all night."

"I've been hearing it the last 9+ hours."

"I took a two hour nap."

"Anyway, I have to head to work. Back in 14 hours, 12 1/2 if too tired to deliver after."

Eligibility

Though listed as one event on the site, rated disc golf tournaments with very few exceptions have two or more divisions. Though some events have qualifications to be eligible to participate, generally only the open pro division is available to all players. All other divisions are restricted to enter which can be based on age, amateur status, amateur ability, and or sex.

I even switched divisions at an event to balance the number of entries because a new player ended up getting an initial rating too high for the entered division.

This is done for fairness as it makes no sense for a top pro or a beginner to be facing me on even terms. My initial plan was to create a chart showing how I along with several unnamed players would would be eligible for the various divisions many tournaments have but I realize it would distract from the point of this entry.

There is a reason for female specific divisions let alone this May 8 which is women's player day and I really want my daughter to spend her 21st birthday at an event at KLM park in Hinsdale but I realize playing a tournament on the birthday is my plan for 2021. At least I am glad she has no desire to party and get drunk with her aunts and cousin.

I expressed disappointment that featured first round coverage at the 2019 US Disc Golf Championship had the top female player in the world. Though she could easily beat me, she was as close to the top male players as I was three months previously to the top MA50+ players at the Amateur World Championship.

One of the top female 50+ players in the world is from the Chicago area. The last three times her and I played at the same event I went 1-1-1 against her. Though I am at best an upper half 50 year old amateur, a female my age with my ability would have a great chance to become a world champion.

Anyway, some states are taking extreme measures to ensure that female school athletes are female. Though I agree with the desire to make sure ALL participants are eligible for any event they wish to enter, genital exams should not be the solution.

I remember two events with my daughter's grade school soccer. There was one game where I swore that the other team was a different age group which was confirmed when one of the parents from the other team stated the age and another where I had to literally go on the field and carry my daughter off since she was scared after a boy while goofing around bumped heads with her.

I would want to see the honor system be used but many have taken advantage of it or insisted that since they identify as a female them can compete as one. Somehow people from both sides need to find a logical and dignified solution.