One Strange Trip

It's probably apparent by now that my blog is a bit behind schedule. If you didn't already know, I have arrived safely on the east coast where Kris Zahm and I hosted a tournament at Trophy Lakes. I thought it would be fitting to highlight a stop in real time as an intermission blog-style where at any point a line between Santa Cruz and Charleston will soon be met. It should also be mentioned that these two stops on my cquest were simply the most epic for reasons I hope to convey......

It was rooted with a true passion for disc golf. I was told a very powerful story by a particular golfer during our Strange event held in south Charleston. He mentioned that a fellow golfer here suffered from PTSD from the war and was recently 80 lbs. heavier. With an introduction to disc golf, 2 years past, he had shed that weight and showed absolutely no signs of what I would have to consider an unimaginable state of mind. It was an epiphany that couldn't of happened at a more perfect moment nor perfect venue. Sure we had a poor turnout but that was never on my mind. Ideas of optimism fueled by people I had never met made this weekend one of the most enlightening and enjoyable experiences that a "believer" in disc golf could estimate.

For the first time in life I had an opportunity to design a hole for a sanctioned tournament.

It took place 2,464 miles from home on stranger's private property where I was able to dance freely and express myself in ways that utterly shocked me. When the guitarest/fiddler of our sponsored band, "Din of Thieves" approached me after they played for our lunch break, the rewards of a hard fought journey were apparantly visible. He bluntly said, "you are glowing. Do you know this?" While we had this short exchange I suddenly felt my aura expand beyond its comfort zone as I suddenly comprehended the magnitude of my positive vibe and how it was somehow manifesting into a crazy disc golf dream where there's floating docks of chains, where everyone's throwing plastic and beautiful women all around smiling, and keg stands gone wrong and even the victim (me) are hysterically laughing. Late night canoe rides capsizing causing 2 friends to share tears of joy- backflips off skijumps at sunset.......only to wake up and realize my eyes had to be open for the dream to continue.

Having these experiences generate momentum day-after-day I guess really did produce an emission of elation that really seemed to be contagious. We all have had this comprehension of moments when we feel like the planets are aligned, how somehow everyone in the room is ecstatic about life and it feels so impossible but simple all at the same time. It was very pleasant being told this towards the middle of the weekend so it could digest it a little before the conclusion.
Socially I've found that it's very demanding to be a tournament director and takes almost as much energy as caring for an infant yet I love this game so much that I would do it over-and-over simply as an abassador for a lifestyle geared toward generating new course development and preservation of existing ones. My overall goal is to be able to promote disc golf by embarking on this tour bringing more opportunities to local clubs and agencies facilitating the growth of this beautiful sport. I only have one thing to say about nonbelievers and it is this: nonbelievers miss putts!