The 2018 So Cal Disc Golf Championships are coming soon – one event to a old-time favorite course that is (partly) going away and the other event to a brand new venue.

This year’s Am event will be held at La Mirada Regional Park, Sat/Sun November 10/11, 2018 – 2 rounds on Saturday and one on Sunday, alternating between the Lakeside and Backside courses.  This will probably be the last time that the Backside course will be used in a sanctioned competitive event, as that portion of the park is scheduled to become parking for the water park or a maintenance yard or some other dumb thing that isn’t an historic disc golf course.  Online registration is opening on DGU on Sunday, 10/21 at 7pm at this link:  http://www.discgolfunited.com/disc-golf-tournaments/event-detail.cfm/tourn_id/5899

The Pros will be playing the following weekend farther north, just outside of Santa Ynez at Cachuma Lake.  The Lake Cachuma course was installed earlier this year and has gotten rave reviews.  The new Mohawk course was permanently installed this past week, so the concrete tee pads will be hardened and trees ready to snag wayward throws.  3 rounds, Sat/Sun November 17/18, 2018.  Registration is also on DGU and is now open at this link:  http://www.discgolfunited.com/disc-golf-tournaments/event-detail.cfm/tourn_id/5882

Many thanks to TDs Randy Wylot and Hugh Montgomery on the Pro side and Bill Maury-Holmes and Chris Brophy on the Am side, to Innova-Champion Discs and Legacy Discs for sponsoring the events, to West Coast Disc Golf for assisting with the La Ma scheduling and Mike Byrne and crew for shepherding the Cachuma courses.

Sign up quickly, buy fundraiser discs and have fun!

On a very windy day at the Colton Golf Club, 90+ So Cal disc golfers gathered to wrap up the year with a fun round of golf and a little business.  The fun round was played on the challenging 18-hole layout, which was made even tougher by the steady 10-15 mph (with gusts over 20) winds.  The Colton Golf Club also hosted our awards presentation and a brief membership meeting.

After 12 months and 21 events, Nick Newton emerged as the top points-earner in the Men’s Open division.  Nick’s points total of 294 put him 17 points ahead of second-place Chris Shotwell (277).  Eric Norbut rounded out the top three with 213 points.  Players earned points the following ways:

• 5 points for each 18-hole round played in a tournament (that they finished.  Most 1-day tournaments counted for 10 “participation” points, with 2-day tournaments typically being worth 15 points.
• Players received 1 point for each other player in their division that they beat or tied.  Larger fields meant more points!
• The winning player in a division received one additional bonus point.
• The top seven points earning events for each player counted towards their total.
• Players received up to ten bonus points, one for each event they played in.  Only those who played in the So Cal Championships would cash in these points.

The first-place finisher in each division received a personalized Mini Discatcher basket.  The top point-earning players in each of the professional divisions also received a cash payout.  The number of players receiving payout was based on the total number of players in that division.  This year, the top players in the MPO division received a total of $710 in series-end cash.  Where did that cash come from?  Each player that played in the MPO division at a So Cal Series event in 2017 contributed $2 each time they entered a tournament.  So those $2 fees that So Cal collects go right back out to the players.

Here are the top three players in the remaining professional divisions:

• FPO:
  • 1st place – Allison Wylot
• MPM:
  • 1st place – Richard Ewald
  • 2nd place – Noah Rodriguez
  • 3rd place – Kris Kiler
• MPG:
  • 1st place – Marcus Cisneros
  • 2nd place – Rick Hoffa
  • 3rd place – Jeff Nichols
• FPG:
  • 1st place – Suzette Simons
  • 2nd place – Allison Wylot
• MPS:
  • 1st place – Mark Horn
  • 2nd place – Rob Wilson
  • 3rd place – Mark Hauser
• FPS:
  • 1st place – Susie Horn

Martin Padilla played 13 events in the Men’s Advanced Amateur (MA1) division this past season, and the point totals for seven of those events were enough to give him 262 total points for the year and 1st place in the MA1 division.  Drake Avila and Drew Sodergren tied for second place, 33 points behind Martin.  There were a total of 1,894 amateur tournament entries in 2017, which led to $3,788 in merchandise being handed out to qualifying members at this year’s award ceremony.  Once again – 1,894 two dollar fees collected and paid back to members in the form of merchandise (hoodies, hats, towels, mini baskets, etc).

Here are the top three players in the remaining amateur divisions:

• FA1:
  • 1st place – Charlotte Towle
  • 2nd place – Jennifer Burdette
• MM1:
  • 1st place – Juan Lopez
  • 2nd place – Derek Monteverdi
  • 3rd place – Chris Calleton
• MG1:
  • 1st place – Chuck Powell
  • 2nd place – Michael Sheridan
  • 3rd place – Bill Maury-Holmes
• MS1:
  • 1st place – David Hadder
  • 2nd place – John Clemmons
  • 3rd place – Spence Stevens
• MA2:
  • 1st place – William Marion
  • 2nd place – Scott Dallas
  • 3rd place – Adam Hirsch
• FA2:
  • 1st place – Nicole Ennis
  • 2nd place – Jennifer Burdette
  • 3rd place – Caroline Murray
• MA3:
  • 1st place – Dwayne Allen
  • 2nd place – Jeff Barber
  • 3rd place – Lawrence Mendoza
• FA3:
  • 1st place – Jennifer Burdette
  • 2nd place – Tamiko Juvinall
• MA4:
  • 1st place – Sean “No Name” Prewitt
  • 2nd place – Chuck Myers
  • 3rd place – Preston Vargas

You can see the full results for all divisions and each individual event at this link: https://wordpress.com/post/socaldiscgolfclub.wordpress.com/1279

The layout and rules for the 2017 So Cal Pro Championships at La Mirada (Nov. 18-19) have been released.  Links to pdf versions of the rules and map are below the map picture.  Online registration is available on DGU.com.

2017 So Cal Pro Championships Rules

2017 So Cal Pro Championships Map

Sign up now for the final event on the 2015 SoCal Series schedule – the 2015 SoCal Year-end Event and Banquet.

Held Saturday, December 12th at Prado Regional Park in Chino, the year-ended is your first chance to renew your SoCal membership for 2016 (pick out the best disc before anyone else!).  We’ll also play one fun round of golf on the water-lined Prado disc golf course, with prizes for finishers at the top of each third of the leaderboard (don’t ask me – Suzette has it all figured out).

We’ll share a delicious catered lunch at the Prado banquet facility (BYOB – beer is allowed…or encouraged?), followed by the crowning of the 2015 SoCal Series division champions and recognition of TD’s and volunteers.  If you’ve ever wondered where the $2 per player SoCal fee goes from each tournament, it’s right here – top finishers for each division will get either cash (Pros) or tons of cool SoCal-logo merchandise (Ams), as well as personalized mini-Discatcher trophies.

Wedged in there somewhere will be a general membership meeting, with election of officers and voting on changes to club by-laws and series points rules.  Top of the agenda this year: returning the series “participation points ” to the previous method of awarding 5 points per 18 holes played, instead of 5 points per round (which awarded only 10 points for 2-day tournaments like Wrightwood and Santa Maria, played on 27-hole courses).  This travesty of disc golf justice must be overturned!  All two-day, 54-hole tournaments should award 15 participation points!

Another great feature of the year-end event is the “Never-ending Raffle”, which costs $0 to enter and does not end until everyone in attendance has won a prize!  Don’t miss it!

Registration is available on DiscGolfU.com for the following events:

2015 Sharktooth Open at Bakersfield, CA – Nov. 7/8

2015 SoCal Am Championships at La Mirada, CA – Nov. 14/15

Please note that registration for the Am event is initially only available for SoCal members who have played at least one event this year.  Registration opens for all SoCal members on Sept. 11.  Registration opens for non-SoCal members on Oct. 1.

2015 SoCal Pro Championships at La Mirada, CA – Nov. 21/22

Each year at the SoCal year-end banquet (held this year on Sat., Dec. 13th at Prado Regional Park) a general membership meeting of the SoCal Disc Golf Association is held.  During this year’s meeting a change was made to the 2015 SoCal Series Points.  The change is as follows:  Players will receive 5 participation points for each round played at a SoCal Series event, no matter how many holes are played in the round. In the past, players received 5 participation points for each full 18 holes played during an event.  The impact of this change is that tournaments that have held 27-hole rounds will now only receive 5 points per round.  For example, Sky High Showdown at Wrightwood used to award 15 participation points for the 2-day event, since playing one 27-hole round each equaled 54 holes for the event.  For 2015, tournaments playing that format (1 27-hole round per day, 2 days) will only receive 10 participation points.

One year ends and another begins, and in the disc golf world that means…….Ice Bowl Season is here! 2015 will be the 8th year of the Golden Sombrero Series of Ice Bowls, and it looks like it will be the biggest yet. What started several years ago with three events (Redlands, San Marcos and Palm Desert) has grown into a series with nine charity disc golf events (and maybe more…).

For those of you who aren’t sure what I’m talking about, here’s a quick synopsis: over 35 years ago a group of disc golfers in Missouri decided that they wanted to play disc golf, even if there was snow on the ground. They rounded up a few friends, made a big pot of chili on the Coleman stove and voilá, the Ice Bowl was born! Soon after the first event the Ice Bowl’s Chief Instigator (Rick Rothstein: PDGA board member, disc golf publisher and owner of Disc Golf World in Kansas City) decided to add a charity component to the winter gathering. Ice Bowls became dedicated to raising funds to feed the hungry in the community and over the years over $2 million have been raised at over 3,000 Ice Bowl events. You can learn more about Ice Bowl history at this link.

The Ice Bowl season runs for two months (January and February) so the nine events will fill the weekends. One of the ways we have generated interest in the series in the past is to award the Golden Sombrero Championship to an outstanding Ice Bowl competitor (more details below). Last year’s champ was San Diego’s Jason Perdue, who received a sparkling gold sombrero as his trophy at the end of the series. Jason will be back to defend his title this year as players will compete for a new golden sombrero and the grand prize of an Innova Discatcher Traveller Portable basket. Disc Golf United and Disc Golf World have teamed up this year to make these portable baskets easily available as Ice Bowl prizes – any Ice Bowl that pre-registers 20 players through DiscGolfU.com will receive a Traveller basket to be used as a prize.

Keep in mind that above all, Ice Bowls are charity events aimed at feeding our hungry neighbors. Most events will have some way for you to contribute to the cause, either through raffles, cash donations or the sale of mulligans. The lineup (so far) for the 2015 Golden Sombrero Series is as follows:

• 8th Annual Redlands Ice Bowl at Ford Park – Saturday, Jan. 3rd.
• Prado Ice Bowl – Saturday, Jan. 10th
• Ice Bowl in Paradise (Chavez Ridge) – Saturday, Jan. 17th
• Murrieta Ice Bowl – Sunday, Jan. 18th
• Sycuan Ice Bowl (El Cajon) – Sunday, Jan. 25th
• Yucaipa Ice Bowl – Saturday, Jan. 31st
• 8th Annual San Marcos Super Ice Bowl – Sunday, Feb.1st
• Wrightwood Ice Bowl – Saturday, Feb. 21st
• Mission Bay Ice Bowl – Sunday, Feb. 22nd

(More events may be added, links will be updated as they become available)

The most important part of the Ice Bowl experience is the friendship and camaraderie that comes with communal activities that help others. Ice Bowl events usually don’t have prize payouts based on your score but some have cool homemade trophies. But for those of you with a competitive streak, you can compete for the overall Golden Sombrero Championship title. The winner each year receives a hand-decorated golden sombrero hat and this year will also receive a portable basket. Past Golden Sombrero champions include 2014 winner Jason Perdue, multiple year winner A.J. Risley and Golden Sombrero co-Instigator Allen Risley.

How does it work? At each event, each player receives one point for each player they beat in total score, no matter what division, no matter whether mulligans were used or not. Across the series, each player’s four best point totals count towards the series title, so you don’t have to play all the events to compete but you had better play the big ones (e.g., Mission Bay, Chavez). Above all, the series is meant to be fun for all and is a great way to play your first “tournament”.

Enjoy the season and let the Ice Bowls begin!

-Allen Risley

The Fling 18 is coming up on Saturday, October 18th.  Quite a coincidence – the 18th Fling is being held on the 18th.  Here’s some more info from Cliff Towne, co-TD:

2 rounds of 20 or 21 holes, including the infamous “Freeway Hole”!  All Ams will receive a custom-stamped Legacy disc (the new Outlaw? Legacy tells us, “Yes!”) and Pros get 100% cash to the purse and everyone will get a great lunch (it really is!).  Play the Disc Arcade games at lunchtime as well!

Sign up ASAP at DiscGolfScene.com

Many thanks to Rocky Brown for sending us some updated info.  SoCal Championships Am registration is now open for registration to SoCal members only for the next 2 weeks.  The registration code is 1234.  Here is some additional info from the DiscGolfU.com registration page:

Kern County Disc Club welcomes the SoCal Championships to beautiful Hart Park. This event will be played on both the Shark Tooth Mtn. and Suicide Flats Courses. 1st 2 rounds on Sat and 1 on sun. followed by Final 9 for top 4 in ADV, ADV Masters and Int. KCDGC is working with Legacy and Innova to bring you a great players pack. We will be providing BBQ lunh Sat and likely to have vendors on Sat. Players party near course w/ dinner provided. Refer to flyer for any other info So Cal members will have 2 weeks to register prior to any others. Call me for code. Please Call if you would like to sponsor this event.

-Rocky Brown (661) 303-1353

Update – Rocky has the following information about the host hotel:

Kern County Disc Golf Club is pleased to announce that we have secured a great host Hotel. The Hotel Rosedale http://www.hotelrosedale.com/ has lowered the room rate to ensure that all players in the SoCal Championships have a great place to stay at a reasonable rate. to reserve a room at the rate of $55 call the hotel (661) 327-0681 and give them code DG14 to reserve your room. It is likely that players party will be held at adjacent bar and grill.