Lesli on the Gurthies
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No Restaurants Mentioned Here
We arrived in Gainesville on Thursday, late afternoon. We went to the course first to see who was there and to get in a few throws, stretch out a bit after the drive. As soon as we stepped out of the van we were greeted by the Gurthie family. For those who don't know this amazing group of people you are missing out. Howard (the father) and his wife have raised 4 boys and 1 girl. All of the boys are avid disc golfers and I think their sister may play, too. I had seen Ben and Evan play before and these boys have serious game, but I had never played or seen Garrett (double G) and Alex throw. They blew my mind.
I stepped up to hole #1 with Garrett and Alex to throw some drives. Alex went first, he is left handed, he ran up with great form and no fear and crushed one about 270 feet (keep in mind this kid is just a little over 4 feet tall and about 80 lbs). Garrett went next, he was way behind the tee box, he takes a running start and with the same beautiful form as the rest of his brothers he crushes one about 350 feet, perfect line to the pin and parks the hole. It blew me away. We then proceeded to hole #2 and Garrett steps up and bombs a straight-hyzer shot about 360 feet to park that pin as well. These kids are amazing. Not only can they crush, they can putt, too, along with many other weapons. Probably their most impressive trait is one they don't even know they have, a carefree mind and absolutely no fear!
Oh, by the way, they are all friendly, outgoing, and have great manners. I can't really say enough about this family, they are truly a pleasure to know and watch. [Editor's note: I want my say, too. Some of my favorite rounds that I've ever played have been with the Gurthies, especially the round with Evan in Miami and the round with Ben and Johnny "Those Be Soccer Socks" McCray in Mobile, they're fantastic kids)
While we were hanging out at the course we met a local disc golfer, John Briscoe. John offered us a place to stay for the weekend and we gratefully accepted. Thanks John for sharing your home with us! It is people like you that help keep us on the road.
Saturday night there was a fly mart at the hotel. We set up a table in hopes of making some room in the van (you'd be surprised at how much stuff we collect on the way). We did pretty well at the fly mart, people were really supportive. If you are one of those people who stopped by our table, thank you for helping the Flying Eye crew keep on keeping on!
I will say the highlight of my weekend, besides the beautiful weather, was shooting a -7 the first round of the tourney. I had 8 birdies and 1 bogey. It was really fun and by far my best carded score at a supertour.
