Lesli on Seneca

Tuesday we left Mammoth Cave State Park en-route to Paw Paw, West Virginia. We have heard so much about the Woodshed and it was on the way to Seneca. On the way to West Virginia we stopped in Lexington, KY and played the course there. We played until dark and then drove a couple more hours towards Paw Paw. We stopped at a Wal-Mart to rest for a bit which ended up being a 10 hour sleep. I guess we were tired .

So Wednesday morning we finished the drive to Paw Paw. It was a beautiful drive to the course, a lot of back roads and some scary, winding mountain roads, especially the road to the course. We arrived at the Woodshed about 4:00 so we only had time to play one round. Tim Kremer was there when we arrived, so Tim, Worm, me, and Cam played a round together. After the front 9 Linda Fowler showed up and joined in on the back 9. After playing a round at this course I understood why so many people talk about it. The course is beautiful. The open holes are some of the best holes I have every played and the woodshed holes, well they're the woodshed holes. You just have to see them for yourself.

After the round we decided to drive to Seneca since it was only 2 hours away. We stayed at the Wal-Mart that night and then headed to Seneca Park Thursday morning. We played a round for practice and just to check out the course. Seneca can be confusing with 2 tees and 2 to 3 pin placements on every hole. Thanks to Angie Martin for giving us a guided tour and some helpful information about the course. After the round we went to get a campsite only to find there were no campsites available for the weekend unless you wanted to pay $50 a night for some campground in D.C. and that was cheaper than the hotel at $85 a night. Luckily we went back to the course and Angie told us Rachel Mansir and her boyfriend Brian lived on 25 acres and were offering their place to someone who needed it. Thanks to Rachel and Brian for letting us stay. This saved us a lot of money as you can see. Maryland and the DC area is one of the most expensive places we have visited so far. It runs a close race with Cali.

Anyway, Friday we went out to practice the long tees at Seneca. We met up with Steve Brinster and his girlfriend Lesli. They were also in need of a place to stay so they decided to stay in the pop up camper with us at Rachel and Brian's. Friday night the WinniCrew, Flying Eye Crew, and Steve and Lesli went out to dinner with some local golfers. We went to this cool bar/restaurant which is owned by a golfer and was also a sponsor of the tournament. It was really good and the people were very generous to the disc golfers. We ate there again the next night.

Saturday morning we teed up at 9:30. T he first round we played the short tees to long pins and the long tees to long pins the second round. It was a tough setup the first day. Personally I was relieved to get the harder layouts over with first. It was a little out of the ordinary to play the longest pins right out of the gate. It seems most tourneys we attend give you the shortest layout first and then progress longer. The three of us fared pretty well the first day. I was in the lead by 1 over Elaine, Cam was on the lead card and Worm was on the third card. Sunday was a much easier layout, we played the short tees to the A and B pins. You could actually see the baskets from the tees on most of the holes. Elaine and I battled it out on the first round and ended up tied for the round so I still only had her by 1 stroke going into our final round.

Round 4 . We started on hole 17, Elaine bogeyed and I parred so now I had 2 strokes. On hole 18 Elaine comes up a little short and laid up for a par. I was lying for about a 35 footer for birdie and converted on the putt. I now had a 3 stroke lead. On hole 1 Elaine Bogeyed and I got my par, now up by 4 I just tried to play smart and safe. It must have worked because I ended up shooting 57 and Elaine carded a 60. I felt really good about holding on to win. Elaine is one of the greatest women disc golfers of all time. I have played with her several times and this was my first time to come out ahead of her. I felt like this was a pretty big accomplishment.

I'd also like to add that the lead group in the women's division, which was Sue Stephens, Rachel Mansir, Amy Moser, and Elaine, were a great group to play with. In the men's division Craig Gangloff came out on top followed by Mike Moser in 2nd, Brian Schweberger and Al Schack tied for 3rd, and Cam 5th. After the awards ceremony and some dinner the WinniCrew followed us back to Brian and Rachel's. We stayed the night and after a little fishing in the healthy stocked pond in the back yard Monday Morning we headed out of Maryland towards Suffolk, Virginia to Don Johnson's private course Ace Run Ranch.