competition Archives - Jones.in' for a Blog

Last year my friends and I established the “Economy Open.” This was to be a disc golf tournament held on the Fourth of July on the school grounds of an elementary right behind the house of our friends, Mike and Katie Economy (hence the name). The first year was very simple, using poles, trees and similar fixtures all around the school. It was a blast, but our options for challenging and creative holes was fairly limited.

2013 Economy Open Participants The event has now become an annual staple of our Independence Day get-together. The 2013 tournament was a major upgrade. This year we had two portable Innova Skillshots so we could place our holes wherever we wanted. This lead to many interesting shots with a lot of variety in both length and skill. We used some mandos and “water hazards” (sections of rock or fenced in areas). It really turned out to be quite the course.

The competition was actually very close. Three or four of us were in it until almost the end. In fact, the difference between first and second place was only a stroke. The full results are posted on Disc Golf Scene.

Despite a couple of penalty strokes due to our “water” hazards and one beautiful 150 foot birdie shot that just splashed right out of the basket, I had a really strong round. So strong in fact, I beat my little brother. That was my main goal of the day, but I surpassed that and actually won the tournament too. It felt great to walk away the champ.

Winner, Christopher Jones holds the trophy from the 2013 Economy Open disc golf tournament. The best part of winning? The fancy new trophy. My buddy, Lee, and I built this thing from scratch. We gave it a patriot look and created a base where each year’s winner will be added. I documented the whole trophy making experience, so check back for that story soon.

I’m looking forward to next year’s tourney. Everyone playing seems to be getting better and better, so the competition will be fierce. I hope I can defend my title, because this trophy is way to cool to have to hand over to someone else.

Hot on the heals of my first disc golf tournament, I played in my first ace race on Sunday. The Discraft Ace Race is a competition where players receive two new prototype discs and then use those discs to throw aces. It sounds easy; it’s not.

The discs are the same but you can kind of pick your colors and weight (or trade with others to get what you want). The event I attended at Irving Park had 27 holes set up. Most of them were on the original 24 holes of the course but with modified tee areas. The tees were designed to be more easily ace-able.

The rules were simple. One throw per hole, two rounds. You get an “A” on your score card for an ace (hole in one) or an “M” for hitting any metal of the basket but not staying in it. At the end of the day the person with the most aces would be crowned champion. If there was a tie, the person with most “metals” would triumph.

It sounded really easy but turned out to be an extremely hard task. Just throwing a disc you don’t know is hard, trying to throw that disc and hit a specific target is even harder. I managed to get myself two metal hits and about five legitimate close calls for aces. At the end of the day I didn’t win (or even get an ace) but I had a great time. The player pack was packed full of cool items and I’m now the owner of two discs you can’t buy anywhere yet. I’m really excited to throw at next year’s ace race, and hopefully get an actual ace.

Here’s a video from the event…