H Is For Having Fun! Disc Golf Style #AToZChallenge

Today was the first time I've been out disc golfing this year. It was a gorgeous day! Our usual course is 'Creekside' Park in Holladay, UT. When we travel, we like to golf wherever we go. I can tell you right now that I could never be a pro. I do it because my husband loves it, and it's fun to get out and do something besides "work out." Just enjoying the outdoors and seeing the sights is enough for me. Basically you take a disc similar to a frisbee and throw it in order to land it in a basket. It is scored like golf--with terms like ace, birdee, and par. Below is a shot of a teepad, where you launch your initial drive.

If you are at an official course, there are teepad signs that give you the distance you are throwing, the location of the basket or hole and other pertinent info!

 The baskets are usually waist height, but occasionally you'll run across a taller basket, just to give it some variety! Or maybe I'm just really short...you decide!

Sometimes there are mandatory routes, "mandys", that your disc needs to go through. It makes it a little interesting at times! And there are always those darned trees obstructing the way! But ask any veteran of the game and they'll say they'd rather have a more technical course with obstacles to deal with rather than a wide open field to play.

Many times you have gorgeous views and vistas to, from and on the teepads. Oops, my bad, I happened to get in the way of this view!

 By the time we walked the course and had done the 20 holes, we had walked about 2.5 miles. Pretty good little outing, if I do say so myself! Once in awhile, though, it's nice to have a seat and take a breather!

 Thanks for coming along with us as we played some great disc golf on an absolutely beautiful day!

The Last Sunny Week of October

This past week has been so gorgeous and I didn't want to miss being outside because well, you know, winter is cold and it's no fun to be out in for long!  So here are a few fun things I did just to take advantage of those days!

Fed Ducks  My friend lives on the river and I went to visit her this week.  We enjoyed what might be the last few beautiful and warm days of autumn by going out and sitting on her deck on the river.  We fed the ducks. They came flying in from every direction to see what food we had to offer.  Apparently, they love dog food!  Who knew?  To show their appreciation for the good meal, they tucked their beaks in their wings and dozed on the deck as we conversed.  It was so cute!  I wish I had thought to take a picture but Diana forwarded this one to my phone!

Went To Temple  Each month I try to get to my local LDS temple.  I go by myself and use the time to meditate and reflect while I do work for my ancestors.  I love going to the temple because it provides me with respite from my cares for awhile!  I come away with better perspective and greater strength to face the challenges I face.  We all have challenges and this is my way to go forward with faith!

Played Disc Golf 3 days - To take advantage of the beautiful weather, I played disc golf with my husband twice and once with Jo, my 16-year-old.  On the 3rd day on hole 17, I had an amaaazing drive.  This gave me the confidence that I'm not just static in my progress at disc golf, although most times it seems that way!

Ate Coldstone Cake - We have so many birthdays in October both in my family and my husband's family.  In honor of those who had birthdays I ordered a Coldstone Creamery Cake over the phone.  It cost $21.75.  I really thought it would be bigger but it was about the size of a quarter.  We nonetheless enjoyed what there was of it and I made brownies to supplement any lack of cake that we had.

Learned how to take a panoramic picture
My dog Evee and I go for walks on a beautiful trail and I can never really capture how gorgeous the view is.  But today I found the Panorama View on my phone and took my first ever panoramic shot.  I'm sure there will be more.  It was taken in the afternoon as the sun was going down behind the other mountains at my back, thus the shadow!  On our walks, I actually go down into the gully and walk the trails seen in the shadow, and hiking back up when I'm done!  I still can't adequately capture the gorgeous view.  But at least it's more of the idea!

Went To JCW's - Our current favorite place to go eat is Zupa's Cafe.  They make great soups, salads and panini sandwiches.  We decided to mix it up a bit and we took Jo, my 16 year old to JCW's, a hamburger place after we played disc golf.  I've had their garden burger on Sourdough and I really liked it, and Jo has had their milkshakes, which he says are good.  So Greg, myself and Jo each ordered a combo.  We were delighted that they had some great options--instead of fries, I got a Texas Chili soup.  Greg got fries and Joseph got soup.  We each then got a burger and a shake.  Greg and I both got the mini shake, which was good, because they are thick and rich!  Jo got the large and it was massive!  The food was really good and I ended up not eating my chili and saving it for the next day.  All told we spent $37.50, which is definitely more expensive than Zupa's.  But hey, it was worth it because the shakes were to die for!  The hamburgers were pretty good too!

And of course Halloween is tomorrow.  We're ready to rock and roll, handing out goodies to any who come to the door.  Of course, we'll be eating the extras!

3 Great Places To Play #DiscGolf

We played at three really great places.  One area is called Brian Head Ski Resort in Southern Utah. Of course skiing is what this resort is world famous for in the winter, but it is every bit as fun in the summer.  La Mirada, CA has a world famous course where all the big names in disc golf have played and done so regularly, and Woodward Park in Fresno, CA has a beautiful disc golf park that has been really well maintained and is a blast to play.

We took a day trip to Brian Head not too long ago and took advantage of the disc golf course there.  We paid $5 each to ride up on the lift where we started playing at 11,000 ft. We played the 18 holes going mostly down.  It was beautiful and challenging.  As a matter of fact, I don't know how many courses require hiking boots to play but you definitely need them because it was really rough terrain and the throwing distances were insane!!
I was really glad that I brought an extra shirt to wear because at that elevation it was chilly!  After we got playing, I shed the shirt and just wore the purple tee underneath.  There were a ton of BMX bikers that day because there was some kind of tournament going on.  Brian Head is perfect for the BMX crowd! But the mountain was plenty big to accomodate us all! 

About halfway down the mountain

We ran into a fun cow poke display

La Mirada

When we took our vacation to Disneyland, we took a detour and played the La Mirada Disc Golf Course in La Mirada, of course!  It was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous.  I enjoyed the trees and the duck pond.  It was so funny watching the geese chasing people for food as if they owed it to them!  They were very entitled geese! I would highly recommend this course because it actually has 2 courses, a front one and a back one.  They are both amazing!

The geese own the water front property

An old tree in the park

While we were in Fresno, which, I might add, is a beautiful city with so many gorgeous trees, we played at Woodward Park.  Fresno is quite hot during the summer but in the evenings it cools down rather nicely.  I've played the park in December and that is when the grass grows and everything is green.  When we played in August, the grass was gone and you were wise to get into the park as early in the morning as possible because by 11:00 AM the heat was pretty oppressive.  But the course is fun and it has some technical stuff that keeps the guys and gals coming back for more!  Loved this course and intend to go back often!

Woodward Park

Click on this picture and you'll see the disc heading away to it's goal.

Moose or Meese? Vanish Disc Golf #Giveaway

The other day saw me for the first time at Solitude Ski Resort, not biking or skiing, but playing the disc golf course there.  It is set in the pristine mountains far above Salt Lake City and I marveled at the beautiful sights.  At one point, as we were playing, a momma moose and her calf came within close range of the hole we were playing.  I took this video of it.

As you know, I play a fair amount of disc golf with my husband and I like it for the exercise and the fact that it is something we love to do together.  And as in all sports, you need to be dressed for it!  We like a company called Vanish Clothing, LLC.  Right now they have a great line of shirts that fit the disc golf player or fan.  Even if you don't know what the sport is, these shirts are great!  They are made from really soft cotton and are nice and form-fitting, to the point that you might need to up a size if you don't like the body-conscious look in a tee shirt.  I usually wear a medium, but opted to get a large and it fits great!

A lucky GAL NEEDS...reader can get one of these great shirts sent to them by 1) leaving a pertinent comment below and 2) by giving some comment love to Vanish Disc Golf, LLC. and liking their page! (See link above)  We will choose a winner on August 15 with Random.org!

Tournament Love!

It's been awhile since I played in the Disc Lover's Disc Golf Classic with Greg, my hubs. But I think we have pretty much found a hobby that we both like.  Like I've mentioned before, disc golf is fun, easy to outfit for, fairly inexpensive and there are free courses all over the place!  . We had a lot of fun that day and it was a test of my not very honed skills, doing the 2 rounds, it being only my 2nd tournament, the first being played 4 years back.  Seriously, if I'm going to be in tournaments, I guess I'll have to be more than a 3x a month player.  Oh, we came in just 1 point away from placing 5th place.  I blame it on Greg.  He missed two seriously easy birdie shots. lol!

We met some great people and a couple of the nicest were kind enough to pose for a shot at the end of the tournament and take some of us too.   Isn't that a cute shirt Keyann is wearing?  It is from her partner LaMar's clothing line, Vanish.  Vanish is a line of disc golf wear that is really cute and functional.  

"Vanish LLC Disc Golf is an exciting up and coming apparel company.
It was inspired by two disc golfers who love to wear disc golf related apparel.
They are excited to present these original designs for you to wear at your local disc golf course. "

I was lucky and got one of their shirts.  I'll be reviewing it later and giving one away.  LaMar is quite the character and has quite the dry sense of humor,  as evidenced on his YouTube Videos, one of which is seen below! 

Greg and I

LaMar and Keyann

A Flash #Giveaway For $25 Visa Gift Card

 This is a flash giveaway for a $25 Visa Gift Card.  I'm doing this for my husband since he is such a great guy. (At least this week he was, a total sweetie!)  So I am going to sit down and babysit a Flash Giveaway today!  Good thing I love it or my Saturday would be shot, I say, absolutely shot!

He is a huge fan of disc golf.   I support his hobby because I think disc golf is really great.  It's fun for the family, it's fairly inexpensive (no green fees on most disc golf courses yet!), it is a safe sport so I don't have to worry about him dying or getting injured unless he dies in the car while enroute to the park and it keeps him active instead of being an armchair spectator.  I like to play disc golf with Greg at least 4 times a month when the weather is good.  Some people are crazy and will play all year round!  

Getting my  game on!

 If you'd like to learn about disc golf, a good start would be here and  here.  It's called disc golf because it's played with a disc as opposed to a frisbee.  The disc is designed to fly further, but not designed to catch because it is very hard plastic.  Score is kept like golf, thus the name.  
 Please enter for a chance to win a $25 Visa Gift Card and to support the growth of a great sport! Giveaway will end 4/20/13 at 6:01 EST!  Must be over 18 to play.  Open to U.S. and Canada!   a Rafflecopter giveaway

To Play Disc Golf! Some Tips For Beginners

A few years ago, our family walked around a vacant field with random bushes and trees here and there and also with a little bridge that crossed over a dry stream into a lower field.  This field branched out into a beautiful park called Bicentennial Park.  These three areas had something in common.  They had steel and chain baskets placed strategically around to equal 16 in all.  The whole area made up one of the 5 disc golf parks in the Utah Valley area.  At the time, we had frisbees and we did our best to find the tee pads where you start and throw to the basket.  I think my frisbee finally made it into the basket in about 12 throws!  That was four years ago and humiliating to think about since I now make it in 4 throws and sometimes even 3!  Since then, my husband took it up as his pastime and I also took it up as a fun sport to do maybe 4 times a month.  Greg wound up winning this last year as one of the division champions of the newly formed Wasatch Disc Golf Club.  I have since played in one tournament with not as dramatic results, but happy I did it!  We each have Revolution disc golf bags, an assortment of discs, which are definitely not of the frisbee variety! This is a great sport to take up for a "hecka" family fun or a way to meet up with other disc golf enthusiasts and get some great exercise. 
To get started, the best way to do this right now is go out and have fun. You're sure to meet up with someone who will be willing to give you a pointer or two!  Don't let more experienced players intimidate you with their distance and accuracy.  Some experienced players with proper technique can easily throw 400+ feet!  Throw an easy to control disc, such as the Discraft Elite Z-Glide and focus on accuracy.  Distance will come with time and experience, so focus on putting your disc down in the middle of the fairway.  Keep it simple and don't try advanced techniques until you have learned some basic form and control.  Throw with 1-step rather than trying to attempt a run up. Try to keep the disc close to your chest and keep it flat as possible.  Wait until you feel you are consistent and accurate before trying to add to your throw!
There are quite a few terms specific to disc golf. For instance, hyzer is the common term for releasing the disc with the outer edge at a lower angle than parallel to the ground, which usually causes the disc to curve left!  Anhyzer means to release the disc with the outer edge at a higher angle than parallel to the ground, which usually causes the disc to curve right!  And don't worry, I still have problems getting the two terms straight in my mind.  The most important thing is to just get out there and start throwing!
Don't know where to find a disc golf course near you?  Try this disc golf course locater!  If you know about one in your area, you can review it and get points for free stuff at Disc Golf Station!