Out To Sterling and Back!

This year I was fortunate enough to have an early season tournament in Colorado to get the year started off right. A group of guys were hoping to draw a good crowd out to Sterling, Colorado to play some disc golf and raise some money for their course out there. Sterling is one of those courses that is a hidden gem in the state of Colorado and with cement tee pads and a few extra pin positions, it is a course that could be phenominal. There are not many courses in Colorado that are like this and often time you find them in the mountains, not the flat plains.

Leaving for this tournament I was a bit scared. The weather in Denver was bad and was only supposed to get worse. By the time I made it out of Denver the roads were dry and clear and my car was flying down the interstate. Sterling was beautiful in the morning, albeit a tad on the cold side. What else would you expect in Colorado in February?

The first round brought amazing weather, despite the impending storm. I was fortunate enough to play my first round with Rob Nichols and watched him simply shoot lights out. I, on the other hand found plenty of bad breaks and despite hitting my lines more consistently than normal, managed to score poorly enough to already kill one of my goals for the season. First round of the year and first round rated below 900. Lets hope this isn't a trend moving forward. Lets be hoenst, without the island hole with no drop zone that I took an 8 on, that round really wasn't that bad.

The second round brought a blizzard. I mean a blizzard. Not quite the most miserable tournament round of disc golf I have ever played, but the island hole was still there and that meant for a long round. I watched people simply walk off the course because of the blizzard island hole. My round was solid up until the island hole again. Despite wanting to do better, a stiff head wind prevented that from happening, not to mention the snow. Still, taking a 9 this time around felt like a victory of small proportions. And of course the round was rated much better as 9 was nowhere near the 21 I watched a card mate of mine take.

The end of the tournament was not the end of the adventure for this tournament. The drive home was one of the scarrier drives I have ever made in my life but I was simply hoping to make it home and then to the airport the next morning in hopes of going to Arizona and getting some practice in before the Memorial. I survived, at least I think I did. Slow and steady won the race that day.