2013 DOLLs Travel League- Yulga, Stevens Point!
Lucky 13! What a fun group!
As with each of our DOLLs adventures, I always end up having so much fun I can’t wait to run home and start working on a blog post to tell the world all about it. Our trip to Stevens Point was no different. There’s always so much I want to write so that I can capture each moment that it would take pages, but alas, I’ll try to just grab the milestones out of the trip.
As often happens with these traveling events, I spent the night prior to the event worried that between the snow, cold and Packer’s Playoff game, no one would show. Luckily, as with all of our events so far, mother nature provided us with a beautiful day, even though it was a January date in the Frozen Tundra. So far, each time we’ve traveled, we have had a bigger group playing than the time before. (And yet interestingly, it’s always a different group of girls each time. Go figure!) I was pretty sure this trip would break our streak of continually larger numbers, but it turned out I was wrong. We had two cars containing 9 people (8 ladies) from the Fox Valley area. We pulled into the parking lot to be greeted by 4 ladies, two from Stevens Point, one from Wisconsin Rapids and one from the Madison area. (MILESTONE ALERT- last trip was the first time we had people come from other locations aside from the Fox Valley or the host destination. This trip marks the first time we had ladies come from more than one extended area!!!) I was pleased with this turn out, but just at the last minute, a car pulled into the parking lot and another local lady, who raced from Wausau after working just to play the round with us jumped out. That made 13 players total (and 1 caddy, thanks again, John) and officially made this DOLLs event our largest one yet. It also continued out streak of growing each time!
Number 22 of 50, This beauty probably should just sit on a wall as opposed to in a bag. It’s a crystal buzzz, with the Super Hokom stamp, signed by Sarah Hokom herself. Pink like candy. I’m thinking of saving this for Steven’s Point…
The unintentional theme of this travel event ended up becoming “a Lady’s Best Friend”. The custom dyed Diamond and Ruby discs donated by John Andrews and the good people of the Go Disc Golf Shop, coupled with the autographed, Super Hokom stamped Crystal Buzzz donated by World Champ Sarah Hokom confirmed that indeed, gems really ARE a lady’s best friend.
CTP prizes Lattitude 64 Ruby and Metalflake Diamond. Dye job donated by Eric Loos. Special Thanks to John Andrews!
Here’s the cool thing. (ANOTHER MILESTONE ALERT!) As we went through some basic introductions at the beginning of the round, we decided as a group that we wanted to just give the Hokom disc to our youngest ever player at a DOLLs event. This little cutie is just 10 years old, but it’s pretty clear she’s already got a lot of talent. All the ladies were given the option of playing a fun game to win the Buzzz, and they agreed that the best way to grow the sport is to encourage and empower the youth. Later, her mother posted to Facebook that we had in fact made her day, and this little one has decided that though she plans to keep playing, she’s probably going to hold on to this disc as a trophy. The generosity of the golfers that donate these awesome prizes, and fact that all the ladies so selflessly encourage this spirit makes me infinitely proud to be a part of the disc golf community.
10 years old, Trinity was a great addition to our crew! Thanks so much, kiddo!
She throws a mean flex shot, which she calls her “Sexy Flexy”. Such a fun golfer to be on a card with! Thanks, Lindsey!
We also decided as a group that we play the first two holes as a huge group, giving us time to mingle, and allowing for us to use the other two discs as CTP (closest to pin) prizes for the remainder of us. On the first hole, Lindsey “Sexy Flexy” Westberg landed her disc closest to the first pin, taking home the first metal flake piece of art. (I was secretly pleased to leave that again we left a piece of DOLLs stamped memorabilia in another area outside of the Fox Valley. Way to go, Lindsey!)
For the second hole, our Awesome Local Hostess Tanya White pretty much tied with our Favorite Local Fox Valley Lefty, Stacy Johnson. Tanya conceded that she already has a pretty fantastic disc collection and Stacy brought another pretty gem back to our area! (MILESTONE ALERT) Stacy has been playing for a while but is still working up the courage to try a tournament. Hopefully, this very first CTP win will help her realize she’ll be a force to be contended with, even if she is a south paw. Way to Go, Stacy!
Love my favorite lefty. Go Stacy!
After the first two holes, we flipped discs to determine who would play together on the following holes. It turns out, there is a downside to much larger groups; It really stinks that you can’t play each hole with each lady. Ultimately, we broke into 3 separate groups and headed out to master the Yulga Course. But, it was great to get to know more people and hopefully, we’ll keep seeing each other at future events. On a personal level, I was excited to get to meet some of the ladies who first joined our small Facebook group that were not local to our Fox Valley courses. Some of these ladies, who showed support to our cause but could not make our local weekly events were the very same ladies who inspired our traveling adventures in the first place. Meeting them in person was both an honor, and a realization that in fact this idea of trying to get women together IS really working.
Aside from the prize discs that were donated, John Andrews also donated a bag of Gateway discs to be given out as needed. Another one of our junior players, the lovely AnnaMay, (who came with her mother, continuing our tradition of mother/daughter duos on the course) brought along a friend who was supposedly a rookie to the sport, though that’s hard to believe because she stepped up and flawlessly side armed a great drive from her first throw off the tee. When we were finished, I was able to give her a driver and a midrange from the donated discs for her to call her own. Hopefully, she keeps hitting the course and continues to join our events. (MILESTONE ALERT) In total, we had 3 juniors, under age 18 in our group, which is our biggest number of juniors of any DOLLs event, ever.
Rumor has it this junior is a rookie… but I’m not so sure. Great job and thanks for joining us!
Overall, our mission of bringing disc golf to other areas, learning new courses and making new friends was accomplished on a grand scale. We all had a great time, despite the cold and slippy ice. I can’t give enough thanks to all the ladies, young and old slightly less young, local and distant, professional and rookie alike. But most of all, thanks again to the amazing donation of discs and time, and especially, thanks to our Amazing Local Hostess for showing us a great time in Stevens Point.
Ka- Tanya!
As our goal is to get bigger numbers to the course, and not to distract from the current disc golf scene that is already available, we are considering hosting one final event of the season. Look for information coming soon regarding our last finale event, very likely in the area of Beaver Dam. From that point on, we’ll hope to encourage each other to attend local events and tournaments around the state, until we meet again next Fall on a travel schedule. In the meantime, Happy Discing!
Stevens Point ROCKS, but it mostly Yulgas in the winter.
This was just what the doctor ordered for my icky cold. Such a great time and I’m looking forward to the next time!