This weekend, we held our First Annual Farris Memorial Day Disc Golf Tournament at the pseudo-18-hole disc golf course at my parents’. While many of the players thought I’d win the tournament, as it turned out, it wasn’t even close. And I didn’t win.

We had eight players for Saturday’s rounds, so we drew lots to see who was in which group. I drew the second group, with Doogie, Greg, and Dad.

Things started poorly for me. I made the mistake of trying a disc that I had just gotten (literally, minutes before, as a late birthday present), the Champion Beast. Sy uses a Beast, and I had thrown his before. But it was foolish of me to think I could just go out there and throw it like I throw the Wraith, which is my driver of choice. Nevertheless, I lined up with the Beast and let it fly.

It was a disaster. It tailed severely to the right, and had to have been the shortest drive I’ve ever had. I still ended up with a birdie on 1, but I was now not confident at all with my driver. My second tee with the Beast was much, much worse, also tailing severely and ending up way out of bounds, in the neighbor’s driveway (practically against the tire of his truck as he was washing it). An excellent par save put me one under after two, even with the drop, but I had had enough. I asked to make a change, and put the Beast away, and played the rest with the Wraith.

The only thing that saves me on the disc golf course is my long drives, because I can’t putt, particularly with my confidence shattered after two really poor drives. I +2’d the next hole, double dropping in the driveway and past the fence. I’d have only one birdie the rest of the way on the front nine, and a couple more bogeys (including another venture into the neighbor’s yard), finishing the front with a plus two 38, four strokes behind both Dad and Greg in my group. My main competition, my younger brother Sy, was in the other group, and I had no idea what kind of a day he was having. I had to assume, though that his day was not as bad as mine.

It was a struggle on the back nine for me as well, getting it over into the neighbor’s property one more time. Nevertheless, I ended up minus two on the back, for a par round one. Miraculous, considering my start. In my group, Dad had also parred the round, but Greg had finished one under, leading my group.

Inbetween rounds, we all learned what the other group had done. Sy had had a marvelous first round, finishing five under and clearly in the lead, four up on Greg and five up on me and Dad. Andy had a horrible round, plus seven and seemingly out of it. The second round would have to be better.

It was. We re-drew new groups, and I got in with Sy and Andy. Five strokes to make up, but I was in his group. I had some incredible drives, relegating the Beast to the clubhouse and using my normal discs, the aforementioned Wraith for driving, and two Frisbee discs for midrange and putting. I also had some really bad putts, two-putting the third the most egregious. That was my only over par on the front though, ending up at four under on the turn. Sy, though, started with an eagle on one and never trailed, five under at the turn.

The second half was similar. I had three birdies, but an out-of-bounds on 16 only allowed me two under on the back. Sy also had three birdies, but did not shoot over par on the second half, gaining another stroke on me. His second round on Saturday was a competition record 10 under, only increasing his lead. Andy finished a respectable one under on the second, but after his first round was still six over. Greg finished the second round even, for a one-under after two. In the other group, Dad had a great second round five under, and, with us tying the first round, I had him by just one stroke.

So, at the end of day one, Sy had an incredible lead of nine strokes on me, and ten on Dad.

For Sunday, we seeded the groups, so Dad, Sy, Greg, Andy, and I all played together. I had a much better day on Sunday. After I threw the Beast around in practice at home a while before going over, I determined that, at least for now, the Beast will have to stay a practice disc for me. I played with my regular three discs.

I had a bogey free front nine, finishing with a seven-under 29, which, alas, was only three strokes better than Sy. Though, if I could continue to gain three strokes on him, I’d have him by the turn in the second round. Of course, that didn’t work out. I followed my 29 up with a three-under 32, which allowed me to tie the competition course record, set by Sy the day before, a ten-under 61.

Dad finished the round with par, Greg one-over, and Andy one-under, so this would be pretty much a two-horse race. Sy had averaged almost eight-under in his two matches yesterday, and started out Saturday only bettering his average.

Sy followed his four-under 32 with a very impressive five-under 30. After my bogey-free front, he had a bogey-free back. My only bogey for the match was the final hole, but it wasn’t nearly enough. After playing possibly the best I could, I ended up only gaining one stroke on him. I would start the final round with eight strokes to make up.

My final round was also pretty good, with only one bogey. At the turn, I was trailing Sy by two more strokes, he finishing the front with a 31 (-5) and I a 33 (-3). Sy also had one bogey on the front, but his eagle on one (he eagled that hole all four matches over the weekend), and my string of par holes that he birdied, put it pretty much out of reach, ten strokes with nine holes to go.

Even though I eagled 13 on the back, and had a bogey-free back, it wasn’t nearly enough. I was able to gain one stroke on Sy for the tournament, as he double-bogeyed 14. He ended up -7 for the match to my -6.

Dad, Greg, and Andy both had impressive under-par rounds, making the final round on Sunday the best we’d ever played as a group, by far. The five of us had only twelve bogeys (out of 90 holes total).

But there would be no catching Sy for the tourney. His scores were -5, -10, -9, and -7. After my horrible start, I finished even, -6, -10, and -6. Impressive, but it pales in comparison.

The final leader board:

Sy: 253 (-31)
eric: 262 (-22)
Dad: 276 (-8)
Greg: 280 (-4)
Andy: 285 (+1)

What I didn’t mention about the weekend was how much fun it was playing with these guys (and the others with us, who were just playing for fun). These are all exceptional men, getting a bit of exercise and having a great time.

We’re talking about doing this again over the Independence Day weekend, though we’re probably going to try to stretch it out, and play the first round on Friday evening. It was very hot on Saturday this past weekend, and Sunday’s rounds were only slightly better. July will probably not be as forgiving, and, let’s face it, Dad and Greg and I are getting old. Sy and Andy are both in their early twenties, and both atheletes, so they just get better while the three old guys get tired much more quickly. My middle son Tim has also been playing with us, and he’s pretty much OK with the grind of it, too, but he’s not ready to compete quite yet.

All in all, a fantastically fun weekend, even though at the end we were all pretty much just watching Sy dominate. Congratulations, Sy. You killed us. It’s funny that I can beat him pretty consistently (though not every time, by any means) when we play on Sundays. When it comes to a two-day, four-round tournament, I didn’t even stand a chance. At least, not this time.