A Golden Day

On Friday after Thanksgiving, I had a chance to check something off my bucket list.  Danny and I were able to play the Winthrop Gold course at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC.  This course is the home to the United States Disc Golf Championships (USDGC) which is played each October featuring only about 150 of the best of the best disc golfers in the United States.  It is one of the few tournaments that is televised.

Danny had a chance to experience the course when he played in the USDGC Performance Edition in 2011. It was a daunting experience to say the least, but he actually played quite well.  Since he had played the course during that competition, he remembered well each hole.  Some were slightly different when we were there after Thanksgiving, but mostly, the general layout was still in place.

Of course, none of the out-of-bounds ropes were up, but he told me where they had been and Danny played as if they were still in place.  I just played the course from the short pads, as it stood -- that was challenging enough for me!

We took a few photos while on the course, and of course took some at the famous Bamboo Hole including a video of Danny making the shot through the garage door-sized opening.

Many of the views from the tee-box were exactly as they appeared on Disc Golf Planet, but the shot looked a lot tougher in real life than it did on the computer screen.

Having watched some videos, and having a DVD of the 2012 USDGC, it was so interesting to actually play the course.  I'm going to replay that video now that I'm back home and can do it from the point of view of having been there!  It was thrilling, and definitely a bucket list item.

229 Days to Worlds