Here is a great recap of some the best disc golf shots in 2011. Looking forward to more and more in 2012.

Best Disc Golf Shots of 2011

The United States Disc Golf Championship is seeking volunteers for the upcoming tournament which will take place from October 5-8, 2011.

Since the beginning, the Charlotte Disc Golf Club has been an integral part of the USDGC success. Initial planning sessions, dating back to the fall of 1998, were actually held at classic Charlotte locations such as Jack Straw’s, Sub Station II, Disc Landing, and Elizabeth Billiards. Even though the USDGC is held in Rock Hill, it is very much a Charlotte disc golf tradition.

Volunteer opportunities begin with course set up as early as Monday, September 26th. The Winthrop Gold Course will take shape throughout the week so that conditions will be perfect for the CGDC’s running of US Doubles on Saturday, October 1st. Volunteers are also appreciated throughout Championship Week. To see a list of the week’s events click HERE.

If you are interested in volunteering please contact either Paul Bergey (704-658-5063) or Jonathan Poole (704-724-1352.) During Championship Week you may also simply come out to the staff area at Winthrop located near the Winthrop baseball stadium. Someone will be in or near the staff trailer and be happy to plug you in.

Please consider helping the CDGC and the USDGC maintain their reputation for excellent service and hospitality to the disc golf community.

Discasaurus for iPhone:  Disc Golf Scorekeeping Done Right

If you have an iPhone… and you like disc golf (or live and breathe it), you are in the right place. This review will walk you through this innovative new app from start to finish. We’re going to cover lots of features along the way so before you dive in, you may want to grab a refreshment.

Disc Golf Mobile Application for iPhone

Initial setup is probably the least exciting part of using Discasaurus. Fortunately, it’s fast (about a minute) and once it’s done, the fun can start. The first time the app runs, it presents a special setup screen with two text input boxes. One asks for for a player name and the other offers a chance to create a new account or sign in. If the email address belongs to a confirmed account, a prompt collects the matching password to complete the sign in process. For brand new users, Discasaurus creates an account and sends out a confirmation link via email. If the account is not confirmed within 10 days, it expires.

Although an account isn’t required to use Discasaurus for iPhone, it opens the door to some compelling online features that really take this app to the next level.

Launcher
This is a fairly familiar pattern so no surprises here. The screen shown below is typically the first screen that appears when the app starts up. It’s a jumping off point to the major functionalities: keeping score, reviewing score history, and settings configuration. If there’s a game in progress (either: literally in progress, or unsaved from a previous outing), the “Resume” icon recalls it in one touch.

Courses by State
Discasaurus is aware of over 2700 course locations in the United States. All of them are listed on the web site (more on that later), but the app only has Michigan and California preloaded. Getting course directories for other states is easy. This piecemeal approach shown below has the added benefit of minimizing the app’s footprint, leaving as much storage space as possible for other apps, music, videos, etc.

From the launcher screen, tap “Settings” then “Update Course Directory”. Next select a state and tap “Update”. That’s it. For states with large directories, an indicator shows the download progress. Typically it takes less than a minute to pull the courses and some recommended ways to play through them (i.e. which tee-basket combos, which section of the course, etc.) from the Discasaurus Online server. Download more states as needed, just keep in mind that each one takes up some storage space.

New Game
Finally… the fun part! Tapping the “New Game” icon on the launcher screen brings up the player selection screen. It facilitates four major functions: choosing which players will be in the scorekeeping interface, adding players, editing players, and deleting players from the app. Swiping horizontally on this screen brings up the course layout drilldown which is described near the end of this section.

Selecting Players
Players can be dragged between two groups on the screen by dragging the handle on the right edge of a player bar. Those in the “Current Players” group at the top will be included in the scorekeeping interface, while the “Available” group simply contains other players that have been added to the app at one time or another.

Adding Players
The “Add Player” button is at the top right of the screen and tapping it reveals a form similar to the initial setup screen described above. Unlike the other form, this includes a disc color picker so the scoring interface can represent each player with a different colored disc. Bright colors look great, but it’s just a matter of personal preference.

The form also has a “Sign Up” button at the bottom to invite new players to Discasaurus via the supplied email address. Just like in the initial setup, players will have to confirm the invitation via email. A “Log In” button at the bottom brings up a password prompt (again, much like the initial setup). Tapping done saves the new player and returns to the player selection screen.

Editing Players
Editing players is similar to adding them. The first step is to touch an existing player on the player selection screen. From there, the options are identical to the add player screen (the done button saves any changes).

Deleting Players
Players can only be deleted from the available group, not from current players. The red circle on the left unlocks a particular player and displays a corresponding delete button. Touching that button (predictably) removes the selected player from the list.

Selecting a Course Layout
The screenshots near the beginning of this section include a little yellow indicator at the top right. This indicator appears in a few different contexts and its purpose is to indicate that the current screen can be swiped horizontally to see another related screen. Within the game setup, a side-to-side swipe switches between player selection and course layout selection… which are both required to configure the score keeping interface.

After swiping in from the player selection screen, Discasaurus displays a course layout drilldown. Here’s where the Discasaurus course directory comes into play. Many of the courses in the database include GPS cooridinates. This allows the app to display locations in order of their distance from the current location. When locating courses nearby for the first time, a user-prompt will determine if the app can use the device’s GPS. This feature enables the most efficient game setup possible.

The other option at the top right is search. This mode is best for finding courses by name.

Once the desired location is found, the drill down can begin. Tapping a location reveals a choice of layouts grouped by course. Tapping one of them completes the course selection part of the game setup.

Start the game!
Once player(s) and a course layout are chosen, the “Start” button at the bottom will activate and turn green. Tapping it loads the scoring interface described in the next section.

Keeping Score
Of all the features named in this walkthrough the scoring interface may be the most compelling. Rather than rely on text fields or dropdowns or other form-based controls, Discasaurus keeps score by counting taps on a player tile. Just, tap a player’s tile for every time he or she throws. Do it all at once at the end of a hole or as the throws actually happen. Either way, Discasaurus’ big buttons and text minimize the hunting and pecking, so a player can enter a score quickly and remain focused on the game.

Beyond tapping on player tiles, there are a few more gestures that operate the interface:

Advance or return to a previous hole by swiping horizontally. To the left reveals the next hole and to the right reveals the previous one if it exists.

Scroll the list of player tiles by swiping or dragging vertically. Theoretically, Discasaurus can score tens of players at a time, but that would be a lot of scrolling ;o)

Correct a scorekeeping mistake by tapping and holding a tile that has been tapped too many times. Doing so resets that tile to zero. Tapping with two fingers subtracts one throw from the selected player tile.

Return to the last scores entered by shaking the device.

View the game summary by tilting the device horizontally.

Changing Players and Courses Mid-game
In the course of leisurely play, players are bound to join up or depart mid round. Hitting the back button in the top left corner returns to the game setup screen where a different group of players or a different course layout can be selected. The start button at the bottom is joined by a resume button that (as its name suggests) resumes the game in progress, mapping any previously entered scores according to the new game configuration. Touching start clears the score entries for each player and reconfigures the scoring interface from scratch.

Saving Scores
Swiping left from the last hole in a round presents two options for saving the score(s). The first option stores a local copy of a round AND sends a copy to the Discasaurus site. It requires a Discasaurus account and an active Internet connection. The second option only stores the record in the device’s local storage.

Score History
Looking back on good times can be fun, and that’s why Discasaurus for iPhone keeps a record of previous rounds. Within this screen, records open up to the game summary view. The only options are to swipe or scroll to see more scores, or touch back to return to the score history list.

Discasaurus Online
Any more than a brief introduction will push this lengthy walkthrough into the TLDR category. It would be easy to fill 5-6 pages exploring web site features, so Discasaurus Online will probably get a separate detailed walkthrough at some point. In the meantime, here are some high-level gems.

Front Page + Login

Player Profiles

Course Profiles

Scoreboard + Scores

The Bottom Line
There are a lot of reasons to download this app, including super-fast scorekeeping, nationwide course directory, and an integrated web site that serves up a personalized recent scores widget. If you are an iPhone or iPod Touch user, this app is worth a try… and at the low, low price of FREE, it’s hard to resist!

* iPod Touch users can enjoy Discasaurus too! Note that some things (e.g. downloading a course directory for your state) will require an Internet connection.

Go to Discasaurus and sign up today!

The challenge is simple:

Set the new disc golf distance record with a Discraft driver and the bounty is yours.

The current record of 250 meters (820.2 feet) was set by Christian Sandstrom of Sweden in 2002.  With the latest crop of high tech, long distance drivers, 2010 could be the year to push past that long-standing achievement.

To claim the Discraft bounty, a player must use a PDGA approved Discraft driver to set and hold the official WFDF new Open division record at the conclusion of the distance activities surrounding Big D in the Desert IX.  Other restrictions apply, for complete details visit them on Facebook.

From the Charlotte Observer: The Cornelius PARC Department and Charlotte Disc Golf Club have opened a new 18-hole disc golf course at Bailey Road Park.

Disc golf is one of the country’s fastest-growing sports. In Charlotte, the number of courses is expected to rise from five in 1995 to 20 by the end of 2010, said Mark Huether, director of the Bailey Road Park course.

Huether predicts that in two or three years there may be five or six new courses north of Exit 23.

Part of the reason for this growth is that Charlotte will host the 2012 World Disc Golf Championships, drawing more than 1,500 players from around the world to our area. The Bailey Road Park course will host Junior, Grandmaster and Legends age groups at that event.

Huether explained how the original nine-hole course was redesigned and lengthened. Volunteers worked more than two months to lay out and complete the course.

“When Charlotte won the bid for disc golf championships, we had the need for 10 new courses,” Huether said.

If you’d like to learn more about playing disc golf, you may want to start with the Bailey Glow League.

At 8:30 p.m. Thursdays, players at all skill levels gather to play night disc golf to raise money for target baskets (the targets you throw at).

It’s $5 to play, and you can buy everything else you need at the site. (You might want to bring a flashlight.) They put out LED lights and glow sticks so you can see where you’re throwing. They play Captain’s Choice: As in golf, you play in teams and count the best shot.

Huether said, “If you want to play, just show up at Bailey Park, with any skill level. … We’re really trying to target the novice and beginner player … and trying to grow women’s disc golf in Charlotte.”

Another event for players of all skill levels will be Aug. 15. Starting with registration at 8:30 a.m., Bangin’ Baskets Bailey Hole-in-One Challenge will raise money to help pay for the new course. Entry fee is $25 for a day of disc golf, a pack of two discs and lunch.

“We do have some lofty goals in building courses,” Huether said. There are plans for another course in Cornelius, one in Davidson and additional courses in Mooresville.

An avid disc golfer, his game took a turn for the better ever since he started picking up Butts at his local courses in Massachusetts. Becoming so fanatic about it he has started a facebook group called Butts Are Litter, hoping to raise awareness to the problem of nasty Butts all over our courses.

The goal is to hang Butts Are Litter signs at every public disc golf course in America….along with some sort of ashtray.

Overview of Project

The Butts Are Litter project is one that in its simplicity and obvious statement of name, should almost nullify PDG’s request for this grant. Almost, hoaky as this sounds, it is the plain truth. There is no argument over the fact that butts are litter…and the community of disc golf is aware of that problem and we are ready to help.

We want to keep our disc golf courses clean and we want to help bring awarenss to the very cool game of disc golf and that discgolfers love the earth. Disc golf families will do our part to keep our playing areas clean!

To vote for this idea

Go to www.refresheverything.com/buttsarelitter

You can vote once a day.

With summer just around the corner, I’m really excited to announce the launch of the NEW Innova Disc Golf website. They have made significant changes to the website allowing for disc golfers from around the world the ability to easily find and connect with the most recognized brand in disc golf.

With the new launch of this website, it’s just in time for summer disc golfing activities; especially in Charlotte, as more and more people are coming “out of the woodwork” and hitting the disc golf course, sometimes for the first time this year. I look forward to more updates on the Innova website as well as more in-depth coverage (hopefully on twitter: @InnovaDiscGolf) of all the upcoming disc golf tournaments, especially those being hosted locally in North Carolina.

Happy Hucking!

I recently had the opportunity to Interview disc golf’s rising star and 2009 US Disc Golf Champion – Nikko Locastro. I want to thank Nikko for allowing me to interview him and Kevin Fulginiti of Pro Disc Golf for the introduction.

1) Your decision to really tour aggressively last year (played 43 events! – 42,000 in winnings) - What made you decide to tour so hard?

I love this game a lot and I love the feeling of winning. I’m a die hard disc golfer and a serious competitor. Last year I played as many tournaments as possible trying to fulfill my dream of becoming one of the greatest players to ever play the game. It’s unlikely to beat out the records of Ken Climo but someone has to try. Each weekend I hunt down the feeling of winning.

2) You are known as one of the best putters out there, with intimidating range – Your sort of extreme-hyzer angle is unique – Where did you learn? How do you explain it?

Like everything practice makes perfect. I am far from perfect but practice is what it takes to become talented at anything. My putting style is unique and mostly effective. People inside the game know the difference between a push putt and a spin putt. A push putt is guided by arm with a quick pop style release. Spin putting is more of wrist spin motion. My uncle Dave McCormack taught me how to play the game, over the years I’ve developed my own style of play by watching all the top players and competing with them.

3) You got into the sport through your Uncle – Dave McCormack – who owns Gateway Disc Golf, your current sponsor – They allow you to have a mixed bag, which is unique to only a handful of pros – talk about this:

Yes I have a mixed bag and I feel like it helps my game. I am willing to throw any disc that will help me perform my best. It’s nice to know there is more of a selection for me than most Pro’s. This gives me a slight edge and I like it. I do have more sponsors as well but maybe that is another interview.

4) How are the disc golf courses in your hometown in comparison to the rest of the US/World.

St. Louis courses are steady getting better and have improved a lot over the last few years. My courses are my training grounds. We have a good mix of wooded to open style courses. My home course Endicott is only a par 6 away from my mom’s house. This course is totally sweet forcing you to hit your gaps or take bogey’s. St. Louis courses are under rated and fairly challenging for all level golfers.

5) What’s your favorite course?

Why? I can’t say one course is my Favorite because there are so many I haven’t yet played. Each course I play teaches me something new.

6) Got a favorite hole?

I have a few favorite holes. One is on my Great grandparents property in Vichy Mo hole #11. This is such a bad a$$ course and sweet hole. Something like 1000 Ft down a fire break down hill woods on left side and right side with a clean fairway. Another great hole is #5 at Winthrop USDGC course.

Before the USDGC. Nikko was paired up with Cale Leiviska and they were two strokes back from Avery Jenkins and Dave Feldberg going into the final round at Renaissance Gold.

On Hole 12 (617 ft Par 4) of the Gold layout, Nikko throws a perfect backhand roller which crosses the O.B. road and comes back in bounds about 60ft left of the basket. Nikko steps up and putts what looked like a dead on putt into the center of the chains (that in my opinion due to the extreme hyzer angle) cut through all the chains for a missed Eagle.

Nikko and Cale lose to Avery and Dave by 1 stroke (Nikko and Cale shot an incredible 53 on Renny Gold – Par 70)

Did this one stroke loss propel Nikko going into Championship week a few days later to feel he could accomplish the greatest victory in the sport, the USDGC? I knew we were having a close battle that day. Playing against 2 worlds champions we knew they weren’t giving us many easy strokes. I was playing really good in US doubles so Knew I had a great chance to win the big one.

(He was furious after missing the eagle putt, and I remember him saying to this partner Cale, “If that stroke cost us the tournament, Im gonna be pissed” – This was something that only the 50 spectators or so saw, so It could be interesting to bring up the story – to your discretion though)

Also Nikko is only the 5th person to win the USDGC – The tournament was dominated for years by only two people (Ken Climo and Barry Schultz). With Nate Doss winning in 2008, how does it feel to be so Young and be in that elite club playing at the level he is now playing at – Especially on a mentally grueling course that many say is the hardest in the world?

I can’t lie winning the USDGC was a breath taking experience only few can say they have had the feeling. So much can go wrong on a course set up with rope OB all over the place. My game plan going into the tournament was first never give up no matter what happens. Next was staying focused on each individual throw. Staying focused is key when it comes to winning. Ask anyone who has taken 2^nd place. At some point they lost focus leaving easy strokes on the course. USDGC was the best victory of my life. This is one of the only tournaments I have won where my rounds got better and better all tournament. I have much respect for the group of guys that were before me. This is a hard sport to make a living from, unless you win almost every tournament.  The life a Pro disc golfer is totally cool but does have its down side always traveling is great and everything but I miss my family a lot on the road. I have taken several sacrifices to stay on the road year round. I want to take this time to clear some things up. My name is Nikko Locastro. I am an competitive athlete and lover of the Sport DISC GOLF. Sometimes my emotional play has gotten the best of me. I want people to know that this game means a lot to me in a lot of different ways. This is the life I have chosen and will forever be with me. My Image has been brought in the spot light many times in a negative way. This will all change with time because I’m ready to become a positive face for the game I love.