The Oldest Gets a Little Older

2008 Champion Scott Papa drives while 2nd place Big Mike Leslie observes. Photo courtesy of Eric Edgerton.

Every year towards the end of August, a disc golf tournament happens.  Not just any disc golf tournament, mind you, and it hasn’t happened every year, but it has happened every year since 1976.  Not a lot of tournaments can boast that.  In fact, none can, except for the Washington State Disc Golf Championships.  That’s right, this year marked the 33rd anniversary of the world’s oldest disc golf tournament that is still running.  This year’s championship was made even more special in that it was dedicated to the memory of Northwest disc golf pioneer and Hall of Famer Doug Newland.

It is a special occasion, run for the last twenty five years or so by long time Seattle discer Lowell Shields.  Lowell, being almost obstinately “old school”, tries to maintain the original feel of the tournament by keeping it non-sanctioned and presenting a casual, fun atmosphere for the event. The event, spanning a weekend, consists of two rounds at Ft. Steilacoom park (the Pro and Alt layouts) on Saturday, and then two rounds at Terrace Creek Park on Sunday, followed by an awards ceremony at nearby La Azteca Mexican restaurant.  In the spirit of tradition, Lowell tries to play the courses in their original layout (or as close as he can get), keeping the pin placements in their shorter, more “Frisbee” oriented days.  Even though that should make the course easier, I couldn’t help but feel like I was in a piece of living history as I played, putting my disc on the same path as discs that flew before I was even born.

Also in the spirit of tradition, the first round consisted of mixed groups, so that my Advanced Amateur friend and I got to play with a couple of the better Open players. That was a bittersweet experience–we got to witness some excellent and incredibly long throws, but at the same time, had to display our short and chunderous games to guys way better than we were. Hopefully the pros didn’t feel slowed down by our less than exemplary play, because I certainly enjoyed getting to see how the game should be played.

By and large, the weekend provided great weather, save for a drenching squall for the first few holes of the first round on Sunday.  I myself could have played better, sitting in contention for 2nd place at the end of the third round, but quickly and systematically blowing it in my final round.  One person who did NOT blow it was Discraft pro and FDM contributor Scott Papa. Before the tournament, Scott lamented about how he’d finished in second place more years than anyone else, but this year, well, he managed to pull it together, shooting a solid 195, 21 under the par of 216. Scott gets to take the traveling trophy home with him, and ogle it for a year before he’ll return to defend his title for a tournament that will hopefully never end.