Reporting: Mach 1

It is my pleasure to report this year’s Mach 1 Tournament a great success despite the low turnout. Fourty-nine enthusiastic players (13 Open, 36 Ams) came together for two days of disc golf insanity, during which Dave Madruga (Open) set a new course record of 57. Way to go, Dave! No aces to report. This was not terribly surprising considering the length of some of the holes.

The weather was great, bright and sunny on Saturday, the first day of the tournament. A thunderstorm rolled in late Saturday night which prompted the usual midnight scurry to make sure everything was covered. The rain had stopped by morning and other than a few damp scorecards there was no effect on tournament play. The third round (with the addition of two holes for a total of twenty) was finished by mid
afternoon and the day culminated in a rockin’ raffle and a $2000.00 payout. We had everyone on the road long before dark. We want to thank everyone who came and hope they had as good a time as we had.

I cannot say enough good things about Mark McLaughlin and the other members of Hangtown Disc Golf. They turned out in the days leading up to the tournament to police the course, eradicate most of the poison oak and generally make sure the course was in the very best condition possible. We hadn’t visited the course before, but they made sure we had everything we needed to run a successful and enjoyable tournament, from maps of the course, to hole measurements to spotters on the course. One of their players was with each group as a guide to the course and they volunteered to provide transportation to the far holes so players wouldn’t have to walk as far to get their round started. That the tournament ran so smoothly was due in large part to their efforts. If you have a chance to attend one of their events, do so! These guys rock! Incidently, I am developing a website for them that should be up shortly, so check out Hangtown Disc Golf dot com and watch the progress.

We are also giving rave reviews to Rock Creek Cafe. For a while it looked as though they might not be open during the tournament, but not only were they open, they served great $5.00 lunches over the two days. Great food, great prices and no one had to leave the area to get a meal. They kept us supplied with ice for the weekend and each morning before the player’s meeting, they drove down to the campgrounds with coffee and breakfast burritos. They couldn’t have been nicer and they had a great menu for dinner at very
reasonable prices. If you go up to play the course, stop by and check them out. They are right at the campground entrance.

We also want to thank all of our sponsors for their contributions and support.
Without our supporters, nothing is possible. Thanks to:

Off Axis Disc Golf who broke lose with samples of their gear for the raffle, as well as stickers and a load of discount coupons. Check out their link in our “Partners” listing and get your hands on some really neat gear. By next year they should have their Custom Dye operation going and we can order some custom dyed discs.

Disc Golf Station who likewise broke loose with some swag to support the raffle. Great prices on discs with no minimum purchase so fall by and check them out!

Harbor Point Tennis and Swim Club, who donated those great hats everyone got in their players packages.

And last but not least, Royal Touch Catering and Choctaw Canyon Studios for donations, swag and various financing.

We also want to thank Neal Hoellwarth, who always shows up with the NorCal Store to help out and Jeff Talbot who handled our video. You can check out the highlights of this year’s tournament here or visit Jeff’s site on YouTube.

There were several factor’s contributing to the low turnout (49) at this year’s Mach 1 tournament.

Although the Mach 1 is a long standing tournament, the Disc Golf Outlaws are a new club and, as such, no doubt unfamiliar to the disc golf community outside Sonoma County. We hope to become much more familiar
in the future.

This year’s venue, Finnon Lake, is a new one for the Mach 1, which was previously held at the more familiar ‘Brown’s ‘n Bows’. The current economic situation put that site out of financial reach and Finnon Lake was
a very attractive alternative.

The state of the economy obviously impacted everyone, ourselves included. We lowered fees as much as possible but as the jobless rate climbs, tournament attendance drops. We missed seeing several tournaments regulars for just that reason. Hopefully, next year things will improve.

A player affiliated with one of the regional clubs (I will not print his name or club affiliation but everyone knows who he is) felt compelled to contact a number of local players (we received reports from 15 so far) to discourage them from participating in the tournament. Why he took it upon himself to do so, we don’t know. While we know who he is, we have never had a disagreement with him and his club did not have anything going that weekend, so there was no reason he should deliberately sabotage our tournament but …whatever. He did it. Reasons he gave were that the road to the venue was trecherous (it wasn’t…certainly no worse that the one going to Highland Springs), the venue had poison oak everywhere (it didn’t…the guys from Hangtown Disc had everything cleaned off and neat), the course was so long there was no way we could complete two rounds in one day (we did…and had no problem doing so). So some people missed a great tournament due to the “fear factor”. Thank, guy.

Looking ahead.

So…it looks as though the Mach 1 has a new permanent home at Finnon Lake! We like the location and we like that we can buy out the entire campgrounds for our participants and include their campsite in the entry fee. It’s a great perk to have the campgrounds all to ourselves and not have to shell out any cash for a campsite.

There will be some improvements made before next year that should make the trip more enjoyable for participants. Mosquito Road, which is a much shorter route, was closed for bridge repair this year. It will reopen in the spring, which will cut about half an hour off the travel time.

Because most players elected to register the morning of the tournament, we were unable to hold the doubles event for Friday afternoon. Next year, Friday night doubles will return as will the dreaded “Hecklers Hole”.

Next year we will most likely go “Pre-Registration Only”, as most other tournaments do. This will allow us to plan even better player’s packages and customize shirt sizes.

All the scores have been uploaded to the PDGA site, but the final report has not been turned in yet. Please check yours and let us know if any corrections are needed before we take that final step. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments on this year’s Mach 1, or any of our other tornaments, we want to hear from you. Please visit our contact page or send email to admin@discgolfoutlaws.com.

Next up: The Second Steve Werner Memorial held at Crane Creek the middle of March. Watch for further news.

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