The Spectacle of Majestic

The Spectacle of Majestic

Written By: Bill Ashton

As I sit down to recap the Minnesota Majestic, I can only reflect back to my prelude article entitled, "The 20th Anniversary of the Majestic will surely be a Spectacle". The tournament certainly lived up to the title of that article right down to final hole. For the nearly 300-400 spectators which made up the gallery during the third round and final nine, the tournament couldn't have ended on a much higher note. It was truly a spectacle to see. A magical moment in the history of the Majestic and even possibly the PDGA Tour. The drama which enveloped on the last hole of the final nine was simply amazing. Going into round three, "12-Time World Champion Ken Climo," held a three stroke lead over last years local hero and Majestic Champion "Cale Leiviska". Jay Reading fought his way back during round three play to fill a spot in the final nine action for the second year in a row by shooting a 63. Finishing out the final four card for Men's Open, was Nikko Locastro, whose a young gun on the PDGA tour from St. Louis.

During the finals, Cale was determined to fight for the lead as play between Ken and Cale see sawed back and forth. As play came to the final hole of round three, Ken held a one stroke lead by taking a three. Cale was now forced to make an 80 ft. downhill putt for birdie to tie the World Champ. As Cale approached his lie, the gallery was silenced with such anticipation that the entire crowd was glued to his every move. As Cale took in a deep breath and blew it out, everyone paused knowing this mere moment was his last grasp at a back to back Majestic Championship. Cale delivered his putt toward the basket with such confidence, it was as though he knew he had all ready made it. Cale ran towards the basket upon releasing his putt. As he and his disc got closer to the basket, the crowds cheers grew louder and louder until the disc slammed into the chains. Cale ran to retrieve his disc with such energy and excitement, knowing that he just tied the Champ on the final hole to push a sudden death playoff. It was amazing and unbelievable all in the same moment!

In my 31 years of watching, covering and photographing disc golf, this now in my mind was my single most greatest memorable moment. As a freelance writer, I left the tournament perplexed with the drama Ken made out of Cale's celebration of throwing down his disc after making his spectacular 80 foot putt. In my opinion, the champ was reaching out of desperation knowing it was evident the gallery was rooting for Cale. It appeared to upset Ken and it now seemed to make him more nervous that the momentum may have changed going into sudden death play. The ruling Ken addressed was made known to Tournament Director Tim Gill, who gathered and conferred with the foursome for a secondary agreement, but nobody agreed to Ken's rule infraction. I believe the same rule in effect could be also called on a player who marks his lie with a mini and then tosses the players actual thrown disc off to the side as an errant throw. This certainly happens regularly during play without incident of infraction. In viewing this dilemma, it appeared Ken lowered his core value of sportsmanship a bit in terms of satisfying his attitude to win. Ken's double arm pump and victory scream only seemed out of revenge to Cale's celebration putt. It was apparent Ken was still bothered that his rule challenge went unfavorable in his behalf, but yet happy he had just won the 2007 Majestic. As the gallery and players walked back towards tournament central, I viewed Ken still frustrated demonstrating his rule infraction to another person next to him. Ken proceeded to throw his disc down to mock the infraction. As I viewed this happening in front of me, another older gentleman and his wife were both walking back as well and also oversaw Ken's overall frustration. The gentleman told Ken to remember sportsmanship. Ken commented back saying, "I can do whatever I want,the tournaments now over baby." In what was certainly a heated and intense moment of emotions for the champ, could have easily been forgotten about with more of the attitude of winning with grace and sportsmanship. Even though Ken won, I believe many would've agreed that he lowered his degree of sportsmanship.

In summing up, Lyle Jensen, our notorious master of ceremonies, surely smoothed things over during the awards celebration by addressing and somewhat fusing the controversial dilemma into words which quickly erased the tarnished moment. Surely, Ken and Cale both played their hearts out. In the words Jay Reading made during the awards, "the sport of disc golf truly needs more competitors such as Cale Leiviska". Another genuine comment which helped to mend the moment. The 20th Anniversary of the Majestic was an event many of us will remember and talk about for years to come. Congratulations to all the finalist and the winner "The Champ" Ken Climo.

20th Anniversary of Majestic will surely be a Spectacle

Written By: Bill Ashton

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Minnesota Majestic. It is the longest running PDGA event with the highest cash purse in the state. The Majestic by far is the biggest disc golf tournament around our area, so you won’t want to miss this event. With 223 entrants from 19 different states and one player traveling in from Ontario, Canada it will truly provide a great deal of competition in all divisions respectively.

Even the Open Pro Women’s field will have some great competition from returning Champion Des Reading whose player rating is 967. Angela Tschiggfrie who finished second last year is highly competitive as well with a player rating of 950.

The Open Pro Division will certainly be exciting to watch as it has a total of 72 total entrants, with 21 players having a rating of 1000 plus. Here’s a quick look at the Top Rated Pros traveling to this years event.

1000 – Andrew Rich – Eugene, Oregon
1002 – Keith Warren – Stevens Point, Wisconsin
1003 – Adam Olson – Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1003 – Jon Drummond – Minneapolis, Minnesota
1004 – Timmy Gill – Minneapolis, Minnesota
1004 – Jay Reading – Davenport, Iowa
1006 – Matt Hall – Willis, Texas
1007 – Geoff Bennett – Canton, Michigan
1008 – George Smith – Columbia, Missouri
1009 – Chris Hereen – Madison, Wisconsin
1010 – Justin Brunnell – St. Louis, Missouri
1011 – JD Ramirez – Allen, Texas
1012 – Greg Barsby – Grass Valley, California
1013 – Chris Sprague – Des Moines, Iowa
1016 – Coda Hatfield – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1020 – Cale Leiviska – St. Paul, Minnesota
1020 – Eric McCabe – Emporia, Kansas
1023 – Matt Orum – Mobile, Alabama
1031 – David Feldberg – Springfield, Oregon
1033 – Barry Schultz – Sheboygan, Wisconsin
1039 – Ken Climo – Clearwater, Florida

The 2006 Minnesota Majestic Champion was local professional Cale Leiviska who walked away with $2500—the largest purse a player has ever won within the 20 year history of the tournament. Can Cale repeat again? With the impressive list of top rated players registered it will definitely be a challenge for Cale to repeat back to back championships.

There have been several repeat champions such as Jeff Harper, Ron Russell and Barry Schultz, but only Ron Russell won back to back titles in 1998-99. Both Russell and Schultz have won the Majestic the most with three wins each.

Here’s a complete look at all the past winners of the Minnesota Majesic.

1987-Tom Cremer
1988-David McCormack
1989-Jeff Harper
1990-Steve Wisecup
1991-Steve Valencia
1992-Jeff Blount
1993-Unknown
1994-Jeff Harper
1995-Danger Grant
1996-Timmy Gill
1997-Scott Stokely
1998-Ron Russell
1999-Ron Russell
2000-Barry Schultz
2001-No Tournament/Hosted 2001 Worlds
2002-Barry Schultz
2003-Ron Russell
2004-Barry Schultz
2005-George Smith
2006-Cale Leiviska

Since 2002, the Majestic has given out over $50,241 in prize money as an A Tier PDGA Tournament. In 2002, Barry Schultz won $1300 of the $7,286 purse. In 2003, Ron Russell won $1670 of the $9730 purse. In 2004, Barry Schultz won $1890 of the $10,910 purse. In 2005, George Smith won $1700 of the $7,735 purse. In 2006, Cale Leiviska won $2500 of the $14,580 purse.

This season will also prove to be another successful event. With great sponsors and volunteers the Majestic will no doubt be a spectacular event for both the players and spectators. So if you’re a fan of disc golf, grab a friend and head out to Kaposia Park in South St. Paul and Hyland Hills Ski and Snowboard Area the weekend of June 2-3, 2007. You won’t want to miss the best players in the world competing right here in the Gopher State. It’s a chance of a lifetime to see such stiff competition right in your backyard. So grab your cameras or even a disc or two for some autographs. You won’t be disappointed!

MINNESOTA ROCS

Written By: Bill Ashton


MINNESOTA FRISBEE ASSOCIATION MARKS 32 YEARS
AS PROMOTIONAL FORCE IN DISC SPORTS

The Minnnesota Frisbee Association also known as
the "Mighty MFA" has been an active club promoting
the sport here in the Gopher state for over 32 years.
The MFA has certainly done it's fair share of actively
promoting disc type events throughout the years.  Not
only is the MFA the oldest club promoting the sport,
but they were the first known club to have their logo
imprinted on a disc.  The MFA merely formed as a small
group of local frisbee aficionados which evolved by the
likes of old guard members Lyle Jensen, Joe Feidt, Paul
Thompson, Gus Otto, Jim Challas and a few others.
Membership today, has recorded over 1500 people since
the MFA's inceptiion back in 1975.

Throughout the years, the MFA has always had a strong
active volunteer base of members contributing to the needs
and efforts of organizing and promoting events.  Members
which have stepped up over and over again to help make
sure events and club functions run smoothly.  As new
player interest increases, it will also build on a new
generation of volunteers and those that will explore
new avenues of interests to promote and challenge the
sport to new heights.  Minnesota is blessed with an
abundance of people that have volunteered or earned their
respect as a businessman promoting their dreams, goals
and aspirations of making it as a true disc entrepreneurs.

Minnesota's own local disc golf pro Tim Gill of Par 72
disc golf, Mike Snelson of Fairway Flyerz, Charlie
Hutchinson of Gotta Go Gotta Throw, Jon and Chris Gowin
of Back Nine Design and Alan Hansen Begg of Long Tee -
Disc Golf TV are prime examples of people making positive
contributions to the sport here in Minnesota.  There is
also a strong interest in Course Development from several
qualified course designers in the area (Chuck Kennedy
recent Disc Golf Hall of Fame Inductee, Tim Mackey,
Tim Gill, Bill Ashton, Mike Snelson and Steve West).
Since 1987, Minnesota has averaged about 4-5 new courses
a year and today has surpassed the 100 course mark ranking
the state third overall.  New course development projects
continued at an above average rate in 2006 with nine new
course installs.

LEAGUES OFFER PLAYERS A CHANCE TO DEVELOP

Not only does Minnesota have quite a few mover and shaker
type individuals, it also has the best known disc golf
league know as "Sun-Dog".  What originated as a brainchild
of MFA member Greg Rife, has now grown into one of the
largest active disc golf leagues.  Sundog is a league
series that generates an active base of well over
100 players on a weekly basis.  Here, league play
floats amongst the many different active metro disc
golf courses.  League Directors Matt Koerner and
Tim Gill have really helped to organize and host
one of the largest and most efficient leagues
in the country.

There are also several other smaller leagues
throughout the metro going on as well.  Several areas
outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area have
also impacted their communities with disc golf.  In
southern Minnesota, the cities of Austin, Winona and
Fairmont come to mind with showing strong signs of growth.
In the northwest part of the state, the city of St. Cloud
and the adjacent surrounding communities there have really
grown into their own mecca of disc golf so to speak.

The MFA's rich history is now being preserved by collecting
and compiling past and present issues of the MFA FLOATER
NEWSLETTERS.  All of the issues compiled and logged will
be donated to the MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY.
As issues are collected, each volume will be documented
in hopes to catalog the entire Floater Collection.  It's
the best way to look back and try to document our clubs
history and growth over the years here in Minnesota.
As the club organizes its history, it's also looking to
establish THE MINNESOTA DISC SPORTS HALL OF FAME.

NEW MINNESOTA DISC GOLF COURSES INSTALLED IN 2006

1.   Cedar Creek Park - Fairmont
2.   Garlough Park - West St. Paul
3.   Blue Ribbon Pines - East Bethel
4.   Prior Lake High School - Prior Lake
5.   St. Mary's College - Winona
6.   City of Springfield, Springfield
7.   McGrath Park - Barnsville
8.   Bethel University - St. Paul
9.   Century College - St. Bonifacious

Pros & Cons of DISC GOLF

PROS & CONS OF DISC GOLF

Written By: Bill Ashton

Contributors:

Lyle McCoon, Jr., Suzette Simons,
Tom Monroe, Harold Duvall, Squipple

PROS:

1. Inexpensive Recreation - Most Courses are Free to Public

2. Age-less Game - Can also be "Family Orientated".

3. Healthy Recreation - low impact,aerobic workout, walk through
nature

4. Cost effective: 9-holes can be installed for under $5000

5. From a parks' perspective, disc golf is unbelievably cheap.
A decent, medium-sized playground will cost around $35,000
and can only accommodate 20-30 kids (at an absolute maximum).

6. Usage: 72 People an hour can play on an 18-hole course

7. Low Maintenance

8. Reduces Vandalism

9. Attracts people from community and outside community to park

10. Businesses in close proximity benefit from course usage

11. Area schools can potentially utilize course for physical
education and field trips.

12. A course can be designed and installed easily within the
frameworks of many different types of parcels of land such
as Nature Preserve, Flood Plain, Wooded Areas and under
utilized areas.

13. Lifetime Recreation

14. Courses can be designed to be handicap accessible.

15. Disc golf can be a source of revenue for a park department or a
pay-to-play facility.

16. Disc golf tends to decrease undesirable activity in under-
utilized areas of a park.

17. Disc golf provides a recreational facility for local churches
and scout groups.

18. Disc golf is easy to learn, but challenging to master.

19. Hosting a disc golf tournament for charity can bring community
together to help raise money for certain causes while enjoying
the fun of playing and socializing.

CONS:

(Solutions to Cons - Ways to help)

1. Litter (Garbage cans at each tee would help to reduce litter)

2. Erosion (Adding cement tee pads minimize erosion)

3. Course Conflicts with Neighborhood Yards (Design away from homes)

4. Extra Foot Traffic Past Homes (Design away from homes)-(however,
foot traffic near homes are extra sets of eyes helping reducing
daytime theft and burglaries).

5. Basket Theft (Reinforce Baskets by tack welding material to post
and ground sleeves).

6. Heavy Course Traffic/Flow - (For heavy course usage; there will
be waiting/backups at peak times, and parking area will be full.
Potential solutions: Install 9 more holes or build another course
within the city).

7. Limited or no restroom facilities: (If restroom facilities are
not present or open year round, portable units will need to be
provided and properly maintained).

* Special Note: (Provided by: Squipple @ www.playdg.com)

* The problem with CON #6 is if you build more courses, it increases
interest because the sport becomes more visible to the which,
in turn creates more traffic. This is definitely a good thing for
the sport, but doesn't help with traffic flow.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Special Thanks to Suzette Simons for adding additional comments
and solutions for Con issues #6 - #7, Tom Monroe for contributing
PRO #16, Squipple for adding an additional solution to Con #6,
Harold Duvall for providing Pro #17 and an extra solution for
Con #4 and Lyle McCoon, Jr. for providing Pro #5.

Discovering Disc

By: Bill Ashton

My fascination to disc began back in the year of my high school graduation. It was the summer of 1976. My friends and I would gather at Oak Park Mall in Austin, Minnesota late at night, and play Disc Golf under the parking lot lights. We designed a course that went completely around the mall using obstacles and such. Those were the days of your basic Wham-O 165G, or 141G discs. Of course the "Super Pro" was also a great disc of it’s time too! Golf plastic hadn’t been introduced yet. My favorite was the Wham-O 141G disc for "Disc Golf" and the Wham-O 165G disc for "Jammin". As time went on my interest with disc golf grew and I was literally hooked on the sport. Since we didn't have an actual permanent course, I began lobbying the Austin, Minnesota park department and later helped to establish the Austin Disc Golf Course at Todd Park with local Austinites Scott Schied, Tom Hinkle and Greg Huckaby.

The Austin Course was originally set up as a 12-Saucer Golf style basket course. Saucer Golf was a basket manufacturer that started here in the Minnesota area back in the late 70's. I believe they were the only other basket manufacturer besides the Disc Golf Association back during that time frame. The Saucer Golf baskets were quite different than your typical DGA Pole Hole. They were cone shaped. During the late 70's and early 80's, the Saucer Golf style cone basket courses were predominately installed here throughout the state. At least up until 1987, half of the courses in Minnesota were Saucer Golf Style cone baskets (9 of 18 courses were cones). Since then, the Saucer Golf style basket courses have been slowly disappearing or replaced by the more modern style chain baskets available today. Some of the early Saucer Golf Courses in the state were vandalized and some were pulled due to lack of interest. So with that in mind, I personally contacted the communities that were having problems with their courses about purchasing the old saucer golf baskets. Over a number of years, I had purchased four different Saucer Golf Courses here in Minnesota (Bayport Barkers Alp's, Minnehaha, Buck Hill & Taylors Falls) that allowed me to recondition the old parts and equipment to help start additional courses in Austin, St. Cloud and Winona. I have always felt a strong urge to salvage equipment that has been damaged. It's a personal vision I've utilized to help restore and replace courses in new areas.

I went to college at Winona State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications in November of 1981. I remember freshman year, I met Tim Mackey who lived next door to me. I tell you meeting Tim and living across the hall from him was quite infectious. I’d never seen anyone Freestyle like Tim before? I was like instantly hooked at learning the moves in Freestyle. I believe Frisbee became a double major for me actually! Not really, but I did spend one hell of a lot of time out of class playing disc. Tim designed an 18-hole obstacle course around campus and also started an Ultimate Team called the Winona State University Kling-Onz. So naturally my interest in Frisbee exploded at that point.

The Kling-Onz Ultimate Team started over 29 years ago and throughout its history has always put together strong teams. I remember traveling on many road trips with only nine or 10 guys. We ended up winning the right to travel to three UPA Regional Tournaments during my years with the Kling-Onz (East Lansing, Michigan 1977, Lexington, Kentucky 1980 and St. Louis, Missouri 1981).
Through my years of playing Disc Sports, I have met many people whom I have enjoyed a common camaraderie in this great game. To many names to list, but this common camaraderie is another aspect of disc sports that harnessed an appeal and respect for the game for me. It’s also what’s known as "FRISBEE FAMILY". I have traveled extensively throughout the United States competing in many tournaments. My most memorable events to date were probably the U.S. Open Frisbee Championships sponsored by Wham-O back in late 80’s. I worked on tournament staff and learned quite a bit about administrating an event back in 1984-1987.

It’s great to see that the MFA is one of the oldest running Frisbee Clubs today. It's been an organization that has really harnessed an interest in the sport for me. Running an organization can be tough, especially a club which depends on volunteers to get things done. I remember the Sky of 10,000 Frisbee Tournaments back in the 80’s during the Minneapolis Aquatennial at Lake Nokomis were some of my favorite tournaments too. The club has done a tremendous job of hosting and promoting Disc Golf and other disc events throughout its 31 year history. The 2001 PDGA World Championships were definitely the most prestigious tournament the MFA has organized to date. The MFA has also been hosting Minnesota's largest disc golf tournament, the Minnesota Majestic for the past 19 years.

Some great things are happening right now within Disc Golf. The idea and concept of the PDGA International Disc Golf Center in Augusta, Georgia is a huge step in gaining national exposure to the game. The Highbridge, Wisconsin Disc Golf Project is also an interesting step in course development. The sport of Disc Golf is definitely gaining notoriety. In Minnesota alone there are currently over 95 Disc Golf courses. I believe Minnesota ranks third overall in terms of total courses per state. I know in 1988, when I sold my third course to St. Paul Park and Recreation for the Highland Park area, there were only 18 courses in state of Minnesota. So since then, over 75 new courses have been installed within the last 15 years in Minnesota alone. On average that's 4-5 new courses a year. Not bad!

I’m currently working on several new course projects. I established my 10th course installation last summer with the 12-hole Discatcher course in Apple Valley, Minnesota. I am proud of the accomplishments I have attained within the sport of Disc Golf. I love to work with new courses and look forward to continuing those efforts. I’m currently working on the Third Edition of the Minnesota Disc Golf Guide. I am currently promoting the game of "Sure-Putt" as well and hope to install the idea at area courses utilizing the practice baskets. I'd also like to bridge Disc Golf within the physical education programs. I have always felt my expertise was promoting disc sports within that field. I’ve done well over 200 Frisbee demonstrations for school assembly programs and look forward to promote and help Tim Gill promote the Minnesota High School Disc Golf Championships.

I am excited to get involved with Disc Golf once again. I look forward to helping out where needed and can’t wait to meet old and new friends. Best of luck to all this 2006 season!

From Folf to Disc Golf

From Folf to Disc Golf

In the early days it was known as "folf"
and later grew to be called "Frisbee Golf"

As one tosses from a designated tee
the idea like golf is to count one-two-three

With a drive, an approach and putt
One goal is to stay out of the rough

Be sure to have a tight grip of the disc
Don't forget to un-coil and snap your wrist

Putting for birdie, approaching for par
Who knows you could even bogie by throwing too far

The ultimate throw would be an ace
The perfect toss with such grace

Watching the disc soar
and hearing the chains roar
It's time to go play some more!

Bill Ashton

DISC GOLF IS NO FAD

Disc Golf is Turning Heads

reaction news december 5, 2005

DISC GOLF IS NO FAD

Written By: Bill Ashton

The first actual disc golf course was installed 30 years ago at Oak Grove Park in Pasadena, California. Today, there are well over 1500 courses nation wide. The sport has steadily increased in popularity since 1975. In my opinion, it has not peaked out yet. So it's not a fad that's going to come and go. The Professional Disc Golf Association has had a 12 percent increase in memberships over the past year to now raise their membership to 30,000 members strong. Also, the P.D.G.A. is currently in the process of creating and organizing the National Disc Golf Center located at Wildwood Park in Columbia County, Georgia. It will host three world-class courses, the PDGA headquarters and the Disc Golf Hall of Fame. This will certainly become a huge landmark within the Disc Golf World. It will also help to promote the sport to the next level. From here, media coverage will expand to a greater awareness to the game and event sponsorships will gain an acceptance to the sport even more so. No matter how you look at it, Disc Golf is a great game! It's been tabbed the "age-less game". Over the past 25 years, I've helped to establish a number of courses for many different communities. I know I believe in the sport of disc golf and I find it to be one of the most appealing and cost effective recreational activities that a park department can offer today. It allows all age groups to participate and it can be a family recreation as well. For those that play disc golf, I would say most love it! I can't begin to tell you how many people have played on the courses I've helped establish, but I know it would be a tremendous amount of people. It's rewarding to know that I've helped to establish disc golf within many communities. I am certainly proud of those accomplishments. It's just a great feeling to know, that I've played a part in so many peoples enjoyment throughout the years.