Game On

I'm heading to Lamar at 3:30 rain or shine (most likely: rain). I'll call it from there, but at the least I'll be there if you want to show up to hang out for a little while. If the ground is wet but not too sloppy we'll play a careful round as long as it's not an active downpour. If there is lightning, we won't play at all.

Guest Post on BAF Men's Blog

Brandon asked me to guest-post on The Mob's blog on Friday, check it out:

http://bafmen.blogspot.com/2007/09/write-it-down.html

Hans

First Game/Meeting

We had 7 players at the first meeting. That many players made play slow, but that left a lot of time for fellowship and getting to know one-another. I wasn't able to be in on every conversation, but there was a lot going on. We had a good time.

The 1st F.o.L.F. Champion is Bruce, who wrapped up the front nine at -2. David placed second with his handicap adjusted -1. That's a good start! No one else was far behind.

We'll meet again on Sunday the 30th at 3:30 at Lamar. Several people asked about taking some day-trips to the excellent courses in Victoria and Beeville. Being in new places and trying new things is one of my favorite things to do, so we'll do this eventually, especially when it cools down as we get into autumn. Next week, it's Lamar again, at 3:30p. Call me if you need anything, 774-0545 (Hans).

Recreation

Pastor Bil (BAF) is in the middle of his "House of Blues" series. One of his main points for the first two sermons in the series is "get outside and do something!" He challenged everyone in the church to walk at least a mile outside each day of the week between the first and second sermon.

On the afternoon following the second sermon, I went out and played 18 holes at Lamar. I met up with Morris and his son Daniel. Then two days after the sermon, on Tuesday, I ran into and shot a round with Mark. Morris, Daniel and Mark agreed with me that disc golf is one of the great things to do outside. Daniel and Morris hadn't played in two months, since Morris had broken his leg, and Daniel mentioned that he often grew depressed because they didn't have that time together, and that time outside. Being outside is important! As Bil mentioned in the second sermon, we all need to make the "Mind/Body Connection" (1 Kings 19:4-7). Eat right, drink water, get out and recreate and exercise. It's easy to call disc golf frivolous; you couldn't be more right unless you are discussing your need for fellowship, light exercise, recreation and being outside, between God's earth and God's sky. In my opinion, disc golf is a good walk, enhanced.

Competition

Men like to recreate and compete. Those are a couple of the reasons why I started this type of Men's Group. I think disc golf will be a great, healthy way to compete; between shots there is ample time for fellowship and it hopefully will keep us from competing in the wrong places. Humans were designed to compete for survival but now, at least in America, the basics to survival are all but a given. We're still competitive but the competition can be missplaced. We shouldn't be competing through the activities of our children or to outspend our neighbors.

The Bible is largely silent on the topic of competition as we consider it in modern-day America. Perhaps competition was simply known as "life" back then. But, consider Jesus: The basic tenant he taught was to love others as yourself. Kind of hard to want to beat someone down if you love and live like that, huh? (Mark 12:31, "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." ; Leviticus 19:18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am Lord.")

Do we love others as we love ourselves? Some of us may try, but I think most of us fall short. That's part of what Jesus died for, though, so I don't think it will stop us from getting into Heaven. We can try to do better, and I think part of that is placing the competition in our lives in the right places. Since we've largely removed the day-to-day struggle to survive, I think God has put us, right now, right here, in a great position to use our competitive desires to help others. Why not see how well you can help others? But compete against doing nothing, not against others who are also helping.

But that brings us to pride. Taking away the competition to survive, nearly all competition now involves pride. Winning stokes our self-view, we hold up our chins and puff out our chests. If I'm competing for a promotion do I try to help or harm my rival's chances? Do I do the best I can and leave it at that, or do I also do the best I can to make the competition look bad? My pride makes me want to win. Win now, win later, win always.

The American economy and our system of democracy are competitions (if not competitions, what are presidential campaigns?). But what if instead of competing for the presidency, everyone worked together to honestly find the best person for the job? You are right, it will never happen that way, but what kind of president would we get? If we made the competition not against each other but with each other and against mediocrity, would that be more like loving each other?

Competition is important to America and Americans. If we tried to live without it, I think we'd all be lost, not sure how to move on. I'm certianly culpable. I like to compete. But I'm going to try to compete in a healthy way. I think disc golf is so irrelevant to life that it is a good place to set free our competitive spirits, as long as we can truly keep pride out of the mix. While we're at it, let's help that rival at work get the promotion. That's truly loving your neighbor.

First Meeting

We'll hold the first F.o.L.F. meeting on Sunday Sept 23rd at 3:30pm at Lamar Park. I hope to see you there. If you have discs, bring them. If you've never played before, I'll have some spares to loan out. Godspeed. You can call to talk: 774-0545, ask for Hans.

Wadda Shot

I did this today on hole 9 at Lamar. I was about 100 feet out. If I hadn't gone out of bounds on my drive and taken a stroke, it would have been my first birdie on the 420 foot 9th. I'm calling this a made shot, though I'm not sure if the real rules would call it so.

F.ellowship o.f L.ord F.ollowers

F.ellowship o.f L.ord F.ollowers: Okay, what is this, besides a poor stretch at building an acronym? This is me, Hans, trying to find a way to get God involved in my whole life, excluding nothing, but also not excluding me having a life. What I mean is, I'm a changed person, but I still like to recreate and compete.

So, when Pastor Bil said, "men: lead!" I said, okay, okay. What can I lead? What would a Men's Group Hans is leading look like? Well, I am not much for hanging around the living room. I play guitar, but don't know all the words to Kumbaya. But, I do like sports; more the do-sports than the watch-sports, though. I thought, well, there are guys who are Christians who like to compete, but do they have places they can compete with other Christians? Somewhere they can go to compete and recreate at the same time as they hang with other Christian guys? We'll talk God, we'll talk BAF. We'll pray when we start and when we finish. We'll compete for an imaginary weekly championship. Each meeting we won't be embarrassed about competing and after the round we'll be closer friends or ever more bitter rivals.

The beauty of it, in my opinion, is that we can worship God with our recreation and include him in another part of our life. Hopefully committing to God in this form will encourage us to remember Him at all times, and worship Him and glorify Him at all times. I don't think God wants the remainder of our day, I believe He wants us all day. This should supplement daily time with Him in prayer or reading His Bible, but not replace it.

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." - Matthew 18:20 (that "I" is Jesus)

Rules

Here's where I'll set out some guidelines for our groups:


1. If you are one of those long-haired, tattooed, beer-swilling, f-bomb dropping guys... welcome to the group. That's been me, in various stages, sometimes all at the same time. I'll always have the ink but baldness is taking care of the hair. The beer is a bigger challenge and I sometimes still get angry and act like a jerk. So, if you aren't perfect, whew!, neither am I . God loves you, and I want to play disc golf with you.
   
2. BUT... This is a Bay Area Fellowship Men's Group. We should act like it. Be helpful and nice. Ice the f-bombs, leave the beer and smokes and bring a smile. Some in the group (read: me) like(d) beer a little too much, if you knowwhatImean; and some are trying to quit smoking or maybe they once smoked and could easily be led off the ledge again (okay... me again). Let's set an example during these meetings. Bring ice water, though, the more the better on the hot days.


3. If you don't have problems, this group is not for you. Don't worry, I'm sure someone will one day start a disc golf group for perfect souls.


4. Be on time because we're going to start on time (if you are late, you can join in progress, which is fine, so don't be shy, just catch up on the 2nd or 3rd tee, or whereever). When we're done, go home!, especially if you are married and the better half is expecting you to keep your word that you are coming home. And be really nice to her. Oh, hold on, that's its own rule.
   
5. Be really nice and polite to all women, especially your wife, or if you are single, your girlfriend. This has nothing to do with golf.


6. Just you. As much as it is important to spend time with your significant other and your family, I think time with guys who will help you stay accountable is important, too. Spend oodles of time with family, but please bring only yourself and other men to this group. That way we an openly talk about issues that we might have to restrict around more tender ears. If someone is struggling with dishonesty, unfaithfulness or substance abuse, they aren't likely to talk about it with your wife or kids around. That's all this rule is. We need to be transparent, but we aren't going to be if we have to watch what we say because of who is there.


7. Just us. What is said in F.o.L.F. stays in F.o.L.F. We're not going to be grilling each other on problems, but if I tell you I just spent 90 days in jail and not in the Peace Corps like I told everyone else and you go and tell all those other people we both know but I haven't told, then I'm never telling you anything again. This is all about helping, and guys who step up and confess problems deserve respect and help, not gossip.


8. Speak loudly. Your gracious host (ahem, me) is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids that go on the fritz when it's hot and he's sweating. I'm NOT stuck-up. I just didn't catch the punch line, that's all.

What IS disc golf?

Disc golf is golf ("ball golf"), but with frisbees. I grew up calling it Folf. George Costanza calls it "Frolf" in an episode of Seinfeld ("The Summer of George"). Fellowship of Lord Followers (FoLF) is an attempt at linking this Bay Area Fellowship Men's Group to the sport.

For a good outline, here's a video that shows it off a little:




The rules are similar to ball golf, but there are no clubs, balls, expensive greens-fees and jerks yelling at you to hurry up as you slice or hook your fourth fairway shot. Disc golf is nearly free (discs range from $7 to $20 each and you'll eventually end up with a bag full). It's done in under-utilized city and county parks, often in the areas most picnickers avoid. There are no tee times, and little waiting; but abundant are good people and fun. While some guys are amazing, most of us duffers are about equals and after a few tries you'll look good enough that you won't be embarrassed. Some people play ball golf for years and still look horrible. Do a search for "Charles Barkeley's Golf Swing" at youtube (I'd link some, but they go up and come down too often). By comparison, disc golf is quickly learned. Oh, but you'll never master it. Not in two lifetimes.



The object of ball golf is to use clubs to hit the ball into a hole. The object of disc golf is to throw your disc, frisbee style, into a "basket".

We still track shots (most holes are considered par-3, even on some long, difficult holes). You can get aces (no holes-in-one), eagles (if playing a really long course with par-4's), birdies, pars and (gasp!) bogeys. It doesn't end there (at least not for me), there are double bogeys, triple...



You get the picture. It's just as fun as ball golf.

Where to Buy Discs

There are three places to buy discs locally, and you get free discs once-in-awhile because of membership of the club, or for being in tournaments. The first place I bought discs was Academy, because that's the only place I found them. The next place I heard of was a lumber yard in Ingleside, then a smoke shop in Corpus Christi.

Now, nothing against Academy, it's one of my favorite stores in town. But, they aren't out there putting up new courses, maintaining existing courses, etc. I try to support those guys if I can. "Those guys" are Lone Star Lumber, in Ingleside, and S&G's Glassworks on the SPID feeder (get on the feeder from Ayers, heading toward Weber/Kostoryz).

Before you go in S&G, though, let me tell you that it is a smoke shop. If you have a history of, um, non-tobacco-smoking, but are trying to stay away now, it might not be the best place for you. The guys are nice, they aren't pushing anything, but, wink, wink, those aren't really for tobacco. I don't want to make them sound like bums, though. The guys in there are really cool and I hope they won't disown me for saying this about S&G. Just trying to keep you safe, eh? I've shopped in S&G, but my difficulties and God-given challenges are not in that area (I got problems, believe me). Just know what you are doing. Once you pop up on his radar, the Enemy can be wily. It always happens just at the time you are trying to clean up your act a little, too.

Lone Star Lumber has it's own hazards, but mostly if you are a toolaholic. But they have as good of a selection of discs as you will find around the area. If you need some discs, and are in the area, maybe for a round at Live Oak, then drop in and pick up a few. When you take a right onto Main at the light, take another right and look for the big Lone Star sign on the front of their building.

Let me also say that, while there are some great web sites with great information about the sport, I encourage you to buy locally, if possible. These are the guys you'll play rounds with, say "hi" to and these are the guys that are making the courses and keeping this great sport around for all of us.

Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: Live Oak Park (Ingleside)

This is really an Ingleside course, but a lot of disc golfers from Corpus Christi head over there frequently. It's my favorite course, though it can be frustrating because it's the most difficult area course. Like West Guth, it's a full 18 (and they are planning to add more), but it's shorter than WG. There are so many disc-snaggin trees about yay high that you can easily spend more time retrieving discs than playing. I've taken to carrying a boat hook when playing, as it saves a lot of climbing for this old man.

Download the course map. (from 3rd Coast Disc Golf)

There is so much variety at Live Oak; lots of shade and places to relax from those disc hunts in the brambles.

To get there, head to Ingleside, take a right at the light (if coming from Portland, over the Bay Bridge). Then stay on Main until you see the sign for Live Oak park (it's a left turn, I think the street is really named Sherry Lane). Go straight a couple of blocks, through a stop sign or two and pull into the parking lot. The first tee is next to the cement outhouse. If you can't find the tenth tee, it's between the tennis courts and out of bounds.


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Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: Waldron Park

This is the newest course in Corpus Christi. It's a good nine hole course that plays fairly short, but with accuracy at a premium. Distances are similar to the wide-open and safe Lamar Park Nine, but Waldron has two holes right over a pond (which is generally full of discs nowadays), and several near a swampy stream with a lot of brambles on both sides of a 50-foot-wide fairway. It's fun, though.

To get there, get into Flour Bluff on either Flour Bluff Drive or Waldron Road. Then get on Glenoak (from either end) and look for St Peters or St Joseph's. Either will lead you into the park. First hole is all the way toward the back. Park near the backstop, walk down the sidewalk and play the first tee over the water.

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Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: West Guth Park

To get to West Guth, get on 37 and take exit #9, Up River Road. If you are coming from Corpus Christi, you'll need to go under the underpass, then right onto the access road. It's only about 1/4 mile, so be alert, the entrance is a little hard to pick out the first time.

Once in the park, head to the duck pond, park your car and look at the small parking lot for the first tee; the blue is easier to find, near the entrance to the parking lot. The basket is near the pond, about 150 feet from the edge.

Click here to view a course map.


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Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: Lamar Park

This is a popular course, mostly because it's right in the middle of town and is easy to get to. There is a Tuesday night blind draw doubles tournament and most days there will be a few groups, weekends are busier. This will be the main meeting place of Fellowship of Lord Followers.


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