Athens' Best Kept Secret - From Athens
Athens' Best Kept Secret - From Athens
“The Crucible” Brings World Champions to Athens, GA
Story by Marilyn Estes. Originally posted on Patch - Athens.
While most Athenians will be recovering from a sugary Halloween hangover or involved in the big Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville next weekend, over 70 disc golfers – including U.S. and World Champions - will descend on 73 acres of county-owned property off Nowhere Road for two days of slinging plastic on a grueling temporary course aptly named, “The Crucible.”
For nearly 10 years, Athens hosted tournaments at The Crucible that featured the top players in the world. After a 5-year hiatus, this year’s return with the Prodigy Disc Presents the 2014 Flying Eye Open at The Crucible tournament is so popular, general registration sold out in less than 3 minutes.
First place for the Open division is $2000, but that’s not what draws the players – it’s all about the course. Three-time and current U.S. Champion Will Schusterick #29064 and 2014 Women’s World Champion Catrina Allen #44184 headline a group of top-rated Pros excited to take the challenge.
“The Crucible is going to challenge all players, no matter the skill level,” says Schusterick, who counts The Crucible as one of his favorite courses (and placed 3rd in 2008 when he was only 16 years old). “With the elevation changes, tight gaps, and long holes, it’s going to be tough to navigate 18 holes without any trouble.”
“That course was ahead of its time. It’s one of my favorite courses of all time,” says 2009 Masters World Champion Phil Arthur #7289, who’s won the tournament twice before. “[Athens local] Doug Porter #13683 did a phenomenal job of designing that course.”
“The land is spectacular,” says Porter, who is also the officiating tournament director. “There are at least 8 holes out there that would be the signature hole on most courses. It’s just a really special place for me and, I’ve been pleased to learn, for a lot of other people as well.”
Porter also co-designed the disc golf course at Sandy Creek Park with fellow Athenian Rob McMaken, and co-designed with Planet Earth Designs’ co-founder Ryan Harris the Alexander Park course, considered one of the most played courses in Atlanta. But The Crucible is all Porter’s design, and in disc golf terms, it’s praised for its design that punishes the bad and rewards the good.
“It’s a perfect name for the course, because it will flat hang you up on a tree if you don’t play within your game,” says Arthur, who loves The Crucible so much. Prodigy Disc, the company he founded and is part owner of, is the title sponsor of the tournament.
“You have to play golf, literally, instead of just throwing toward a target and putting and moving on,” he says. “Or, one of my frustrations, playing where there’s not a legitimate fairway. When we play and travel and it’s for money - and if you don’t play well, you don’t make money - it’s frustrating when you play a course and you do play well and you hit random trees and kick off into the trash or whatever, and somebody has a worse shot than you and gets lucky.”
While disc golfers often hit trees, Arthur’s argument is that fault should be on the disc golfer and not on the course design failing to present the player with a workable line toward the basket. Over 45 Pros (10 rated over 1000) are coming to The Crucible to compete in a test of their skill, not their luck.
“The course that is designed properly gives the skilled player the ultimate advantage,” says Arthur. “They’re going to be more frequently consistent than everybody else, so it’s normal that they would rise to the top. And so there’s nothing that’s going to derail them.”
But The Crucible doesn’t coddle the players, either.
“It does punish the bad,” says Arthur. “If you get off the fairway, it does punish you and I love that. If I throw a bad shot, I deserve it. But if I throw a good shot and it gets kicked off into that mess, it’s horrible. And then if you bite off more than you could handle, you did it. If you know you could have executed that shot and put it there and then laid up and you didn’t do it, you just ripped up there and kicked off into the schule [brush, briars, etc.] or into a lake or whatever, you did that. But if you tried to lay up and you still hit something and get kicked off into the lake, you know what I mean? That course is fair - that’s why it’s one of my favorites. Plus it’s a beautiful piece of property, and the mowed fairways and the whole bit. That’s what makes it great.”
On the skill level, Arthur compares The Crucible to the famed DeLaveaga course in Santa Cruz, California, where, according to Arthur, “You can birdie every single hole, but you’ll work your butt off for 4 hours to come out of there 4 or 5 down. You have to throw great shots every single time, and I like that. And that’s how The Crucible is.”
Tournament organizers are encouraging everyone to come out and see in person just how far and accurately these stars can strategically throw a disc and hit those glorious chains in the basket. After the final round on Sunday, the general public can also join in on the Ring of Fire competition, where Pros, Ams and the casual player all throw a disc at one basket at the same time until only one disc gets in.
Several Athens businesses, including Terrapin Beer Company, Gyro Wrap, Don’t Nice Me Bro! disc golf videos, The Pearl Girls, Benson’s Hospitality Group, Viva!Argentine Cuisine, Model Citizen Salon, Little Italy Pizza, Rodney L. Chandler, CPA, realtor Jane Ellen Hanks, Bel Jean Copy/Print, Barberitos, and Carson Advisory, Inc., are sponsoring the Athens Disc Golf event. Anyone who would like to sponsor the tournament or donate gift cards as thank you’s to the volunteers in exchange for promotional consideration, please contact Doug Porter.
For more information, visit the 2014 Flying Eye Open website.
Comments
It is really great to hear
It is really great to hear Phil Arthur's comments about proper course design! For Disc Golf to reach its full potential, people will have to seriously listen to what Phil is saying. If it is luck that turns you on there is always is Las Vegas to visit, but if comparing disc golf skills is what you are looking for, then listen to Phi Arthur!