There are now over 2,700 disc golf courses in the PDGA course directory. How many have you played?

Those of you who frequent the internet for your daily fix of disc golf news and happenings may be aware of a friendly race going on this year between two touring road warriors, each with the goal of becoming the first person to play one thousand courses. Gregg Miniac Hosfeld has long been known as the guy who has played the most disc golf courses and the person that most people had assumed would reach the one thousand course plateau first. Gregg had played 816 courses coming into 2008 and nobody else was even close so it would be only a matter of time before the distinction belonged to him. That was until earlier this year, when Ben Calhoun packed his car and left his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a year long disc golf journey that would take him from sea to shining sea and all places in between. Based upon the rate at which Ben was knocking down courses and his plans which he regularly blogged about on the social networking site DiscGolfer.us, it appeared that he would overtake Hosfeld and reach 1,000 courses first.

(Insert sound of record being scratched)

Not so fast! Anyone who knows Gregg Hosfeld, knows that his course record is an accomplishment that he holds as dearly as his two world championship titles, and nobody is going to take that away from him without a battle. Spurred on by the possibility of losing out on his career long quest, Gregg made plans and launched his One Grand Disc Golf Tour and the race was officially on.

As of the end of October, Gregg looked to have the decided advantage as he had only a few courses left to play while Ben had a couple dozen more to go. In early November, Ben happened to be in Florida, where Gregg resides, and the two of them came together to discuss the friendly competition.

According to Gregg's blog, I had worked very hard this summer to bolster my record in an effort to be the first guy to reach 1,000 courses. I also knew that Ben Calhoun had worked very hard and was more than a little disappointed when he found out that I had set out to reach 1,000 first, fully knowing I had the jump on him. I really want to be able to say that I'm the first guy to play 1,000 courses but I thought that it would be a bigger and far more fitting ending to this story to have us play our 1,000th course together.

Ben posted on his blog, I met with Greg Hosfeld today, the other race-to-1,000 course guy, and for anyone who placed a bet, I hope you bet we both reach 1,000 at the same time or you lost. Greg was gracious enough to offer up a plan to both play our 1,000th round somewhere together.

Now that Gregg and Ben had come to this agreement, the questions became when and where. For geographical convenience it was agreed that a course in Georgia or South Carolina would be best. Gregg had recently visited the International Disc Golf Center in Georgia so he knew that the PDGA was in the process of developing its third course at the facility. The Jim Warner Memorial course, presented by Discraft and the Atlanta Disc Golf Organization, was not scheduled to open until the spring of 2009, but after a phone call to executive director Brian Graham, Gregg discovered that they were ahead of schedule and that all 18 fairways had been cleared and were awaiting the installation of baskets. A quick phone call from the PDGA to Discraft followed and 18 targets were graciously expedited to the IDGC, arriving on Monday. Nov. 10th. As of the writing of this article, a work crew is busy installing the targets and a date of Tuesday Nov. 18th has been selected for Gregg and Ben to play their 1,000th course together.

According to Brian Graham, We are extremely excited to have Gregg and Ben play their 1,000th course together here at the International Disc Golf Center. It would be an incredible honor for any course to host this event. We couldn't be happier that they have joined forces to honor the IDGC with this historic milestone.

Tune in to PDGA Radio next week for a preview of the event including interviews with Gregg Hosfeld and Ben Calhoun. Also be sure to check in at PDGA.com for coverage of this historical day which will include a feature article, photo gallery and video clip.

For additional stories and information on the paths that Gregg and Ben took to the 1,000th course, check out their blogs:

Gregg Hosfeld blog: http://www.onegranddiscgolftour.com/

Ben Calhoun blog: http://www.discgolfersr.us/profiles/blogs/its-official-must-read-blog-of