Greetings ladies and gentlemen. 'Tis the time to ring in the new year with a little friendly disc golf! The Inland Empire Disc Golf Club will be hosting the 4th Annual Redlands Ice Bowl at Ford Park in Redlands on Sunday, January 2, 2011. Registration begins at 8:30am and the player's meeting will be at 9am.

This event will the first in the five-part "Golden Sombrero Winter Series 2011," the other events being held in Palm Desert (1/8/11), Beaumont (1/15/11), Los Angeles/Chavez Ridge (1/22/11) and the finale in San Marcos (2/26/10). Come and get some good early season golfing in for a bunch of excellent reasons.

As with the previous Ice Bowls in Redlands all proceeds will go to Redlands Family Service Association and their very important work in our community. Last year we raised $538 - no small portion of that due to Carl "Beanieman" Renda's generous/massive employment of mulligans.

The entry fee is $20 ($10 for kids 15 and under) and here's what you get for that:
- a nice walk in a lovely park
- 27 holes of play: 2 rounds of 9 holes on the Ford Park Pitch n' Putt Deluxe layout and 1 round of 9 holes in "Metal or Nada" format (one shot at the basket per hole)
- a fine premium disc with the Golden Sombrero Winter Series 2011 stamp ( Glo Champ Firebirds and Star Classic Rocs - thank you Innova!)
- 3 mulligans (more, many more, for sale - "Buy a tourney win!")
- considerable amusing banter and trash-talking among friends (not all PDGA courtesy rules will be strictly enforced - "Can't that frickin' Norv Turner get those guys to win an important game before November!?!" "Do you get a free bowl of soup with that hat?")
- yet another one-of-a-kind trophy for the winner, ready for a permanent home on someone's mantle to commemorate the heroic triumph
- some nice prizes for other lesser mortals

Many thanks to the City of Redlands, Redlands Morning Kiwanis and Innova Champion Disc Golf.

Evan Taylor (freshly elected President of SoCal Disc Golf) set a new record last year with a beyond perfect round: -19 (17 birdies and an ace). Previous two-time winner Allen "Rizbee" Risley is on the sidelines this year as he recovers from knee surgery. Who will walk away with the trophy and bragging rights this year? Could it be you?

Questions? PM me or email at [email protected]

Hope to see you there,

Bill

Many thanks to the 40 good souls who played in our Ice Bowl on Sunday. This year we were more of an Ice Bowl than usual, with 45 degree temperature at tee-off time under a threatening sky. Checked the conditions for the weekend's other Ice Bowls and their data wasn't all that different than our own. Not used to that. This morning I even had to use the scraper to get all the ice off of the car windows.

The golfing was tight as to be expected in the Pitch n' Putt Deluxe layout, with a lot of low scores recorded. Josh Marsh and Mark Molnar both equaled the -19 recorded by Evan Taylor last year with "perfect" scores of 17 birdies and one ace each. Also playing "clean" rounds at -18 with birdies on all holes were Jeff Bozigian, Scott Miller, Carl "Beanieman" Renda, Suzette "Discette" Simons, 2010 Champ Evan Taylor and Mark Verocchi. Hard to think that a -17 would leave you tied for 9th place, but Tim Caldwell, Bert Cotton and AJ Risley found themselves there after only leaving one par on the course.

Fun to have some more women and juniors out tearing it up, with special props to Scott Patton, Jr. for playing well in his inaugural tourney. We're trying to raise up the next generation out here in the Inland Empire.

" Metal o Nada" Champ Jeff Borzigian tallied three points with an ace and a metal hit, while Jon Berg, Darrin Stewart, Evan Taylor and Mario all connected for a point each.

Above all I am most pleased to announce that due to the generosity of all - over three hundred mulligans from what I tallied! - that we were able to present Redlands Family Service Association with $803 and 3 cans of food. That's a new donation record for us by over two hundred dollars and a wonderful way to show our support for this vital work in our community. Special thanks go to the Redlands Morning Kiwanis for their constant support, and Innova Champion Disc Golf and Disc Golf Values for doing so much to make this happen.

Next year I'm shooting to have it on Saturday, December 31st. Get your short game together and see if you can be the next to take home the always desirable and unique Redlands Ice Bowl trophy...

Gratefully,

Bill

Another year and another great fundraising event. Thanks go out to Bill and the Redlands' Kiwanis for their time and contributions.

Congrats to Mark and Josh! Great playing by all.