Chris Young Can't Stop Winning

When I was thinking about this blog post, the hardest thing to come up with was the title. Here are some options that didn't quite make the cut.

*Young and McQuade Come Up Huge

*Andy Powell Has Something to Prove

*Global Warming? Sure Seems Like It

*Andy Powell Thinks My Writing is Shallow and Pedantic

*Its Always Sunny at Trapp Lodge

*42 Holes of Disc Golf Up and Down Hill is A Lot

*Fall Platter Helps Trapp Take the Next Step Towards Disc Golf Greatness

*Discs Lost in Killer Pond!

*Three Pros and a Powell

November seems like a time to prepare for winter. Living in Vermont, there's no question that the long, dark season is around the corner. Usually this time of year we're thinking snow tires, wood chopping, and packing on the winter pounds.  Instead, this past Sunday was 50 degrees, sunny, and amazing. That's my idea of disc golf in Vermont in November and it made for a great, if unseasonable, Fall Platter.

Our usual tournament events are pretty tense, with lots of people vying for a chance to move up in divisions and win big prize money. The Fall Platter brings a welcome change of pace. Without the pressure of the Green Mountain Points Series, disc golfers seemed to be laid back and more able to enjoy a great day. The field was small, but we made up for it with copious amounts of disc golf. And Chris Young can't stop winning. Seriously. He can't. He finished yesterday with a 5 stroke lead over the next closest Red Division finisher. He continues to be lights out.

The Red Division, though, was as hot as the blaring sun in the extreme elevation of Trapp Family Lodge. Lots of AM 1 and AM 2 players stepped up to play in the Big Boy Division. Props to them. But even with a large group, the Pros still managed to separate themselves from the field. The three Pros in the group finished 1-2-3. Mr. Andy Powell had the top AM finish, ending up 4^th in Red.

Al Rosa, who's also done his fair share of winning this year, took down the Orange Division. He edged out Justin Foster by just 3 strokes. Matt Zabawa, making a great comeback after recent difficulties, was 3^rd.

In the Yellow Division, Andrew Rowan took the win, finishing with a 3 stroke lead over John Sudarsky and a 6 stroke lead over Dave Rooke. The Green Division was won by Jayce Slesar in the day's tighest battle. He beat out Gretchen Kruesi by just one stroke.

Remainders:

Upgrades like this go a long way.

*The Trapp Family Lodge really is doing a great job with their course. Sure Seth and Chris gave them some help this week, but the Lodge is working steadily to improve their course. They have an amazing piece of property and its great to see disc golf being taken seriously by them.

*Yesterday's temporary Hole 3 was amazing. I hope Trapp realizes its greatness and incorporates it into their current layout. It might not be easy to add it in and it would probably mean that temporary Hole 4 gets added in with it, but that hole is pretty spectacular.

*Andy doesn't think my writing is shallow and pedantic. Well, he might, actually, but he hasn't told me so. He does think its a little on the negative side. That's probably hard to argue with. If anyone has suggestions for story ideas or spins on topics that aren't negative, feel free to use the comments section.

*How many discs got lost in the pond hole yesterday? I saw quite a few go in and there were more that I heard about. Maybe we should do a Maple Hill-like dive for discs sometime soon. Any volunteers?

*Ace Pot Throw-off from the deck?  Brilliant.  Hopefully that will become a tradition at Trapp.  

*Seth McQuade and Chris Young get the final word this time. They stepped up and organized the Fall Platter, which included the usual tournament work plus setting up new holes at Trapp. Thanks, guys.

   

Trapp Family Lodge Review: A Mini-Maple Hill

With special thanks to Christian Keidel for his contributions to this article

Trapp Family Lodge is like a mini version of Maple Hill right here in Stowe, Vermont.  If you’ve been to Maple Hill, in Leichester, Massachusetts you’ll know that it’s a place that mixes elevation, water, woods, and openness in the perfect blend of disc golf amazingness.  Although very young and very new, Trapp Family Lodge offers a small sample of Maple Hill-style disc golf in the northern state of Vermont.  The full potential of this course and this property is still far from being realized.

I had the chance to play Trapp Lodge’s disc golf course with some of Vermont’s Most Accomplished Disc Golfers- Dave Carter, Christian Keidel, Justin Devico, and the soon-to-be Mr. Josh Wedel.  For most of the group it was a second or third visit, but for Mr. Carter and I, it was our first time on the property. 

I’d say it’s quite beautiful. There’s a great use of up and down changes in elevation, a perfect amount of water, especially on hole 1, some wooded holes, some long, wide open holes, and no out of bounds on the entire course.  The scenery and backdrops are amazing and today we had the entire course to ourselves.  Like Christian said, “This place is a real gem.”  If you haven’t been there, I’d suggest you make a visit before the Fall Platter. 

Pros:

*Trapp Lodge is a new course, so there’s a certain level of excitement that goes along with playing a new course for the first or second time.

*There’s a great mix of field holes, woods holes, water, and elevation, and that’s only over the current 9 hole set-up they’ve got going on.

*They’ve mowed down the areas of the course where I heard it was very overgrown before.

*The property and scenery are really quite beautiful.

*This course would be a perfect complement to Center Chains on a day of multiple disc golf courses.

*The Trapp Lodge could be the fourth course in the Four Courses in One Day Challenge of Johnson, Smuggs, Trapp, and Waterbury, which, to the best of my knowledge, has never been accomplished.

*There is a brewery on-site. That’s hard to beat. 

Cons:

*Trapp Lodge is a new course, so despite the excitement that goes with a new course, it also has the drawbacks that come with a new course like rough boxes and too many trees. 

*There are a lot of holes, such as holes 5 and 8, that could use some trimming to become legit holes.

*The tee boxes could use some work.  Many of them fall into the rustic tee boxes in Vermont theme, but some really need some work.  One of the boxes we played today was way too slippery to be fun and another was about three feet too short.

*There are only 9 holes.

Overall, Trapp has really killed it on their first go-through of disc golf.  The holes have great variety and even greater potential.  The property is very striking and quite beautiful.  But, the common drawbacks that come with new courses, like too many trees and rough tee boxes are still present at Trapp.  When 18 holes come together and some Twin Falls-style work is done to this course, it will become a premier Vermont disc golf course.  I believe it won’t be long and the efforts that have already been put into Trapp really deserve a round of applause.  Keep your eyes peeled for a premier GMDGC Event at Trapp in the next year or two.