What a day in Glasgow at Rosshall Disc Golf Park for the 3rd annual Rosshall Derby. On the course today were 13 players that represented Scottish disc golf well with Edinburgh, Stirling, Morayshire, St Andrews and Crookston all in the draw. We teed off before 10am to play 18 holes before doing it again after a quick lunch. We flipped discs for groups and set out on the course for the first round. The course is overgrown but playing well for the most part, it's a short course with plenty of earned birdie opportunities. John Bruce (Stirling) set the bar with a blistering 48, followed by Jack Lynch (St Andrews) and Seamus Scanlon (Dunbar) with a 54 and Graham Robbie (Paisley) 57. In the second round the forecasted 20 mph wind never developed and the sky cleared revealing a very pleasant afternoon. John followed his morning success with 6 more birdies and a bogie which was needed to fend off a charging Jack L. Who birdied the first 4 holes before succumbing to hole 5 twice with a bogie and double bogie for a 51. Another hot round was carded by Aaron Cotnoir (St Andrews) posting a 50 to tie for third.
It was great to see everyone today and I look forward to seeing you all again.

MPO
1. John Bruce - Westside Disc Bag, Bt Shield Putter
2. Jack Lynch - 3x Shusterick PA3 350g
3. Aaron Cotnoir
3. Seamus Scanlon
5. Graham Robbie
6. Stephen Conroy - Thistly Tshirt
7. Dave Meek

FPO
1. Alex V. - Prodigy Hat

MA2
1. Bruce Firstimer
2. John Smart
3. Paddy LeftforRugby
4. Alan WentwithPaddy
5. Joe FriendofBruce

Mj1
1. Abel C.

Cheers.

Here are the statistics from our event which does not feel like almost two weeks ago. From my point of view I really thought the scores would be lower across the board, luckily the weather was outstanding and near perfect on Sunday. I'm not criticizing anyone but myself, obviously the course is harder than I thought. I believe by Sunday most of the players involved had begun to pick the lock on the course design with a better understanding of how to play a wooded course. From the lack of bark on a few trees nearest the tee pads I can tell the learning curve was not pleasant for some :)
 The idea behind this evolution of Bluebell Woods was to prepare a challenging course but not forget that we all play disc golf to have fun, and birdies are fun. I think that is an aspect easily forgotten in today's course designing. It will come as no surprise to the players involved that I have a minimalist approach to course design. There are plenty of opportunities to add Mando's or OB to our course but I don't feel it adds to the enjoyment of a round like having free scope to attack the hole.
 When compiling this data and cruising through the scorecards what struck me as the most surprising is how many players were able to respond after a bad hole, following a bogie with a birdie. This is a real testament to the caliber and determination of the field of players. Speaking of birdies there were some beauties, I don't think it's a stretch to call a few of them fairway aces.

  The real purpose of compiling this is see about making changes for next years event either replacing the boring holes with something a little more dynamic or trashing the hole altogether. For starters Hole 1 will need to change, it produced the most pars (66% of the field) and proved to be fairly pedestrian. This data tells me very few players were tempted to attack the 345ft (105m) hole, either it is too long or there was too much risk involved to go for it. Also Hole 4 might really be a par 4 even though the distance denotes otherwise. I did not expect any birdies on this hole but with only 13% attaining the Par 3 and 77% carding a 4 or 5 a change beckons. We may look to harden the Tee pad and move it a few meters closer, or just call it a Par 4. I still think its a good hole that separates players regardless of the Par, Hole 4 is called "Tri Gu Leth" which means 3.5 in Gaelic. 
I believe a wide even spread in scores is the best marker for a challenging disc golf hole that balances risk and reward. I understand the previous statement is just a generalization and there are many factors involved when orchestrating a decent disc golf course. For instance Hole 10, although easy on the eye it is a fairly boring hole at 237ft (72m). It is straight with enough fairway to shape most shots. I was very surprised this hole only produced 55 Birdies, 35% of the field. I think the importance of this hole lies heavily  on where it is on the course, most players see it as one of the last birdie opportunities in the round so it might have knocked everyone off stride. One of the best examples of what I wanted to see was Hole 9, a simple uphill hole with a narrow bit off the tee and some trees guarding the basket. The scores were fairly evenly split as can be seen in the data and did not generally produce a card with the same scores. There were more birdies on Hole 9 than I'd expected. 
Then there is Hole 18, from the data it might seem boring to some but I believe there were a number of OB 4's that made this hole a keeper. This hole was a great example of your ego not being able to handle the risk. At 451ft (138m) Hole 18 produced no birdies although many tried and 40% bogie or worse.

Some notes from scorecards:
- I applaud the artistic freedom of whoever drew an apple to denote the cider winner from hole 1, Thank You!!
- The hot round was Seppo Paju with a 49 on Sunday.
- Hamish Blair posted the most birdies in a round with 8 & Vanessa Van Dyken in FPO with 5 birdies.
- The longest Birdie train was assembled by Sander Bahnerth carding a deuce on 5/6 holes; Holes 6,7,8,10 & 11 with a 3 on Hole 9.
- All the Ladies on the Lead card birdied Hole 7 in the final round.
- Martin Rotmeister was the only player to birdie Hole 3
- Three players Sander Bahnerth, Mikael Birkelund & Markus Dvinjaninov birdied Hole 8.
- The Junior card of 4 produced 2 Birdies and 2 Pars on Hole 14 in the final round.

Finally for me the one of the most impressive aspects of our event was how respectful everyone treated the Bluebells, it really is a testament to the nature of our sport. Almost 200 rounds of disc golf were played right through these flowers.
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Thanks again to everyone involved, players, volunteers, family and friends, we hope to see you all in 2017.
Peace

Our event began on Friday as tournament HQ was set up and ready to start the check-in process. The wind was strong from the North with clouds forecast throughout the weekend but I could only hope that Sunny Dunny weather would prevail. 
Saturday morning I needed to make haste around the lake after realising I'd been locked out. Luck prevailed when the back gate was open and no one noticed my dilemma.  After quickly getting set up we checked in the late arrivals and prepared for Bagpiper Gavin Black to kick things off with some local traditional music. After a quick players meeting we were only 15 minutes behind schedule which I considered a success.

 As the players began to return their cards it was clear one player set the pace above the rest. Martin Rotmeister (EE) had carded a 51 by posting 5 birdies and two bogeys. Martin is the only player to birdie Hole 3 in the entire tournament. He was closely followed by Sander Bahnerth (NL) with a 52.  For the Ladies in FPO Anne Kettunen (FI) was in with the low score of 59 followed closely by Hannele Maatta (FI). In Masters MPM and Grand Masters MPG divisions Derek Robins (UK) and Ville Piippo (FI) had already begun to define the scores necessary to keep pace in their divisions each carding a 55.

After a delicious lunch we set out for the second round at 14:00. The clouds had not set in like the forecast suggested and the winds were suddenly light, we were all in for an especially delightful afternoon.

After the scores were tallied it was clear that everyone had brought their A game to Scotland. Markus Dvinjaninov (EE)with a nice string of birdies led the second round with a blistering 51 followed by Seppo Paju (FI) , carding the only Hole 9 birdie, and James Luton (UK) at 52 and a pleasant 54 by Nicklas Erikson (NO). Hannele Maatta (FI) evens the score in FPO with a round of 58.

All the FPO scores on Saturday were part of the Womens Global Event. There were 1600 Ladies in 11 Countries taking part. We are proud to have 4 scores in the top 20.

Full Results

Sunday was no ordinary day of disc golf in these parts. The grass was dry, the sun was shining, there was a slight steady breeze from the east, half the course is covered in beautiful blue flowers and we have all day to soak it in.
Like clockwork players arrived to pick up their score cards and report to their holes. Hosting an A-tier event has its benefits as all the athletes are well prepared on what to expect.

I had a feeling there would be some personal best rounds played today.
After the score cards were measured it was Seppo Paju (FI) with an amazing 49 followed closely Tony Ferro (CH) and two Masters Mikael Birelund (NO) and Ville Piippo (FI) all with 50 strokes. Leading the ladies in the third round was Vanessa Van Dyken (US) with a 56.
The final 9 was fun to watch as 5 cards teed off to play some of the longest holes on the course. The ladies division needed one extra hole to break a tie and after 64 holes Anne Kettunen (FI) took home the FPO 1st Place prize. Seppo Paju(FI) continued to pull away from the rest of the MPO division over the final 9 taking the crown with countryman Ville Piippo(FI) topping all others in the Masters division and Derek Robin(UK) reigning in MPG Pro Grand Masters. 
It was a pleasure.

Mother Nature was kind to us and the bands of rain, snow and hail took a 24 hour break so we could enjoy 54 holes of the finest disc golf this year. In the end we greeted 46 disc golfers from points between Lancashire England and Aberdeen Scotland to test their skills on a combination of our Blue and Green Course layouts.
 In the first round we played Alternate on our 6044ft (1842m) Blue course and each University team sent out 2 pairs. When the scores came in St Andrews University was leading by 2 strokes over Glasgow University(1) and 4 strokes over Myerscough College. I heard many comments about how awkward alternate shot doubles can be on finding a rhythm and couldn't agree more.  Notable scores from this round were posted by Rory Curran and Peter Casey of Glasgow University rattling off 3 birdies in a row on their way to carding a 64.

Each team sent out four players for singles in the second round and we all enjoyed a little relief on the Green Course through Bluebell Woods, well some did some more than others. We all played singles on a course built for first year players and families. This course is short, tight and all the holes with a slight sense of danger are birdie runs. When the sores came in St Andrews stretched their lead to 4 strokes over the next team but the new chaser was Myerscough College. Both St Andrews and Myerscough College had posted a total of 205 strokes for the 4 player singles round with Glasgow University(1) and Glasgow University(2) dropping 16 and 51 strokes respectively.

After Round 2
St Andrews 343
Myerscough College 347
Glasgow University(1) 361
Glasgow University(2) 442

In this round we also crowned our University Mens and Womens Singles Champions
Womens Singles
Rhona Binnie 75 -Glasgow University - Champion
Katka Hartmanova 77 -Glasgow University

Mens Singles
Hugo Turner 45 - St Andrew University - Champion
Rory Curran 46 - Glasgow University(1)
Timmy Murphy 48 - Myerscough College
Lochlan Fischer 49 - St Andrews University

In the third round we all headed out for Best Shot Doubles on the 18 hole Blue Course. In a three-way race for the finish line it was Myerscough College that prevailed by posting a 56 & 57 in Best Shot Doubles and topping defending Champions St Andrews University by 2 strokes.

Congratulations Myerscough College!!
Myerscough College 460
St Andrews University 462
Glasgow University(1) 477
Glasgow University(2) 581
Glasgow University Ladies 235

Thank You to everyone that came out to Bluebell Woods for the competition!!
Thanks Again to Latitude 64 for providing prizes for this event.
(and Thanks to Ibuprofen and Coffee I can write this :) )

Hope to you all next year.

Seamus