What may best be described as a disc golf festival takes place this weekend at Circle R Ranch in Wimberley, TX. The 12th annual Texas Teams Championships will host 468 players from Texas. The population of Wimberley will increase an estimated 15% (for the weekend) due to the event! Measuring by participation, Texas Teams is one of the biggest events ever held in the history of disc golf!
In years past there were about 150 competitors. In 2009 there were over 300. Last year the field increased to 456! Legendary disc golf promoter and course designer John Houck credits the explosion in attendance to his wife, Dee Houck. The two met 6 years ago and were married in 2007. At that time, Dee sold her Allstate agency and placed her focus into helping John with his various disc golf ventures. Both credit her skill at streamlining processes for the increase in participation. John also pointed to her vision and ability to connect disc golf to the general population (instead of mainly to the disc golf community). Whatever the reasons, this event dwarfs most others. Attendance is comparable only to the world championships and a few other national or world events.
Houck also hosts the famous Worlds Doubles Championships, and has run the World’s Biggest Disc Golf Tournament for 22 years. This year 135 cities participated in the World’s Biggest. Dee said that profits from the World’s Biggest are now donated to non profit agencies. John’s passion these days is bringing disc golfers together and focusing on course design. Houck is probably the world’s best known disc golf course designer. Harry Myers Disc Golf Course in Rockwall is an excellent example of his work. It is beautiful, challenging, and most of all- fun to play!
All matches are played on 9 hole courses, of which there are a total of 7 to play within the confines of Circle R Ranch. As was done last year, 27 temporary holes were added to the 36 permanent holes at the Ranch. Only teams from Texas are invited to play, which makes the huge turn-out even more amazing!
The format for the tournament is match play. For many competitors this will be the only time all year that they play match play instead of medal play (the standard method of keeping score). Match play is a hole-by hole game where the lowest score wins the hole. The winner of the match is the competitor who wins the most holes. This forces an element of strategy that is unique to match play. Sometimes laying up on a 12 foot birdie putt is the correct play in match play. And 1 bad hole won’t usually ruin your whole day.
The enthusiasm leading up to this event is really quite unique. Players look forward to the communal experience, playing together as a team, and camping out with the masses of disc golfers from Texas. No one will win thousands of dollars at this tournament. People show up for the love of the game and to see their disc golf brothers and sisters. There are trophies for the top teams, Best Dressed Team Awards, Most Spirited Team Awards, A Best Campsite Award, A Ring of Fire Competition, a Pizza Party, and a free concert Saturday night by The Lucas Cook Band. All participants receive a full color Millennium disc and a tournament sweatshirt.
Dee talked about several spectacular campsites last year. In particular the Round Rock crew brought a big screen TV and furniture to create their own outdoor living room!
John said some of his best memories from the event is when sudden death playoffs occurred. The playoff format is alternating shot for the entire team! At one point there were 4 teams of 9 players standing on the tee box. That is 36 players!
The Metroplex is sending many teams down South to Wimberley (about 30 minutes Southwest of Austin). Pocket Aces and Team 1Time from McKinney are heading down Friday. And Team DiscQualified are taking 3 teams to the event. Team Crowley is taking a very strong team. Their members include Brice Longerbone, Shawn Robertson, Tony Shirley, Roger Villarreal, Dalton Seabolt, David Kinter, Toby Torres, Jerry Seabolt, and Samara Schrimsher. With that formidable group, Crowley is among the favorites to win it all!
Stephanie Pullins (A.K.A. Captain Thumber Girl) put together the “Pocket Aces” team after playing the team competition earlier this year at Selah Ranch. She said she had so much fun there, and knew she had no choice but to put together a team for Wimberley. She accomplished her goal in 30 minutes after a local mini. She says “Pocket Aces are stoked about playing Wimberley!”. She also wanted to thank Wes Briscoe with HyzerBomb (www.hyzerbomb.com) for helping with “Pocket Aces” logo, shirts, and hoodies. Playing with Stephanie are Brandon Burgland, David Bartlett, Mike Keith, Stephen Hansen, and Justin Motz.
The hope is that rain early in the week (but not during the tournament) will help reduce the fire danger. Dee is still holding out hope that people will be able to barbeque and build camp fires. The wild fires in the summer did raise much concern, but did not end up hitting the ranch.
Facebook is absolutely buzzing with people who are excited about the upcoming event. Teri Richardson, Tony Shirley, Lourdes Linares, and Michele Owens are just a few of the many who are posting about how excited they are about this event. It makes you wonder if John and Dee have any more room in case this event grows even more next year!