Believe It Or Not

In life it's all about timing.

This afternoon I decided to leave work a bit early....I had earned it and everyone knew it. Isn't that a great thing to leave work early, guilt free? I told Marci I was ready to hit the course.

This weekend is the Steady Ed Cup...a world class disc event and I knew a lot of folks would be arriving today to get in some practice rounds. I felt what was to happen next as I left the office.

The usual slow grind to the course....red lights, stop signs, dumb ass drivers everywhere. Why we all going so slow? Are we all going anywhere?

Get to Dela, in the lot and I look across and there he is....12X World Champion, Ken Climo in the flesh. Scurried for my discs, remembered to lock the car and decided, fuck tossing the plastic (even though I needed to) I'm gonna follow this cat around and see how disc golf really works. Ken jumps to 7 with his buddy and I follow. They stretch out a bit. Ken talks about being on a plane all day. Started in Clearwater, FL at 8AM and finally made it to Dela after a cancelled flight from LA to San Jo....somehow after a long ass day of work that started for me in the stables and after a long ass day of flight for him that started 4,000 miles away we converged at Hole 7 on Dela. at 5PM on a sweet clear day...magic.

Well Ken and his buddy Randy (from Miami) toss off and they look at me. Ken asks, "What are you doin?" I replied, "I'm watchin you guys." Then he asks if I want to throw with them and I just dropped my bag right there and ripped my beast down the fairway with a hyzer kick at the end.

For all you ball golfers this would be like Tiger asking if you we're gonna play or not. I'm on the bus.

The next hour of my life I played disc golf. I played with two pros who have it all and then some but also two pros who make mistakes and hit trees. On many holes I met them shot for shot....and then as usual I also boged and even double boged but you know what? It was like playing with anyone. Never did I feel nervous or embarrased and that surprised the heck out of me. I was playing with normal guys with strong skills and good wisdom and I had fun. Nothing to prove...just another day on the course.

I had many good pars and they blew many close birds and I was kind of surprised but that's disc golf.....(and also Ken had been on a plane all day and the airline also lost his luggage...he was playing in sandals! He only had his discs cuz he "always carries" his discs.)


I loved how when they got to the pin they always looked behind them. They look for the obvious routes but in reverse....from pin to pad. They talk about every route possible and what it would take. Ken has been playing Dela a couple times a year since '93 but his knowledge of the course is phenomenal. He explained routes and strategies I had never contemplated in the two years I've been tossing.

After hole 19 and only his second bird Ken was done playing, "sandal golf". I said my goodbye's , wished them good times in SC and great luck in the tourney but they didn't need that....they'll be just fine.

After I left I thought I should have had him sign a disc or something just to prove it had really happened but you know....that thought just hadn't even crossed my mind till my time with them was over. While I was playing golf with Ken Climo it was just a good time....a good time within the moment. That's how I'll remeber it.

I only asked him a couple of questions...one was really a comment. I said how silly it is you could carry a bag full of discs on a plane but not a jackknife or pair of scissors. The question....I asked him where he would rank Dela. After thinking about it and considering the challenges he concluded that it was in his top 5 favorite courses. I thought that was special.