The Games We Play

[Mark Ellis]

Warm up games:

Before rounds, whether they are tournament rounds or league rounds or casual rounds, I like to be fully warmed up. As you get older being warmed up goes from being a luxury to a necessity. So after stretching and playing catch I need to throw some shots hard. One way is to make up safari holes with multiple drive options ( 3 drives, play your best, one must be a roller-or whatever).

At my home course at Kensington there are two practice baskets but no real place to make up safari holes without risking damage or injury to players or cars. So I have taken to playing a couple hole loop which keeps us close to the parking lot and the first hole. Each of those holes in the loop has a tree in the middle of the fairway so I made up the game called Right, Left, Roll. 3 drives, play out your best. Every drive is a mando. The first drive must go to the right of the tree in the middle. The second must go left and the last must be a roller.

This game not only loosens up your arm, it also forces you to hit a gap.

[Mark Ellis]

Today I found myself at a course on the other side of the state with one buddy to play with and an otherwise vacant course.

Wanting to throw multiple drives but keep a competitive challenge (he plays Am 1), after the normal catch and warm up safari holes, this was the game we played:

Both players throw two drives each hole, playing out one to completion and picking up the other. My friend played best drive (so he always took his better drive). I played best drive on 12 holes and worst drive on 6 holes (I picked which holes to play worst drive on). It was one of those rounds where all my putts stayed out of the dirt or it might have been close.

[Mark Ellis]

The best game for the situation depends on the players and the circumstances. So today I went out to practice for an upcoming tournament at a location where two 18 hole courses were set up. In this setting I am not trying to practice my whole game, ie... upshots and putts, I am just trying to figure out what disc at what distance on what line to drive on. So on some holes I may want to try multiple drives, on another I may be happy to just walk the hole and not throw any shots. As always, though, I prefer some sort of game for entertainment. So I invented a new game which I called: CHALLENGE.

In CHALLENGE only a first drive counts for the game. If anyone wants to throw and extra drive or two it is allowed but doesn't count for the game. After everyone in the group throws their first drive, anyone can Challenge anyone else in the group. The challenge laid down is whether the thrower can complete the hole in a given score set by the challenger. So if your drive lands 30 feet away from the basket I can Challenge your deuce. (If you make it you win the bet, if you miss it I win the bet). If you hit the first tree I can challenge your par. If no challenge is made on a drive, it is just picked up and the driver walks to the next tee pad.

No one has to challenge anyone else. If a challenge is made the player challenged has 3 options: He can accept the bet. He can decline the bet or he can double the bet. We made the standard bet a very friendly 10 cents. So a challenge was worth a dime, unless it was doubled, then 20 cents.

CHALLENGE saves time on obvious situations. No one would challenge an easy putt. It makes little sense to accept a challenge on a 100 foot putt. So the obvious situations just get picked up. It lets you spend little time on simple holes and more on difficult ones. The only upshots or putts which are taken are based on a challenge, so it puts pressure on those shots. Practice under pressure is always valuable.

CHALLENGE does not depend on having players of similar skills. If a Pro had a 100 foot, open putt to the basket, no challenge makes sense. But if a newbie had the same situation a Par challenge makes sense. So any challenge made is based on the skill set of the thrower.

[Disc Golf Live]

How is the skeeter situation at Grand Woods, Mark? I'll see you Sunday. Go with the Amazing Hulk shirt if you get a chance, very showy.

The mother of all games is of course Jingles. I won't explain further since there are far too many rules and both the Tour de France and (British) Open are calling. However, I do believe that Jingles trivia players know that there is only one person to have a rule named after them who has never played. That rule, of course, is the Mark Ellis Rule. Under the Mark Ellis Rule, when a team is behind by 5 or more, they have an option to play their worst shot if they so choose, recording an "ace" should they birdie. This of course stems from some round of doubles years ago at the Mills. Just thought you should know.

Also, next time you're out and you come up with a seven player field, try this: 4 on 3 second best shot.

Put the three top players together, playing second best shot. Same for the remaining four. Interesting format I've played a couple times when we had a desire to keep things moving faster than 3 pairs and a Cali player or even 2/2/3.

Joe

[jubuttib]

Soft mulligans are the norm? What manner of pansy-assery is this?

[Mark Ellis]

I made up a new warmup game which works on short upshots. It works best with 2 or 3 players due to the number of shots involved.

Choose a target from 50 feet to 200 feet away (tree, trash can,whatever). This a CTP game. Each player throws 4 shots in rotation: backhand, forehand, overhead, roller. Single closest wins a trillion dollars from single farthest away.

[Mark Ellis]

I played league tonight at a private course ( I love private courses) where we had 15 players for the first round. It is a 9 hole course with 2 long holes and 7 tight, technical holes. We had a diverse mix, from good Pros and top Amateurs to 3 Amateur chicks. It is a doubles league, so how do you make fair teams?

First we did a random flip for Cali (purely voluntary) to get rid of the odd player. Then we did random flip for partners with a special chick rule. The Chick Rule worked this way: any team that had a chick on it got a 2 stroke advantage (started at 2 under par while everyone else started at even par). If a Pro drew the chick then the team was required to use 2 of the chick's drive among the 9 holes, if an Am drew a chick then there was no restriction on drives used. If two chicks drew each other then the team started at -4. The chicks were granted the short tee pad on the longest, toughest hole no matter what.

Since we want to encourage female players we give them an advantage. Once drawing a chick gives the team an advantage the chicks become more accepted and valuable in a competitive sense. This removes the stigma of a chick playing along side guys who throw farther and more accurately.

[Mark Ellis]

5 of us showed up: 3 Pros, 2 Ams.

We played Skins and Anti-Skins.

The Skins were no carryovers: This was a singles game, so if anyone shot the lowest score on a hole he won one betting unit (one trillion bucks) from the other 4 players. No carryovers meant that each skin was still worth one unit even if prior holes had tied.

The Anti-Skins were also no carryovers. So if anyone shot the worst score on a hole they paid out one betting unit to each of the other 4 players. Just like in skins, if two or more players tied for the worst score then there was no payoff. As before, no carryovers.

To equalize the players the Ams were given one mulligan per hole.

The game was good, the conditions were miserable. It was hot, humid and halfway through it started raining. The rain barely cooled things off but brought out hordes of mosquitoes. When the rain stopped the sun came out and it became sweltering. I miss winter.

[jnecessary]

So, a friend and I were trying to come up with something fun to play so we combined a couple different games and added some rules.

Basically, we played flick/roller/putter. You have to throw one of these shots from every tee pad. To make it more difficult we broke the course into 3 hole segments and you had to use them all, every 3 holes. You also could not throw back to back shots of the same type, for example, you can not drive with a putter on hole 3 and 4, even though 4 starts a new segment.

To add to this, we included the game Driver. Whoever had the best drive on each hole gets a point, if you make the putt (both put from the Driver's lie) you get a point, and if you bogey the hole you lose a point.

It was a ton of fun and we broke the course into two 9 hole rounds, or 3 segments of the game for each half of the course. Mandating that you use all 3 every 3 holes really brings some strategy into play. For a more relaxed version we would play the same game, but you only have to use each 3 shots twice every 9 holes, this allows you to score a little better, but if you have a decent level of comfort with all 3 types of shots you don't actually force yourself to do anything difficult that often. Breaking it into the 3 hole sections really can put you in a tough spot and make you work on your shots!

Good times, give it a try!

[Mark Ellis]

I have been playing a new format lately. Many of the courses in my area have two sets of tees. So the group plays singles from the longs (with whatever bets are arranged between individual players). From the short pads we play non-carry over skins. Both games happen together so you walk the course once but play it twice.

It takes a little practice to keep the two games straight. Before each putt we merely announce what the putt means ( "This is my deuce putt for skins").

At this time of year few players are out so we don't hold anyone up.

[JacksWeather]

with one limitation: the drive from the short pad could only be a roller or an overhead.

Thats a fun idea to make use of those amateur pads and practice your less used shots, without taking away practice from your normal shot on the whole.

[A buzzz and a beer]

We sometimes play a game called "Wolf". It is a basic skins type format. You play in groups of 5. You have to play 15 or 20 holes for this to work though. You develop an order which you tee off in. Hole one player 1 drives. He can then decide to call "wolf" or shop for a partner. If he calls wolf then if he wins the hole he gets double what the hole is worth. If he decides to shop the second person throws. Player 1 can then decide to take the second player or continue to shop. Once you decide to continue shopping you can not go back. Once player 1 picks a partner, or gets stuck with the last person if he continued to shop, then they are a team. It becomes best shot with player 1 and his partner versus the other 3.

Then when you get to hole 2 player 2 drives first and has the option to call wolf or shop. The order of drives stays the same the whole day. 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 1 -> 2. So if it is player 3s drive it goes 3 -4 -5 -1 -2.

I also had fun playing the Ript card game. I think some cards should be taken out, but the overall idea was cool and made for a fun round.

[lokirising]

I normally play by myself. I use the soft mulligan rules. I've never thrown a roller. Maybe it's about time I tried.

[Mark Ellis]

I normally play by myself. I use the soft mulligan rules. I've never thrown a roller. Maybe it's about time I tried.

lokirising,

Take a walk on the wild side. Try a roller.

[Jsw]

I normally play by myself. I use the soft mulligan rules. I've never thrown a roller. Maybe it's about time I tried.

lokirising,

Take a walk on the wild side. Try a roller.

Don't do it Loki, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

Take it from this mediocre-Am, Rollers are hippy nonsense...