Pye Brook Park -- 2011

[Nate Spear]

George lets guys fish for his wet pickle. Don't buy him dinner until he actually puts the wet pickle in your hand.

[George Economos]

Hey nate, you wouldn't have grabbed my wet Orange pickle?

[Bill Stewart]

Jason "Teen Wolf" Powers shoots a hot -11 yesterday, including an ace on 1. Wondering what the course record is. 12 down?

[Matt Stroika]

Jason "Teen Wolf" Powers shoots a hot -11 yesterday, including an ace on 1. Wondering what the course record is. 12 down?

Was the $50 club inacted?

[Bill Stewart]

With the Little League in full swing, we had to tee off 1 red. A $25 payout was agreed upon. Probably puts asterisks next to the scores, but an ace nonetheless.

[Matt Stroika]

With the Little League in full swing, we had to tee off 1 red. A $25 payout was agreed upon. Probably puts asterisks next to the scores, but an ace nonetheless.

Certainly an asterisks next to the scores, questionable on the ace status as well. What is that hole, a buck 20 from the red? Did you agree on the $25 before or after he hit it?

[Doug Mahar]

Does Pye Brook get mowed on a regular basis? I was there about a month back and the grass was really tall around 3, 4 & 5.

Thanks.

[Bill Stewart]

It's unpredictable from the town. JD did some DR mowing on the 4-5-6 area and I did some tee box and basket weed-wacking yesterday. The town usually gives it a good "end of season" mow that gets us through the fall in addition to the couple times per year they get all the slopes. Other than that we Pye volunteers fill in the gaps when we can.

[Dean Withrow]

I'm meeting a friend (new player) at Pye Brook tomorrow. I've never played there... how's the signage? Anyone know what condition it's in? Will today's rain effect the course? Inquiring minds need to know.

Deano

[Jaxon Sheehy]

hole 19 has no sign- but plays from back of far end of field hockey field (777ft.)-

the rest go in pretty logical order, starting from near that un-used bulletin- with signs from earlier this year still readable on each hole. the rain will fill up all the valleys, at least a little, so you'll want to plan your shots unless you want to go on a re-con mission for plastic. probably holes 3, 11, and 18 are your only real concern for losing a disc in water. the tee pads are in great shape! and the baskets have new bright flags on them (17's is gone though). wish i was playing tomorrow!

[Dean Withrow]

Hey Jaxon, thanks for the heads up.
It convinced me to give it a go, despite the rain yesterday.
I met a friend who lives a stone's throw from Bellamy Park in NH.
He was excited to try a new course and ended up loving it! Having it be
open but challenging was a big plus for him, hitting chains on hole #14 (blind annie),
didn't hurt much either! We had 4 holes where we hit chains or the flag.

Water pooling was not a factor, but I managed to plunge into a 10" gully on the 3rd.
The tee boxes were a very pleasant surprise. High and dry, beautifully made and
plenty of traction. Long and domed with decent drainage...Great job guys!
For first timers, this was an easy course to navigate but could really use fairway maps
on the tee signs, instead of the pies . Hole #9 comes to mind as I grip-locked and
ended up in the woods 100 feet right of our intended target. As it turned out, only 15' from #9's basket.
We were obviously aiming at #12 and had no idea. Not a well earned birdie.
Hole #11 location was a bit of a mystery also, but I'm glad we found it, terrific little hole!

You guys obviously made the most of what you were given. Natural OB that comes into play
on several holes certainly gives it a challenging flavor! It's a shame that it's not open in the winter.
It seems like the perfect winter course.

Great weather today and we had it to ourselves. What's up with that?
You locals must all have jobs... too bad

Deano

[Bill Stewart]

Thank you Dean. We had a NASA crew out there from 4:15 til dark. Didn't quite get all the holes in as the last 20 or so minutes got dark REALLY quick. Appreciate the heads up on the signage. The current set was put out for the EMC back in May. I suppose we'll do the same thing next spring and can easily incorporate some maps and directions.

Congratulations to Mike "Stands With Grenade" Andrews who nailed an ace on #16 (Hamburger Hill). Just a thing of beauty.

[Matt Stroika]

Thank you Dean. We had a NASA crew out there from 4:15 til dark. Didn't quite get all the holes in as the last 20 or so minutes got dark REALLY quick. Appreciate the heads up on the signage. The current set was put out for the EMC back in May. I suppose we'll do the same thing next spring and can easily incorporate some maps and directions.

Congratulations to Mike "Stands With Grenade" Andrews who nailed an ace on #16 (Hamburger Hill). Just a thing of beauty.

Nice. How much did he win? Had to be a few hundred. Glad I missed it.

[Bill Stewart]

Jd got the partner discount, ocho's on the junior plan, and ha and I ponied up our $50, so about $130. Wolf is lucky he's in Fla.

[Jaxon Sheehy]

dang!
so much action!

and anyone who can throw to 15 feet from basket 9 is playing well grip lock or no grip lock!

i haven't played for so long, and i sold my bag- i've taken to obsessing over my disc collection instead of actually playing disc golf... it's not as satisfying, but it's still fun. maybe tomorrow i'll force a round out in the mucky slush, wind, etc...

any takers???

[Bill Stewart]

I shoveled all 19 tee boxes yesterday morning (4" wet snow). Seemed a little too windy to play. Have to be the best-conditioned tee boxes in New England right now.

[Jason Southwick]

I shoveled all 19 tee boxes yesterday morning (4" wet snow). Seemed a little too windy to play. Have to be the best-conditioned tee boxes in New England right now.

I don't think so pal. I not only shoveled the tee pads here at Pyramids, I shoveled off the picnic tables, and straightened the small rock maples whose leaves have still not fallen, and hence caught so much heavy wet snow, which bowed them over. I bent them back behind other trees.

I blessed the fairways according to ancient ritual, and drove the ATV through the snow to make tracks for the players.

I washed the dirty tee signs, with snow and a golf towel. It worked perfectly.

Why? Because, Stew, I want to have the best tees in New England, like, five minutes after a storm. Cause I know you New England disc golf "Stew"ards and your megalomaniacal tee box aspirations. I even know you secret stewards who have all 18 Flat Rock tees shoveled before Franchi has his second cup of coffee. You know who you are.

It's the same everywhere. Everyone says their tee boxes are the best. Mine are the best, too.

[Jaxon Sheehy]

I shoveled all 19 tee boxes yesterday morning (4" wet snow). Seemed a little too windy to play. Have to be the best-conditioned tee boxes in New England right now.

I don't think so pal. I not only shoveled the tee pads here at Pyramids, I shoveled off the picnic tables, and straightened the small rock maples whose leaves have still not fallen, and hence caught so much heavy wet snow, which bowed them over. I bent them back behind other trees.

I blessed the fairways according to ancient ritual, and drove the ATV through the snow to make tracks for the players.

I washed the dirty tee signs, with snow and a golf towel. It worked perfectly.

Why? Because, Stew, I want to have the best tees in New England, like, five minutes after a storm. Cause I know you New England disc golf "Stew"ards and your megalomaniacal tee box aspirations. I even know you secret stewards who have all 18 Flat Rock tees shoveled before Franchi has his second cup of coffee. You know who you are.

It's the same everywhere. Everyone says their tee boxes are the best. Mine are the best, too.

not trying to one up you or anything jason, but...
we're adding heated sun rooms to all pyebrook teeboxes this winter
as well as illuminated, interactive signs that show an animation of where your disc should travel- solar powered of course, to keep it green
eventually each teebox will become so popular, they'll each have their own separate 'scene' and 'sub-culture'... i'm just worried about becoming TOO popular, as power often leads to corruption...

[Bill Stewart]

That might have been the truth at one time Jason, but you're living in the past, baby. I qualified my post with "right now." If rumors are to be correct, Worcester got 10-12" of snow. (by the way, I heard halloween was postponed until thursday. What a boon for the candy sellers. When all the parents eat the candy between tonight and wednesday night, they'll have to re-up by thursday for the ultimate m&m mars double-dip!) We got 4". When I went out, the sun was beating down and the wind was stout.

Warm sun and wind are the key variables. Whatever miniscule snow particulate that was left behind was promptly melted and blown dry. I started at hole 12, and by the time I came back it was dry. Dry as a bone? No way. As dry as a mouthful of saharan sand with no PBR in sight? Wicked more drier.

This is about tee boxes, not the ammenities afforded by private ownership. I've seen your tee pads. You can't say the same thing, buckeroo. Instead of ancient 1/2" thick flypads curling up on the edges, with lonely 3/8" decking screws searching for a chunk of rubber to be wedded to--we got the goods.

How about 3/4" thick horse mats with horizontal drainage grooves? A teebox so gently bowed in the middle, that players only notice the incredible consistancy of their perfect footing. Drive after drive after drive. They may take for granted the precision engineering used to create such a water dispersing device, but only because the one thing requiring no thought whatsoever is the antecedent to their first shot on every hole--their footing.

Once a tee box like this is clear, mother nature takes over. Lady Pye's consistant 30 mph gusts acted like Farrah Fawcett's blow-dryer yesterday morning. Pyramids has way too many tee boxes in the woods to ever get the same sun we do. Your foot traffic creates too may divots that puddle on the flimsly little 1/2" rubber to ever completely dry out.

Nowhere in New England did the tee boxes treat disc golfers better yesterday than Pye Brook Park Disc Golf Course.

I welcome you to your first visit to the New Lady Pye. Tell me you'll allow me to meet you there for a round tomorrow, and I will take the day off to join you. Call my bluff.

[Jason Southwick]

"Stew"pendous writing. Good logic. We're talking, what, four-foot wide tee pads? How long? How's the crease? You haven't convinced me yet, Stew. The whole story comes out in cross-examination.

Mine are five feet wide. The ground is thoroughly prepared. Stone dust is not just tamped, it's saturated much like the vaginas of the many women who play Pyramids, especially the ones who see us grunting and sweating as we move the large stones that frame many of the new tee boxes into place. Like the new tee box on new Hole 17, which we worked on today.

But back to the chicks at Pyramids. There's this one chick who always waves and smiles and is drop-dead gorgeous and plays alone. OMG. Can't talk to her without feeling awkward and saying stoopid things that you immediately afterwards want to kill yourself for saying.

That kind of girl. Cut my head off girl.

And why? Tee brooms. Perfect tee brooms for perfect tees. You can slap down slabs of horse rubber with drainage grooves and good, grippy footing and bravo. But my tees are perfect, too. And there's women throwing off 'em here who'd make you blush.

But, you know, maybe we need to hear more about these horse barn mats. You could make it an equestrian theme with Oedipal overtones. Disc golf as weird twisted theme park. Pyramids: Good Brooms & Hot Chicks.

Branding is so much more an art than a science.

Yeah yeah yeah blah blah. It's clear what we're really talking about here. It's about that special first man on the planet feeling you get from being the first one out to shovel the tees after a storm. Admit it. There's no greater glory. Better than a blwjb while watching Sports Center? Well, the first ones are, and the last ones are, but the ones in the middle it's hard to say.

Disc golf. You gotta do everything 18 times.

[Bill Stewart]

6' x 12' x 3/4". More rubber than the trojan corporation molds into those god awful devices in a month. We're experimenting with brooms. We got 6 for the wooded holes (much less detritus on the open tees) and 5 remain after a few months. We're prepared to replenish, figuring whatever shut-in wants to steal or destroy an $8 broom will get tired of their shenanigans.

Which reminds me, I need to order another pin flag for 17. Have you seen Pye's pin flags? My god are they vibrant. Black numbers on bright yellow flags. Given the depth of the tee boxes, they are critical. Our tee boxes are so long, in some cases the basket visible from the front of the box becomes hard to see by the time you move to the back of the box.

I suggest Pyramids get some silver and gold pin flags. Then we can talk.

[Bill Stewart]

I got a call from the Parks and Cemetery Department yesterday morning. (and posted, but guess I gotta do it again--damn MB).

They've had some security issues (front lock cut 4 times this fall). I'm 100% sure that isn't disc golfers, but it amplifies their attention on the overall security situation at Pye.

No alcohol is allowed in Pye Brook Park. When they see empty bottles and cans, whether guilty or not, we are the obvious suspects. Please bring a trash bag the next time you play and carry out some empties. I'm heading out in an hour or so.

Power tools aren't allowed in the park. Some mountain bikers mowed paths in the grass of the manmade depression, hamburger hill, and a bunch of other spots. Again, not DGers, but someone this summer carved "PB" with a mower on the side of hamburger hill--I do think that was disc golfers. So basically we have to stop the very rare times we use power tools for course maintenance jobs until we build back our goodwill.

The gates (including the irrigation pond on 19) are to remain locked at all times. There is no trespassing in the irrigation pond! When they see long sticks along the banks of the pond, they know it's DGers retrieving plastique.

The police have been notified, and the Parks Dept will prosecute anyone violating these rules. Let's all police ourselves and spread the word to other golfers on the course. we need to make sure the rules aren't being broken if we want to keep the course open.

That is all.

[Jaxon Sheehy]

I got a call from the Parks and Cemetery Department yesterday morning. (and posted, but guess I gotta do it again--damn MB).

They've had some security issues (front lock cut 4 times this fall). I'm 100% sure that isn't disc golfers, but it amplifies their attention on the overall security situation at Pye.

No alcohol is allowed in Pye Brook Park. When they see empty bottles and cans, whether guilty or not, we are the obvious suspects. Please bring a trash bag the next time you play and carry out some empties. I'm heading out in an hour or so.

Power tools aren't allowed in the park. Some mountain bikers mowed paths in the grass of the manmade depression, hamburger hill, and a bunch of other spots. Again, not DGers, but someone this summer carved "PB" with a mower on the side of hamburger hill--I do think that was disc golfers. So basically we have to stop the very rare times we use power tools for course maintenance jobs until we build back our goodwill.

The gates (including the irrigation pond on 19) are to remain locked at all times. There is no trespassing in the irrigation pond! When they see long sticks along the banks of the pond, they know it's DGers retrieving plastique.

The police have been notified, and the Parks Dept will prosecute anyone violating these rules. Let's all police ourselves and spread the word to other golfers on the course. we need to make sure the rules aren't being broken if we want to keep the course open.

That is all.

i'm gonna stuff a few plastic grocery bags into my DG bag- ...then i'll let them blow around the park and get stuck in a tree... no, not really- but i think picking up as i play won't be too hard, i'm imagining i could fill up a couple grocery bags with bottles and cans in just one round. it sucks that we're on a short leash after such a good season-
-new tee-pads
-a couple of new benches
-a few sign improvements
-a couple great tournaments
-tons of bag tag fun
-new flags (RIP hole 17 flag, where ever you are)

but it'll be worth the effort to keep the course in good standing with the town. stew is an awesome guy to have talking with the Parks Dept- but it'd be even better if they SAW us putting in the effort, not just hearing about it from Stew.

(by the way Stew, you know the code for the bulletin board- its the same as the front gate to put up any signs, i'm still working on getting a course map laminated to put in there)