The opening ceremonies last night were just phenomenal! We were treated to an amazing dinner of all kinds of delicious Japanese foods (sushi, shabu-shabu, noodles of every shape and size). We were also give our players package which consisted of a new combination chair-bag from Innova, a pair of Keen disc golf shoes, an uchiwa (fan), 5-color metal mini, t-shirt, towel and a bunch of other cool stuff. They also had a fantastic performance by a traditional Japanese Taiko band (gigantic drums).
The competitors have been split into two pools (A and B) sorted by player rating. I’m in the A-pool and we played the Raijin (God of Thunder) course first today.. not bad. Played with Nikko Locastro, Richard Tang(Taiwan), and Kawasaki-san (Japan, President of JPDGA). Scored fairly well, but had a ton of OB’s and putting was awful. It’s really tough with these 150g discs. I actually had the box for about a quarter of the holes and felt pretty good about things. I shot a 64, which put me at about 25th in a pack of 130 players, not too shabby!
After a quick lunch, we were re-sorted by score and went off to play the Fujin (God of Wind) course. I like this course much better, but only scored 2 strokes better. Still, I’m in the cash at this point and had an awesome day. It’s hard to complain when you’re in Japan playing disc golf on a prestigious ball golf course.. with carts!
Hope I can keep up with this level of play. There is OB everywhere and these discs are very unpredictable, putting is a crapshoot at best. Can’t wait for tomorrow! Wish me luck :)