2011 Dutch Open

Two weekends ago, I played the Dutch Open, the largest (for at least this year) disc golf tournament in the Netherlands. I signed up in January, was put on a waiting list, and found out in February that I'd made the cut to play the tournament. The tournament was in Bergschenhoek, a bit outside of Rotterdam and not very accessible via public transportation. However, since the tournament Web site indicated there were dorm style accommodations on site, I didn't worry too much about transportation or booking a hotel room, figuring I could walk or bike from Rotterdam and that the dorm rooms wouldn't go too quickly.

A couple weeks before the tournament, I emailed the organization responsible for the dorm rooms. I quickly got a response, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Another group was using the park that weekend, and the dorms were unavailable. I sat on the news a few days before deciding to look around for a ride. Luckily, one of the other players lives fairly close to Utrecht and was willing to give me a lift back and forth each day.

The misinformation about the dorms was only one of several problems to follow in the organization of the tournament. Information was promised and not sent (including maps of the courses) until the very last minute. Two courses were advertised, but since the park was actually triple booked, we ended up with a single course at a slightly different location. (I guess it's good I wasn't able to book the dorm bed!) The schedule was published only days before the actual tournament with a mandatory player's meeting added on Friday evening. With the last minute notice, many people (including me) couldn't rearrange their schedules to make it to the meeting. The tournament headquarters was quite a distance from the course, which meant I never even made it to that location. There were also some complaints expressed about the speed of publishing results and lack of organization on site.

Despite these challenges, however, there were several really awesome things about the tournament. The first was that I got to play with disc golfers from several different countries (Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Holland), all of whom were very kind and shared my enthusiasm for the sport. Most of these players were also extremely talented. It was so fun to watch everyone throw!

Player from Sweden

Second, even though the tournament planners had to make a last minute switch and set up a new temporary course in only a few days, the course was challenging and fun to play. I heard some complaints from better players about the lack of variety in the course, but I thought it was far better and more varied than any other course I've played in the Netherlands.

Pictures of the Course

I felt that I played pretty well all weekend, and I managed to keep myself from mentally melting down when I started to make mistakes. I also was pretty proud of myself for being able to play my own game, and not worry about how well other players were doing or how far they were throwing. This is normally a huge weakness in my game, so it was nice to be able to focus on myself and play at my own pace. I played consistently through the first couple of rounds. Even though I did have some rough holes, I had strong ones that I felt made up for the mistakes. The third round, I didn't play quite as well, but I was feeling the effects of a full day of disc golf in the sun and wind.

Beautiful Weather

After the third round, I checked the scores and realized that despite not playing as well in the previous round, I was still tied for 4th, which meant a sudden death playoff to decide who went on to the finals. The first hole, I played strongly, with the best score I had had on the hole the entire weekend. The next hole we played was an island hole. I came up short by about a foot and had to play from the drop zone. I had a nice shot at the basket, but ended up right below the pole hole. My opponent made it into the island, but missed her put. I ended up with a 4 on the hole, so her 3 took her into the finals.

Although it would have been fun to play in the final round, I was happy just watching from the sidelines. It gave me the opportunity to relax, observe the other players, and take some pictures.

Crowd Watching the Finals

While there were some logistics issues with the Dutch Open, I felt that the team of tournament directors really tried their best to make sure that everyone had a good time. The tournament could have been more organized, but that comes with more experience, and I think they will probably get there if everyone gives them a chance.  Once I got to the tournament, though, I tried not to let any of that bother me, and I just enjoyed the amazing weather and getting to play with some great disc golfers.