For the last 8 days I have been on another one of those magical adventures that I call work. It was a full trip to the west coast of Newfoundland with 6 days in Stephenville and a bonus day in Corner Brook bookended by 2 full days of driving and sleeping on the floor of the ferry. All in all it is exactly my kind of trip.
What makes these episodes of my life so appealing is the feeling of purpose I get from having a list of things in front of me that are all solvable problems. It is one of these rare times where input makes output and hard work is proportionally rewarded. There is something so satisfying about making a list on day one and seeing it (almost) entirely satisfied by the time you leave. I say almost because the list of things you can do to perfect a disc golf course is endless (that is why you still see Maple Hill improving every year even after being voted #1 in the world).
Each day starts with me dragging myself out of bed just before 6 am, spending 20ish minutes playing Wordle, checking the weather, texting my wife and kids, eating breakfast then heading to site, followed by anywhere between 11-15 straight hours of working with little to no breaks. I buy a week's worth of fruit, veggies, and healthy snacks the night before we start and make sure I have ample water then go. On this particular trip we identified 4 long tee pads and fairways to be created with an additional 10 tee pads to be built, and all 36 tee pads to be compacted and leveled plus 5 new baskets to be concreted in the ground and a short ‘stadium loop’ to warm up on that I would design and install. All of this was to be completed in time to have a family day with the ski club members who we share the site with. It would be a full 6 days. We started the week with a skid steer, a tractor, 3-5 people, 30 yards of class A gravel, 12 yards of sand, 10 bags of concrete, 80 yards of mulch, a chainsaw, a side by side, and all the ambition we could muster. When we finished we created the hardest Red and Blue layout of any course I have ever made (Rose Valley Gold is still the hardest thing I have ever designed and installed). When I left the mainland I brought with me a record (for me and my Tacoma) 14 full baskets, 14 additional portable stands, a shovel, a rake, a hand tamper, a chainsaw, and just barely enough clothes to make it through a week in Newfoundland in April. I was, as they say, given’ er.
I won’t bore you with the details of the work week but we got it all done, everyone was happy, and we only had one day that it was so cold, windy, and generally bleak that I almost gave up.
I learned so much on this trip about myself and what it takes to create these wonderful projects that I feel the need to share it.
First of all, most of the work I do is by myself. Having a crew of people work with me usually means I find their skill set then empower them to do whatever it is that they do best. The most surprising skill I have acquired after almost 30 years of working has been my ability to project manage. I had a great local club member who brought his side by side and he became our runner. Getting things in and out where they needed to be and generally being helpful at all the right times. I had a wonderful friend come help me chainsaw for 2 days who is self directed and extremely competent. He also plays disc golf so he understood the value of leaving trees in strategic places, and boy oh boy if you think I leave one tree too many on the mainland wait until you play Whaleback…. I had a cast of characters who would drop in off and on to do parts of the job that needed being done which are always a godsend. As a special surprise I had another machine driver who was on his tractor all week that was like a dream come true. He is a retired construction worker born and raised in Newfoundland who, like many others, worked away for most of his life and is now back home. He knows how to use his machine to the fullest and has all the tools, toys, and training to make the project pretty. After an hour I knew he and I would get along swimmingly. He possesses that Newfoundland charm and pragmatism that I adore. On the crappiest working day I lost my favorite level (what, you don’t have a favorite level?) and I was scratching my head on how to make the frame work perfectly. He saw what I was doing and said, “why don’t you just use a cup of water? Fill it to the top, place it at the corner, and you got yerself a level there bye’”. He said it to me as if it was the most common thing in the world. It’s moments like that that make me fall in love with Newfoundland over and over again. I feel this deep kinship with the province that makes me want to protect it and show it off all at once. I always feel so nervous about this, like it’s not my province to protect but now that I know it exists and what makes it so special I have to do everything I can to keep it safe. Not that it is going anywhere. I know Newfoundland, like all provinces in Canada, has its own share of problems but what makes the tapestry of the province so rich and so remarkably beautiful soothes my soul in a way few other places ever had. Since this is was a ‘quiet’ job I had a lot of time to think so I made a list of the 7 things that make me the most happy in life:
1 - Being at home with my wife and kids all under the same roof
2 - Being at home with just the dogs
3 - Being in the woods or by the ocean
4 - Working on a project that I believe in
5 - Playing (literally anything) or watching my kids play (literally anything)
6 - Just being in Newfoundland
7 - Being surrounded by comfortable silence
A few things surprised me about this list. First, disc golf wasn’t on it in any direct way. Second, that this project satisfied 3, if not 4 things that I care about. My friend Nick and I always have these wonderful discussions when we are together and this trip we talked a lot about how it seems as if society is great at measuring things, but terrible at deciding what to measure. People will argue with you that measuring GDP, tax rates, and all sorts of economic impacts are of the utmost importance to society, but we never seem to measure happiness, or how often we get to spend time with people we love. I have tried to turn a corner in my life to fully express gratitude and to prioritize things that make me happy. So just spending a time making a list of what brings me joy is a great way to measure my happiness. Obviously there are plenty of other things that would be on an extended happiness list. Any time my wife and I get to be together on walks, or doing the various things we do is joy but I tend to generalize all that as being ‘home’. One of the great things about my life is I can find joy in almost anything as long as I can see it from enough angles. (One simple solution that changed my life for the better was thinking about how the warm water feels so good on my hands when I do the dishes. So instead of that being a chore I didn’t want to do, I get to feel pleasure in the act of doing it just because I have access to warm water… I know, it sounds cheesy even to me when I write it.) The other part of this list that is interesting is almost all of it can be done alone except for the parts with my wife or kids and for working projects I believe in. That part requires outside help and people who believe in me and empower me. There are very few people on this earth that fit that description better than my Stephenville host Darrell Chipp. I have written about Darrell several times before but it is worth mentioning now how much of an impact he and his wife have had on me in the 3 short years I have known him. This trip Darrell gave me two things that I will forever be grateful for; first he and his wife treat me with so much dignity and respect that I struggle to know how to fully repay him. They give me a place to sleep, and feed me and each night we play very competitive games together around his kitchen table. They are the kind of people who blend charity, kindness, and compassion in a way that I hope to emulate if I ever grow up. I am sure they, like all of us, are not perfect but they try to make their world a better place and that is something I respect deeply. For now I have decided that my best course of action is to work the absolute hardest I can to help Darrell create a world class course in the town he calls home. I will get back to you on the second thing he gave me in a minute but first I would like to take a little side trip with you about what I have come to think of as the model town for disc golf in Canada; Stephenville.
Stephenville is a town located on the west coast of Newfoundland with a little more than 6500 people although somehow it does feel significantly bigger. It is surrounded by natural beauty that is almost indescribable. The roaring atlantic ocean spills onto its beaches and the Newfoundland Mountains frame it in on the other 3 sides. It has access to nature trails, a college, and all the services you need to live a good life. It also has one of my favorite bakeries in the world, Dannys. The whole town is down to earth. You can walk almost anywhere and meet wonderful people doing simple things. There are problems there just like everywhere else but the future is bright with the airport being sold, a giant windmill project about to start, and enough optimism to go around. Stephenville built the first public disc golf course on the island (there is a private one built by our good friend a few weeks earlier near St Johns that took the title of Newfoundland's first) and there was an instant acceptance of the locals towards the game. Stephenville now boasts 4 (that right 4!!!!) disc golf courses. The first one built was thanks to the forward thinking rec director Marrissa Simon who reached out during the pandemic and took a chance on me and the game. That course is located in a wonderful public park called Blanch Brook. It is a 9 hole course with simple signage, natural tees, minimal trees, and lots of fun, open shots to learn the game on. It is the perfect course for beginners. About a year later they had enough players and interest to build ‘The Jet’. This is a 9 hole course with 2 sets of turf tee pads on each hole that works its way around a small forest and incorporates interesting elevation changes and real disc golf shots. My guess is about 65% of all the rounds of disc golf get played here. You can play a quick 9 at lunch or take your time and play all 18. It is challenging, rewarding, and overall fun. It has birthed some tournament players and generally shows people what parts of disc golf they can improve on if they want to take it to the next level. Normally a town the size of Stephenville would probably stop their disc golf adventure here, but not this town. There are several factors at play that lead to Stephenville getting a third course, Darrell being a national champion was probably one of them, but because all of the forces at work came together at the right time a third course was proposed and approved. This one is a championship course located at the Whaleback (cross country) ski club. (In case you are wondering the 4th course is a private one that I only played once but look forward to playing again)
Now when I say championship course I am not using that word lightly. Whaleback was created to test the limits of competitive play. It would easily be a million dollar course if it were starting from scratch but since we were all lucky enough to find a partner in the ski club who saw the value in what we were doing we were able to create something beyond our wildest dreams. The Whaleback ski club is healthy and extremely active in the winter months and has been for over 50 years. The club boasts over 21 km of groomed trails that weave itself through a beautiful, mature yellow birch forest. When I say mature I mean virtual old growth yellow birch that are often between 1-2 meters wide at the truck. During the summer months it is almost tropical looking in the forest with ferns covering the ground and shade in the sky. The trails themselves are grassed and between 6-20 meters wide, making for incredible disc golf fairways in the places we could use them. The course is mind numbingly hard, especially from the Blue tees. It should be noted that I designed this course immediately after playing Northwood Black for the first time, so I may have been exercising some demons there. Hole 18 averages 7.6 (par 5) and is easily the hardest hole I have ever designed. I played this layout 2.75 times during this trip with Darrel and he beat me by 8 strokes on average. It is demanding, demoralizing, and debilitating by times. It is also so amazing that it brings me joy on every single hole. I can’t wait until the ‘mainlanders’ make the trip there. I also can’t tell if it’s fun or not but I think it is. I am always too humbled when I leave there to remember if I had fun (just kidding, having my own course kick my ass like that is exactly what I call fun). The course also has a full clubhouse, with a fireplace, bathrooms, wifi, water and everything you need to host a world class event. There is almost 0 service once you get on the course so uploading PDGA / Maps / Caddy Books at the clubhouse is a must. The three courses in Stephenville make up the perfect trifecta of what any place who embraces discs golf should have, a starter course, a middle of the road course, and a tournament course. Doing this in 3 years is remarkable and I know that crowning a winner on Whaleback will be a jewel for whatever players earn their titles. If you were already signed up for the triple crown I hope I got you a little more excited. If you were on the fence I hope this description of sadistic fun is the push that you needed to commit.
Having said all of that, my final day in Newfoundland was devoted to play. I had a few simple meetings in the morning but most of my day was spent on a temp course created by the Corner Brook club president, Johnston Miller and his board. It was located on the golf club and took full advantage of the steep hillsides that make Corner Brook so cool. This event was a throwback for me and reminded me of the early pop ups the MDGA did. The layout was unique and a great mix of challenging shots and tones of variety. There were 37 players and incredible April weather. Again I won’t bore you with too much of my own play except to say that at the start of my day I did everything in my power to get my body and mind set up for success. I honestly didn’t care about winning, but rather just trying to play to my potential. In the last 2+ years I have almost completely lost my drive to play competitive disc golf. It has been a mix of several factors including being fully employed in the disc golf world and being so busy that I didn’t have time to practice in the ways that I wanted to. Somehow this day felt different. It was like stepping back in time 5 years and feeling like the entire day was a gift to be enjoyed. It’s with all that in mind Darrell gave me his second gift. I felt like I wanted to have a great day of competition with my friend so that no matter what happened we could push each other. I had a small lead after the first round, and an even smaller lead after 20 holes. Despite starting round 2 with 7 terrible drives in row I was able to centre myself in a way that I had not been doing for a couple of years and birdied 10 of the final 12 holes. There was 1 particular putt near the end of the second round when we were tied. It was the definition of a death putt; 25 feet or so behind the basket with a steep down hill immediately past. Make it for 2 and it’s going to be an incredible finish, miss it and it will roll down the hill for a bogie at best. I told myself that making this putt was what would define the round and even if I lost I would be proud of myself. A few deep breaths later and it was in the basket. Regardless of who won, I was so thrilled to be playing a competitive round of disc golf with people I love that I drove home in silence with a smile on my face. Playing a full day of tournament disc golf with Darrell was something I didn’t know I was missing. I am deeply thankful for everyone who made that day happen.
In the end there is one other thing that I want to say before we depart. In order to do this trip and the close to 80 hours of working / driving I did, someone had to stay home and care for all the things in our ‘real world’. That person was my wife. There is a toll to holding down the fort alone when you are used to help. This particular week was especially tough. On the first day I left our dogs got attacked by a beaver (that is now up there for the most Canadian sentence I have ever written). It was a particularly bad attack. Although no one saw exactly what happened it looks like a beaver tried to drown one of the dogs by biting through its lower jaw splitting her tongue and requiring emergency surgery on her mouth and chest. Then, most likely, the other dog jumped in to try and save her? And ended up with a stitch worthy cut on her leg from a bite. The kids were traumatized and my wife, who hates blood, was visibly shaken. All that on top of working her normal 40-50 hour work week, driving 2 kids to 3 sports, and trying to keep everyone fed and entertained. If you want to read a very interesting book about Canada and those people who work for weeks away may I suggest to you the book Ducks, by Kate Beaton. I am not suggesting my life is exactly like this but I am saying lots of what I romanticize by my writing can only happen because there are other people in my life who create space for me. I used to think my time was only worth what I produce but I now understand that my time also has to be valued for what I give up. Again, I am thankful for everyone who contributes to make this happen even if I don’t always cite them by name.
Next up is the first big Flickline event of the year, the Sackville Showdown. I will do my best to highlight some of what we do there but thank you all again for being along for the ride.
