How has it already been 5 years?

The crazy thing about Clash is that its origins align with the beginnings of Dellwood Disc Golf itself. In late Winter 2017 while we were ramping things up for the opening of the shop we were also preparing for Clash. The idea was to kick things off in the first season of the pro shop with a large A Tier, Clash was born. Every year that passes not only marks another Clash but another season of Dellwood Disc Golf. It marks another year of growth not only for the tournament, but also for the business, tournament concepts and growth of this amazing sport that brings us all together. Clash at The Canyons to me is our yearbook. It has become a space for people to reunite after another full rotation around the sun. It has become something far larger than any of us had ever expected. There are people that I do not personally know that have signed up and said that this tournament is on their bucket list. Most of the people that play Clash are here on a regular basis, how does this place feel different during a 2 or 3 day stretch than it normally does? I really don’t have an answer for that and very often wish I could see this place and event through someone else’s eyes to better understand why that happens.

Planning for Clash at The Canyons V – Am Weekend started back in November 2020 after one of the craziest disc golf seasons to date. November is when most tournament directors are submitting their dates for the upcoming season. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to plan out our tournament year and even more so for our PDGA State Coordinator, Mike Krupicka. After going through the planning, re-planning, and more re-planning of 2020 during the pandemic we looked at 2021 and tried to make things a little easier on ourselves. Dates were submitted and timelines were set. We had submitted Clash Am weekend as a C-Tier, we knew that there would be backlash. I remember posting the schedule up and people responding immediately with “C-TIER?! That sucks!” Clash has been B-Tier or above for the last 4 years, Clash has also been a one weekend event for the last 4 years. When we knew we were going to split the event into 2 weekends we made the decision to make the Am Weekend a C-Tier to make things as easy as possible not only for ourselves but for the State Coordinator as well. Making it a C-Tier would allow for more events to be run on the same weekend throughout Chicagoland if need be.

Our new goal at that point was to make this measly little C-Tier the best event any Am would attend in 2021. You see, the way that I view the PDGA Tiers is very simple, you can utilize them to your advantage to do the least amount of work possible or you can throw their expectations in the trash and do whatever you want. We chose the latter. I think that more disc golfers need to take a look into the PDGA and its expectations on tournament directors when it comes to the different tiers. Most don’t truly understand them and just associate a letter with expectations. I remember asking some people, what is it about an A Tier that you are looking for? They didn’t have an answer other than, “well it’s a better tournament”. The “letter” associated with the event has absolutely nothing to do with what the tournament director decides to do for you. Moral of the story is, don’t allow what you heard someone say once determine how you feel about something.

PDGA Tour Levels and Tiers

After last year’s Clash IV thunderstorm debacle and cancellation of most people’s second round I was horrified when I saw the weather for Sunday. I could barely sleep Saturday night. Was this going to be a repeat of last year? Is Clash bad luck? Who will be upset? How would we deal with it? What are we going to have to do to prepare? So many thoughts racing through our heads on Sunday morning as we brushed up on PDGA rain delay rules and watched the looming storms come from the Southwest. Leo had tournament central looking more like a storm chaser’s headquarters, yet another reason why I won’t run events unless Leo is involved. We had Robby Barry doing rain dances for us on Saturday and Mike Craig, weather man extraordinaire, giving us hourly updates on what to look out for. I was even sending prayers to my sister in heaven, Celeste, and asking for her to put in the good word for good weather. It was going to hit at 1:00, then 2:00, then not until 5:00. We watched as every single time we thought we would get hit, the storm would dissipate to nothing and not even touch us. Then just like the movies as the event officially came to a close, the rain came down. Some people would say that the cloud cover is what saved us but I’m going to keep believing that it was the rain dancing and prayers.

The people that make Clash happen are truly unbelievable. Leo Borowski, Ryan Fancher, Thor Batchelor, Sheila Callahan and Lauren Lakeberg put everything they have to offer into Clash. Sheila has been working tirelessly on promotions and sponsorships for the last 9 months. She has turned our tournament central experience into a spectacle with our new Dellwood Disc Golf tents, table covers, and feather flags. I never knew how much that mattered until we set it up for the first time. What a game changer. Ryan Fancher continues to amaze me with his talents, there is nothing the man can’t do. He is truly the only reason that your player packs are ever as cool as you think they are. The chap stick was his idea by the way! Thor Batchelor is a pillar of a man, and that translates right into the events as well. Thor may not be too involved before the show but I feel a lot more confident with him by my side when the show starts, he’s a pretty damn good announcer too! Leo “Doc” Borowski is one of the most selfless human beings I think I have ever met. The amount that he gives to everything he does truly inspires me. Earlier this season he decided he was going to invest in some cameras for our events to help showcase what we are doing. We can now say that we Live Stream our award ceremonies! That is literally something that I have never seen happen in disc golf, even at the highest levels. Lauren Lakeberg has slowly but surely pushed this entire operation to be the most heart-felt, captured moments it can possibly be. During planning I often think to myself, is this a moment that Lauren will want to capture forever? If the answer I yes, then it happens. I can’t thank all of these people enough. Simply put, I don’t want to run events unless all of them are involved and want to be there. We’re like a band, a really cool, totally unique 6 person band.

Special Thanks to Joe “Jose Mas” Moore for being our Official Starter for most of the tee times. He was getting in his practice for DGPT weekend. Half-way through Sunday Joe had to go take a nap in his car before his tee time. When I asked him if he was ok he said, “Yeah, I’m just exhausted, I don’t know how you guys do this all the time?!” Special Thanks to the best spotter in all of Chicagoland, James Heath. Time and time again James has showed up at tournament central the morning of our events and asked what he can do to help. James, you are the man!

I would love to wrap this up and put a bow on it but we still have to do this again in 2 weeks for the Pros! Thank you so much for signing up and showing great sportsmanship all weekend. We love doing what we do for you guys and your great attitude and appreciation is what fuels it. See you in two weeks!

Check out your 2021 Clash at the Canyons V Am winners below!

Click here to view the tournament results on the PDGA.

Photographs below are by Lauren Lakeberg, The Disc Golf Photographer.