Crowley Narrowly Defeats Carrollton to Take Home Their First TX Team Title
Texas Team Championships was created in 2000 by John Houck, a disc golf hall of fame inductee and the premier disc golf course designer in the world. This tournament is held at his personal ranch and courses annually and most teams camp at the ranch for 2 or 3 nights.
The championship is now a Texas Disc Golf tradition. Teams represent clubs or individual courses and are comprised of players of varying skill levels. Players compete for their team in head-to-head match play in nine-hole rounds. Points, rather than strokes, are totaled from all of the team’s rounds to determine the winning team. There are three divisions – Emerging, Merged, and Established. Smaller towns and newer courses compete in the Emerging division. Teams consist of 6 players: 3 Advanced and 3 Intermediate. Merged division is for courses which are sending an Established team and wish to send an additional 6-player Am-only team. Team makeup for Emerging and Merged are the same — but Emerging is for true “emerging disc golf communities”, rather than Merged’s 6-player squads from an “established disc golf community”.
Bigger cities and older courses compete in the Established division. Established teams have 9 players: 2 Pro, 2 Advanced, 2 Intermediate, 1 Master, 1 Amateur Woman, and one “swing” player (Pro Woman, Grand Master, or Advanced Master).
The two-day tournament at Circle R is much more than competitive disc golf. It’s a camping experience, a reunion, and a chance to see whose community has the most skill-building and challenging course. “There is great camaraderie and friendly competition as the spirit of the tournament is about the love of disc golf,” said Dee Leekha Houck.
A record 306 players – including more than 30 women – assembled at the Circle R Disc Golf Ranch in Wimberley, TX (near Austin, Texas) for the 2008 version of the Texas Team Championships. Six 9-hole courses (including two temporary courses) and the match play team format provided ample challenge and record amounts of fun. In the Established division (9 person teams including pros and at least one woman), Crowley narrowly defeated Carrollton to take home their first title.
Beaten in pool play by West Guth Park from Corpus, the Crowley team had to qualify for the Sweet Sixteen through the unique Mixmaster on Sunday morning. After eliminating Team Mileage (Dallas), they soon found themselves head-to-head with Pease Park (Austin) in the quarterfinals. In 2007, Pease had defeated Crowley in the finals, but this time Crowley was not to be stopped, winning six of the nine matchups and losing just one. Proturn (Conroe) edged Round Rock in a spirited playoff to take third.
In the Merged division (6-person teams with no pros), Crowley 2 prevailed over Texas A&M in the finals. The two teams had met earlier in the day in pool play, but Crowley 2 turned the tables when it mattered most. Lubbock defeated Aggie Disc Golf, the other College Station team, to take third.
“This year’s Texas Teams was the largest ever and we even created an additional third course on the adjacent 50 acres we own next to the 2 permanent courses. We hope that all the players had a good time, we want to thank all the sponsors for the prizes we gave away and our hard working staff that made this event so enjoyable for everyone.”
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See full 2008 results here: www.circularproductions.com/tx_teams_results_2008.html
More photos from this event can be view at: www.circularproductions.com/tx_teams/myalbum.html
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***We would like to Thank Dee Leekha Houck for contributing content for this article and would like to also congratulate the entire Crowley team on their success!
***Crowley Team photo is a © of Bert Lirette #28113
***All other photos are a © of Dee Leekha Houck
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