Disc Golf Daily

Disc Golf Daily: LWS Open at Idlewild, TD Interview

summary The LWS Open at Idlewild is a disc golf tournament sponsored by LWS, an accounting firm. The event is supported by the local disc golf community and features a challenging course. The tournament organizers have planned special events for spectators, including flex starts and a meet and greet. There will also be vendors and food options available. The tournament discs and merchandise will be exclusive to the event and not available online. The course has undergone some changes, including the addition of new tee pads for women. The most exciting holes to watch are hole one, hole 16, and hole 18. The tournament has seen different winners each year, and local players like Rebecca Cox and Zach Arlinghouse are crowd favorites. The organizers express gratitude to the sponsors, volunteers, and Boone County Parks for their support.

keywords LWS Open, Idlewild, disc golf, tournament, sponsorship, local support, special events, vendors, merchandise, course changes, exciting holes, past winners, local players, gratitude takeaways The LWS Open at Idlewild is a disc golf tournament sponsored by LWS, an accounting firm. The event is supported by the local disc golf community and features a challenging course. Special events for spectators include flex starts and a meet and greet, and there will be vendors and food options available. Tournament discs and merchandise will be exclusive to the event and not available online. The course has undergone changes, including the addition of new tee pads for women. Hole one, hole 16, and hole 18 are the most exciting holes to watch. The tournament has seen different winners each year, and local players like Rebecca Cox and Zach Arlinghouse are crowd favorites. The organizers express gratitude to the sponsors, volunteers, and Boone County Parks for their support.

Duration:: 16m
Broadcast on:: 07 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

The LWS Open at Idlewild is a disc golf tournament sponsored by LWS, an accounting firm.
The event is supported by the local disc golf community and features a challenging course.
Special events for spectators include flex starts and a meet and greet, and there will be vendors and food options available.
Tournament discs and merchandise will be exclusive to the event and not available online.
The course has undergone changes, including the addition of new tee pads for women.
Hole one, hole 16, and hole 18 are the most exciting holes to watch.
The tournament has seen different winners each year, and local players like Rebecca Cox and Zach Arlinghouse are crowd favorites.
The organizers express gratitude to the sponsors, volunteers, and Boone County Parks for their support.

(upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome to Disc Golf Daily. I am here with Jason Curl of the LWS Open at Idlewild and Jason, my first question has to be LWS. What in the world is LWS and how did you guys get hooked up with them? - LWS is an accounting firm out of near Dayton, Ohio. It is owned by Blake Shafer. It's a tax and accounting firm. They handle a lot of the taxes for the pros on tour, things like that. So we had the Idlewild Open for a while. We were looking for a major sponsor, a title sponsor. We got in contact with Blake Shafer, who does a lot with Disc Golf in the area up there. So, a couple of talks. We got them on board to be a title sponsor and from then on, it went from Idlewild open to the LWS Open at Idlewild. Hugely supportive company. - Congratulations on finding a very good title sponsor. It's really fun seeing LWS Open at Idlewild and I can't wait to watch you guys. Tell me a little bit about the local culture and the local support. What makes the LWS Open at Idlewild a great event? - Obviously, the course speaks for itself. I mean, our conversations with you, you were like, I want a tournament at Idlewild. Can you guys do it? Of course, we couldn't say no at the time. Other than that, we've got one of the oldest clubs in the United States. I think we're the second oldest. Hugely supportive. I mean, within 30 miles of downtown, we have 50 courses. We've got three or four local disc golf shops here in town. There's a tournament every weekend in town. Just the volunteer support. This event couldn't run without the volunteers that we have. Throughout the weekend, we'll have probably 300 volunteers on site helping us out run the event. - So Cincinnati is a disc golf town? - Yeah, so Idlewild is actually just south of Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. But yeah, I think it was two years ago, it was ranked number eight as disc golf cities in the US. - Nice. Is it Burlington, Kentucky? Is that the town? - Yes, Burlington, Kentucky. It's basically the greater Cincinnati international northern Kentucky airport is actually in Burlington. Idlewild is on-- - Just rolls right off the tongue. - Yeah, so Idlewild is actually on airport property until this year, the parks actually bought the land from the airport. So that's, you know-- - Okay. - 10 miles south of downtown Cincinnati and northern Tuckies where we're at. - Okay. So you're gonna have a lot of spectators come to this event. Idlewild will be del-used. What kind of special events do you have planned for the spectators outside of the tournament? - Okay, so, LWS, obviously. They are going to be running flex starts throughout town within the town. Tuesday will be at Mount Airy. They'll do a flex start Wednesday. They will do a flex start at Lincoln Ridge. They're doing a flex start that Monday at Boone Woods. Wednesday night, we will also be doing a meet and greet slash fly mark at the Florence y'all's minor league baseball stadium, which is right next, if you've ever gone down 75 and saw the Florence y'all water tower, the Florence y'all's baseball field is right next to that. So that'll be Wednesday night. Tuesday, we will be doing the GK pro skins will be at Mount Airy. Oddly enough, that's where I'm sitting. That's where the Nettie Discoff is. That's where our shop is at on Mount Airy's course in Cincinnati. And then nothing really on Thursday. Thursday is our day to move everything in, finalize, getting everything else set up like the vendor village and things like that. Vendors will be on site Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I think I have 28 vendors currently. Dynamic Discs is our main time. - What kind of food do you have? - Tacos, burgers, hot dogs, barbecue. We have a coffee stand. And finally, after seven years of trying, we actually have beer on site this year. - And shout out. - Congratulations, it's a big deal. - Especially when you're dealing with a, when you're dealing with a county park system, you know, if you have it on a private property like you know, it's easier to get beer on site. Us, we had to jump through a bunch of legal issues that took us seven years. So this year, we will have a beer tent. Beer will not be allowed out on the course, but it will be in the vendor area. And Ryan Geis will have a tent set up in all of that. - Congratulations on making that happen. I know that's been a long time coming and not easy to make happen. Hopefully it all goes well this year and you can expand it next year. So Jason, is there any special discs or merch that people can purchase to support the tournament and or commemorate the tournament and remember their time there? - So fortunately, we will have discs on site and on site only available for the event. Fortunately for us, back in the day, we used to scrounge for money to raise from disc sales for the added cash and stuff for the event. We have gotten to the point where we do not rely on the disc sales for the added money for the event. So they're exclusively at site available Wednesday at the fly mark Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They all are all trilogy discs because dynamic discs is our manufacturer sponsor. But like I said, they will be available all weekend at site on site. - Well, Disc Golf Daily is all about the growth of the sport and I thank you for inadvertently stepping into or showcasing how the sport has grown. Those early days were kind of crazy with, hey, Adam and Jason, can you guys add $10,000 cash and you guys look in your pockets and go, huh? We have to sell a lot more discs and times have changed and we're becoming much more professional because we don't have to focus on selling individual discs. But if you're at the event, it's a great way to commemorate the fact that you were there. And if anybody sees an LWS open to die to wild disc, they got it on site. - For sure. (upbeat music) - So I'm gonna jump into talking about the course now. Is Adam available or do you wanna talk about the course? - He just got here. - Hey, hey. - Hey, don't-- - Hello there, Adam, great to see you, sir. Adam, do you wanna pull a little closer? - Yeah. - I would love to get a virtual hug. - Yeah, good to see you buddy. - Thank you, brother. Adam, what is new about the course? What have you changed at Idlewild in the last year? - Well, right now we're waiting on our park department to schedule the concrete guy. They're a little behind schedule on that. We're hoping to get it done in the spring, but we're adding two new forward teas for the women on a whole three and 10. Those are the two of the next holes we know that they just, they just can't really score well on them. They're lucky to get power or worse. - Yeah. - So we're gonna try and eliminate that issue, which we've done on several holes in the past. Other than that-- - I like the tournament directors are cognizant about that now. That's fantastic. - Oh, yeah. - I try to talk to a lot of the ladies after the event and get their feedback. Hook has always been a great friend, and I talked to her for a couple of hours on that Monday after, before she heads out. We discussed specific holes and different experiences on the course or her thoughts and those of others. You know, it's not that course was designed to beat the best and we're trying to make it so it's not just just for the pros, but pro men, but also for the women, gives them a chance to score. And not just, you know, like on the whole three, it's a newer par four, and they struggle just to get to the center of the landing zone from the current team. So there's some given, decent shot at being the approach in the degree. So they should alleviate that. - So in your opinion, what holes are the most fun to watch? 'Cause we're all going to be watching this on Disc Golf Network in the next few days. What holes are the most fun to watch and should people definitely tune in for? - Well-- - Hole one. - Yeah. Hole one's a great starting hole. I always thought we're going to keep it as a par four, even though it is a reachable hole. It's 638 feet, 32 feet of elevation decrease. So the effective distance is only 545. And when you've got most of the pros, you're able to get close to or within circle. It gives me a nice, easy, birdie-op start and opportunity for Eagle for some of the long throws. - Hole 16, those pots on hole one are awesome to watch. - Yeah, yeah. Hole 16, the 1,000 footer is a good hole to watch. There's a lot of equal opportunities again. 17 with the trees. And I would go ahead and say 18. Coming out of those woods on hole 18, if they get a great drive, it is, that can be a two-stroke swing, easy, fantastic finishing hole. - And it's gotten easier. I mean, courses evolve. They usually get easier to lose trees and stuff. So it's not as easy to make it more challenging. And we cleared a lot of the brush between 12 and 18 to allow for more spectator viewing, better experience. But we will be planting trees to give that, bring those teeth back a little bit, yeah. - Good. Planting trees on a live fairway is a challenge. And I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to seeing those teeth as they grow back in. Who has done well at the tournament in the past? And are there any local/crowd favorites that you expect to do well? - Well, so there's, you know, there's never been a repeat MPO winner. - Yeah, never. - So to say who's done good at every one of them is. Yeah. I mean, thinking about our first year in 2017 was Conrad and he won after three rounds with 13 down. - And then last year was like 32 down. - Yeah. - So it took a while to get to used to it and know how to attack the course. They were a little too aggressive in the beginning and they're all, they'd bid them. - Page of one. - So would you guys expect, but sorry, would you guys expect anybody that has already won this tournament to win it or somebody new to win it on the men's side? - Well, that's hard because Gannon won last year who is playing solid right now. - He's got the best chance. - Yeah, I think Idlewild is one of those places a couple of years ago, coming down to the last hole, we almost had like a six-way tie. Depending on how the last hole played out, we would have had a six-person playoff. - Yeah. - So it's Manny. It's like throwing whatever at a dart board. - He's gonna come back and play well. - Yeah. - Yeah, I'm gonna force each other. - All right. So I do have to ask though, if you had a six-person playoff, would you make him play in two cards? That's a joke. It's a joke. - To answer your other question though, Rebecca Cox and Zach Arlinghouse are locals. - Yeah. - So they get a lot of support. - And how old is Zach now? - 19, I think, out of high school. - Okay. - Yeah. - I remember he was 15 the first time I saw him. So, yeah. - Yeah. - And he's gonna play a local player. - Yeah, and he's been playing a lot on tour this year. You know, it's basically his rookie year on tour. - Yeah. Thank you guys very much for this quick conversation. Is there anything else that you'd like to add about the vendors, the event, the sponsors, the spectators, what we can expect, any last closing words from both of you guys? - Did you? - I'll go first. Definitely shout out to the sponsors, LWS Dynamic Discs. Meet NKY is our local tourism board. They help out a lot. Adam is actually leaving here to go to an interview with local news station. He's doing a four-part segment leading up to the event, which is great. Thanks to, you know, Florence Y'all Stadium for having us back once again. Ryan guys for stepping up for beer this year. All 28 vendors that'll be there this year, all the food trucks, spectators. Go get your tickets if you're not there yet. It's inexpensive. VIP tickets sold out the day they went on sale. Now, the only difference between VIP and RGA at our event, VIP gets access to like four more holes that are too tight to accommodate more than 150 people. General admission, it's cheap, a lot of great viewing. - A volunteer. - Yeah, what are volunteers? Yeah, shout out to the volunteers. We can't do it without them. Our core staff, you know, we've got like 12 people every year that do a lot of the back-end work during the events as well. And thank you. - Awesome. - I don't know how to ask words. (laughing) - Yeah, thank you, Steve. You're the one that brought us in on this in 2016 down at the Director's Cup. Do you remember? - Well, that's not what we were here today. We're here today because you guys are killing it. And we're all excited to watch what you guys have to offer. So thank you both for- - Oh, and one last question. - County Parks. - Yeah, I think Boone County Parks. - That by far the best park apartment in the state. So they do so much work. They actually have a 10 grand year budget for disfulf improvements. They cover the bathroom trailers. - Wow, did they just- - Yeah. - Yeah, they're doing county parks. - Thank you, Boone County Parks. - Yeah, I mean, for the next month. - And I think, yeah. - Yeah, for the next month, they literally worked for me. They tell me what we need and I tell them what to do. - That's awesome. Having local support makes everything possible. I hope you guys have a fantastic event. I can't wait to watch. - See you, dude. - Yep. Oh, for good weather. (laughing) (upbeat music) - Thank you so much for watching. 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