A disc in three

As Mother Mountain Anglers (MMA) host their "Tale of Two Cities" disc golf tournament for the third year on June 29, they are continuing to add more to the event. Last year, MMA set up nine temporary baskets at the Encampment-Riverside Lions Club Arena. This year, those temporary baskets are changing location as they are set-up at the old Peryam stage stop just outside Riverside.

"You know, last year we did it at the rodeo grounds. So, the idea with this is that, every year, we'll introduce a temporary new nine to add to our other courses and keep the tournament kind of fresh," said MMA co-founder Josh Craig.

The property, which recently came under the ownership of Carol France, is home to the Stagestop Links, a small golf course nestled alongside the Encampment River. Buildings original to the property are still standing and will provide a level of difficulty to the temporary course.

"Every time you hit a building, it will be an extra stroke. A penalty stroke will be added for each time you hit a building. It forces you to make a golf style shot. You're not going to reach the basket in your first shot, you got to set it up someplace so you can make a good second shot," Craig said.

Adding to the difficulty, the temporary course has been set up to favor what is called an Anhyzer shot. The opposite of a Hyzer shot, which sees the left side of the disc tilted downward for a right hand, backhand thrower, the Anhyzer sees the left side of the disc tilted upward for a right hand, backhand thrower.

"Our other two courses favor what's called the 'Hyzer shot' kind of, and that's just the natural curve of the disc when throwing right hand, back hand. So this one, we kind of setup to favor an 'Anhyzer shot' which is a tougher shot because you're making the disc curve the way it naturally doesn't want to. It should give a good variance between the three courses," said Craig. 

The placement of the temporary course at the Stagestop Links continues the motivation that MMA has with keeping the tournament centered around Encampment and Riverside, which is to keep business in the area.

"I've got a couple ideas for next year, but I'm going to try and keep them underwraps. The whole idea is we want to keep it close to town so nobody has to travel very far," Craig said.

Tee off for the "Tale of Two Cities" begins at 10 a.m. at Grand View Park in Encampment and Rick Martin Memorial Park in Riverside.