Gatekeeper Media Presents The Birdie Open, Supported by Innova. This is a PDGA A-Tier event that was held June 16-18, 2023. We are at the historic Iron Hill DGC in Newark, DE. Get ready for 3 rounds of very challenging woods golf.
Round 1 Feature Card:
Michael Johansen
Dylan Horst
Matt Hammersten
Harry Chace
Music by:
BirdieFest
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CHAPTERS
#discgolf #gatekeepermedia #birdie
Welcome back disc golf fans to the 2023 birdie open presented by gatekeeper media and supported by Inova we are here in the first state the state of Delaware where we have this Hidden Gem of Iron Hill and we are back for this back n where it gets very technical very wooded
Very fun to watch my name is Chris we have Derek co-founders and co-owners here hanging out again how you doing man I’m doing great it’s always a pleasure like I said before and I will say every time Iron Hill is home to us our first Elite event that we ever filmed right
Here in our backyard we’re super honored to be able to cover some local talent here as well yeah bringing us into ho 10 this went through a chain way back when was a par five moved into a par 4 shortened up at 615 ft very fun hole the first shot is
The shot I think that matters the most it’s a very interesting line it really sets up for this anheiser forehand shot or a lefty kind of turnover yeah this basically it’s a slight Bend to the left the entire way but it’s not like a traditional line
I don’t it’s it’s hard to explain I think I think something that I’ve observed over the years is that you have to throw higher than feels natural in a lot of cases higher and with a little more Hiser because that’s going to keep the disc thinner through that area and
Gives it enough air time to kind of keep pushing to the left mhm but nothing with the stability that’s going to push you too far to the left and then you get pinched as right just a neutral High Glide throw it the goal is you see these
Kind of steps here to prevent erosion that’s kind of you want to get to that last step up there that third one that’s a little bigger and I would say that’s a good shot and that’s going to give you a a birdie opportunity but it’s very easy to just
This is where the course gets really tough and you start having these weird angles you have to throw like Harry right here oh and a great kick putting him in the perfect Direction wow try to put long look for birdie probably hard roll it was It was
Kind of hard to tell but but MJ had quite a lot of trees blocking off a clean shot so I think that that would might have been really the only option he had Hammer was the only one to stay off from getting a boogi in the front
Nine but with that shot there it’s going to be really tough for him to save his bar as we finally get to Dylan who got so far over here to the left that I was disoriented from that one yeah he he was very far over on the left uh had this crazy forehand
Approach still has some work though that’s a beautiful turnover easy par for Dylan oh wow it’s not what you want to happen with uh soft bid yeah and with that hammer is going to be the last person on the card to oh har catching the ban he’s going to
Be the last person on the hard to take a bogey or worse as Iron Hill showing how hard it is with every player now putting red on the scorecard Hammer keeps it to one though the great pot yeah Hammer knowing that he had was blemish free until this point point it
Read all over his face just there good par save for Michael Joe he’s got a string of pars and Bar’s good at Iron Hill we always say that and always have all right ho 11 600t par 4 as you can see again very tight you want to
Beat this Gap right here to give yourself really any play not really much more to say than that there’s on either direction if you’re off your line you could be scrambling yeah there is a landing Zone to the left a little bit uh so you can
Fade out after you get past those trees you were talking about which isn’t the worst spot is Dylan oh my God Rush is that wow he went so hey I mean I don’t even think he’s going to have an angle he went so far think still far that second tree kept it closer
Yeah you want to stay straight but it’s okay if you get a little left I would say if that is the Miss like MJ here yeah see what I mean there’s a lot literally that last tree yeah there’s a lot peppered on this so even that if you
Don’t hit that dedicated landing area kind of where catch cam is um there it really could be anything Matt kicked back over onto the Fairway which makes him have to contend with that Gap still and about halfway through the flight catching a tree oh such a tough line from MJ and he
Was so close it’s really hard to get something to push that far right there well you can also see that like the green is made up with like a very pronounced opening from from this angle right like it it looks very it’s like hey this is how you get in here and
That’s just that like Hammer pushing that a little long but it’s got probably 25 footer as Dylan man after that great drive you just know he’s kicking himself for that second shot as great third it’s going to give him his par and Harry for his birdie big butt for
Matt this is to not take two Bogies in a row thing’s getting a little tough in the middle of this round for Matt yeah and we’re at a position on the course where you don’t really want to lose your cool yeah this is the part where it can
Get very very tough with holes 12 13 14 coming up as these scorecards are getting not as bright as they were a lot more gray and red and it doesn’t get any better it only gets harder we’re whole 12 Bar for 520 feet tough tunnel here
Dog leg left kind of want to just throw straight and you can land right over here right past this tree and that’s fine you want to get very aggressive you can throw something that’s going to finish left uh but I don’t think it’s really necessary based on the distance
And this green surrounded by rocks and sloping away from the basket with ob on the right hand side the entire way you say surrounding surrounded by rocks the green is [Laughter] rocks it is nothing but rocks at the end of this hole and that’s okay you know everybody is playing the
Same terrain and it adds a lot of ch to it footing something that a lot of people don’t have to think about much yeah and with the boulders there and then the sloping green behind it it makes you want to have to throw it harder to get over the boulders to get
To the basket yeah and theoretically you could leak too far to the right and there is OB because of the parking lot as well oh yeah there’s OB the whole right way so I mean OB can come in right here on the drive it’s only maybe 10t from mat
There so yeah this this path that runs through the park uh plays as OB on a couple different holes and it’s tough adding OB into these tight Woods Dylan’s looking at a line really far over here to the left big Hiser I like it yeah and he stays top side of that
Slope oh Harry was so close to that out of bounds he forces one over and this needs to get down and it does yeah pretty good roughly pin High just probably 4550 MJ getting over the boulders and hitting the tree that is a dream come
True oh great hay yeah that is such a tough putt to run very easy rollway potential down into that parking lot SL road we were talking about man this is such a tough putt two trees right there got to split them or go to the left oh yeah with
Confidence good bounce back for Hammer he’s able to get back to two under we’ve seen I was going to say we’ve seen this hole take a lot of people’s lunch money over the years yeah this is a this is a good one old 12 is one the best holes on the
Course maybe I need to save one for the next drive time delay dude that’s a courtesy violation that’s a stroke you’re down by three now potty [Applause] M all right another Par 3 360t whole 13 uh it’s just kind of again very tight zigzagging downhill this time um you’re going to so it looks like from here you want to throw out more but you want to kind of finish more to the left that’s probably a little more left
Than I thought but he punches through nonetheless yeah you want to push it straight pretty long and then have it tail and finish right at the end uh but it’s so tricky because you have OB road to the right so you’re kind of throwing it right at
Yob and then hoping it kind of Fades back at the end Dyan finds that OB and if you go too over stable it’s very easy to just fade out early and then you still have a little bit of meat on the bone you end up in those trees over there kind of where
Harry just went his was off a kick unfortunately but it’s just so deceiving like when you’re looking from the te it really feels like you should throw something just right through that Gap right in front of you but as you see here MJ so it off he got caught up here
A little bit but that should have put him down in the middle there had he not gotten caught up with an opening c as good as that can work out yeah and he’s still that’s tough he’s going to have a long par save Dylan happen to kind of step out and go
Forehand honestly him him going out there you know it did have at least it was on the other side of that cluster so that he at least had a chance Harry’s going to have himself in Easy par Hammer the only one for birdie it’s very close it’s right on line just a little
Higher nice putt man MJ has been lighting it up with the putting scorecard doesn’t really show the type of round he’s having but overall oh it I mean it is that par is good here Dylan for the bogey is this scorecard is just getting all the more dull
All right hole 14 Par 3 400 ft great tunnel shot here slight little finish to the left can push right side miss a couple trees get down there but this one’s tricky to really Park I would say uh you don’t really see a lot of the
Card parking this hole it’s easy to kind of fade out a little early it’s just just a tough shot to get down there I think these last couple trees here at the end just make it tough this fire from Harry it’s a very specific 400 ft you know it’s got to be
On a rope and leaving that in as a par three it really I think it is a very fair guesstimate MJ turns his over a little bit but it looks like it misses almost everything and then even funnels for him to be able to have a putt
Pretty good shot there from Dylan he’s going to have a putt for birdie as well it’s common to end up over there on the left side and it can get tough we see there with Harry now throwing three pushes that one long he’s still outside the circle putting for
Bogey pretty cut and dry there for hammer oh oh my God a clinic from MJ yeah he gets one in for birdie this time I love these like long from downtown like Annie putts where it just has that little Flex to it and just slams oh so clean so
Great yeah I will never get bored watching Michael Johansson on on coverage Dylan almost able to execute the bounce back tap in par though as Harry with the great putt for bogie it’s one way to stop the bleeding yeah keeps him at even doesn’t push him into the Plus numbers
That’s got to be a good uh it’s got to feel good knowing that you make a big putt like that give you give you the juice and the adrenaline you need to finish out this round cuz it gets tough sure does uh whole 15 400 foot par three uh
Uphill and then I think a lot of you would probably know from the Austin Hanam Ace a few years ago um it’s something else I still to this day kind of Boggle my mind but that hump here in the middle is just the one to beat and it should be able to filter
You as long as you carry a little forward right over it yeah this is the last part three of the course spoiler alert uh so it’s one you want to get I would also say it’s probably the easiest of the par 3s yeah he got one
Yeah so we’re going to see that forehand route from Dylan I think yeah the shape of the hole really sets up for it I think the righty forehand yeah I agree is or a lefty backand like a turnover or something and I still think that the kind of the angle for the
Lefty isn’t quite as sharp as what you could get accomplished with a righty forehand mhm CU you really do have the ability to like force it over more yeah this righty line you need to throw a big flip up have it push straight for a while
It’s very common a lot of people end up just kind of over here on this Hillside to the left yeah I think I think like a Heiser flip with the angle kind of sloping along with the Fairway Hammer is going to have a circle two putt for par easy approach for
Dylan but as you can see here like once you get over that like hump in the middle of the Fairway it flattens out pretty good yeah it allows you to really get aggressive on your as long as you’re over that Hillside your putt whether it be from 100 or
30 yeah I mean don’t get me wrong it’s still there a slight grade as we can see here on camera um but in comparison it’s going to be another bogey for Hammer save his four and he does man these guys have really been putting so well today overall while it mostly has been
For par bogey you’ve seen some really good saves well what comes from necessity right like these bigger putts to save even bogey like it’s it is what you have to do out here tough hole for the Group Oh All right hole 16 600t par 4 and these last three holes are so fun this one another little kind of scurve here slight Bend to the right then we have a slight Bend to the left a lot of rocks near the green make it tough to slide up to the basket
Say you want to have this first shot finish left to right sets up good for a righty backhand turnover just like this that should be fine for MJ kicking right was better asit here it’s jail there on the left yeah you want to get right for sure
Just opens up the hole more allows you to almost see the basket it’s like that right there from Harry that’s going to be tough cuz he’s too far left it’s going to be a tricky approach to get to the basket and then this for Hammer that’s
Way too far left ah he’s oh he’s got a little opening I think oh you got it oh have so much trust in your game there Dylan going big Annie forehand on the right hand side Having It Fade Out should be able to get up and down
For par from over there because like you said the right side is definitely more open oh man Wheels coming off here on this hole for Harry yeah Harry had a pretty decent shot it was just a little too far left that made that angle hard to get the Hiser there
You catch those trees on the right Hammer’s just trying to get up and down for par at this point I don’t know if that’s going to be it MJ finds himself in a great spot yeah we finally get to him it was very close to that tree but that’s so good oh
Man oh Hammer St some work here throwing four and he executes well yeah mitigating the damage also maybe kind of throwing a Hail Mary hoping that a big shot like that goes in to save the par Harry’s going to get his par with the tap in little touchy forehand from Dylan as well
So see a bunch of different scores on this whole 16 coming in good separation his hammer all the way back down to even now this back nine has not been one that he wants to remember we could say the opposite for MJ stringing some birdies coming down to the Wire ho 17 I would say probably the most iconic of the bunch here at Iron Hill 860 ft par five narrow all the way slight Serpentine with the beautiful Mound green here built-in staircase uh it’s been home to a few Eagles over the years yeah this is my favorite hle in the
Course shout out to Adam Harris for the design um he is also the designer for Stafford Woods and here’s everyone’s friendly reminder to uh support keeping that course in the ground so that’s another special one for us great shot from Dylan it’s basically where you want to land anywhere in that Landing
Zone har just oh needed to get over that la last one this is one of the holes where you can definitely see some ground play uh the Rocks a little more sparse there on The Fairway it’s not that they aren’t there but kept some leaves oh just go just
Go that is not a good kick for Hammer I mean maybe he might have a line from over there actually I mean it looks like he’s going to go forand roller maybe not and up and overhand is a lot of times signal of I ain’t got nothing
Else oh curl around lays it down really good though yeah I would say that’s pretty decent and these are one of the holes where you can get up and down for par even when you do have a uh at least one of your shots be not the most in
Terms of progressing down the Fairway beautiful play from MJ finds himself there squared up in the middle setting himself up really great for his third man look at this angle for Harry just got to rip a nice straight shot and he’s working his way down the
Left side yeah it’s two in a row for Harry being a little too low so I hope to see him kind of recalibrate that for his third Dylan’s missing him oh that’s so good Dylan putting himself in a great spot to get birdie that doesn’t flip up quite as
Much still can save par from there though it’s all about just chunking the hole away all right hey anytime you’re up on that Hillside it’s you’re giving yourself a good luck oh so good oh it’s easy to get too fast though and kind of end up past the basket because
They’re is a slope on the back side as well Harry kind of finds the left side or Matt sorry see if MJ has another one in him so something to consider here is that you know that was the first time at that distance that he was really forced
To go more of a straddle putt so it really didn’t get him much room to kind of get over on that Annie putt as much so you saw that it kind of was a little too far left to begin with Harry looking to be the lone birdie
And get himself back to under for the round it’s a big putt oh oh wow what oh that was awesome that was so cool I can’t believe he made that I’m glad he’s all right good putt from Matt having to putt from over that side
Could really do a lot in terms of like the mental side of the putt because it’s like right out of the gate you’re like uh I’m too far left that’s in a bad area but you do have roughly Circle edge around it that’s on top of the hill yeah as long
As you’re kind of on the slope anywhere on the hill you’re at least giving yourself a chance so we’re going to move into hole 18 final hole of this round and boy this has been a crazy one it’s been really good this Par Four slight
Dog like to the left so many trees to miss you want to have something finish strong to the left and then you can pick either the left or the right Gap to try to get over this hump or I should say Boulder and find yourself in the basket yeah some courses have Guardian
Trees we have Guardian Boulders looks decent from Harry needs to check up and I would say that tree probably helped them it’s easy to kind of just finish a little too straight and right on this hole on this first shot that’s why I was saying you kind of want to push a little
More left but you don’t want to go too left too early because then you’re going to catch much trees just such a touchy hole MJ is going to be in a tough spot that one doesn’t really have much fight left on it either funnels a little better than
MJ always seem to could just throw it straight and kind of end up where Hammer is tricky shot you’re not really going to get birdie I don’t think uh I don’t think anyone really hit their line like they intended there I do like this creative play from
Hammer yeah and the level of difficulty there having it touch down so far ahead of him yeah he should be looking at a good easy par MJ in a tough spot and whole 18 so tough and so tricky like you could be having a good round or
You could be having a bad round and it’s either insult to injury or it’s a round killer or wow Dylan with a meaty roller almost jumping the boulders we need to see a roller Eagle one day on this one find it Noe har getting caught up as well
MJ throwing three so he’s going to have to execute here if he wants to save par and execution done puts himself to the edge of the circle okay like 90 easy stuff for Harry Matt for the birdie trying to finish under for the round Valiant effort yeah roller coaster round for Matt hammeron
But overall some really good play Johanson for his bar high and weak that’s going to drop him to two under Dylan barring anything crazy here finishing under for the round couple miss putts here or there some really great shots overall and still in the hunt and still battling could see him final
Round MJ two under with the bogey Harry hanging around at one as scores are tight after everything that happen this round take a look down and there’s only two strokes top and the bottom I mean if you shoot even you’re you’re in the mix you Know taking a look Michael Johansson two under Dylan horse two under Harry one then Matt hamston tough back nine there but finishes even for the round take a look at the scores yeah hot round of the day at five under so not to be underestimated here
Folks double digits is very rare goes to show a difficulty here and we’re excited to uh showcase some new players on the next round here for you stay tuned
2 Comments
MJ is on a card, I watch.
Go MJ , I always root for you brother. TJ from Wilmington NC