The Tournament, The Course, The Club
The Mutha Putters ran the Rocklin Central Valley Series event in 1999 and the Schweitzer "Little Africa" Carmichael Central Valley Series event in 2000. I took on The Disaster in 2001 and hosted at our beloved Schweitzer until 2011. I wanted to be sure that people were able to play Schweitzer (a post course) with baskets at least one time per year. Many tournaments have gone through this park to include the Gold Pan, the Charity Cup (95), and the 1994 Amateur World Championships (personally, my favorite tournament of all time, I was lucky enough to get the last trophy spot!). I would like to thank and recognize Charlie and Kevin Callahan, who I believe created the course back in 1967, with the posts being put in and course officially recognized in 1980. I know of no earlier course anywhere. We shared this unique park with the local residents and did our best to work together to preserve and cherish this eucalyptus grove.
In May of 2011 the Carmichael RECREATION and Parks district shut down our course, even though strong support was shown by golfers and by the local community. As a result, the Disaster moved to Lake Hogan, near Valley Springs in 2012 and continued there through 2016. The Army Corp of Engineers out there had proven to be a strong supporter of our sport initially but imposed more and more restrictions and regulations over the next few years, which inspired me to move the event to Lake Amador in Ione, CA in 2017. Lake Amador is managed by a Disc Golfer and a family of disc golf supporters and offers even more amenities than Lake Hogan. Amador welcomes us with open arms and with few restrictions, particularly at this time of year when their business is slow. As the years went on with Hogan, the stress and requirements they iimposed made it tough to run an event though if those restrictions are lowered, we may return.
The Mutha Putters were founded back in 1995 by BrYan Becker and Tim Griffin. The club is over 200 strong with a monthly that formerly took place the first Sunday at 10:00 at Schweitzer. A lot of work went into the prizes to include a monthly championship trophy, trophys for annual acheivments, and the coveted "bus keys" which gave bragging rights to the owner. There are no closer friends as a club than the Mutha Putters. Even though the Carmichael RECREATION and Parks district shut our course down, I am still proud to be a member. The MP's will move back to Schweitzer if it ever opens again but for now, many MP's can be found at our Wednesday league at Carmichael Park.