The Bishops Are Watching, Apparently ⛪
Two players posted -11 and birdied 18 to close out their divisions as 10 players opened the Vestry Convocation on NC Wesleyan's Gold Layout: clear skies, about 77°F, and a steady 9.8 mph breeze combing the pines. Here's the premise, which I did not write. The Battling Bishops are a rotating council of rival disc golf scholars, each event wakes a different bishop's patronage, and everyone starts as a novice with an unmarked tag on a pilgrimage toward chapter-holder status. The lore has also planted a half-buried survey post behind Hole 3's basket and handed the Scholar Bishop's chapter the first tags. adjusts glasses Six weeks of this. Roll tape.
Hole Six Rewrote the Sermon
RAH Blue changed hands at hole 6, when Luke Hearn slipped past Zachary Johnson and never let go. Hearn went bogey-free, birdied 18 for the outright win at -11, and his 964-rated round shared the day's best number. Jared Johnson kept the pressure honest at -9 with a clean card of his own. Zachary, the early leader, ran a four-hole heater from 11 through 14 but finished -8 on a 919, 20 below his 939. Accuracy is the currency in these pines, and Hearn never overdrew the account.
A Tie for One Hole, Then Daylight
Michael Kastning drew level with Marcus Rich through hole 6 in RAD White, and the tie lasted exactly one hole. Rich was back in front through 7, then ran a six-hole streak from 11 through 16, closed with a clean back nine, and birdied 18 to finish -11. He'd already flagged his intentions with the field's only birdie on the 345-foot opener. His 964 matched Hearn's and came 44 points above his 920 rating. Brad Benfield took second at -4. Kastning finished -3 on an 844, 66 below his 910 after sharing the lead.
Three Novices Walk Into a Vestry
Eleven strokes separated the top of RAG Purple from second place. Alfonso Zerpa C. led all the way and finished +2 on a 770-rated round, with the decisive stretch coming on a six-hole par train from 11 through 16. Par trains don't trend online. They win divisions. Alex Rodriguez took second at +13 after a front nine three strokes better than the back, and Andrew M finished at +17. Welcome to the Convocation, all three.
Pews Open, Challengers Wanted
Rick Effin Richmond carded -9 in RPA Gold on a 934, 41 below his 975, though he steadied himself with a clean back nine. RPA Gold has plenty of room for company next week, so bring a bag and some ambition.
The Collection Plate Keeps Growing 💰
Nobody threw one in this week, which means the Super Ace pot rolls forward and keeps growing. Somebody's going to cash that offering. Could be you, could be the next shank that finds chains by accident.
Small Offerings, Tall Pines
The league's $5.00 registration contribution went to the NC Wesleyan University Course Fund this event, bringing the total to $5.20. Thanks to the league for pitching in, and to the Bishop Disc Golf Association for keeping these fairways tournament-ready. Want to help those pines stay standing tall? Chip in at the course fund.
The Canopy Keeps Its Favorite 🌲
In the Pine Mystics pool, every tag reshuffles every week, and Marcus "The Canopy Creak" Rich still walked out holding #1 Vigil Canopy. His RAD round did the talking. The Canopy is the eastern woodline's root-grafted oaks and loblolly pines, a watcher that reads the wind through branch-drone and remembers every ace thrown beneath it. It's the rarest drop in this dungeon, and Rich looted it with a scorecard rather than a sword.
Bring Waders, Bring Wildflower Seeds 🌊
Two divisions pivoted early this week: Hearn's overtake and Kastning's tie, both through hole 6. Now that early stretch gets wet. Week 2's Dormitory Flood hits the same Gold Layout on Friday, October 23, after three days of rain turn the Everette-Johnson swale into a temporary hazard swallowing Hole 5's fairway. Expect unfamiliar angles right where the leads changed hands. The Gardener Bishop stirs, volunteers who reroute the temporary layout earn native wildflower seed packets, and a second survey post at the high-water line suggests the Hole 3 relic wasn't a fluke. Chapters might rise on community action, not just scores. Track your round on PDGA Live so the booth has throws to grade.
Register here. A disc golf league is now paying flood duty in seed packets, and the aquatic narrator is somehow the only one here who didn't ask for waders.