One of those days

Have you ever had one of those rounds where you just couldn’t miss, every shot seems to hit the mark you are aiming for and if you do miss you get a great bounce or lucky tree kick, I had one of those days yesterday. I played the Red TeePads at Shelton Springs in Washington. I normally shoot between par (906) and +4 (866) on the course . I try to make the hour drive to the course every other week.

How it played out:

Hole one is a par or birdie hole, I took a Bogey!

Hole two is a par or birdie hole, I Par’d.

Hole three is a par or bogey hole, I took a Bogey!

I’m sitting +2 after three holes and I’m wondering if I should have stayed home and watched the rest of the opening round of the College Basketball Tourney.

I par’d holes four and five, then it began.

I missed an Ace on hole six just in front of the chains and followed it up with a 35 foot birdie. I just missed a second ace on hole seven by skipping my drive under the basket for another birdie.

I’m now back to Even!

I par’d hole eight. And then put together a nice train of four birdies.

Pars came on holes 13 and 14.

I’m now Neg4 with four holes to go. The next four holes are typically par or bogey holes for me.

I step up to the tee pad on hole 15 with my trusty Fuzion Escape, find my line and hit my spot. Next a lot of screaming happens, I just Aced!

We move to hole 16. I step up again with my trusty Fuzion Escape, find my line and hit my spot. Silence, more silence, I just missed back to back Aces. My disc went right over the top of the basket. I was deep and into some brush but drained a 35 foot putt with a HandEye hard Dagger. I’m now Neg7 with two holes to go.

I’ve never birded holes 17 or 18 at Shelton Springs, par is even a chore.

I asked the guy I was playing with if I should go for it and he replied with “you are on fire”.

Hole 17 has a double pair of tunnel trees that are no more than 12 feet apart 50 feet from the teepad. The hole continues to fade to the right with heavy brush on the right and left sides of the fairway. If you miss the tunnel or get off the fairway bogey or more is going to be marked down on your scorecard. Normally I would play it safe, try to make the tunnel and then try to land a 150-200 approach shot near the basket for a par.

Not today.

I pulled out the BT hard Swan and hyzerflipped a beauty. I landed 50 feet out from the basket. I didn’t have a clear look so I had to flick an upshot for a par.

One hole to go, sitting Neg7. Hole 18 is a beast! The par 4 hole starts with a 300 foot tunnel and then takes a 90 degree turn to the left for another 305 feet to the basket. There is brush and large trees everywhere and errant throws get punished. Again I decide to go for it. I reached for the King and crushed a drive, two approach shots later and a easy putt I had completed my best round at the tough Shelton Springs course.

Neg7!

Perfect Round

What is considered the perfect round, all birdies, does it have to be a round full of Aces? Three time Wold Champion Paul McBeth shot an incredible all birdie round this past week, his first. To me the perfect round is under par on every hole.

My home course, Sam Benn is only a 9 hole course. This past week I shot a Neg7. Birdies on holes 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and a pair of pars on holes 1 and 3.

I have a new goal, post a Neg9, a perfect round on my home course.

The Change

For awhile now I’ve been telling myself it’s the “Indian not the arrow”, meaning that I need to work on my form and not try to find the magical disc to solve my problem.

That being said, this week I decided it was time to make a change to my putter! I told one of the guys I play with regularly about the change. He asked me “You’ve put in two years learning that putter, why would you change?”

I responded with “I didn’t put in two years learning a putter, I put in two years improving my technique. I now know what I am capable and know why I need to change putters.”

I made the change from the Gateway Soft Wizard to the Latitude 64 Medium Dagger.

Why did I make the change? It simply comes down to the Dagger glides a bit more. That extra glide gives me a better opportunity at making 35–45 foot putts.

The Sport is Growing

The weather in the Pacific Northwest has been beautiful for February. What does that mean, more and more disc golf. This past weekend I traveled to the best course in western Washington for two rounds on Friday and Sunday.

Shelton Springs Disc Golf Course

As we were entering into the course on Friday morning a gentleman pulled up in a car and asked what we were doing back in the woods. The man said he was new to the area and moved to the Shelton area from Minnesota.

Sunday as we were leaving the course I counted 29 cars lined up, there had to have been 70+ people hanging out in those woods.

What were we all doing, playing Disc Golf!

I was at our local course this evening and two young kids where throwing rocks at one of the baskets. A local regular approached the two kids, gave them a couple of discs, and showed them how to throw the discs. Hours later those same two kids were still playing disc golf.

The sport is growing, and people are interested.

Data to place higher

As my second year of PDGA tourneys start I sit here and ponder how I can place higher. Last year I played in eight PDGA Disc Golf Tourneys and placed everywhere from 5th to 18th.

How do you place higher?

For me it is all about collecing data. After my last few tourneys I have come home and charted every shot from the tournament. I record whether the hole was a birdie, par, bogey or something else. I then decide what caused me to not get at least par on the hole, was it a missed putt, bad approach shot, ineffective fairway short, or a bad drive. I then proceed to add how many errors I had in each category. I looks something like this.

3 missed putts

12 bad approaches

4 bad drives.

It’s all about field work. In the past I’ve spent most of my time with disc golf playing rounds. This year I’m going to spend more time in the field working on what the data says is my problem.

My game should become stronger and I should begin to place higher.

My 2014 PDGA Tourney Year

Year one of PDGA Tourney play is coming to an end. I’ve played in seven PDGA Tourneys and I have one more scheduled for this upcoming weekend.

Auburn Ice Bowl (January)
My first PDGA Tourney. I was nervous and all jacked up! I don’t know if I have every thrown a disc so hard, not a good thing on a tight wooded course. I wasn’t very accurate and learned a lot. I was also introduced to people carving sweet lines with Hyzerflips.

Battle of the Benny 2 (February)
My second PDGA Tourney. It rained, rained, and rained some more, but I came prepared for the weather. This was my first time on the 27 hole course at SeaTac, needless to say playing it ahead of time would have helped. I finished in 5th place one stroke out of 3rd place in the Intermediate Division.

Discing at the Depot (April)
I didn’t feel like such a newbie. I had played the course before and the weather was calm. I struggled in the morning round but found my game during the second round and posted one of my best rated rounds to date.

Bad Monkey Open (June)
This was my first two day tourney. I had some bad luck during the opening round on day one and I had never played the course before. Each round I posted a better score.

Showdown in Shelton (July)
The Showdown was held at my favorite course Shelton Springs. The tourney was a three round, two day tourney and a handful of the best pros in the world were there competing. The weather was 90+ degrees, and if you know me you know that I’m not a hot weather person. I played well and was pleased with my performance.

Post Worlds War (August)
Was held at Buxton Woods and I had played the course for the first time the week before the tourney. I had a solid first round and had a chance at placing high. The weather was extremely hot and the second round didn’t start on time. I started the 2nd round well but fell apart mid what through the round. A couple bad kicks, an issue with the chains on a basket and two crazy wind gusts added a handful of strokes to my score card. I let the bad luck get to me and was extremely frustrated.

West Sound Championships (September)
Was held at Bed Pell Farms. The week before I went up and played the course and played extremely well. The first round was going pretty well but I had two chain outs to end the round. To start the second round I was only 3 strokes off the lead. I got grouped up with the most annoying guy I have ever met in the second round. I have never heard so many F-Bombs on the course in my life. There was a point where I was putting and he came running out of the woods towards the basket screaming and yelling. I let his distractions get to me and just wanted to go home.

What I have learned during these seven tourneys:
Be prepared for all weather
Do not let bad luck affect the next shot
If someone is doing inappropriate actions call them out
Throw the shot you know you can make not the shot you think you can make
Play and know the course ahead of time

Operator or Tool

At the end of last summer I was flipping the disc pretty well. I was throwing my fairway drivers 250’-275’ and my drivers 300’-375’. I could throw the basic hyzer and anny and I was performing well enough to be successful out of the tee box. I was satisfied!

I signed up for my first PDGA Tourney in January and quickly realized that I didn’t throw very far and people were carving lines I’ve never seen before with mids and fairway drivers from the tee box. People were hyzerflipping discs to keep them straight down crazy long tunnels and throwing late turning annys. I was out matched.

If you know me, you know that I’m a little competitive. So I researched how to throw a hyzerflip and what to throw.

After days of searching disc golf forums and watching hours upon hours of disc golf on YouTube I was convinced that I didn’t have the right type of discs in my bag. I needed an understable fairway driver, so I tried out the F7, F5, Leopard, Patriot, River, and Hatchet. After months of trying to hyzerflip a fairway driver I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have enough snap and I should just throw a putter for straight tunnel shots. So I gave up on the hyzerflipping.

I got pretty good with driving my putter. I could consistently throw a tight tunnel 220’ but I was never close enough to birdie. I need to be able to hyzerflip. I went out and found the most understable mid I could find, the Tursas. I was now hyzerflipping! The Tursas added distance but something was still missing.

After two miserable PDGA Tourneys, I decided I needed a break and took the better part of the month of September off from disc golf.

Sometime during the time off I realized that the problem was not the disc, and that the problem was the thrower.

I started to film my drives and found major flaws in my driving. I’ve spent the better part of two months overhauling my driving. Filming and comparing to pros, filming and posting for constructive criticism, over and over and over.

I have since removed all of the drivers from my bag have concentrated on form. I’m now throwing my fairway drivers 300’-355’, I can hyzerflip my Hatchet and my game has gone to another level.
The moral of the story it might be the operator not the tool.

Shelton Springs

I live 55 minutes away for the Shelton Spring Disc Golf Course and it is worth every minute of the drive! The course is well maintained and a great challenge, with red and black tee pads the course provides an array of all shots.

The Mason County Disc Golf Club is very active. They are continually improving this destination course and are running fun competitive events. This past summer they hosted a Bag Tag Series, a PDGA event and this fall they have brought us Glow Golf and League.

A BIG YOU ROCK to the Club, keep up the great work.

I’ve been focusing on getting more upper body

rotation on my drives. I’ve added 60 to 70 degrees

of rotation! Excited to see more distance.

A Little Rest

Disc Golf, Disc Golf and more Disc Golf. I had not taken more than a few days off from playing in the last 18 months. I felt tired and beat up physically and mentally. Disc Golf was becoming work! I use to play because I enjoyed the game, it was great exercise, I got to meet new people, and my family enjoyed going together. Somehow most of this was gone and I was left with not improving, and going to play felt like a chore.

I took 18 days off to reflect and refresh, and it has made a huge difference to my Disc Golf game. I have come back energized with fresh eyes and most importantly I’m enjoying the game again.

What I’ve come to realize in my 18 days off:

• I do not have to score my best round every time out. It is ok to go to the course and work on shots and not worry about my score and have fun.
• I’m not playing for the competition with others; I’m playing for personal improvement. I really don’t care how I place in a tournament as long as I’m improving my PDGA player rating. I do not want to get to a place where I’m hoping/wishing other players will perform poorly so I can place higher.
• It is alright to completely change your form or approach to the game. If you are struggling with a part of your game, tear it apart and rebuild it stronger!
• Rest is good for the body and the mind!

Let the next chapter in my Disc Golf adventure begin.