So I was inspired to start this blog after reading a blog at RattlingChains.com. Last year Avery Jenkins was going to keep a blog there and he did a great job for what looks like the first third of the season before he let it slide. But, it made me think that I need a place to be more thoughtful about my disc golf game. This blog is not about reflecting on every round or every tournament but will be a diary of sorts to help me see growth in my own game. Should anyone ever read this blog I would be surprised.
To start the blog, I want to reflect on last year. 2012 was one of the more frustrating years of Disc Golf in my short 4 year career. It was my 4th year of playing tournaments and was the first year that I feel like I made no improvement in my game. I feel like a reached a plateau of sorts. It is a really frustrating feeling to watch everyone around you improving but you seem to be just holding pat, or even at some times regressing.
My best tournament of the year was clearly The Colorado Open in Glenwood Springs, CO. It was a 4th place finish with three solid rounds. It was one of the tournaments that felt like it went against the plateau affect that I felt all year long. For some reason things were just going well for me in Glenwood and of course getting my only ace of the year was pretty big as well. It was also the tournament that I realized that I could accurately throw an overhead shot more frequently and score well with it. I do not think I am turning into an overhead dominant player, but I think I need to look back at this tournament and trust the overhead shot more.
I really had two goals heading into the season. First, play Worlds in Charlotte, NC (which I qualified for in 2011) and second, qualify to play in next years Am Nationals. Well, I played in Charlotte and had a blast. The game did not necessarily go well for me but I had a blast playing and meeting new people. The experience itself was well worth the trip and is something I am already looking forward to next year. As to the second goal, that was not accomplished. I had a descent showing at The 10th High Plains Challenge, but had a bad first ten holes in the final round which ultimately cost me qualifying for Am Nats. Then at Colorado States, once again in Fort Morgan, CO, the same course that kicked my butt for those 10 holes at High Plains, also kicked my butt at states leaving me too far out of the possibility of Am Nats.
The best new disc of the year was not something that really happened until about two weeks ago. Vibram just came out with their first max distance driver called The Lace. I expect that this disc will take several strokes of my score as I learn how to use it. Out of the box it has been the most controlable max distance driver I have ever thrown. I honestly wish I had this disc the entire year.
The biggest change that I have sought to make in my game has come in the way of form. Everything was big for me and I often started well off the tee pad to make sure that I had enough room to make a big run up and throw. I also think that my putting motion was big and had a lot of wasted movement. The goal about halfway through the year when I realized that I was having a tough time hitting lines was to slow things down and limit my motion in order to be more accurate. The first thing that I found was that my distance did not really suffer all that much. I am not sure if this is a good thing since I am still figuring out the form change and have yet to see the scores fall as I would like, but I expect that making all my movements while throwing more compact I will eliminate the possibility for error as much as possible. Ultimately this will lead to lower scores but may be something that happens in time as I develop consistency with the new form.
That is all for now. I expect that I will write something soon as to my goals for 2013.
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