Winter Warriors 9 Update

We are now seven weeks in to the grand fund and fun raiser that is Winter Warriors. To this point we have only really had one week where the weather was cold enough to scare people away. Oddly enough, we still ended up with over 50 people playing in single digit temperatures.

So far I have made every event and had a great time at each one as best I can remember. Although the year started off slow and I found myself well out of the top ten, things have changed. Over the past three weeks I have been paired with people that are either really good or compliment my game really well. As such I tied for first and lost in a playoff at The Outback in Greeley, Finished with a -28 at Bird's Nest and for the first time in my Winter Warriors career won at Village Greens playing with Rob Nichols. Sure it helps that I got paired with Rob and I am sure that he did most of the work, but I held my own and made just enough contributions to get the win.

So, as far as my goals are concerned, I am doing amazingly well.

1. I have helped out every week so far with the sign as well as other miscellaneous stuff.

2. Even during rough rounds or with people that are less than considerate, I have found myself having a great time. I have especially enjoyed getting to know a few new people who are relatively new to the Colroado Disc Golf Scene.

3. I have yet to miss an event so far this year and do not see a set of circumstances that will keep me from missing any of the remaining events.

4. Before this week I was in 7th place needing only 20 more strokes to get to the mark that was 10th place last year, give or take. Well, shooting -30 with Rob, causing me to drop a -2 means I gained 28 strokes and should be well on my way to a top 10 finish over all. I should move solidly into the top 5 and maybe as high as 2nd after this week.

5. Thanks in large part to Rob Nichols, I have my first Winter Warriors win. Sure, he now has three on the year, but this one is big and important to me. I also want to thank McGilla Gorilla for getting close back at The Outback. Now the goal is one more (Ha, that makes is sound like I am addicated).

I have also learned a lot about my game so far this year and have found a couple of things that I need to work on.

1. I need to learn when to disc up and throw more softly on shorter holes. I was surprised today at the number of times Rob was throwing a driver and I had something less than driver in my hand. Sure, the cold conditions became a small part of the reason why this was the case, but even so, I see value in making sure I am throwing at no more than 70%.

2. Putting makes a big difference. My best scores have come when I am putting well and when I am making sure that I get the putting practice that I need. Sure, this isn't something new that I have learned, but it is amazing the number of times that this becomes one of the if not the single determining factors in who wins and who looses.

3. Practice, in whatever form, makes a big difference. I was even talking with Rob about this today. This past season he had an off year and when he thought back, he said he literally did little to no practice. He would just show up at tournaments and just play. Well, the weeks that I get a practice round or two in, I have been playing much better than the weeks that I do not play a casual or practice round. The weather has not always been that cooperative but I need to get out and play more.

That is all for now. Things are about to get exciting as scores are getting dropped and soon enough I will no longer be allowed to get paired with other players in the top 10.

Winter Warriors 9: The Late But Incredibly Revealing Goals Post

Well with the tournament season done, the cold weather kind of on its way, it is once again time for Winter Warriors here in Colorado. This is a great event to keep you playing during the winter while raising money for a good cause. That cause is the Food Bank of the Rockies. I am so glad to be raising money for a cause like this to help feed the people around me. This event is part of thereason why the Mile High Disc Golf Club is one of the biggest fund raising clubs in the Ice Bowl events.

So the basics that you may or may not remember from last year are this. Each week we play a different course. Weather is not an issue. It is a random draw doubles format. There are always special holes to make things a bit more interesting. Only your top 6 scores count but dropped scores contribute to the tie breakers. Last year I finished just outside of the top 10. Only the top 10 get trophies.

So, I have a couple of goals for Winter Warriors this year:

1. To help more with the events and provide some support to the two guys who run the event.

2. To make sure I am having fun no matter what the circumstances are during the events.

3. To show up at every event. Even though I did this last year, it would be great to make sure I am continuing to practice throughout the winter.

4. To finish in the top 10 at the end of the season.

5. To win at least one week.

We are two weeks in and I have a good start on these goals. I have been helping each week, including the making of an informational sign to help reduce the number of questions they have to deal with at check in. Last week there was an instance where fun was drawn into question as half the guys in the group I was playing with were getting a little drunk and smoking a rare weed. I'm not sure why anyone would need either of these things on the disc golf course to have a good time, but in the end it was still a good time. I am not in the top 10 at this point as I have two mediocre performances. I mostly blame my lack of practice on that. The season is off to a great start and it is only the begining.

Looking Back At The 2013 Tournament Season

Well, I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to play in any more tournaments this season. I so desperately wanted to play in one more in an attempt to achieve one more goal for the season, but the reality is that I would rather spend the time and money next season to go and play more big events across the country. So, here is a quick run down of the goals I posted before the season and a brief response as to how well I have done.

1. Have More Fun - Well sure, of course I was having more fun. Especially because this season was significantly better than last year from the stand point of all those reasons I attempted to forget about with this goal. Hmm, maybe I didn't do as well as I thought.

2. Contribute More To The Growth Of The Sport - This is still a work in progress. I put some feelers out there but never followed up. I helped out a a junior event. I did not do nearly as much as I had hoped. I think there is still time left in the year to start a discussion but I am going to call this one a fail. I think I want to keep this goal for next year but be more realistic next year.

3. To Qualify For Am Nationals - Had to wait all the way to the end of the year, but success! I finished in the top 10% at the Colorado State Disc Golf Championships, one of two local A-Tier events this past season. As long as the standard is the same as previous seasons I am good to go.

4. To Finish Better At Am Worlds Than I Did In 2012 - Yuppers! Although let sbe honest, once I started playing well at Am Worlds the expectations went up and then I failed at the new goals. This is one of the disadvantages of playing well. Next year the goal will be to make the Semi Finals and to have a good 6th round as I have failed at that the last two years.

5. To Win A Tournament In Advanced - Boo Yaa! Thank you Wyoming! Thank you first 1000 rated round! I had a great time at this tournament and was able to hold on for the first victory. The only advanced tournament I played after this event was Colorado States and I suspect that I will only play the two Am Majors next year.

6. To Improve My Rating By 20+ Points - This one should be solid. So, I started the year at 915. I am currently at 946. That is 31 point increase. There are still a few rounds to be put into the rating and hopefully some from last year to get taken out but it all means that I only expect my rating to go up.

7. To Qualify For Pro Worlds in 2014 - This is the reason I want to play one more tournament. I am at 468 pro points through five pro tournaments. I believe that it will require 500 pro points to qualify for pro worlds. The bottom line is that it would have been nice to get my am win earlier in the year with the ability to play in a few more events as a pro. 32 points, only 32 points. Hmph.

8. To Look Back At 2013 And Say, "Wow, I Improved So Much This Year!" - I know it is not the end of the year yet but, Wow, I improved so much this year! There is still a lot of work to be done and I now know that I have the ability to go toe to toe with the top guys in the state, thank you Peak One Open. If I keep having fun and keep playing my game, anything is possible.

Now I am looking forward to playing and practicing as much as I can this off season. I am looking forward to working some new Vibram discs into the bag. That is if they release them early enough. And of course I am looking forward to Winter Warriors. I think we may raise more money this year with Winter Warriors than ever before. Exciting!

What A Great State

This past weekend was the Colorado State Disc Golf Championships at Edora Park in Fort Collins, CO. Edora is an amazingly nice park that has dealt with park use issues since the course was put in several years ago. There have been many redesigns of the park and it is constantly in a state of flux as the city appears to want to shut down the course. There is a strong club in the area that is working hard to keep this course and have done a good job of rolling with the redesigns in order to attempt to keep this beautiful course. The good news about this for the tournament was that we got to play 27 holes three times over three days. This included holes from just about all of the redesigns including the brand new holes of the latest redesign. That being said, there was a lot of work put in on this course in an attempt to get it ready for this event. New holes needed tee boxes and pin positions. Old holes needed some re-work to make them what they used to be. Hats off to Vinnie the TD and his team for all the work they put into this event.

My hope coming into this tournament was that it would be my last Amateur event outside of the Amateur majors next year. In order to accomplish this task I would need to finish in the top 20% in order to qualify for The United States Amateur Disc Golf Championships. What I found out is that this played into my emotions during this tournament way more than it should have. Goals are certainly great things, but you also need to keep them in check in the middle of a tournament or it will cause you to play outside of your own game. You'll push and things will not turn out as you hope.

This event was a true test of Colorado Disc Golf outside of one fact, this course is not a mountain course. This is a great park course, and should not be down played because it is not a mountain course. The weather is really what helped make this a true Colorado event. Over three days there were some similarities, but each day had its own unique challenges. The first day was cold and windy with times of snow and rain. The second day kept getting warmer and warming and the wind kept howling. By the last day it was simply sunny and nice. You do know that we get over 300 days of sun here in Colorado. The fact that each day was so uniquely different just screams Colorado.

The first day was interesting as I played a round with four guys named Ryan. Yeah, that is right, I was the odd man out because my name was not Ryan. It was a good close somewhat because I played my first tournament round of the year with one of these Ryan's. The round did not start off so good for me but I was able to keep it together and ultimately win my card in the first round. The weather made it very difficult to shoot well and even the top pros shot over par this round. I was 10 strokes worse than the top pro and eight throws out of first in the advanced division. I struggled a lot in the wind and this was sort of confusing to me simply because I had learned so much this year about plying in the wind.

The second day was also difficult but I was also able to shoot one throw better than my first day. This round was fun from the stand point that I was able to really connect with another player from out of town. I am always amazed at the people you meet playing disc golf and how fun and unique we all are. Disc Golf is really a sport that is for everyone and it is so much fun to meet and play with new people. Derek was from South Dakota and shot amazingly well in this round. He beat me on my card but was the only person on my card to beat me this round. While it was a better round it was rated several points lower because the pros finally remembered how to play in the wind. Or perhaps they didn't play in the wind as much as the Ams did because they got the early tee times.

Sitting at home after the second round I became incredibly bummed out. Sure I was able to move from 7th place to 6th place, but the reality was still setting in that there was a chance that I might not meet my goal of finishing in the top 20%. To be so close to your goals and then to see the possibility of them slipping away is really difficult. It is not a good feeling and does not provide encouragement. Sure it should drive me to play better and harder, but that will also cause one to stop playing their own game. Sometimes you just have to remember to play your best and leave the results up to God.

The third round finally brought about really nice conditions and made scoring very easy. Even so, I started out shooting exactly the same as I had the day before. Unfortunately on hole 5 I went OB twice and ended up taking a 6. Right then and there it would have been easy to pack it in and stop caring about my round. This is where the power of forgetting really comes in. I pulled myself together and had a couple of really good strings of birdies. I didn't let the bad get in my way and a part from one more hole I did a good job of not comparing this round to previous rounds. This ultimately ended up being my best round and I won my card for the second time in this tournament. I took the biggest jump I had made in the tournament and ended up finishing in 4th place. This put me in the top 10%.

I am sad to think that this might be the end of my tournament season. I am still hoping to somehow play in one more sanctioned event. I would like one more chance to earn a spot in pro worlds next year even though the odds are that I do not want to play and travel to three major events next season. It is a lot of time and money to be able to do these things.

What I learned from this tournament is that it really is important to know the course. Even though there were plenty of holes that I had played before, not having played them for a while really put me behind for the first couple of days. It is also really important to play your game. This is so much more important than just about anything I can think of in Disc Golf. trying to paly someone else's game or pushing too much in order move up ultimately will cause the biggest falls. The emotional side of things is also very important. I watched player after player on my card fall because they were not mentally strong enough to keep it together when something bad happened. Ultimately this allowed me, someone who played my game and did not let bad holes get in my head, to move up instead.

One of the best things I did during this tournament was the time I spent encouraging those around me. I think everyone wants to feel encouraged, and I worked hard to make sure I was about to encourage the guys I played with at least once during the rounds that I played with them. I also made sure to say hello to them afterwards or before and during other rounds as well. It is amazing to think that something so simple can make such a big difference.

Ratings Update

Well, the new PDGA ratings are out. Somehow my rating jumped up 17 points to 945. This is 10 points above my stated goal at the beginning of the year and I am crazy excited about this. So far the round ratings at the Johnny Roberts Memorial tournament, the only tournament I have played not to be included in the latest ratings update, should help keep this rating above my stated goal. If I can do this at States next weekend I should have accomplished this goal that I thought may be one of the toughest to achieve this year.

There are still some goals that I am working on finding a way of accomplishing. Unfortunately it may mean finding one more tournament to play in this year.

Johnny Roberts: Memories of a Man I Wish I Had Known

This past weekend was the 2013 version of the Johnny Roberts Memorial Disc Golf Tournament. The 20th time this tournament has been played. I know I have missed one since I moved to Colorado but this is another one of those tournaments that you play in simply because of what it is. I honestly wish I could have known Johnny Roberts as he seems to have been the player I wish I could be. It is all about fun. Every shot that goes closer to the basket is good. And before you start you get to howl like a wolf. I have been frustrated playing disc golf and I have literally forgotten about the glory of the game. But Johnny was one of those players who always kept things in perspective and knew how to have fun and how to encourage others to do the same.

As for the tournament, I first have to give a shout out to Tom, Ponto and the rest of the gang that helped run this tournament. I was once again reminded of just how much work it takes to pull of a top notch tournament. The courses they used for this tournament this year are quite possibly the three best in the state of Colorado. Saturday included rounds at Beaver Ranch and Bailey disc golf courses. Beaver Ranch has newly poured cement tee pads on every hole. Bailey was the best I have ever seen it. So much work was put into this tournament and it was clear. In addition to that all you had to do was look at the payout and you would know. There was so much added cash that it felt like more than a simple b-tier tournament.

I was once again playing in the Open division and had the goal of beating or tying at least 20 people including myself. I did not accomplish this. I was once again on a card with Joe Rovere, the top rated player in the state, and this was good as my previous two rounds with him were both rated over 1000 (sadly the ratings dropped a few points since I posted about them as milestones). The first round at Beaver Ranch was not so bad minus a couple of holes where I made a few mistakes. I had a couple of 5's that were tough. I also had a couple of really good holes. I was able to take a par 4 on a hole with a brand new basket position that was over 600' away and had huge elevation change down and then back up with lots of trees in the way on the way back up. I took a three on another hole that was not so kind to Joe. I also was able to throw at least one perfect thumber which gave me CTP on a hole that I would not expect this. After finishing with my second 5 of the round I was rather disappointed.

The second round was a lot of fun as well, but not what I had hoped for. This became rather evident as the bad bounces started to stack up. On one of the holes that gives me a serious advantage over other players I had my birdie putt hit the rim of the basket and then roll 70' or so down a hill forcing me into a bogey on the hole. I also had a few putts that hit plenty of chains and then fall to the side of the basket on the ground. Still there were some great shots like my drive with my new unLace from Vibram on hole 1 that somehow made its way near the basket to hole 4. If you were looking at simple distance from the tee this one traveled over 600' by my estimation as my second shot was nearly 90 degrees back to the basket that is over 700' from the tee.

The third round on Sunday at Colorado Heights University in Denver was just a further example of bad bounces and lessons learned. My putting was off a bit and I missed several putts that I should not have missed. I had one putt hit dead center and bounce back out, likely because the chains were slightly out of place. My confidence was then shaken a bit and I had a few more missed putts, either high, low or slightly off to the side. I was still able to get a birdie on a hole with a new pin position that I had yet to birdie. So, you know, there was always good with the bad. I am choosing to remember the good shots and work on the things that did not go my way.

The biggest lesson learned is to try and find a way to really embody the spirit of Johnny as much as possible. I can often remember during the rounds times when I was not doing this and ultimately it got me down and kept me from really enjoying the moment. How in the world did I let that happening playing on these courses? They are such incredibly beautiful courses and they are so much fun to play. It really shouldn't even be close to possible not to enjoy every moment. I also learned that you cannot let the bad bounces get to you. Things happen and sometimes it just isn't your day or weekend. It really isn't your fault and the frustration only leads to more mistakes. I have also learned just hoe important it is to know what baskets you are playing on. You need to know what to check for before you putt to make sure you give yourself the best possible outcome and the smallest chance on getting a bad bounce. You can't think about that log that kicked your shot well over 200' off course. This really is a fun game.

Next up is States back in the am advanced division. Lets hope I can fix my mind and my game in a week.

On The Other Side Of The Bag

Often times when playing in tournaments I will have my dad caddy for me. When my dad was unable to early this year due to injury I even had my mom carry my bag in a few tournaments. It is very nice not to have to carry around my bag as I tend to carry a lot of discs. Well, this past weekend was the 3rd annual Rocky Mountain Women's Disc Golf Championships and I had the privilege to carry a bag for Tracy who, along with her friend Kari flew all the way from Atlanta, GA to participate in this phenomenal event.

There were over 120 ladies from 7 years old to well over 60 years old. There were over 140 men that signed up to caddy. They payouts were crazy high, mostly because of the very hard work of Doug, the TD of the event. In reality, this is what disc golf should be about and this is how a tournament should be run. I hope that Doug continues to run this event even though I know he hopes to pass the duty off in the future. It really was an amazing event, the likes I have not seen a comparable of. Even Worlds, as amazing as it was, does not quite compare to what Doug was able to pull off.

Tracy, the player I was a caddy for, played in the Advanced Grandmaster Women's division. There were only 4 competitors in the division and as such, we got to play with the same people all three rounds. All the ladies at this age were there for the fun, even though there was a tad bit of competitiveness at times. Tracy was not expecting to win and invited suggestions very early on. By the end we had experienced the whole range of emotions. With the sun shinning and the shots going well we were really happy. With the rain falling and the shots going poorly, pure sadness and frustration.

This leads me to my one big lesson from the other side of the bag. The emotions that you play with are almost as important as how you are playing. When things get tough, what are you thinking? Even if you have forgotten about the bad shots, you can feel frustrated and down. That usually means that your next shot is a lot less likely to be good. Small thoughts, solve the problems, keep it simple. Most importantly be prepared for anything. That is one of the great things about playing in Colorado, we experience just about every different kind of weather condition. I have played in snow, rain, wind, hot sun and show knows what else.

Now it is back to the other side of the bag and playing. Good thing I have a nice new hot pink practice basket to do my putting practice on.

Tournament Round Ratings Milestones

While I will not find out official numbers until the ratings update currently scheduled for October 1st. I am quite excited at the potential of three rounds of mine to break milestones.

My first round at the WYOpen is currently listed at 1008, which would make it my first 1000+ rated round.

My first round at the Peak One Open is currently rated 1017, which would make it my first 1010+ rated round.

MY second round at the Peak One Open is currently rated 1031. I guess I just decided to skip the 1020's and move right on to the 1030's.

I have not been playing nearly as well in practice rounds since Peak One but I am ready to start making the tough decisions and making some lifestyle changes that will allow me to get more serious about the reality of being a professional disc golfer. Hopefully that will mean many more milestones to come.

Peak One Dream

As I sit down to write this post I am still not entirely sure that what happened this past Saturday at the Peak One Open actually happened. The Peak One Open is a great tournament run by Jeremy who works for the Town of Frisco, CO at their Adventure Park. I got to know him well when I played a couple of rounds with him earlier this year at Sakuna Matata. He clearly put a lot of work into the event and minus the lack of hearing what anyone was saying during awards, it was a great tournament. The best part was the free lunch that was included in the players pack, even for the pros, that included food from the Octoberfest festivities that was happening in the park during the tournament. Maybe there is something about cheese filled kielbasa with sauerkraut and spicy mustard on it that makes me happy.

Last year at this same event I played horribly. I was near the bottom of advanced and for some reason could not put two and two together. This year I have clearly been playing better disc golf, but after winning in Wyoming I stepped up to play in Open. And of course when I see the cards for the first round, I saw that I got the joy and privilege of playing with the top rated player in the state of Colorado. I had so many excuses as to why this should be a bad tournament for me. Prior to the first round though I went up to a friend of mine who I met playing out in California before I ever moved back to Colorado and said, I am playing with the best player in the state, what advice do you have for me? His response is perhaps the best piece of advice I seem to be hearing over and over again. Play your game. You can't play the same game as anyone else because they do things that you can't. For some reason hearing those words put me at ease.

It only took one hole to realize that there was something special happening at this tournament for me. I had a good drive but put myself in a place where making my putt would take one of my crazy push putts through the smallest gap in some pine trees that I have ever though possible to get a disc through. I watched the top rated player in the state miss his putt that was slightly longer before I hit my putt without really being able to even see the basket. I went on from there to shoot my best round ever. 43 throws is all it took my to complete the 18 hole course and somehow it meant I kept pace with the best player in the state who did end up beating me in the end by just one throw. There really were no words to describe the round other than I simply kept making good throws and kept making putts for the most part. There were still a few places where I would have liked to have done better which means there is still room for improvement. That is a scary thought. My favorite moment from this round came on a hole where I could not quite figure out what shot to throw. I watched the top rated guy in the state throw a thumber and said, hmm, that looks nice and I have that shot in my bag. So I threw the shot and ended up five feet closer. We both made our putts. This was about the only moment in the tournament when I let my decision be affected by this top rated player, but I still played my game.

In the midst of eating my amazing kielbasa, realizing that I would be on the lead card in Open for the first time in my life and only one throw behind the leader I literally said, no matter what happens in the second round I am so happy with shooting one good round that it really doesn't matter how well I play. I mean, I am playing with three of the top disc golfers in the state this next round, what could be better? I mean sure, I could win the tournament, but there is no way that is going to happen.

On the first hole of the second round I threw a tee shot that went way off the intended line and by all appearances, it was going to be a tough round. I managed to get my par and moved on to the second hole. That is when I got a glimmer of the possibility that it wasn't just going to be one round of amazing. I had five birdies in a row and then just missed number six. I just kept playing my game and kept having fun and kept shooting well. With about five holes left the rain started to come down and the temperatures cooled off a little bit. I really worked hard not to think about where I was in relation to the other players and focused on just having fun. It must have worked. When I looked back at what happened over the last three holes I figured out that I was tied with two other 1000+ rated players for second place and we were all three throws behind the top player in the state. I proceeded to birdie the last three holes and watched the two guys I was tied with go par, par, par and bogey, par, par. Of course, it was not my day to win the tournament as the top rated player in the state finished with three birdies of his own.

I am not entirely sure what happened. There is no explanation I can give for anything I did. I can only give the credit to God. I had a blast and focused on having fun and doing the best I can do. I have not seen round ratings at this point as the scores have not been uploaded to the PDGA site, but the estimates I got from the guys I played with put both of my rounds near 1020 as far as a rating is concerned.

I learned that if I play my game and have fun, there isn't a single disc golfer out there that I can't beat on the right day. I may not always win, but I know I can keep pace with the best. Don't worry about the bad shots, and forget about the good ones in the moment. Play your game and not anyone else's. I think that with my improved consistency, this could be the start of something amazing. Up next is The Johnny Roberts Memorial, once again playing with the pros. If I keep the same attitude and mentality, there is no telling how much fun I am going to have.

Classic Time With The Big Boys!

Well, it is still literally the day of the tournament. Not a normal timeframe for me to post my thoughts on a tournament but I think it is well worth it. Today was the Pro Day of the 2013 Mile High Classic. For the past three or so years the Mile High Classic has been run by a group of guys that I consider to be my close Disc Golf friends. They are really a fun group of guys and they work hard to run an event that none of them play in. Three guys all working together to run an event with the support of a club and several volunteers makes for a great time. I did spend some time yesterday volunteering for the am day of the event as I am not officially moved up for B and C tier events.

Even though this years Spring Fling was supposed to be the last disc golf tournament at the famed Johnny Roberts Memorial Course in its current layout, the city of Arvada has taken their sweet time in the reconstruction of their park and as such, the course was still available to us. Sorry Marsha, your event is no longer considered the last in the current configuration.

Something I do not normally do at tournaments is play the doubles event the night before the tournament. I used to as it was a great way to get more practice in, but I have decided that playing the day before a tournament is not a good idea. I have improved significantly since determining not to play the day before, so it seems to make sense. This tournament, since I was not playing the am day the next day, allowed me to play the doubles event. This was a lot of fun minus the storm that blew through during the round. I got paired with Eagle, who is only 16, but has been cashing in Open for some time. We played super well together and ended up shooting 14 down. Now another group shot 15 down but they failed to play a mando. We agreed to split the cash and call it good.

I think this was the first time that I did not feel overly nervous headed into a pro event. Spring Fling last year I was super nervous and messed up the first few holes. Spring fling this year started out with a less than stellar round. And this years 303 Open fell victim to the same reality in the first two rounds. This time around, having made the declaration of moving up on a consistent basis, I stepped up with little or no nerves. That doesn't mean that I didn't wake up this morning feeling sick. And that doesn't mean that I do not feel super sick right now. I blame that mostly on amount of sun I have taken in over the past two days. But, I still stepped up and had a very solid first round shooting 4 down. The second round was of course the more difficult layout and I ended up shooting 2 over. I would have liked to have been a few strokes better and I certainly left some silly ones out there today. I had a couple of unfortunate out of bounds discs and missed a few short putts each round. I know it could have been much better. I ended up finishing in the top half of the open division and only one throw out of cash. Of course I am still not taking cash as I am looking to play Am Nats and Am Worlds next year.

One of the things my dad pointed out to me at dinner afterwards was that I was a lot stronger mentally today than I had been in the past. I took one double bogey the first round as my only blemish in that round. Without pushing, I was able to get those two strokes back in the next two holes. I didn't let it get to me and I didn't think about it too much. I didn't think about the horrible bounce I got on my tee shot and the bad up shot I had from there. I just went out, played my game and got a couple of birdies. I am still not satisfied with where I am at mentally and will keep working to be stronger in this. I feel that some of the bad shots I had today were a result of lack of focus. I am learning and I am also very aware of the reality that playing in Open will help improve this much more than playing in advanced.

I am inching closer to earning an invite to pro worlds next year though I fear that it will be too little too late. I will need one more pro event than I currently have on the calendar and I am not sure that it will be possible. Time and money are hindering the goal at this point. Blah.

Oh Wyoming!

Well, this past weekend I made my way up to Cheyenne, WY to play in the WYOpen. The sumary is simple, best round ever, nearly struck by lightening, smart playing, win! Ha! I just spoiled the rest of this post but I don't really care.

So the first two rounds of this tournament were played at Dry Creek Parkway. This course is rather simple and straight forward and even with added out of bounds, one should still expect to shoot well under par. And I did exactly that the first round. I can't really explain what happened but ultimately I simply could not miss. I would throw my drive, and most of the time I was getting pretty close. And no matter how close I actually was my Summit just decided to go into the basket. It was a weird feeling, but man it felt good. I only had a couple of bogeys in the round and one of them came after bouncing my second shot off the basket and then watching the disc roll away. It was my first round that will be rated over 1000, not sure I was expecting that to happen. It also ended up beating the top three rated pros at the tournament as well. I am not sure I expected that but even those guys were giving me a hard time and saying I should move up.

The second round was no where near as good, but also served as the grounds to learn a good lesson. On hole eight I threw my approach shot to hole nine without realizing it. Ended up costing me a stroke and ultimately because another player shot a hot round during the second round I ended up tied after the second round for the lead. My putts also got to the point of being too nervous so I started missing short. This is a good reminder of just how important confidence is when you are putting. Ultimately this was still a round that I decided to play as smart as I could and still felt alright about the round. Oh, and I almost got struck by lightening right before the round started.

The third round on Sunday was held on a temp course at Little America's executive ball golf course in Cheyenne. I had never played this course before. Being tied with a local player who I think had played before was a tad bit intimidating. Ultimately I stuck to my plan of playing smart and easily won the tournament by three strokes after giving up three strokes in the last four holes. This course was simpyl amazing and so much fun to play. It is really sad that it is only a temporary course. I certainly hope that they are able to use this course again in the future. It was super fun.

Well, I got my win in Advanced and now I am going to start playing pro events, though a little different than I had intended to at the begining of the year. I am going to play all B and C tier events in open for the remainder of the year. That leaves just three events in oder to earn enough points to qualify for pro worlds next year. I am not quite sure that I will get to accomplishing this goal or not, but I am quite happy with having at least a little bit of time to accomplish this. I am still going to play Colorado States in advanced as I am hoping to qualify for Am Nats next year. I will be turning down cash to maintain my ameteur status. I think I really just need to keep playing smart and keep my confidence up in putting.

Back To Snow Mountain

You know those C-tier tournaments that you go back to year after year, not because they are your only option but because you just have so much fun? Well, The Snow Mountain Challenge took place this past weekend in Tabernash and Winter Park, CO and this has quickly become one of thsoe tournaments that I never want to miss. Not only that, my parents who are rec level players at best, have come to feel the same way about this tournament. This was the 10th year of the tournament and at least the fourth time I have played the tournament. I only wish I had been playing sooner and been able to play in all ten occurances of this great event.

This year was no different. What a great event where people, for the most part, were more concerned about having fun. Sure we all wanted to play well, but in the end, you are still playing disc golf. In the midst of a season where the local crowd seems more apt to complain than to enjoy the experience, this was a breath of fresh air. Let's be honest, the tee pads are natural and not perfect, the baskets are not the best quality and you just aren't going to get all the bounces. But the bottom line is that in the midst of all that one could complain about, there were more people who just seemed to be having fun and reminding me of what disc golf is all about.

The first round was at Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA. This course seems to change every year and for some reason always presents a challenge for me. This round was just tough for me and not because of the course itself, but mostly because I seemed to really not be throwing well and only managed to get one birdie the entire round. Ultimately that meant I shot over par, on a course I was able to shoot under par as an intermediate player. There were plenty of missed putts and bad drives to be had. When I threw the disc high enough it went left or right. Other times I simply was throwing the disc too low and throwing the disc short and into the ground. It is like the problem I have been having and the one thing that reminds me I am still not as good as I want to be. Somehow I still managed to only be 2 over par. Unfortunately the leader in advanced shot seven down.

The second two rounds took place at Winter Park Resort. A ski area in the winter and primarily a mountain biking hill in the winter, this resort has an incredible disc golf course designed be the TD of this event amongst other. It is loaded with technical shots as well as some long open holes. This course is generally considered to be tougher, where shooting even par is a good score. My best round before this year was a five over par. Well, after the second round and shooting 3 under I jumped from the third card to the top card. And in the final round I was able to shoot 1 under. Both of these rounds were the best or second best rounds in the advanced division. My 3 down was only three off the course record. The bottom line is this, I was the only player outside of the open division that was able to shoot two rounds under par at Winter Park Resort DGC this year. With the big hole, this feat only managed to bring me back to 4th place and 4 throws behind the leaders. Yes, there was a playoff. Kinda makes me wish I had done better at Snow Mountain.

Lessons learned. You can shoot really good rounds and you cannot take yourself out of it mentally. Playing smart is way better than pushing. See, because I was so far out of it, even in the final round playing on the lead card, I was more focused on having fun and playing smart. After being so frustrated after the first round it would have been tough to get my mind mentally back into the game, but simply having fun and playing smart brought me most of the way back. Also, you are going to miss lines. Your lie will not always be perfect. Moving on is better than dwelling on the mistake. Making putts helps a lot and making good upshots will save your rounds more than making birdies. Lets see how well I can do this in Wyoming next weekend.

Red Feather Lakes

It sure didn't take me long to play another tournament after Am Worlds. This past weekend was the Red Feather Open at the two courses up near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. These two courses are rough and tumble to match the Dude Ranch feel that both of these courses are at. So perhaps Beaver Meadows is more of a Dude Resort rather than a Dude Ranch but you get the picture. Basically this means rough natural tee pads that are lumpy and inconsistent. This was a problem for me back at The High Plains Challenge this year if you remember so that naturally puts the fear into playing this tournament. Even so, my expectations comming into this tournament were very high.

Sadly the story for this tournament basically fits in with my experience at worlds. You start playing really well and then expect things to be even better and ultimately you end up falling short of what you really think you can do. I am learning that this is a natural thing for most disc golfers. Let's be honest, what disc golfer have you talked to about their round that hasn't been able to find about 4 throws that they could have saved. I mean perhaps Paul McBeth in has last round in the Memorial this year, or even Joe Roevere at this very tournament, but other than that.

I had a fair round the first round and then despite my best efforts was 4 throws worse the second round. Ultimately that put me 9 throws behind the leaders after two rounds in advanced. It would have been much further behind Joe who ended up winning Open by 22 throws so, go figure. The tough side of this was that despite how well I felt I played the first round, I honestly felt like I was just off by about 5 degrees on most of my throws the second round. Both of these rounds were at Beaver Meadows so you can imagine the same shots from the first round and then just throw discs like you just learned how to play. It is a tough reality that no matter how hard one fights just becomes frustrating.

The good news is that I was able to regather myself, and despite appearing to be totally out of it, I shot the second best score in Advanced in the final round on Sunday at Sundance Trail. That of course allowed me to climb the ladder again and finish in the cash yet again in an Advanced tournament in the State of Colorado.

Well, Joe was clearly tearing up in Open, it really got me thinking as to what the difference really is. Looking at my mental capabilities, I have to think that the real difference is all about the brain. It is about making good decisions and having the mental confidence in what can be done. I am sure there is a way to test and practice improving a strong mental game, but to a certain extent this has to be something that some people just have and others just don't. So, how strong am I mentally? That is the question, only time can give me the answer.

Bring On The World!

For the most part my disc golf career to this point has consisted of playing as many local events as possible. I started to do some traveling a few years back, but that primarily started as a way to continue to hang out with the local crowd as they traveled to other places. Last year I went to play in Am Worlds in Charlotte, NC and that really opened up my eyes to a whole new experience. So, after easily qualifying to play in Am Worlds again this year, making the decision to go to Emporia, Kansas to play in this years Am Worlds was almost a no brainer. I was one of the first to register if not the first.

This blog post could probably go on and on about this years experience. There was something so different this year and so amazing. Hats off to Dynamic Discs and the PDGA for putting on one incredible event.

One of the more unexpected joys I had at this event was attending some clinics put on by some of the best pros around. Jay and Des Reading are perhaps the best teacher of the game I have ever met and was so blessed to be able to go to two different clinics they put on during Am Worlds. It really reminded me of what I really want to be doing in this world, besides playing disc golf. That is of course teaching kids to play disc golf. It was also a great experience for my parents who I have been teaching. At the putting clinic, prior to the start of anything big happening at Worlds, my mom somehow made three putts in a row to win a ring of fire. So in reality, my mom can say she won at worlds, which is much better than anything I can say. I was also briefly able to talk to Jay about teaching kids and what it might look like and I look forward to communicating with him in the future. I sure hope that with what he and Des are doing, I might be able to join them in the mission of teaching more kids to play this great game.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not take time to mention how awesome the town of Emporia, KS is. Honestly, it was kind of like being a celebrity for the week. Signs were all over town welcoming the disc golfers to town. In just about every place we ate we talked with locals who were curious about disc golf and were actually aware of the events going on. The hospitality was just incredible. It honestly felt like the entire town was glad that we were there and they seemed like they would genuinely desire to have us back. It really makes the decision easy to travel there for other events that go on in Emporia and it makes me wish for the day when Emporia will host the World Championships again.

This event was also unique in that it is the first Am Worlds to move towards being a true amateur event where there would be no payout, and only trophies given to the top finishers in each division. Now this did mean that everyone participating would receive an incredible players pack which ended up consisting of a brand new backpack style bag from Dynamic Discs, a dry fit polo shirt and discs from eight different manufacturers including prototypes and newly released discs. In addition to this every round of the tournament had a sponsor that would give a disc to the person that won their card. The event felt like it was supported by just about every organization involved in the sport of disc golf.

Speaking of support, I had a grand time reading local forums from home and feeling like the whole community was behind us. Thank you Mile High Disc Golf!

I feel like I have mentioned about half the things that I wanted to say so far. I am really sorry that this blog post is going to be so long. As I think about it though, an event where my experience was as good as it was deserves this much attention.

Prior to the start of the tournament I took a lot of time to practice all of the courses that I would be playing for the tournament. I set goals of what I wanted to shoot at each course and had my caddy daddy take notes on how I should best attack each hole. This preparation was long and tiresome. But it was good to go into such a big tournament with a plan of action. This is an aspect of preparation that I once thought could not be overdone. Perhaps it can be to a certain extent when it wear you out. I am not sure if it was merely the practice rounds but I cannot remember being more exhausted after a tournament than I was after this Am Worlds.

Of course the field events were mixed right in there with all the practice. After finishing dead last last year in the distance competition, I decided not to compete in that but to instead compete in both the Skill Shot competition and the Putting competition. The Skill Shot competition was more fun than I expected it to be. Throwing so many different kids of shots and then measuring how far away you were from the basket or target to earn points was a great reminder of how a good short game, even outside of putting, is really important for this game. I ended up earning points in all but one throw and finished in 5th place in the Advanced Men's category. In the putting competition I was really just hoping to do better than I had in Charlotte. I did well in Charlotte earning 8 points and finishing in a tie for last cash. Well, this year I started out strong and earned a total of 13 points to finish tied for 11th and well ahead of last cash. All told at the field events I earned back $49 after cashing in both of the events I participated in.

The tournament itself was an absolute blast. I was put in the A pool even though I probably did not belong there. I had an early morning tee time at the Municipal Golf Course DGC for round one. This was also a huge blessing as it meant only having one round the first day, which also happened to be one of the hottest days of the tournament. After shooting a 76 at this course during the Glass Blown Open and a 66 in my practice round, I was really just hoping to be in the 60's. Well, something came over me and for some reason the discs were leaving my hand and doing good things that I cannot remember seeing before. I ended up shooting a 61 which not only won my card, it also put me in the top 20 players in the A pool, where I certainly did not belong. I was so happy to win this round in particular because it was the round sponsored by Vibram. Vibram, in my opinion, makes the best discs and goes through the best process prior to releasing new discs, well above and beyonf any other manufacturer out there. The group of guys I played with was good too, and I will probably say that about every group. I am saying it about every group, right here right now. Will, Tim, Teegen, James, Ben, Calvin, Greg, Armando, Matt, Paul, Kirk, James, Chris, Jack, Zach, Vince, Josh, and Dominic, it was a pleasure to play with you all. I am pretty sure I got all the names right.

I also met my goals in four other rounds, but some of those goals got adjusted after playing so well at Municipal. When I came back to Municipal I shot another great round for me, even better than my first round. If you just look at those two rounds I probably look like I should have finished much higher than I did. Municipal was also the toughest course for me at Glass Blown Open, so you have to figure that the improvement at the other courses will be there as well. It was just not the case. I shot even at Jones West and over par at Jones East, Country Club and Peter Pan. If only the entire tournament had been played at Municipal.

I also had a great experience on the final day of the competition, even though I missed the cut. I was able to watch most of the finals including carrying the scoreboard for the Advanced Masters Women's group, which included Noemi from Colorado. I also followed the top card for the Advanced Men. I was way far behind the top for guys but I learned that I am not all that far behind them in reality. They played a lot of the same shots that I did on the same holes. They were just a tad bit more consistent in hitting their line with precision and then making putts after hitting those lines. They could throw the disc a tad bit further than me as well.

I learned that I am a very good disc golfer. I learned that easy and smooth is better than trying to throw as far as you can. I learned that the more I am having fun, the better I play. I learned that even during a good round I can find at least four throws that could have saved me a stroke. I learned that singing worship songs to God keeps me from thinking too much about myself and the round of disc golf I am currently playing. I learned that when I think about God while playing I have more fun. I learned that making friends is not about first impressions or about where someone is from, it is about being their fan from the start and cheering them at every step along the way. I learned that a true friend does the same in return.

While I played very well. I was still sad to miss the semi finals after knowing how well I was playing and how capable I was of scoring even better. In the end though I can be sad and still have had a great time. Now it is back to resting up and recovering. I am amazed at how my body hurts after playing so much disc golf. I should have expected it as well as the crash as soon as the adrenaline left my body. What a great experience.

High Plains Challenge

This is perhaps one of the least creative titles I have come up with since I started being creative with titles. This one just went back to the name of the tournament sadly. But to a certain extent it seems to mirror the creativity I had in the tournament. After having such a solid stretch of tournament rounds prior to the 303 Open, it seems that my performance at The High Plains Challenge mirrored my bummer of a performance at the 303 Open. Only this time I was playing with the Ams again.

The High Plains Challenge is one of two A tier events we have had in Colorado for the past several seasons. Clearly this means that it is an opportunity to qualify for Am Nats, which of course is one of my goals for this season. My previous attempts this season to accomplish this goal took place at the Glass Blown Open and 303 Am Championships, but those would have qualified me for this year rather than next. The High Plains Challenge is of course my first opportunity to qualify for next year. Well simply put, I will be looking for another opportunity to qualify.

The first round took place at the Pessimist temporary course. This is the one course that I played well last year at the same event and the Colorado State Championships. So I came into this round thinking, I can make this happen. I can post a good round and then see what happens from there. The round started out alright though I was making more bogies than I should have been. Even after loosing a disc and taking a double I was still in it. Then came the two par 4 lake holes and bad bounce after bad bounce. To be fair, we had to wait for the two groups ahead of us to play the hole before we got the opportunity and the entire course is made of highly unpredictable natural tee pads. But taking a 7 and then a 5 on back to back holes, missing birdie putts on the next two holes before slightly missing my line and going OB only to then have the upshot catch an edge and roll OB again. Yeah, it was a bad end to the round. I should and could have been +2 and ended up +11. That is a big difference and in a big event will certainly put you out of serious contention.

As much as the natural tee pads have not affected my game in the past, they seemed to make a big difference for this tournament. My tee shots were coming out at lots of random angles and it felt like I had little to no control over my drives. Seriously off on some angles causing lots of good saves and very few birdie opportunities. Sure I made a couple of birdies on the round, but my angles were just off. Even though I was off on some forehand shots, it seemed like I was better off throwing forehand simply because the angle of error was much smaller than my backhand. I couldn't even predict the misses and attempt to be sure that I would error where I wanted to error. For as much as I have never complained about the fact that an A tier event was being played on natural tees prior to this tournament, I am now a firm believer that there should be some standard for top tier events when it comes to tee pads.

The second round got a little bit better but was still tough as I had a rough start to the round. And then of course the weather hit near the end of the round, where I simply could not predict the wind on every shot. Some shots yes, but not every shot.

It was in the final round where I felt like I was finally starting to figure some things out about the game and shot a good round. The best news of the weekend came as I finished in a large tie for the last cash position. Three spots were divided amongst six people. I always seem to find myself into epic ties but I think this one was the largest of those ties.

Here is what I learned. When in doubt with the wind, play the shot so the wind knocks down the disc. This is way more predictable than allowing the wind to catch the disc and take to to wherever it wants. When you get into a back up, keep the arm warm and stretched as much as possible. No matter what the conditions give you, play your game and you can still shoot well (I was the only person in my group to birdie a par 4 right after the wind picked up in that second round). Smaller steps on my run up will produce more predictable results. It is okay to sacrifice distance to be sure you know the angle that your disc is going to fly on. Now I just have to remember these things and well as remain mentally strong in the middle of the round. A bad mental game will produce bad bounces. I am not really sure how that happens but it is absolutely true.

The next stop is Am Worlds. I guess we will see what happens.

Playing With The Big Boys

It was almost a week ago now that I played in the 303 Open. This was my second tournament of the year playing in the Open field since this was a Pro only event. I figured it was worth playing from the standpoint that I would be playing with better competition and might get a better feel for what it is going to take to get better at this game. I really came in with no expectations as to how I would fair, but after finishing just below the middle in my last event playing Open, I was hoping to fair well.

Most of my dreams were crushed in the first round with the second round not offering much more. In one day I am pretty sure I had my single worst day of tournament disc golf since last year. I could blame it on the wind, but clearly that was not the real reason. I could blame it on some bad bounces but that only had a minor contribution to the overall circumstances. In reality, it was not being prepared to play the course on that day. When Sunday came around and we played a course that I frequent, I played a much smarter game and ended up shooting a 960 rated round. Go figure.

The best part of the tournament was getting a chance to play with Pat Blazek. I believe he is currently the second highest rated player int eh state of Colorado and is someone I respect and have had plenty of opportunity to talk with in the past, but never play with. It was fun to watch him and see the little frustrations that he had on the course. It was fun to see how he kept his mental game strong despite the errors and how in the moment it was one shot at a time. It was fun to watch how he made decisions as to what shot to throw next. I know that I am rather far behind him in skill but I feel like playing with him was a really good learning experience as to simply how to play the game.

Moving forward, I feel that my pre tournamnet prep needs to be done better. While I can play a course and know what the hole looks like, weather conditions could significantly affect what shot I end up throwing during a tournament round. Wind is still something that tends to baffle me from the decision making process. Even when I knew something was going to happen during the second round in the wind, I still made the choice to throw the shot I intended to throw and sure enough the wind did what I expected and made the shot land out of bounds. Not good. Having multiple shots on every hole allows one to play the wind conditions better. Sometimes it is making the choice to throw a different disc, and sometimes it is being confident to throw a completely different shot. I need to learn this decision making process and how to be smart about which shot I throw and when.

Another step forward and another lesson learned. Now it is time to put it all together as the next two tournaments I play could be the biggest of my young disc golf career.

It Means No Worries For the Rest Of Your Days

So this past weekend was the 6th annual Sakuna Matata Disc Golf Tournament hosted by Disc Diva at the incredible and extremely private Sakuna Pines disc golf course. Since I started playing this tournament four years ago, it has always been one of my favorites for a number of reasons.

First, lets be sure we understand this course well. This is probably the tightest course in the state of Colorado. It is not tight as in if you get off the fairway you have no hope, it is tight in that most paths to the hole are only a matter of feet wide. Many pros have said that the course is more luck than skill at times and I can see their point, but if you hit a tree then it wasn't a good shot was it? The real challenge of this course is keeping a straight head on your shoulders and making sure you play the mental game right.

This tournamnet might be classified as my best tournament to date. After the first round I was in second place. After the second round I was tied for second place and after the final round I somehow ended up in third place. The tentative round ratings are 970's, 950's and 930's. Now that might change, but it was really good for me having three rounds over my rating. Perhaps it only equals what I did at the Colorado Open on average but it still felt better.

Really those first two rounds felt really good. There was something in the air that day or the way I was playing, or perhaps it was the lucky shirt that I wore, but I was hitting lines really well and making shots. I was playing smart and finding myself in good positions most of the time. My only complaint was that for the most part, the baskets hated me. I cannot begin to count the number of putts I had that hit chains and didn't go in. Sure, most of those were side hits, but at least two of them hit dead center and did not end up in the bottom of the basket. One was so bad I was alrady reaching down for my mini and I was left in a stooper. I still can't believe it. Basically I count 8 strokes that I should have had in those first two rounds, which ultimately would have won the tournament for me, even if we leave my one less good round from Sunday as is.

Sunday was the real learning experience for me. I think I tried to push too much as I was sitting tied for second place only two throws behind the leader. The leader blew up and finished in a tie for 4th but both of the guys I was tied with shot better than I did. I wanted it so bad that I knew I would have to try a bit harder. I ended up hitting more trees and finding myself in much tougher spots on the course. Finding yourself in tougher spots will ultiamtely make the round harder. Playing smart is really the most important thing. When you know where the tourble is on the course, make sure you stay away from it. Know which shots will get you into more trouble and work hard at just playng smart. When you are in the tournamnet play your game, pushing is the one thing that will ultimately cause you to start thinking over your head. That leads to trouble. Trouble is bad. Just sayin'.

On another note, I had some set goals for what I wanted to shoot coming into the tournament and for the most part on Saturday, playing within my own game I was able to accomplish this. The first round was almost easy in accomplishing this. The second round forced me to push a little, but when I pushed within myself, it was no real issue at all. On Sunday when I pushed in relation to the competition, that is when I finally strated to watch it fall apart and when I did not meet the goal. With that in mind, the line is now, "Play within yourself!"

The next challenge that awats is a pro only event, my second pro event of the year and one that will ultimately test this theory of play within yourself.

To Glenwood and Back

One of my favorite tournaments over the past several years has been the Colorado Open held in Glenwood Springs at the course on the Colorado Mountain College campus near Glenwood. For some reason I play this course very well and have started to fine tune my game to this course for this tournament. I know what the options are based on the wind conditions and I have learned where you do not want to be. Needless to say, I made the trek back to Glenwood this year for another go at the Colorado Open.

For some reason I was really hoping that I would have a shot at the win in Advanced. With such high expectations I really set myself up to fail, but like I mentioned, this is a course I tend to play well. The difficult part is that it is not a course that I get to play all that often and there is a large local crowd that does get to play it more often than I do and just about all of them decided to show up to this tournament. I am sure there is a lesson to be learned here. I would venture to say that part of that lesson relates to how well one can play a course when they get the chance to play it often. There is a serious advantage to that. At the same time I also see a lot of top pros do well at National Tour events where they may come back year after year but generally do not play the courses outside of these events.

I had a solid first round and shot three down. I left a lot out there and was honestly frustrated with the result. I suppose part of the reason I felt this way was because there was one of those local guys on my card that shot ten down. At that point you kinf of throw your hands up in the air and say oh well, lets just get back to having fun. Unfortunately circumstances in my second round did not allow this to happen. I was playing with my boss from work who I admire and appreciate, but we got put with another guy who was smoking and drinking during the round, two things that were prohibited by campus rules as well as by the TD in an effort to ensure that we would still have this incredibly fun course to play in the future. My boss quit after 4 holes because he didn't like the tention between him and this guy and did not want to deal with it for another eighteen holes. I honestly don't blame him. I worked hard to keep my focus but I was constantly worried that this guy would be beligerant with me. And lets be honest, his conversation for the rest of the round was literally the most disrespectful conversation I think I have ever heard. I shot plus one the second round and pulled out a 4 down in the final round to finish tied for 6th, beating the guy that shot ten down the first round I might add, but that really isn't the important part of this tournament.

The future of this sport, if it wants to earn the respect I believe it deserves, lies in the pay to play model that ball golf has taken and run with. Although this guy that I played with was disqualified prior to the third round, he is the black mark that will keep disc golf from becoming big. I am more than happy to keep a few free courses for him to play, but I would much prefer to pay a few dollars to go to a course that he is not likely to go to so that I can enjoy my experience. I applaud the PDGA for creating standards where tournaments must abide by the local laws. I also appreciate the work taht the PDGA is doing to improve the image of the sport. I look forward to doing my part to make this the best and most popular sport in the world. Once again I also want to thank all the TD's out there who work hard and are often put in uncomfortable situations where they must make decisions that are likely to make people dislike them.

Next steps for me:
1. Work on the mental game, don't let even the worst situations affect the game you play.
2. Give back to the sport more and create that positive environment that makes this game so much more fun.

Greatful

This past weekend was the long running Greatful Disc. One of the legends in Colorado Disc Golf, Bill Wright, owner of Wright Life, has run this event for some time. This was like the 35th installment of this event. Just contemplating this makes it feel so much bigger. This is also a tournament that is notorious for the worst weather. This is so much the case that a couple of years ago, Mr. Wright moved the tournamnet a month closer to summer. That did not help this year as we played the first two rounds at Sundance Trail in the snow.

On the whole I was not playing my best disc golf this weekend. But I am beginign to realize a few things about what causes that to happen. I am begining to realize what my little triggers are that cause my game to go on a roller coaster ride. Prior to the first round I was warming up and on my last warm up hole I threw one of the most beautiful drives I have ever thrown with my go to driver. But somehow the disc decides to hide in the snow. It is right in the middle of the fairway but I cannot see it and despite the fact that many others are playing the hole, no one else sees it. I even had my parents skip the players meeting to search for the disc to no avail. This of course put me in a horrible mood to start. I was able to purchase a replacement from Mitch (our local Vibram Sponsored Pro as the disc was a Medium X-Link Lace) as he was headed out to his starting hole. I was very thankful for that. I play my first three holes, which included this hole that I lost my disc on and then the group behind us had someone step on my disc and it was found. I was then able to use that disc on the next hole to make a birdie. This is not a hole that produces many birdies. What a roller coaster ride. I need to keep my focus and fidn a way to get to a happy calm no matter what is going on.

The first round actually ended up being a solid round until the last five holes where I went five over par. Shooting even on those holes would have put me in first place. Instead I was tied for 6th. The second round was not my friend. I made a lot of mistakes early and was just not able to reach a good place until very late in the round. I know Sundance trail is a tough course but it really has a way of beating you up if you do not take a deep breath and simply play smart. It is not about trying to make up for mistakes because that ultimately leads to more mistakes. Late in the round I was able to birdie two of the last three holes in the round to finish three strokes worse than my first round. Of course both rounds could have been much better.

On Sunday, the third round was at one of my current least favorite courses, Aggie Greens or Hughes Stadium. There is length and some elevation change and a bunch of teeny tiny little trees. Not much else there. I do applaud Mr. Bright for helping get the curse put in and also for putting in the work to make the cours much tough by roping OB and using Ultimate goals to create two clowns mouth mandos. I came into the round knowing that maintaining my position would be just fine in the long run and set out to play a very smart round. I made some mistakes early and was loosing ground to the guys on my card and the field as a whole, but I remember stepping back and saying, play your game, play smart and you will catch back up, no worries. Well, that is exactly what happened and I ended up shooting the thrid best round in Advanced in the third round.

I know that I can let my anger get the best of me at times and when around other people I have a tendancy to really internalize that frustration. In the moments I was able to let it go, good things began to happen. This is a fun game and we all strive to improve our game. Our mind tells us we can do it, and ultimately it is our mind that pushes us too far to the point of crashing. I have seen the players that crash and then cannot recover mentally. I have been that player at times myself. I personally see that player in my putting practice more often than during rounds but it is the same principle. I cannot let my anger get to me. One shot at a time, play smart, put it in, get out. I really do love the mental aspects of this game, and I am continually suprised at how big that aspect of the game can be.

Team Neo Grudge Match or Match Play Messing With My Mind

This past weekend was perhaps one of the most enjoyable fundraiser events you will ever see. Four guys from the local disc golf community raise money for two events later on in the year by hosting a team match play event that consists of four teams of 12 players each. While there are prizes like advanced entry into one of those tournaments, it really is more about the fun of playing disc golf and enjoying the company of those playing. That is not to say that it is not competative. Lets be honest, the trash talk has been happening ever since the team draft went down.

We played at a nice little course in Broomfield called East Interlocken Park. They added three holes to the course and honestly, the extra holes were some of my favorites. I was not playing my best disc golf for this event, but I think I may have found a reason for that. I shot under par two out of three rounds and even the third. The problem is that the course really requires you to shoot well under par to do well. In match play, you are really only playing against one person so that shouldn't matter too much. But, it ended up causing me to loose two out of my three matches. And of course that meant my team ended up finishing last. I really let me team down, especially since I could have won the two matches that I lost.

Match play requires a completely different style than stroke golf. In match play you really do have to play your opponent. There will be times that you lay up because your opponent is in so much trouble. There will also be times when you go for something that normally you would have laid up on because hey, you might catch them but if not, the worst you can do is loose one hole. I think that this style of play does not always suit me best. When I was allowed to play smart I played well. This is the whole reason I won my first match. When I was forced to push, that is when things started to go poorly for me. Ultimately the lesson learned is that I need to stick with my smart style of play when the next tournament comes around. I just hope I can mentally get myself back to that before the next tournament.

Rating Milestone

There is not much to say here right now. The new PDGA ratings are out and my rating went up 6 points to 921. I finally broke the 920 barrier and I am looking forward to gaining another 14 points this year some how. This is progress. This is something to smile about. Now is not the time to put the pressure on but a time to realize that yes, I can accomplish my goals and I am already moving in the right direction to make that happen.

So Close @ The CHU One Round Challenge

This past weekend was supposed to be the 303 Open here in Colorado, and boy was there a mess when the TD made a good decision to postpone this tournament which will be fabulous when it happens the second weekend in June. But, in order to appease the complainers the TD made a few phone calls and was able to host a one round C-tier tournament at the incredible Colorado Heights University (CHU) this past Sunday.

CHU is what I refer to as my home course since it is really the only challenging course close to me. Yeah, there are closer courses, but I tend not to play them much anymore because they do not challenge me enough to continue to allow me to improve my game. In addition to this, CHU is probably one of the toughest courses in the greater Denver metro area. Well, for this one round challenge the TD thought it would be fun to lay down some OB lines. These lines really changed several holes and made you think more about your throws.

For me it made me calm down and choose to play smart. I did not think about winning the tournament but simply playing my game and making good shots. I worked hard to stay in bounds and managed to pull this off fairly well minus one hole that I was able to get an easy three after going OB just past the basket. I believe that half of the mental game that I brought into this one round challenge was shaped by my experience in Kansas at the Glass Blown Open. It really is amazing how fast OB strokes add up.

Ultimately, my strategy paid off. I finished in second place, only one throw behind the winner in advanced. If I had chosen to play Open I would have tied for last cash with one of the few pros rated over a thousand. The round was not rated nearly as high as I would have liked, but it was still a solid round.

Since the round I have been replaying the whole round in my head thinking about all the missed opportunities I had and how I should have shot about 6 strokes better. Of course that would have been my first thousand rated round if I was able to do that. I am working my way there and I need to keep that mindset in place. If I let myself go to the would have could have should have, that is when the mental game goes downhill fast. If you don't have the mental game, you will never have a good game. Take time to think, be smart, have fun.

Respect For Tournament Directors

Most of the tournament directors I know are way under appreciated. We all hear about all the work they put in and often underestimate it to the players at the tournament, but it really takes a lot to put on a disc golf tournament. I have become overly impressed and thankful for those people in my disc golf community who put on tournaments for the likes of me.

Sometimes one has to make a tough call that they players will not like. Then they get to hear all of the complaints and no matter what they end up doing, someone will say something that frustrates the tournament director. This is a situation that has happened recently here in Colorado. The 303 Open was supposed to happen this weekend, but with all the snow we had this past week, one of the two courses we were going to use became unsafe to play. It probably would have been better to be playing in a foot of snow than the mud.

I am overly impressed with the way Kyle at Phenix Disc Sports is handling the situation. He has worked hard and been in contact with the PDGA to postpone the 303 Open, but to get last minute sanctioning for a one round challenge on the course that is more safe to play given the conditions. All of this in the face of many complaints. In addition to this, Kyle has already worked hard to make this event and other local events the best they can be.

The point is simply this: If we treat our tournament directors with the respect that they deserve and trust the decisions they make in attempting to provide the best possible tournament for the players, we will end up with more tournament directors like Kyle who will work as hard as they can to make the best possible tournaments.

In fairness to all the other TD's who have run a tournament that I have played in thsi year, you are all amazing as well and deserve mention here. Evan, Marsha and the team at Dynamic Discs, you are all amazing.

2013 Glass Blown Open: Learning In More Than One Way

Oh man, I could go on and on about this tournament. What an incredible experience. And it all happened so fast and I am not sure if I am going to be able to get everything in here.

First, the whole point in playing the GBO this year was to get a few rounds in on the courses that will be used for Am Worlds this summer. If I got there and palyed the one round challenge at Peter Pan and then all three rounds of the GBO I would get to play 4 our of 5 courses that will be used for Am Worlds. It was really a win win situation for me.

The drive from Colroado to Kansas was interesting because we were literally driving through a snow storm. We got stopped along the way in Burlington, CO and had to spend the night because of adverse weather conditions on I-70 in Kansas. The good news is that we left a day early.

After finally making it to Kansas, we went straight to check in where I was handed the single best players pack I have ever gotten at a tournament. Two discs, both brand new releases in premium plastic. A brand new travel bag. A wind breaker designed for activity. A dri-fit Tee Shirt. And plenty of local coupons and information. I was incredibly impressed at how the sity of Emporia really got behind this tournament. No matter where we went in the town, everyone knew about disc golf and was curious as to why we would all travel so far to their little small town just to paly a tournament.

Oh, I also made it to the Dynamic Discs store in Emporia and to be honest, it is the single most impressive disc golf store I have ever been in. So much selection and so much like a realy store. Literally wow. Oh, and Emac was there to help me. Ha!

The one round challenge was fun. Well perhaps it would have been better if my practice was actually how I played during the round. I had some great holes in warm up and then found a way to not even get close during the round. Blah. Peter Pan is a very fun course though. Probably the most technical course in Emporia. Still some good length to a few holes.

The palyers meeting and post players meeting dinner where a highlight of the trip as well since I was hanging out with a large portion of the Colroado contingent that made the trip out. I really love the Colorado Disc Golf Community and to be able to have our little moment sitting near eachother for the palyers meeting and then getting dinner afterwards just reminded me of how much I like these people. Team Colorado!

My first round was at The Country Club. Long, stay in bounds make a putt. My second round was at Municiple. Long, stay in bounds, make a putt. My last round was at Jones East. Interesting, good mix of length, make sure to give yourself a putt. I had some great shots and I had some bad shots. I played solid rounds at the Country Club and Joens East. I had a little toruble at Municiple, which in the long run kinda stinks because that is the course I am scheduled to paly twice at Am Worlds. But, remember that this trip was designed to be a learning experience.

While I did a fair amount of learning as to what the courses were like, the bigger learning experience came as the wind became more and more of a factor throughout the weekend. Saturday was tough because I spent most of the round trying to figure out the wind while watching even my best putts hit chains and not stick. I had mroe OB shots early in the round than I care to admit to and I couldn't figure out what in the world I should be throwing at these baskets. While playing in the wind is no easy trick and even several good shots can go for naught with one bad shot on a hole, I think I am starting to figure it out. In the long run I believe this is going to make me a better disc golfer. The wind is nothing to be afraid of, it is something to understand. Throw discs that you can trust and leave the others behind. By my last round at Jones East, I was basically throwing one of three discs off the tee. There were a couple of others here and there, but basically one of three discs. I didn't throw them all perfectly but by the end of the round I was confident in those discs. And they were not the discs I was most confident with coming into the tournament either. Wind changes things.

Always be prepared to make adjustments based on the circumstance you encounter during a round. No plan, no matter how detailed it is, will suffice during a round of disc golf. Even that course you have played more than any other will find a way to give you something new and unexpected. Weather and more specifically wind conditions can change things, but when you have taken the time to learn how to throw in various different conditions, there is really no excuse as to why you can't score exceptionally well in all conditions.

Spring Flingin' It!

So this past weekend was the local Spring Fling here in Colorado. I made the brilliant decision to play both the Am and Pro day so I ended up playing a total of 4 rounds. The arm is not feeling like itself right now and I may had some pulled minor muscles in my left hip. On the whole though it was one of the best disc golf weekends I have had. It really all amounts to a lot of small things that happened.

• On the am day I played two round under par during the am day at a course that somehow manages to kick my butt.
• One of the top pros in the state of Colorado, who just happens to be sponsored by Vibram, watched me play a few holes and saw me make a couple of really nice shots, after which he would always make some comment about Vibram.
• The same guy also ran a clinic on the am day with another one of the top pros in Colorado and during the Q and A time he singled me and another one of the guys I played against as two players he has seen make a big improvement over the past year. I actually spoke at a clinic and gave advice to other players! Thanks Mitch!
• I played with some people in Colorado who are legends of sorts in the Local Disc Golf community who I had yet to play with or get to know all that well. It was a blessing to get to know one person in particular as he was rather encouraging and helped me stay mentall focused. Thanks Max!
• I got to play in the same tournament and same division as Paul Ulibarri and then watched him loose to his wife by two strokes over two rounds playing the exact same layout.
• I ended up finishing 5th in Advanced on the Am day after making a big comeback in the second round shooting the thrid best round of all the players playing that round.
• I finished just below the middle of the pack on the Pro day after shooting my best rated round to date in the second round.

I continue to be reminded that part of the reason that I play this game is meeting the people that I do. I may not have much besides disc golf in common with some of these people but they are still some of the most respectful people I have met. That being said I also witnessed someone get disqualified for changing scores on the scorecard. That is a first for me.

There are a lot of things that I learned from this past weekend. One is that I do not play as well in the morning as I do in the afternoon for some reason. Ha, well this is purely a cooincidence as far as I am concerned. I remembered just how important it is too keep others around you encouraged as it made a huge impact on me when others were making the effort to keep me encouraged. It really is a lot of fun no matter how well you are playing. And of course since I relied on solid second rounds both days, it is always important to keep yourself mentally in the game because you never really know what is going to happen.

Most Ironic Ace Ever!

I am not normally one who attempts the ace run. I would much prefer to land the disc right next to the basket for the easy two and most aces I have had mean that it was going to end up far enough away that I would have had a tough putt for the two. But of course when it goes in on one throw, there is just something that gets you. It is that childhood joy that you just can't explain. Like pure wonder and amazement just surging through your body.

Well, this past Easter Sunday I got my 4th ace ever in Disc Golf. I was at my parents house and we went out as a family to play the course that is at the park right down the street. When they were putting the course in my parents made a nice donation for baskets and tee signs. The course only has 12 holes and I was playing like I was just coming out of a slump. It wasn't pretty but it was getting the job done, even par. We came up to the last hole and noticed on the tee sign that it was the hole my parents are credited with sponsoring. The tag line my mom wanted to use was, "Praying For Aces." Appropriate enough for a short 156 foot hole. Before we threw we all kinda had a moment where we were thankful that we had the opportunity to sponsor this hole. I pulled out my nice purple Summit that might pass for an Easter Egg and threw a little hyzer flip shot up the gut and straight into the chains.

So, on Easter, I throw my disc that looks like an Easter egg and ace a hole that my family sponsored with the tag line, "Praying for Aces." As I think about it now I can't imagine there is a more ironic ace in disc golf ever. I hope I can always remember this story while playing disc golf because as I think about it now, it really puts things in perspective. It is all a game that is fun and should be played with that childlike joy that you get from an ace.

303 Am Championships

For the second tournament in a row, I have managed to finish in the spot that gets the last payout. That of course is only half the story of the 303 Am Championships which took place the one weekend we had to have a blizzard in Denver.

When you show up to a tournament and your biggest concern is making sure your car is going to stay as warm as possible usually means you are crazy. But that was literally my thoughts as I look at a little less than a foot of snow on the ground prior to the first round of my second tournament of the year. The good news is that by popular vote and the discretion of the TD everyone decided that playing one round, rather than two, was a wise choice. That beings said, I am certain I would have done better overall if we had played two rounds on Saturday.

Considering the conditions I played much better than I expected. Sure, I would still have loved for my score to have been lower than it was but I feel like I made some good putts that I would have not made before and that my decision making process was a lot better than it has been as often I found myself simply working to get a three rather than take the risk and end up much worse. This is telling me two things. First, the putting practice is paying off. I am not sure but I am begining to be a believer in a little bit everyday makes a big difference. Second, my mental game is begining to become refined. When conditions are tough you have to adjust and not worry about what score you think you should be able to achieve on a given course. I am begining to think that these are really the two most important parts of disc golf, especially as it comes to playing tournaments. These are really the two biggest lessons I learned an will take away from this tournament.

On a last note, I was really impressed with the way Kyle at Phenix Disc Sports ran this tournament and the adjustments he made on the fly as it concerns the weather. I would also like to give a shoutout to my friend Ian who ended up winning the tournament, nice shooting.

St. Patty's Meltdown

So the traditional first tournament of the season for the past few years here in Colorado has been the St. Patty's Meltdown up at Edora Park in Fort Collins. This year there was no melting snow so go figure.

I finished the tournament in 14th place in Advanced, which was good enough for last cash. I had a grand time and was mostly impressed by the fair but challenging layout, which was a super layout for the course.

Here is what I learned. The mental game is so important and it does not pay to ignore it. See in the first round I played quite well, that is until I got the best of myself and some unlucky bounces and took two 8's close to the end of the round. Yes, I took them on lnger holes. Yes, if I had simply made a 5 on each of them I would have been in second place. A bad or unfortunate tee shot forced me to want to make up for it on the next shot, both of which ended up going out of bounds. Then you are really set back and make more mistakes. But, as the tournament went along, the mental game got stronger and I started to feel better and better about my game.

There really is something to be said for tournamnet head. I think it consists of focus, confidence and pure silliness. Why silliness you ask? Well, let me tell you, if you can simply be silly it is a lot easier to forget about the last shot. You end up having a lot more fun during the round and in the end it matters less. This all helps me get to that goal I have of making sure I am having fun and when I am having fun I found that I play better. See, tournament head requires a degree of silliness and I am sure it will continue to develop the more I allow it to be there right along with the focus and confidence.

In the mean time it is back to practicing my putting as that was quite streaky during the tournamnet, mostly dependent on my confidence. I also need to figure out how to practice my upshots. Perhaps a visit to the local short nine hole course will prove beneficial.

Potential Early Setback

So I had the brilliant idea to ask for every Wednesday in February off from work so that I could go skiing with my parents who so lovingly bought be a five time pass to our favorite ski resort this past fall. One beautiful Wednesday I was forced to ski by myself because my parents had plans. It was a really good day minus one little thing that happened. I fell on my last run before lunch. Falling while skiing happens about once a day normally, but this fall just so happened to be one of the worst I have taken in some time. Not because of how it looked necessarily but because of how my body fell to the ground. Somehow my throwing arm ended up above my head as all my body weight came down. Ouch. I probably have a sprained shoulder. I know that resting it is probably the best thing to do but it is so hard with the tournament season starting so soon and some big tournaments coming up early. It really doesn't hurt too much at this point unless I do something stupid. I wish I were less stupid sometimes. But it does feel rather tight in the shoulder at this point. I have played one round of disc golf since the fall and it really didn't seem to affect the game too much so I am hoping that continues to be the case. Weather is still hit or miss around this part of the country so we shall see what happens between now and St. Patty's Day Meltdown.

The 2013 Schedule

So last year I was able to play in 16 tournaments, 15 in Advanced and 1 in Open. I am not sure what the breakdown will be this year but I figured it would be interesting to at least post the schedule of tournaments I hope to play in this year. I think I mentioned it in a previous blog that my intention is to move up to Open at whatever teir level and below I am able to win an Advanced tournament in. Wait, that doesn't really make sense. If I win a C-tier tournament in advanced, the rest of the year I will play C-tier tournaments in Open. If I win a B-tier in advanced, I will play B and C-tier tournaments in open the rest of the year. Okay, alright, enough stalling, here is the schedule.

March 16, 17 - St. Patty's Day Meltdown - Fort Collins, CO
March 23, 24 - 303 Am Challenge - Denver, CO
April 6 - Spring Fling Ams - Arvada, CO
April 7 - Spring Fling Pro - Arvada, CO
April 11 - One Round Challenge @ Peter Pan - Emporia, KS
April 12, 13, 14 - Glass Blown Open - Emporia, KS
April 20, 21 - 303 Open - Denver, CO
May 4, 5 - Greatful Disc - Fort Collins, CO & Red Feather Lakes, CO
May 18, 19 - Colorado Open - Glenwood Springs, CO
June 1, 2 - Sakuna Matata - Black Forest, CO
June 7, 8, 9 - Foothill Flyers Tournament - Conifer, CO
June 22, 23 - High Plains Chalenge - Fort Morgan, CO
July 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 - Am Worlds - Emporia, KS
July 20, 21 - Red Feather Open - Red Feather Lakes, CO
August 3, 4 - Snow Mountain Challenge - Winter Park, CO
August 23, 24, 25 - Monster Energy Challenge @ Solitude - Salt Lake City, UT
August 31 - Mile High Classic - Denver, CO
September 28, 29 - Johnny Roberts Memorial - Denver, CO & Conifer, CO
October 4, 5, 6 - Colorado State Disc Golf Championships - Fort Collins, CO
October 19, 20 - Grand Valley Open - Pallisade, CO

This is all subject to change of course, but this is the plan for now. I will admit that I am very sad that it is not in the plans to make a trip out to McCook, NE for an event there. Unfortunately scheduling conflicts are making this not a possibility.

Double Digit Down Milestone

I am surprised that I forgot to post this earlier. It was a pretty big deal in my disc golf career. Back on Januaray 23rd, 2013, I shot my first ever round that was double digits below even. I did it fromt he Red tees at CHU, and sure most of the baskets were set short in preparation for the last Winter Warriors stop. CHU is not that easy of a course so even at its easiest, it is not something I ever thought would happen there. There are plenty of other courses that I would say that this would have been more likely to happen at. None the less, it happened at CHU and I am beyond elation about that. I claim CHU as my home course now since it is the one I find myself playing most often. It is not something I expect to repeat any time soon either. Still, I am hoping that this is good news for this year. It is really something to build off of and something to keep me motivated through this year. Since last year was a blah year, it is exciting to start the year off with something like this. Now, on to the other goals of the year.