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.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
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.
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.
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