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.