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.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, August 5, 2013
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.
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.
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