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.