Falling one day after the first Cinco De Mayo Meltdown, the PODS event in May became a real test of endurance. I believe everyone who played in this event in the Open field except for one person played the day before as well. Based on the results I bet that guy wishes he would have played the day before as well. The field itself was also stacked for this event and most people were smart enough not to try and play two days in a row. Honestly, when I consider the two one day tournaments on back to back days I realize that this would be simple in comparison to what one has to go through to play in the World Championships. There you play at least 6 rounds, 7 if you make the Semi Finals and then the Final 9 if you are on or near the top. Perhaps I have only taken my 6 rounds the last two years at the world Championships, but the more practice I can get like this with lots of rounds crammed in to a short period of time, the better off I will be come July when I am on my way out to Minnesota for the Amateur World Championships.
The two rounds for this tournament were supposed to be played on a new layout that will be used for an up coming A-tier tournament, but the process of putting in new pin locations prevented this from happening. Thankfully they did revert back to a layout that will be used for at least one round in the middle of the tournament on the current layout at the Badlands course near Water World. The course was set up with some good long holes and some fun short holes. So, in spite of loosing out on some practice that I would love to have on a new course, getting practice in on this particular layout was a very good thing and still very usedful for teh tournament.
So there were only 9 players in the Open field and only 20 some over all. I was extremely thankful that in my first round I had the joy of playing with two of the best players in the state of Colorado. Joe and Mitch are some really great guys and are really good at playing Disc Golf. Both of these guys I have gotten to know over my disc golf career and now that I am playing in the top division with them they have really come to recognize that there is some talent in my game. I can't wait for the day when I can consistently push these guys to be even better. The first third of this first round gave me hope that this is a possibility. In the first six holes I was four strokes under par and had hit the basket on one of the other holes with my birdie attempts. I was even or ahead of both Joe and Mitch at this point. After that I simply did not get the birdies because my putting was slightly off or that my drives simply weren't getting me close enough. Finishing 6 throws back of a player that should beat me by 10 is still an accomplishment.
Going into the second round I was near the bottom of the open field (but remember this field was stacked) and knew that I would be fighting more wind. I think I really let the wind get to me, particularly with approaches and putting. After a bogey free morning round I had 5 bogies in my second round with most of them being stupid. Okay, that was the bad news about that round. I started off the second round really hot being four down in only five holes, rather than the six it took me the first round. I also took more birdies along the way and figured out how to play a simple birdie hole that has stumped me for three PODS rounds in a row. Too many mistakes certainly cost me a little in the end, but not enough to get me down. I did not finsih last as I did in the first PODS event and I still felt strong after the end of what was my fourth round in a spn of two days. And I still shot under par.
Now, looking back at the tournament, there were lots of strokes that I could have had. But most importantly, both rounds were rated over 950 for the time being. That means that with four sanctioned rounds after starting the great disc switch, I still have yet to shoot a round that will be rated lower than 950. It really makes me think that the switch, even if for just mental reasons, is and will be a vew good thing.
As I mentioned before, the biggest thing that I learned is that I do have the ability to play with the best, even if just for short spurts. It is time I figured out how to stack short spurt upon short spurt in order to shoot that higher rated rounds. I also learned that there is never enough wind practice. Practicing without the wind is fine, but the amount of mental work that it takes to play in the wind is unlike any other condition in the game of disc golf. Wind has such a major affect on the game of disc golf that if you have the ability to play in the wind you will be a much better player and fair very well when it comes to finishing place. It is much easier to adjust to no wind than it is to adjust up to the wind. I am looking forward to my next tournament this coming weekend. Particularly because not only will some of the best talent in this state be there but also because two of the best guys from out of state will also be participating, or so the web page says.
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