Well, I haven't posted much about worlds over the past few days since the most interesting things about practice is figuring out what exactly you are going to throw on any given hole. The funny thing is that for the most part, when I have met people in my own division, they have also been in the A pool. We know the top 25 rated players are in there, but if that is the case then I must be doing something right if I am continuously seeing them around. I think practice has been going well, and while I am not yet shooting the scores that I would like to be on any given course, I have a good feel for the courses and am ready to start playing now.
I did have fun on Saturday after getting an early morning practice round in at The Valley. I managed to finish my round right in the middle of the players meeting for the mixed doubles world championship. I knew that there would be some friends there from Colorado because the wife/mother was playing in that event. My parents and I ended up following her and her partner around with her husband and daughter and simply had fun hanging out and getting a good look at The Valley. I have walked the Valley more than any other course at this point, even if I have played more rounds on other courses.
Field events took place today at a local high school. There was very little protection from the wind and as such the two events that I was competing in became very interesting. I did the Skill Shot competition earlier and struggled more than I remember doing the previous time I competed in this competition. I still had a blast and made some really good shots. I then watched another friend from Colorado compete in the distance competition. Sadly he only got one good shot in bounds and fell just a few feet short of winning in his division. In the putting competition, things started out really slow for me as I adjusted to the wind. When I finally got around to more tail wind types of putts, I was making everything. I had one putt that still haunts me as I think about it. I still can't believe it fell out of the basket after hitting nearly perfect on the strong side and falling down just as one might expect before it landed on the rim looking like a teeter-totter before it tottered right out of the basket. I still think my performance in both the skill shot and putting should cash, but we shall see as they have only posted the top scores at this point.
Check in started today. I took care of that before heading over to the field events. The most unique part of the players pack was a really nice looking collard dri-fit shirt that was customized with name and PDGA number. Apart from that, this was the smallest players pack I have gotten at Worlds. This is my third worlds and honestly I was a bit disappointed. I guess since they are not running it like Dynamic did last year (as a "true amateur event") things were bound to not look quite as good. In the end, I still ended up with more stuff than I came to Minnesota with and the value of the stuff I did get was more than what I paid for the event. Another fun little note about the discs in the players pack specifically was the Prototype Buzzz OS that Discraft donated to the players packs. I know they are not approved yet, but this is an interesting move for Discraft.
One more fun thing that happened at the field events, but completely separate from the field events was the test drive, dribing range that Discraft set up. This was the second year they had done this, but the first time I actually had some fun with it. For the most part, they brought their new Zlite plastic discs to test out. This is the first time that I have seen bubble plastic from Discraft and it looks like they finally gave in and started producing these light weight discs that are easier to throw. The stability of these discs were surprisingly good as well. I won't throw them because I no longer throw Discraft, but it is a very interesting move. They also had this years Ace Race disc there as well as some of the Buzzz OS's.
That is the update for now. The players meeting is tomorrow night and I am looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow before things get started on Tuesday. I really can't wait for Tuesday.
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