Spring Flingin' It!

So this past weekend was the local Spring Fling here in Colorado. I made the brilliant decision to play both the Am and Pro day so I ended up playing a total of 4 rounds. The arm is not feeling like itself right now and I may had some pulled minor muscles in my left hip. On the whole though it was one of the best disc golf weekends I have had. It really all amounts to a lot of small things that happened.

• On the am day I played two round under par during the am day at a course that somehow manages to kick my butt.
• One of the top pros in the state of Colorado, who just happens to be sponsored by Vibram, watched me play a few holes and saw me make a couple of really nice shots, after which he would always make some comment about Vibram.
• The same guy also ran a clinic on the am day with another one of the top pros in Colorado and during the Q and A time he singled me and another one of the guys I played against as two players he has seen make a big improvement over the past year. I actually spoke at a clinic and gave advice to other players! Thanks Mitch!
• I played with some people in Colorado who are legends of sorts in the Local Disc Golf community who I had yet to play with or get to know all that well. It was a blessing to get to know one person in particular as he was rather encouraging and helped me stay mentall focused. Thanks Max!
• I got to play in the same tournament and same division as Paul Ulibarri and then watched him loose to his wife by two strokes over two rounds playing the exact same layout.
• I ended up finishing 5th in Advanced on the Am day after making a big comeback in the second round shooting the thrid best round of all the players playing that round.
• I finished just below the middle of the pack on the Pro day after shooting my best rated round to date in the second round.

I continue to be reminded that part of the reason that I play this game is meeting the people that I do. I may not have much besides disc golf in common with some of these people but they are still some of the most respectful people I have met. That being said I also witnessed someone get disqualified for changing scores on the scorecard. That is a first for me.

There are a lot of things that I learned from this past weekend. One is that I do not play as well in the morning as I do in the afternoon for some reason. Ha, well this is purely a cooincidence as far as I am concerned. I remembered just how important it is too keep others around you encouraged as it made a huge impact on me when others were making the effort to keep me encouraged. It really is a lot of fun no matter how well you are playing. And of course since I relied on solid second rounds both days, it is always important to keep yourself mentally in the game because you never really know what is going to happen.

Most Ironic Ace Ever!

I am not normally one who attempts the ace run. I would much prefer to land the disc right next to the basket for the easy two and most aces I have had mean that it was going to end up far enough away that I would have had a tough putt for the two. But of course when it goes in on one throw, there is just something that gets you. It is that childhood joy that you just can't explain. Like pure wonder and amazement just surging through your body.

Well, this past Easter Sunday I got my 4th ace ever in Disc Golf. I was at my parents house and we went out as a family to play the course that is at the park right down the street. When they were putting the course in my parents made a nice donation for baskets and tee signs. The course only has 12 holes and I was playing like I was just coming out of a slump. It wasn't pretty but it was getting the job done, even par. We came up to the last hole and noticed on the tee sign that it was the hole my parents are credited with sponsoring. The tag line my mom wanted to use was, "Praying For Aces." Appropriate enough for a short 156 foot hole. Before we threw we all kinda had a moment where we were thankful that we had the opportunity to sponsor this hole. I pulled out my nice purple Summit that might pass for an Easter Egg and threw a little hyzer flip shot up the gut and straight into the chains.

So, on Easter, I throw my disc that looks like an Easter egg and ace a hole that my family sponsored with the tag line, "Praying for Aces." As I think about it now I can't imagine there is a more ironic ace in disc golf ever. I hope I can always remember this story while playing disc golf because as I think about it now, it really puts things in perspective. It is all a game that is fun and should be played with that childlike joy that you get from an ace.

303 Am Championships

For the second tournament in a row, I have managed to finish in the spot that gets the last payout. That of course is only half the story of the 303 Am Championships which took place the one weekend we had to have a blizzard in Denver.

When you show up to a tournament and your biggest concern is making sure your car is going to stay as warm as possible usually means you are crazy. But that was literally my thoughts as I look at a little less than a foot of snow on the ground prior to the first round of my second tournament of the year. The good news is that by popular vote and the discretion of the TD everyone decided that playing one round, rather than two, was a wise choice. That beings said, I am certain I would have done better overall if we had played two rounds on Saturday.

Considering the conditions I played much better than I expected. Sure, I would still have loved for my score to have been lower than it was but I feel like I made some good putts that I would have not made before and that my decision making process was a lot better than it has been as often I found myself simply working to get a three rather than take the risk and end up much worse. This is telling me two things. First, the putting practice is paying off. I am not sure but I am begining to be a believer in a little bit everyday makes a big difference. Second, my mental game is begining to become refined. When conditions are tough you have to adjust and not worry about what score you think you should be able to achieve on a given course. I am begining to think that these are really the two most important parts of disc golf, especially as it comes to playing tournaments. These are really the two biggest lessons I learned an will take away from this tournament.

On a last note, I was really impressed with the way Kyle at Phenix Disc Sports ran this tournament and the adjustments he made on the fly as it concerns the weather. I would also like to give a shoutout to my friend Ian who ended up winning the tournament, nice shooting.

St. Patty's Meltdown

So the traditional first tournament of the season for the past few years here in Colorado has been the St. Patty's Meltdown up at Edora Park in Fort Collins. This year there was no melting snow so go figure.

I finished the tournament in 14th place in Advanced, which was good enough for last cash. I had a grand time and was mostly impressed by the fair but challenging layout, which was a super layout for the course.

Here is what I learned. The mental game is so important and it does not pay to ignore it. See in the first round I played quite well, that is until I got the best of myself and some unlucky bounces and took two 8's close to the end of the round. Yes, I took them on lnger holes. Yes, if I had simply made a 5 on each of them I would have been in second place. A bad or unfortunate tee shot forced me to want to make up for it on the next shot, both of which ended up going out of bounds. Then you are really set back and make more mistakes. But, as the tournament went along, the mental game got stronger and I started to feel better and better about my game.

There really is something to be said for tournamnet head. I think it consists of focus, confidence and pure silliness. Why silliness you ask? Well, let me tell you, if you can simply be silly it is a lot easier to forget about the last shot. You end up having a lot more fun during the round and in the end it matters less. This all helps me get to that goal I have of making sure I am having fun and when I am having fun I found that I play better. See, tournament head requires a degree of silliness and I am sure it will continue to develop the more I allow it to be there right along with the focus and confidence.

In the mean time it is back to practicing my putting as that was quite streaky during the tournamnet, mostly dependent on my confidence. I also need to figure out how to practice my upshots. Perhaps a visit to the local short nine hole course will prove beneficial.

Potential Early Setback

So I had the brilliant idea to ask for every Wednesday in February off from work so that I could go skiing with my parents who so lovingly bought be a five time pass to our favorite ski resort this past fall. One beautiful Wednesday I was forced to ski by myself because my parents had plans. It was a really good day minus one little thing that happened. I fell on my last run before lunch. Falling while skiing happens about once a day normally, but this fall just so happened to be one of the worst I have taken in some time. Not because of how it looked necessarily but because of how my body fell to the ground. Somehow my throwing arm ended up above my head as all my body weight came down. Ouch. I probably have a sprained shoulder. I know that resting it is probably the best thing to do but it is so hard with the tournament season starting so soon and some big tournaments coming up early. It really doesn't hurt too much at this point unless I do something stupid. I wish I were less stupid sometimes. But it does feel rather tight in the shoulder at this point. I have played one round of disc golf since the fall and it really didn't seem to affect the game too much so I am hoping that continues to be the case. Weather is still hit or miss around this part of the country so we shall see what happens between now and St. Patty's Day Meltdown.

The 2013 Schedule

So last year I was able to play in 16 tournaments, 15 in Advanced and 1 in Open. I am not sure what the breakdown will be this year but I figured it would be interesting to at least post the schedule of tournaments I hope to play in this year. I think I mentioned it in a previous blog that my intention is to move up to Open at whatever teir level and below I am able to win an Advanced tournament in. Wait, that doesn't really make sense. If I win a C-tier tournament in advanced, the rest of the year I will play C-tier tournaments in Open. If I win a B-tier in advanced, I will play B and C-tier tournaments in open the rest of the year. Okay, alright, enough stalling, here is the schedule.

March 16, 17 - St. Patty's Day Meltdown - Fort Collins, CO
March 23, 24 - 303 Am Challenge - Denver, CO
April 6 - Spring Fling Ams - Arvada, CO
April 7 - Spring Fling Pro - Arvada, CO
April 11 - One Round Challenge @ Peter Pan - Emporia, KS
April 12, 13, 14 - Glass Blown Open - Emporia, KS
April 20, 21 - 303 Open - Denver, CO
May 4, 5 - Greatful Disc - Fort Collins, CO & Red Feather Lakes, CO
May 18, 19 - Colorado Open - Glenwood Springs, CO
June 1, 2 - Sakuna Matata - Black Forest, CO
June 7, 8, 9 - Foothill Flyers Tournament - Conifer, CO
June 22, 23 - High Plains Chalenge - Fort Morgan, CO
July 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 - Am Worlds - Emporia, KS
July 20, 21 - Red Feather Open - Red Feather Lakes, CO
August 3, 4 - Snow Mountain Challenge - Winter Park, CO
August 23, 24, 25 - Monster Energy Challenge @ Solitude - Salt Lake City, UT
August 31 - Mile High Classic - Denver, CO
September 28, 29 - Johnny Roberts Memorial - Denver, CO & Conifer, CO
October 4, 5, 6 - Colorado State Disc Golf Championships - Fort Collins, CO
October 19, 20 - Grand Valley Open - Pallisade, CO

This is all subject to change of course, but this is the plan for now. I will admit that I am very sad that it is not in the plans to make a trip out to McCook, NE for an event there. Unfortunately scheduling conflicts are making this not a possibility.

Double Digit Down Milestone

I am surprised that I forgot to post this earlier. It was a pretty big deal in my disc golf career. Back on Januaray 23rd, 2013, I shot my first ever round that was double digits below even. I did it fromt he Red tees at CHU, and sure most of the baskets were set short in preparation for the last Winter Warriors stop. CHU is not that easy of a course so even at its easiest, it is not something I ever thought would happen there. There are plenty of other courses that I would say that this would have been more likely to happen at. None the less, it happened at CHU and I am beyond elation about that. I claim CHU as my home course now since it is the one I find myself playing most often. It is not something I expect to repeat any time soon either. Still, I am hoping that this is good news for this year. It is really something to build off of and something to keep me motivated through this year. Since last year was a blah year, it is exciting to start the year off with something like this. Now, on to the other goals of the year.