Funny how we always manage to follow up our greatest achievements with some of our biggest failures.
Well, ok, I don't know if anybody else does that, but I certainly did. Today was a fine day for disc golf - windy, yes, but the temperature was in the mid 50s and the sun shone all day. I got good rest last night despite being on night shift, I got off about midnight, and I got to the tournament in plenty of time to warm up. There really was no excuse today.
Despite that complete lack of excuses, I still managed to shoot 2 of my worst rounds in a year or two, and maybe my worst round ever relative to my skill level when I shot it.
Most of my drives were really weak today, coming out of my hand and immediately hyzering, which is disc golf speak for turning the way the disc naturally wants to turn. For a right handed player who throws mostly backhand shots, that would be to the left. Hyzer is great... when the basket you're aiming at is actually to the left. When I'm trying to throw straight shots and shots to the right and still getting a big hyzer curve, I've got a problem.
I can't say for sure, but I just felt a whole body weakness and lack of strength in my arm. I think it may be related to some health problems I suspect I have, but as was proven in October, I clearly can play a decent round of golf, especially speaking on a recreational level.
I'm pretty frustrated and discouraged, but I can't quit altogether. Night shift work has made my health a constant issue, as I don't get the rest I should and it's really hard to find time to practice my game. Expecting miracles when you don't put in the time is a recipe for failure.
With all that said... I'm going to take a bit of time off and hit it even harder in January. I know it'll be freezing, but at least my mental game will hopefully be up to snuff. I love disc golf, and it deserves my full effort.
Sorry for a very "me" centric blog post. I really am not a self centered person. I'm just in a bad spot right now... so thank you, if you read this. I appreciate all those in my life that encourage me and help me make it through the day.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Unprecedented Leadership
For the 4th time in 35 tournaments, I shot the hot round in my division to lead a tournament after round 1. Unlike the other 3 times, I led the field after round 2 as well! Having never taken the lead home on Saturday night, I find myself in the exciting and nervous position of sleeping on my traditional Sunday fail. (I almost never play as well on Sunday, regardless of my success or lack thereof on Saturday. I suspect it is mostly a fatigue issue.)
This morning was crisp and clear, around 50 degrees, plenty cool enough to need a proper warm up but not cold enough to make me stiff or sore, or numb up the digits. Rounds 1 and 2 were at the new ECU Recreational Complex. A fairly simple course with a lot of long par 3's, it will be a wooded monster in a few years when the trees grow up a bit. Unfortunately, that will also make it have a ton of "tweener" holes, where 2's are scarce but threes are easy, but so it goes. Having played it once a couple of weeks before with Tim and Amie, I figured that for the recreational division a 60 was solid. Anything in the 50s would pick up strokes on the field as a whole, with 56 to 57 being a 900 rated round.
Unfortunately that warmup I was talking about came at the expense of one of my oldest and dearest friends. After I threw some approaches onto the hillside basket near hole 1's teepad, I tossed some drives on hole 5. I pulled the CE Teebird my father gave me for Christmas in 2009 out to the right into the schule and never could find it. I soaked my shoes looking through the bushes and sand for it, but it was nowhere to be found.
Wet and pissed, I saw people breaking up at the player's meeting and made my way over to 16 where I was slated to start the tournament. At least my group is good, I told myself. I was playing with Kenneth (Kenny), who is casual and enjoys the game, always a good time. Also on board were David, Claude, and some crazy dude named John. Note that as a compliment, seeing as "crazy dude" is probably a pretty accurate description of myself. It seemed like an enjoyable bunch, and that's important to me as having some crappy group members can really mess up the fun of playing.
Hole 16 isn't a terrifying hole, but it's an easy way to mess up a start because although it's a simple 300 foot shot with a relatively open fairway, there's a large ditch 30 feet short of the basket that's out of bounds, so in my division most people come up short of that on purpose and take an easy 3. I had already told myself I wasn't letting the disc or wet feet get me down, so I just picked up my Buzzz and said "dammit, I'm putting it down there at the basket." I put the drive about 25 feet right and canned the putt for a 2. Damn skippy. The round wasn't really anything special. My driving was really pretty mediocre, I messed it up on 17, 18, 4, and threw some relatively bad shots on relatively easy holes. I also had some pretty nice drives and my putting was immaculate. Kenny, who has probably played 10 tournament rounds with me, said he'd never seen me putt better. I didn't miss inside 25 feet. Cruising home with 9 pars and 2 birdies in the last 11 holes, I shot a 53 for probably a top ten round of my tournament career and the hot round by 3 strokes, over my old man with a 56 and John with a 57.
When I saw my name on that scoreboard, I was happy as hell. I'm not going to lie, I would have been very disappointed if I had shot such a great round by my standards and gotten beaten anyway. But that's golf. Wings over Greenville was gracious enough to provide buffalo, barbeque, and teriyaki chicken tenders for lunch, so I had about 3 or 4 of those and talked some crap with Rocky Geist, an old friend who was playing advanced grandmasters (age 50 or over) this weekend. I've had more battles with Rocky than anyone else except maybe Jerry Roach, who was unable to make it this weekend.
Round 2... fight! This time I felt a little more competitive, but the lead also made me tentative for a few holes knowing I was right in the thick of it with John and my father Tim licking their chops. I got off to a slow start on hole 17, taking a bogey and then throwing my firebird out into the lake to take another bogey. I put the wheels back on the bus for a single hole, and then proceeded to double bogey hole 2. At this point I was now tied with John and knew that if I didn't do something, I was going to completely blow what I had worked for. My old man was playing like crap too and I recall saying to him at least 5 times early in the round, "Come on, we have to get something going.", "We've gotta get moving to stay in this thing." Fortunately, we both improved our game somewhat and everyone else made some mistakes of their own. When it was all said and done, I had pulled in a 60 along with David who had a 60, the old man and John had a 62, with a gentleman from Greenville I really like named Damani pulling in a 68. Nor what I wanted to shoot, but I couldn't argue with going into Sunday leading by 5 and 6 over my competitors.
This is the best I've ever played relative to my competition for 2 rounds in a row, and regardless of what tomorrow brings, I'm happy with today's play and know that at least I had a blast. The rounds tomorrow will be at West Meadowbrook park, my favorite course in eastern North Carolina, so maybe that will bring me some luck. As a side note, dinner at Golden Corral was pretty awesome.
'Til tomorrow night, I guess I really am a pretty good Rec player.
This morning was crisp and clear, around 50 degrees, plenty cool enough to need a proper warm up but not cold enough to make me stiff or sore, or numb up the digits. Rounds 1 and 2 were at the new ECU Recreational Complex. A fairly simple course with a lot of long par 3's, it will be a wooded monster in a few years when the trees grow up a bit. Unfortunately, that will also make it have a ton of "tweener" holes, where 2's are scarce but threes are easy, but so it goes. Having played it once a couple of weeks before with Tim and Amie, I figured that for the recreational division a 60 was solid. Anything in the 50s would pick up strokes on the field as a whole, with 56 to 57 being a 900 rated round.
Unfortunately that warmup I was talking about came at the expense of one of my oldest and dearest friends. After I threw some approaches onto the hillside basket near hole 1's teepad, I tossed some drives on hole 5. I pulled the CE Teebird my father gave me for Christmas in 2009 out to the right into the schule and never could find it. I soaked my shoes looking through the bushes and sand for it, but it was nowhere to be found.
Wet and pissed, I saw people breaking up at the player's meeting and made my way over to 16 where I was slated to start the tournament. At least my group is good, I told myself. I was playing with Kenneth (Kenny), who is casual and enjoys the game, always a good time. Also on board were David, Claude, and some crazy dude named John. Note that as a compliment, seeing as "crazy dude" is probably a pretty accurate description of myself. It seemed like an enjoyable bunch, and that's important to me as having some crappy group members can really mess up the fun of playing.
Hole 16 isn't a terrifying hole, but it's an easy way to mess up a start because although it's a simple 300 foot shot with a relatively open fairway, there's a large ditch 30 feet short of the basket that's out of bounds, so in my division most people come up short of that on purpose and take an easy 3. I had already told myself I wasn't letting the disc or wet feet get me down, so I just picked up my Buzzz and said "dammit, I'm putting it down there at the basket." I put the drive about 25 feet right and canned the putt for a 2. Damn skippy. The round wasn't really anything special. My driving was really pretty mediocre, I messed it up on 17, 18, 4, and threw some relatively bad shots on relatively easy holes. I also had some pretty nice drives and my putting was immaculate. Kenny, who has probably played 10 tournament rounds with me, said he'd never seen me putt better. I didn't miss inside 25 feet. Cruising home with 9 pars and 2 birdies in the last 11 holes, I shot a 53 for probably a top ten round of my tournament career and the hot round by 3 strokes, over my old man with a 56 and John with a 57.
When I saw my name on that scoreboard, I was happy as hell. I'm not going to lie, I would have been very disappointed if I had shot such a great round by my standards and gotten beaten anyway. But that's golf. Wings over Greenville was gracious enough to provide buffalo, barbeque, and teriyaki chicken tenders for lunch, so I had about 3 or 4 of those and talked some crap with Rocky Geist, an old friend who was playing advanced grandmasters (age 50 or over) this weekend. I've had more battles with Rocky than anyone else except maybe Jerry Roach, who was unable to make it this weekend.
Round 2... fight! This time I felt a little more competitive, but the lead also made me tentative for a few holes knowing I was right in the thick of it with John and my father Tim licking their chops. I got off to a slow start on hole 17, taking a bogey and then throwing my firebird out into the lake to take another bogey. I put the wheels back on the bus for a single hole, and then proceeded to double bogey hole 2. At this point I was now tied with John and knew that if I didn't do something, I was going to completely blow what I had worked for. My old man was playing like crap too and I recall saying to him at least 5 times early in the round, "Come on, we have to get something going.", "We've gotta get moving to stay in this thing." Fortunately, we both improved our game somewhat and everyone else made some mistakes of their own. When it was all said and done, I had pulled in a 60 along with David who had a 60, the old man and John had a 62, with a gentleman from Greenville I really like named Damani pulling in a 68. Nor what I wanted to shoot, but I couldn't argue with going into Sunday leading by 5 and 6 over my competitors.
This is the best I've ever played relative to my competition for 2 rounds in a row, and regardless of what tomorrow brings, I'm happy with today's play and know that at least I had a blast. The rounds tomorrow will be at West Meadowbrook park, my favorite course in eastern North Carolina, so maybe that will bring me some luck. As a side note, dinner at Golden Corral was pretty awesome.
'Til tomorrow night, I guess I really am a pretty good Rec player.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
DEP Cup Cometh
Down East Player's Cup is only a few days away, and as such, it's really become all I've been thinking about. Although I did reasonably well at Sneeky Pete last weekend, it's been a long time since I was anywhere near the top of the heap in a tournament. I love to compete, and so coming in near the top after the first round and competing for the win is really my passion and dream... although, I suppose almost anyone who goes to a tournament would say the same, haha.
As this will be my 35th tournament, I said when Sneeky Pete was over that I really wanted it to be special, so I have been practicing my putting this week. I put in 15 minutes Monday and 30 yesterday, and plan to do at least 30 more today. That doesn't seem like a lot of time to most people, I'm sure, but working night shift is so killer on my time and health that investing 30 minutes in putting seems huge to me. I hope that the investment will pay off, but the fact of the matter is that regardless of the outcome, when it's over, I'll swear up and down that I'll never play another cold weather tournament. Or I won't play any more until I start working day shift. Or I won't play any more until I'm good enough to compete in the next division up.
And guess what?
I'll be damned if I won't be in New Bern in January freezing my ass off again. I love this game.
'Til next time, I'm a pretty good rec player.
As this will be my 35th tournament, I said when Sneeky Pete was over that I really wanted it to be special, so I have been practicing my putting this week. I put in 15 minutes Monday and 30 yesterday, and plan to do at least 30 more today. That doesn't seem like a lot of time to most people, I'm sure, but working night shift is so killer on my time and health that investing 30 minutes in putting seems huge to me. I hope that the investment will pay off, but the fact of the matter is that regardless of the outcome, when it's over, I'll swear up and down that I'll never play another cold weather tournament. Or I won't play any more until I start working day shift. Or I won't play any more until I'm good enough to compete in the next division up.
And guess what?
I'll be damned if I won't be in New Bern in January freezing my ass off again. I love this game.
'Til next time, I'm a pretty good rec player.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I am... The Rec Golfer
Welcome to the Rec Golfer. I've been playing disc golf a little more than 4 years, and in that time, I've grown to love it more every time I play.
I'm not that great of a player, but I have faith that for at least a few more years my skills are going to continue improving. I just love golf and tournament golf for what they are. Disc Golf has a great community (even with all our stubborn druggies and political activists) and the people I've met and played with are a big part of what keeps me coming back. The fact that I had mono my senior year of high school and went into a several year-long "fatigued state" - that I have yet to truly recover from - only reinforces my love the game. It's easier on my body than all of the tennis and running that I used to do, and more fun to pick up and play, to be a hack at.
Although I hope to move up to the intermediate division (again) next year, I thought the Rec Golfer was a good description of not only my game but how I view this best of all activities. I love this game.
'Til next time, I'm a pretty good rec player.
I'm not that great of a player, but I have faith that for at least a few more years my skills are going to continue improving. I just love golf and tournament golf for what they are. Disc Golf has a great community (even with all our stubborn druggies and political activists) and the people I've met and played with are a big part of what keeps me coming back. The fact that I had mono my senior year of high school and went into a several year-long "fatigued state" - that I have yet to truly recover from - only reinforces my love the game. It's easier on my body than all of the tennis and running that I used to do, and more fun to pick up and play, to be a hack at.
Although I hope to move up to the intermediate division (again) next year, I thought the Rec Golfer was a good description of not only my game but how I view this best of all activities. I love this game.
'Til next time, I'm a pretty good rec player.
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