I want to start off by apologizing for not posting in awhile, disc golf has still been heavy on my mind and have been meaning to get a solid post in.
I have been putting in ample rounds and practice but something has seemed off, I really started to worry as February continued to creep up on me. I switched things up with my putting and it really threw me off and couldn't hit anything outside of 18ft. It was quite embarrassing but I still found ways to be competitive and put up some okay scores in local mini's. I went back to what was working but can't understand why I would've changed it in the first place. After taking some steps backwards to fix the problem I found out what really works for me and stuck to it. I was just stoked to figure it out before the biggest competition of my disc golf career, The Memorial Championship.
After arriving late in Phoenix on Saturday, my focus immediately shifted to total Disc Golf and understanding that this week would be an opportunity to show, mostly to myself, that I am capable of competing and being a solid disc golfer. We started off with a round at Fountain Hills. This course is not as scary as I imagined, It can tack on a lot of strokes really quick, but if you get after the course it totally gives back. Figuring that out would help me Day 1. We then shifted over to Vista Del Camino, having never played most of the XL layout I felt there was a lot more learning at this course to be done. The only hole that I could not figure out was hole 12, on the two practice days I saw this hole the wind was cross-headwind and was making the hole play, for me at least, very difficult. My turnovers were coming up short and hitting the damn, my flicks were stalling out into the water, and the only shot that seemed good was to lay up on the side and pitch up. Other than that hole I felt I had a good grasp of the course and wasn't worried. Of to the new course, going in all that we had heard was how poor it was. To me this course was cool, nothing special but cool. No hole really represents any worries but you really have to attack and get your birdies.
The best thing I did in my preparation for the weekend was to take notes on what to throw and how to approach every hole. I discussed every shot with the guys I had been practicing with, we talked about wind variants, advantages of different lines, when to attack and when to be safe, figuring out what plays to our strengths. This helped me visualize each shot and how I wanted to play. I also had something to look back at if I was feeling concerned about a shot. I stuck to my game plan on almost every hole.
Day 1 Fountain Hills
After taking an OB 4 on hole 1 after putting my PD2 next to Hole 2s tee, I felt like I had settled my nerves and fired back with taking a good 3 on hole 2 and grabbing another birdie on hole 3. The best part about the rest of the strokes I would pick up for the remainder of the round, would be that they all came from scooting out of bounds right next to the basket. After the long discussion with my friends about the courses, I knew after hole 9 that it was time to start picking up the aggressive play and going for every birdie left. I would pick up 5 of 7 and would play 18 too passive and snagged the only bad play of the round and pick up a 4 to finish the round. In total I would shoot a 51, which on the day left me feeling pretty good. I finished above a lot of big names and other players after the first round. I received a lot of praise and support from friends who were keeping track of the scores.
Day 2 Vista Del Camino
I knew that this was going to be a day about how strong do you start and how strong you finish. I started off very strong and didn't pick up a 4 until hole 10 and was shooting strong golf and was oozing with confidence. I would have some nice wind and play hole 12 nice and easy and take a good par so at this point I felt as if I was going to be coming in with a solid round. With a couple of long hold ups and the long walk back to hole 13, I feel like I had too much time with my thoughts and found myself being distracted and missed my lines on the next 5 holes to finish out struggling, including a double OB 6 on hole 14. This is where the story of my week went from being tons of fun to a total bummer real quick. After totaling up my scores and double checking them and asking others to check them, I turned in my scorecard. The person doing scores calls me over to tell me I made a mistake, my heart sank and I knew what was coming. I picked up an extra two strokes because I was too casual about my scorecard. I honestly can't tell if other players were casual as well when totaling it up but I would really hope that after multiple eyes land on the card that someone would've caught the mistake. I was really determined to not let it take my weekend down but it really would come back to haunt me in the end.
Day 3 Fiesta
I continued to try and not let what happened the day before have any impact on the round at Fiesta. This turned into me having to play aggressive golf for 18 holes and not look back. After 9 holes I had picked up two 5s and a 4 but had also strung together 5 birdies. But would get cold and not be able to do much with the remainder of my round. I would finish with a 55 and would quadruple check along with 3 other eyes check my card before turning it in. I then turned to my phone to just watch and endlessly count the standings out to see if I would make the cut. I figured that the top 90 players would get in. I followed around the top two cards, as I continued to refresh my phone hoping for the best. I chose to follow Simon Lizotte over the lead card and that portion totally paid off. He was on a tear. It was great to see someone of his level tear up a course and continue to execute shots. This was a big lesson of what kind of practice I need to put into my own game.
Later that night as standings finally posted I would finish tied for 94th, and would miss the cut by 1 stroke. I feel it is very easy to say had I added my score up correctly I would've made the cut, but there was so much more than just that. Over 54 holes I found OB 10 times, and missed 6 putts inside the circle. Those account for 16 strokes essentially that I unnecessarily took over 3 rounds of golf. This is the biggest thing that I am going to focus on when moving forward. Working on throw smart and executing my shots better. I plan on putting more field work and rounds over the next month as I prepare for the next couple of tournaments heading my way.
I decided to go hit another round before heading to watch the final round. We swung by Vista to see the XL layout another time before next year. I would shoot a pretty great round with some crazy bounces to let me lose a PD2 on 13 after hitting a tree in the middle of the fairway and role about 50-60ft into the water but no dice on this one. I would then pick up an ace on Hole 17 with a Discmania P2, my buddy called it the moment it left my hand. Within two minutes I would then throw in my trusty Firebird after hitting a sign in the middle of the fairway. I would be lucky enough to get that one back. It was crazy because that was such a great way to finish out the week, big ups and downs it was just great to be playing disc golf.
This tournament has taking me up and down, but has left me with a couple of key things to think about.
1. I am hungrier than ever to push my level of play.
2. Every shot counts, so mean it. (Meat Shot) HA!
3. No matter how bad some rounds get, its better than not playing.
4. Trust yourself
5. Have the most fun every round. This is the biggest thing I learned about my game, if I am serious I don't play well, but when I talk and joke and have fun I get after it and kill it.
6. I learned what I want in my bag and what discs I need to learn and utilize more.
7. Keep looking forward.
8. Count your scorecard correctly. I am glad I learned this now and won't let it ever happen again!
I plan on keeping this going and posting once a week on the things I did as far as practicing goes and any hot rounds I played, along with some Discmania disc reviews (First off CD2), so please look out for more posts and spread the word.
Check out my Instagram as well
https://instagram.com/theericoakley/
Fino alla fine...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJQIcYOLok
Enjoy
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