Going Big in Texas Part 1

Well I have had such a crazy and eventful week of disc golf, I feel there is so much to share and yet I have a whole other expierence coming up this weekend which will have other challenges and eventful moments. I flew into DFW on Thursday the day before The Texas Open, knowing I would only have one day to practice and be ready before the tournament. This is something I didn't totally like but had to deal with considering the situation. I got a good solid round at Gateway Gold and felt comfortable that I could put up a decent round. I knew the course was going to play tough for everyone. Gateway is a course that really punishes you for not staying in the fairway. Tight lines and unforgiving roughs mean if you stay in the fairway you will see some solid scores. This course is truly one of my favorites, the first time I played it I got eaten alive and shot poorly but it made me want to come back for more. The lowest I shot out there before this weekend was a 58, from all concrete pads, and I was totally stoked on that round. With a few additional tee pads added and playing an additional longer tee pad, I knew Gateway Gold was going to be a challenging course but I was ready to play smart and attack when I could. During the first round I found myself just talking and having a great time no matter what was going on. Whether it was my disc getting stuck in a tree and me having to take a two-meter stroke or if it was me throwing my putter through some tight tunnels and tapping in for birdie, my mindset didn't change. I was happy to be there and happy to be playing disc golf. By the end of the round I felt as I was putting together a solid round and would be happy either way of the result. I came in with the hot round of 54 (1029 rated round), and had a 3 stroke lead over the other competetors, including Simon Lizotte and Scott Stokely. Those two in particular are players I am totally stoked I met over the weekend and I learned a ton from them. I received a lot of messages and other things over the internet about how well I had shot, I was trying to stay as humble as possible. I felt hearing all these great things was a sign of me doing something good, but I knew I had to show up for another two days for it to be something real. Either way it is a step in a good direction for me and I hope I can find myself on the top card and leading another tournament again soon. The following day would consist of two rounds, one at Northpark a course that is very easy to shoot low but you must hit your lines and get your birdies and a round from Gateway shorts (Only 4-5 holes were different). I would start off the round by trying a roller which I had done in practice and it had worked out very well, this was a good line since there was a chain link fence than ran down the entire right side of the fairway and lead towards the basket. In a few spots the fence had been messed with and lifted up for casual golfers to retrieve their discs... Do you see where I am going with this?... My disc found one of these holes and I walked up and found my disc sitting on the other side of the fence, I took my mark, confirmed that I was out of bounds with my card and perceded to throw and clipped a tree and had to settle for a double bogey to start the second round. Afterwards I had told some competetors about what happened and they were told that if you roll under the fence you are not out of bounds. For me I didn't even argue or think about it but just had to make sure, so the lesson to be learned is if something looks slightly off always throw a provisional... Always! Throughout the round at North Park I just couldn't get anything going. I talked it out witha buddy of mine and it was a simple fact of I was trying to over throw my shots, forcing me to turn stuff over or release things early and I found myself getting into trouble. I put up a really poor round but kept a positive attitude and kept pushing forward, with two more rounds at Gateway I felt I still had time to make things up. I still found myself on the chase card for the thrid round. The third round started out with a lot of the same from the earlier round at North Park. I found myself tense and over throwing and by hole three my buddy Paul King who was caddying for me told me to slow down and just focus on a smooth release. He was completely right, after that I managed to start throwing some better shots and battling back to a decent score. But I felt that things just never really got going and they never really did the rest of the tournament. No matter what I was throwing, I was finding trouble with awkward footing or having to straddle or different things. I was still positive and confident going into the final round that I could muster up something good. I would be wrong but I really wanted to have a positive outlook no matter what happened. I started out finding a small groove but it felt a lot of the same from the day before nothing really got going and I had to scramble a lot, and if you are scrambling at Gateway you're going to have a bad time. I had a couple putts chain out when I didn't putt it in the heart and shook my confidence early. I would also lose a disc into the Trinity River when I glanced a tree and saw it sail into oblivion. I let out a painful "Noooooooooo!" as I saw it glance the tree and keep flying. RIP Purple Firebird you will be missed. A few holes later on one of the more difficult holes on the course I chose to re-tee after my drive kicked and found itself stuck behind a lot of thick stuff. I discussed it with Paul and we both felt there was no guarantee I would get out of there clean or at all in a couple of throws, so I trotted back and tossed again. Those things happened in every round this weekend including my first round, it is a part of disc golf that I actually enjoy because it can happen to anyone at any time, and you can't let it get to you or beat you up, you have to walk to your next shot and take it in stride and keep pushing for that low score. I would miss out on the cash by a couple of strokes because my last round did me no favors. I felt bummed that I didn't take full advantage of the opportunity but it has become another thing that will make me more hungry for the next time I find myself in this situation. I am happy to realize a few things about my game and what works best for me. When I stay positive and happy and enjoy my round I shoot well and it helps the people around me continue to play their game and enjoy their game. I need to remember to take a breath and relax and just throw while not over throwing and over thinking any shot. I had a lot of positive support throughout the round and I found out there are people who showed even when things were going bad they were behind me and others who dropped me like a hot rock, but no matter what it was awesome having such a great support and following that I hope to take it home next time and give everyone something even better to talk about. I did my best to not dwell on what had happened, I wanted it to hurt and I wanted it to sting, so I could remember that I never want to have that feeling again, and only I could make sure that it didn't happen again. 

I remembered something good about my golf game over the weekened, I know what my best disc is. It's a disc that I trust throwing at any moment to get me out of trouble. It's a disc that I have the most confidence in and if I had to it could be the only disc in my bag. My Discmania D-Line P2 was working all weekend long. It got me the majority of the birdies I had over the weekend. I can throw them on shots from 100-350ft. There were a few really tight tunnels that I was able to hit and it gave me confidence time and time again. My buddy Chris Tellesbo has said that he doesn't understand why I throw any other disc. I am going to use that as something to build on and make it a part of my game that is alwyas around. Throwing putters can help me only get better and continue to elevate my game.

After a long grueling weekend, we decided we would go support Simon Lizotte and Jamie Thomas at the Discmania Flying Circus. This would be a great idea since we would be able to relax and recover and just enjoy some disc golf fun. Getting to chat with Simon and Jamie over the weekend realy showed me how great this sport can be. They are two guys who want the absolute best for each and every person in the sport. They want to see people throwing appropriate discs that will elevate their game. Discmania and these two are really pushing the level of the sport by offering the best discs for people to throw and making sure that people are using the right discs as well. I have been throwing Discmania for close to 4 years now and I couldn't see myself throwing anything else. The quality of the discs can't be beat. Now back to mroe about the Flying Circus, Simon does a lot for players and understanding and breaking down how they throw and what they can improve on. I would be very impressed to see what he could do with a player if he had more than a small segment to work with them. I will definitely be using some of the things I learned from watching Simon teach in my Summer Disc Golf camp that my work is putting on. I can't wait to grow the sport more and use all of the things I've learned to hopefully get more people hooked. I am super thankful to have met and chatted it up with Simon and Jamie, I will be following them and supporting them throughout their tour this year. If you get a chance to catch the Flying Circus, do it! You will not be dissapointed. 

Over the next few days it turned into total practice and catching a few Texas courses that I had been missing since I moved to Utah. We headed out to Trophy Club to catch the course out there which is a great course to throw if you haven't yet. It forces you to throw all of your shots. I am a huge fan of this course and was able to throw down a really good round. I played seventeen good holes and one bad hole which was great, on the bad hole I tried to go big and got punished, but when you are feeling good about your shots, I said why not? It was an awesome day out there and I really enjoyed playing that course and will definitely look at coming back to playing a tournament at that course in the future. The next day we would head out to two courses that I have put a lot of rounds at and I truly enjoy playing, Turner Park and Veterans. Both courses are challenging but a ton of fun to play. At Turner I didn't play particularly well but threw some great shots and had a blast. I was able to tackle the +800ft hole 18 with just my putter, I could have made it in 4 but I sawed off my up shot and had to lay up for a 5 but that is a hole that taking a 5 on is not a bad score. I felt it was a fun challenge and somehting I will try more in the future. After that round we headed over to Veterans and I had the intention on practicing most of the Gold Tees out there, because I plan on trying to play in the Veterans Park Open later this year. On hole one its a long throw down a field that heads towards the road then it tucks left into some trees. I didn't read the wind right and my disc hyzered out and landed near the road but still in the fairway. As I walked down my disc was gone! A women was in a car near where my disc landed and she said a guy picked up an orange disc and walked away. The funny thing is none of the people nor myself saw someone grab my disc. We all assumed it was still there. This was a particularly large blow since that was a driver that I had put a lot of work into seasoning and it was my go to driver. So if you happen to be in the Arlington area and you see an Orange C-Line PD2 with a black/silver stamp please get it back to me. This turned the round into lets just play and move on rather than into VPO practice. I was so deflated after losing that disc, losing my purple Firebird, and slumping at the weekend, that it was tough for me to want to have a serious round anymore. Some people just have no respect for the game and do dumb things, that is something I can't control but can only try and educate newer players to keep the integrity of the sport and to always have respect. I had a blast throwing with some guys who wanted to meet us out there and it still turned out to be a great day to throw so I looked on the bright side and was happy to just be playing disc golf. The next day was supposed to be a day off and some time for me to relax but it turned into going out and throwing some PD2s to ty and work in a replacement for the weekend. I knew that it wasn't going to happen in one day but I had some other PD2s that I could throw and get a good feel for before the weekend so I would be confident enough to throw them in a tournament round. I got to hang out with some of my buddies from Granbury and I had a blast throwing with them. I put in a lot of work throwing my PD2s and I feel that I am ready for the weekend and am excited to see what I can do. 

With the Nick Hyde Memorial happening this weekend, I find myself motivated and completely ready to have another eventful weekend. I am going to give myself every opportunity to get better and perform well. I am going to use what I learned last weekend and continue to throw and have a postive mindset no matter what is going on. I am super pumped and I can't wait to throw Saturday morning. 

So I asked all of you Maniacs what is your favorite shot to throw and what Discmania disc do you use to throw that shot?

For me there are two, yes that's cheating but it is my blog so suck it, I really enjoy throwing my P2s off the box down a tunnel and letting the disc float and fly in a super straight line that feels effortless. My other favorite shot is throwing a FD on a longer gentle hyzer, letting the disc glide out and hyzer towards the basket is just wonderful to watch. I have thrown both the pearly 3rd runs and a 2nd run FD and they are wonderful at throwing long glidey hyzers, check them out if you get a chance. 

To test out who all totally reads my blog I am going to ask for you guys to have me review a Discmania disc for my next installment. So choose a disc you want me to review and whichever has the most I will be together a solid Discmania review. 

I am a Discmaniac! Cheers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK-bloEb5NI
Enjoy