CD2 Review, Putting Practice, and More

Over the past couple of weeks I have been bagging a C-Line CD2, courtesy of Ryan Rintala, to try and test out. When this disc first came out I was bummed  that it wasn't a Firebird replacement, and disregarded it almost immediately, and I was completely wrong in doing so. The CD2 is a super versatile disc, like its younger brother the FD, it holds any line you put it on. I have found use with this disc from a longer glidey hyzer shot to even a distance roller. Looking at it from a sheer numbers stand point (9,5,-1,2) it has a great speed for a disc, meaning it doesn't have a big rim and feels very comfortable in the hand. It lands with a lot of other great speed 9 discs like the Firebird and the new Thunderbird. So this disc has the speed to still crush and go far when you need it to. With a glide of 5 it's not the craziest glide but is super useful in letting this disc work a long way down the fairway. The turn of the disc is great that you won't lose control of this disc. It plays really well for a nice gentle hyzer flip, can hold long anhyzer lines, and plays really well for longer flex shots. The fade is probably what I like most about this disc. It feels just enough to trust throwing this into headwinds and trusting that it won't get tossed around. Everyone from Ryan to Simon Lizotte have been referring to this disc as a longer FD. They are completely spot on with that description. The versatility you have with an FD you see with the CD2. The CD2 filled a hole in my bag I didn't even know was there. I can see myself always bagging a CD2 from here on out. Love this disc and everyone should give it a try.

I am going to jump to the 'More' part now because I feel like I need to bring up something that I love and hate about discs. How can we continue to have different feelings in the same molds of a disc? I love finding a specific run of a disc that plays to my style, but at the same time I hate having to hunt down a specific color, mold, run, stamp, plastic, or whatever else to continue to have the same feeling. The easiest example for me to talk about is the Innova Firebird. Anyone who throws this disc may have a preference of which version they like the most. I am a fan of the 12x Flat and Stiff version. I feel they resemble the 11x that costs a fortune to pick up and generally you can find the 12x at a cheaper price. Ever since Innova introduced the Jolly Launcher plastic, the Champion Firebird mold seemed to have changed to being less flat and less stiff. Every Firebird thrower I have talked to only talks about their 'FAF' Firebirds, never have I heard someone go on about a domey Firebird. So looking at player feedback why doesn't Innova continue to run the Flat versions? Maybe I don't know enough about what is going on in the factory and they may be doing just that but from what I see in going to stores and seeing vendors the Firebird has had either a bad run or has changed. I would imagine Innova looks at these things and makes good adjustments to not only benefit their touring pros but also the average consumer. I know I can't be the only one running into this problem, and the Firebird isn't the only disc I have run into this problem with. All in all if this is the biggest problem I have with discs, it is an okay problem to have, it makes me enjoy receiving discs more and makes me smarter when throwing certain shots. I could also go down the line of not caring so much about the discs I throw and if they go lost then it's not the end of the world. But I connect with my discs and enjoy learning how they throw and continue to learn how they throw after they take a knock here and a scratch there. For now I will continue to stockpile my favorite throwers in bins and boxes for the eventual use, it's just getting a little tight on space in my room.

"How you practice is how you will play!" I have heard this so many times and feel that it stands true. But when it comes to Putting, I can't seem to Putt like I do in practice. Something changes and I am not sure what it is. Maybe it's the fear of missing, because in practice you see no real consequence of missing. So how can I replicate that fear? Having a punishment for every missed putt in practice? That could work, but I feel conditioning myself to not miss seems a bit extreme. Maybe the anger of a shot before adds to the pressure. I need to learn to let go of shots better and find a more relaxed place and just let the game continue to flow. I feel like I am going down the dark side with my putting with Fear and Anger. I have changed styles, changed plastic but still find the worst part of my game to be putting. I have settled into a style of putting, I have picked out a set routine that I replicate with every single putt, I try and hold my putters in the same place each and every time, and with all of these things I still find inconsistency in my putting. Maybe something is completely wrong with my mechanics and I need to film myself putting and remember which ones felt good and try and see what was good in my motion to better understand. I try to not play too many games with putting since I get really bored of them quickly and prefer to constantly move after each putt, since I won't get multiple tries from the same place in a round. Right now my best way of getting in good practice is having 6 Discmania P2s and walking out to bout 15-20ft and make all 6 before I step back to 20-25ft and continue back until I am putting from about 40-50ft. After a couple of rounds I just start over again, making sure I am just not trying to can 6 in a row from 50ft to be finished. I prefer to end with 20-25ft since this is a range I should be able to find most often with drives and upshots. I will find the light side of my putting soon enough. I am going to be more confident with every putt. I think the best start is staying positive and making the most of every putt.

I hope you enjoyed the review and my ranting on about discs and putting. Cheers

I am a Discmaniac!

Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzlo5QpuUo

The Memorial Roller Coaster

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

Ups and Downs

After having my life uprooted, and then uprooted once again. With a big hit on my psyche after being broken up with, I have found myself finding what really makes me happy... Disc Golf.

From Dallas to Phoenix and now Salt Lake City, and yet it still feels like I am on vacation. It is a weird feeling, but I know things are starting to look brighter with each passing week. Looking for work was really tough but I have found myself in a great job that is working to offer me more and more. I am very thankful and am ambitious about more opportunities to come.

Disc Golf has always been such a good outlet for me to figure things out. Getting time on the course or in a field just feels productive and natural. I was rewarded with the opportunity to play in the Mello Yello Challenge at Solitude Resort, an A-Tier event. But I had no idea I was going to be playing in the tournament until the day before it started, so I had little preparation. I didn't put in work in the field before hand, hours of putts to figure out my timing, and work on my mental game. I finished decently well but it really turned into an opportunity for me to play even more tournament golf. This is the type of golf I feel I need to get me to the next level. The next step was finding the next tournament I could play in. Cache Valley in Logan Utah was around the corner and I wasn't going to let a good opportunity pass me by. I worked and prepared and put in the right amount of hours in leading up to the tournament and came in with the right mind set to put in a good showing. After the first round I was sitting in 2nd place... I was a bit shocked but I just played smart and let myself play in the moment. And then the nerves set in... I took a few rough bounces in the second round and slipped to 6th place. I left at least 8 strokes out on the course but I feel like every player says this after a tournament. My first time playing on a lead card, it was such a good experience and now I know the feeling of pressure and composure needed to compete in every tournament I play in.

I feel like I am rambling on and not getting anywhere...

There are many things that are changing but am ready for things to continue to improve on the course and in my life in general. I am ready for the next challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39EHV8JIef4
Enjoy

A Work in Progress

After playing in two PDGA events in consecutive weekends I was able to gather quite a bit about myself. Having only played in just over a half dozen PDGA events there is still a great deal to learn but I have found my biggest fault. I struggle from playing inconsistent and making poor shot selection when I feel pressured. Should I feel pressured? Am I putting more pressure on myself than I should? My answer to the questions is yes to both. Being pressured is fine and I should feel it in rounds and learn to manage that pressure and turn it in to a mentality that helps me push forward. Now I will say I put too much pressure on myself playing at courses I know how to play and just making poor decisions when I know looking back what I could have done.

Both tournaments were small C Tier tournaments playing two rounds in a day. What I have found in both of my opening rounds I start hot and am in good shape but then find a stretch of a couple of bad holes and put myself in a hole that I find it difficult to get out of. I will then go out and shoot a solid second round that only if I would have played smart and not found myself in a bad place round 1, I would find myself in a position to place. But with all of these "what if" moments I know that I can do to improve, and remove these from the scenario.

My practice has taken a shift from less round play to more field work. Working on my technique with different shots and different discs. Fine tuning my play style. Understanding what shots have a higher success rate and what discs I need to trust in different situations. My putting has come a long way and will always need work but I have found a great deal of confidence outside the circle, but the biggest problem is finding comfort just inside the circle. Just really a total confidence in putting in general but everything has improved which is a good sign moving forward.

Tons of work ahead.

I am a Discmaniac!

Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7iESu2XuCU

Moving and Moving Forward

There has been a lot to think about lately especially with work changes, moving to Phoenix, and pushing disc golf to the forefront of my priorities. Work has changed... that's all I want to say about that. Moving to Phoenix is the next big stage of my life and I am lucky to be taking that stage with the love of my life, Sydney Bay. This is an interesting period, since I will now have a substantial increase in time to devote towards disc golf and other things. With moving I will have to incorporate myself with a new crowd, new clubs, and new courses. I am looking forward to this but from what I have been able to gather I may still be doing some travel to find tournaments to play in, and on the other hand I do have the Memorial to look forward to. I am not sure what to think but I am ready for a new experience and all the opportunities that come with it.

Moving forward I have been able to string together a collection of good rounds with 4 top finishes at different mini tournaments. It has been a really big boost in my confidence, I feel as all the time I have put into practicing is really paying off. My putting has become more consistent, I trust my midranges and putters more off the box and on the approach. I am learning to read lines, winds, and the game in general. I am powering down more and letting the discs work. I feel there are things I am doing that are helping my game excel. I am allowing myself to play an entire round of golf and not let a shot or missed putt hurt my round. I have trimmed up my bag as well, I am throwing only 6 different discs. This helps me learn the discs and trust what I have in my bag. Which in turn helps me trust myself on the course. I want to continue to push this confidence and take my game further, I plan on practicing more and putting in more rounds each week, but I am uncertain on how many PDGA events I will take part in, I want to allow myself to continue to excel in minis and the occasional PDGA event for a extended period. Once I feel ready I want to make a push and play in tournaments constantly and really push my game further but only when the time is right.

I am ready to push to make something of myself but staying confident, humble, focused and determined will be big.

I am a Discmaniac!

Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6H30cWFBQs

To Play or Not to Play?

There a handful of B and C tier tournaments coming up, and I find myself wanting to play in each one. I feel if I want to take a step in that direction it would be for good, but at the same time a part of me wants to continue to develop my game with more practice.

The last tournament I played in I had been diagnosed with the Influenza two days before the start. So I didn't feel as confident going in as I could have been. I felt like it was going to be a good choice with Texas showing some of its nicer weather of the year, but in good old Texas fashion it went from 80 degrees to 40s and 50s within a day. It was a wet weekend and with already being sick my focus couldn't stay on the course and my play. With all of that I decided to drop which is something I never would do but I honestly couldn't put out my best golf in my condition.

I feel as if I need to get on a solid run of playing consistent golf, lately that hasn't been the case. I have played some incredible rounds and some awful rounds, but I do feel everything is moving in the right direction. Learning to handle and mange the rounds that are not going my way and try and make them positive. Taking things shot by shot and learning to forget a bad break and just continue to play. Maybe a bit more time and playing in smaller competitive play would help me develop before I immerse myself into playing in a string of tournaments. At the same time what better way to learn than dive in and test myself, I either crumble and learn or I rise to the occasion and ride that high. This is my dilemma and soon enough I will be trying to play a tournament at every weekend but we will see. Gotta keep throwing and practicing to get where I want to be.

Check me out on Instagram @theericoakley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z97lQTLFShU

Enjoy

I'm Back!

It has been a solid couple of years away from playing the game consistently. With work, injuries and a few other minor set backs, I am making a push to become a professional player. I picked up on Instagram and started a daily Disc Golf post to ensure I get out and play every day to try and better myself and reinvent my game. Check me out @theericoakley. I am on 80 days right now and will try and keep that running as long as I can.

Something that feels different than last time is I am putting much more time into practicing rather than playing constant rounds of golf. Putting focus into certain areas of my game to improve and fine tune. My midranges and putters have seen the most practice, I never felt comfortable throwing them before, but now if I can toss out a midrange or a putter it really helps lower my score.

Getting into a set putting style has been troubling, I have stuck with the P Line P2 with its consistency in the wind and feel in my hand I don't feel as if I am going to miss many putts. I feel as if I pitch/push putt and it has increased my consistency on the course and reduced my bad holes entirely.

Remember to go follow me on instagram and keep on throwing. Thanks for reading.

Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5xPugaymDM