2015 United States Disc Golf Championship

[grodney]

There is a Charlotte pro who shall remain nameless (MJ) that used to throw some kind of forehand/submarine upside-down thumber there. Don't know if he still does.

 

[notroman]

What doesn't come through too clearly in that photo is the netting. Above that first branch over the gap there is netting to prevent any thought of trying to punch out an overhand shot or even a spike hyzer type deal. So not only do you have that look from the tee, but you have to land on that seeming sliver of a green throwing a shot that has to come out of the tee relatively flat. It's a lot harder to dial in precise distance when you can't spike the shot in some way.

Yeah, they "Schwebby-proofed" the course in a lot of areas, the most obvious being the net on 17.

 

[Pbmercil]

I don't get the net. If someone has that good of a thumber they should be able to use it. Why do so many course designers hate thumbers? Its a disc golf skill that not a lot of people have

 

[wmjt22]

If it is so much easier to spike hyzer it why don't more of the top pros just toss out like Doss did and then spike hyzer it for the safe 3?

 

[moorent]

If it is so much easier to spike hyzer it why don't more of the top pros just toss out like Doss did and then spike hyzer it for the safe 3?

Because the reward of a 2 is often worth the risk.

 

[grodney]

Because the reward of a 2 is often (thought to be) worth the risk.

Amended.

I wonder how many players who didn't lay up averaged better than 3.0?


(Of course you might not average 3.0 if you lay up, but your odds are pretty good for the Open flight.)

 

[sidewinder22]

Didn't Doss still go OB after laying up one round?

 

[wmjt22]

Professional disc golfers don't win by taking a bunch of low percentage/high risk shots. If a tomahawk or big spike was a significant percentage advantage on that hole you'd see people throwing it with a pitch out. In particular, anyone with a lead going into 17.

 

[Pbmercil]

If it is so much easier to spike hyzer it why don't more of the top pros just toss out like Doss did and then spike hyzer it for the safe 3?

Ego and the "I have to birdie everything" mentality that is rampant at every level of disc golf, but is particularly worse at the pro level

 

[Pbmercil]

Professional disc golfers don't win by taking a bunch of low percentage/high risk shots

BS. Nearly all of them play wide open, attack everything golf. There are only a few exceptions. Rico, Sexton, sometimes Feldberg

 

[bhadella]

Didn't Doss still go OB after laying up one round?

He went OB trying to layup but got a bad roll.

 

[grodney]

Of the top 20 finishers, only McBeth, Colglazier, Uli, Rico, and Avery averaged under 3.0.

Ave	Player
2.00	McBeth
3.75	Wysocki
4.25	Doss
3.25	Sexton
2.50	Colglazier
3.00	HJ
3.00	MJ
3.50	Brinster
3.50	Teemu
2.50	Uli
4.25	Jerm
3.25	Champ
3.75	Melton
3.50	Proctor
3.00	Schultz
5.00	Will
2.75	Rico
4.50	Feldy
2.75	Avery
3.75	Nikko

Ave	Player
2.00	McBeth
2.50	Colglazier
2.50	Uli
2.75	Rico
2.75	Avery
3.00	HJ
3.00	MJ
3.00	Schultz
3.25	Sexton
3.25	Champ
3.50	Brinster
3.50	Teemu
3.50	Proctor
3.75	Wysocki
3.75	Melton
3.75	Nikko
4.25	Doss
4.25	Jerm
4.50	Feldy
5.00	Will

Strokes	Player
8	McBeth
15	Wysocki
17	Doss
13	Sexton
10	Colglazier
12	HJ
12	MJ
14	Brinster
14	Teemu
10	Uli
17	Jerm
13	Champ
15	Melton
14	Proctor
12	Schultz
20	Will
11	Rico
18	Feldy
11	Avery
15	Nikko

Strokes	Player
8	McBeth
10	Colglazier
10	Uli
11	Rico
11	Avery
12	HJ
12	MJ
12	Schultz
13	Sexton
13	Champ
14	Brinster
14	Teemu
14	Proctor
15	Wysocki
15	Melton
15	Nikko
17	Doss
17	Jerm
18	Feldy
20	Will

 

[JC17393]

I don't get the net. If someone has that good of a thumber they should be able to use it. Why do so many course designers hate thumbers? Its a disc golf skill that not a lot of people have

I don't think it's necessarily a bias against any one shot so much as a desire for players to have to execute a particular shot or type of shot in order to complete the hole. Sometimes in order to get the players to execute those particular shots, they have to take away the alternatives that can "defeat" the design. At Winthrop, I think that's clearly the goal behind the design and some of the features of some holes.

The biggest skill that the USDGC folks seem to want to test is a player's ability to control throws made on a flat(ter) trajectory both in release and landing. There are a handful of tees with a canopy overhead that prevent higher trajectory releases (spike hyzers, overhand throws, etc). There are a great deal of fairways that are on a slant and/or cut extremely low which require landing as flat and/or parallel to the surface as possible to avoid skipping into trouble/hazard/OB. Not only do they cut the fairways short to promote skips, they leave the hazards/OBs longer to deaden discs' momentum and prevent them from skipping or sliding back in-bounds easily. Then there are holes like #7 where they've blatantly limited players' options by forcing everything through the triple mando.

 

[slowplastic]

It's a lot harder to dial in precise distance when you can't spike the shot in some way.

I think in one of the rounds with Nikko he does a FH shot on that hole...and he's a very good putter thrower who loves to throw putters. That alone made me rethink how tricky that hole is (and I already thought it would be very difficult).

 

[schumijr]

I don't get the net. If someone has that good of a thumber they should be able to use it. Why do so many course designers hate thumbers? Its a disc golf skill that not a lot of people have

It's all about selling Novas.

 

[cjman]

He went OB trying to layup but got a bad roll.

That wasn't a bad roll, it was a god awful layup. He threw it 15 feet too long, landing on the backside, which commonly results in a cut roll to the left. He nearly did the same thing second shot and during round 4. There is no reason to lay up over the rocks when the flat area above it has good footing and a great line.

 

[bschick]

What most people forget about (that have not played the event), you can go through some discs at that event. In practice I have seen people lose some of their goto discs and often times you cannot get them back. On a hole like 17, you may only have a couple of those semi stable putters or perfectly beat in mid range discs. You lose one or two of those in practice or in an early round, you are sweating bullets trying to figure the new stuff out. Same goes with drivers on some of those holes. You lose a few on holes like 5 that are perfectly tuned, then add some new stuff you are not as confident in, things change a bunch. That course is all about managing the disc, controlling the skip, and limiting your OB's. Add about six new discs in your bag and see how confident you are.

 

[sidewinder22]

Strokes	Player
8	McBeth
15	Wysocki
17	Doss
13	Sexton
10	Colglazier
12	HJ
12	MJ
14	Brinster
14	Teemu
10	Uli
17	Jerm
13	Champ
15	Melton
14	Proctor
12	Schultz
20	Will
11	Rico
18	Feldy
11	Avery
15	Nikko

Safe to say that hole won it. The Nova is the perfect disc for that hole, it's like throwing a spitball.

 

[kerplunk]

I don't get the net. If someone has that good of a thumber they should be able to use it. Why do so many course designers hate thumbers? Its a disc golf skill that not a lot of people have

Like JC said, it is more about forcing a hole to be played a certain way, which I think is generally agreed to be a good thing in course design. Having an obstacle to prevent a thumber is really no different than having a big tree just in front and to the right of the tee to prevent an easy RHBH. And of course as JC also said with Winthrop Gold the idea of controlling the flight and landing trajectory of your disc is prominent.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Full power rollers are pretty limited there due to the OB. A few opportunities for technical rollers when it might be your best choice.