Paul McBeth #27523

[BogeyNoMore]

It'd be nice if the stats were more refined or accurate.

Since you're the one arguing for smaller baskets, why don't you make that your mission, and actually back up what you say, instead of just stating your unsubstantiated opinion?

Then you'd have actual data.

 

[txmxer]

My understanding is that the DGPT and these pro tour type events are heavily dependent on volunteers to operate, run and plan. As long as that's the case, complaints from people like McBeth (who owns a McClaren don't forget) are going to sound really whiny to me.

Want to make the DGPT better? Stop relying on so many volunteers and get some professional paid staff in there. Pony up or get some sponsors for the DGPT McBeth otherwise you get what you pay for.

Of course most non-mainstream sports depend quite a bit on volunteers. As a supercross fan, when I started following SX they would have volunteers do stadium setup of banners and such. Flaggers would be volunteers--this is an event in a 50,000 seat stadium and riders with million dollar contracts. They have evolved and moved towards more professionalism, but there is still a volunteer aspect to motocross and supercross.

DG has a ways to go. I do think the PDGA needs to focus on the local/smaller aspects of the game and let DGPT handle the national stuff.

 

[brutalbrutus]

It's Paul's own fault... Should have just used Challys instead of creating an obviously inferior putter...

 

[elmexdela]

It's Paul's own fault... Should have just used Challys instead of creating an obviously inferior putter...

whats wrong with the instagram ready new dog name disc

 

[Jimb]

He was the best putter in 2015, at least the best we saw on coverage. This trend isn't really new. I think simply others have caught up and he's been not as phenomenal as he once was. I think the year after 2016-2017 Ricky was out putting him and has probably been a little better ever since. Then Eagle has been raising the bar as well in the last couple years.

He's been winning by out throwing everyone, in an event two years ago he was 88th in the field in C1X percentage and Won. That's crazy to out throw everyone that much that below avg putting can win.

Then maybe the stats don't tell the whole story, does McBeth have more inside circle edge putts then avg to skew the stats? Meaning does his long game translate into more birdie looks and resulting in more 30 footers then avg? It'd be nice if the stats were more refined or accurate.

I'm glad I didn't see who wrote this post before I read it. It's much more reasonable than the norm.

 

[txmxer]

I'm glad I didn't see who wrote this post before I read it. It's much more reasonable than the norm.

It's weird but true.

 

[Hampstead]

The Luna is clearly no McPro Aviar.

 

[perklc]

Paul's putting is pretty clearly his Achilles' Heel at the moment and he keeps changing his form because of it. Like at Idlewild he had this double pump, keep the disc low almost Feldberg-like putting motion going on, now this weekend at MCO his pre-shot routine is a little more normal except he setting up the disc on an anny angle to start. At Worlds he was still putting with his normal style.

 

[rjnoodlearm]

Putting is as much mental as it is physical. Maybe more for all I know.
Jack Nicklaus was forever fiddling with his putting stroke.
I suspect both of them would have been better off just sticking with the approach that made them among the all time greats.
Great players sometimes tinker with mechanics more than is helpful. Great baseball hitters have been known to do the same thing.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Putting is as much mental as it is physical. Maybe more for all I know.
Jack Nicklaus was forever fiddling with his putting stroke.
I suspect both of them would have been better off just sticking with the approach that made them among the all time greats.
Great players sometimes tinker with mechanics more than is helpful. Great baseball hitters have been known to do the same thing.

While this is spot on, I think it's a bit lacking in context. Very few great players cuddle with their mechanics just for the hell of it. Most do so when what made them great suddenly isn't working as well. That's when the fiddling begins, as they attempt to keep their game on point.

The very best have a certain mindset, have higher expectations, and are harder on themselves, than most other people will be on them.

 

[rjnoodlearm]

I agree, players of any sport don't mess with anything when things are going well. Common sense and superstition both enforce that rule. The point for me is that when a great player goes a bit off, he or she is sometimes seduced by the idea that there is something wrong with their original approach and therefore they need a new one, which seems unlikely to me.

In McBeth's case this would mean for instance that without realizing it he has actually stopped doing what made him successful and what he needs to do is watch video to see what he is doing wrong. It doesn't mean he should start doing something completely different because his "old" approach is now somehow no longer a good one.

Obviously injuries and or age can cause an athlete to need to tweak their routine but I wouldn't suspect that Paul's putting woes are attributable to either one of those.

 

[brutalbrutus]

It's not that easy with Paul. He just can't relearn his 2014-2016 form and expect it to work. His body has changed a lot since then...

He's put on at least 15-20lbs of muscle since those days... and let's face it, he isn't that young, compact but yet flexible kid he used to be. He's developed into more a power hyzer thrower(both FH and BH) over the last couple years. He hasn't really been throwing those giant anhy/flex bombs like he used to, or nowhere near as oftern at the least. Not sure if it's that ankle injury that is still keeping him from doing them or if he just choses not to throw them nowadays but that injury is where it started.

 

[oldmandiscer]

I agree, players of any sport don't mess with anything when things are going well. Common sense and superstition both enforce that rule. The point for me is that when a great player goes a bit off, he or she is sometimes seduced by the idea that there is something wrong with their original approach and therefore they need a new one, which seems unlikely to me.

In McBeth's case this would mean for instance that without realizing it he has actually stopped doing what made him successful and what he needs to do is watch video to see what he is doing wrong. It doesn't mean he should start doing something completely different because his "old" approach is now somehow no longer a good one.

Obviously injuries and or age can cause an athlete to need to tweak their routine but I wouldn't suspect that Paul's putting woes are attributable to either one of those.

Tiger Woods revamped his swing multiple times while being the number one or close to player in the world.

I would bet that Paul is thinking too mechanically at times, or simply too much, versus just letting it happen. He could even be doing it during events which is not going to produce top results. Work on mechanics during practice, in the offseason. Focus on the target on the course.

I do think it's fine in a preshot routine to practice a move that you are trying to replicate, but when it's time to throw or putt, just let it happen naturally, visualize the putt and let it go.

 

[Muddyboots]

Rose goes in the front, big guy.

 

[perklc]

It's not that easy with Paul. He just can't relearn his 2014-2016 form and expect it to work. His body has changed a lot since then...

He's put on at least 15-20lbs of muscle since those days... and let's face it, he isn't that young, compact but yet flexible kid he used to be. He's developed into more a power hyzer thrower(both FH and BH) over the last couple years. He hasn't really been throwing those giant anhy/flex bombs like he used to, or nowhere near as oftern at the least. Not sure if it's that ankle injury that is still keeping him from doing them or if he just choses not to throw them nowadays but that injury is where it started.

You aren't wrong, but at the same time, his putting form changed just between Ledgestone and Idlewild this year, looked a little more normal at GMC, and then looks different again at MCO.

My speculation is that everything he had on his plate (big contract pressure, Foundation DG, his own Foundation, the field getting stronger and deeper around him) was just enough for him to handle, but the World's loss hit him harder than he is willing to admit, then follow that up with Preserve where if he had just been a touch sharper he could have won, follow that up with Ledgestone where he tilts like I've never seen him tilt at Northwood Black, followed up by losing at Idlewild where he starts the final round with a 3 stroke lead on second and a 4 stroke lead on the eventual winner. That's a lot of hits to the ego and confidence in just two months.

 

[disco40]

Is he practicing as much? I don't really believe in confidence affecting performance. I think that stuff is almost entirely superstition and the perception of confidence is chiefly the result of performance. It's easy to be "confident" when you're really good, and you don't get good by being confident.

 

[Ryan P.]

When McBeth finishes not top 2 at Worlds (for the first time in a decade), I'll consider that he's not what he used to be.

In other words, it's clearly a mental thing. When it has mattered, he's been able to focus and get rid of those woes (putting or otherwise) to put him in position to win. He could not win a tournament between now and 2022 Worlds and I'd still pick him to be within a stroke or two for the final nine. But when it's not something that's going to define his legacy, then it's not something he's going to get worked up about. I'm sure he cares about these events, but they aren't what makes him tick. Worlds is important to him.

 

[Hampstead]

I don't doubt the mental aspect, but I'd bet good money on lingering injuries that have forced him to alter his mechanics.

 

[wims]

The man have been missing several putts from like 15 feet this season. Back when he was dominating he basically didn't miss a single putt inside the circle, now he's missing the occasional gimme. Clearly it's mental.

 

[flatflip]

I don't know any serious golfer who is not perpetually tinkering, constantly trying to get better.

In interviews, McBeth has indicated that during his run of dominance, he took no days off -- a standard routine of playing two-three rounds plus field work everyday. He's getting older and that pace is not going to work for him anymore. He's going to have to incorporate some of these changes on the fly, and that means we see a not perfectly polished product in some tournaments.

Nevertheless, dude is pretty good at peaking at the right time. If you go back a few pages on this thread to the springtime, when he was reliably finishing near the top of every tournament and everyone still thought that something was wrong with his stroke because he was not absolutely dominating. He still put himself in position to win every time, most emphatically at worlds, where everything was clicking for the last couple of rounds until he got beat by a historic heater. I would not bet against him finishing on the podium in any major.