Tournament Woes

[Tvbeez]

Hey, just wanted to get some thoughts and maybe some advice for the future from you guys. So I'm pretty new to disc and I played my 3rd tournament ever and I bombed.... again. I've been playing for a couple years and I like to be competitive. Ive been working hard at managing pressure and improving my mental game. I had a blast at the tournament. It was beautiful weather and a fun card.
Anyways, the baskets were on the older side and my putts are usually fast and strong. Almost all my drives were in circle 1 and I felt really good about that, but my putts were bouncing out of the basket, spitting out or cutting through. It was a joke between us card mates that the baskets hated me. I would hit chains dead center for birdie and have my disc bounce out and roll OB. I was so disappointed. It felt like the course was against me. I mean I literally had birdie opportunities on each hole but somehow I ended up 6 over par by the end. I need some support and encouragement. It's so frustrating being so close to putting down a really good round but just getting denied over and over. Really hurt my confidence and bummed me out. I guess I need to learn how to drop my putts into the basket... slow them down and let them fall into the basket slower? Any tips on how to practice slowing down my putt? It's hard because when I do that I feel like I miss more, especially during tournament pressure. I know I could have had one of the best scores if my putts would have just stayed in the basket. That's why they say drive for show and putt for dough. It's just frustrating because I was hitting my putts but getting so unlucky!

I guess this is why it's so addictive. All I want to do is play another tournament and do better.

Thanks for reading and letting me vent out all my frustrations and doubts!

-TVBeez

 

[ru4por]

Different baskets receive putts differently. I grew up in the game with old Mach baskets and then a period of almost exclusively Chainstars. Innova banded monstrosities were almost none existent in Michigan...still are. I learned a softer, nose up putt. Had to in order to ensure that Machs and Chainstars would not spit my business out. Now, I have more issues with newer baskets...you know, the ones with like 50 chains. It is like putting into a wall of chain mail armor. When playing those baskets I have to adjust my putting style to a more flat, firm stroke. Practice is the answer to the rest of your questions, from there.

Keep having fun!!

 

[Tvbeez]

Yeah, I learned on the Mach X and my hard, nose -down putts were rewarded. I just went out today and practiced a million slow and lofty putts from 20 feet. I'm just going to do like 300 of those everyday until I get it as second nature. Thanks for the perspective and anecdote!

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Nose down and barely over the rim is a good combo. If it tries to spot out it will spit out into the basket.

 

[lee76007]

You mentioned "working hard at managing pressure and improving my mental game". Do you have a pre-tee, pre-fairway, and pre-putt routines? If not, develop them, it could help calm your nerves and deal with the pressure. I will start tournament play next year, during my second year playing disc golf. I have 10 plus years ball golf tournament experience, and I found the routines had an influence in keeping my mind focused on the task, not the tournament. I will do the same next year.

You also said you had a fun card, that should of helped? I also didn't score check during the round, it would just and did throw me off when it happened. I once had one of those fun cards in ball golf tournament. 17th hole fairway 2nd round, I was told by an official I was winning the tournament. I doubled bogey the 18th and won by a stroke, lol. I should of just kept chatting with the guys, instead of clamming up. I never let that happened again.

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

If the issue was the baskets and you have a plan to develop a putt that works for those baskets, then I'd just focus on the positives like hitting lines off the tee and having a fun card, and just move on.

Did the spit outs affect other aspects of your game/round? From your post, it sounds like you handled everything well. **** happens.

 

[Nick Pacific]

The pre round nerves and pressure, and especially that nervey feeling you get when you step up to the putt, are the best part of the tournament and competitive disc golf. I can't think of anything else I do in life that gives me that rush, one of the reasons why I love this game.

I hope I don't ever get too accustomed to it and it goes away. Bring on the nerves! :thmbup:

 

[Nick Pacific]

As far as your putt, yeah, you're going to have to work on speed control. It's good to have a very fast spin putt that you can jam into the chains, when it's windy out you'll need that.

But you're also going to need to have a everyday working man's putt, and unfortunately just like ball golf, putting isn't about forcing the ball into the hole, or the disc into the basket. You're going to have to find the balance between spin and push in your putt.

You cannot just jam putts into the basket 100 miles per hour as your everyday putt, it won't hold up putting at subpar baskets, under pressure, on hill slopes, tailwinds, or when there is OB near the basket. You'll also run into the issue of blowing by the basket and having too many long comeback putts and you'll end up 3 putting.

Go on youtube and look up push putting. Now you don't have to totally mimic what everyone is doing, or become a push putter, just pick up little tips and incorporate and mold them into your putt.

 

[GMcAtee]

Don't worry about it.

I've never been a good tournament player. The pace is just too slow for me. I'm much better in a league setting.

 

[BillFleming]

Do you play your tournaments at the same course all the time? Or do the courses all use the same type of basket? My suggestion...if you can afford it, buy a basket of the same type to use in your backyard. Then you can try different discs or putts to see what works best.

 

[araytx]

Hey, just wanted to get some thoughts and maybe some advice for the future from you guys. So I'm pretty new to disc and I played my 3rd tournament ever and I bombed.... again. I've been playing for a couple years and I like to be competitive. Ive been working hard at managing pressure and improving my mental game. I had a blast at the tournament. It was beautiful weather and a fun card.
Anyways, the baskets were on the older side and my putts are usually fast and strong. Almost all my drives were in circle 1 and I felt really good about that, but my putts were bouncing out of the basket, spitting out or cutting through. It was a joke between us card mates that the baskets hated me. I would hit chains dead center for birdie and have my disc bounce out and roll OB. I was so disappointed. It felt like the course was against me. I mean I literally had birdie opportunities on each hole but somehow I ended up 6 over par by the end. I need some support and encouragement. It's so frustrating being so close to putting down a really good round but just getting denied over and over. Really hurt my confidence and bummed me out. I guess I need to learn how to drop my putts into the basket... slow them down and let them fall into the basket slower? Any tips on how to practice slowing down my putt? It's hard because when I do that I feel like I miss more, especially during tournament pressure. I know I could have had one of the best scores if my putts would have just stayed in the basket. That's why they say drive for show and putt for dough. It's just frustrating because I was hitting my putts but getting so unlucky!

I guess this is why it's so addictive. All I want to do is play another tournament and do better.

Thanks for reading and letting me vent out all my frustrations and doubts!

-TVBeez

You're gonna have to show me your putting style before I can tell you what to do as an adjustment. You'll get as many different responses on here as there are people. They will tell you what works for THEM. If you send me a short video, I'll suggest what might work for you.

HMU on FB messenger. A Ray

 

[Tvbeez]

Nose down and barely over the rim is a good combo. If it tries to spot out it will spit out into the basket.

You should have seen the spit-outs I was getting. They were hitting the bottom of the basket and coming out. It happened like 3 or 4 times all in different ways where it actually hit the inside of the bottom of the basket and cane out. The other times it bounced off the chains dead center. My score should have been at least 10 strokes better. I would go from birdie to bogie or double. It was so frustrating for me, I really wanted to do well

 

[Tvbeez]

You're gonna have to show me your putting style before I can tell you what to do as an adjustment. You'll get as many different responses on here as there are people. They will tell you what works for THEM. If you send me a short video, I'll suggest what might work for you.

HMU on FB messenger. A Ray

How do I find you on FB messenger?

 

[Tvbeez]

Do you play your tournaments at the same course all the time? Or do the courses all use the same type of basket? My suggestion...if you can afford it, buy a basket of the same type to use in your backyard. Then you can try different discs or putts to see what works best.

Not all the time, no. Went out of town for the weekend for this tournament. I've always had a fast putt but never suffered any consequences from it. Seeing how many strokes I lost because of my putting style this last weekend rocked me world and has made me rethink everything(which is a positive I guess). I want to be able to sink putts no matter the basket. I filmed myself and watching the footage realized how hard I actually was putting!

 

[BuzzzChief]

If you're repeatedly having "good" putts bounce out of the chains/basket and roll so far away that you miss the comeback putt, you must be throwing absolute missiles at the basket. I see a lot of younger players in tournaments putt like that. When they're on, they're on. They might even hold it together for a whole round. But then they'll have a bad streak of 2 or 3 holes where they have awful blow-bys or spit-outs, and it's over. Confidence shot.

Work on a slightly loftier putt, and practice the crap out of it. Develop a solid pre-putt routine. Meaning, step up to the basket and think about the same things, in the same order, every time. When you practice putting, practice it the same way. Don't just fire off a ton of discs rapidly, because that's not what you do in a tournament.

 

[nothinbuttree]

I mean I literally had birdie opportunities on each hole but somehow I ended up 6 over par by the end.

So that's a 24 stroke swing (assuming 18 hole course). Even a few rolling O/B wouldn't make your round go south that much.

Objectively think back, hole by hole if necessary. Did you get ANY birdies? When you say birdie opportunities, is that all C1, or were some long C2 or even longer attempts? When you missed a putt, how far past the basket did it go?

Simple chain outs and bounce outs typically don't go so far from the basket that a bogey is the result, unless the greens all have major slope, and even then, it is more likely than not to stay close by.

So...how does a possible -18 turn into +6? Not picking, just trying to get some insight that may help.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

I played a tourney this weekend and switched to a softer version of my putter as they were prodigy baskets with chain linkage band. I usually putt with 400 plastic and it simply won't stay in these baskets. Went to soft plastic and that corrected the problem of kick outs and such.