So, how did you play today? Part II

[DeanMoriarty]

Snuck onto Camp Luther Pines to play the 18 hole that has eluded me for years now. The front nine has actual cement teepads and the entire course now has new and actually really good signs but there's literally a sign right in front of one's teepad that says Course Is Not Open To Public, Only For Campers but told myself I'd play until someone asks me to leave.

Didn't get bothered by anyone and it ended up being actually a pretty cool course. Then I went and checked out a course way out in the sticks called Rohr's Wilderness Tours which was an 18er set inside a campground. The course itself wasn't too great and the baskets were cheap Amazon single chains but they were still fun. And there was technically only 13 baskets but the ones you threw to multiple times were done in a way that you didn't even notice they were the same one for two different holes.

Lastly today I went over the border to finally bag The Tailings in Iron River, Michigan. I've heard lots of stories about this course being extremely tough and being overtaken by nature due to the area not having a huge DG scene. Apparently there's been a group of volunteers that have gone out there and mowed and cleared a lot of rough and let me tell you, I had an absolute blast today even though there was a few holes from the long tees were you basically have to tell your disc good bye because of the high chance of it being absolutely gone. Managed to not lose any discs and played from mostly the long tees. Oh yea, hole 11 is one of the craziest down hill bombs I've ever thrown. You are literally out of breath by the time you walk up to the long tee pad perched at least 30 feet up a steep hill that is crumbling apart. Definitely not a course for your average chucker.

Overall today was absolutely fun and I'm really happy at the progress I'm making learning backhand as I never cared to really learn how to throw that way as I became almost 100% reliant on my forehand throws for drives, upshots and sometimes putts. Courses become a lot more fun and a lot less frustrating when you start getting a bunch of different shots in your bag of tricks.

 

[jupiterboy]

Really bad. Super nice morning so I headed out for the best local course and had a particularly horrible round.

 

[VegOut]

Played two rounds at a Disc Golf Park yesterday. Shoot slightly above average. Working of form during rounds is hard.

 

[Magnet69]

Shorts @ C.P.Adams... The guys left early and played 1&2 b4 I got there... Think I broke my pinky toe on my right foot last night at work so I was discing up on the holes I played. 0-0-2-4-2-3-3-3-3-3-0-0-2-2(13b)-0-0-0-2-2-3(19)-3-3... Tough to get aggressive with the sore/broken toe...

 

[autocrosscrx]

Played short to short yesterday at Athens Regional in TN after signing up to play MA4 there in a tourney next month. It isn't particularly easy, but par is really soft. Even par is probably about 800 rated.

First time I checked out the course, I played pretty bad. Not sure of total score, but it was a few over. Went there yesterday, with the plan to play smart golf. I didn't throw anything faster than a 9 backhand, I didn't run long putts, I laid up putts with a roll away chance, and I pitched out whenever I did go in the rough. And I really focused on not trying to throw hard. Shot a -6, even though I really only had maybe 3 or 4 good shots.

 

[sisyphus]

My buddy Troy and I returned to Cedar Grove for the Crossover Naughty or Nice event today (Josh & Cheryl throw the most fun activities, short course, byop dubs w/ the 'Nice' player throwing the first round tee shots from the easy layout ...with some benefits, then the 'Naughty' player getting the medium layout and some hijinks second round).
We brought home the win, half the ACE pot, and 3 of the 8 ctp's, plus the 'white elephant' disc exchange, and a really fun time!

 

[ChrisWoj]

A massive wall of text about TOBOGGAN.

Yesterday I went out to play Toboggan and was absolutely WOWED by the improvements of the past two years. I already knew that hole 5 looked amazing on video and hole 6 looked challenging. The additional grass thats taken hold has made them both look even BETTER. Hole 5 is no longer the "red carpet" hole - it is a beautiful grassy fairway all the way down. Hole 6 now looks more manicured as well with grass on the early portion of the hole coming in.

And then there are this year's improvements. Rest in Hell Hole #8 (last year 9) - no one will miss your plinks-luckshot approach from the tee to the green. That hole truly sucked - the hyzer attacking the green that smashed the trees early and didn't get lucky was rarely much worse than playing to the opening for the wide open putt up the entrance to the green, so the hole was purely an effort at attacking the green and making a prayer. New hole 9 is a great downhill 460' birdie bid, with foliage protecting the backhand approach hyzering in, requiring precision from the players who attack the easier early part of the flight. Truly great righty forehand throwers will feast on it, but it brings struggles into play with the trees encroaching a bit more earlier on the left side. This was the only hole, I believe, that still isn't in its Great Lakes Open position - which will be at 570. That position appears to provide a LOT more coverage against the backhand, and increases the danger because of the need for more power on the forehand, but overall increases the advantage for the truly great RHFH throwers.

New hole 10 is likewise an INCREDIBLE addition to the course. If you open last year's GLO Final B9 coverage pause at 1:15 imagine a big fair fairway playing straight uphill another 225+ past that basket. That hole is now over 650' and it makes Hole 2's uphill feel like a walk in the park. The hole just goes up... up... up... and its honestly probably still going up right now. When you play this hole you will arrive at the green, putt out, and your mental game will still be climbing the hill for another seven to ten business days. I love it! It is a CHALLENGE, but a fair one!

New Hole 11 keeps the fun going - with a great "touch" shot par 3. I say that with quotations because it is a true pro-level par 3 that requires you to pop the disc, but with all of the downhill and the way it "rides" to the right for most of the hole, at 512 feet it takes all of your angle control to get the disc moving downward. One of my playing partners was so frustrated by the big tree out on the left, he kept bemoaning how easy it would be to get his Teebird on the right angle if it was gone, but I love that. For both the FH and the BH players the trees necessitate throwing a shot that has a fair amount of wing angle change to get to the downward drifting straight finish to the right. The pros, with more power and cleaner releases, will be able to release closer to the final angle than us mortals, but it still will require them to really play angles well.

Additionally I was playing new 15 for the first time. What a hole. I hear that they widened the entrance to the fairway and the early part of the fairway itself, and if so I think it was a great change. Overall this hole is FAR superior to the pairing of old holes 14+15. The birdie is a hell of a challenge, but its so fair and definitely gettable (probably obvious considering at least one pro grabbed it 3 times last year, I believe - Ellis).

Stuff from my rounds
-I scored a 69 (+5) round 1 playing AmNationals OB, and scored an identical 69 round 2 playing Great Lakes Open OB (a big difference on a handful of holes). My putting was weak all day, and 2nd round when I was getting into the circle more often it really hurt me. I dipped from 86% C1X on fewer putts R1 to 60% C1X on more putts round 2.

-Round 1 I played the 6 holes I've never played +7, Round 2 I played the same holes +2.

-Hole 17 with the GLO OB ate my lunch round 2. Double OB, didn't advance at all from shot 3 to shot 5. Out of my hand the drive off the tee felt good but as soon as I saw it moving in the air I realized it was terrible and spiked in 30' OB. I was trying the "safe" Eagle style hyzer out wide and just misjudged it.

-Hole 2 round 1 I managed a 120' throw in for a birdie 3 after a mediocre 2nd shot.

-Hole 6 was my high point both rounds, with a tap-in birdie and a 15' birdie. My only consecutive birdies were R1 holes 6-7.

-Hole 9 round 2 might have been my prettiest shot, with the backhand just sneaking inside the green guardians and sliding in to 20' left. Though I wish the pro placement would have been in place to play that.

-I was very happy to get drop in par both rounds on 14. It is a long long hole, and the par feels both academic and satisfying. For a guy with power just below your average touring pro it is just far enough that you can't quite see yourself getting the bird without a blind C3 throw in at best, but its open enough that you're very frustrated if you don't execute a clean and easy par even if it is a blind approach.

-Got the birdie on 17 R1. With the 2 on 9 R2 I was ecstatic to get to see a 2 on my scorecard both rounds. Not many of those out there!

-What a great day of golf. I was on the course for approx. 7 hours, with a 4+ hour round and a 3 hour round. Absolutely my favorite way to spend a day.

-I didn't see much poison ivy out there! Surprising! I still scrubbed the hell out of myself with dish detergent for over 30 minutes when I got home at 10pm (90 minutes to get home for me). Fingers crossed that I won't wake up in the middle of the night tonight with some spots of PI that I missed but I feel pretty confident given how little I saw that it won't be an issue.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Progress! Sunday played a Sanctioned league round and got a 980 on the nose. So far I've shot, at our sanctioned leagues, a 971, 959, and now a 980. The game is really coming along, just less than a month out from injury return, though the headspace has been uneven. The round this weekend had a couple of bonehead moves that kept it from being a fire round. Par 59 layout, I shot a 54 (-5) with 2 bogeys and a double bogey.

Key errors related to headspace:
1. My putting, really all week, had been in a weird space. I changed up my putting a bit over a week ago playing Terry Calhoun's BRATS courses because the first course we played had about 10-12 thin tone poles (2" or 2.5" PVC?). I was on fire, and so I kept putting with a more line drive approach and it just got worse as that day went on, and then I couldn't find my putt for a minute. It impacted me on the Toboggan on Saturday, and then it took until about halfway through the sanctioned round Sunday to find confidence in my normal putt again.

What I mean by finding confidence is allowing myself to simply imagine the feel of the putt I want, and then setting up my body and letting it fly without a thought for form. I missed a short C2 birdie my first hole, a short birdie my sixth hole, and a short bogey on my 11th hole.... before finding it just in time for comfortable birdie/birdie/C2 par putts on my last three holes.

2. I also had two flubs that resulted from failing to follow advice I give to the Rocket Disc Golf Club members alllllll the time. I tell them, before every tournament: Find shots on the course that you know, and just throw those shots. Don't try to throw shots you don't have practiced and grooved.

So what do I do?

On my 10th hole, with a headwind out front, I decide that a 440' slight-downhill shot with a ton of early foliage forcing an over-the-top I would go with an anhyzer released Champ Firebird and try to get a flex out of it to get onto the green. I never throw the sharp anny release shots. What do I do? Chuck it into the above-head-high foliage to the left. No anny AT ALL. Just a total pure straight nose up shot that faded way left, way short. Bogey.

And then on my 11th hole, following that up, we have the hole I double bogeyed (a 6 on a par 4). So in addition to missing an 18' putt for bogey, I also got myself into instant trouble off the tee because instead of trying to play with my card up the fairway, I figured I would try to outdrive them. Not really a reaction to the bogey the hole before, more just trying to show up one of my very best friends with some extra pop. The attempt to put extra velocity on the shot resulted in throwing my timing, and I ripped a straight to fade that went, that's right, into the above-head-high foliage again. On the throw out I simply didn't get the angle right, and chucked it out of bounds. Suddenly I'm sitting 4 from 80. I lay up to 18 and miss the putt I described above.

All told I probably lost about 4 shots to pure mental weakness over the course of the round. But the fact that it was still a 980 tells me that I'm on the right track. If I can start getting real field work in, I should be able to push through to a really nice late summer and fall season this year.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Share the good, share the bad.

Played a 947 yesterday. Incredibly disappointed - absolutely did not want to throw any rounds under 950 right now. But... is what is. Had one of those rounds where it *felt* like I was playing much better than my score indicated. Shot a 55 (-1) on a course with a few par 3.5 holes. Par was "56." Just could not get myself to birdie putt range, and missed a pair of completely obstructed par putts inside C1. Definitely think I lost a few strokes where wind took me and flung me halfway through the flight, where I'd thought I had the wind played well. Had a bunch of almost-makes from the 70-80 foot range not quite stick, hit basket at the rim on a few 45 footers, could have looked much different with a little sharper putting.

Overall pretty happy with how I played, pretty happy with my putting - it just wasn't good enough to translate to scoring. Still managed to take 4th place out of 5 cashing spots in a 14 person field. So I haven't missed cash since I started back - but this is disappointing as the first time I've lost a round in a non-playoff.

After the round I threw a bunch of open field shots, just ripping. I think there's a lot of power I'm not accessing yet. Letting myself reach back and finding the pull for that 85-90% power range is going to be a focus moving forward, so that I can more comfortably play the longer stuff.

 

[EllEstar]

Almost got a 500' flat ground roller with a Leopard3 and met Ricky Wysocki and played 1 hole with him. He beat me by 5 strokes, but signed my 2017 Ricky Dagger. 520' slightly uphill "par 3", I threw a roller and he two'd it with a Felon.

Rest of my round was really fun but I played terribly, I guess that's what lack of sleep and 7 cups of coffee does to you.

 

[autocrosscrx]

Played league last night. I'd played 7 rated rounds up to this point. I think I'm a better player than this, but I'm rated 791. First week of leagues, we played the same course and I shot +8, which was rated 790.

One of my problems is that I struggle a bit sticking to my plan when I play with people that out throw me. I get on a mixed card with MA2 and I'm getting bombed by most of MA3, so I was a bit worried. Mostly stuck to my plan, hit some putts, and shot the same score +8, which came up to 827. My best rated round so far.

So a step in the right direction. And everyone on my card was super cool.

 

[VegOut]

If we are talking ratings, shot 74 points higher than my current rating today in a flex tournie. Two strokes better than last's month, but we played with less OB. Still went OB on 2 and basically 3. Procured lunch, beers, and 3 discs. Not a bad day.

Switched from spin to push putt on Tuesday and been working on my form the past 3 weeks so my game is in transition.

Going to play the local pitch and putt to get some more practice and steps in before dinner (Jaegerschnitzel with Bratkartoffeln). Don't know if I'll only use putter or my whole bag. Hope everyone else had a great day.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

Played a new course.
Crandall Park in Glens Falls NY

 

[ChrisWoj]

*grumbles* Another 945. Twice this week, same rating. Broad rating spread at this course - I was part of a 5 way tie for 2nd. First, one shot ahead of us, shot a 959. I missed a very short putt on the next to last hole as well. My only C1X putt missed that wasn't completely obstructed... But as bad as that putt was it paled next to the 7 hole par run I had on the course. Deuce or die layout, and I just went dry for a while. I started off getting my first, third, fifth and seventh holes.... Then nothing. Until getting 3 of the last 4 with a missed putt on the fourth.

I'm just not sharp right now because I haven't put in an ounce of practice since getting healthy. Somewhat encouraged still by my mental space, and my approach to the rounds. But I'm just not sharp and it's starting to drive me nuts. So I need to get out doing some field work, or I'm gonna drive myself insane with the lack of results

 

[discerdoo]

2nd place in a C Tier masters series MA50 today, 882 and 893 rated rounds. Reasonably happy since it's 19 above my rating and had 10 birdies in 36 holes. Also had some OB strokes, fives and missed 10 foot putts.

Those boys are in trouble when I stop being ignorant.

 

[mas30066]

Stroke collector. Some days simply aren't yours. One killer forehand that parked 270 on a steady incline. Otherwise, just spraying the course.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Still moseying along... Last eight days I've played 2 sanctioned rounds. A 947 and a 956. Both on courses I've only rarely played, despite being nearby. I need more time on them - I've been throwing consistently *good* shots, but I'm not quite grooved, so I'm throwing from 10m an awful lot.

Last 3 sanctioned rounds have averaged 949. Which is very strange for me, considering I've been putting just fine. Usually if I'm shooting below the 970s it has to do with my driving, but my driving in this case has left me so consistently 30-50 that I'm needing the putting just to hang. I need a lil more course time than I'm getting.

last 3 rounds went -
80% C1X (8/10)/0% C2 (0/9)
81% C1X (13/16)/0% C2 (0/8)
82% C1X (9/11)/38% C2 (3/8)

So I've missed 7 C1X putts, and made 3 C2 putts. Normally that sort of ratio over 3 rounds, for me, would mean 970-980ish golf. So I definitely have work to do off the tee right now. I can say I have been happy with my return game after missed C2 putts. I haven't been lazy, I've been aggressive, so I'm getting a lot of 18-20 footers and I'm hitting almost all of them. I can count 4 of 7 C1X misses that were holes where I was stuck with a serious obstruction.

 

[R-Ogre]

League night was one disc wonder, I went out of my comfort ZONE and used an Envy. Shot a pretty decent 51 especially considering I don't have a ton of experience with the envy and it requires a lot more finesse than a zone. I did have a sick 2 on a hole that's got like a +50' elevation gain and is usually a bonus 2 even with a full bag.

 

[acrosley]

Shot 3 over at my local which is 8 strokes worse than my personal best from a couple months ago. I did have 2 pretty nice drives tho and that's what keeps ya coming back I hear

 

[foxdawg10]

I played an early relaxing morning round and had a ton of fun. I pulled out 2 discs that I haven't used in years and immediately regretted not keeping them in my bag. I used the Discraft Mantis on quite a few holes and was reminded why I love that disc. Easy to control and straight as an arrow with tons of glide, which is a huge plus for me. I'm coming off some elbow and forearm injuries so this is exactly what I need. I ended up hitting the cage on my second shot of a 630 foot hole over water and took a drop in 3.

It is those early morning rounds that I truly love. I was never able to reconcile the relaxing zen like part of the game with the competitive side.