Flippin' Discs

The first time I played Disc Golf, I really had no idea what I was doing. I had the most basic understanding...very basic. My brother, son and I were headed across the parking lot toward the first tee pad as I feverishly tried to download an app for a scorecard, taunted by my fickle cell signal on South Mountain in Bethlehem, PA. It was crap. The signal, and the first app that finished in time for the round to begin. The other four apps I selected finished downloading somewhere amidst the glorious wilderness as I tracked my way to an outstanding 27-over par. We went live on Facebook on hole 9 , in an embarrassing display of amateurism. But we were having fun. And I became interested in the sport of disc golf. About a month later, I was ready to jump in, and I decided to find a more complete app for my adventures. I had no idea how vital this would be for my game. I opened UDisc for the very first time and have enjoyed every moment since. So, this post is going to brag on my favor

It's still hard to believe that the first time I picked up a disc was about 5 months ago. Borrowed a couple and bought one. It would be another month or so before I got a few more used discs and went out to play again. I knew I wanted to play more after the first time out. Once I played again, I was hooked. I really didn't know much about the game...there's still a long way to go. Every day I get more enthusiastic about throwing discs, and I would have to say that the most influential part of the experience, is the people I have met. Without all of them, I wouldn't be enjoying this game so much. It's not like other sports I'd been more of an organizational guy. Set times to show up for softball games in the city league. Sundays for adult league soccer, 11, 1, or 3. Early morning sign-ins for a triathlon or a tee time to meet a few people at the course. Shelling out bucks for gear, registration and greens fees, with no real practice time, yet every one of th

In the early going I found time to sneak out quietly by myself to a few of the disc golf courses in the area. I was still a little skittish about playing with other people. In time, I found a guy that can go out and have fun, but still be looking at improving parts of his game and mine. I am still not good at practicing, but I have found a way to get out there and practice, while I play, with a little game I like to call, "Be Like Mike." It's a little play on the competitiveness of Jordan, as well as the number 23. Participation trophies are crap and I rarely play where I don't keep score. It's my fatal flaw. But this game helps me get some extra work in, and track my progress. Here's how it basically works: A game within a game I play my first shot from each tee as I normally would. The approach can range from a conservative, "this is the disc that I can get into play," to "throwing this disc like I know I can will be the perfect shot.&q

I warned you this day was coming. This is the part where we reflect on the recent past only to move backward into the journey of how I got here, and then, fast forward back to the present again. I do have some links in this post. I hope that won't distract you too much, but you can always click those after reading so you can get a visual from my story. Heading Downtown It didn't take much convincing from a new friend, but I got into my first tournament, one tied to the PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association.) This past weekend I participated in the DUO (Downtown Urban Open) in Cary, North Carolina during the doubles event on Saturday before the individual competition happened on Sunday. The event itself is like most sports experiences, there's a community aspect, kids' clinic, local sponsors, plus the big names in the industry sponsoring, plus prizes and showing off some merchandise. The camaraderie is unrivaled in anything I have done to date. I've played in

I saw a post the other day, which I shared to my page , and it got me thinking about my approach to the game and what I am doing to make myself better. If you just like to go out and enjoy the company, fling a few discs while you hang out, that's cool. I like that too...I'm just not very good at it. I have fun when I am competitive, when I'm good at the activity, when I can surprise a few people. I've had my moments these past 3 months playing the game by being good (lucky, whatever. Tom-ay-to, Tom-ah-to.) Participation trophies aren't my thing. I want to be great, and I lack patience. Overall, that's not a bad thing. You just have to figure out how you're going to make the most of your preparation. So, we'll take the portion noted on the board regarding "Distance Practice," or what I like to call, "Field Research." (Football) Field Research A little while back I posted an amusing little video about practicing your technique and

My first real trip to any store to buy discs was a Dick's Sporting Goods up in Pennsylvania this past July. I was with my brother and my son, trying to pick out a couple discs so that we would each have about 3 or 4 to throw. They only carried Innova discs, which is fine by me, I've learned to enjoy throwing a lot of them...A LOT, of them. As we got to the endcap display of discs, I could see that my son was getting a little excited. Now, above the racks of plastic is a graphic and one panel with some information vital to learning about the discs. My son recognized this immediately. "Take a picture of that. We're going to need that," he said intently. He was talking about this . More specifically, he was focusing on the part referring to the flight ratings in order to begin to understand the characteristics of each of the discs we would encounter. We're kinda nerdy that way. Now that Paul McBeth is no longer associated with Innova, and the ratings h

I played in my first tournament today. Just a little, local outing with 15 players at the municipal park under the "whatever the weather conditions happen to be for this 2 hour stretch" kind of pattern we get so often in Southeastern North Carolina. I came...I saw...yeah, that was about it. While there was no chance of crossing streams (since we all know that "it would be bad") there was some potential for crossing fairways and this Newbie, had a few O.B. crossings as well....So, I didn't kick anyone's, well, you know. I managed to finish dead last . However, I rebounded with 3 shots better on the last nine and birdied the last two, with a shot at CTP on number 3 . Here's my scorecard from the two nines. I played with a great bunch of very experienced players. I tried to learn as much as could watching them run at putts, which was a terrible part of my game today, but they were encouraging all along the way as I faltered. That's the great thin

There are several ways to learn new skills. Depending on what corner of the Internet you stumble into, there are anywhere from 3 to a thousand. As is customary for me, I'll take you somewhere in between, but I'll spare you the agony by falling toward the first figure. When acquiring a new skill, there are 3 types of learning: auditory, visual and tactile. More simply put, hear it, see it, do it. Teachers know that some students lean more toward some of those rather than others, and physical activities favor the see it, do it formula. The explanation comes along with illustrating a correct example, and it's the images that tend to hold more weight. And while Disc Golf heavily favors the tactile, you have to gain at least some basic understanding of what that looks like, no matter what technique you are using for your throws and putts. Case in point...the reason that the sport of soccer is in about the same place developmentally as it was when I was growing up more than 3

The purpose for this blog is to share information, and I love to write, so this works out well for me; it's a win-win. One of the reasons I got into disc golf so quickly is that there is so much information to absorb, the equipment, the techniques, the throws, the physics and an abundance of opportunities to play and get better. The first thing you need to do is get some discs. If you know someone that plays, go out with them. Disc golfers are really a cool bunch and will certainly allow you to borrow a few, even recommending what discs are right to get you started. I didn't have that so much, maybe you're on your own too. It's ok, you'll make plenty of friends later once you get going. Time to get some discs I had a feeling I was going to hooked on this game, so I jumped in with both feet, looking for discs. My recommendation is to get a basic starter set and I'll talk about two here. Franklin makes a basic starter set that will cost you around $10-20 de

It wasn't supposed to be anything. Just a stroll through the woods during a trip to visit my brother in Pennsylvania for his birthday. He had a few discs and I picked up an inexpensive starter set before I went up to give us a few more. We still went to a sporting goods store for two additional discs when I got up there. I think that gave us nine to split among my brother, myself and my son, for our round of disc golf. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we had 3 a piece. Anyway, so we set out on July 8th with the GPS guiding us to South Mountain Disc Golf Course in Bethlehem, PA, near Lehigh University. I had already downloaded about 4 apps to use as a scorecard. (I've never been good at playing for fun and I ALWAYS keep score...it's a curse.) We grabbed our discs and made our way across the parking lot toward the first tee and the map of the course layout. This was my first time playing disc golf, so I had no idea what to expect. I approached this with the same mindset I had a