Flippin' Discs

Longest Drive The early morning sun was starting to light the way as we made our way through Fayetteville, North Carolina on the way to the 3rd Annual Pine Cone open at Anderson Creek in Lillington. My navigator and brother, PJ, was little help as my GPS struggled to give me the direct route to transition from Highway 87 to 210 for the rest of the trip North. We meandered along the neighborhood streets near Mazerick Park before making it over to Murchison Road and passing by Fayetteville State University. I was starting to question entering this tournament. This was my longest drive to date. I drove both days to King's Cup in Kinston in January and Fayetteville for a one-day fling in May. My only other sanctioned tournament was right in my backyard. This was going to be first course that I would be playing blind as well. I had practiced every other course so far prior to tournament rounds. But I had looked forward to playing this event, run by Hannable McGarity, someone I'd...

It's been crazy the last few weeks. I started a new job, one that let's me talk about disc golf all the time. Well, most of the time. I work with great people and get to touch lots of plastic. If you ever get around Wilmington, NC come check us out at Cape Fear Games and we'll help you find some more discs. I think my wife enjoys it more than I do because I don't have to get my disc golf talk on so much at home. Plus, if it's raining, or cold or you don't go outside when it's over 80 degrees, I can hook you up with some people that can find other great games to play too. I'm learning those slowly. The last PDGA ratings update moved me up 25 points to get to 823 and into the 800 club. My 4th place Rec finish at the Cumberland County Copperhead in Fayetteville, NC was the driving force in that bump up. I was starting to feel a little disheartened at the opening 789 and gentle move up nine points following my first two tournament outings. I had...

About a month ago, our fearless leader in our local DG club began with brackets for a Match Play tournament. Interest seemed to be very high, and the 18 players who signed up appeared to make it a worthwhile adventure. There were a few bumps in the road early on, but overall, it's been a great experience, especially to those who weren't familiar with the format. I'll share my adventures here and give a recap of my final match. Honestly, I hung in longer than I expected. It was also a nice departure from doubles and stroke play. Match Play Format Most people are familiar with traditional stroke play. Every shot taken counts as a stroke toward your score. Penalty strokes may be assessed for leaving the designated play area or various infractions. You collect strokes (some more than others) and generally the competition is the rest of the field of players participating. Every stroke counts, so taking a 5 on a par-3 when other players are making birdie is a 3 shot swing i...

Over the last two months I have taken the same approach to disc golf that I had with its relative of the clubbed variety. I was struggling to improve scoring, mostly with the short sticks. So, I spent less time on the range worrying about length off the tee and focused on getting into play, then I turned my attention to the putter and wedges. Voila. Trimmed at least 10 strokes from the scorecard. Time to grab some Flippin Discs and translate... Working backwards The adage goes, "Drive for show. Putt for dough." My drives in previous two PDGA events had been less than stellar overall. Some, were downright awful. It seemed like I was finding new form flaws each time out and trying to correct in between outings, or even rounds, to improve my technique. It was like the only thing that was improving was my inconsistency. What made matters worse was that my putting was dreadful. I didn't realize just how awful I was until I connected my Udisc account to my PDGA Members...

So, now we work back to the beginning of the hectic week that culminated with my stellar showing in the Copperhead IV. The week began with the Sexton Shootout, hosted at one of my local courses near Wilmington, North Carolina. Castle Hayne (or Castle Payne, as it is affectionately referred) is a challenging wooded course that generally eats discs all day long, on hole 8 to be sure, with some other trouble spots as well. It can be a par 63 or 64 based on some basket locations. For this particular event, it was par 63 with the adjustment being made to move the tee area up on the normally par-5 8th, making it a par 4. It also took out the frustration of a difficult drive around a corner to the left and potentially losing a disc, because the single shootout round is played with only 3 discs. The Format The Sexton Shootout is a one round singles tournament with a simple twist, you play the entire round with just 3 discs. Players get to bring their own trusty putter, then select one dr...

Last week was a whirlwind of activity, so I wasn't able to collect my thoughts as I tried to cram them all together. Sexton Shootout. Leland Disc Golf Club Match Play begins. Copperhead IV. All from Sunday to Saturday. Quite frankly, each stands on it's own. So, we're going to take it from the most recent event, and work backwards, or out of order anyway. Treat it like a Marvel movie. Last things first This past weekend I participated in my third PDGA-sanctioned tournament this year. Well, actually, third ever. Same-same. The Cumberland County Copperhead IV was held at Mazarick Park in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is host to two disc golf courses, the Pines and Lakes Course. It was a C-tier, so 2 rounds, one day. The Glenville Pines course is "moderately hilly and moderately wooded," according to dgcoursereview.com, while the Glenville Lakes course is "moderately hilly and heavily wooded." The Pines (par 54) seems to be regarded as the ea...

While the 1100-mile trek from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and back again was more of a "pack up my brother's apartment in 2 days" than a disc golf road trip, we did sneak in some fun. My last post was about the area where we spent the most time. I'll add a special addendum to this post about that portion of the trip. I can't move through this experience without mentioning another "disc golf guy," Jeff. He opened his store, DiscInsanity , in August of last year, right about the time that I began my obsession with the game. The shop in Allentown, PA has great options from all the big brands, as well as displays highlighting special edition Discraft, Special edition and Tour Series Innova, and amazing dyed discs. Look for more big things coming during this year from him as well. Backup...hole 1 We anticipated some traffic delays along our route northward...and we had contingencies built it. Lots of disc golf just off I-95. We hit some heavy traff...

A couple of weeks ago, circumstances beyond my control led to an impromptu road trip of sorts. Although the primary purpose was moving my brother from the mountains of the Keystone State back to coastal North Carolina, we were able to squeeze in some disc golf stuff. You'd be surprised at how many disc golf courses are an upshot away from the highway on an 1100-mile trek, or just around the corner from our pivot-point in Schenecksville, PA. In layman's terms, that's in the realm of Allentown, rated #6 by Udisc (based on usage of their app) as one of the top places to play in the country. At least one of the two I played in the area should be a stop for you if you're in the area, the other, perhaps a setting for a low-budget horror flick. We'll start right there... Neff's (Creepy) Valley When the directions to a disc golf course includes, "after passing the graveyard on your left," you have to go check it out. My brother had re-routed me by here ...

I just wanted to start this week's post with a special shout out to the Flyest Guy of Fly Guy Disc Golf , for plugging my little blog recently. It has been a pleasure getting to know him little by little and I believe I should learn a few meditation techniques since I have twice shot better than him in the first round, only to lose to him in the end. He is right about me being technical, although we do share the voice of misery at times. Disc golf has brought the "people person" out of me more of late. Meeting players like James, Hannable, Geoff, Caleb, Deron, Hubert, as well as all of those I've had the opportunity to play with in Wilmington, Leland and the Brunswick County crew have made learning the game more enjoyable than floundering on my own. Bring the Payne I had played over a dozen rounds on this course since taking up disc golf last August. You'd think I'd have learned by now...either how to play the course, or not play it all. I have shown g...

I have enjoyed getting involved in disc golf. The people, the challenges, learning new skills, new shots, new plastic, all of the things that make the game fun. I love that. I'm not good at hanging out, sitting around the yard and chatting with friends. I like doing stuff...doing stuff like throwing some flippin discs with good people. But I'm still not good at just having "fun," per se. I'm always working on something. Maybe I'm trying a new shot to build confidence for the next time I find myself in a situation. Maybe I'm trying to groove an approach with a disc that I've almost got completely figured out. I enjoy the company, but I do look forward to the organized competitions too. Not just a caddy Last month, I caddied for a friend, not because I'm not good enough to play, but it was an opportunity to watch, learn, listen, and see how other players approach the game, and the course that I am about to play this weekend. I am sure there we...

Disc golf is supposed to be fun. It is a whole lot more fun though when you're playing well and not finishing DFL (Dead Flippin' Last.) The monthly tournaments held by one of the local clubs in which I participate, are quite challenging. The skill level of the players here is top notch and the course can be an adventure. As a 789-rated PDGA Member, I was pleased to take advantage of the turnout for this one. Essentially, I am a novice, I play Rec division and really would be over my head against the other Amateurs here. There's a Pro division too, and it will be a long time before we talk about that here. Four players is enough for a card...and a Rec grouping. The people that you meet Preemptively, I will note that we had one player that grew frustrated and abandoned us midway through round 2. Cameron, was my main competition, and he brought his son to play as well. Cameron is new to the sport, like me, and had a brief stretch where he had suffered a broken right...