Purely Amateur Hour Here

My last two posts have been about pros on the horizon, the names to watch challenge the "one namers" on occasion on the top cards. Yeah. One namers. You know, like Paul, Eagle, Ricky? Yeah, those guys. But as I always say, more importantly, back to me. Enough pro stuff, it's back to Amateur Hour.

Third time's the charm

I played in my first Azalea Am in March of 2019, the normal time of year for this event. I averaged 17-over and 806-rated in MA3, finishing T15 out of 18. I averaged per round what the winner in my division shot for the entire event. It was only my second ever PDGA-sanctioned event, coming in at a whopping 789 rating, so overall, not terrible.

 

There were some updates to Castle Hayne during the end of that year and the beginning of the next. Mainly, the installation of short tees. I had suffered through the longs before, and decided that I wasn't going to play the shorts in my second go round. So I signed up for MA40, because I'm old, and us old guys can do things like that. But in 2020, Covid hit and the tournament was postponed until August, or what we here in North Carolina call, Prime Hurricane Season. Weather threats and some minor damage to the course forced the move to even later in the year. The weekend before Christmas was not my ideal time to play disc golf. It was cold, wet and rainy. I averaged almost 16-over per round and 844-rated. I finished 8th out of 13. I know what you're saying, "Not bad." It was bad. Four players, including the division leader, didn't show up to play the final round on the second day and one abandon ship with five holes to play. I finished dead last (a.k.a. DFL) of everyone that played the entire three rounds.

I was determined that this year would be different. Better. I had a settled bag. I had discs that I could throw and trust. No last minute additions. I didn't over prepare by practicing a lot; I knew the course. I just had to execute.

Capital Crimes

The late John McKay, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach, was once supposedly asked by a reporter in a post-game press conference what did he think about his teams execution, to which he famously replied, "I'm in favor of it." While the source of the quote is in dispute, the state of my game wasn't. I completely lost confidence in my putting early on and I just never really got it back.

Ordinarily, I do a little breakdown after an event, analysis coupled with analytics. I often find that numbers tell an accurate story, and it usually boils down to, I didn't get off the tee or I didn't make putts. I know I have issues off the tee and I am working on that. I've found that the quickest results come from working on my short game, so I dove into the analytics.

Round and round we go

The first thing I went to was putting. It's always the first thing I go to. My rounds went as follows: 80-75-75 (although round 2 was with baskets in short position which changed hole 4 from a par 4 to a par 3.) Circle 1x putting for those were: 77-85-63. Not exactly the answer I was figuring. My best round scoring was my worst round putting inside circle 1.

I was sure that was a mistake. So I looked at how many putts I took in each round, both overall and in circle 1. Must be an answer there. I checked: round 1, 27 overall - 21 C1x; round 2, 25/20; round 3, 27/24. None of the saved 5 strokes, from the worst to the best scoring round, came as a result of putting, although there were fewer C2 putts. Ideally, I'd be happier with 24/18 and not miss anything inside C1x.

Driving was next. Maybe I got off the tee a little better at the end? My driving percentage down the line was 40-45-40. Again, no significant change, but a different outcome each round. I certainly had to get creative with errant shots off the tee. Scramble? 33-42-25. Hmmm. Normally, I don't have to dig this deep, but there's lots of ups and downs with my rounds and, despite trying to keep a level head and make par when I encounter trouble, too often, I go for that hero shot. Sometimes, I just don't see any other way. You already know how the scramble went, but how many times was I actually par or better?

Round one (80), 8 pars - no birdies. Round two (75), 6 pars - 1 birdie. Round 3 (75), 7 pars - 2 birdies. Not a ton of variation there either. I picked up one shot from beginning to end there. I felt really good about that 2 on number 13 in the final round. I've been trying to get that one for awhile, and it was a tap-in to boot. I feel like I need to dig deeper into that scramble percentage

I'd like my rounds scrambled please

So you know that first round scramble at 33-percent? I was 4 of 12 on those conversions. On 2 par-4s and 2 par-5s, after not being in at least C2 in regulation (2 or 3 shots, respectively,) I was still able to salvage a par by getting up and down, as they say. On the 8 missed opportunities, I was evenly split on par 3s and 4s.

In the second round, I also scrambled 12 times, but converted 5 of those. Five of the 7 misses, par 3s, but I did get at least one scramble on a short hole as well.

The third round was my highest rated, and least over par score, yet I was only 25-percent when I boarded the struggle bus. How many times was I scrambling? Yep. Twelve. I scrambled, and converted the par-5 12th all three rounds. Honestly, the birdie in the final round was technically a scramble, but taking a second shot from a place where I have been so often, you might as well call it my normal play.

Crossed Tees

My difficulties off the tee are just something I have learned to deal with as I work on my game. It doesn't seem to matter if I am going for the "get all I can" shot, or the "disc down, play safe" route. Often I fail to execute even on the "safe" play, so I might as well try to get some extra distance.

Hole 14 pretty much was indicative of my tournament. It's a stock forehand, dogleg right, listed at 330 feet. For the longest time this was a forehand flex with an Innova Xcaliber, and later, a DD Lucid Metallic Enforcer. That was until I started out-driving the chute when the disc didn't hook up in time. I was flabbergasted. Then I moved to throwing my Lucid-X Felon, and as I improved, it just became a stock forehand, no forced flex.

In the first round I tried to put too much power behind it and yanked left. The second round, I sawed it off a bit and went right. The final round, I piped it, hooking up perfectly and following the fairway to the right. Technically, I hit fairway all 3 times (thank you trees,) but I was out of position, short left and pinched on the right hand side of the early fairway. I took a 4, 5, 3, in that order. The inconsistencies can be maddening at times. But what about overall?

I have to admit, I am generous with the fairway hits. You kind of have to be when you're playing in the woods, especially when there are scattered trees within the intended line of play. Hitting a tree 70 feet off the tee and it drops right in front on me?...fairway hit. Not pretty, but I don't get the pro stats for marking short. Here we go again. My worst round and my best round, hit the same amount of fairways.

I really try to focus on the positives and try to identify my shortcomings. It's not usually this difficult. So where was the real difference in my rounds?

You're still away

Ironically, my worst round putting was my best score and highest rated round. The low point was taking the CTP on hole 16 in the first round, then 3-putting from edge of circle to card a 4 with 2 of my 5 cardmates. But obviously, my putting wasn't holding me back since I ultimately scored better despite those numbers. But when the numbers added up, they really added up.

Let's start with bogeys first: 5-9-6. I know you may have the understanding that there would be no math. There is ALWAYS math. We already talked about pars or better. And now the bogeys or better are starting to shape the narrative here with holes accounted for in each round (13, 16, 15 total of plus one or better.)

 

In round one, when I didn't get down the fairway to at least salvage a bogey, I was +11 on 5 of those holes. Round two, +4 on 2 holes. Round three, +7 on 3 holes, but I did get 2 birdies, so that helped balance a few missed shots.

To make a long story, short...too late!

At the end of the day (well, 2 days) when I was bad, I was REALLY bad. I can't even say that it was shot selection or disc choices. I threw some shots that I had no business throwing...and made them...at times. I guided my Lat64 Pure through a gauntlet of saplings to make birdie on 12 in the last round. Near the end of the event, on 7, I threw a forehand flex, from a knee, through a gap in the trees I couldn't have thrown a baseball through, standing upright, more than 2 times out of 10. Of course, I ran the putt to try and complete the hero play, then missed the come backer, so, not good.

But I also missed some easy upshots and didn't commit to some lines that would have seen me out of trouble. It would have also kept me out of worse trouble. I may be suffering from overconfidence. I think I would be better served by putting myself in position for more pars, saving bogeys, and steering clear of those doubles...or worse.

I did average 13-over and 858-rated though. But I do hate playing "old man golf." Although, I am and old man...an old man that likes throwin' his Flippin Discs.