All posts by Dan Laitsch

What makes disc golf fun?

I recently posted on Facebook about a great weekend of competitive golf one a pop-up course at Fraserglen Golf Course for the 2022 Fraserglen Charity Open. The experience got me asking myself, why was that weekend so much fun. The bulk of the post follows, and, I think, will help me think more about course design issues.

Saturday was a singles event that I previously posted on, Sunday was a doubles event in the rain. Dennis Dreger (of Mundy Park fame) and I got to team up and take on two other teams in the Advanced Amateur division (Dennis was looking at maintaining his amateur status so we picked this division to compete in). We played well in the first round, 13 under par on the 20 hole course, leaving us one behind the leaders. Both teams slowed down in round two, where we finished nine down while our competition, Dayna Fitzgerald and Kieran Atkinson, finished eight under, leaving us in a tie for first. As it was a charity event, cold, rainy, and dark (by the time we finished), and we wanted to celebrate the great competition we had, we decided to leave it as a first place tie.

Round 1 in the books

But, that’s not the story I want to tell. The real story was that I just had a blast, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Don’t get me wrong, I always enjoy disc golf, but on this course, at this time, I felt great freedom to just throw, create lines and strategy, and enjoy the flight of the disc. Even my mistakes left me intrigued by the opportunities for recovery. I’ll be breaking this down and reflecting on it for a while from a course design perspective, but here’s a quick take on what I think went right for me.

First, there was a fair amount of strategic OB on the course (greens and hazards). That said, these areas were placed to avoid, rather than to constrain. As a player, I had a huge amount of choice in how to attack the pin, with the freedom to lay up or run the pin in a variety of ways. That made it fun.

Tombstone, in look and feel!

Second, there was very little “convenience OB”. What do I mean by the term? I’m using this to identify OB put in place to facilitate speed of play (for example, to avoid having players delay the game by looking for lost discs, or to avoid complex recovery shots that take time to set up and execute). A lot of courses are using this these days (I’m looking at you Raptors 👀) but what that often does is kill opportunities for scramble. There were a number of times Dennis and I (and Kieran and Dayna) had to get really creative and make hard strategic decisions in our match based on drives that ended up off the fairway, under trees or behind bushes. That gave us opportunities to execute a great save or acknowledge that a layup was a better strategy and take an extra throw to get to the pin. Convenience OB takes that choice and opportunity away from the player, removes them from the rough and drops them back on the fairway with the one stroke penalty.

Third, as suggested earlier, there was no constraining OB–that is, OB leaving players with only one safe place to land, in a bit of a do or die approach to course design. Every hole seemed to have safe and aggressive lines to the pin so there was always a risk/reward opportunity, and that makes golf fun.

Finally, though “par” is largely an artificial concept, there were a fair number of what I would call soft-pars. That is, calling a 450 foot +/- hole a par four, largely due to the hazards that needed to be avoided. I need to think more about this, but what that did was give us a good opportunity to score and a lot of forgiveness if we didn’t. The end result was that I never felt beat up or oppressed by the course.

Ultimately, kudos to event hosts and course designers, Rob Workman and Jonathan Snys for an entertaining event on a great course and for a great cause (Archway food bank), and time for me to add an addendum to my Principles of Good Course Design post: Principles for Quality Play. Look for it soon in a bookstore near you 🙂. OK, on this website, coming soon.

Player versus the course… run the putt and risk the pond, or layup. This putt splashed into the chains for a birdie!

Mundy Park League Island layout

For all holes, if your drive lands OB, you have the option to play normal OB rules, re-tee with a one stroke penalty, or to proceed to the drop zone with a 1 stroke penalty. For all other shots, normal OB rules apply. The optional drop zone for a hole is the next hole’s tee pad. On or across all paths is OB. If uncertain whether a disc is OB, the group makes the initial call. If there’s a question, throw a provisional and ask the TD for a ruling after.

Hole 1: OB on or outside of the paths lining the fairway and putting area. Drop Zone is tee pad 2.

Hole 2: No OB. You’re welcome.

Hole 3: Must cross the path between the tee pad and basket to be in bounds. Water long and on or across the path on the left of the landing area is OB. Drop zone is tee pad 4.

Hole 4: Water and on or across the path along fairway 5 is OB (fairway 5 would be in bounds). Drop zone is tee pad 5.

Hole 5: Water and on or across the path along the right side of the fairway is OB. Drop zone is tee pad 6.

Hole 6: Water and on or across the path is OB. Drop zone is tee pad 7.

Hole 7: Sidewalks and on or across the paths is OB. Drop zone is tee pad 8.

Hole 8: Sidewalks and on or across the paths is OB. Drop zone is tee pad 9.

Hole 9: Water and on or across the paths is OB. Drop zone is tee pad 1.

A new strategy

This past weekend I had the pleasure to play in the first Queen’s Cup at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver. We got to play on a modified version of the 2016 PDGA/WFDF Team Worlds Disc Golf Championship course that extends into the Queen Elizabeth Park arboretum. The course was an unusual design with six par three holes of between 363 feet and 450 feet on wooded and slightly hilly terrain. While I pride myself on a big arm (particularly at the masters/grandmasters level), getting into the putting circle on a 400 foot wooded hole is a big ask for me. In discussion with other players during the practice round, the conversation revolved around would par be enough? Would the winning score be under or over course par?

The day of the tournament dawned dark and rainy. An incredible 100- 150mm of rain was forecast for the day (seriously folks that’s up to 15 centimetres or six inches of water falling over the course of the day!). The first round I ran my normal game plan–throw hard, throw long, and hit your upshots. In all honesty, it wasn’t the best round I’ve thrown, but it felt solid. One birdie, two bogies, and one double bogey on a bad bounce OB had me in at three over par, which turned out to be third place in Masters and two back of the lead.

Going in to round two, I revised my game plan. Knowing that one over par held the lead, I resolved to play for easy pars in round two. What that meant was shorter more controlled drives designed to set up an easy layup for a par. If I accidentally got close enough for a birdie putt, great, but this was going to be boring disc golf at its best. And at the end of the day, that’s what it was. I missed a short birdie putt on the first hole of the round, and got a late bogey on a blind tree hit and a later birdie on a 312 foot relatively open anhyzer S backhand (thank you Pekapeka!), but other than that it was par golf–and it turned out par golf was all I needed for the win.

I learned a couple of things this tournament. First, I actually can play conservative golf and I am solid on 100-150 foot layups (which I still think is a weakness in my game). My Tui (also my putter) was absolute money on the short upshots–be they hyzer, anhyzer or straight on. Second, being prepared for the rain makes a huge difference. I had a complete change of clothes (shoes and waterproof anorak included) at the lunch break, as well as a cart (Rovic carts are awesome in the rain) with an umbrella holder and a dozen towels to keep things dry(ish) throughout. I also throw wearing a Friction disc golf glove and had zero slip-outs all day long. In truth, I hate rain golf, and it was nice to have a couple of rounds that seemed to play out well in the wet.

A few final thoughts–this time on course design. Across those six par-three holes there were only three birdies from 27 open and advanced players, and those three birdies came on the shortest of the six holes (363 feet). 375-450 foot holes are boring golf. They offer very few players realistic scoring options and result in smart players playing to avoid a bogey, rather than playing to score. A few feet longer can make them a viable par 4, a few feet shorter can make them scoring birdie holes. That said, I’ll cut the designers a bit of slack as those holes had their fair share of bogies and worse, so one might argue that they were really par fours mislabeled. That said, I’d urge course designers to exercise caution when considering the use 400+/- foot holes on their courses.

All in all, it was a fun, if soggy Sunday that proved that even an old dog can learn new tricks!

Feeling the friction

Sometimes you see a product out on the disc golf course and you ask yourself, does that really do anything? When I first saw a Flight Towel I was skeptical, although once I discovered I could get one for a left handed thrower made from a Kahu disc from RPM, I’ll admit I jumped on it (and it does work as advertised for warming up and drying one’s disc).

I had the same reaction when I first heard of Friction Disc Golf Gloves. Originally created for Ultimate players, gloves made sense. The added grip for throws in the rain, the stickiness to maximize catches in the wet, the padding to cushion impact from those hard hucks, even the added warmth on cold game days all made sense to me in the context of a deep rimmed ultimate disc. But on a shallow rimmed disc golf disc? Wouldn’t the glove catch the rim awkwardly? Don’t we need the touch and feel of the plastic to help control our drives and putts?

I first saw one of the gloves in use at the 2019 WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships in Estonia. Carter Ahrens, at the time a 12-year-old phenom on Team USA, was sporting the gloves. Even at 12, it was apparent Carter would be a force to be reckoned with in disc golf (he’s now playing pro–at age 14 folks–with a 975 player rating!).

Carter Ahrens at the 2019 WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships

A few months after this event, I saw a post on Facebook about Carter being sponsored by Friction Gloves, so I purchased my first pair of gloves in support.

When I first tried them out, I immediately felt the benefits. I was able to get more snap and a tighter grip on the disc, but I still wasn’t sold as it felt awkward holding the discs. I also felt like I needed to keep putting them on to drive and taking them off to putt, which was cumbersome to manage. That said, the added control felt good so I decided to give the gloves a two week trial.

Almost two years later, I have to admit I’m hooked. As I noted, the added grip strength gave me a lot more reliability on my drives (discs weren’t slipping out on hard throws, for example). I also found it was easier to control my lines, particularly on anhyzer shots, where discs have a tendency to slip out early. What really sold me on the gloves, however, was their affect on my fan grip shots.

For years my friends had been telling me to throw more long midrange and putter shots. For anything 200 feet and up I was throwing drivers because I found I couldn’t control midranges with a power grip (talk about some impressive cling-ons!), and my putting grip couldn’t get me any distance. Trying a fan grip was uncomfortable as the disc tended to scrape out of my hand when gripping it tightly. With the Friction Glove on, however, using a fan grip was quite comfortable and the added stickiness from the glove’s contact surface across the bottom plate of the disc and my thumb pad on the top allowed me to get excellent snap and power on my throws. My fan grip midrange throws now fly accurately up to and beyond 300 feet.

Field work throw. Piwakawaka wearing a Friction Glove using a fan grip

I also committed to keeping the glove on at all times, rather than take it off for putting. I found after a couple of weeks of regular use, I was putting as well (or better) with the glove on as I had without a glove.

Over the past year, a lot of players have asked me about the glove and I’ll quickly answer a few common questions here:

Me, my Tui, and my Friction Glove
  • Does it help in the rain?
    • Sort of… It does give a better grip, and it helps keep my hand warmer when the disc is damp. That said, it is harder to feel how wet everything actually is, and there are times I end up using a wet towel to dry my wet disc and throw with my wet glove. Bottom line, you still need to keep your equipment as dry as possible.
  • Why wear it all the time?
    • I wear it all the time for both convenience and consistency. It’s easier and more comfortable to keep it on, and I do get value from the added grip on all my throws.
  • Isn’t it hot in the summer?
    • Not at all. The summer gloves have a breathable mesh backing that keeps my hand cool and dry.
  • Does it keep you warm in the winter?
    • Not really. See comment above. That said, Friction does make a winter glove (Friction Warms). I’ve used them in the snow and it was really helpful, however they are bulky, so for competitive tournament rounds I stick with the normal glove.
  • Can I have your right hand glove since you don’t need it? 😁
    • This is the best part! Friction Gloves are sold as a pair or singly, so I just buy the lefty gloves.
  • How well do they hold up?
    • You get a good idea of how hard disc golf is on your hands by watching the wear and tear on the gloves. I play 2-3 days a week (so think 160-320 throws every week, 8,300 – 16,600 throws a year) plus fieldwork and putting practice) and seem to go through three or four gloves in a season (disc golf having two seasons, warm and cold). That said, I’ve only ever used one glove down to the state where I felt is was best to throw it out and I usually have three or four going at any one time (as I misplace them or change bags, etc.). Mostly I rotate through whichever glove is handy, so it’s hard to really keep track.
  • Will you ever go back to throwing bear handed?
    • Nope!

One final note–at a recent tournament a friend asked if I thought they would be helpful in supporting someone with a weak grip. As we age (I’m playing grandmasters remember) we may develop arthritis or other age-related physical challenges that weaken our grip strength. I allowed as how I imagined they would and he now plans to try them out. I hadn’t considered the gloves from that perspective, but I do think they would be helpful. I’ll let you know what I hear back.

Return to Success: CanNats satellite

For 2021, the Canadian Disc Golf Association held the Canadian National Disc Golf Championships in expanded COVID fashion. Because the singular event was cancelled due to pandemic restrictions, the CDGA shifted to holding satellite events in each province. On Sept 17-19, the BC satellite was held at Raptors Knoll disc golf course. The TD (Craig Sheather) brought a lot of creativity to the event, highlighting the diversity of Raptors Knoll’s multiple tee pads and pin placements. Day 1 we played 18 holes on a mixed course (6 red-tee short holes, 6 blue-tee medium holes, and 6 gold-tee long holes). The baskets had also all been moved from their BC Open positions. Day two saw play from the blue-tee pads for the open divisions, and interestingly, without any of the potentially punishing OB Raptors is famous for. Day three saw us on the gold pads with “all of the teeth” of Raptors in play (OB was back).

After my recent failings at the Stillwood tournament I was both nervous and excited about heading to Raptor’s. The course is much more open and suits my style play, but the mix of short and long holes was going to neutralize some of my distance advantage and force me to play holes I normally didn’t play. Stillwood also saw me running into some issues with putting, so despite a week of assiduous practice, I was heading into the event without a lot of confidence.

Friday broke dark, grey, cold and wet. Standing on the tee pad for one brought back memories of the previous week’s cold and wet event. My hope was to finish the round in the neighbourhood of 9 or 10 down–I wasn’t close. The best I could manage was a frustrating 3 under par despite two Eagles, one on hole 2, a 300 foot hyzer bomb through the woods driven by my over-stable Kahu (RPM’s primary long range driver) and the other on hole 17, where my under stable Pekapeka flew a beautiful anhyzer-S 340 feet to the basket, leaving me a 16 foot putt. An eagle on these holes is perhaps not as impressive as it sounds as these were eagles from the Red tees, and all pars at Raptors are calculated from the Gold (long) tees. Still, those shots felt good. We were playing in mixed groups, so I had no idea where that -3 put me in the division (MP 50).

Turns out the weather hit everyone hard–the three-down had me tied for the lead and calculated as a not unreasonable 940 rating. Day two was going to be exciting, playing from the blue tees and in much improved weather. The group was also going to be a fun one, with Graham Garlick (-3) and Dave Slater (even par) rounding out the top three in MP50 and Julie Moen (the event’s sole FPO also at -3) joining us. I’ve played with all of these folks before and both respect their games (Julie coming off a second place finish at Am Worlds!) and enjoy their company (serious players who also know how to laugh and enjoy the round). The moderate distances meant that low scores were achievable with good drives, but it wasn’t the birdie-or-die setup that the red tees offer. My round started slow with a par four on a hole that is an achievable three (my upshot flew wide and was knocked down by a tree well outside putting range). Hole two I missed my Eagle opportunity, but had a tap in birdie and hole three was a tap in birdie as well. Hole three my putt for birdie fell short, leaving me at -2 as we stepped up to the par 5 hole six. I promptly crushed my drive into the first available tree, locking up the bogie 6 and setting me back to -1, opening the door to another frustrating round. Graham was sitting at -3 by that point and Dave and Julie were with me at -1 . Reminding myself that hole six was the first hole of the rest of my round I picked up a tap in birdie that set up the start of something special–with me proceeding to score on 11 of the next 13 holes (10 birdies and an Eagle on hole 13). The final tally was a -13 1013 rated round (one point off my highest ever rated round), in the clubhouse with a 6-stroke lead.

The psychology of sport is a fascinating thing. I woke up on day three of the event playing out in my mind how I was going to fail on every hole. OB drive on one, into the trees on hole two, kicking right on hole three, etc. My putts were going to be short and my drives weak. 7:30AM saw me out in the park out back of our house throwing drives like Chevy Chase practicing the Caddyshack course the night before a big tournament (though my throws at least let me know I could still hit a decent drive). I had to do something to distract me and quiet my mind.

Which brings me back to last week’s post wherein I noted my undisclosed plan for putting warmup. I had envisioned creating a strip of cloth that I could hang from a tree or fence that would mimic the pole of a disc golf basket, with the chain area marked off at the appropriate height, allowing me to practice putting anywhere I could hang the contraption. A hour or so of peaceful distraction later, voilá!, the Pocket Putt 2000 was born.

By then it was time to pack up and head to the course, this time from the long pads, all ob in play, and in mixed weather conditions. Day three had the top three old guys running heading to head, as Julie apparently decided it would be more fun playing with her younger colleagues in MPO (OK, maybe that was the TD’s decision). I stepped up in the rain on tee pad one, ready to confront my demons from the morning, and promptly threw a weak hyzer straight ob, ensuring the bogie 5. Graham parred the hole, cut the lead to five, and I thought, ‘Well, here we go!’ That said, the poor throw strangely relieved the pressure I had been feeling and hole two and three were tap in birdies. After a brutal 45 minute wait to tee off on hole 5, I was able to score another birdie, putting me -2 for the day, now 11 strokes ahead, all but sealing the win barring a series of very unfortunate events (which happily never happened). I ended the day -1 (964), the event -17, and with my first win in a major provincial event since 2017.

Graham, myself, and David, post-event

Despite my internal mental stresses of the weekend, playing with Graham and David was, as always, a real pleasure. Everyone in our group was jovial and positive, even when running into trouble. The three of us also genuinely want our competition to throw well, and for the event to be determined based on our own personal performance, and not the misfortunes of our competition. Any given Sunday holds for disc golf too–and these comradely battles will continue.

Below are all the winners of the satellite events across Canada. And here’s hoping we’re all back together next fall at a truly national nationals in PEI.

Recipe for Success?

This past weekend (September 12, 2021) I had the pleasure of playing in an event at the new Stillwood Disc Golf Course. The course is largely a tight and technical course through the woods, with a few open holes and some holes that start open and funnel to a wooded upshot. There are a lot of artificial OB and hazard areas that make even relatively open holes more complex (mentally if not strategically). On the downside, there were a few holes with crossing fairways that slowed things down, and a number of holes where tees and baskets were placed too close together, requiring a wait for safety. As far as the event itself went, the folks running it were well organized and much appreciated spotters were present on most holes, keeping the pace of play steady and ensuring there were no lost discs, even on some pretty errant shots.

I also got to play with a great group of pros–Wes McIntosh and Chance Stad (both of whom I’ve played with before and genuinely respect as golfers and like as people) and Juju McLovin (I mean Julien Quenneville). The inside joke there is that many disc golfers have rather unique UDisc screen names due to the way the program rolled out. Spoiler alert: Julien dominated, cruising to an easy 12 stroke victory.

When preparing for an event, there are a few basic guidelines I try to play by. First, make sure you play the course, or at least walk it, beforehand. That way you can have a plan of attack for each hole. I also like to make sure I get to the event early to have a solid warmup of putting and driving. Finally, I find it important to maintain a regular training regimen between events to ensure consistency.

Let’s see how well I implemented my plan leading into this event…

YesNo
Play the courseX
Have a plan for each holeX
Systematic warm up before playX
Maintain practice skill practice
PuttingX
DrivingX

Any bets as to how the rounds went? The result of the careful lack of preparation was statistically the two worst rounds of disc golf (880 and 913) I’ve played in 15 years. What went most wrong?

First, the course does not play to my strengths–I am a distance player who favours a lot of side to side movement on my throws. Hitting a dead straight throw 250-300 feet is an area I need to work on. As a result, going into this course blind was a huge challenge. In the second round, I was able to drop six strokes off my score largely because I was able to attack holes differently based on the first round results. More experience on the wooded holes would have allowed me to further refine my approach.

Second, the failure to maintain a practice regimen before the event caused real problems with my putt. Over the last month I’ve really let my putting (and driving) practice lag and it played out in a strange new set of problems for me. I’m quite familiar with the yips (that internal feeling that there’s no way you’re going to hit the throw you’re lining up). This event, I would step up to the putt with confidence, and then whiff past or over the basket–just ugly misses. In similar fashion, some traditionally easy hyzer drives ended up coming out errant (rolling my wrist or sawing them off short). My brain and body were not connecting, and I blame that on my failure to practice over the last month (in part I’ve been recovering from a knee injury that kept me from practice).

The final issue for me is putting warm up. When I’m putting well, I putt slowly and systematically, with a slow drawback of my arm, focusing narrowly on a chain link on the basket, then exploding the putt. At events, there are normally a bunch of guys putting on the warmup basket at the same time, meaning the chains are jumping around, precluding that focus on a link, and using a slow putting stroke means I get in one or at most two putts before everyone else is heading to the basket to retrieve their putters. Which means I need to figure out a new warm up routine–either work harder at finding an empty basket, or bring my own (or perhaps something different?).

Did anything go well? About the best thing that happened for me was mid-way through the second round when we were talking about folks having tough rounds (hmmmm, I wonder why that subject came up??). We’ve all been in groups where someone’s having a rough go and it can really bring down the spirit of the entire group if said player is externalizing their poor play. Julien mentioned that he was chatting with someone at lunch about how well I handled my worst round in years (my description at the time)–that you wouldn’t have known I wasn’t having fun out there. To me, that meant a lot. Good sportsmanship is an important aspect of the game, and I am a very competitive guy, so when I’m not competing well, it’s still important to me to A) figure out how to get back on track and B) not wreck the fun for those around me. Julien’s positive reinforcement was a highlight of the day and really did help me continue to keep it fun.

I have a week until my next event at Raptor’s Knoll. I know that course very well and already have a plan of attack for each hole (although a busy week at work means no time for course practice). The course is also one that largely plays to my strengths in that it is relatively open and requires long drives. That said, I’m also committed to returning to daily putting practice, and hope to slip in a few days of driving and upshot practice. And, I have a new plan for putting warm up (more on that latter). So, here’s hoping for a better showing, and a lot more fun, at CanNats.

And, thanks as always to RPM discs for their support!

BC Open

And event number two post-pandemic closure is in the books. The BC Open was held August 14/15 at Raptors Knoll DGC in Abbotsford, BC. The event was a three round test that challenged me mentally and physically. Raptors Knoll is a course that provides opportunities and challenges on every hole–of the 18 holes there isn’t a hole I haven’t birdied at some point. At the same time, there isn’t a hole I haven’t double bogeyed (or worse) either. My normal division (MP50) was collapsed into Masters, so of course I went into Open. Time to see what the young bucks were throwing! With the course set up in the long positions, my goal going in was to shoot a 3-4 under par.

Round 1: Unexpected Achievements

I accomplished my goal in the first round—4 under par which had me tied for second, one shot out of the lead. In hindsight, that goal was an aggressive one–that round was about as close to flawless as I could throw it. I started hot, birdying the first five holes, including a technical hole 3 that had been out of reach for me recently–RPM’s new Pekapeka turned out to be the game changer there (a softly thrown straight line up the middle leaving me a 25 foot putt at the top of the hill). My putter (a Tui) also contributed when I hit a 65 foot putt on hole 2.

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Pleased after round one!

The rest of the round was spent trying to protect that start. The par 4 hole six is a brutal lefty hole, with a tight 220ft +/- RHBH drive off the tee needed to hit a landing spot that will give you a 250ft +/- uphill run at the basket. Not having a reliable forehand (I’m working on it), my plan was to lay up a 160 ft straight shot with the Tui, then sneak a big hyzer bomb around the corner to the edge of the hill, leaving a 90 foot upshot to the pin. I’ll never get a birdie, but hopefully I avoid the bogie. Well, the layup drive was short, so I had to layup to the RHBH landing zone. A still achievable par, but my Piwakwaka, which loves to glide, did. The 250 ft shot went 280 ft (right over the top of the basket), to land OB long. Happily, I banged the comeback putt for a nice bogey save.

The rest of the round was uneventful–a birdie here, a bogey there, and boom, I found myself on the lead card for round two, one off the pace. As I noted on Facebook, I may not be there at the end, but it was nice to be there then. The round was my first thousand-rated round since 2018 (1003), so all-in-all, I can’t complain.

Round Two: Revenge of the lead card

One of the unintended consequences of throwing well in the morning was a long delay between rounds. The lead card, teeing off last for the day, set out at 6:30PM. We knew we would be racing the light and spoiler alert, I squeaked in the last putt of the day under moon light, ending the round at 9:02PM. It was an interesting round–not nearly as good as the morning round, but a lot of stories to tell. I finished at even (966 rated, so still better than my player rating, but well below that 1003 morning round) but that’s not the story.

The lead card waiting on hole 13

Even par for the round with just five pars is the story. Five pars, five bogies, one double bogie, and seven birdies. It was a Dickens of a round… “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” The highlight of the round was hitting an edge of the circle putt in the dark on hole 18 for a birdie to get back to even on the round. My Tui saved my bacon with a bunch of clutch putts all round, and I’m still digging the Pekapeka! It gives me lines that just weren’t available to me without it. Even dropped me from 2nd to a tie for 7th, but all in all, it was a round I wasn’t unhappy with. Each bogey was followed by a birdie and I was able to stay mentally strong throughout. The mantra, “This is the first hole of the rest of my round” kept me from sinking into despair after some bad bogeys.

Round Three: A happy ending

The third round finished solid–two bogies and four birdies. Looking back at it, all three rounds I played mentally tough golf–that’s very different from my normal game of run everything, all the time–and I liked it.

My putt was on all weekend long–and I credit the Tui (such a sweet straight flyer) and the BC Open Champ, Stewart, who reminded a friend of ours (Chris) to putt slower one recent tournament (it worked). I tried it myself, and it works like a champ–eavesdropping is awesome. Thanks Stu whether you know it or not.

There were two highlights of the day. The first was getting one of only two birdie threes on a par four hole that actually averaged 5.16 for the round. The hole is a tight downhill shot to one of two possible landing zones (one high, one low) around 275 feet out, around a mando on the right side of the fairway. Then another 275 shot uphill to an island green. My shot is to go right at the mando with my Piwak, flip it slight left and let the chips fall where they may, then try and chip up to the island for a long run at birdie but a more likely tap in 4. If you go off the fairway, you’re looking at a struggle for par (which explains the three 6s, three 7s, and two 8s thrown by open players that round).

My drive went exactly as planned, running just left of the mando and heading toward the ideal landing spot (lower on the hill and closer to the green) when it went out of sight in the trees. Just as the disc made it’s turn into the trees, a surprised spotter jumped out of the rough and looked at me….then at the disc….then at me…then at the disc, and then gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up! When I got to the disc, it was perfectly placed for a Piwak anhyzer-bomb around the guardian trees to the green…so, that’s what I did. The good news, I did not miss the 15 foot birdie putt.

Top ten in BC!

Even better though, was getting a par on the next hole–hitting a 25 foot putt to save par after a less than stellar upshoot. The kind of putt I would often doink under the pressure. And did I mention there were actual galleries out there today? That’s was frighteningly awesome! Again the Pekapeka was a butter disc and an over-stable Kahu navigated the wind, which was up today, like a hot knife through butter. The two down was a 984 rated round–so played over my rating (947) all three rounds. Also cool was the fact the people were watching on line! It was awesome to hear from folks rooting me on–actually made a real difference in keeping me focused and motivated. Ultimately I finished 8th in Open, top ten in BC! Better than I expected, but about the best I would hope for (score wise). Really pleased to be back playing tournaments and competitive disc golf. As always, thanks to RPM Discs for the support! It’s great to be a part of the Team!

Return to sport!

Dave Ross, from Mundy Park, on his way to CTP on the signature Raptor hole at Raptor’s Knoll
Ken Nelson, out of Whistler, trying to catch Dave’s vapour trail

After a 16 month hiatus, we finally got back to competitive disc golf in BC at the Welcome Back Warm Up, held July 24 by the Raptors Knoll Disc Golf Club.

To give you an idea of how our sport has exploded during COVID times, 126 players registered for the event–only 15 in Open divisions (Open Men and Open Masters). Intermediate had 31 players and Recreational had 40 . There are a lot of energized new players out there!

For this event, we had four players in Open Masters, which was collapsed from Grandmasters (my normal division). I got to play with two friends from Mundy Park (Dave Ross and Craig Sheather) and Ken Nelson from Whistler.

Raptors Knoll is a great, awful, frustrating, wonderful course. There’s not a hole on the course that I haven’t birdied at one time or another. Of course, there isn’t a hole I haven’t bogeyed (or doubled or tripled or we-don’t need-to-talk-about-it). Of the 11 holes I birdied over two rounds, I only hit one both times (hole 14). Of the 8 holes I bogeyed only one bit me twice–twice. I double bogeyed hole 15 both times (once with an out of bounds penalty, once with a yip-induced three putt). My goal going in was a three down each round, and both rounds I was there at some point (-4 through hole 11 in the first round and -3 through 14 in the second). Full scoring stats are available from the PDGA. All in all it wasn’t a great return to tourney play, but it was acceptable–shooting over my player rating both rounds (948 and 958). Dave took the trophy, and Craig and I tied for second (his second round was perfectly balanced, Raptors style–six pars, six birdies, and six bogies), with Ken keeping us honest and pushing our game throughout.

On the day, I really appreciated my RPM midranges: the Kotuku, Piwakawaka and Tuis. When the wind kicked up, my Kotuku was money in getting me safely to the pin. My Taniwha got me an unexpected birdie on the well-protected hole three (hill placement). That said, the weekend also made apparent that I need to work on my upshot game. From 200ft my game was inconsistent as the pressure to park the shot had me trying to guide the throw in rather than authoritatively throw the shot.

Next up is the BC Open on August 14/15. Then we’re looking at the BC Doubles Championship, where Neville Collett and I will defend our Open Masters title. Thanks to the folks at Raptors Knoll for a fun day!

I hope your discs are flying well for you!

The Rapture of disc golf

In 2020 I was interviewed by Thrive Magazine (a publication dedicated to the pursuit of living well with limb loss) for an article on disc golf, published in early 2021. The author does a great job looking at disc golf’s accessibility, as well as its growth and development as a competitive sport. It was great to also see my friends Carver Whitford and Christopher Lowcock in the issue. Check it out on page 28.