World Champion!

The 2014 PDGA Amateur World Championships are over.  I'm so thrilled to report that I succeeded in my goal and won my division which makes me:  2014 Advanced Senior Grandmaster World Champion.

This is the first time a champion was ever crowned in this division, and I'm thrilled about that as well as my name will forever stand as the very first champion in that division.

It was a great tournament, and I played well.

But this isn't over yet.

Now it's time to prepare for 2015!

99 Days to Worlds

I can hardly believe that in less than 100 days, I will be in St. Paul, MN getting ready to compete in the 2014 PDGA Amateur Disc Golf Championships!  Two-thirds of the preparation time is complete.  These days I’m lifting less weight, but playing a whole lot more disc golf.

On Wednesday I had the extreme blessing of being able to play a round with Pro Disc Golfers Pam Reineke and Sandy Gast.  What fun that was!  They were so helpful and encouraging.

I think today when I go play, I’m going to focus on building up speed, snap, and work on a flick.  Those three things should be enough to work on.

99 Days to Worlds

Missing the Course

Even though daylight savings time is back in force, my local disc golf park still is only open until 5 PM which means I can't play after work.  So, I continue to lift and do some form of cardio each day but what I really pine for is the chance to simply PLAY disc golf.

I remember clearly last fall during the last days and weeks before the park began closing at 5, I was itching to be able to get to the gym after work and build some muscle.  Now, I'm itching to get back to actual disc golf training.  Interesting, isn't it?  We always seem to want what we can't have.  I'm finding that I'm just not a very patient person.

Last Sunday I played a round with the Blowin' Birdies.  There was a huge event at Bill Frederick's Park and so we were limited to playing just the front nine of the T-2 course.  There are several holes that are particularly difficult for me, those being hole 1 and hole 5.  They are difficult because even with all my training, I still don't have a big arm, and those holes are particularly long par 4 holes.

Added to that, on Sunday there was a lot of wind.  Of all the courses on at BFP, the front nine of T-2 is probably the best for throwing in the wind because there are a lot of trees which tend to diminish the effect of the wind.  However, it also meant that when the wind got through the trees, it was especially erratic.

So, it was a good practice round for me, in preparation for the Orlando Open.  That's the next tournament I plan to play.  It turns out that I was the top woman finisher that day.....(ok, ok, I'll admit that there were only two of us...!) but I did do better than the much stronger, and younger woman who also played.  So I was cheered by that.

123 days to Worlds!

A Blast in Sarasota - Part 2

The second round at the Sunshine State Shootout in Sarasota, was the most difficult for me.  The course had a lot of trees which usually don’t bother me, but I had a hard time finding the groove for throwing throw the trees.  It was held at North Water Tower Park, which was a great park, but one with lots of trees and narrow paths for the disc. 

Since I’d never seen the course before, it was a good exercise for me to prepare for 2014 Worlds.  At my home course, there are plenty of trees on T-2, but I’ve learned the best path to go.  I still fumble the throws from time to time, but I do know where I’d like to make the disc land.  On a new course it isn’t always so obvious.

The final round of the Shootout was at Payne Park.  This is an urban park in the heart of downtown with rolling terrain, but few trees and even less water hazards.  I think this was my most successful tournament play ever.  Danny caddied for me and he helped me keep focus, place my disc well, and continue to play with confidence.  The course itself was a fairly open course with few trees and few water hazards.  The distance to each basket was manageable by me and that helped me gain confidence as well.  I think I had more pars on this course than on any that I’ve ever played in regulation play.

Up next is the Orlando Open the first weekend in May, followed by the Women’s Global Event (WGE) the following weekend in Floral city.  This past weekend I practiced a lot on my home course – one day I played with a local disc golf club.  Having some actual competitive practice was good as I had to deal with a couple of holes where I didn’t do so well, and then had to refocus on getting back on track.  There was a tremendous amount of wind which comes into play when I’m using my lighter weight discs. 

Once again, I got a birdie during competition, and that was definitely a confidence booster.  I came in fourth overall and got some payout for finishing well. I spent my winnings on a mini, which will be a commemorative disc to be added to my display at work.

124 Days to Worlds!

A Blast in Sarasota – Part 1

What a terrific weekend I just had.  Danny and I had signed up for the Sunshine State Shootout in Sarasota a couple of months ago.  Neither of us had ever played the courses where the tournament was going to be, so the whole event was a new experience for us. 

We drove down to Sarasota on Friday night, getting there well after dark so it was impossible to see the courses before we began playing.  On Saturday morning we got up in plenty of time to get to the event.  Danny and I were on different courses, so I drove him to his course, Water Tower Park, which was closer to the hotel than the course I began on at Lakeview Park. 

When I arrived at the park and checked in, I took a little while getting used to the course, and planning how I would throw some of the holes.  While the holes were relatively short, there were several canals snaking through the course, plus it had a fair amount of trees to navigate around.  I don’t know why, but when I think about shooting over water, I absolutely freak out.  It’s all about losing a disc – just because I didn’t execute the throw properly.

So, after taking a brief look at the course I went back to my car, opened my trunk and got rid of almost all the discs I had in my bag.  Instead, I filled my bag with other discs that I knew how to throw but that were not my “favorite” discs.  You know what I mean.  Instead of throwing that favorite white Leopard, I substituted a blue one, and then added another Leopard in case the first one took a dive in the water.

Since my home course only has one hole that I have to throw across water, I don’t keep a stock of floatable discs in my stash.  And I don’t have a pole to carry with me to retrieve a disc should I throw it in the water.  Most of the people at this event had poles for disc retrieval and one of the women I played against had a whole bag of discs that floated.  Smart strategy.

At the start of the round, on my very first hole, I did not execute the throw well, and splash! My disc went right in the water.  I recovered from that mistake, but when I went to putt in the basket, my putter hit the rim, fell to the ground, and rolled right in the water.  What a disappointment!  That was the only putter I had put in my bag!  Fortunately, a fellow player was able to retrieve my putter, and after that I was MUCH more cautious with putting.

My first reaction was to say, “I can’t do this!  I’ll end up losing all my discs by the time I’m done.”  Then I decided I should just get tough, proceed to the next hole, and be more careful.  After about three holes, I started gaining some confidence, and began playing much better.  I began making par, and making much better disc placement.  I scored many pars and bogeys, which was comforting. 

But then I got to hole six, again didn’t throw my best and landed right in the middle of water.  Bye-bye purple Leopard!  I marked my lie, and threw to the basket, and heard the sweetest sound, “Cha-ching!”  I got a circle 3!  If it hadn’t been for the penalty stroke for landing in the water, I’d have made a birdie on that hole. 

On to the next hole, again over water (14 of the holes on this course have water in play), but I just kept saying, “There is no water.  There is no water.”  That seemed to help, and I made a great drive that landed me well within the circle at the basket.  Once again I heard, “Cha-ching!” when I putted  and wound up with my first-ever birdie in competition!

More tomorrow……

131 Days to Worlds!

Barnett Disc Golf Championships

Last month I competed in the Barnett Disc Golf Championships.  It was the first time I actually competed in a tournament at Barnett Park.  There is one hole that has terrified me for a long time – hole #18 on the North Side Course. 

It is an island hole, meaning that the basket is on an island in the middle of the small lake in the park.  People like my son, Danny, can throw from the long pad to the island without a great deal of problem.  I, on the other hand, can’t get there from the long pad or even the short pad.  I knew that I would have to throw from the drop zone, and even getting on the island from there can be risky.  That meant that I would risk losing some of my discs in the murky dirty water in that lake. 

About a month before the tournament I went there with Danny for some expert advice on how to approach the hole.  He told me to not even attempt the shot from the short pad, but to proceed directly to the drop zone.  That mean that I’d be immediately assessed a penalty of two shots.  Score, however, was not an issue for me.  Getting through the tournament was. 

During that practice session, my first attempt was not successful, as I threw two high which caused my disc to dive down directly into the water.  My second attempt just barely made the island.  I tried two other shots, and one did not make the island but was retrievable as it was very close to the dry land.  The fourth shot was successful, and that gave me the confidence to know that I could compete in this tournament.

The first day of competition I had another sort of obstacle to overcome.  Weather predictions called for all-day showers which is nasty when one is trying to compete in a disc golf tournament.  Thankfully I had a rain jacket which held tremendously to keep me dry.  Keeping the discs dry was another matter.  My husband caddied for me and his main job was to dry my discs and keep the ready for my next shot.  I was so thankful that he was there to help. 

My results in that tournament were not great, but I did shoot my highest ever rated round so I guess that’s something to celebrate.  It just didn’t seem successful at the time.

The best part was that I learned that I CAN compete in a rainy environment – which may help at Worlds.  Hopefully I won’t have too much rain to contend with, but we won’t know the answer to that until we are actually competing!

134 Days to Worlds!

One Day After Another

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this blog.  I haven’t given up in my quest to prepare for the 2014 World Disc Golf Championships – but it seems that one day of training blends into the next, into the next and a week goes by.  Then one week looks so much like the last week, and all of a sudden it has been several weeks since I’ve written anything.

Since I started lifting weights in November, I’ve only missed a small handful of nights when I wasn’t able to get to the Y for a workout.  Usually it’s because of a conflict with my work schedule, or a night when I was not feeling up to par and took a day off from training.

Those days have been fairly infrequent, however.  I’ve been trying really hard to make sure that I’m making every single day count especially now that half my training time is over. 

I miss being able to play some disc golf every night.  But our local park where my “home” disc golf course is located closes at 5 pm when it is not daylight saving time.  I do my best to play on both Saturday and Sunday (when the weather cooperates) but I think I have lost some of my consistency.  There have been some days when I’ve played where the disc seems to go farther than ever but mostly I think I’m just maintaining status quo right now. 

I have definitely become stronger as I’m lifting more weight than ever.  I need to figure out how to put that muscle into a coordinated approach and throw when I’m on the tee pad. 

136 Days to Worlds!