Sometimes I have in my head all sorts of plans to get caught up in our home office, do a project around the house, enjoy the grandkids, and of course extra time to play disc golf.
Saturday morning is when our handicap league plays. This past weekend, I was so looking forward
to getting on the course and having a great time in competitive play.
To start the morning, I brewed a pot of coffee which was a
treat that I don’t get during the week. It’s
always peaceful to be able to sip the coffee, catch up on some personal email,
check my online bank balances, and have a relaxing start to the day.
About an hour before handicaps, I headed over to the disc
golf course so that I could practice some drives in the field, and have some
putting practice before the start of competitive play. When I first started playing handicaps, I
didn’t take this step because it seemed I only had the strength for so many
throws in one day, and I figured I’d eventually get warmed up anyway.
Now I try to get in some practice throws because I’ve seen
that it does make a difference to warm up the muscles, and clear out the
cobwebs in my brain before I start to play.
So, after all that, I was READY! It was going to be a good day. I’d been playing well all week, throwing
farther than I did the week before, and the week before I had a great
week. This particular Saturday we were
playing all of T-1 (Original course) from the long pads.
The long tee pads aren’t that much farther than the short
ones, but in some cases, there definitely is a different “look” such as bushes,
or trees that don’t come into play on the short pads. What is generally the greater problem for me
is that the added distance of anywhere from 20 to 80 feet makes a big
difference since I don’t have a long throw to begin with. But I’d been practicing those long pads all
week and felt I was ready for the challenge.
On my very first throw, I stood on the pad, imagined my
throw, imagined my run up, picked just the right disc for the weather
conditions, and began. BAM! It landed right into the tree just to the
right off the tee pad. How in the world
did I do that? I haven’t hit that tree
in months.
Shake it off, Lynda. It’s just one throw. I finished the hole with a 5, two over par. Normally, I can guarantee a four, and
sometimes, if everything goes just right, I have been able to par it. Not that Saturday, however.
On to hole two. This
is one of my favorite holes because I have learned the best way for me to throw
my drive off the tee so it will soar and hold its line down the fairway. Again, I stood on the tee pad, began my run
up, and threw. I executed fairly well,
but still the disc landed far short of where I was hoping to land it – where I’d
landed all during the week prior.
The
approach shot from there was just a bit trickier because there were trees that
would be in my normal flight path. I let
that throw leave my hand just a bit early, which made my disc again land
shorter than normal. The throw from
there was an attempt to place my shot within easy putting distance to the
basket….again, without the success I had anticipated.
My fourth throw had landed under – not quite under, but
close to – a large bush not far from the basket. As I approached that disc to take my fourth
throw, I realized that it was possible but extremely unlikely that I would hit
the basket on that throw. But Danny has
been encouraging me to try those shots.
So again, I took my putter and threw with everything I had to get to the
basket. As soon as it left my hand I
KNEW it was going to be a great shot.
The arc looked perfect to hit the basket and save bogey.
Up, up, up it went around the bush, clearing the tree
branches, and down, down it came, BAM!
Right into the chains of the basket, and out! Are you kidding me? Everyone on my card sort of groaned knowing
that it would have been a great recovery. Once again, I left a hole that is almost always a three or four with a five.
From there, things got no better. It seemed on every throw I was just a bit
off. My timing must have been off, or
perhaps I was more tired than I realized.
It was a struggle the whole way.
I missed a few more putts that hit the basket or the pole under the
basket, and managed to hit a few more trees along the way. At some point, I decided to just enjoy the
morning, and not worry about the score – but that mental diversion didn’t work
either.
It wasn’t until hole 17 that I finally showed up to play the
game. I had a beautiful drive, great
approach shots and a great putt. Hole
18, I made it across the gully on my first throw (which I’ve only recently
learned to do) put had an approach shot that landed in a bush, making what
should have been a simple putt much more difficult.
I don’t really know what happened to my game that
morning. I didn’t feel like I was
distracted, or overly concerned. It
became clear pretty early on that this was not going to be a stellar round for
me.
Later that afternoon I watched the final round of the USDGC,
from Rock Hill, SC. This prestigious
tournament is played on the extremely tough Winthrop Gold course. The course isn’t all that difficult on a
typical day, but the way the holes are laid out during the USDGC there are
narrow fairways, with hazard areas, and OB areas both of which garner the disc
golf a penalty stroke. I was watching
the best of the best in the sport of disc golf.
A young man, Will Schusterick, was the two time defending
champ of the USDGC. He’d had a difficult
first round, but by the time he got to hole 17 on the last day of the
championship, he was in the lead – and on his way to a three-peat win.
Hole 17 had something else in mind. It is a 249 foot hole from the tee, with a
large OB (out of bounds) area in the middle of the fairway, leading up to the
island green. Will had the championship
in his grasp.
Then, he threw is first drive to the green. It went just a slight bit too far to the
right and lightly brushed the leaves of the nearby tree. That slight interference was just enough to
prevent the disc from reaching the green.
On this particular hole, if you don’t make the green, you have to throw
again from the tee, with the addition of a one stroke penalty. So, on his second try, Will was shooting from
the tee for his third stroke, and BAM!
He brushed those tree leave again!
He did the same exact throw, landing once again short of the green.
On his third try he made the green, but it was too
late. Even a 65 foot putt dead into the
basket couldn’t help him now. He made
that putt, but the championship was out of his grasp. The two errant tries, and the accompanying
penalty strokes put him well out of the lead.
Watching this unfold, made me realize, and remember……
sometimes, things just don’t go right for us.
Will Schusterick, though very young, is a seasoned pro, and he made a
mistake, twice, and lost the championship.
I just lost handicaps on Saturday.
A lot less was at stake for me.
Watching the end of the tournament renewed my joy of the sport, as well
as my respect for those who make great throws, time after time.
It’s now 285 days to Worlds.
Hopefully, I won’t have many like Saturday!
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