Sometimes, I find packing up my NutSac for a round incredibly hard. I stand there, surrounded by stacks of plastic, with an unexplainable urge to take one of each disc with me for my round.

If it’s windy, I’ll need my Justice. And maybe my Harp. If I’m bringing the Harp, I should probably bring it in two plastics. And what if I need something that fades just a bit less? Yeah, I should bring a recycled Pure for that. And maybe the GL Pure too in case of a tail wind approach. The madness goes on like that for longer than I care to admit.

It’s almost painful to limit myself when there are so many options staring back at me. Each one convincing me of its value. Each disc telling a story of a possible missed shot if I don’t bring it. They can be so persuasive!

But it’s not the discs, is it? It’s me.

My mission this year is to simplify. Simplify my life in every respect, including my disc golf game. What I realize in this first week of January is that it’s not going to be as easy as I thought.

I know it needs to be done. I see the value. I’ve bought in to the concept. So much so that you will probably get tired of hearing me talk about it here on the blog. Simplicity will be the lens through which most of what I do (and therefore write about) this year will be viewed.

It’s frustrating when something as seemingly simple as picking only 6 discs to play a round with becomes such a big challenge. Even after I’ve picked the discs for my round, I spend the drive to the course second guessing myself. When I search for the reason, the answer is ironically simple.

We like complexity.

We are good at it. The explanation of why has filled up more than a few doctoral thesis’. I’m not going to attempt to explain it here. But I’m not sure it needs explaining. Maybe it just needs to be named. Maybe it just needs to be called out and recognized.

Maybe all we need as our first step on the road to simplicity is to recognize that we have been conditioned to crave the opposite. We’ve been convinced that if it’s not convoluted and difficult, it must not be worthwhile. It’s beyond our grasp that simple, straight forward solutions can even work in the first place.

[tweetthis]Sometimes simple really is better.[/tweetthis]

It should be obvious by now that I’m never just talking about disc golf. Disc golf is a microcosm of the rest of our lives. How we approach our game reflects how we approach everything else. Have a problem on the course? You can probably find that same problem off the course too.

As we move through our daily lives, we need to be aware of this addiction to the complex. And it is an addiction. Any addict is going to spend a good deal of time justifying why they are addicted. They are going to rationalize. They are going to make their case that what they are doing is reasonable.

So as I pack my NutSac, I have to be aware that yes, I can make a great case for carrying more than 6 discs. I could come here and write very convincing articles about the need to carry a Dave Feldberg style bag on every round. And on the surface it would make sense.

On the score card, it would not.

So I ask you. No, I challenge you. Look inside your bag. What are you carrying that you don’t need to? What things can you leave behind? What things can you do without? Do you really need them, or have you just become so good at justifying them that you’ve convinced yourself right along with everyone else?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Wisdom Wednesday | We Are Masters at 2 Things appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Last week on the Disc Golf Answer Man, my Mind Over Plastic segment focused on taking stock of the previous year. Looking back and making note of what went well and making plans to improve on the things that didn’t. As it gets colder and darker outside, I become more introspective. The furious activity of the summer gives way to to a quiet contemplation.

As I peer back across the last 11 months, one word stands out from all others. No matter what I see that I wish was better about 2015 (and don’t get me wrong, 2015 rocked for the most part!), it can always be traced back to one word…

Simplify.

I have too many discs. I carry too many discs. I try to be good at too many different types of shots. I try to do too much in any given round. I have too many things planned for the course outside of just playing. Somehow I’ve drifted away from the exhilaration of simply getting out and throwing. I’ve forgotten the pure joy in watching the flight of a perfectly thrown disc.

It seems like I almost never get to play anymore. I work a ton. I spend a ridiculous amount of time on this blog. When I am on the course, I spend more time worrying about throwing and testing whatever disc I’m reviewing than I do just playing. That needs to change. I need to simplify.

As I write about a lot here on the blog, disc golf is a microcosm of life. My disc golf issues translate directly to other areas of my life. I have too much stuff. I try to be good at too many different things. I try to do too much. I spend so much time on being busy that I’ve neglected the things that I hold most dear. Family. Friends. Creativity. Fun.

[tweetthis]Spend more time on things that matter, like #discgolf[/tweetthis]

As you make your way through the busyness of this holiday season, many of you will come to the same realization. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, you’ve spent the year picking up “stuff” at every turn. Each bit seemingly harmless until you realize you’ve gained a mass of things in your life that is no longer sustainable.

It’s similar to a lot of our disc golf bags. We start with just a few favorite discs. Then we add a disc here and a putter there. We win something at a tournament. A friend gives us a new piece of plastic. Before you know it we are carrying 20-30 discs when just those original few would be better.

So that leads us to the question of what to do about it. This is ‘murica after all. Aren’t we supposed to have a lot of stuff? Isn’t being the busiest one you know a sign that you’ve somehow “made it”?

Or maybe it’s not about how much. Maybe it’s about how good. Quality over quantity. In disc golf and in our lives.

How about you? How can you start to declutter your life and your disc golf game? What things have you accumulated over the years that you might be better off without? How can you simplify so that you can spend more time doing the things that matter most? How will you take the first steps towards a cleaner, more focused existence?

I think I’ll start by packing up my NutSac with my 5-6 favorite discs and heading out to a new course that was just installed 30 minutes from my house. I’m not bringing the two discs that DD just sent me to review. I’m not bringing my camera. I’m leaving my phone in the car. Just me and the pursuit of that perfect flight.

You know what else makes your life simpler? Subscribing to the blog. By entering your email below, we’ll email you once a week with links to every new article. You won’t have to remember to check in here and you’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing! It couldn’t be simpler!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Wisdom Wednesday – Simplify appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

I’m from Colorado. One of my favorite things about Colorado is the weather. Over 300 days of sunshine every year. How can you not love that?

But I don’t just miss the weather. I miss people’s attitudes about the weather. Hot and sunny? Time to go hiking in the mountains! Raining? The fishing will be good tomorrow! 3 feet of snow? Time to go skiing! My Grandfather was one of those people.

No matter what the weather was, people didn’t complain. They saw it as an opportunity to go do something unique to that weather. I love that. Here in Chicago, people are not that way. Here, we complain about everything. It’s too hot. it’s too windy. It’s too cold. It’s too humid. There’s too much snow, too much rain, blah, blah, blah. It really gets to be a bit much.

The funny thing is people look at life the same way. The same exact thing can happen to two people and those people can have two completely different reactions to it. One person’s bad is another person’s blessing. In life, we can either sit around and complain about things or we can make the most of them. Our happiness is completely in our own hands.

This also translates directly to the disc golf course. When we are playing disc golf, we can be upset we shanked a drive, or we can use it as an opportunity to work on our flick roller. We can be disappointed we blew a putt 30 feet past the basket, or we can look at it as an opportunity to practice putting under pressure. We can be mad we had a poor first round in a tournament, or we can look at it as a test of our ability to regain our composure. We can be furious we lost a disc, or we can be happy because now we get to go shopping for new plastic!

So how do you react when it snows? Do you stay inside complaining that you can’t get out to the course and play? Or do you grab your snow shoes and hit the course anyway? I can tell you for sure that one of those solutions is a whole lot more fun than the other!

So remember. When life snows on you, you always have a choice. You can stay inside and cry. Or you can go skiing.

I’ll see you out on the slopes!

Do you enjoy our little philosophical rants on disc golf and life? If so, you should consider subscribing to the blog. We put up at least one of these a week and we’ll email them to you along with all of the other great disc golf articles we write all week every week. Don’t miss out and enter your email below!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Wisdom Wednesday – When it Snows… appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Expectations…

We were walking up the 18th fairway and my doubles partner was pissed. For me, playing in the Saturday morning league was an attempt to get out and play some disc golf with other people instead of my normal early morning solitary rounds. For him, it was a way to earn beer money for the weekend. In fact, he had planned his whole Saturday around starting it off with winning that beer money.

As he was griping and complaining, I asked him what he was so upset about.

“There’s no way 10 down will cash.”

I was confused. 10 down on this course was a fantastic score. We had played really, really well. I didn’t get why he was angry. I told him I thought we had a chance. His reply…

“Last week Al and Brian won with a 12. There’s no way we win anything today.”

“So did you expect us to shoot a 13 down today?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“That would have been cool, but I think 10 is solid.”

I was happy either way. I had putted well. We didn’t go OB once. We had fun. My weekend was off to a great start.

So how is it that 2 people who just played the exact same round had two extremely different moods on the way up the 18th fairway?

Expectations.

He had set his too high. I didn’t have any, other than I was going to have fun.

When you expect too much, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s great to have goals. You should always give yourself something to shoot for. But goals are not expectations. They are two very different things.

It’s great to shoot for a 13 down. That’s an awesome goal. It’s even realistic if everything goes perfectly. It’s just not a great expectation. It’s almost sure to end in disappointment.

We ended up tying for first that day. He got his beer money and was happy. But only after putting himself through an unnecessary roller coaster of unpleasant emotions. For me the money was just the frosting on the cake of an already awesome morning.

What are your disc golf expectations? Are they realistic? Would they better serve you as goals instead? Does your level of expectation about your game make it impossible for you to have a good time on the course? Let us know in the comments!

One thing you can both expect and enjoy is our weekly newsletter. It comes like clock work every Sunday. And if you like disc golf, you can expect to enjoy it! Just enter your email below and don’t miss out on a single post!

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The post Wisdom Wednesday – Disc Golf Expectations appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

The next time you are out on the course, try to keep track of how many times you say to yourself, “I wish I could…”. I bet it’s a lot more than you think.

I wish I could drive further.
I wish I could putt better.
I wish I could throw more accurately.
I wish I had this or that disc.
I wish I had a different bag.
I wish our course was better.

The list literally could go on forever.

Instead of enjoying our rounds, we spend the entire time being dissatisfied with every aspect of our game. Instead of enjoying our lives we spend the entire time wishing they were better.

Remember when we were kids and our parents used to tell us about walking ten miles each way to school. Uphill both ways. And it snowed every day? Remember we used to roll our eyes at them at how ridiculous their examples sounded? Now is the time to realize that they were simply trying to get us to be grateful for what we have.

Do you have that guy in your club that does the same thing? “I remember when we had to make our own discs out of soap. The closest course was 400 miles away. The furthest anyone could throw was 6 feet. You kids have it so good these days!”

Again, all he’s trying to do is show you the value of being grateful. And why does he do that? Buddha has the answer…

[tweetthis]Gratitude turns what we have into enough.[/tweetthis]

So get out on the course and enjoy the skill set you already have. Enjoy the discs and bag you already own. Enjoy the course you are lucky enough to have. Appreciate the life you are blessed with. Do those things and I guarantee that happiness will be yours.

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The post Wisdom Wednesday – Gratitude appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

In the last couple of newsletters, I’ve touched on motivation (if you don’t get the newsletter, you are missing out, subscribe below!). Last week’s Wisdom Wednesday post was about maintaining regular motivation. But try as we might, no one can keep themselves motivated all of the time. Even when you purposefully surround yourself with motivating things, you will still sometimes lose your spark and drive.

So what to do when that happens? How do we keep ourselves moving forward when all we want to do is stay in bed 10 more minutes? The answer to that is habits.

When is the last time you were motivated to brush your teeth? I mean you just couldn’t wait to get some toothpaste and go to town! When have you sat at work just watching the clock, counting down the minutes until you could get some alone time with that delicious tube of Colgate? Most likely, the answer to that is never. But somehow you manage to brush your teeth every day, right?

It’s the same thing with showering, driving to work, and a whole host of other things that we all do every day, but don’t need to be psyched up to do. This is because they are habits. They are deeply ingrained behaviors that we do because, well, that’s just what we do. We don’t have to think about them. We don’t have to psych ourselves up. They are just part of our day. They are automatic.

Imagine if putting practice were as automated in your life as brushing your teeth? How good would you be at putting if that were the case? What if field work was just what you did every lunch break? What if instead of getting up at 7am every morning, you got up at 6 and went to play? There’s all kinds of habits you could create for yourself. And once they were habits, you’d just do them. All the time.

So while motivation is great, and it will definitely get you off the couch and get you moving in the right direction, it’s habits that will get you where you want in the long run.

Something else that can happen automatically every week is getting our newsletter! We’ll send you great recommendations of cool stuff for your mind, body, and disc golf game every Sunday. Just enter your email below!

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The post Wisdom Wednesday – Habits appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

I started listening to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast long before I ever had the opportunity to be on it. From the beginning, I’ve heard this question in various forms at least once an episode. If you keep up with any disc golf forums, you’ll see it there too. Heck, I see this question everywhere in life.

In today’s world of “hacking” everything around us, everyone is looking for the short cut. We all want that one tip or trick that’s going to make life easier for us. Don’t believe me? Check the headlines you see on TV or the inter webs…

“Lose 10 pounds with the cheesecake diet!”

“Earn 6 figures by sitting on your couch!”

“10 ways to get a promotion without doing any work!”

Everyone wants to know how to get great results without actually putting in the effort to get them. Welcome to 2015, right?

First, let’s “keep it real”, as Bobby Brown would say on the DGAM podcast.

You’re never going to get results you don’t work for. Yes, there is the oddball person out there to whom everything comes easy. Unfortunately that person isn’t you or me. No amount of shortcuts or hacks is going to change that.

The truth of the matter is, if you want to get significantly better at disc golf, you have to make the time to practice. Sure, we can make some progress by just playing a lot. But not as much as we’d like to convince ourselves we can.

If you play regularly, in a few years you’ll look back and realize that yes, you have improved. But you’ll also look at some of the people you play with and realize that they spent the same amount of time getting in some real, significant practice. Now they whup you every time you play them. They out drive you. They out putt you. They play in a higher division in tournaments.

Here’s where we need to back up a step and start being brutally honest with ourselves. We need to look in the mirror and answer a couple questions. First…

Get better at putting? Throw your drive further? Win a tournament? Beat that unbeatable friend? Move up a division? Shoot a 950 rated round?

Take a minute and think about what they are for you.

Be specific and detailed.

Now ask yourself this question…

In other words does what you are doing match what you are saying? That’s called integrity. That’s also called being honest with yourself. There’s and old saying, “I see your lips moving, but your actions are speaking so loudly I can’t hear what’s coming out of your mouth.”

Did you say you want to get better at putting but you never practice putting? Did you say you want longer drives but you never do any field work? Did you say you want to lose weight but all you eat is cheesecake? Life doesn’t let you have it both ways. You have to pick one.

It’s like Mr. Miyagi said in the Karate Kid:

“Walk on left side of road, safe. Walk on right side of road, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later get squish, just like grape.”

In other words if you’re committed to disc golf, be committed. Let your actions reflect that. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to make time to practice when you are truly all in.

If you aren’t, that’s cool too. There are a lot of people out there for whom the idea of practice is a lot more appealing than actually practicing. Deep inside, they’d rather be watching TV. There is no wrong answer.

That’s where the title of this post comes from.

Disc golf practice isn’t for everyone. Some people really should just blow it off and watch TV instead. It’s more in line with their values and they’ll be happier too. No one ever said disc golf needed to turn into work. In my opinion, the first priority for every disc golfer should be to have fun. When it stops being fun, you’re doing it wrong.

[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]The first priority in #discgolf is to have fun.[/tweetthis]

This also helps answer the question of how you get better at disc golf without practicing.

You don’t.

But if you hurry I think the new episode of the Walking Dead is just about to start. I hear that show is pretty awesome.

If you are busy practicing or watching TV, make sure an subscribe to this blog! We’ll take all the work out of following us and just send you a nifty newsletter with great content and links to all the week’s posts. You won’t miss a thing!

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The post Why You Should Blow Off Disc Golf Practice and Watch TV Instead appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Pressure. It’s the silent killer of our best day on the disc golf course. All the preparation and practice in the world can be crushed by the mounting tension placed on us by a tough opponent, a close tournament round, or the self induced stress of trying to beat our personal best score on our home course.

Many top pros have made the observation that what separates the winners and the losers of major tournaments is the ability to handle stress. All of them have a very similar level of skill. It’s what they do with it under pressure that determines how they score.

That’s all well and good, but how exactly do we learn to deal with pressure out on the course? It’s not like there is a field work drill designed to deal with competition related stress. What are those of us not named McBeth supposed to do? One possible answer lies on the basketball court.

Jordan Has the Answer.

Michael Jordan will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes of all time. When people argue that LeBron or Kobe are better players, they are missing some key facts about Jordan. First, he was 6 for 6 in championship series. If he was there, he won. Second, he never needed a game 7. Third, he took almost two years off and came back as good as when he left.

Yeah, Jordan was a bad ass on the basketball court. You youngins who never got to see him play in his prime just don’t understand. No one is even close.

One of his greatest skills was that not only did he perform under pressure, he thrived in it. Pressure actually made him better. I always wondered how he did that. I’m very jealous. Today, I heard a big part of the answer.

Tim Grover was Jordan’s personal trainer. Kobe Bryant is quoted as saying “Tim Grover knows more than anyone about the mental side of sports”. That’s one heck of a compliment. Today, on the way to work, I was listening to Grover being interviewed. That’s where I heard him talk about how Jordan did so well under pressure. MJ didn’t see pressure as a burden, he saw that “pressure is a privilege”. (Definitely listen to that interview, it’s fascinating all the way through!)

Grover is the author of a book I’m about half way through right now. It’s called “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable”. It’s really, really good. Grover was Jordan’s personal trainer. He coached him on the mental side of the game as well as the physical. I can think of few better people to get insight into dealing with pressure and stress in competition from than these two.

Grover and Jordan both see pressure as a compliment. The only reason you are under pressure in the first place is because you put yourself there with a top notch performance. Why are you in the final 9 of a tournament? Because you played well enough to be there. Why are you the point person on a big project at work? Because your boss recognized your abilities and put you there.

This concept is totally freeing. It’s a complete mindset shift. It allows you to see pressure as only existing because you are the one that can handle it! If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t be under it in the first place. Welcome it. Embrace it. Prove why you deserve it in the first place. Pressure is a privilege.

Disc Golf Under Pressure

Pressure is a mental component of the game of disc golf and of life. It starts in your head, so it only makes sense that it should end in your head. How you look at pressure and how you let pressure effect your confidence is totally under your control. The reason it negatively effects so many people is because they look at it as a bad thing. They see it as something to be fought and overcome.

[tweetthis]Don’t fight pressure on the #discgolf course, welcome it.[/tweetthis]

Jordan didn’t fight or try to overcome pressure. He welcomed it. He looked at it as a sign that he was doing things right. He was totally at home in pressure packed situations. According to Grover, we can learn to be that way too.

The next time you find yourself buried under a mountain of pressure on the disc golf course, stop and think about this point. Stop and realize that you are there because you deserve to be. You are there because you are good enough to handle it. You’re there because no one else deserves that spotlight. The pressure you are under is a privilege. Say thank you and enjoy it. Who knows, you could become the next Michael Jordan of disc golf!

You know what has no pressure at all? A subscription to this blog. Every week we’ll send you a stress free newsletter full of disc golf goodness that you won’t see anywhere else. Plus we’ll send you links to all of our posts for that week. That takes all the pressure off of you and puts it on us. Why? Because we deserve it, we’re that good!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post A Word From Michael Jordan’s Trainer on Playing Disc Golf Under Pressure appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

“I’m the perfect disc golfer. I’ve learned all I ever need to know about disc golf and have nothing left to add to my vast knowledge of the sport. When it comes to putting plastic discs into baskets surrounded by chains, I’m the undisputed master! Kneel before Zod!!!”

As much as I’d like to be able to say all that, it’s just never going to happen. (although I have been known to yell out that last part every now and again). I’ll never master disc golf.

If you have dreams of someday reaching that level of skill at disc golf, I’ve got some bad news for you. It’s just never going to happen. Don’t be mad, I’m just the messenger. Facts are facts. You’ll never master the sport.

Despite what some people proclaim on disc golf forums, Reddit, and Face Book, no one has reached, or ever will reach, that level. No one.

[tweetthis]#Discgolf, it takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to realize you’ll never master it.[/tweetthis]

This is where the wise statement below from Lao Tzu comes in. As travelers on the road that is disc golf, we must first realize there is no destination. We will never “arrive”.

Instead, we have to understand that it’s the trip itself that contains all the fun. It’s the daily struggle to get better. It’s the regular rounds with friends. It’s the awe of the occassional perfect throw. Those are the joys of our sport.

For those that can wrap their heads around this concept, life is a lot more fun. They stop beating themselve up when things don’t go exactly as intended. They understand that each throw is one more step along the road.

For those that can’t, both disc golf and life can get pretty frustrating.

So, if you miss a putt, don’t sweat it, that’s one more step. If you shank a drive, yep, just another step. Find yourself in the bushes? Your moving a couple more steps on down that road.

Oh, and if you get an ace that helps you win a match and crush your friend’s hopes and dreams of beating you that round? Turn, look at them, and yell…

“KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!”

Another thing that can help you enjoy this great journey is subscribing to this blog. If you could use weekly tips, inspiration, product reviews, and other awesome disc golf goodies, Mind Body Disc is for you! Just enter your email below and we’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing. We won’t spam you or anything (we like you too much for that!).

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The post Wisdom Wednesday – Be a Good Traveler appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

If you were to take all of the posts about improving people’s disc golf games off of Facebook, Reddit, and DGCR, you’d reduce web traffic from disc golfers by half at least. All that would be left is people bickering about which brand of disc is better or bragging about their 500 foot drives that aren’t real.

One of the most fundamental aspects of improvement in any field is that what gets measured gets managed. Measurement is critical in almost anything you want to do well. Without it, improvement is exponentially more difficult.

Why Measure???

First, how do we know if we are improving if we don’t measure? Do you know your make % from 30 feet? Do you know how far your average 200 foot approach shot lands from the basket? Do you know how many times a round you 2 putt from inside the circle?

If we don’t take the time to measure the things we are trying to improve, we don’t really know if we are improving or not. Even if we notice some improvement, we don’t have a clue as to how much!

Second, without measurement, how do we know the biggest area of opportunity in our game? We might think that driving distance is our weakest point, but then when tracking we realize that 30 more feet on our drive wouldn’t actually lower our score at all.

We might think that putting is what we need to work on because we missed a big putt in competition. But then when we look closely we realize that was the only putt we missed inside the circle that whole day.

By measuring our skills, we get a clear idea of what needs to be “managed” in the first place.

Third, how can we set targets for improvement if we don’t know where we started or how much better we need or want to be? If we don’t measure, then we are left with the very vague “I want to get better”. That’s a very tough target to hit.

Another Benefit…

Now for the bonus. Often the simple act of measuring will produce improvements on its own. Just by paying attention to a particular aspect of your game, that part of your game will naturally improve.

I’m reminded of this past winter when I decided to finally learn to putt. I kept a putting log that kept track of thousands of practice putts over the span of several months. The simple fact that I had committed to myself to make entries in that log every single day is what motivated me to actually practice every single day (that and the fact that I was posting weekly updates here for all of you as well!!!). That, in turn, led to a vast improvement in my putting.

If I hadn’t started to measure, I never would have seen the improvement that I did.

The challenge is to actually pick some things you “think” you need to work on and measure them. Once you do, you’ll know if you really need to work on those disc golf skills or not.

[tweetthis]Measuring your improvement in #discgolf is the only way to know if you are getting better.[/tweetthis]

If you decide that you do, indeed, need to work on those things, now you are well equipped to make improvement. You have a starting point determined. You can regularly compare to your starting marks. You can easily set a goal for improvement, giving yourself a target you can reach for daily.

If you think about it, almost all of you already do this in a broad sense anyway. It’s called keeping score. Your scores going down are how you know that you are getting better at the game as a whole, right? All this is is taking that broad measurement and making it more narrow in focus. Measure specific skills instead of the game as a whole.

So what do you need to measure? How much better do you want to get? What goal will you set for yourself based on that measurement? How are you going to improve your disc golf skills?

One way to help yourself improve is to subscribe to this blog. We’ll email you a really swell newsletter every Sunday with links to all of that week’s posts along with unique content that you only get in the newsletter. You’ll love it or your money back!

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