Psychology

The sports psychology of disc golf.

Wisdom Wednesday | The Eye Sees Only What the Mind is Prepared to Comprehend

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Photo Dec 13, 6 56 27 PM copy 2

I love playing tournaments that use safari holes. Playing one hole’s tee to another’s basket is fun and challenging. If done right, it’s a true test of your disc golf skills.

I played in one such tournament last year called the Crazy Beaver. The hardest hole at that tournament required that you throw out of the woods, hit a 40-50’ wide gap about 275’ out, go over a creek, make a 90 degree right hand turn, go another 300’ down the edge of thick brush, to a basket tucked off to the right and down a hill. It was a true par 4.

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A Word From Michael Jordan’s Trainer on Playing Disc Golf Under Pressure

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Can You Handle It?

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.

Disc Golf Under Pressure
Eagle Wynne McMahon feels the pressure from Paul McBeth at the 2014 GBO

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.

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Wisdom Wednesday – What Gets Measured…

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Almost every one of us wants to improve at disc golf. I don’t know of any disc golfer who is 100% happy with their current skill set. Even Paul McBeth, the highest rated disc golfer in the history of the game, works daily to improve his disc golf skills. He is constantly measuring his performance, … Read more

Why You Should Play in Your First Disc Golf Tournament

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This summer, I’ve played disc golf with a ton of new people. I’ve had readers and podcast listeners hit me up to play. I’ve played with random people at my home course. I’ve played rounds with people who follow me on Instagram. It has turned out to be a really great summer. It’s been really cool to meet … Read more

Wisdom Wednesday – Believe the Best

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Stop watching the news… We live in a paranoid world. According to the news, everyone is out to get you. You need to watch your back and trust no one. Lock the doors and hide your children, the world is an unsafe place full of awful people who will take advantage of you if given … Read more

Just the Tip – It’s the Archer

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You’ve done your research. You’ve gone to Facebook, DGCR, DGR, and You Tube. You’ve read the reviews on all the disc golf blogs. You’ve poured over the In Bounds flight guide. You’ve consulted Joe’s Flight Chart and the Marshall Street Flight Guide. You’ve asked your friends, you’ve called your neighbors. And now you are ready. … Read more

Wisdom Wednesday – Be Content

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I’m never going to be a professional disc golfer. There, I said it. I wish it was different, but it’s not. Hang on a sec while I go cry for a bit. I’ll be right back… You see, I’m supremely unathletic. I played bench in little league. I scored 2 points all season for my … Read more

10 Steps to Making Better Decisions in Disc Golf

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Decision

Disc Golf Decisions

Decisions Decisions

Many of today’s top executives are doing something odd in the morning. They are getting dressed in the same clothes every single day. I don’t mean they are wearing literally the same thing, without washing. I mean that they own 5 identical outfits and that’s what they wear every day. They will wear the same charcoal suit with the same color shirt and same color tie every day. They wear the same style socks and the same shoes. Same belt, same watch, all the way down the line. What they wear is just the start.

They have a highly structured morning routine that contains as much similarity from day to day as possible. That routine is designed to eliminate any choices they have to make each day. They eat the same thing, get up at the same time, do the same things in the same order, and yes, wear the same clothes every single day.

Why are today’s highest level performers standardizing as much of their morning as possible?

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Wisdom Wednesday – Confidence

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Joe Montana knew a thing or two about confidence. You have to when you are face to face with charging 300 pound linebackers. It’s kind of important when bodily injury is a very possible result of your actions. That’s one thing about disc golf versus some other sports. No one is going to tackle us at … Read more

Wisdom Wednesday – Get Uncomfortable

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I’ve often heard and read the advice to do one thing each day that scares you. Get out of your comfort zone and do the things in life that make you uncomfortable. Force yourself to do things that are hard to do. When you hear interviews with ultra successful people, this is almost always a … Read more