Last week I summarized some of the highlights of my trip to Emporia for the Glass Blown Open.  After hitting publish on that post, I realized that I left out a hundred other cool things that happened.  It’s just not an experience that can be described with my mediocre writing skills and have that description do the event any justice.  You really do need to go there for yourself.

I also realized that with the event over, most of you are probably tired of hearing about it.  Like the annoying relative who just got back from their trip to Europe and won’t shut up about it, I’ve certainly done my fair blathering on.  With that said, I have one more loose end to tie up.  And really, it’s not even completely GBO specific.

When I first wrote about going to the Glass Blown Open, I talked about what my goals were.  Primarily, I wanted to roll out of Emporia knowing in my heart that I had done all I could to prepare.  That I left all of myself out on the courses.  That I had held nothing back.  No second thoughts, no regrets.  It is only in hindsight that I realize that I didn’t succeed at that.

If you had asked me about that as I was driving away, I would have answered differently.  It’s funny how time gives you perspective in a way that nothing else can.  After much time, posting of pictures on Instagram, and reflection, I now see that I missed a huge opportunity in my preparation.  Who knows how much better I would have played if I hadn’t missed it, but I did.

My biggest mistake, and one that I’m trying very hard to learn from, is that I went at it alone.  I placed the full burden of training and preparing squarely on my own shoulders.  While I enlisted all of your help as passive providers of accountability, I did not get help in any other way.  That’s just dumb.

I think I started to realize this during the JohnE McCray clinic.  As I stood at the feet of a master, trying to learn everything I could, I saw that all of the lessons he was sharing were things I’d have a hell of a time getting on my own.  I was so appreciative of learning from someone else.  Especially someone that had so much to share and was so willing to share it.

My realization fully sank in over this past week as I read Zen and the Art of Disc Golf for a third time.  In that book, Patrick McCormick talks about the 3 groups of people you should play with.  One of those groups is a mentor group, people who are better than you and can teach.  It was then that I realized I didn’t have that in my disc golf life.

I have a very good friend who is a much better disc golfer than I.  He practices daily.  He breaks down the sport meticulously and is a very good teacher.  He also lives an hour and half away and works different hours than I do.  Outside of him, I’ve never made a concerted effort to find someone to practice with.  I’ve never put forth the time and energy to go play with others who could help me.  I also have to admit that this is not solely a disc golf problem.

You can ask my parents, ex girlfriends, boss, friends, and most other people that know me.  I try to do everything on my own.  I’m guessing more than a few of you can relate.  It’s hard to admit that we can’t stand on our own two feet.  It’s difficult to cop to the fact that others know more than we do.  It’s seemingly embarrassing to tell another person that you need help.  It’s also one of the biggest mistakes any of us make when trying to learn or get better at just about anything.

As I sit here and write this, I can’t help but mentally compile the huge list of skills I’d be better at if I’d just ask for help.  Disc golf, photography, relationships, my job.  The list is big and full of big, important things.

So as I think back on my trip to Kansas, filled with fond memories of extremely good times, I can’t help but think, what if…  What if I’d sought help?  What if I’d actively asked for coaching?  What if I’d set aside my determination to do everything in life on my own and worked with someone else?

Someone asked me on Twitter what I was going to do next now that the “Road to the GBO” is over.  I believe I have my answer.  I need to find that mentor group to play with.  I need to make a conscious effort to find someone better than me (that’s the easy part!) who is willing to play with me and give me feedback.  I want to see just how much faster I can improve with help.

So, I’ll start this process by asking you…  Who out there has that solid mentor group?  Where did you find them?  How did they end up in that role?  I want to hear your success stories.  I can’t be the only one in this situation.  I’ll bet there are lots of folks out there in the same boat.  Out there plugging away by themselves on solo rounds, solo trips to their local football field, and solo putting sessions.  It’s time to stop going it alone.  It’s time to see if next year’s GBO can be even better with help.

[tweetthis]I’m going to the 2016 GBO, how about you?[/tweetthis]

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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 GBO Wrap Up Part 2 appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Before I get to that list, I have to take a moment and recommend that you go to this event at least once.  I’ve travelled to my fair share of disc golf tournaments.  Nothing comes close to the week long disc golf experience that is the Glass Blown Open.  Dynamic Discs has set a standard for major tournaments that is light years ahead of it’s next closest competitor.

For one solid week, the coolest thing in the world you could be was a disc golfer.  Everyone in town knew about disc golf.  Everyone in town asked you about disc golf.  Everyone in town loved disc golf.  It was a truly remarkable experience.

Someone on Twitter a couple days ago asked me what my next set of goals was going to be now that the GBO has come and gone.  What was I going to work on and write about next?  At this point I don’t know.  I do know that the lessons and memories from the GBO are many and I want to share some of  them with you.  There were good things, things that could have gone better, and things that were, for me, over the top.  Let’s start with the good…

1. For one week, we lived in a world where disc golf was a major sport.  It was everything we all hope it will be.  Our sport was respected and known by almost everyone.  We were welcomed with open arms.  An ace made the #2 spot on the ESPN Sports Center top 10 as well as being recognized as one of their plays of the week.  Disc golf was playing live in many of the restaurants and bars.  It was like coming home to a home we didn’t know we had.
2. There were people from around the world.  From Canada to Europe to every corner of the US, I played disc golf with folks who had all travelled a great distance to be there.  Meeting such a wide array of disc golfers was good for my soul.  It gave me hope that the people that live on this earth might have a lot more in common than the politicians and the news personalities might let on.

   

3. I ate at the Radius Brewery… 6 times.  Have you ever found a restaurant where everything you have there is outstanding?  Not just good or OK, but over the top excellent?  That was the experience I had at Radius.  The moment I walked in the door and saw that they sold discs behind the bar I knew I had picked a good place.  When I had my first Glass Blown Ale, that was confirmed.  When I tasted the culinary masterpiece that was the cream of potato and pork belly soup, I was enticed to come back again and again.
4. The shopping trip at Dynamic Discs distribution center was insane.  We all have dreams of being surrounded by seas of plastic as far as the eye can see.  Imagine that, but better, and in real life.  Stay tuned for the Mind Body Disc store, coming soon to this website!

   

5. We played disc golf using a golf cart.  I’ve done this before, but this time it was different.  The ball golfers all welcomed us.  They were happy to see us.  They came up and talked to us about our sport with enthusiasm.  Not to mention, both courses (only one of which could you use a cart on) were tremendous set ups.  Fun, long, challenging courses.  Dynamic has done a tremendous job of spreading disc golf love throughout Emporia.  That has led to two awesome disc golf courses located on ball golf courses.
6. I finished the tournament by making a 50 foot putt, from my knees, crouched under an evergreen tree.  It was one of my best throws of the week and it capped off a tremendous experience.
7. There were a ton of people from the Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, and Westside Discs fan page on Facebook.  I don’t spend a ton of time on FB, but when I do, it’s usually there.  Every single person was friendly, fun to be around, and made the trip just that much better.  While I drove to Emporia and back by myself, I didn’t spend any other time alone.  I made some great new friends and look forward to seeing them all again next year.  
8. The DD shop is a prime example of what a real disc golf shop could be like.  I appreciate anyone who opens a disc golf store.  But I’ve never been to one like this.  It was everything you could hope for in a pro shop and then some.  More discs than you could look through in one visit.  Great clothes, shoes, and accessories.  Super friendly and knowledgable staff.  I had to go back several times.
9. We got to see the top pros in our sport play live and in person.  You Tube simply cannot do justice to what it’s like to watch these people play.  Especially when they are playing a course you just struggled on.  They take lines you would never think of.  They throw twice as far and with three times as much accuracy.  They truly earn the moniker of “professional”.
10. We got to hang out with, talk with, and take a clinic from my all time favorite disc golfer, JohnE McCray.  He is everything you’ve heard he is and then some.  A true representative of the sport and a stand up guy in general.  Not to mention, he was extremely funny.  Chatting with him was one of the highlights of the trip.  
11. I played the best disc golf I’ve ever played.  The months of practice and preparation you read about here on the blog really paid off.  I’m not going to go pro any time soon (or ever), but I played well above my rating repeatedly and that has carried over to the rounds at my home course after the GBO.  Thank you all for following along and giving me the encouragement and feedback I needed to stick to my practice plan and roll into Emporia as ready as I could be.  This sport is so much more fun when you play well!

There were a million more cool things that happened last week, but for me, those were the highlights.  Was it all peaches and cream?  Actually, mostly it was.  Were there any regrets?  Actually, there was one thing (outside of the quality of my sleep when I was there) that could have been better.  But let’s leave this on a positive note this week and we’ll visit that issue next week.

Don’t miss the rest of the GBO wrap up or any of the other disc golf content that is posted here each week.  Make sure and subscribe to the blog and we’ll email you all the new posts as well as a weekly newsletter!

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The post GBO Wrap Up Part 1 appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Normally, when I tell a non disc golfer about disc golf, I often get polite yet insincere responses.  Things like, “Oh yeah, I think I’ve seen that before.  It looks like fun.” or “I’ve always wanted to try that, we should go play some time.”.  The problem is that those things never, ever pan out.  Feeling obligated to make polite conversation, and probably seeing the rabid level of love for the sport in my eyes, I’ve had more than a few people say they wanted to play yet somehow never have the time to play.  I’ve asked some people 5 or 6 times before giving up and marking it as a lost cause.

It used to bother me.  It doesn’t any more.  I’m going to get to play either way, they are the ones who are missing out.  But that got me to thinking.  Do I do the same thing to other people?  An honest look at myself revealed that I did.  I’ve made similar statements of interest many times before.  “Sure, I’ll try sushi with you.”  “An improv class sounds like fun.” “Beer in hand volleyball?  Sure, why not?”

What I realized is that at the time they were mentioned, those things did sound fun.  But when it came time to interrupt the normally busy schedule of my daily life, I passed.  I chose the known over the unknown.  The problem is that just as I know how much fun people are missing out on when they don’t try disc golf, I am probably missing out on just as much fun when I pass on those other things.

When people have asked me to do those things, I have seen the same level of enthusiasm in their eyes that they see in mine when I speak of disc golf.  I see the same level of passion.  I see the same desire to share something they have found with someone else.  Why would I not recognize that I’m doing to them what I hate when people do to me.

So, while I can’t force people to try disc golf, what I can do is start to actually take people up on their offers to me more often.  I can also just be honest with the ones where I have no intention of actually doing them.  So, sushi is a no go.  I’ve tried it before, never liked it, don’t care to try again.  But improv class?  That actually sounds like a lot of fun.  And beer in hand volleyball?  Pretty much anything that starts with “beer in hand” has got to be at least a little bit of fun, right?

So think about the things you’ve semi committed to before but never followed through on.  Don’t be the person that passes on disc golf and misses out on what could be a lifetime of fun.  Start saying yes to the fun things in life that come your way.  You’ll be happy you did.  Just think if you could fill your life with things you find you love just as much as disc golf!  OK, let’s be realistic, nothing is as fun as disc golf.  But you could probably get close!

Keep in mind that this also applies to things within disc golf.  As most of you know, I’m at the 13th Glass Blown Open right now.  How many of you have thought about going on a disc golf road trip?  Have you thought about going to a major tournament?  Have you thought about going somewhere with your buddies to play a course you’ve heard great things about?  Well, it’s time to start doing those things and not just talking about them.  I can’t tell you how much fun the GBO has been so far.  It’s been an incredible blur of good times, good people, and amazing experiences.  Don’t miss out on those things in your life.  Head out for something new and something fun today!

You know what else you should do that is fun?  Subscribe to this blog!

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The post Wisdom Wednesday – Try Something New appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

As you know from any of my social media accounts, I’m here!!!  After months of anticipation and 9 hours of driving, I rolled into Emporia late Saturday night.  The place isn’t exactly hopping yet, but I am here a lot earlier than most plan to be here.  I have a good reason, though.  I hate playing courses blind.

Over the next week, I’ll play in 3 tournaments.  All on courses I’ve only seen on video.  I got 2 solid rounds of practice in yesterday and that’s what I have planned for today.  One of the many nice things about being here this early is that I’ll get to practice with the locals.

I’ll intentionally be heading to the courses and asking to tag along with folks who live here and play here regularly.  No one knows a course like someone who plays it all the time.  This isn’t the first time I’ve done this.  This is how I practice for a lot of tournaments.  I’m always hopeful I’ll run into some folks who call whatever course I’m on their home course.

The next time you are at a course that is new to you, see if you can find someone local to play with.  Even if it means just hanging out at the first tee and asking if you can join a group.  The things you can learn for the course regulars are often things it would take you many, many rounds to figure out.  Why make it harder on yourself than you have to?

One more benefit is that you will meet some very cool people.  Disc golf is unique in how easy it is to just walk up to people on the course and ask them if you can play with them.  I’ve rarely been turned down.  More often than not, you’ll make new friends too.  Add this to the list of things that makes disc golf awesome.

You know what else is awesome?  This blog (if I do say so myself!).  It’s so awesome that you should enter your email below and subscribe!  That way you won’t miss one article or tip.  You never know when we’ll post the one thing that raises your game to the next level.

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The post Just the Tip – Practice With the Locals appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

When I started this journey, I had one goal.  I wanted to roll into Emporia knowing that I had done all I could to prepare myself to play to my fullest potential.  I knew all along that winning was an extremely lofty target, especially since I’m just not as good at disc golf as a lot of the folks that will be there.  I’m registered in advanced masters and most of those guys are rated much higher than I am.  Winning wasn’t the real point, though.

The point was to give my all in preparation for something and then to go execute.  All I want is to finish this upcoming week knowing that I left it all on the course.  The place I finish in is not important (although one of those glass trophies would look sweet on my bookshelves!).  Giving my best performance is.  One of my favorite things about individual sports like disc golf is your only real competition is yourself.

So as I think back across the past 4 months, I ask myself if I did everything I could.  Did I put in as much time and effort as possible?  Did I leave no stone unturned as I got ready for my biggest disc golf event in many years?

Looking in my putting log, I’m approaching 25,000 practice putts.  That’s an average of 200 putts a day for almost 4 months solid.  I’ve meditated every day.  I’ve trained almost every day.  The number of days I didn’t do something to prepare for the trip can be counted on one hand.  Looking back, I’m really proud of the dedication.  If you knew me personally, you would know why.  This is the hardest I’ve worked at a singular goal in a very long time.

A lot of that success is due to you.  I can’t believe that my ramblings about getting ready for a disc golf tournament would gain so much attention.  I can’t believe so many of you follow along so regularly.  The support I’ve gotten from the people who read this blog and follow me on social media has just blown me away.  You all are a huge part of why I was able to stick this out as well as I have.

Now, as I get ready to get in the car and head off on this grand adventure, I find it hard to think of a way I can thank you as genuinely and as sincerely as I’d like to.  I wish I could reach out and give each of you a firm handshake and a hug.  I want to look each of you in the eye and say, “Thank you”.  What I really want is to be able to fit you all in the car and take you along!

Since I can’t actually take all of you with me, I want to do it virtually.  I’ll be using the blog and my social media accounts to keep you by my side.  I’ll have daily updates here on the blog to recap the lessons I learn on the trip.  I’ll have multiple daily posts on Facebook as I recap the sights, sounds, and experiences of GBO week.  I’ll post the week in images on Instagram so you can see what it’s like to be in a town that opens its arms wide for disc golf.  I’ll tweet to reach out and talk to you all on Twitter so it can be like we are all there together.

So, make sure you are following at all of those places.  Please hit me up on any of them with any and all questions or comments you may have.  It’s sure to be a really great time!

Just because the Road to the GBO posts will be over doesn’t mean the blog is going away.  If you haven’t yet, please subscribe!  There’s a whole world of disc golf goodness ahead of us and subscribing is the best way to make sure you don’t miss any of it!

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The post Road to the GBO – ZERO Days to Go!!! appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

In one week, just 7 days, I’ll be packing the car and heading to Emporia, Kansas for the 13th annual Glass Blown Open.

If you’ve been following along on Facebook, you’ve noticed that I’ve been struggling with my performance lately.  Not only have I not been improving as of late, I’ve actually gone backwards in several areas.  I’m guessing most of you can relate.  You work your butt off for something.  You do everything you can think of to be successful.  You think you are making progress.  Then, BAM!  Your results are the same as if you had actually done nothing at all.

Maybe it was blanking on a test you crammed for.  Maybe it was forgetting your lines in a play.  Maybe it was striking out in the bottom of the 9th when your team really needed you.  No matter what it was, most of us have been there.

It’s bad enough that it happens in the first place, but our sometimes uncontrollable monkey brains can’t leave it alone.  We then have to go through the aftermath.  We get down on ourselves.  We doubt ourselves.  We second guess why we were even trying to begin with.  Many people have quit all together after a game day choke.

Why does this happen?  I don’t claim to know all of the reasons, but I can certainly point out a big one.  Pressure.  The interesting thing about pressure is that most of it is self induced.  In my case, that is especially true.

I’ve been writing these updates here and on Facebook for months now.  It’s been really fun and it gave me something to write about every week.  It actually helped me progress in more ways than I can express.  Now, with only 7 days until I’m on the literal road to the GBO, the months of public updates have caught up with my psyche.  Self induced pressure has descended upon both my brain and my game.  Until two days ago.

As many of you know, I meditate a lot.  I do it for lots of reasons.  I’m recording a 3 part segment for the Disc Golf Answer Man on the topic.  A couple of days ago, I was meditating and one of my favorite things happened…  You see, sometimes while meditating the answers to some of life’s toughest problems just pop into my head.  This was one of those times.  It usually starts with me questioning my life in some way.  This time was no different.

I asked myself the question, “What if you go to Emporia and finish in last place?”.  I don’t expect that to happen, but I was trying to give myself an absolute worst case scenario.  One of the best ways to overcome your fears is to imagine them actually happening.  The only answer I could come up with was, “At least you will have had a week of fun that you won’t forget…  Ever.”

You see, I don’t play disc golf to win tournaments.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to win some tournaments this year.  But that’s not why I play.  I play because I love this sport.  I love watching the disc ride the wind on a perfect line that matches the one I saw in my head before I threw the disc.  I love playing with friends, new and old.  I love playing by myself.  I love being outside.  I love a million things about disc golf.

In one week I’m going to a town that just about shuts down to welcome 900 other people who feel the same way!  It would be criminal if I let the week be completely about my performance on the course.  There are so many other things that this week will be about.  Meeting new friends, seeing new things, playing new courses.  At the heart of it, I’m going to the GBO for the same reason I play disc golf, to have fun.

[tweetthis]I play #discgolf to have fun.[/tweetthis]

With this in mind, two days ago, I hit the course with no thoughts of practice or working on my form or anything else related to doing well in the GBO.  I hit my home course purely with the intention of having fun…  And I shot the best golf I’ve shot in a long time.  Did I have fun?  You bet your ass I did.  And with every throw, the grin on my face grew bigger.

I hope I can remember that day vividly when I step up to my first tee at the GBO.  If I can, I’ll do really well.  If I can play to have fun first and let everything else sort itself out, nothing but good things can happen.  That’s a big if, but I’m going to try my best to do just that.  Just how fun that week in Emporia is is totally up to me.

That brings us to you.  Why do you play this great sport?  If you are out there on the course, putting a ton of pressure on yourself, do you remember why you play disc golf in the first place?  Do you remember the whole point of being out on the course?  Have you let something else creep in and ruin the fun?  As with many aspects of disc golf, this applies to any area of your life.  Remembering your “why” will bring you back around to sanity more often than not.  It will quiet that incessantly screaming monkey brain inside your head.  It will center you.  And best of all, it will allow you to have fun again.

You know what else is fun?  Getting this blog emailed to you once a week.  Just enter your email below, and we’ll take all the pressure off by sending you our newsletter every Sunday!

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The post Road to the GBO – Why Are You on the Road? appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

When interviewers ask Simon Lizotte how he learned to throw as far as he does, his answer is daily field work.  When Paul McBeth makes a video on how he practices, he shows you his field work.  When people write in to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast and ask how to get better, you can bet that Eric McCabe will recommend field work.  There’s only one problem with those recommendations…

Field work is stunningly boring.

That’s right, I said it.  Most of you were thinking it, don’t lie.  Look, if field work were as fun as playing rounds, we would all do a lot more of it.  Bottom line is that when faced with spending our free time playing rounds or chasing our discs around a football or soccer field, most of us choose to hit the course every time.

So what is a disc golfer in need of improvement (and isn’t that all of us?) to do?  Just playing rounds leads to minimal, if any, improvement.  The improvement that does come comes at a snails pace compared to the improvement to be had from solid field work.  For example, in a round you may only throw a tunnel shot that fades right at the end once in a round.  You could throw that same shot 100 times in a field in the time it takes you to play a round.

But this isn’t a post about why field work is more effective.  For a million different reasons it just is.  This is a post about how to make field work less boring than watching paint dry and hopefully more effective.

First, I realize that there is a group of people out there who religiously do field work and actually enjoy it.  Those people are weird and this post probably isn’t for them.  For the rest of us, we need a way to get the benefit of doing field work while still getting the enjoyment of being out on the course.

The answer is actually pretty simple.  Do your field work out on the course.

I play a ton of solo rounds.  A metric ton, actually.  That’s because the times I am able to play are when no one else is available.  6-7am on a weekday is a time that sees very little action out there on the course.  You pretty much have the place to yourself no matter where you live or how much traffic your local course gets.  This means that if you want to play at this time, it’s generally by yourself.  This also means that you don’t have to worry about playing each hole quickly.

At this point in my preparation for the Glass Blown Open, the only day I do field work in a field is on Saturday.  When the courses are full, that’s when I head to the local football field.  Other than that, all of my field work is done out on the course itself.  Here are the top 10 reasons why:

1. On a course, you can simulate any shot you would actually face when playing.  In an open field, you can’t do this.  Sure, you can pull a Mr. Rogers and imagine it all, but that just isn’t the same.  Practicing tunnel shots is a lot more fun and a lot more effective when you are actually in a tunnel.
2. On a course, you have a real tee pad.  Everyone always says, “practice how you play”.  Well, I don’t know about you, but when I’m driving in rounds, I drive off of tee pads 95% of the time.
3. There is elevation on a course, not on a soccer field.  Unless your park district designed the worst soccer field in the entire world, it’s flat.  You can’t practice throwing up or downhill when you are on flat ground.
4. On a course, you have actual baskets to throw at.  Sure you can bring cones or other targets with you to the field, but there’s nothing quite like throwing at a basket.  This strongly contributes to the “fun and not boring” part of doing field work on the course.
5. On a course, you can alternate between driving, upshots, putting, and lots of other stuff.  This is how a real round goes.  When playing, you don’t get to throw 9 drivers before you throw the one that counts.  Mixing up the shots you are practicing is a much closer approximation to how you actually play.
6. There are obstacle on a course.  Again, you can pretend to throw your disc around an imaginary tree in an empty field.  Or, you can throw your disc around an actual tree.  The latter is just more effective.

   

7. You can get in putting and throwing practice out on the course.  Typically, when out in a field, there is no putting.  A day without putting practice is a day of practice at least partially wasted.
8. On the course, there are many different types of grass, dirt, and other ground cover.  You can practice getting your disc to land the right way in each.  You can practice skip shots right along with shots that stop dead in longer grass.
9. You get regular changes in scenery as you move around the course.  The boring sports field will always be the boring sports field.  The changing environments around the course serve to keep things interesting.  The more interesting things are, the longer you tend to practice.
10. It’s more fun out on the course.  When your practice is more fun, you will do it more often.  The field work that you used to do just once in a while becomes the field work you do weekly or even daily.

Now, there is one big drawback.  You will be tempted to just play a round instead of practicing.  And that’s a big temptation.  In order for this to work, you have to be committed to just practicing.  If you can do that, though, you are bound for much more beneficial practice sessions.

So how do you go about this?  Honestly it doesn’t really matter.  You could go out and throw a bunch of shots from each spot as you play around the course.  You could go out to select holes and play them over and over with multiple discs.  You could go out and pick certain spots and throw a stack of discs from each one.  You could go to one hole that’s just out of your reach and work on your distance by driving it over and over again.  Just take a stack of discs, and probably your video camera, and get out there and practice.

Those are just a few of the many ways you can get in field work out on the course.  And that in and of itself highlights one of the benefits.  The possibilities are endless.  The opportunity to improve virtually every aspect of your game is limited only by your imagination.

I honestly believe that people don’t practice because playing is more fun.  For me, field work on the course is almost the only way I practice.  If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve seen my daily practice updates.  Unless the weather is bad, almost all of them are made up field work drills done out on the course.  This one mind set shift has done more for my practice regimen than just about anything else.  I encourage you to try it for yourself.

[tweetthis]The most effective #discgolf practice drills are the ones that you actually do.[/tweetthis]

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The post Road to the GBO – Taking the Field Out of Field Work appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

I had a girlfriend once that didn’t let me have the TV remote when we watched TV.  It wasn’t because I channel surfed.  It wasn’t because I wanted to watch things she didn’t.  It’s because I’m a tinkerer.  Regardless of how good the picture actually was, I would constantly pull up the menu and fiddle with the settings.  Always trying to get things just a little bit better.  What was the result?  Really hard to watch programs because there was always a menu over the screen and an angry girlfriend who eventually hid the remote from me.

For the longest time, I treated my disc golf bag the same way.  I was never truly happy with it.  I always felt like there were better discs out there than what I had.  I always kept buying new molds in hopes that I would find that magic one that would be my savior.  You know, the one where every time you pull it out of your bag a choir of angels sing?  I wrote a story about that kind of behavior a couple of weeks ago.

I know I’m not alone in this.  Go on any FaceBook page, disc golf forum, Twitter feed, Instagram page, or anywhere else on the inter-webs and you’ll see countless people trying to replace discs, add new ones, and otherwise tinker with their bag.

Hey, it’s fun, right?  It’s one of the joys of this sport that for under $20, you can get a whole new piece of equipment.  Going to a disc golf shop, for me, is like sending a coke addict on a vacation to Bolivia.  I went just last week and came home $120 poorer.  Did I need 4 more Fuse’s?  Not really, but it sure makes field work easier.  Did I need more Pure’s?  No, but a stack of 15 makes putting practice easier than a stack of 10.

What I spent my money on, though, shows something that has changed and matured in my game over the years.  If I had made that trip 5 years ago, I would have spent $250.  All $250 would have been on discs that I hadn’t ever thrown, but “felt good in my hand”.  I would have bought all the new discs that I didn’t yet have.  Then I would have come home and spent 4 hours changing up my bag to include all the new discs.

We all know what came next.  Several weeks of the worst golf ever.  There are few things more frustrating than playing disc golf with a bag full of discs you know nothing about.  How a disc is supposed to fly is rarely how it actually flies for you.  Your distances are way off.  Wind just destroys you.  Nope, nothing good can come of playing with a bag full of all new discs.

That’s why a couple of years ago, I made a conscious decision to stop changing my discs of choice.  I was inspired by some of my favorite pro disc golfers.  Watch the in the bag videos from some of the all time greats.  Barry and Climo and Avery and Doss.  Those guys don’t have new stuff in their bags.  They have the same thing they’ve carried for years.

Every once in a while, they’ll add a new mold.  Climo, for example, carries a Tern.  That disc is only a couple of years old.  But the rest of his bag has been the same for an eternity.  He carries a Sonic nested inside of a Condor!  Who still plays with a Condor?  I guess the Champ does, that’s who!  Don’t believe me?  Check out our in the bag pages here.

So, how do you stop changing your bag, but still have the fun of trying new discs?  How do you balance the sheer awesomeness of new plastic with the smart playing decision of only playing with discs you know intimately (everyone get their mind out of the gutter, I don’t like my discs that much!)?

One answer, and the one that has really worked for me, is deciding on lockdown periods for your bag.  I just entered one.  It’s one month until the GBO.  Now is not the time to be tinkering.  Now is not the time to be messing with the tint and contrast on my TV.  Now is not the time to put a disc in my bag that I have no idea what it really does, let alone in the wind.

Now is the time to make a commitment.  Now is the time to put my bag on lockdown.  The discs that will make up my bag for the GBO have been decided on.  They are in my bag.  I have backups for all of them.  I will not be buying anything new until I’m at the GBO (and I’m terrified at how much money I’ll be tempted to spend there!).  Even then, none of it gets thrown or put in the bag until after the tournament is over.

For the next 30 days, my job is to get as many throws in with the discs that I’ve chosen as possible.  I cannot afford to dilute that experience with anything new or different.  All the needed slots are filled.  I’ve thrown these molds for a while.  Other than my natural tendency to tinker, there’s no legit reason for me to change anything.

So that’s my challenge to you.  Decide on a lockdown period for your bag.  Make a solid commitment to stick with just what you’ve picked for a set period of time.  Hopefully that period is a month or more.  Make sure you pick a reasonable number of molds.  Putting your bag on lock down with 45 discs in it really isn’t what we are looking for.

Once you do that, really learn the discs you’ve chosen.  Get to know them intimately (again, mind out of the gutter please!).  Don’t be tempted by the seductress that is the latest and greatest release from your favorite manufacturer.  Don’t get swayed by the merch. table at your next tournament.  Don’t get wooed by that shiny new disc your buddy just pulled out and bombed right in front of you.  Make a commitment.  Lock that bag down.  You’ll be amazed at the result.

You will start to throw shots with more accuracy than you ever have before.  You’ll dial in your distances.  You’ll develop a level of control you never thought possible.  Most importantly, you’ll develop confidence.  You will be able to step up to any shot and know exactly what disc to throw and exactly how to throw it.  There will be no more “throw and hope” shots for you.  There will be no more discs that don’t do what you want them to.

Take a lesson from the top pros in our sport.  Lock that bag down.  Stop fiddling with the remote control of your game.  Your game and your wallet will thank you.

One thing you should lock down is a subscription to this blog!  What are you waiting for, enter your email below and once a week, disc golf awesomeness will break out right into your in box!

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The post Road to the GBO – Putting the Bag on Lockdown appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here!!!!  It’s finally here!  Happy spring everyone!!!

OK, so we still have some cold and crappy days to deal with (a couple came this week), but we are finally putting winter in our rear view mirrors.  One week ago today was the official first day of spring.  I can’t wait for indoor putting practice to become a fall back for rainy days only.  I sorely miss getting up every morning and heading to the course for my daily practice sessions.

For the folks in warmer climates, spring doesn’t hold near the significance for you that it does for my cold weather brethren out there.  And it means even more for some of our European disc golf brothers and sisters.  The sun is finally coming back out and actually staying out long enough to go play.

In addition to the meteorological signs that it’s spring, there are lots of other signs too.  If you like college basketball, March madness is here and bracketology is in full effect.  The clocks have been changed and the Sun isn’t going down until after 7pm!  For me, one of my favorite markers of spring is the soreness I get the day after my first good, solid day of playing disc golf at my home course for the year.

We’ve all been there.  We have the day off of work or school.  The weather is nice.  The ground has dried out.  It’s that perfect first real day of spring goodness outside.  We grab our bag of discs, dust them off, and head out to the local course with our buddies intent on playing until our arms fall off.  Oh what a glorious and wonderful day that is!

The next day, though.  Oh that next day.  For the disc golfer who hibernated for the winter, it’s a painful day.  Muscles ache.  It’s hard to walk.  It’s tough getting out of bed.  It’s on this day that we pay the price for being sedentary and not throwing a disc all winter.  If you’re really unlucky, you are now starting off your season injured.

I have to admit, I know this pain from experience.  More than once I’ve come back from a disc golf hiatus of some type and just plain done too much the first day back.  I’ve pulled my lat, strained my shoulder, blistered my hand, and strained a ligament in my elbow.  Not all at the same time, of course, but each of those things has happened because I over did it on that first day back on the course after a break.

It’s because of these injuries that many years ago I started using a gradual process of easing back into things.  A sort of spring training for disc golf if you will.  Even if you’ve been playing during the winter (I usually do and this year was no different), this is still a good idea.  Fair weather golf is just a different animal than snow golf.

Even with my continuing preparation for the the GBO, I started this spring ritual 2 weeks ago and it ends today.  Tomorrow I have my first tournament of the year.  I’ve found that starting 2 weeks prior to really playing seriously is enough time to safely get back into the swing of things in a healthy and injury free manner.

First, before we address the daily plan I follow, I want to stress the importance of staying limber and stretched out.  A while back, I wrote a post about the stretching routine I follow daily.  Whether you use that one or another, daily stretching should be a big part of a disc golfer’s life.  As I learned the hard way, jumping out of the car and heading straight to the first tee is not the best idea.

Once you have that general baseline nailed down, it’s best to ease back into things.  The following is what I do every year.  It’s not the only way to approach this, but it’s worked for me for quite a few years and it might work for you too!

Days 1-3:
I take my practice basket to an open field.  The goal is to just get into the swing of throwing again.  I’ll start with 20-30 practice putts.  Then I’ll start throwing approaches.  I start close (50-100 feet).  On these days, I’m not looking to throw very hard at all, just knock the rust off.  Each day I move progressively further back until I’m about 200 feet out.  I’ll never throw more than 60%-70% power during these first 3 days.  I putt out every approach.  The goal is right around 100 approaches thrown each day.

Day 4:
Rest.  Yep, rest.  I’ll typically do a bunch of mobility work this day.  I might practice putting, I might not.  This is strictly a forced “ease back into it” type day.  This is the first of a few days I give my body to recover and build strength.  This is probably the hardest of all the days.  I stay in a field the first three days so I’m not tempted to just go throw a round.  By day 4 I’m itching to play on the course pretty badly.

Days 5-7:
More field work.  Here I take my basket to a football field.  I’ll repeat what I did on day 3 as a warm up (200 foot putter approaches).  Then I’ll break out my mids.  The goal is to stretch back to 300 feet with my mids, but never throw full power.  I don’t have a set number of throws in mind.  I’m just trying to groove in a nice smooth throw and get my mechanics back.  I’m also putting out from every throw on these days too.

Day 8:
Rest again.  On day 7, I’ve worked up to throwing 75-80% power.  I can usually start to feel some soreness again by now.  Another day of mobility work is really useful here.  I definitely practice putting this day.

Day 9:
Time to reward myself with some actual play on an actual course.  Here I take three neutral mids and 3 putters to my local 9 hole practice course.  It’s a great place to practice and never has many people on it.  I play 18 holes of 3 disc  golf.  I play each mid individually and I putt out 3 times from each one.  This is one of my favorite practice drills overall and this is a really fun day for me.

Day 10:
I always feel like this should be another rest day, but at this point the itch to throw plastic is undeniable.  So, it’s back to the field with my putters.  Here is when I start to try and push some distance out of them.  As a note, almost every throw up until this day has been a stand still throw.  Day 10 is when I add my xstep in.  Using putters really shows any issues I might have and allows me to work on correcting them.  Weather and time permitting, I’m throwing a couple hundred up shots with my putters and putting out all of them.

Day 11:
Time to break out the fairway drivers.  Typically I’ll pull out a straight (used to be Leopards, now it’s Visions) and a stable with fade (used to be Teebirds, now it’s Riots – also trying the Stag out this year).  Back to the practice field.  I like to eliminate putting on this day.  It’s my first day out with drivers for the year and I just want to get some reps in.  I start at about 50% standing still and gradually work my way up to about 80%-85% power with a run up.  This is more about regaining muscle memory and working on smoothness than anything else.  It’s also prep for Day 12….

Day 12:
Huzzah!!!!  It’s finally time for a real round on a big boy course.  Still no high speed distance drivers, but fairway and down is fair game.  Depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll play 36 holes on this day and book end it with putting practice inside the circle.  I play real rounds with no practice or second shots.  I try to simulate a tournament as closely as possible.  This is typically a few days before my first tournament of the year so if possible, this practice is done at the same course I’m playing that weekend.  This is the first test of the year as to whether or not I’m ready for competitive golf.  It’s also when I look back at the previous 11 days and thank myself for the self discipline.  I’ll typically be feeling really good about my game at this point.  More importantly, I know I won’t end up injured.

Day 13:
Rest.  I’ll typically beat myself up pretty good on day 12 and will be feeling it.  More mobility work and a lot of yoga on this day.   I will practice putting a lot on this day.  Probably 500+ putts.

Day 14:
This is usually my first tournament of the year.  A good night’s sleep, yoga in the morning, a couple hundred practice putts, and arriving early enough to practice the holes I think will be challenging that day.

So there it is.  My version of disc golf spring training.  I’m smart enough to know that most people won’t do any of that.  Once the weather is nice, most people will just hit the course and start playing.  I totally get that and completely understand wanting to just play until the ole arm falls off.

For what it’s worth, this has worked extremely well for me and I did it again this year (today is day 13).  I truly believe that if you work your way back into your season similarly to this you really set yourself up well for health and success.  There’s nothing worse than starting the year injured.  Hopefully you can take at least a couple of useful nuggets from this plan that will help you prevent that.

Regardless of how you get ready, I want to wish the best of luck to all of you in this year’s disc golf endeavors.  Whether you are a tournament player, a league player, a casual player, or once a week one disc wonder, may all your discs fly true and may your birdies outnumber your bogies.  I truly hope that this is your best disc golf year ever and I’m thankful that you allow me to be a part of it!

Here’s another thing that will help you play better this year, subscribe to the Mind Body Disc blog!  We’ll send you a weekly newsletter rounding up all of our posts for the week so you never miss a thing.

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The post Road to the GBO – Spring Tune Up appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

3 months straight.  That’s how long I’ve been training daily in an effort to ready myself for the 2015 Glass Blown Open.  I’m slated to arrive in Emporia on April 26, which means I’ve got 6 weeks left to prepare.

It’s been 12 weeks of working out, meditating, practicing putting, studying up on the mental game, field work when possible, and a variety of other preparatory activities.  That’s the longest I’ve been that dedicated to anything that didn’t result in money or landing a girlfriend.  The crazy thing is that it’s been relatively easy.

So, I sit here now scratching my big bald head wondering how I’ve been able to stay dedicated to this when all of my previously well laid plans to get better at disc golf have mostly fizzled out in 3 weeks or less.  Sure I’ve always avidly played, but dedicated practice was sporadic at best.  Why now?  What’s different?

A big part, of course, is the public accountability.  I have intentionally made a big deal out of this here and on FaceBook strictly for that reason.  When you know people are watching, you are much less likely to quit.  That has definitely helped a lot, and I recommend using accountability for anyone trying to achieve any worthwhile goal.  But I don’t think that’s the biggest reason.

I really think that the biggest thing is that I finally have a concrete reason to practice.  I’m actually practicing for something.  For the first time, there is a specific event, on a specific date that I am preparing for.  I actually have a deadline.  No, it’s more than that, I actually have a deadline that I care about.

The GBO is more than just jumping in the car at sunrise on a Saturday morning to drive a couple hours to a tournament.  This is a week long event with 2 C tiers and an A tier (NT stop for the pros) that’s happening 8 hours from home.  This is a week of my vacation time.  This is an event that I want to get every last bit of enjoyment out of.  A huge part of that will be showing up and knowing that I’m well prepared.  I know myself well enough to know that if I show up ill prepared, I’ll just beat myself up the whole time.  That would make for a terrible vacation and would be no fun at all!

Up until now, I’ve always practiced for the nebulous goal of “getting better”.  That’s about as motivating as eating broccoli because it’s good for you (that stuff is awful, just awful).  Sure, I’ve always wanted to play disc golf at a higher level than I do.  But that want alone is too easily overpowered by a warm bed and a snooze button.

Having a concrete disc golf deadline has changed all of that.  It’s made that snooze button my enemy.  It’s made going to bed early easy.  It’s helped guide all of my decisions like a compass constantly pointing in the direction I want to go.  Committing to going to the GBO, getting the time off of work, and reserving the hotel for the week has given me the motivation that all of my previous disc golf improvement plans have lacked.

Now here’s the kicker that hopefully helps all of you…

Anyone can have their own personal GBO.  I don’t mean a disc golf tournament in Kansas.  I mean an event or day that you can make special and meaningful.  I mean an event or day that you can put on a calendar and count down to.  People do it for their weddings.  People do it for their vacations.  Why can’t you can do it for disc golf?

Here’s some possible things you could put on your calendar to give you a deadline that motivates you:

1. Register for a tournament that happens in a month or two, but register one division higher than you normally play.
2. Challenge a buddy who is better than you to a cash game and schedule it a month or two down the road.
3. Challenge some friends to play for something embarrassing (loser has to wear a dress next time you play on a busy weekend) and schedule that game down the road a bit.
4. Join a local league and put the last league day of the year on your calendar with a goal of how you want to play by then.
5. Book a disc golf vacation and plan to go play some well known, tough, challenging courses.

There’s a ton of ways you can give yourself a meaningful disc golf deadline.  These are just a few.  Spring starts in just 7 days!  Summer is right around the corner!  Just sit and think about it for a minute.  What are some important disc golf related events that you are looking forward to this year?  How will you make sure you are at your best for them?

Have you ever wanted to get better but found yourself not sticking to a practice plan?  Try giving yourself a disc golf deadline.  It wouldn’t hurt to tell a bunch of people about it too.  So far it’s been working great for me.  There’s no reason to think it wouldn’t work great for you too.

You know what else works great for helping you get better?  Subscribing to this blog!  You know I’d stop asking if everyone just did it already!  Do it.  You won’t be sorry!

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The post Road to the GBO – Disc Golf Deadline appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.