I wish I was a better putter.
I wish I could drive farther.
I wish I could put my approaches closer to the basket.
I wish I could keep a better attitude on the course.

I wish, I wish, I wish.

How many people instead say…

I will be a better putter.
I will drive farther.
I will park my approaches.
I will have a better attitude.

Not a lot.

Even less people take the actual steps needed to make those things a reality. If it were up to me, no one would ever be able to say “I wish…” unless the very next statement out of their mouth was, “And these are the things I’m doing to make that happen.”

The thing is, doing requires discipline. It’s what separates the people who get their wishes from those who don’t. Discipline is not wanting to practice, but doing it anyway. It’s not wanting to do field work, but doing it anyway.

It’s great to have dreams.

The question is, do you have the discipline to make those dreams happen?

…

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The post Wisdom Wednesday | Desire is Nothing Without Discipline appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

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.

When we got to that hole, I stepped up, missed that gap, and landed just short of the creek. Not a good start. Another guy in my group, Scott, stands on the tee and points about 40’ above and 75’ to the right of the gap that I aimed at. “I think I can get through there”, he said. I looked up and saw a tiny opening. It was maybe 3’ by 3’. Miss that opening and you are taking no less than a 5 on the hole. Make it and all of a sudden a 3 is a very real possibility.

Scott stepped up without thinking and sailed right through that little hole in the trees. He took a 3. What was interesting is that the guy that went after him went for the same gap. He not only hit it, but also threw a beautiful turnover shot that left him closer to the basket than Scott.

I truly believe that the second guy, if he hadn’t seen what Scott just did, would have gone for the same gap I did. Very few people would have stepped up to that hole and even seen, let alone considered, that tiny hole way up in the trees. It wasn’t until it was proven possible that that second guy could see that gap as a realistic shot.

How many things in life are like that little gap? How many opportunities are we blind to because our mind doesn’t want to believe they are possible?

What are those little gaps in your life? Do you see them or has your mind prevented it?

…

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The post Wisdom Wednesday | The Eye Sees Only What the Mind is Prepared to Comprehend appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Life isn’t practice. This is the real thing. It’s our one shot. Regardless of what you think comes next, the lives we are living now are unique. We won’t get to do this over.

With that in mind, it puzzles me how so many people in this world can drag themselves out of bed and go through their days lethargic and unhappy.

If you woke up one day and someone came to you and gave you the most incredible gift you’d ever received, you’d be pretty pumped, right? You’d feel obligated to care for that gift and use it properly, wouldn’t you? I bet you would even show it off with pride to anyone who would look. Well, you have been given that gift. It’s the gift of getting to be a human being on this crazy beautiful planet of ours.

And there are disc golf courses here, how awesome is that?!?!?

Accept it with grace and be grateful. Wake up every day excited. Every night, go to bed proud.

[tweetthis]Wake up excited and go to bed proud! #discgolf[/tweetthis]

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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.

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

It’s been really cool to meet so many people. Something I always ask the people I play with is whether they play in tournaments or not. It’s usually a good conversation starter regardless of the answer. I’ve been kind of surprised by how few have ever played in a disc golf tournament.

I always ask why this is. While the answers all seem to vary on the surface, they really boil down to one reason… People don’t think they are good enough.

First, this is a terrible reason to not do something. I can tell each of  you who think this that you are wrong. I played in a tournament this year with someone who had only been playing 3 weeks. If he can do it, so can you.

Luckily, there are lots of reasons to play in your first tournament other than being “good enough”. Here’s a short list, I hope it inspires some of you to check out a local tournament:

1. It’s not about winning. Only one person wins in each division. Does that mean that everyone else all went to their cars and cried? No! Pretty much everyone has a great time whether they win or not. Forget about the winning part for now and just get out and play!
2. Speaking of divisions, skill level is the whole reason they have them. You will be playing with and competing against other people of a similar skill level. You won’t be placed in a group with Avery Jenkins, Ken Climo, and Simon Lizotte and expected to compete. You’ll be put in a group with 3 other disc golfers who also miss 10 foot putts and hit trees just like you (and I) do.
3. Usually, those 3 other disc golfers turn out to be pretty cool people. One of my favorite things about playing in tournaments is getting to catch up with all of the folks I have come to know and love over the years I’ve been playing in tournaments.
4. Even though you will be playing with some fun people who play at or around your skill level, you’ll still get to see what it’s like to play under pressure. It’s a way to test yourself and see how you do. There just isn’t another way to do this. Leagues are kind of similar, but nothing holds a candle to the butterflies in your stomach on the first hole of a tournament round.
5. Because of this pressure, you’ll come away with a very clear picture of what it is you really need to work on. Nothing exposes your true opportunities like playing in competition under pressure.
6. Not only will you be playing under pressure, but you’ll be playing by the rules. Getting in to your first disc golf tournament is a great way to see our great sport played properly and by the book. No cheating your lie. No mulligans. No multiple throws on each shot. For many people who only play casually, playing by the actual rules can be a whole different experience.
7. While you are there, you’ll also get to see some of the local pros play. If you look around while you are there, you’re bound to see some amazing disc golf that you never get to see on your normal daily rounds.
8. Lastly, how will you ever know if you like it or not? You might find out that you absolutely love playing in tournaments. That would open up a whole new world within our sport for you. And if you find out that you don’t love it? No harm, no foul, at least you tried.

There are actually a lot more reasons than just those, but the bottom line is that if you play disc golf, you should play in at least one tournament.

What are you waiting for? There’s plenty of good weather left. Get out there and give it a shot! A great place to look for an event coming up near you is right here on the PDGA website. Then let us know how it was. We’d love to hear about your experiences!

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The post Why You Should Play in Your First Disc Golf Tournament appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

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 common theme. They are successful, at least in part, because they did the uncomfortable things. They got up before the Sun. They went without sleep. They worked long after their peers had quit for the day. They asked for help.

I hear the same things from successful disc golfers. They get up early to go practice or play. They pushed other obligations until after the Sun went down, and that cut into their sleep. They played and practiced long after their friends had called it a day. They asked for help.

This is, by no means, an exhaustive list of uncomfortable things. But it is a great example of the things that the most successful people in our sport have all done. It’s a great starting list of things you will probably need to do if you want to win…. At anything…. Including disc golf.

So remember what Mike Tyson used to say when he was at the peak of his career. Even though he was the undisputed world champ, he would still get up extra early to run and train. Why? Because he liked knowing that he was up training while his opponent was still in bed.

Get out there and do something that scares you every day. Challenge yourself. Push yourself to be your best both on and off the disc golf course. It will always be something you will have been happy to have done.

Something else you will have been happy to have done is subscribe to this blog. Come on, I ask you every couple of days. Just do it already! I promise it doesn’t hurt at all and you’ll be happy you did!

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

Play with one new person a week this summer.  That’s my goal.  The initial reasoning was just to meet as many new people as I could this year.  The side benefit has been that I’ve seen a crazy assortment of approaches to the game of disc golf.  Today was no different.

This morning, I paired up with a guy at my home course.  We both pulled up at the same time.  We both hit the first tee at the same time.  We were the only ones there (it was pretty wet out there this morning).  It turns out this was his first time on the course so I figured it would be a fun round.  I have a killer home course and I love playing with people for their first time.  It never fails to blow them away.

It’s also fun watching them try to figure out how to play some of the longer holes back in the woods.  It’s challenging back there to say the least.  It’s always a learning experience.  Today was no exception.  Except the person that learned the most today was me.

I’ve played my home course almost every day since we opened its new layout last year.  I thought I knew it well.  I was wrong.  Shots where I threw a turn over, he threw a forehand roller.  Upshots I threw with a putter, he skipped a driver.  I threaded a straight shot down the middle of the fairway, he hyzered down the outside edge.  Shot after shot he saw lines that I never even knew were there.

He ended up beating me by just a couple of throws, but I came away feeling like I had just been totally schooled.  What I learned was that while I’ve looked at my home course countless times, I’ve never taken the time to really see it.  After he got in his car to head off to work for the day, I went back out onto the course.  Not to play, but to look.  To really, really look.

As I walked my formerly familiar home turf, a realization hit me.  How much of my life have I been approaching the same way?  How many things do I look at but not truly see?  How many people do I only know on the surface?  How much beauty passes by me on a regular basis and I never even know it’s there?  How many amazing experiences, relationships, and sights do I miss because I rarely see?

How about you?  Not just in your every day life, but how about just starting with your home course?  I’ve got a challenge for you.  the next time you play, play it with a new rule.  You can’t take any of the lines you normally take.  Force yourself to really see the layout.  Make yourself look at more than you normally do.  You’ll notice things you’ve never noticed before.  You’ll see where you’ve only ever looked before.

Then, when that round is over, head out into your day with the same attitude.  Life is pretty amazing if you take the time to really look.

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The post Wisdom Wednesday – What Do You See? appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

I like to people watch.  More specifically, I like to watch people play disc golf.  There are as many approaches to the game as there are people playing it.  Head out to your home course and look around, you will see some crazy ways to throw a disc.  Go out and take a video camera, you may find that you have some similar quirkiness in your own throw.

Where do all those different techniques come from?  Why doesn’t everyone look clean and smooth like the pros do?  The answer lies in how we have built our throws.  For most of us, our throws are a collection of habits (both good and bad) that we’ve accumulated over the years.  As we try to improve, we just add new habits.  What we don’t realize in many cases, is that we are building on a flawed base to start off with.

This is where those extra steps, crazy run ups, weird flailing arms, off balance finishes, and a whole host of other examples of poor form come from.  We’ve taken not so perfect technique and made it worse.  Before we know it, we’ve built a throw that has bad habits that were implemented to cover up other bad habits.

I want to make sure it’s clear that I’m not judging someone who doesn’t throw like a pro.  God knows I don’t.  What I’m trying to point out is that we have two choices as disc golfers.  First, we can continue on the path we are on, full of flaws in our form and holes in our games.  We can probably develop a pretty competent and enjoyable game of disc golf like that.  Lots of people will play their whole life with a 300 foot max drive and a 20 foot putting circle.  They’ll have an awesome time doing it, too.

The second approach requires some pain and a few steps backward.  It requires that we forget everything we think we know and start with a clean slate.  This is not an easy path.  But it is one that results in the ability to play some amazing disc golf.  It results in distance and accuracy that can be achieved in no other way.

[tweetthis]If you are having fun on the #discgolf course, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks you should do.[/tweetthis]

In the end, if you are having fun out there, that’s all that really matters.  Just make sure you know the destination to which you are headed.  Make sure you are comfortable with where your game is going.  If you like what you see, no matter what it is or what someone else thinks, stay on that path.  If you want to end up somewhere different, you will need to change direction.

If you find yourself in need of a directional change in your game, I cannot recommend a better place to start than with the Heavy Disc blog.  It’s not an easy path that they have laid out, but it is a rewarding one.

As usual, what is true in disc golf is also true in life.  Look at where you are heading.  Do you like the path you are on?  Do you like where it is taking you?  If so, keep on truckin’.  If not, it might be time for a change.

When I look at where this blog is headed, one of the questions I ask is “is it headed into YOUR in box every week?”.  Help me answer that question with a big ol’ “yes” by subscribing below!

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

I’ve been reading a lot of stoic philosophy lately (Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca).  In particular, Ryan Holliday’s book The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph, has been outstanding.  If you have ever wanted to read philosophy, this is a great place to start.  Usually philosophy is written by some snooty person trying to show how smart they are.  They are also normally pondering aspects of life that have zero meaning in the every day lives of normal folks like you and I.

Stoicism is different.  It is extremely readable, practical, and is applicable to our every day existence.  It also has applications in disc golf!  One of it’s central tenets applies directly to our time on the course:

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Think about that for a moment.  In disc golf, as in life, there will be moments of pain.  They are unavoidable.  You will have spit through putts.  You will get an unfortunate kick deep into the woods.  You will have to play a tournament round in an unbearably insect infested park.  It is just a matter of time before something happens mid round that makes you want to hurl expletives into the universe with surprising speed and volume.  Pain is inevitable.

Suffering is not.  Suffering is the misery we cause ourselves when we react to pain.  Suffering is always self inflicted.  Suffering is our own internal choice in how we deal with the pain that life has dealt us.  Suffering, unlike pain, is up to you.

When that perfect, center chain putt bounces back out on you, that is pain.  Dwelling on it for the next 12 holes is suffering.  Having a seemingly perfect drive barely tic off of a tree and end up OB is painful.  Letting that get you so upset that you can’t throw a good drive for the rest of the round is suffering.  Getting swarmed by mosquitos, gnats, and ticks during a tournament round is a lot of pain.  All but giving up on your round because you’d rather be at home where there are no bugs is suffering.

I just had all three of those things happen to me last weekend.  All 3 saw me inflict a good deal of suffering on myself.  When I got home and saw that I had just shot my lowest rated tournament round ever, I decided I needed a little more suffering and brooded about that for a few hours too.  Then, when I was done being pissed, I decided that the day wouldn’t be a total loss.

I picked up my well highlighted, marked up, and dog eared copy of The Obstacle Is the Way and turned to some of my favorite passages.  I realized that my horrible tournament round was simply a test of my ability to endure pain without making it worse by adding a good sized helping of suffering on top.  I failed that test.  But I’m prepared to pass the tests that come in the future.

In reality, we need to file this one under the heading of much easier said than done.  When we find ourselves in challenging and painful circumstances out on the course, it’s easy to forget all about the fact that we are inflicting suffering on ourselves.  It takes a great deal of self awareness and self discipline to recognize it when it’s happening.

If you can manage to do that, though, it is well worth it.  If you can stop, breath, and recognize that your are enduring suffering of your own doing, it’s one of the best disc golf and life skills you can develop.  After all, we are out on the course to have fun, not to suffer, right?

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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 – Pain & Suffering appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

As far as I know, there is no world championship of taking a nice hot shower.  There isn’t a new Olympic event that involves sleeping in on a Sunday.  No one ever challenged anyone else to see who could be more relaxed after a massage.

While I definitely have a sense of accomplishment after I eat a whole Giordano’s stuffed sausage and extra cheese pizza by myself, I wouldn’t consider having heartburn as adversity.  The crazy thing about life is that the harder and more challenging something is, the more rewarding it is when you actually do it.

Disc golf is no different.  If it were easy, it would be boring.  If it were a piece of cake, no one would play it for very long, if at all.  Playing high caliber disc golf takes effort (heck, so does playing mediocre disc golf!).  It takes looking failure in the face and pressing on anyway.  It takes grip locked drives, blow by up shots, and putts into the front of the cage to learn and get better.

The picture above is from this year’s Glass Blown Open.  Eagle Wynne McMahon played some of the most impressive disc golf I’ve ever seen.  He put himself in a position to win against the best our sport has to offer.  But this time, he didn’t.

That experience is important.  Learning to be on a huge stage like that is invaluable.  Feeling what it’s like to play as well as he did and still not come out on top will be critical to his long term success.  The adversity he faced is one of the things that will make trying again worthwhile will be key.  It’s one of the things that will one day make him great.

Years from now, when he is a top pro touring the country, he will look back on that experience as one of the most important and meaningful of his career.  Sure, a win would have been nice.  Not winning will turn out to have taught him much more than winning that one event ever could.

Remember that the next time you are struggling.  Whether it’s not hitting your putts, not throwing your lines, or any number of other things that regularly go wrong with our games.  Adversity is what makes doing things worthwhile.  It’s what makes those eventual successes just that much more savory.  It’s what keeps us coming back for more day after day.

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