Stat update

This morning, found out my event starts on 17 of the summer (ski hill) Alpine Valley course.

It reminded me of a weird coincidence with stats for 2024.

In 30 rounds, currently 23 over par on 17 and 18 (including the 17th and 18th played in the round among the 27 at the Oaks). For all others, 17 under par.

The only birdies on 17 and 18 this year were during the first round of the World Championship at Olpe Lake. Fairfield, Grey Fox, and Eagle Ridge all have challenging finishes that contribute to the score including the triple bogey on 17 on the ski hill last month.

On the golf course for lower level players, both 17 and 18 are short par 4s that can be birdied. Will see what happens the next day.

Real issue

After seeing a cartoon video on FB, remembered that there is something called a real ID which I didn't bother to get last year when I renewed my driver's license because there were no plans to get on an airplane.

Found out that on May 7th, 2025 a Real ID will be required to get on any plane. Since playing in the US Championship would require a flight on May 5th to Albuquerque and the return one on May 12, not getting a Real ID would have forced me to rent an additional car to make a 24 hour drive home.

I wonder had I not thought about a Real ID, would I found out about this in time as it takes almost a month to get it sent after providing multiple items to prove identity and residence.

Major travels

For age restricted non female disc golfers, there are two major events every year. The world championship that people qualify the year before and the US championship which doesn't. 

In 2018, was good enough to justify playing the US title in Crown Point, IN but not eligible for the worlds.

In 2019, was good enough to justify driving 700 miles to play my first world championship but not good enough to fly to Massachusetts for the US.

In 2021, not good enough to justify flying to Orlando for the worlds or drive to Columbia, MO for the US.

In 2022, was good enough to justify driving either to Quad Cities for the US or Peoria for the worlds and chose Peoria then with help from Luke Ski and my daughter made a video making fun of myself since making the cut was not going to happen.

In 2023, not good enough to fly to Eugene, Oregon for the US or Flagstaff, Arizona for the worlds and would not trust myself navigating the AZ courses at 7,500 foot elevation.

Because of how I was playing this year, justified the 625 mile drive to Emporia, KS for the worlds but at the time a decision was needed to be made, not good enough to fly to Cary, NC for the US.

For the US title being held this week, in my current MA55 division would be by rating exactly in the middle expected to miss the cut by 3 shots and in the MA60 division which I will be eligible in 104 days, would be 11th of 32 and expected to make the cut.

That made me realize I am now good enough to justify flying to a major championship next year in MA60.

The worlds is 4th of July week in the Minnesota twin cities so driving there will happen. The US title is in early May in Ruinoso, NM. I can fly to Albuquerque and rent a car but elevation is 6,500 feet.

If I wanted go there, will need to be significantly lighter to give myself a chance to participate since at my weight navigating a course at elevation would be difficult. Even if I don't go to the US championship, will be making at least one other out of town drive to play a large event.

In order to participate in more out of town events in 2025 as the "young player" in MA60, will need to use the vacation time and money that would otherwise be used to to go Marscon and FuMPFeST.

Though my daughter and I were considering chartering a bus again through her company to pay her to attend Marscon again in 2025 and that others want to ride, that isn't going to happen as it would not be fair to the time, money, energy, and physical pain endured to get my game to the level it is right now.

As of now, my doctor wants to replace my right knee in early 2026 so the Marscon fun bus might be back on the schedule then since I would schedule my surgery so I could be on disability during the convention.

I am also aware that anything can happen on or off the course to an obese man with arthritis approaching 60 and that it is not impossible for something to happen to prevent me from playing.

If there is a question if would I rather compete in a major disc golf championship or go to Marscon, look at my Facebook profile.

37th time is the charm

Thirty hours after finally winning an Illinois Series Event, the emotions kicked in. Similar to what happened in most of my wins, it wasn't close.

After a distant second at a B tier in July, what happened in round two last month at the previous IOS B tier event, and after a frustrating Labor Day event, dedicated time to learning Eagle Ridge for this B tier since my goal for the second half of 2024 was winning my first B tier event.

Last year at Eagle Ridge, I barely finished due to my right knee which gave out the previous month but for 2024, the course seemed shorter but it took a couple trips of practice rounds to realize how to take advantage of that.

Knowing there was a one round event the Friday before, decided to take a vacation day to get a competitive round there and was well matched in a group where we all finished within 2 shots of each other and star framed the 10 foot high basket on #9.

That round turned out by rating to be by two shots my best there, my 5th best for the year and among the top 15 lifetime played.

In the IOS event on Sunday, had a different plan for 8 tee shots because of what I learned on Friday and three of them produced birdies (and would have been 4 but a 22 foot putt hit cage). Along with repeating birdies on the three from Friday and my first ever birdie on #11, the score for the 18 was 4 shots better than my personal best at that course from Friday and because I made the birdie to finish the round on a temp hole, overall round rating was lifetime best and I had a 6 shot lead.

Had to eat lunch at car to avoid bees and when I got up, could barely put weight on right leg. Realizing sitting would just cause white cells to accumulate, had to try to walk it off. With another dose of arthritis cream, got ready for round two in winder conditions. 

As the round progressed, the person from third became the closest to me but after his tree problems on 8 and me birdieing 11 from the long tee on one of the best drives of my life was up 10 with 5 to go.

From the long tee, 15 for me is a drive that heads to the tree that is OB on the right then turns left into the fairway helped by the wind. I failed to realize it was more a headwind than right to left and hit the tree and was OB with 250+ to go. 

Third shot rode the OB line and disappeared over the crest unsure if OB so I threw a provisional that was even more right than the first one so threw a second provisional which could have been 7th while opponent had a doable shot for 3.

Fortunately, the first provisional was safe (the second was also) but missed the 40 foot bogey putt and lost 2 shots.

After hitting an early tree on the par 4 16 still shook from almost doing a "Tin cup", played for bogey since the hole has a hazard rule adding a shot off the fairway while my opponent made a birdie which I never saw someone make before.

Number 17 has a mandatory from the long tee which I badly missed. I was fortunate my opponent hit a tree on his approach and I only lost one shot making the lead 5.

On the tee for the par 4 18th, was in panic mode and instead of doing one of the two things in my practice rounds that worked, did something else and was way right. After pitching to the fairway, my opponent tried two hero shots from a bad spot but hit trees both times. Though I got a bogey going +6 in four holes, my opponent's double bogey had me up 6 going into the last hole.

Though we both screwed up our drive on the final hole, I managed to save par while he didn't making the margin 7 shots.

The feeling was relief more than anything and was mentally and physically exhausted. One I got home, could barely walk and it took 30 hours to gather enough energy to post this.

When I got home today from a frustrating day at work, used the eraser on the whiteboard for the events over the next month realizing that after posting 8 of my best 15 lifetime rated rounds over the past 11 months and with leg pain and a right arm that pops including while setting up putts in round two, rest and recovery needs to happen.

Other than the "Freedom round" next week and maybe one round heading to Con On the Cob, have no specific plans to play for a month.

World championship summer

My sister and I competed in a world championship this summer and there were come coincidences:

Forgot to put on chart that the winner of my sister's division whose event was over 2 1/2 hours shorter crossed the Pacific Ocean and the winner of my division who played an extra 4 hours crossed the Atlantic and that both my sister's and my participation was just under 10 hours each.

Number 36

What was a one shot lead with 12 to play turned into missing a playoff by 7 shots. How?

Hole 5 on the Fairfield Gold course is a gettable par 4 as long as the drive clears a little rise and is not bad off line with for me an approach 200-225 feet uphill through a narrowing gap. My drive as with the previous three open ones left me shooting first in the 5 some. The shot was on line but hit the base of a tree 25 feet from the basket and rolled back down 50 feet into brush. I was able to pitch up for par but the two who were one behind barely missed that tree and tied me.

Hole 6 is a par 4 which was extended a few years ago from a par 3. My play is a midrange to the fairway, another to where it bends 90° degrees right, and a pitch for a par. After a wait to play the hole, my drive was a bit right clipping the edge of trees leaving me out of position to get down to the bend. Though a roller was considered, tried to turn over the disc hard right to the bend as opposed to a safe shot and missed bad left ending up in bushes. After the roller out and the attempted turnover after hit first available tree, pitched to 20 feet which was the about as good from where I was being completely blocked and missed the putt for a 7. One of those I was tied threw his drive where I wanted it to land, went over the top to 40 feet and made the putt for 3.

That began a humbling and painful eight hole stretch where I either hit a tree or missed the gap beyond a tree 15 times shooting 10 over while my opponent went even par.

As I dragged myself to the tee on 14, the focus changed to making sure weight shifted forward as I threw and the drive was ok followed by a 60 foot shot that unlike a couple others that missed a gap, went under the basket. 

On 15, threw the best drive I ever did on that par four followed by a 220 foot approach through a 6 foot gap to 15 feet. Though still pissed the birdie putt double doinked off the band, figured out what was wrong and after executing a solid drive on 16, clanged home a 35 foot birdie putt to finish 7 out.

So how did it happen? Focus shifted especially after the bad break on #5 knowing the situation and with tired legs that the wait on the tee of 6 did not help, failed to finish throws with the body which causes shots to be higher, curve more left at the end and most importantly start off line both ways. Most shots in that stretch even the drive getting a birdie on #9 had one or more of those things happen.

So what next time? The next potential situation for winning, the focus needs to be on executing throws and not the results. Hoping this post will remind me what to do and prevent a bad break from snowballing like it did yesterday and during round one of the World's in June.

I - Zero - S continued

This upcoming Sunday will be my first Illinois Open Series event of 2024. Due to playing Worlds and timing, was unable to make the other events so far in 2024. The plan is to play the final three of the year.

I confirmed that I have played 35 of them since 2012 without a win.

Different event locations: 9

Lcations played: Fairfield - 8, Eagle Ridge - 7, Rockford- 6, Marengo - 4, Channahon & Sinssippi - 3, Northwood Pk - 2, Bevier & Lemon Lake -1

Division breakdown:

MA3: 3

MA4: 2

MA40: 1

MP50: 1

MA50: 28 (All but one since 2017)

Meaningful times finishing 3rd: 3

Meaningful times finishing 2nd: 3

Players in my division: Ranging from 4 to 35

Total mathematical odds (based on number of players faced in each event) of me not winning at least once: 89-1