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Frisbeebrain's Blog (23)

Mind control in disc golf- first step: thinking about what you're thinking about

How many times has any of the following happened to you?

* You miss badly on a tricky and/or risky putt, and almost immediately after it leaves your hand you realize that although you thought you had decided to go for it, the disc comes out weak and unsure- maybe wobbling more than usual and way too low.

* You hit a tree right after you made not hitting the tree your primary focus

* You catch yourself thinking about your overall score, and the impact your last throw had or… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on February 21, 2011 at 2:09pm — 4 Comments

The Vibram Disc Golf Review 'Preview'

When I began playing disc golf more than 20 years ago, all discs were basically the same in terms of material. They were all plastic, and they were pretty much all the type of plastic we now refer to as DX (Innova's term) or Pro-D (Discraft's). Yet despite the fact that the market for golf discs is now inundated with a continual flood of new models - most available in at least three grades of plastic - one thing has remained constant: They've always been made from plastic. Until… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on February 4, 2011 at 5:08pm — No Comments

Ruminations on speed golf

Every now and then I substitute my thrice-weekly 3-5 mile run with a bit of speed golf. At Black Mouse DGC, a short but very mountainous track, it's a great workout. My habit there, if time allows, is to play the course twice and aim for a time of less than an hour. Today I finished the first round in 26:26, and the the entire 36 holes in 53:05. If my math is correct, that means that the second 18 holes took 13 seconds longer…

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Added by frisbeebrain on January 18, 2011 at 9:28am — 4 Comments

New Disc Golf TV Show, Snow-covered baskets in CA, and disc golf goes to (community) college

For some time now, the majority of the posts on this blog have leaned towards instructions, course reviews, and equipment reviews, and away from the author's personal experiences in the sport. This has plenty to do with my no longer competing at the higher levels, but I've got a couple tidbits to share that have nothing to do with my plummeted player rating and disappearance from the sanctioned tournament scene.

Disc Golf Class at Cabrillo College

The Cabrillo College… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on January 11, 2011 at 8:09pm — 5 Comments

Clifford the Big-Armed Dog, and another oddball first for me

Nearly all of us have played disc golf with people who can seemingly

throw a disc with half our effort and make it go twice as far. Such

natural power is to be envied, but it occurred to me today that in some

ways these freaks of nature deserve our sympathy as well.

Watching Clifford the Big Red Dog the other day with my kids, I thought

of how large active dogs need more room to get the exercise they need.

If you have a 90-pound Labrador Retriever you should… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on December 21, 2010 at 11:58pm — No Comments

Odd targets and unusual setting still made for big fun!

It's easy to think that playing object golf is like washing clothes by

beating them on a rock, with so many basket courses available to us

these days. But it's a reminder of how flexible and adaptable our sport

is. Essentially, if you have a flying disc, anything can be a target,

and almost any setting can be co-opted for use as a course. That being

said, I'm glad modern business parks are built with *** sturdy windows

and most office workers take the weekends off.… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on December 6, 2010 at 2:12pm — 1 Comment

Diarrhea of the Arm: When extra shots hurt rather than help

Have you

heard the term 'diarrhea of the mouth'? It's when someone can't seem to

prevent words from pouring out of their mouth (basically he/she can't

stop talking, whether from nervousness or a genetic flaw passed down

through generations), usually leading to a detrimental result. I believe the currently accepted term for this is TMI (too much information).

Competitive

disc golfers can suffer… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on December 1, 2010 at 1:21am — 5 Comments

Video coverage of disc golf: A realists take

If you're reading this, you most likely are already sold on the awesomeness of disc golf.

Likewise, you probably greatly appreciate and enjoy any live video

coverage of the seminal professional events of our sport. But if you

look at it with a critical eye, you gotta admit that even the best the

sport has to offer is pretty amateurish. The Players Cup coverage last

weekend wasn't much better - in terms of video AND commentary (no

offense to my pal Billy… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on November 25, 2010 at 12:19am — 4 Comments

Disc Golf in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

You've heard of an island green in golf, right? Where you tee off near a

shoreline to a green situated on a small piece of land surrounded by

water? The course featured in today's post is nothing like that. In

fact, it is much better described as a mountain course considering the

fact that it is 5,000 feet up the side of a 10,000 foot-tall mountain

and every hole has some type of slope in play. But this course, Poli

Poli, is also situated on an island in the middle… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 29, 2010 at 6:30pm — 3 Comments

How to practice follow-through when putting, and why it's so important

One of the most important aspects of proper disc golf putting form also

happens to be counter-intuitive to the way people usually first learn

to throw a flying disc. I'm talking follow-through, which in a classic

putting motion means thrusting the throwing (putting) hand forward

toward the target, as opposed to 'flinging' the disc from the side like

a tossing a Frisbee at the beach.

A different set of muscles are involved, so it not only feels weird… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 20, 2010 at 6:22pm — 3 Comments

Putting practice, indoors, without a basket

I travel fairly frequently, and I end up spending a decent

amount of waking hours in a hotel room. Even when I'm in places that

have courses near enough to get in a quick round, I usually just scurry

around the course, note it's highlights despite the fact that it's no

DeLaveaga, then split. When I'm on the road, I rarely get in any putting

practice at all.

So one time I pulled out my putters in the hotel room, wedged myself in one corner, and aimed for a… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 20, 2010 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

Shocked by the sound of chains

One of the great things about disc golf is the way, when you think

you've seen and experienced it all, something happens to make you

realize you in fact have not. Such was the case for me today at Black

Mouse DGC.

After two decades of playing disc golf, I can't remember anything like

what happened today. I want to describe it in detail, and ask you, the

reader, to share anything similar.

Hole 11 at Black Mouse is (choose your adjective): devious,… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 15, 2010 at 1:53am — No Comments

Unique images on the disc golf course

Note: Dated post from frisbeebrain.blogspot.com. I thought y'all would be interested in the images, which is actually the subject of the entry. See below.

For some reason- injury, age, other distractions (those #*! Ankle-biters!). . . who knows- my game has slipped a couple notches in

the past 12 months. After a career high player rating of 999 I'm down to

982, and my distance has seen some…

Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 11, 2010 at 9:14pm — No Comments

2010 USDGC Observations

This time last year I played in the USDGC for the first and only time. I

didn't know it at the time, but I played with a torn rotator cuff. I

did know it hurt like heck, though. After the first practice round, in

which I managed a +1 and figured 'this isn't so bad as long as you play

clean golf and hit all your putts', my arm was as useless as those

little front appendages of a Tyrannosaurus Rex's. But I did my best,

which was equal to most everyone else's worse.… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 9, 2010 at 2:32pm — 1 Comment

The Disc Golf Double-Whammy

I'm not talking about the 'adding insult to injury' kind of double

whammy, like a putt cutting through the chains, spitting out the back,

then landing on an edge and rolling 50 feet away. That sucks, to be

sure, but when it happens, it happens. I'm talking about shot making

strategy, where you plot out exactly what kind of shot you're planning

to throw, with which disc, and how hard/soft/low/high, etc.

Sometimes, when we're thinking about our upcoming shot, we… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 7, 2010 at 8:09pm — No Comments

Don't Count Your Chickens (Before They Hatch)!

Played Black Mouse yesterday, and I got off to a nice start. Birdied 1,

2, 3, and 4. To my credit, I didn't once entertain the possibility of

shooting -18. But I did think that double digits was a given, and it got

me out of a disc-ipline that I've worked for years to establish. I

actually kept track of my score the whole time after that, and when on

the teepad calculated how many holes out how many remaining I'd have to

birdie to shoot -10. (For the record, I shot… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 6, 2010 at 9:56pm — 3 Comments

Disc Golf in a Vaccum- One small facet thereof

Disc Golf in a Vacuum(TM) is the

catchy phrase I've come up with to describe the bundle of ideas about

the mental side of golf that make up my disc golf philosophy. It means

many different things in different situations, but in general is all

about embracing, appreciating, and learning from each shot we attempt.

Before, during, and after. In a vacuum, there are no 'pars,' or 'rounds'

or even 'holes.' There are only shots. Look… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 6, 2010 at 1:47pm — 1 Comment

A Time to Drill It

I used to over-simplify my approach to putting tempo, using the logic

that the disc should have just enough on it to run out of gas and fall

into the chains with just enough power left to slip into the cage. That way, more marginal putts will fall in, and those that miss will usually end up close enough for a drop-in. But

on further examination, it's clear that different situations… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 4, 2010 at 4:20pm — No Comments

The other side of disc selection

Usually when you hear 'disc selection', you think in terms of which disc

in your bag is best suited to execute your next shot. Today I'm talking

about something else, a concept that could maybe be called 'disc

selection for disc preservation'. It results from one of the major

distinctions between disc golf and ball golf- the fact that our discs

are the equivalent to their clubs and balls combined.

If you're a ball golf… Continue

Added by frisbeebrain on October 3, 2010 at 11:01pm — No Comments

Live from the USDGC

USDGC 09 from the perspective of a 978-rated, weak-armed lefty.

http://frisbeebrain.blogspot.com

I'm happy to say that Winthrop Gold CAN be tamed by persons without the ability to throw 450 feet in the air. It requires precise disc placement, solid putting, and tight focus, but it can be done. I think. Most posts will appear only at
http://frisbeebrain.blogspot.com.

Pictures of the USDGC course and tourney here:

http://frisbeebrain.shutterfly.com

Added by frisbeebrain on October 5, 2009 at 10:03pm — No Comments