Happy New Year’s, everybody!

Before we begin here, I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday you may celebrate!) and I hope you all prosper in the New Year. Be safe out there tonight!

We’re back from our break starting today. And, if you’ll remember from the one post, we’re going to be a little more laid-back for the new year. That means though we’ll strive to keep our Monday to Friday schedule, we might miss a day here and there because we want to make sure Rattling Chains continues and is sustainable.

Hopefully, in the long run, it will make us better. My goal for 2013 is to make this blog even better than our first year.

How about you guys?

What will 2013 bring? We’ll get to that more in a second. First, let’s see what some readers said about 2013. Our last poll asked what you best disc golf memory of 2012 was. We only got 113 votes for this poll, but of those, the winning selection was “other” with 27 votes (24 percent).

Second place went to playing in your first tournament with 20 votes (18 percent), followed by improving certain aspects of your game (17 votes/15 percent), reaching a big goal (16 votes/14 percent), a new course or two you played (15 votes/13 percent), winning a tournament (10 votes/9 percent) and learning how to do something new (8 votes/7 percent).

It seems like it was quite varied when it came to people’s thoughts about 2012, so let’s see what some readers had to say.

Derek O’Neil said:

My first best memory of 2012 is hitting my first ace at the year-end doubles tournament/ tour awards party. It was a beautiful shot! Even better was that it was witnessed by guys I have been playing with all year long. (Didn’t hurt that my partner and I won the rec division and that there was an ace pot of $380 that went along with it!)

Awesome! Congrats on the ace, especially in a big spot!

Donnie Brooks said:

My favorite of the year was meeting the “Rattling Chains” crew and showing them what the world of mini disc golf is all about. Great time I will remember always. Thanks for the memories my friends.

OK, I had to put this one in as some self-indulgence! This was a fine trip, though, and I’d encourage anybody visiting or near the Lancaster, Pa., area to touch base with Donnie about learning mini-disc golf. As I wrote in the story, it really is wild to see all the mini courses in that area.

Ben says:

I shot my first round this year. I had a terrible score, but it was a lot of fun. Also, I learned the hard way that you should NEVER play catch with golf discs. They hurt your face when you fail to catch them.

I’d say that’s learning the hard way!

Marty B said:

I said other because this year we were able to redesign a course (of only two in Winnipeg) and expanded it to 27 holes in the park. Biggest change in DG courses in the area since they were put in nearly 10 years ago!

That is really great! It’s an excellent way to give back to the disc golf community. I hope the re-design is a great success!

Devin S said:

I took second in a tournament as part of a series. Last year in a similar tournament against similar competition I took 27th. So seeing the improvements I have made in less than a year is encouraging.

That definitely is a great improvement! Congrats and keep it up! Maybe first in 2013?

Morgan Kelly said:

I played in my first tournament this year. I DFL’d it, but that’s not the point. I improved from the first round to the second by 6 strokes and had a great time, and met some pretty cool people who also helped me do better in the second round.

I have been DFL in several tournaments, but I always find that silver lining as well. It’s not always about where you place. Improvement and meeting other people are awesome parts of tournaments.

Nyles J noted:

My best memory from this disc golf year was getting to play in a disc golf tournament with my brother. We are in the grandmaster age group and got to play in the same group during the whole tourney. He lives about 8 hours from me and we don’t get to see each other too often, so getting to play together in a tournament was a real treat.

That’s a great story and, without a doubt, an awesome memory for you.

Jeff W said:

Having a former world champion just pop in at a C-Tier I was running. Thanks Eric (McCabe), hope to see you at the next April Showers!

I think that would be a thrill for most tournament directors, especially at a C-Tier event!

I couldn’t get every comment in this post, of course, so I’d encourage you all to go check out the last poll and see some of the other responses. It sounds like 2012 was decent to many people in regard to disc golf.

And now, on with this week’s poll.

With the New Year upon us, do you have any goals related to disc golf? If so, what are they. Again, there is an “other” option here as I’m sure I’m missing many … so share with us in the comments as well.

[poll id=”45″]

Also — remember — if you are entering our big giveaway, you need to enter by midnight tonight (Eastern)! Winners to be announced sometime Jan. 1!

If you have any comments, questions, thoughts, ideas or anything else, feel free to e-mail me and the crew at: pj@rattlingchains.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!