Let’s realize something when it comes to sports — and it can be a hard truth to accept.
Sometimes, you reach a point where you will not get too much better — the peak. Whether it’s because of age, talent, physical ability or whatever else, sometimes you just get to a point and that’s it.
There’s a reason we have professionals and amateurs in sports.
If everyone could get to a certain level, there would be many more millionaires in our society. How many of you dreamed of being a professional baseball, football or basketball player at some point of your childhood?
Odds are quite a few.
Alas, reality set in. Now we do whatever we do to get by in this world and disc golf is part of that.
Disc golf is no different than any other sport in the regard of peaking.
But we’ll touch on the rest of this poll below. First, let’s head back to last week’s poll and get some results and see what some people had to say.
We asked you if regulars at your course present a good image of disc golf to newbies and other park users. The high majority of the votes pointed to yes with 73 (70 percent) of the 104 voters saying yes. However, 31 (30 percent) of the vote went to no, which isn’t a good thing, folks.
Let’s see what some people had to say:
Bocephus Moonshine said:
I don’t know if anyone I know reads this blog, but I hesitate to say too much because I don’t want to make it personal.
I’ll just say that a few bad apples screw things up for the rest of us. The two courses I play are pretty trashed with cigarette butts and beer cans. I don’t understand why people have to bring disposable items out onto the disc golf course in the first place.
It’s a bad day when people can’t say something without making it personal. But it’s also understandable. And though it was a small number of voters, this poll seems to agree with your comment about the few bad apples.
Jed V said:
I feel your pain, Bocephus. I too find myself in the position of cleaning up other people’s messes at my local park.
Sadly people don’t seem to respect the privilege that we have in using these spaces. The local governments don’t need excuses to pull baskets at any more courses… as it stands we are likely losing one in June pending a Parks Department decision.
Excellent point here — it’s a privilege for disc golfers to use a park, just like it’s a privilege for others to use it. We need to realize it’s not a right. Most do, but as noted above… those few bad apples.
Ben T said:
I voted yes because my individual experience has been much better than the group experience. Most people are cordial in passing and helpful with directions, but try to join for the round and it’s hit or miss.
Despite the division in the area, individual players are usually welcoming. If you run into the large group “good ol boys” (thanks simpletwist) you will soon know where you stand (better players are tolerated more often than newbies).
Some of the smaller groups will offer a disc or two for first timers and intermediate-advanced players are more often willing to help improve each others games. It is a rare Pro that is willing to teach for free in my area.There are some inroads being made though. The local community college has just formed a new club, and they welcome the competition to help get better.
This is a good thing and it’s nice to see. With being welcoming to newer or non-players, the sport grows. It’s not just about cleaning up after yourselves (which is important), it’s about reaching out to people and others to spread the game. It’s great to know your area is doing this well!
Chris503 said:
The regulars at my course have recently made changes to try to better our image. There have been monthly work projects to clean up the course and the other trails around the park, and now there are trash cans at every other hole. This only started however due to warnings from the parks department about the amount of litter that was accumulating.
A far as being welcoming to newcomers, I think our regulars are great. There is a good mix of beginners and advanced players in our local club and we are always trying to get new people out to our events by offering prizes for players who are competing in their first tournament.
I’m always looking for a new way to get a few more people interested in disc golf.
What’s really nice here is disc golfers realizing the image is important and going to do other things. This game goes well beyond the scope of many things, so being active in showing others what it’s all about is crucial for its continued growth.
It is nice to see people and players who do their best to advance this sport. Hopefully it continues in a positive way. And it’s a good point to remember when you are out on the course — clean up after yourself, be respectful to others and try to spread the good word of the game. The more respectful people we get playing this sport, the better.
And now on with this week’s poll.
Disc golf is no different than any other sport. When you reach your peak, you reach it. It’s not a bad thing, either. It’s part of life with sports. Though you can push yourself to greater heights, not everyone will get on tour to compete with the likes of Will Schusterick, Ricky Wysocki or Paul McBeth. And though the ladies side of thing continues to grow, not everybody will be Val Jenkins, Paige Pierce or Sarah Hokom.
It’s reality.
Long drives are great, but not everybody will get that 400 or 500 feet.
So we want to know — where are you with your game? Are you still on the way up? Are you at the peak? Or are you on the downhill? There’s no shame in any part of it, either.
But let us know in the comments about where you are and why you think it. This could be an interesting discussion and it should be fun to see where people think they are.
[poll id=”59″]
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 andlike us on Facebook!
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I am absolutely still learning things every month to better my game. Here in KC, we are lucky enough to have some higher level players that are happy to sacrifice some of their time to do one on one instruction and a wide range of players and courses that bring their own flavor to help me learn. Just over the weekend I gained tons of experience from playing in the 40+ mph winds of the GBO and learned how to avoid “the wind putt”.
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I am still improving, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before I peak. It’s ok though. I play because I enjoy it, not because I’m bringing home hundreds of dollars from winnings.
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I’m a little older and have been playing for over 15 years now. I play once or twice week in the summer and occasionally during the winter. I peaked years ago. I’m not getting much better, BUT, I’m not getting any worse. I still like to think that if I could get out there 5-6 times a week and really practice I could still improve.
In other words, its not a lack of skill, but a lack a time to hone that skill….. Whether or not that’s true its my theory and I’m sticking to it!
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I just started playing again in July 2012, so it’s going on a year soon. I am almost a senior grandmaster, and have had shoulder surgery, both. I was a disc golfer in the late 70’s, but stopped around 1982. So, my issue was with injuries, new plastic, and holes much longer. I could barely throw 200 feet, but now I’m starting to get the discs out there near 300…on good throws! So, I see a change, and hopefully it will continue…but with the newfound distance…how do we rein in this power!
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I think that I’m probably at my peak right now. I set new records for myself at my home course last season, but I doubt that I’ll be able to repeat them. Aside from getting relatively older (I’m pushing 30, which I know isn’t too old, but it’s also not the same as 22), my wife and I recently welcomed our first kid into the world which I know will reduce/limit the time I spend on the course this year (and years going forward).
I think it’s time for me to realize that my years as an aspiring pro are going to make way for my years as a future women’s World Champion’s coach (with any luck).
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I am still getting better with every season I play, from going out and learning new shots or just tweaking the ones I already know. I have found that playing as many tournaments/leagues as possible has helped a ton. I am lucky that I live in Iowa where we have one to two tournaments a weekend.
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In the last couple months I’ve managed to knock my handicap from 20 under to 11 under. Along the way I hit my first ace and won some money by placing in a local handicap. I’ve stalled out a little at 11 under, but I’m hoping to continue the trend.
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I think and last year’s successes bare this out that I’m improving my game. At 60 and having abused my body over the years I don’t think I’ll ever challenge the pros. But I still think I can add some more distance and accuracy to my drives. I plan to try add a few new weapons to my arsenal like throwing a roller on purpose. I started working more seriously with over hand throws last year and I intend to continue that this year to help improve my game. And then there’s putting. Lots of room for improvement there.
I hope I never get to a point where I feel I can improve some part of my game.
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I have recently added some new weapons to my arsenal in a similar fashion.
When I first started playing, I couldn’t get a good comfortable grip on wide rim discs like the Nuke and the Boss, but I recently revisited these discs and found I got greater distance with them, even in higher weights than I was used to. Experimenting with the Boss, the Katana, and the Vulcan in various weights has helped improve my game.
I’ve always had the thumber and flick in my arsenal, but now I’m experimenting with flicking the wide rim discs and getting some distance. My problem is that my thumber and flick aren’t as strong as my backhand, so I need to stick to lower weights for those throws.
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Still getting better every damn day. Just as I did as a kid playing football, I hope to be a pro at Disc Golf someday… Even if it is just for a day. I do however, know that I started playing this game at age 31, after an Achilles injury, so I assume my clock to pro is running low.
At the end of the day, if I don’t go pro, I still expect to beat the course and anyone on my card.
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I’m still in my first year of playing, and, being retired, I can play most every day the weather permits; hence my learning curve is steep. The last two months have seem my average score decrease about 2.5 throws, and I can now play on equal footing with some of the regulars. Feels good, and thanks to various on-line resources (mostly DGCR & youtube) I’m getting a better understanding of how to get better.
Took today off because of various blisters, pains, and dying a disc for a friend’s birthday.
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I have played with Ross for years and yes its true he peaked years ago….about 14.
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