OK, folks, it’s time to really have some fun.
This poll truly only works, however, if you leave a comment at the end explaining.
We want to know this — have you, or have you seen, somebody have an honest-to-goodness blowup on the course? We’re not talking just a toss of a towel or something, but a true boomer that makes people stop and stare?
We’ll expand more on that in a moment.
Before we get into the new poll, let’s check out the results and some comments from the last poll, when we asked you what your favorite season was for disc golf.
Of the 156 people who voted in the poll, it was a runaway victory for fall, which garnered 91 votes (58 percent). Summer followed with 31 votes (20 percent). Spring placed third (30 votes/19 percent) and winter was last (4 votes/3 percent).
Let’s see what a few readers said:
Kevin King noted:
I love the crispness of fall. I tend to get much better skip shots with the leaves on the ground.
That’s probably one reason why many people selected fall. The weather seems to be perfect for disc golf.
Kevan G said:
Well, being a Wisconsinite and all, we all know what season I hate most for disc golf. A good amount of courses take out their baskets in the winter season (not that I would want to go in -30 degree weather, either). The best season, however, is fall. No doubt. The leaves are changing colors and the course almost seems to open up with all the bare branches. The weather is perfect for sport shorts and a hoodie, which I’m most comfortable in.
There are many people who would likely agree with this, especially the shorts and a sweatshirt.
Ben T said:
Love summer! I played through the last 2 winters and actually lost distance due to guarded driving from slippery surfaces. Spring is wet and windy, fall is cold. Summer is hot but nearly every day in Spokane is a good day to play disc golf.
Getting the distance back, but have no run up anymore. Will have to work on that in the dry inside this winter. Thats what the off season is for. Now, if I still lived in Arizona, the fun would never end
Somebody had to voice it about summer! The debate on summer is likely based on where somebody is located and how hot it can get. If it’s brutal, then it’s probably one reason why fall gets so many votes!
Luke T said:
Winter, for sure! Primarily because summer here can hit 40+ (104+) on a regular basis… and throw in some smothering humidity, it’s almost impossible and certainly unhealthy to be out hucking plastic. Even in Spring, it has hit mid to high 30?s a few times and that’s not brilliant weather for DG either.
Only downside to winter DG is if you play in the southern parts of Australia, it gets bitterly cold with days that don’t make it out of single digits.
Interesting argument. Winter, despite being cold, can be good if there’s no snow on the ground. Alas, if there’s snow on the ground, mixed with the cold and it can be tough to go out for a round of disc golf!
Chuck says:
I disc golf year round, but Autumn is by far my favorite season. Warm enough to keep from being uncomfortably cold, but cool enough to avoid sweating through 3 shirts in 1 round. Easier to find wayward discs. Changing leaves making already gorgeous courses that much more enjoyable.
Plus, there is the added bonus of enjoying some nice autumn beers before/during/after.
All valid arguments, especially the last one!
Thanks to all who voted and commented in the last poll. And now on with the new poll.
Anyway, on with the new poll.
The best part about this is you don’t have to mention names. Just tell us what happened.
An example — at a national tour event I once was at, I saw a top-named professional absolutely lose it in the span of 3-4 holes. On one hole, a couple of awful shots got the bad kicked, with a few discs flying. Some choice language came out, too.
A couple of holes later, he threw one out of bounds and when somebody went to get it for him, he flipped telling that person to leave it because it wasn’t worth anything. After the pro moved on, the fan grabbed it, of course, for his personal collection.
Though not as colorful as watching it live, you get the idea. And now, what we would like to hear, are your stories. The big blowups, though, not just somebody flipping a disc to their bag because they missed a putt.
So give a vote. And share your stories. Let’s hear about the blowups. After all, these happen in every sport. Why not smile a little by looking back?
[poll id=”68″]
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!
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I tend to play with an even-keeled group of guys. Even in tournaments, most people know better than to blow their gasket as it could lead to a courtesy violation.
I’m going to go ahead and guess that the pro you’re referring to rhymes with Beeko Scmogastro. Needs to work on his professionalism, that’s for sure.
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Over the years that I have been playing, like most, I’ve witnessed my fair share of people blow up on the course. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a tournament round or just a warm up. Some people just do NOT understand how to keep their composure. While some of it may be due to immaturity, not all of it is. Frankly, I think it’s embarrassing.
No one is perfect. Everyone tends to throw a bad shot (maybe even a few during a single round) here and there. Personally, it’s how you rebound from those shots. Why waste a round on a blow up?
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In a recent non-sanctioned, clearly for fun tournament, I witnessed a local Pro blow up on the last hole of our round together. Not blow up in terms of shots however.
This person had not had a great round and let us know about it the entire time. It was even said that since we were not playing up to his level, his game was suffering. It all came to a head as we were getting ready to T on the last hole of the round. It was discovered that there was a scoring error a couple holes before. So 3 of us were sorting it out while the other person stood on the T pad impatiently. It took us about 5 minutes to get everything straight.
Of course, he hit a tree on his drive, leaving him 200 ft. short but still easily able to get the 3. As soon as he hit the tree, he started letting us have it. “Awesome! Froze out by my own group. @#$#$#@$!” We were a little stunned but progressed to tee off after he stopped complaining. As were were walking down the fairway…he kept at it. Stepped up to his disc and threw his up-shot with out of disgust. It was parked for a 3. He proceeded to vocalize how upset he was as the rest of us tried to play out the hole. I actually had a good drive with a 25-30′ putt for birdie. However, by the time I stepped up to my putt, I was really angry with this guy. Of course I missed. Which made me even more angry that this guy, who was supposed to be a professional, someone we should look up to, was acting like just the opposite.
We took scores as he was walking away. He didn’t even want to add up his card but came back and did so. After that was over (he was muttering the whole time), he proceeded to throw his chair in the direction of tournament central. He then kicked it a few times, picked it up and threw it again. The rest of us just stood there in shock. Ok, I was now extremely angry. I felt like this person not only cost me a stroke or two due to his constant negativity, but that he took all the fun out of the round. It was a truly awful experience!
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I tend to play with low key people. That’s how I like it. However, when I first started playing, I played with a guy who I call a “militant leftie.” After listening to him complain about how all courses are designed with a right-handed bias (which I acknowledge is true), I told him that being left-handed means he should develop parts of his game righties can be lazy about, and in the end, it would make him a better DGer than most right-handed players. I told him that, instead of throwing a backhand throw every time, he should learn how to throw forehand throws and thumbers. His face turned bright red and he started yelling at me, so I let him blow off steam. After two holes of silence, he apologized for blowing up at me. A few holes later, we joined up with a couple other guys, and one of them threw a beautiful anheuser. I said, “Wow, John, if you could throw an anheuser like that, every hole could be a lefty hole.” He threatened to dismember me.
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I normally play with pretty level-headed people, however there is always 1. I know for sure that this guy has gone through countless plastic, 3 chairs and a $200 backpack after a blowup. (And that is just what I have seen) He is really the type that wants all his shots to be perfect. And because he was able to make it happen once on a practice field out of 200 throws it should happen everytime he is on the course. He is a super nice guy off the course. And aside from the sounds of him slamming his belongings not a terrible guy to play a round with. But he sure does implode once he gets going.
After playing with him in league rounds/recreational rounds he will even admit after the round is over that he was behaving ridiculously.Destruction of personal property was never really my go-to for letting out greivances, but I figure him blowing up is but more detrimental to him thanit is to me!
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Last year a guy completely lost his shit and you could hear him screaming all over the course. The threw his bag in the trash and stormed off. He was a prominent member of the local club and was kicked out and banned from future events.
The sad part was he wasn’t doing no worse that usual. He blew a head gasket and that was all she wrote.
There have been a few times in the last 2 years I have seen someone throw their discs in the trash and walk away.
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Although the group of friends and I that play together every week have had our share of “REALLY???” moments, the most you’ll get out of us ( and the other groups, for that matter ) is a tight-jawed f-bomb and maybe a raised fist to the sky. “Golf,” in all of it’s forms, is a gentlefolk’s game. That’s not to say that the car ride home isn’t expletive laden and full of self-loathing, however, lol.
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The blow up I witnessed was totally ridiculous! It was almost like something you would see out of a cartoon. I was at our State Tournament. I play in Rec and my division was playing the short course, so we were done well before the others. I was sitting on my chair at my car and people started coming back from the long course to their cars. I was facing down toward were a few cars were parked, and all of the sudden I saw someone walking in a huff and talking to themselves. They were pretty far away so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. All of the sudden he whips his disc bag off of his shoulder, swings it around a few times like he’s winding up, and lets go. The bag flies like 20 feet in front of him, catches a tree branch and all the discs come flying out of the bag. He keeps walking and talking in a huff, then when he gets near his stuff, he starts kicking it all the way to where is truck was parked. He kicks the side of his truck, picks the bag up and whips it again. All the while he’s jabbering about something. He punches at the air a couple times, then grabs a gallon of water out of the back of his truck and pours it over his head for about 5 minutes, huffing and blowing like he ran a marathon or something. After that, he angrily starts collecting his discs and slams them into the back of the truck. I don’t know who he was or what he was angry about. I later found out he placed 4th out of 11 in Open, so I still don’t really know what he was pissed about. It was ridiculous to witness and completely juvenile to act that way. He was an older man, 40’s or 50’s maybe. Playing in Open tells me he’s been around long enough to know better.
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I voted yes I had seen a blow up, but after reading these…I may have to reconsider. I have seen someone have a bad hole and cuss and swear from tree to hit tree as they put up an 8…but I guess I have yet to see an all out melt down. Hope I never do. One of the things I have liked about this sport in the short time that i have played is how laid back folks seem to be.
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Oh. I saw this two weekends ago playing the Dragons Lair. A talented lad by the name of Conor was routinely and systematically picking us apart on the course. On our final round of the day, he was beating me by five…on the course I designed. It need not be stated that Conor is really good, but Ill say it anyway.
We stepped up to the long tee on hole 7, the Dragons Tail, which is nearly 700 feet. Its a par 4 with OB af every turn. Most people opt for a tommy or thumber off the tee to get them smack in the middle of the fairway. A select few take the “powerline gap” on the right, threading the needle and getting more d than the overhand. Conor lined up and saw some invisible anny line to the left. He threw and smacked a pole, dropping his shot dead and OB. Not being one to rest on his laurels, he tried an even flippier disc on the same line with the same result. Now shooting five, he tried the powerline gap, threaded it…and faded right into the creek.
Shooting seven from about 100 feet down the fairway (with a long 600 feet to go) he shanked his shot, bounced off a tree…and went into the creek. Shooting nine, he griplocked his mid and flew off into Narnia. In the process of meeting Mr. Tumnus and getting some Turkish Delight from the White Queen he managed a decent run for a ten..that sailed off into a casual ditch. With no option left but a 25-foot turbo putt, he managed to collect himself and nail it for an octopule bogey.
Yes, the man who only two hours earlier set a course record with a ten under par, set a new course record (that is unlikely to ever be broken) by taking an octopule bogey on a par 4.
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There is a player in our area that is known as AM(anger management) Steve. He is known to blow up often. Usually at himself but is quite vocal. I have also seen a disc bag kicked and then thrown by a very frustrated player.
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