There are a lot of people who dread the ratings updates on PDGA.com. For the past couple updates, I’ve actually been one of them. When I first registered with the PDGA in 2014, I was playing almost every day, played 7 tournaments (on courses I was very familiar with), and generally had a pretty awesome year. I ended the year with a 843 rating, which I totally took for granted.
2015 was a completely different beast. I only played 6 tournaments, missed out on some great events in the Lower Mainland, and generally had a horrible year…poor rounds, stressed out rounds, just lousy play. I lost my focus as I tried to hang onto my 843, and ended the year with an incredibly horrible round at White River, which I felt was a blasphemy considering how much I loved the course. I said farewell to 2015 with the lovely gift of my newly-acquired 802 rating.
Looking back, I can tell I wasn’t playing for me – I felt like I had someone looking over my shoulder every time I played (sometimes I did, because Cole stopped playing tournaments for a while and caddied for me). I got into my head, and treated every shot like I was going to be getting a sponsorship based off of it’s outcome. Then I’d overcompensate, and sit back on my heels and play with no focus on the outcome, which sometimes is good, but typically you should at least try to play like you mean it in tournament play! Nothing felt good enough, and I rarely walked off the course happy. The best moments were the unsanctioned events, like the BC Doubles Championship and the Randy White (both with Cole as my doubles partner). Those were days where I went out, played in a men’s division, talked a lot of smack, and really wanted to do my best for my partner, but somehow felt no pressure whatsoever…it was a funny weekend of disc golf zen.
Over Christmas, I had a ton of time to myself, and spent many lazy days out at the course, randomly throwing, testing discs, shanking shots, and most importantly, learning what I was actually capable of, not what I thought I could do after watching one too many videos of Paul McBeth and Simon Lizotte. I played multi-round days and generally just tried to push myself outside of my comfort zone, but in a more controlled fashion than I’d been doing – a totally oxymoron, but I hope it at least kind of makes sense. Really, it meant that instead of trying to beat other people, I got back into the groove of trying to beat myself.
When I jumped back into tournaments in January, things felt different on the course. I had some of the old 2014 swagger back. Instead of panicking when a teeshot went horribly wrong, I treated it like an awesome opportunity to make an incredible upshot. I walked up to putts with a strange calm determination, just knowing they would go in (not because of any amazing amount of putting practice – just a clear mind). Most of all – I stopped worrying about what a tournament round might end up rated, and just THREW.
I know I’m not saying anything really ground-breaking here. However, it feels really good to chronicle this story and look at the pieces that have slotted together to bring me to the March 22 ratings update, or as I had been calling it, Super Tuesday, Disc Golf style. I knew I had some great rounds that were going to be added into the mix (like a now-916 rated round from Vegas!!), so I knew there was only up from my 802.
Super-long-winded-story-short: all of those practice rounds, moments where I took an extra breath, “Watch this” shots, times when I wanted to slap Cole for telling me to “do it again”…all of those little moments finally came together, and I managed to claw my way back to an 841 rating!
So for this week, I am allowing myself to smile a little wider, step a little lighter, and revel in a stepping stone accomplished – I know where my sweet spot is now, I have a MUCH better idea of how to keep it, and I can’t wait to see what I will do next 🙂
Happy hucking!
BC Disc Chick 