Disc Golf Helps Tim Lose 169 Lbs.

Awhile back, a man by the name of Tim Hawkins reached out to Bobby about an incredible weight loss story and how disc golf played a role. Tim's story was so inspiring we wanted to share it with you so Bobby reached out to Tim to learn a little bit more.

Bobby: Tim, tell us a little bit about yourself!

Tim: I live in Denton, TX. I’ve been married for 15 years, I and have 2 beautiful children. I’m the Vice President of sales for a fantastic company that sells flooring to commercial and multi-family (apartments) facilities.

I’m 37 years old. I play guitar, love music, love people, and am about as extroverted a person you will ever meet. I love joking around, laughing, and enjoying life.

Bobby: When did weight become an issue for you?

Tim: I have been a bigger guy my entire life. Even in the military, I stayed around 280 lbs. So, I’ve always just accepted I was big. Unfortunately, it got to a point where I was kidding myself. I wasn’t just big anymore.

Bobby: What was your lightbulb moment that pushed you to lose weight?

Tim: I was at the doctor’s office, and they had me step on a scale. It wouldn’t work. My doctor took me to another room and had me step on what appeared to be a freight scale. Numbers popped up that almost made me cry: 474 lbs.

I couldn’t believe it. 36 years old, a military veteran who had always been athletic and active in sports, and here I was almost 500 lbs. I had never been more disappointed in myself ever in my life.

My doctor sent me home that night with instructions to fast as he wanted to check my blood. I remember driving home in tears. It was an awful feeling. I was wearing 58” pants, a 6x shirt, got winded from walking up a single flight of stairs. It was beyond bad. I went back to the doctor that following morning to get my lab work done and little did I know, things were about to get worse.

My cholesterol was through the roof, I was diabetic, my testosterone was the level of a 9-year-old girl, and my blood pressure needed to be controlled through medication. I sat there for a while after the doctor left the room in complete disbelief. A million things started running through my mind.

Bobby: What were the steps you took to turn things around?

Tim: My military background kicked in and I knew what had to be done. I needed to roll up my sleeves and get to work. The doctor gave me 30 days to turn things around or said I would have no choice but to be on medication for everything.

Fortunately, I had a good buddy at the time who was very into fitness. So, I gave him a call and told him the situation I was in. I started researching healthy eating habits. I knew fad diets weren’t going to work for me. I had to change the way I lived. Every aspect of my lifestyle had to change. I decided I wasn’t going to “diet”, I was going to start eating smart. This mindset has stayed with me until today.

Bobby: So where does disc golf come in?

Tim: After three weeks of going to the gym every day, I started to get burnt out and lose my motivation. After trying to motivate me with no success, my buddy told me to meet him at a local disc golf park (now my home course: North Lakes Park in Denton TX). I showed up and we started playing.

To say I fell in love immediately is an understatement. The support I got as a newbie, the camaraderie, the excitement of a good shot, or a long putt, all of that. It was like I had discovered a whole new realm. A few times a week turned into once a day turned into multiple rounds a day and so on. I wanted to get in better and better shape so I could play more and more disc golf! I’ve been extremely lucky in that I’ve always been surrounded by great players that constantly coach, guide, and mentor me. After a couple of months, I dropped my gym membership altogether!

Bobby: So, where are you know?

Tim: Fast forward to today. I weigh 305 lbs., that’s 169 lbs. lost so far! I’ve gone down three shirt sizes, and have lost over 14 inches on my waist. I play seven days a week in any condition, even the rare Texas blizzard. I’m now able to play 3 or 4 rounds on any given day. I’ve played snow rounds, rain rounds, crazy wind rounds, mountain rounds, meadow rounds, all of it, and love every course I play!

I’m completely healthy, no high cholesterol, no longer diabetic, no high blood pressure. I’m really proud of myself and so thankful for the awesome support group I have from my local disc golf community and family. I co-lead our disc golf club and run our weekly minis. I've been the TD for a few really fun tournaments and have met some of the greatest golfers. I’ve had the absolute honor of playing several rounds with Emerson Keith and just feel so lucky to be embraced the way I have been.

Bobby: To finish off, what does disc golf mean to you?

Tim: I owe disc golf everything. It’s made me a better person, a better leader, and helped me live a healthier life! The drive to get better motivates the drive to get healthier and so it’s a constant loop.

102 Players Raised Over $1200 at Veterans For Vets Event

If you follow Chris Baker on Instagram then you may have come across a post about a Veterans For Vets event that was held in Nashville, Indiana on December 12th. There were 97 players that showed up at Deer Run Park and raised over $1200 for the American Legion Post 13.

We wanted to find out more about the event and the efforts that went into being able to bring in so much money so we reached out to Chris to ask him a few questions.

What was it like running the event during COVID guidelines in your area?

"Initially, it was to be a 1 day 2 round event but county COVID guidelines limited gatherings to 25, so the event was changed to flex start C-Tier with tee times from 9a to 1p to limit player contact. We held a virtual players meeting, made an online caddy book, and emailed awards and recognitions."

How did you handle registration?

"I used Disc Golf Scene which makes it easy to set up with people being able to tell me shirt sizes and other information. I had set up pre-registration incentives to help me know how many player packs to order. In the first two weeks, I had 45 players registered. The incentive for early registration was a free raffle ticket for the Veteran basket and other donated prizes. I ended up ordering 90 player packs 17 days before the event and within a week of the event, we were full at 90 players so I ordered 21 more additional packs which arrive right on time.

I had 103 players registered leading up to the final days before the event but had a few cancellations and we ended up with 97 players on the day of the event. We were able to sell 5 player packs to players that could not make it but still wanted to donate."

What was the purpose of running the event as a PDGA Competition Endowment Program Charity C-Tier?

"I think the C-Tier status and the chance to get a rated round was huge at driving our participation which is why I really wanted to try it this way. I would recommend the PDGA Competition Endowment Program to anyone running an event like this. We run a winter series comprised of only these types of C-Tiers that benefit food banks, and a similar fall series where the local clubs pick the charity. The PDGA donating the $2 player fee and waiving the $10 non-member fees is HUGE. So basically the only cost to PDGA is the $50 sanctioning fee. It makes a great first tournament for people wanting to try something more competitive that doesn’t have a PDGA number yet but also gets those rated round for the ones that do want that. I would say at least a quarter of my players on Saturday were first-time tournament players."

Do you feel like the event was a success?

"I would call this event a huge success especially since it was mid-December and working to keep with the COVID guidelines. It was a very windy and somewhat rainy day but everyone was happy to play some disc golf for a great cause.

With the big turnout we raised over $1200 for the American Legion Post 13. We also ha 7 Veterans sign up and we were able to recognize them and thank them for their service."

The Veterans For Vets is great way to bring together your disc golf community to help a local Veterans organization. Learn more at VeteransForVets.com.

You have picked the winner for the Elliot Zettas' Pitch for Pins

In October, we partnered with Elliot Zettas for his Pitch for Pins contest in which he is giving away his 18 Veteran Baskets that he won after becoming the 2020 US Amateur Match Play Champion. The contest ended after one month, and Elliot received over 40 entries. He narrowed it down to his top 5, and then asked the fans and followers of Dynamic Discs to help select a winner.

The poll to vote was open for a week, and 3,403 votes were cast. 3,403! Dynamic Discs is pleased to announce that the winner of the Pitch for Pins contest is Emily Fischer and her team at Gateway Woods. Gateway Woods mission is to provide a ministry avenue for members and supporters of the Apostolic Christian Church and deliver exceptional restorative services to children and families. Check out their video entry below and read their entire pitch here.

Pitch for Pins (Gateway Woods) from Gateway Woods on Vimeo.

IT WAS A CLOSE FINISH

A narrow margin separated Emily Fischer and Gateway Woods from Brylan Anderson and Classmates, whose entry got second place by only 36 votes. We were so impressed by their student-produced pitch that we have decided to allocate some funds from the $5K/10K Grow Disc Golf Ace Challenge to award Brylan and his school with 18 Patriot Baskets for their course in Spring Grove, PA. In their Pitch for Pins entry, they pitched the idea of designing a course that would be in the middle of 3 schools. The entire pitch was driven by students of the schools.

THE GIVING CONTINUES

In Gateway Woods's pitch it was stated that they would only be able to use 9 of the 18 Veteran Baskets. Emily Fischer from Gateway Woods had suggested that the remaining 9 baskets be given to the 2nd place winner. This was before she knew about us giving Brylan Anderson 18 Patriot baskets. Emily still wanted one of the top 5 entries to experience some of the excitement so Elliot reached out to Alan Hansen Begg and offered him the 9 baskets. After working with the Sierra County in New Mexico, Alan has confirmed that he will be able to use the 9 baskets for a disc golf course.

Thank you to Elliot Zettas for his generosity, to all the entries, and to everyone that voted!

Dynamic Discs Open Logo Design Contest

We recently announced that the Glass Blown Open was changing its name to the Dynamic Discs Open. Although the event itself, full of disc golf, a bonfire, a block party, and a top tier tournament, is not changing, we need a new logo to go with the new name.

This is where you, the fans and followers, come in. We want to give you a chance to design the new logo for the Dynamic Discs Open by holding a logo design contest! Companies as big as Toyota have crowdsourced their logo in the past to great success, and we can't wait to see what our fans can create.

The Dynamic Discs Open Logo Design contest is open for any and everyone to submit their idea. If this sounds interesting to you then continue to read on for all the details.

Things to consider when submitting your idea:

1. The text "Dynamic Discs Open" should be part of the design.

2. The Standard D's logo should be included in the logo.

3. The logo needs to be designed so that it can be put on apparel.

4. The logo needs to be designed so that it can be a stamp for discs. 

5. The design should be an original design.

6. You can submit more than one design. Please be sure to name the file so they can easily be associated with you.

You can find our logo files here.

You have until December 11th to submit your final entry.

Please label your file so that we can identify it by your name. For example, Bobby_Brown_DDO_Logo.jpg.

You can submit your info and logo entry using this form.

As entries are received, feedback will be given to determine if the entry is a candidate for the winning design. Once all the entries are received, Dynamic Discs will determine the winning design and contact the designer to finalize the logo. The designer of the winning design will receive $1000 in store credit to the Dynamic Discs online store.

If you have questions please contact bobby@dynamicdiscs.com.

Glass Blown Open is now the Dynamic Discs Open

Early in November we made the announcement that we were changing the name of one of our biggest events. The Glass Blown Open will now be called the Dynamic Discs Open. The news quickly spread throughout the disc golf community and was met with mixed emotions.

Jeremy Rusco appeared on an episode of the Disc Golf Audio podcast and was interview by Robert McCall. Robert discuss why Jeremy felt the need to change the name of the event.

You can watch the interview here.

Jeremy also appeared on SmashboxxTV to talk with Terry Miller and Jonny V about the name change.

The Story Behind Grandma and our Disc Golf Hand Dirt Bags

If you've ever had grip issues on your discs, you've probably looked into Dynamic Discs’ Dirt Bags. If you've bought one of our dirt bags, we bet you didn't know that it was handmade. We'd like to introduce you to the person who makes those dirt bags and tell her story. It's time for you to meet Grandma.

10 years ago, Jeremy Rusco and Adam Searle went to an event and saw some dirt bags for sale. Because we're always working on something, they started to brainstorm on how Dynamic Discs could have a product like that.

Adam said, "I bet my Grandma could make these for us." Jeremy brought one of the bags back to Grandma, and she took it apart to make sure she understood how it was made. She took to her heavy-duty Singer sewing machine and made 200. She expected to make that initial batch and be done.

However, the bags sold very well, and Dynamic Discs quickly needed more bags, so Grandma made another batch. And another one. And another one. 10 years later, Grandma has 3 other people helping her

make dirt bags, and they make 500 bags every other week. She can't believe that they're selling all over the world, and she puts a lot of love into making them.

We thank Grandma every time we pick up a new batch of dirt bags, and next time you use yours to improve your grip, thank Grandma for us as well!

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Non-Disc Golf Disc Golf Hot Take - Brunch

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