Monday, March 19, 2018

The Feeling of Progress


Spring is upon us.

As a disc golfer I've espoused the usefulness of year-round training for as long as I can remember. It doesn't always resonate with people from my region. We grow up hearing the anecdotes about kids in the south and west who could play baseball all year, and the advantages they have as a result (it was a part of the children's books I read, as a Matt Christopher nut). We hit high school and we watch those around us who compete throughout the off season make real progress, drilling techniques until they're flawless. But in disc golf: the value of working through the winter on your game isn't always taken seriously.

And one can see why. Putting in the garage isn't as nice as putting on the lawn. Putting in the snow feels terrible with your drive foot sliding; your plant foot shifting; your hand intermittently smeared with near freezing water as you pick up discs. When the snow has melted: the mud where you've been planting is like an oil slick. Even without these complications I've written over 3500 words on tiresome routine and regimented work in the past six months alone, including what to do when it inevitably becomes so tiresome.

Who wants to do that?
Spring is upon us.

There's this feeling you get when it gets warm. A feeling that rises inside of you when the opportunity to throw every day in mild temperatures, with lower winds, off of consistently dry teepads emerges. It's that feeling you get when you head out of town for your first big event of the year, heading south, leaving the chill and precipitation behind. You get it the moment you step out of your car after six or eight plus hours driving, into temperatures that make it feel like you've emerged into a different world. It rises and rises to a climax the moment you're warmed up enough to really take that first big huck. The moment your disc flies 75 feet further than it did in September.

There's this feeling you get when it gets warm. A feeling that rises inside of you when the opportunity to throw every day in mild temperatures, with lower winds, on clean and neat greens emerges. It's that feeling you get when you're out in your yard, the snow melted and the dirt dry. You get it as your putt comes together consistently in ways you don't remember feeling a week before, the distractions of the conditions are gone and you can putt freely for the first time in months. It rises and rises to a climax as you triumphantly push through set after set at rates you couldn't have expected (though you hoped for them) at the start of winter.

There's this feeling you get when it gets warm. A feeling that rises inside of you when the opportunity to throw every day in mild temperatures, with lower winds, against consistently deep fields emerges. It's that feeling you get when you get out of your car for your Friday night league for the first time, and you see a crowd of 30 milling about over 30 minutes before the close of sign ups. You get it the moment you hear the league operator remind you that you're B Pool, you know better. It rises and rises to a climax as you move through your evening dropping bombs, putts, and bomb putts - while the competition shakes off the rust, in an effort to just get back to where they were.

Spring is upon us. And winter really wasn't that long.

Chris Wojciechowski
6 comments:
  1. Brother, I really enjoyed reading this to my newly born daughter as I hold her, sitting here on her Birthday, I even had the privilege of telling her "Get this Savannah, I know the gentleman who wrote those eloquent words!" Spring is in the Air, it's 2018 Baby! #29816

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  2. And one can see why. Putting in the garage isn't as nice as putting on the lawn. Putting in the snow feels terrible with your drive foot sliding; your plant foot shifting; your hand intermittently smeared with near freezing water as you pick up discs. silk dupatta lawn suits 2020 , pakistani lawn suits online shopping When the snow has melted: the mud where you've been planting is like an oil slick. Even without these complications I've written over 3500 words on tiresome routine and regimented work in the past six months alone, including what to do when it inevitably becomes so tiresome.

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