New Marketing Director at Dynamic Discs

As you all have heard time and time again, at Dynamic Discs, we are always working on something! Today, that “something” is a shift in personnel and roles. Since the beginning of Dynamic Discs, we have largely handled our marketing by committee - multiple people have completed marketing pieces while simultaneously completing their full-time assigned job responsibilities. I have felt the need to consolidate Dynamic Discs’ marketing efforts for some time so that all employees are able to focus more of their time on their specific roles - Bobby can focus on media, Clay can focus on technology, Kris can focus on product development, Jamie can focus on sales… the list goes on and on. I’m happy to say that Dynamic Discs will be filling this role today.

Moving forward, Robert McCall will be transitioning to a brand new role for Dynamic Discs as the Marketing Director. Robert has loved serving as Team Manager and Team Director for the last two-and-a-half years, but he is thrilled to take on these new responsibilities and new challenges! This new role also gives Robert new availability for media responsibilities such as live and post-produced commentary and some potential new projects.

As Robert moves away from his team role, I am also thrilled to announce a change in Team Management for the sponsored teams of Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, and Westside Discs along with an exciting new structure. Brian Shintaku will continue in his role as Team Manager, but he will now manage Team Latitude 64 and Team Westside. Brian has worked with the three teams for the last 18 months, and if you know Tako, you know that we’re excited for him to continue with a new focus on Latitude 64 and Westside!

Team Dynamic Discs’ new Team Manager is a familiar face and knows the history of Dynamic Discs as well or better than anyone: Eric McCabe. Eric has been with Dynamic Discs since the beginning and has worked in several different capacities at Dynamic Discs, most recently as World Champion Course Designer. Eric is excited to assist Dynamic Discs’ sponsored players and has firsthand experience performing the tasks and achieving the goals of every level of sponsorship, including the highest level of competition. He is looking forward to working more closely with the team while continuing to install championship-level courses all over the world!

After a brief time away from team-related responsibilities, I’m also excited to welcome Denise Cameron back as Team Support Specialist. Denise has previously worked as Latitude 64’s Team Manager, so she is extremely familiar with team processes and needs. While Eric, Brian, and Denise will have some team-specific responsibilities, we are confident that any of these three will be able to take care of any team member’s needs at any time, regardless of the team they represent.

Dynamic Discs is looking forward to the future of these new roles for our employees. Please join us in welcoming them to their new positions!

Taking Trivia To The Next Level - Can You Guess The Mold?

We like to have fun with our videos, and although silly antics are often involved, we also test the knowledge and patience of some of the DD team. We selected 10 Dynamic Discs molds and put some sweet looking blindfolds on Jeremy Rusco, Robert McCall, and Eric McCabe.

Not only did they have to guess the mold but we also asked them to identify the plastic too. Each was worth one point, for a total possible score of 20. How did they do? You’ll have to watch the video to see, but we will give you a bit of a spoiler - one of the three guys got every single point possible!

However, we do think this video points to an important and interesting point when it comes to discs and the selection you keep in your bag. Often times players will get hung up on specific molds and plastics, insisting that they “have to” throw it for one reason or another. But think about this - even our own team members couldn’t discern certain molds or plastics simply by feeling them, so how much of a difference is there really between certain selections?

We’re not implying that you can just grab any disc and throw it for any shot because that’s obviously not the case. However, you might want to take a moment and consider opening up your horizons a bit the next time you make a disc order. If we can’t tell the difference, can you?

Quick Tip: Putting Strategy

Hey, everyone! I'm Robert McCall, and I'm the Dynamic Discs Team Manager. Each week, I like to share a quick tip I've learned over the years.

Let's start with a real-life situation you've probably encountered: You're standing over a 45' putt on hole 18. If you make it, you shoot your personal best/win your league/beat your friend for that round. You line up the putt, thinking, "Just give it a chance." In your attempt to give it a chance, you sail over the top of the basket and leave yourself a 25' comeback putt. Winning outright is now out of the equation and that 25' putt feels more like the 45' putt you just had.

Putting is probably the most mentally taxing and potentially frustrating part of disc golf. There's no worse feeling than throwing a perfect drive and missing a short putt while your cardmate throws a bad drive with a good upshot and achieves the same score. The old adage, "drive for show, putt for dough" may be overused at this point, but it's absolutely true: strokes and wins are gained and lost on the putting green.

Because of putting's great importance to your score, I'm going to give you a really simple piece of advice: if you're not going to commit to making your putt, don't try to make it at all. Take your putter, and toss it under the basket. While it's not the exciting, crowd-pleasing play, laying up accomplishes two things: 1) You limit your potential to take a big number on the hole because of missed putts, and 2) you avoid the mental stress of three- or four-putting.

When I'm playing practice rounds for a tournament and keeping score, I practice laying up as well. It's a lot more fun to run putts from everywhere, but you're creating bad habits for the future. As silly as it feels to lay up during practice, you'd rather have a few repetitions there than being forced to try it for the first time when the pressure is on.

Putting is generally a probability game: we run the putts that we think we can make with decent confidence that we'll be able to make the comeback putt if we miss. That range is usually around 30-50 feet for most people, but we often see a 30' putt with a drop-off behind and run it without fear of the consequence behind the basket. The slope surrounding the green and obstacles should all be considered when deciding whether to run a putt or to layup. Even if you're facing only a 20' putt with trouble behind, if you don't think you're going to make it, toss your putter intentionally under the basket and save the strokes you might have gained by missing.

When you're putting, commit 100% to your play whether trying to make it or laying up. You'll be happy that you did when you save strokes and improve your scores.

What's your putting strategy? I'd love to hear feedback on what has worked for you or if this strategy helps your game. You can reach out to me via my social media links below or by submitting a question to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast. See you next week!

Quick Tip: Leagues

Hey guys, I'm Robert McCall, and I'm the Dynamic Discs Team Manager. Each week, I like to share a quick tip I've learned over the years.

If you took a poll of most competitive disc golfers today, I think their path to playing in tournaments likely looks like mine did:

When I was in college, a friend invited me out to play disc golf. I had played once in high school and wasn’t bad at tossing an Ultimate frisbee around, so I accepted and told him I was going to crush him at disc golf. I almost crushed him the first time we played, but instead, I lost by 20 or so. I’m a competitive person by nature, so I wanted to play again immediately. I kept playing and kept losing until things started to click. Once they did, I would only lose by two throws, then one, then I’d win occasionally, then I’d win most of the time. I loved competing and wanted to take that competition to the next level. I heard about a mini (league) that ran every Saturday, so I went out to play and expected to win, because I was beating my friend at disc golf pretty consistently, so I was the best, right? That’s a negative, Ghost Rider. I lost by a hefty margin, but I loved seeing what scores were possible and playing a round with people with whom I’d never played. Through those new connections, I learned of actual tournaments, attended my first one in 2010, and the rest is history.

Leagues and/or minis serve several important purposes for experienced and new players alike:

• New players can play with more established disc golfers if they’re paired on the same card. This allows them to learn from the experienced players and see new shots or lines that they might not have considered.
• New players can meet more disc golfers in their community and feel connected more quickly. Most people enjoy having some disc golf friends to play rounds with occasionally.
• Experienced players can use leagues as a pressure simulator for competitive tournament rounds. Everyone understands the importance of muscle memory in the physical portions of disc golf, but practicing in pressure-filled situations is imperative to handling them well in the future.

If you’re reading through this and thinking, “That would be nice, but I don’t have any leagues in my area”, I have good news for you: leagues are easy to run, and they’re a great way to contribute to your local disc golf scene. Running a league or mini that gains traction and is well-attended can work wonders for unifying local disc golfers and creating a welcoming environment for growth.

For first time league or mini tournament directors, here are a couple of suggestions that should help you when starting out:

A little organization on the front end goes a long way. Having a scorepoint board or easy method of entering and tracking scores makes the end of the round really easy to manage. Ensure that you know which holes are the best starting holes for your course (hint: they’re not always holes 1-6). Have plenty of scorecards and pencils on hand. Don’t let people choose their own cards as everyone will play with the people with whom they typically play.

Singles typically works best if you offer at least two divisions. Local disc golfers should be able to help you determine which players should be in each division. In general, lower divisions should be paid out in discs as to discourage better players from playing down to win cash. I’m sure some will argue with this point, but this structure has been my favorite to date. I am not opposed, however, to mixing players from different divisions on different cards at leagues, because people will have an opportunity to play with better players or newer players depending on their situation.

I don’t love handicap leagues personally, but the way I’ve seen them done best is occasionally mixed in with singles and doubles instead of every week. Your league may be different and could encourage more people to attend with handicap leagues, so do what works best for your situation.

If you play doubles, either random draw doubles or splitting players into an “A” and “B” pool helps to make the teams slightly more fair. With random draw, you run the risk of having one or two stacked teams, but it’s pure chance. With “A” and “B” pools drawing at different times, you can basically guarantee that newer or less skilled players will be paired with better players which will allow them to learn from the better player and ask questions throughout the round.

I would encourage players of all skill levels to attend leagues, even if you don’t feel ready to compete. Even if you’ve been playing for less than a year, you can learn from playing with better players and competing against others around your skill level. Leagues are a great primer for becoming accustomed to competitive play!

What’s your favorite format for league? Have you attended or run a successful league? If so, let us know in the comments below. See you next week!

Need Help With Disc Selection? Robert McCall Gives Us Some Tips

If you're relatively new to disc golf, it probably seems like the number of discs to choose from is astronomical. From different plastics to various types of discs and stability levels, how is someone supposed to know what works for them without spending a ton of money?

That's precisely why we put this video together, in an effort to help guide newer players and those with lower arm speeds toward discs that will fly well for them. Let's face it - you want to have fun playing disc golf, and part of it is being able to execute the shots you draw up in your mind!

Discs that are designed for more experienced players will have a tendency to fade left pretty early on, and that kind of flight can be discouraging as you're trying to make it to the basket.

When it comes to creating a strong foundation in your disc collection, we recommend three options:

• Dynamic Discs Witness for distance shots, allowing for a straighter line and achieving maximum distance
• Dynamic Discs Truth for approach shots, giving you a straight and controllable disc you can trust
• Dynamic Discs Judge for putting, a great disc that feels nice in the hand

If you need a laugh, Robert has some pretty "crappy" outtakes!

Quick Tip: Field Work

Hey guys, I'm Robert McCall, and I'm the Dynamic Discs Team Manager. Each week, I like to share a quick tip I've learned over the years.

This week's quick tip: Field Work

Fun fact for the day/forever: disc golf can be frustrating sometimes. For me, there are a few different types of frustration on the course, and each one affects me differently. Some days, I'm executing the shots and putts I want to, but the drives are getting awful kicks and the putts are getting spit out or cutting through. It's difficult to be really upset on those days because I'm doing my job and just getting unlucky in places. However, my more frustrating days come when I'm not executing shots, missing putts low, or losing confidence. Those rounds have little to do with luck and more to do with preparation and mental toughness. Both are frustrating, but I have more I can learn from the latter.

Disc golf is so multifaceted that almost every part of your game can feel perfect, but if one portion isn't just right, everything else seems to crumble with it. I've been struggling with this lately, personally. Pros and teachers always emphasize the importance of the short game, upshots, and putting, as they're considered difficult and important for scoring well. I've been pretty consistent at executing in those areas, but I've had a difficult time throwing accurate distance shots to give myself opportunities to score. I'm not failing to get opportunities to score because of bad kicks or bad luck, but rather because of imperfect tee shots that find decent spots instead of scoring spots.

When my game (or your game) feels like this, it's time for field work. Field work accomplishes a couple of important things for your game: it increases consistency in your release points and angles, and it allows you to watch your discs fly on lines that you're not accustomed to seeing. When doing field work, you can practice more throws in a shorter period of time, making it one of the most effective practice methods we currently have!

Here are a couple of field work tips:

1. If you're working on consistency and trusting your discs, use the actual discs that make up your bag. If you're working on release points or angles, use the discs in your bag along with others you'd like to test.

2. Make every throw count. Be intentional about all of your mechanics, and pay attention to the results of each throw. If you're working out hitches or unnecessary motions in your form, don't worry that the shots don't look just right or go where you want, but take note of the results so that you can adjust accordingly.

3. Throw your discs on different lines than you typically do. Try your Enforcer on a spike anhyzer, or throw your eMac Truth on a huge hyzer. Try your Escape on a roller line. When you throw your discs in an open field with no restrictions, it's easier to learn what's possible from the discs you currently use.

4. Split your field work into two sessions: open/experimental and target practice. The portion of throwing all discs on all angles falls into the open session, but I think it's important to aim and achieve specific, useful-for-the-course shots in the target practice section.

Next time you are having trouble controlling your throws or angles, give intentional field work a try. You'll likely learn something new about your discs or your form, and you'll get good practice in a condensed period of time.

How do you practice field work? Do you have methods that work well for keeping it interesting and getting past plateaus? I'd love to hear and discuss them with you! Please feel free to submit a question to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast or reach out to me via my social media links below. See you next week!

Quick Tip: Mental Focus

Hey guys, my name is Robert McCall. I’m the Team Manager for Dynamic Discs, and I’ve been playing disc golf for around 10 years. I’ve played with players from all over the world, and I’ve been doing my best to learn from as many of them as possible. In the Quick Tip series, I’m going to share something I’ve learned over the years from a combination of personal experience and expertise from other players.

This week’s Quick Tip: Mental Focus

When you play rounds of disc golf, especially on a long, elevated course, do you find that your legs feel like jello for your last few holes? Do you leave putts short and fail to commit to your angle and speed on your drives? Considering the type of course you played that day, no one would be surprised to hear that anyone wore themselves out and didn't quite have the steam to finish the round well. On the opposite end of the course spectrum, especially during tournament rounds, have you experienced the same short-putting, angle-missing, non-committing dreary finish to the round? By all logic, the shorter course shouldn't tire you out nearly as much, but people often fall prey to end-of-round poor play on all types of courses.

Disc golfers train to battle physical fatigue through field work and constant practice, but we rarely pay much attention to physical fatigue's less obvious, sinister sibling: mental fatigue. If you're like me and your mind tends to race, you likely spend a lot of time between shots thinking about what your upcoming lie might look like, what you could have done differently on the tee, your last putt that just spit out, or myriad other concerns about your round. By the time you reach the end of your round, you've worried about everything that you could, and your last 15 footer on 18 feels impossible to make.

Sports psychologists and coaches obsess over mental focus, as a person's ability to focus intently on their task is directly correlated to their ability to perform that task consistently. Eager to learn more about the mental side of disc golf, I've read several golf books on mental toughness and mental tools that top mental coaches teach. If you haven't taken some time to read books like these, I'd greatly recommend checking out books like Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella or Fearless Golf by Dr. Gio Valiante.

I've gleaned a lot of useful tools for my mental game from these and other books, but I'd like to recommend one practice to you: Focus intensely on your shot for the 20-30 seconds that it takes to plan, visualize, and execute it, then let your mind rest. In between shots, I do my best to think about anything but disc golf, like a song that's been in my head, chatting with other competitors, or observing nature around me. By doing so, I'll ideally only focus intensely for 25-40 minutes of each round instead of the actual 3-4 hours the round lasts. When I'm playing well and aware that I'm executing this strategy well, I can feel a real difference in my mental fatigue and capacity at the end of each round, which is especially helpful for longer rounds and two-round days.

If you're having trouble focusing at the end of rounds or find that you're worn out mentally before it seems like you should, give this strategy a try. It's tough the first few times, because you're accustomed to thinking about disc golf exclusively, but I've had my most positive results when I've limited my disc golf thoughts to the few seconds right before throwing and while throwing. After you throw, it's almost a relaxing feeling to allow your focus to widen.

What mental focus strategies do you use on the course? I'd love to hear from you! Feel free submit a question to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast or Anchor app or contact me via my social media links below. See you next week!

Quick Tip: Disc Choice

Hey guys, my name is Robert McCall. I’m the Team Manager for Dynamic Discs, and I’ve been playing disc golf for around 10 years. I’ve played with players from all over the world, and I’ve been doing my best to learn from as many of them as possible. In the Quick Tip series, I’m going to share something I’ve learned over the years from a combination of personal experience and expertise from other players.

This week's Quick Tip: Disc Choice on the Course

How is your bag set up? Do you have one disc or group of discs that can perform several types of flights? Or are your discs so perfectly organized that you have one disc for 250' shots and a different disc for 280' shots?

I've heard tall tales of people who knew the distances of their discs down to a few feet, but even those people often encounter disc choice dilemmas on the course. Disc golf is drastically different from golf in this way - golfers know the distance of their clubs down to a few yards, but disc golfers must contend with different obstacles on the course that force us to consider factors beyond distance alone. For example, here in Emporia, hole 2 on Jones East provides a perfect example of a hole that can be attacked with multiple types of discs. Hole 2 is around 300', slightly uphill, with one large cedar tree to the right and a couple of smaller trees between the tee and the basket. Most disc golfers can reach this pin with a midrange, fairway driver, or distance driver, and with a variety of shot shapes. How do you choose the best disc and line for the hole?

Here are the factors everyone should consider when facing a hole that's in between disc speeds and distances for you:

1. Ceiling

Are there trees or branches that force you to throw a lower line than you'd like to? If so, faster, slightly understable discs are great for throwing lower lines with greater distance potential. On lower ceiling shots, I like to throw the Dynamic Discs Biofuzion Trespass. The Trespass has good glide and responds well to a smooth release, so it's great for slight hyzer flips that get to flat and can remain lower to the ground.

2. Wind speed and direction

Every disc golfer's first time playing in the wind is an eye-opener. All of your discs that typically finish left are now traveling straighter, your shots with a higher release tend to fly farther off line than normal, and your tailwind shots slam down quickly and rob you of distance. In general, if I'm throwing into a headwind, I'm stepping up the speed and stability of my disc while maintaining the same 80% release. I really like the Dynamic Discs Enforcer for headwind shots because they still want to finish left, even when they face a stiff headwind. Tailwinds are the opposite - I like slightly slower discs and less stability. I'll often choose a Dynamic Discs Escape in a tailwind, because it wants to stay in the air and doesn't deviate much off of a straight line for me.

3. Slope and surface of the landing area

If you're throwing on to a severe slope, discs have more potential to roll away. As a general rule, matching the landing angle of the disc to the slope of the hill decreases roll aways. Conversely, if you're throwing to a slope angled high left to low right, throwing a right hand backhand on a spike hyzer angle that lands perpendicular to the slope is likely to cause a roll away. Another factor to consider is thickness of the grass and/or other landing surface. A disc finishing on hyzer is likely to skip on shorter grass or dirt, but won't travel much past its initial point of contact in thick grass.

4. Which disc/shot shape do you feel most comfortable throwing?

On a hole like hole 2 on Jones East with few obstacles, you should probably throw your most consistent angle and disc, because if you feel more comfortable over the shot, you'll be more likely to execute the shot. Most of the time, I throw a Dynamic Discs Lucid Criminal on hole 2 with a 30-40 degree hyzer. The hyzer release is very comfortable for me, and the overstable Criminal just wants to get to the ground and stick, which makes it a perfect choice for pinpoint hyzers and approaches.

Once you've considered all these factors, the most important part follows: commit to the shot. In general, I like throwing my most predictable disc on my most predictable angle. If I can throw a Warden, I will - I like the flights that I can achieve with the Warden, and it's very forgiving if I miss the angle or line by a few degrees. That's what I like, but what works for you? I'd love to hear back on your experience with disc and shot selection. We'd love to hear from you on the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast or Facebook page, or you can reach me via my social media links below. See you next week!

Robert McCall
Dynamic Discs
Team Manager
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Quick Tip: Tournament Day

This week’s Quick Tip from Robert McCall: Tournament Morning Warm-Up

I’m going to describe a situation to you. I’m hopeful that it’s not a situation you’ve encountered, but it’s likely that you’ve felt this way before:

On a tournament morning, you’ve planned to be prepared, so you set your alarm fairly early. However, when the alarm blare catches you mid-dream, you snooze it a few times, because you’re still tired. No big deal, right? You get up, get dressed, and drive toward breakfast from McDonald’s. The McDonald’s line is a little longer than usual, so you waste 10 minutes or so waiting on your food. When you arrive at the course, around 30 minutes before the players’ meeting, you realize you don’t have all of your discs in your bag, so you dig around your car for a few minutes to find your discs and ensure your arsenal is ready for battle. You head toward check-in, but see a buddy of yours, so you guys chat it up for a few minutes before you arrive at Tournament Central. You sift through the available plastic for a few minutes, and before you know it, it’s time for the players’ meeting. After the meeting, you head toward your assigned hole, the two minute horn blows (TWOOOOOOO MINUUUUUUUTES), and you’ve thrown zero discs.

If you’ve been there before, you know how unsettling your first few holes can be as you’re trying to catch your stride. I’ve experienced this situation a couple of times, and it’s my absolute nightmare. In order to combat that awful feeling on the first tee, I’m going to share my pre-tournament routine in hopes that it might help you form a routine (or at least help in some small way).
The night before the tournament, I do everything I can to be ready for the next morning: I lay out my clothes, pack my bag with my usual discs, towels, mini, Whale Sac, water bottle, and anything else I might need for the day. I set my alarm to plan to arrive at the course an hour and 15 minutes ahead of the players’ meeting. I do my best not to stay up too late. I drink quite a bit of water in the days leading up to the tournament. If I’m leaving the place that I’m staying for good that day, I completely pack my bag that night.

The morning of the tournament, I NEVER snooze my alarm if at all possible. I’m a notorious snoozer during other times, but not during tournament days. My goal for the morning of the tournament at the place I’m staying is to get ready, get dressed, and be out the door in 15 minutes or so.

I eat breakfast quickly and as early as possible, because there’s nothing worse for me than standing on the first tee box and feeling as if I’ve eaten too much. If the line is too long at the breakfast restaurant I’ve chosen, I’ll head to the next one. Wasting time waiting for breakfast is one of my least favorite tournament morning activities.

If possible, and this may be oversharing, but I stop to use the restroom and get any last minute snacks or drinks before I get to the course. I don’t want to ever have to rely on a restroom at the course.

Once I arrive at the course, I try to follow the same routine if I can. Walk to check-in first, greet the people I haven’t seen in awhile, and chat briefly with friends there. Once I’m at an hour before the players’ meeting, I begin my warmup.

I’ll do a few jumping jacks, arm circles, or a brief jog to get my blood flowing a bit.

Stretching is next. I stretch both arms, shoulders, hips, legs, and back as thoroughly as I can. Even though I haven’t thrown any shots yet, stretching makes me feel ready to compete.

I’ll find a field or more open hole and throw some of my discs. I usually throw all of four my throwing putters, a midrange or two, a couple of fairway drivers, and a few distance drivers, if space allows. As I move up disc speeds, I increase my arm speed.

Once I’ve retrieved my discs, I like to play at least 5 holes of the course. Usually, these are the holes nearest tournament central, but I’ll sometimes choose a stretch of holes on which I generally struggle if I really want to hone in my tee shot or landing zone. I putt out both of my putters on each hole.

After the warmup holes, I putt for 5 minutes or so, beginning close to the basket and moving back slowly. My focus is remembering my putting stroke properly and feeling a good follow-through. I’ll throw a few putts outside the circle to stretch out my arm and feel that extra bit of commitment, then make a couple of short ones, and then I’m off to the players’ meeting.

I try to make it to every players’ meeting I can, because I don’t want to be in the dark about any course-specific rules, and I like to respect the tournament director’s time - they pour a lot of effort into making their events happen, so I like to express gratitude for that.

Once we have hole assignments, I head to my hole as quickly as possible, throwing a couple of tee shots as time permits along the way. As time winds down before two minutes, I putt inside the circle to increase my confidence from that range.

While I don’t get to warm up in this exact manner at each tournament I’m lucky enough to attend, I like to stick to this plan pretty closely if possible. After the warmup, it’s the most fun part - competing. I love it.

What is your pre-tournament routine? Is there anything that I do that you’ve never tried? Have you had success with other methods? I’d really like to hear from you. If you want to reach out with some ideas or feedback, you can contact me through the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast or Facebook page, or you can find my social media links below. See you next week!

Robert McCall
Dynamic Discs
Team Manager
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Quick Tip: Putting Duel

Hey guys, my name is Robert McCall. I’m the Team Manager for Dynamic Discs, and I’ve been playing disc golf for around 10 years. I’ve played with players from all over the world, and I’ve been doing my best to learn from as many of them as possible. In the Quick Tip series, I’m going to share something I’ve learned over the years from a combination of personal experience and expertise from other players.

This Week’s Quick Tip: Putting Duel

If you play competitive disc golf, you’ve probably experienced this scenario:

Late in your tournament round, you and another player are jockeying for position, trading birdies and pars on your way to the last few holes. You throw a fantastic drive on hole 17, landing around 20 feet away from the basket. Your opponent throws a decent drive but lands 60 feet out. You think to yourself, “I’ve got another one. I’ll be up 1 going to 18.” As you approach your lie, you begin counting all of the dollars (#discgolfrich) you’ll get or all of the discs you’ll be able to choose from for winning this tournament. Then, in uncanny fashion, your opponent jams their 60 footer. You incredulously walk to your shot, look up to the basket, and all of a sudden, your routine 20 footer feels like a 40 footer with a lot more pressure than you had anticipated.

I’m no expert, but I believe the scientific term for this phenomenon is getting “big-putted”, or alternately, “playing any round of disc golf with Ricky Wysocki”. I’m unsure of which is more correct. Either way, unless your mental game is perfectly steady, watching a long putt go in can cause you to feel more nervous about your putt.

At a recent tournament, I had some extra time to warm-up because of how the tee times were set up, so I was just putting to stay warm. While I was putting, Spencer Ling from Nevada asked me if I wanted to have a putting duel. I didn’t know what a putting duel was, but I agreed. He paced off 30 feet or so and set down a marker for us, and then he explained the premise of the game: we trade putts one by one. If he makes and I miss or vice versa, the person that made the putt gets a point. If we both make it or both miss it, no points are awarded. If Spencer makes a putt and I miss, he goes first again. However, if he misses and I make it, I get a point and take the box, putting first for the next putt. We played to 10 points.

At first, I was just having fun putting, because I really enjoy putting, but after a few makes and misses, we both became slightly more competitive and focused, because even if nothing is on the line, no one likes to lose. Though we weren’t playing a competitive round, this format allowed us to feel some pressure on our putts, and by the time the round was about to begin, both of us had our putting stroke grooved in fairly well. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I putted well during the round that followed because we’d both had an opportunity to feel some nerves while putting before throwing putts that actually counted toward tournament scores.

I will definitely try some more putting duels before tournament rounds, but also during putting practice sessions to mix it up a bit. Thanks so much (and full credit goes to) Spencer Ling for sharing the game he created with me!

I’d love to hear what kind of competitive putting games you’ve created or tried! If you have some suggestions that work well for you, I’d really appreciate if you submit a question to the Disc Golf Answer Man podcast, call into Disc Golf Answer Man on the Anchor app, or post in the Disc Golf Answer Man Facebook page. You can also reach me via my social media links below. See you next week!

Follow Robert McCall on Facebook and Instagarm.