Phoenix, AZ

Dates

12-November-2023

PDGA Link

https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/74542

Recap

Played MA40 division, 1 round 27 holes. Pretty windy at Buffalo Ridge Park which was to be expected. Took my time on shots, really went through my routine and didn’t fret about messing up off the tee (still changing my swing).

Putting was off, I was super nervous because I wasn’t sure how to play the wind on each putt, haven’t practiced wind + new spin putt. That being said, missed probably 5 putts I shouldn’t have but it is what it is. Had a good time and ended up second behind a friend so it was all good.

Usually I get fatigued and start throwing worse when playing so many holes (27), while hiking up and down a mountain, but I held on pretty strong. I will attribute it to not throwing as hard as I can every hole. I made sure to hit like 90% max except 2 really long holes.

Scoring

Missed a few birdie opps, and on holes I know most of the field didn’t have chances on so it really hurt when I missed those putts. Stayed out of trouble for the most part and was able to recover when my tee shot got out of sorts.

Mostly pars, 3 birds, 4 bogeys.

2nd place finish in MA40

Bag Highlights

Bagged all Discraft again.

Discraft Paige Pierce Nuke – Buffalo ridge is all rocks and more rocks. This nuke was brand new, by the end of the round this nuke was beat in and bombing so far.

Discraft Get Freaky Zone – Used this disc on almost every approach and rescue shot, it got me inside circle every time.

3 Learnings

1. Bogey on first hole, didn’t let it affect me, just played and knew birdies were out there. Later got a bogey late in the round while watching scoreboard, I let it affect me.
   1. Don’t watch the leaderboard, play your game.
   2. Bogeys happen, so do birdies.
2. An etiquette mistake I made. I like to get to my disc and get take a look, even if I’m not out. To hurry up play.  This can confuse card mates as to whether I am trying to play out of turn or not. I’m not, but it’s confusing and could affect their game.
   1. Stay back, players are pretty good about letting you take your time on a shot, no need to rush up to my disc.

Scottsdale, AZ & Fountain Hills, AZ

Vista del Camino Park

Fountain Hills

Dates

2-Mar-2023 to 5-Mar-2023

PDGA Link

https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/64603#MA40

Recap

This is the event I’ve been waiting a year for because I missed registration last year. I got a lesson the weekend before because I had been falling back to my old swing. The lesson paid off.

3 day event

Day 1 (Vista) I played ok, just tried to get around the course and I made a couple of mistakes.

Day 2 (Vista) I played really well, without knowing it, and shot the best round out of the division for both days. Put me into first place by 2 strokes!

Day 3 (Fountain) Fountain is a tough course for me, the combination of twisting winds and water cause me to get penalized a lot. I went into the day with a game plan and did my best to execute.  By hole 3, the rest of the card had caught me (water on 2). I played slow and steady, just surviving the peninsula holes. Bad break on 1 of them I hit off the top of the basket and the wind blew my disc 30 ft away into the water.

Coming into 13, I was a few strokes behind and I knew I had to give it my all.

13 is a short 300 ft hole, I birdie it.

14 is a long 375 down hill hole that you have to place your disc just right or you end up way short or skip out of bounds. Birdie

15 is a super long hole, 426 ft into a head wind. End up about 70 ft short but tell myself I have to make the putt. Throw it in! Birdie

I’m now 1 stroke in the lead.

16 short 300 ft hole but double mando. Rush to the tee super excited about my make….miss the mando. Everyone else birdies.

Everyone pars out the last 2 holes because they are near impossible with our divisional length to birdie.

Lose by 1 stroke

Scoring

Round 1 rating : 943

Round 2 rating : 962

Round 3 rating : 934

Bag Highlights

Westside : Sword : Tour Series – This disc bombs. It’s the only reason I even had a chance to birdie some of the longer holes on the courses. In it’s current state, it’s just stable enough that it won’t flip over on me.

Discraft : Nuke OS : ESP – Saved the day on my forehand shots. I just learned how to throw better forehands from my lesson and a nuke OS is the only thing I trusted to give it a full swing. It performed perfectly.

3 Learnings

1. I birdied 3 holes in a row (2 very difficult ones) when I decided I “needed to”. How can I transfer that drive and need to an entire round of golf? Get “In the Zone”.
2. Routine. Missing that mando coming down the stretch shows how important it is to follow a consistent routine. I would have picked a different disc and I would have aimed a better line had I gone through my entire routine.
3. Carrying the bag actually helped me keep a better tempo for the round. Picking it up and putting it down allowed my heart rate to settle before choosing a disc or shot, it kept my shoulders engaged and muscles warm.

Mesa, AZ

Emerald Park

Dates

25-Feb-2023

PDGA Link

https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/67581#MA1

Recap

Played MA1 for this event as the MA40 group was only 1 person. Did pretty well round 1 all things considering and made it to the lead card for the second round. Round 2 did not go as well, definitely had some fatigue and some nerves hit because the players on the card were really good. I tumbled down to the bottom of the division after round 2 but I had fun.

Scoring

Round 1 rating : 924

Round 2 rating : 843

Bag Highlights

Discraft : Nuke : Z – Disc was consistent and my goto off most the tees.

Discraft : Meteor : Big-Z – Lots of the lines at this course can be a straight shot right at the basket. This meteor has just the right amount of stability to throw lasers 320 and in.

3 Learnings

1. Mental game, no one else cares how you are playing. They aren’t watching every little shot you take. Play your game, the nervs are self created.
2. Still doing my old swing, I need to figure out where I went wrong.
3. Might need to change to a more forceful putt. It was quite breezy and some putts were missed because of the wind.

Phoenix, AZ

Dates

02-Dec to 04-Dec-2022

PDGA Link

https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/66108

Recap

Writing this months after the event.

States was a big event, 3 courses I had not played yet (I did practice them), and my brother was traveling from CO to play in it. He ended up winning the division and I played catch up from 4 cards back.

Scoring

Had a lot of holes where I played aggressively and it did not pay off. Here’s an example of the struggle. Long hole, I’m closer than most competitions can get, 60 ft left up hill into some rocks and a raised basket. Throw a putter up for a nice bid at it, putter disappears in the rocks and suddenly comes rolling out, down down the hill to about 45 ft. Missed putt, tap it. So soft birdie bid where best case I get a 2, worst case I should get a 3, I get 4.

I also was not confident with my putter. Every birdie putt outside of 15 ft was missed.

Fun was had though, my brother tied for first and went into a playoff where he was able to win on the first hole. We also witnessed an Ace on the first hole from another division that was doing a playoff.

Bag Highlights

Discraft : Avenger SS : Z : – Was reliable as a roller. Out drove everyone on the card on every time.

Discraft : Meteor : Z : – My forehand isn’t all there yet and this disc was great for some turn over shots to hit those left to right lines for me.

3 Learnings

1. Get more aggressive with putts. Believe that I can make the 15ft coming back so there’s no reason to leave it short or low.
2. Practice. Should have been playing the courses months before. Really get to know which discs and lines to throw on each hole. There’s no reason I should be questioning which disc to throw on the tee, especially since there was no wind to speak of.
3. Practice. Yes same as number 2. Spread the practice out. I should have played the courses months before because I wore myself out playing 5 rounds as quick as possible the days before the 3 round, 2 day event.

Austin, TX

Dates

26-Oct to 29-Oct-2022

PDGA Link

https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/55901#MP40

Recap

This was the event I was working towards all year. I qualified 2 ways. First way, I won an NADGT event in my division. Second way, I was a points leader for the state of AZ. Truly, the points leader thing was just playing in every single NADGT event I could make it to.

The event was in Austin, TX, I booked an AirBnB in Southern Austin (Kyle, TX) and drove there and back. The drive there took 2 days, drive back only 1 day.

My Brother (Bob Halliday) was able to make it out to the event and caddied for me the entire event. This was super helpful in multiple ways but I can name the 2 most powerful ways.

1. It was raining and wet almost every day. Not having to worry about wet and muddy discs and not having to carry around a super loaded bag, priceless.
2. Mental game. Bob would remind me “pick your line”, “putt it hard into the chains”, “you got this”. This prevented me from mindlessly throwing and making amateur mistakes.

Scoring

The event was set up so that you played 3 days and then there was a cut. You then played 1 more day/round and the top 4 made it to the final 9 special event.

Scoring wise, each day, I played ok. I had 3-4 “dumb” strokes per round but other than that there wasn’t much going on. I just played steady.

I will say I made a ton of Par save putts, which is great, but when I had the same putts for Birdie, I didn’t convert.

Made the first cut and was on the 3rd or 4th card back. 4th round I was able to move my way up to 8th place, missing the top 4 cut. I think I just played steady and everyone else moved back to me.

3 Learnings

1. Trees man. Need to practice throwing lines when I play. AZ courses tend to be wide open and I need to practice throwing low straight shots instead of hyzer bombs.
2. Go tunnel vision on putts, do not worry what other golfers are thinking if you are taking an extra 10 seconds to putt (less than 30 still).
3. Without a great forehand in my bag, getting really good control of my turn over shots (Discraft Meteor) was really helpful.

Bonus Learning : Have a caddy