Location
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
- 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”.
- 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.
- 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.