Disc golf: Why you should play the course (not your cardmates)

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

Theodore Roosevelt (maybe) said that …

It reads a bit extreme, but on a disc golf course – I get it.

Sound familiar?

• Doubt No. 1 – “Nobody’s as skittish inside the circle as I am.”
• Doubt No. 2 – “I can’t get up-and-down outside of a jump putt.”
• Doubt No. 3 – “Everybody’s backhand form is better than mine.”

Here’s some unsolicited advice:

Also, further weakening my authority to offer it, it’s advice I routinely must give myself …

Play the course – NOT your cardmates.

First and foremost, the way you attack a disc golf course is distinct to you – everybody plays differently. And the person who knows best what you’d do in any given situation is you: You’ve been there before, and you know how to respond. If Mr. Top-of-the-Box wants to throw a Big-Z Luna off the tee on a 325-foot hole, that’s great. You and your Fuzion-X Maverick are fine …

NOBODY is judging you for it …

You just think they are.

Next, half the mental battle of golf is learning to control what you can control – and then not caring about the rest. You’re not God: The weather, bad breaks, rollaways, tournament directors and other disc golfers – they’re ALL beyond your realm of control.

Just relax …

You do you.

And lastly, what good will stressing over how well the rest of the field is shooting do your game? If you consider futile worry and panic to be a positive thing, you’re headed in the right direction.

Of course, there are times when having your eyeballs glued to UDisc during a tournament isn’t the worst thing in the world. The DGPT Championship is a great example. Skins matches lend themselves to score vigilance, as well. And neck-and-neck finishes make it necessary, too.

Mitigating risk is important …

But 99% of the time, it’s a bad idea.

Consider the juggler …

Whether tossing three, four or five balls, jugglers can only focus on ONE of ‘em at a time: The one in the air – everything else is intuition. There’s a clear message here for disc golfers …

Practice. Know your bag. Play your game.

The rest is just noise.

Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.

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