Think You’re Not Getting Any Better at Disc Golf? You’re Probably Wrong.
Photo: DGPT/Disc Golf United
It is very easy to think that your disc golf game is not improving at all. This may be based on a number of things, such as playing very well one day and soon after that playing terribly, consistently playing well in casual play but playing poorly in competition, suddenly not being able to throw shots you thought you had consistently, etc. It can be difficult to zoom out and see the larger trajectory of your disc golf journey. Disc golf is a game where improvement and change is slow. This is simply the nature of the game, there is no way around it. One might have individual breakthroughs that seem like a switch has flipped and there is instant improvement, but employing this new skill with consistency is anything but instant. This article is meant to be encouragement for disc golfers who feel that they are running in place. Look for the following signs in your game as evidence that you are improving, even if you may not have the wins or rating to back it up.
A higher performance floor.
Think about your game in terms of a range of performance, with the absolute best you are plausibly able to play called your ceiling, and the worst you are likely to play called your floor. I think a rising ceiling, such as a new personal best score, rating or other accolade, is what all disc golfers are after. It is the most satisfying manifestation of improvement. But unfortunately, the ceiling moves slowly. As time goes on and a player continues to practice and improve their skills, it is easy to fixate on that top end of your performance without acknowledging the bottom end, which, in my opinion, moves a lot faster. It still takes time, but as one’s disc golf career goes on, you will start to make fewer and fewer terrible throws, have fewer and fewer terrible rounds, and so on. You will still have bad ones, yes, but you will find that terrible ones are fewer and further between. Also, your threshold for what constitutes a “bad shot” or “bad round” will shift. I myself am honestly a prime example of this. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that my PDGA rating has been stuck in the 920s for 3 years. Yes, it is shocking, but 3 whole years. I think this is evidence that if anyone has a right to feel that they have plateaued, it’s me. But though my rating has stayed more or less the same, I think the bottom end of my performance range has improved considerably over that time period. Whereas 3 years ago I shot sub-900 rounds all the time, I don’t have them nearly as often these days. I struggle to play at a high level in sanctioned play, but I am throwing much fewer abysmally awful shots, and putting up much fewer abysmally awful rounds. The next few times you go play, think about the “bad” holes that you have and compare them to your “bad” holes from a few years ago. I think you’ll be surprised at how much different your perception is now. And this is a sign of improvement.
You identify your mistakes quickly and easily.
I remember back during the first 2 or 3 years that I played disc golf, I would constantly be stuck in some sort of rut, whether it be pulling all my backhands to the right, throwing everything low, or whatever, and just feeling lost and helpless because I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. And then suddenly, whatever issue I was having across several rounds would be totally gone one day, and I would usually have no idea what I was doing different that remedied the problem. Of course the initial problem was usually promptly replaced by another, equally perplexing issue that would last several rounds, and this cycle would continue endlessly. In these situations, all I could do was grind and experiment and try to figure things out for myself. These days, after having played for 8 years, this is absolutely no longer the case, and thank goodness for that. Today, 9 out of 10 times, when I make a bad throw, I immediately know what I did wrong. I can either feel it in the throw, or I can look at the shot and deduce what the issue is based on the flight of the disc. Even with more persistent problems that I can’t identify immediately, it rarely takes more than a day or two of thinking and tinkering to figure out how to solve whatever problem I am having. Knowing what you are doing wrong and what mistakes you are making is one thing, but implementing fixes for these with consistency is another thing entirely. So while you may struggle to capitalize on your knowledge of your mistakes, knowing, as they say, is half the battle. So give yourself credit and realize that being able to quickly identify your mistakes is a great sign of improvement.
Better decision making.
Decision making is a crucial part of disc golf and is absolutely a skill. I remember all the silly decisions I would make when I was still new to the game. I was trying to throw every shot in the basket, regardless of distance. I had no sense of how far shots would skip and slide, or how wind would affect throws. These are of course some of the most basic and glaring decision mistakes in disc golf that players quickly learn to avoid after a few months of playing, but even these take time to fix. Beyond these basic mistakes, there are also more complex strategic decisions to be made, especially on high level courses. Decisions that can get the better of more experienced players as well if bad decisions are made. In my local scene, there are lots of young people, 14 to 19 years old or so, that have an incredibly high level of skill. They have only been playing for a few years, but they’re young, so they have learned to play really well, really fast. These people are more skilled than me in pretty much every way; they throw further, have better form, throw more accurately. But the one area where I often see them lacking is decision making and strategy. I often see these very gifted young players make silly and costly mistakes that largely could have been avoided if a better decision had been made. This bad decision is usually in the form of a misunderstanding of risk, or a misprioritization of goals. After the initial mistake has been made, I often see it compounded by subsequent bad decisions as well. My intention here is not to bash these young players in my community, but rather to show that good decision making is a skill that takes time to develop. Although they have great skill, young players are making these poor decisions because they are young and inexperienced, which they can’t help. It’s just where they are right now. I encourage any frustrated disc golfer to remember that good rounds can’t happen without good decisions and strategy.
Improved mental game.
Like decision making, mental toughness is also a skill that is integral for success in disc golf. Mental toughness is one of the areas where I have personally struggled the most, but also improved the most in the last year or so. A strong mental game is necessary to be relaxed while playing, commit fully to shots, be confident in your strategy, not get unreasonably angry after bad play, and not count yourself out during a bad round. I think pretty much all disc golfers have experienced a round where things are going fine up until you have a bad hole, and then everything deteriorates from there. And as things continue to get worse, so does your attitude, and the cycle continues. This has been me many, many times. More times than it should have been, honestly. I finally made the decision a year or so ago to actively and intentionally work on my mental game. The most important thing to remember about mental toughness is that it is a choice. It is not always an easy choice to make, but it is a choice nonetheless. You choose to stomp around and be furious after a bad shot. You choose to act like your round is over and there’s no point in trying after you bogey an easy hole. I started taking a moment before each round to choose mental toughness. I made the decision before the round that I would not get bent out of shape, and I would not have a bad attitude. Some rounds I stuck with this choice better than others, but this was the beginning of great improvement in my mental game. I have had several rounds in recent months which started horribly, taking lots of big numbers early in the round, and I managed to recover and play very good golf for the rest of the round. I have learned that if you act like your round is over, it will be over. If you count yourself out, you will be out. As cheesy as it sounds, you can’t stop fighting until the round is over. There are always strokes to be found.
The most important way that my improved mental toughness has manifested itself, is that I have more fun than I used to. I would argue that the single most important function of mental toughness in disc golf is to allow a player to enjoy a bad round. And look, I know some people may bristle at using the word “enjoy” in that way, and I get it. I take the game very seriously. I play a lot of sanctioned golf, and I want to play well so so so badly. So I say “enjoy” in a more ambiguous sense. Enjoy the fact that you are healthy enough to play disc golf, that the weather is good enough to play in, that your town has this course that you are playing, etc. Basically, just have a good attitude. If you are truly not having fun, then I recommend you quit. I am dead serious. Because if you’re not having fun, you’re wasting your time.
Maybe you have already been on a mental toughness journey like I have and you can look back at how your mental game used to be and you can take pride in how much you’ve improved. That’s awesome; that’s one of the reasons this section is included in this article. But maybe you haven’t yet started your mental toughness journey and this is your call to do so. Either way, strides in mental game are an important and often underappreciated sign that you’re getting better.
Please comment anything you think is an underappreciated sign of improvement in disc golf. I treat most of my articles like open letters, so as I think of other signs, I will probably update this article!
