Category: Jack Tupp

the delusional disc golfer

by frisbeebrain, posted in Jack Tupp

So as i mentioned before, I didn’t play in the Masters Cup this year- for the first time since 1994, I think. And I was even more bummed to see that the combo of the toughest-yet layout and choppy winds held scores down to the extent that -2 won my division (Open Masters). And from Sunday afternoon to Sunday evening, and I guess even that night as I slept that night, the delusions began to build.

I would have been right there with the lead groups all weekend. My strength is scratching out pars on tough courses in tough conditions. DeLa is MY course. And so it went.

So even though I had an impending deadline on a tough project, come Monday morning I only had one thought: get out to DeLa and play the course I saw giving guys so much trouble all weekend. And so I did. I shot a +3 (with a CTP-worthy birdie on hole 27), which isn’t bad considering the layout and the wind. But then, tongue in cheek, I began to make a case to myself that that +3 meant I woulda/coulda won the Masters Cup. Wanna get a window into some real disc golf delusion? Check this out:

  • My +3 included two tree OB strokes, one extremely unlikely.
  • It also included two double bogeys that – it could be argued – were 5’s rather than 4’s (holes 13 and 14) if I were not rushing to play through larger groups
  • Take away those four strokes, and I shoot -1 rather than +3
  • -1 three times is -3, good enough to beat the -2 that won my division in the Masters Cup!

Of course, all that discounts the following tethers to reality:

  • I can’t play two rounds in a row at DeLa right now, much less three. My shoulder just sorta stops working, pain or no pain
  • OB strokes will happen. Truth be told, that round was pretty even, luck-wise
  • Playing the day after an NT event on the same course is not tournament golf, no matter how realistically one may try to stick to tourney conditions

My best non-delusional guess that I would have shot +3 at best the first round, +6 at best the second round, and +8 at best the 3rd round. But imagine what woulda/coulda been . . .

stream of consciousness

by frisbeebrain, posted in DeLaBlahg, DeLaveaga, Jack Tupp

played Dela today, with Alan. we started on Hole 7, and right from the get-go i was agitated. it’s such a common emotion for me when i’ve been out of town for a few days, looking forward to playing, and feeling fully deserving of some disc golf. it seems that at such times I also expect to birdie every hole (except those I ace), and that doesn’t always happen.

In this case, I noticed right away that for some reason my release was a little off, and it resulted in me scrapin’ by to be at par until hole 13, then +3 afterward. It was one of those holes. I ended up -1, and considering the sometimes windy conditions and medium-difficult layout, that’s not so bad for 28 holes at DeLa. But the philosophical discoveries on this day prevailed.

First of all, on hole 18 I had to admit (sheepishly) that part of my frustation was due to the fact that Alan was beating me by six strokes. Even though we (as opposed to the years past) make a point of being less competitive, it’s still there. we both know it. And that makes the frustration all the more acute. Anyway, I mentioned to him then that I needed t0 take my own advice and enjoy the other aspects of the experience when the scoring part isn’t there, and that helped. Even though I didn’t get another birdie until 21 I did end up doing better by caring less about the score. Once I focused on the nice (but windy) day, and all the other things I had to be happy about, I played better. Imagine that.

Allenfreude

by frisbeebrain, posted in DeLaBlahg, DeLaveaga, Jack Tupp

Are you familiar with the German word schadenfreude? It means to take pleasure in the misfortune of others. During my round at DeLa this morning, I coined a new term that is similar to schadenfreude- a variation of it, if you will. The term is allenfreude, and it means to want to defeat another person solely because that other person wants to defeat you.

I did a good job today focusing my attention on my own game, which is always a good idea but was made easier by the fact that there was no money on the line, and only two of us had bag-tags. But the entire round, one of the other guys in the group – we’ll call him Larry – made it clear that he was measuring the success of his round based on how his score matched up against mine. This culminated on the 22nd hole, after his birdie on hole 21 brought him to +2, one behind me. He walked over and breathed warmly toward the back of my neck- you know, ‘breathing down my neck.’ It was all for fun, but at that point something changed about my approach to the round. For the first time that day, I thought in terms of wanting to ‘beat’ someone rather than just play my best game. The shift in perspective was so palpable that I had to surrender to it, and I had to admit that it was a reactive thing, based on Larry’s obviously strong desire to best me. I tried to think of a word for that sensation, but couldn’t so I made one up: allenfreude. Feel free to use it yourself.

In case you’re wondering, allenfreude on this day worked for my game. From that point on I went from +1 to -2, birdying three of the final holes, and ‘won’ by two strokes. I still maintain, however, that it’s best to avoid allenfreude if possible. Focusng on ones own game is always best.

Big Sur Royale

by frisbeebrain, posted in Big Sur Royale, Jack Tupp, Local Tourneys

I finally got the chance to play the Big Sur course I’d heard others rave about for several years now. Surprise, surprise . . . they were right!

The Course: It’s almost a given that when you take a landscape that includes Redwood trees, soaring mountains, and a bubbling river, then add baskets, the experience will at least be visually stimulating. But I want to give the Monterey Disc Golf Club credit for designing a course that had a great variety of shots and was really fun to play. Of course, I may be a little biased considering the course is quite lefty-friendly, but I heard nothing but positive comments from the other players as well. We played flat holes, downhill holes, uphill holes, and holes that were mostly wooded and also mostly open. The river came into play on maybe 4 or 5 holes, and even on the water holes discs could be retrieved. The teepads were pretty solid, all in all, considering they were natural and temporary.

The campground: A little pricey, but waddya expect? It’s Big Sur, and the facilities and ammenities matched the gorgeous natural surroundings, so I thought it was worth it with or without the disc golf. The place also has a good restaurant, tavern, and store, so if you want a quasi-camping experience this is a good fit.

The tournament: I came back with several general impressions when this tourney was over, but the most prominent was that Fun really did seem to rule. My best explanation for this was the fact that, with nearly 60 of the 74 participants in Amateur divisions, this was for the most part an Am tourney with a small Pro contingent. I’ve been playing in the Open divisions for so long now, I forgot how different the atmosphere is when Am players get together. These are people that are here more for the experience, fellowship, and partying than for the rush of competition. I think people still have a good time at Open tourneys, but their primary focus is on playing well- even before and between the actual rounds of golf. I experienced a little nostalgia for those more innocent Am days, even though back then I was one of those players that was more into winning than anything else.

My personal experience was limitied to the 4-person Open Master group of Marty Hapner, Mike Brown, Steve Thomas, and Mike’s ever-present dog Skippy. Merle Witvoet, who used to live with Mike, nicknamed Skippy ‘Two-Stroke,’ and I can understand why. Skippy didn’t dart around like some dogs do when discs are thrown, but he didn’t stay out of the way, either. Even though the dog didn’t really bother me too much (I was enjoying the laid-back atmosphere too much to be uptight) he really should not have been on the course during a PDGA-sanctioned event.

In some ways this event was excruciating, because I didn’t feel like I was playing good golf, and yet I was always within a few strokes of the lead. I guess I was aware that I was right there with a chance to win, but didn’t deserve to be. Finally, with three holes left to play, I birdied to take the lead over Mike and Marty. But Mike was not to be outdone, and he matched my birdie on the next hole, then reeled off another on the hole after that to tie it up. Then, on the last hole of regulation, he stepped up on a difficult river hole and drove to within 20 feet. I had to do likewise to force a playoff, and I did . . . whew! We basically traded mediocre throws for the first couple playoff holes, and I won it on the third with a nice long jump putt for birdie.

If you haven’t played in this event, I suggest you do. If you’ve never played in a PDGA tourney, this one would make a great first tourney experience.

The pebble has been snatched from my hand- almost

by frisbeebrain, posted in DeLaBlahg, Jack Tupp

I haven’t had too much time to play disc golf lately, with the exception of the tournaments mentioned in my previous blahg entry. Too busy with work, travel, and other stuff. But I found time today for a round with Assaf, and quite the interesting round it was. In the immortal words of basketball legend and noted sage Karl Malone, “The pebble has been snatched from my hand.” Well, sort of. Almost. Check it out:

We agreed to play a semi-speed round, and thought that the rainy weather would translate into a less-crowded course (it did). The course was wet, but the rain didn’t fall the entire time we played. Now Assaf has never beat or tied me, and he’s only come close a few times. But for some reason he plays better golf when he’s running from hole-to-hole (he recently played an entire 28-hole round in 40 minutes and shot a +2, which is only one more than his personal best, I think). I, on the other hand, am more likely to shoot my best when playing at a normal pace.

When Assaf got pars on each of his first six holes, hitting all his makeable putts, I knew I was in for a match. Then, on hole 7, my par putt hit the front rim and rolled WAY down the hill behind the hole. After my desperation upshot stayed in a tree still 35 feet short, I ‘saved’ a triple bogey 6 with a nice uphill putt. Suddenly I was three strokes back and Assaf was looking pretty solid and comfortable with the quick pace.

We both bogeyed 8a and birdied 9, but I also birdied 10 and 12 to tie the score (he also bogeyed 11). Historically, I’ve pulled away at this point, either due to me stepping it up, Assaf leaking oil, or both. But not today. Most people know that hole 13 at DeLa is know as I-5 , as in “What did you get on that hole, dude?” “I fived!” Well, today a five would been fine. In reality, my second shot rolled halfway down the slope to the left of the fairway, and my third shot – after hitting a tree in a fruitless attempt to get out of jail – rolled right past me and continued ALL the way down into a wet, slippery, deep crevice within the ravine. For my fourth shot, I had no choice except a 30-foot toss to get some kind of look, my 5th left me still far from the hole and in jail, and in the end I needed a good putt to ‘save’ and plus-four 7 on the hole. Assaf collected a routine 4 (basically par for hole 13), and I was right back to a three stroke deficit.

On holes 14 and 15 we posted back-to-back star frames, and then again on 18, and the thought did occur to me that I had just birded three holes out of four and not cut into his lead at all. For the most part, Assaf played really solid today. He didn’t miss any easy putts that I can remember (he usually does), didn’t have any disaster holes (his only double-bogey was due to a lost disc on hole 19), and just seemed to play up to his potential the whole round.

Going into hole 21, Assaf clung to a one-stroke lead but coughed it up with an errant drive. It was once again tied, and stayed that way until hole 24. Then he birdied and I bogeyed, and his lead was up to 2 strokes again. It didn’t occur to me until just now, but I hadn’t led in this round at all!

On hole 25 we both got par, and the same on 26. Still a two stroke lead for Assaf, with two to play. On 26a, I birdied, and Assaf’s putt did everything but go in. It hit top nubs and bottom nubs, and even a little chain, but no go. One stroke with one to play; Top of the World.

After my birdie on 26a, I had honors to throw first. My wimpily failed attempt to be aggressive with my lefty hyzer over the road for birdie resulted in a safe par look, Assaf’s drive turned over a little too much and flew past the tee for hole 1. Assuming he would still get a par, I went for the 100-foot birdie but still kept it close enough for a par myself. Assaf’s upshot snagged the oak to the right and in front of the basket, and his putt to win slid off the cage on the left side. A handful of onlookers near the bench (who know us) groaned because it was that close. We tied at +3

So Assaf didn’t quite snatch the pebble from my hand like Kung-Fu, but he did tie me for the first time. And if he keeps playing like he did today, it’s only a matter of time. I’ll stave him off for as long as I can, but when he finally does beat me, no one will be happier than me.

There is a joke there somewhere about pebbles and Rocs, but I’m done for now.