Clifford the Big-Armed Dog, and another oddball first for me

Nearly all of us have played disc golf with people who can seemingly throw a disc with half our effort and make it go twice as far. Such natural power is to be envied, but it occurred to me today that in some ways these freaks of nature deserve our sympathy as well.

Watching Clifford the Big Red Dog the other day with my kids, I thought of how large active dogs need more room to get the exercise they need. If you have a 90-pound Labrador Retriever you should be taking that dogs for runs in open space every day. A Chihuahua, on the other hand, can get all the exercise it needs running around the back yard or even the living room.

It's kind of like that with disc golfers that can throw 450 feet or more. If they live in an area with courses that have mostly short par 3 holes, imagine how bummed they must be! I try to be a glass-half-full kind of guy, and as my arm (which was never a big gun even in my prime) loses a little each year, I find that more and more holes present new, distance-related challenges. Usually that comes off as a bummer, but disc golf is no fun without the challenge, and this Chihuahua is finding more challenge every day. Yipee, I think.

Black Mouse Disc Golf Course has been my place for exciting happenings this year. There was an ace several months back, and more recently possibly my most surprising birdie ever. And now today, it happened again. I was playing hole nine, which for those of you who don't know is a very short, sharp dogleg right that is flat until the dogleg then drops sharply downhill. I'm a lefty, so I throw a hyzer that is supposed to cut just around the Redwoods that define the dogleg before dropping down to the right. Today I hit those Redwoods and my disc stayed behind them, forcing me to try to save par with a sidearmed turnover shot that hopefully would slide under a tree guarding the basket. Instead, the shot hit one of the tree's thin branches solidly, shot across the fairway (left-to-right), then ricocheted AGAIN (right-to-left this time) off a huge overturned root system of an Oak tree to the right of the basket and INTO THE CHAINS. It was a Surge, by the way.

Another sidearm shot (which I throw as little as possible due to my torn rotator cuff) that was meant to just get close enough to save par goes in for a birdie. When my putt on the next hole for birdie hit dead center but slid out, I just laughed and assumed that all my luck for the rest of the round was used up.

By the way, did I mention it was a running round- or two rounds? 36 holes, up and down rain soaked, muddy slopes, in 54 minutes and six seconds. Yeah, it's a short course, but still . . . . not bad for an old Chihuahua!

Odd targets and unusual setting still made for big fun!

It's easy to think that playing object golf is like washing clothes by beating them on a rock, with so many basket courses available to us these days. But it's a reminder of how flexible and adaptable our sport is. Essentially, if you have a flying disc, anything can be a target, and almost any setting can be co-opted for use as a course. That being said, I'm glad modern business parks are built with damn sturdy windows and most office workers take the weekends off. Otherwise the (unofficial & unsanctioned) 7th Annual Palm/HP Tournament in Silicon Valley would have been much less feasible. Although they don't really convey how fun it was to take part in this departure from the 'modern' game, click here to see pictures from the event.

Street is OB, target is in the background, with yellow tape

With almost no other people and cars there to complicate things, it was much more fun navigating through parking lots, past buildings, and around shrubs and trees than it woulda been on the wide-open vacant lot across the street!

As I understand it, the event was created to encourage employees of Palm (as in Palm Pilot) to try out disc golf. Therefore, the format is as unique as the rest of the tournament. First of all, it consists of an 18-hole par-2 putting course round, followed by 18 holes of object golf. Grass is outnumbered by concrete and asphalt by about a 1000 to 1 ratio. Second, even though I ended up winning $25.13 by placing first overall, it didn't cost anything to enter. Gotta like that! And third, due to a payout structure with an objective of everyone walking away a winner (each hole paid something), first place isn't usually even the biggest money winner! Looking at the spreadsheet used to determine payout made my head spin! Only in Silicon Valley, right?

The TD uses advanced algorithms to compute scores and final payout

Here is an incomplete list of objects used in this most unusual example of object disc golf:

• Palm tree- the most common of all objects used on object courses
• Light pole- second-most common
• Manhole cover- discs had to come to rest on the cover, completely surrounded by metal
• Bike rack- disc had to pass completely underneath the rack, and I incurred my only bogey on the regular course when my disc got stuck trying to pass underneath the lowest point
• Sewer grate- disc had to end up completely in the grate, with the obvious hazard of actually sliding into the sewer! One year a kid had to be lowered by his feet to retrieve a disc!
• Metal cage around utility meters
• Fire hydrant- The first course I ever played, at UC Santa Cruz, had a hydrant for a target
• Parking lot planter- disc had to come to rest inside
• Median surrounding giant corporate park sign- same deal as the planter
• Square trash cans
• Metal benches- By far the most challenging as they were quite slippery and the disc had to come to rest on the bench as opposed to just hitting it. Someone actually completed the hole on a bench hole with his first shot on the putting course. Quite unbelieveable
• All cars and non-playing humans were considered OB and carried a one-stroke penalty if struck. We had to place a 'spotter' in front of a couple cars that were obviously in flight paths, with the spotter using his judgment in decided whether to swat down a threatening throw.

There was one ace on the regular course: Fittingly, since it was the Palm Tournament, someone aced the palm tree hole. This event was proof that people intent on having fun with a golf disc can do so just about anywhere.

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Diarrhea of the Arm: When extra shots hurt rather than help

Have you heard the term 'diarrhea of the mouth'? It's when someone can't seem to prevent words from pouring out of their mouth (basically he/she can't stop talking, whether from nervousness or a genetic flaw passed down through generations), usually leading to a detrimental result. I believe the currently accepted term for this is TMI (too much information).

Competitive disc golfers can suffer from a similar malady, and the term 'Diarrhea of the Arm' seems to fit. (OK, I've typed that disgusting word three times already, including the subject line, and that's enough. I think you get the point). In the case of disc golf, it refers to a player's tendency to throw extra shots after a throw or putt that doesn't go the way he/she intended or hoped. In my experience these extra shots during a competitive round almost always have a few things in common:

• They seem to be a kind of knee-jerk reaction, unplanned until it's clear that the original shot is obviously not getting the hoped-for results
• They are usually hastily executed- rushed, if you will
• They usually also display an exaggerated correction of whatever the player perceives to have gone wrong with the original shot.

The most common - and in my opinion, most harmful - example of this, er, affliction, is the second putter that is thrown at the basket in disgust after a missed putt. More often than not it also misses the basket, or slams the chains with the anger and distain intended. It also occurs on drives and upshots, but the follow-up mad-putt is the classic example. Every time I see a friend do this I want to tell him that all he's doing is reinforcing bad habits.

My point is this: If you're playing a practice round, or practice holes, with the pre-planned intention of throwing repetitive shots, that's great. More people (including me) should practice that way more often. But, first of all, if you're playing a round of golf you should play by the rules (even if you're alone), which in stroke play clearly state that all strokes count. And even if you and your pals have established that such 'practice' shots don't count in your rounds, don't let such reactionary shots leave your hand unless you're able to replicate your entire pre-shot routine with the goal of learning and getting better rather than angrily proving you coulda/shoulda made it. Treat every round, and every throw, as practice, and a learning opportunity to build on for future days.

If you have an interest in getting better, that is.

Video coverage of disc golf: A realists take

If you're reading this, you most likely are already sold on the awesomeness of disc golf.

Likewise, you probably greatly appreciate and enjoy any live video coverage of the seminal professional events of our sport. But if you look at it with a critical eye, you gotta admit that even the best the sport has to offer is pretty amateurish. The Players Cup coverage last weekend wasn't much better - in terms of video AND commentary (no offense to my pal Billy Crump) than what the average Joe with a single HandyCam can produce. Coverage of the USDGC was a little better, but still failed to convey how disc golf has become a near carbon-copy of the Grand Old Game, with all its nuances and intricate mental challenge.

I make this point not to denigrate the efforts of those on the bleeding edge of disc golf promotion, but to stress how tough it is to accurately portray golf of any kind on screen. If you think about it, ball golf events use DOZENS of different cameras in order to create the finished product they broadcast. One camera shows the golfer addressing his lie and striking the ball, another captures the wide-angle shot that shows the ball in flight, and a third is able to show the result of the shot. That's three cameras required to capture EACH SHOT. Think about the resources needed to cover par 3's, 4's and 5's on an 18 hole course!

My point is this: Most of the people that dedicate their time and in some cases financial resources to broadcasting disc golf must be doing so in hopes that it will help to take disc golf 'mainstream' as a professional sport. While their intentions are to be commended, the nature of golf - disc, ball, or otherwise - does not lend itself to simple and accurate video representation- without nearly unlimited resources. The projectile (ball, disc), on most shots, travels a good distance away from whoever hits or throws it. And in disc golf, video tends to lose the twists, turns, and other nuances that shows the uninitiated how disc golf is more complex than simply 'throwing a Frisbee'.

If your goal is to take disc golf mainstream, doesn't it make more sense to always have the uninitiated in mind? Don't cater to the person who already knows what a great sport disc golf is . . . cater and market to the other 99.9 percent of the population! Until we reach critical mass (and, hint, we ain't close yet) we should focus on growing the market of players before we even thing about the market of viewers.

Video and pictures from the South Pacific's best disc golf course

You've heard of an island green in golf, right? Where you tee off near a shoreline to a green situated on a small piece of land surrounded by water? The course featured in today's post is nothing like that. In fact, it is much better described as a mountain course considering the fact that it is 5,000 feet up the side of a 10,000 foot-tall mountain and every hole has some type of slope in play. But this course, Poli Poli, is also situated on an island in the middle of the South Pacific, and boasts views of the aquamarine-colored water far below.

I'm purposefully not disclosing the location due to its quasi private/public nature, but those who want it bad enough will be able to discover the truth without too much trouble. Check out this video just posted to YouTube. It's got short video clips first (sorry for the choppy editing) and still pictures after the vid clips.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcsYl757UCw

How to practice follow-through when putting

One of the most important aspects of proper disc golf putting form also happens to be counter-intuitive to the way people usually first learn to throw a flying disc. I'm talking follow-through, which in a classic putting motion means thrusting the throwing (putting) hand forward toward the target, as opposed to 'flinging' the disc from the side like a tossing a Frisbee at the beach.

A different set of muscles are involved, so it not only feels weird at first but also requires some time and repetition to develop those muscles. Check out this short clip on YouTube that demonstrates a short exercise developed to help players work on proper putting follow-through. If you don't feel like watching the clip, here it is in a nutshell:

• Pick a target, preferably a basket or something else that won't inflict abuse on your putters when you repeatedly throw them at said target.
• Get a stack of putters, preferably at least five or so
• Standing a short distance from the target (15 feet or closer), pick up the first disc, and prepare to putt at the target as you normally would. Except in this exercise, de-emphasize the 'take-back/pull-back' part of your putt, and over-emphasize your follow-through.
• If possible, hold the disc a foot in front of your body, and fight the urge to instinctively pull the disc back before letting it fly. Instead, try to use follow-through to get as much as possible on your putt.
• Repeat with the rest of your discs, then collect them and do it again.
• Once you get the hang of it, try to start with the disc even further from your body. Whether the disc goes in the basket isn't as important in this exercise as a strong follow-through with your throwing arm ending up completely straight, pointing directly at the target.
• When you feel comfortable with your follow-through technique, go back to your normal take-back/pull-back but finish with the same exaggerated follow-through. If done correctly, you'll notice that the disc goes further with less effort, and . . . .
• If you're finishing with your hand pointed directly at the center of the target, you'll also see another benefit: less putts that miss left or right. That part is pretty simple, really. If you pull a putter back on a straight line, and release it on a straight line, it will indeed fly on a straight line.

This exercise is all about transforming a technique that is crucial to proper putting form but can feel unnatural at first into something you do every time without thinking. It can only happen through repetition, though, and as I mentioned in the first part of this post, the muscles involved need to be developed as well. So if it doesn't seem like you can do it at first- if the disc doesn't even make it to the basket - just get closer and keep at it. Good luck, and let me know how it goes.

Shocked by the sound of chains

One of the great things about disc golf is the way, when you think you've seen and experienced it all, something happens to make you realize you in fact have not. Such was the case for me today at Black Mouse DGC.

After two decades of playing disc golf, I can't remember anything like what happened today. I want to describe it in detail, and ask you, the reader, to share anything similar.

Hole 11 at Black Mouse is (choose your adjective): devious, frustrating, challenging, ridiculous. I'll try to describe it the best I can. From tee to basket, "as the crow flies", it's uphill and maybe 250 feet. But the terrain slopes steeply from left to right, and 80 or so feet from the tee the so-called fairway narrows to an opening maybe six feet wide and 10 feet tall. After that point the hole dog-leg's sharply to the left. On the left of that opening is a literal wall of redwood trees, and to the right is more trees and a continued downward slope. So you pretty much have to aim for that tiny gap and throw something that will bank left after passing through, or just sit down, to give you an extremely steep upshot.

I'm left-handed, and I try to throw a side-armed Surge driver through that gap that will ideally curve left and uphill toward the basket. Today I missed by at least 10 feet to the left, hit one of the Redwoods, and dropped straight down. My choice was to either sacrifice a stroke by tossing my disc a few feet to the right and hope I'd get a clean look at an upshot for a bogey four, or try to squeeze a blind shot through the wall o' Redwoods in the general direction of the basket. I knew it wasn't the wise choice because the gap was barely the width of a disc, and there were plenty of other trees to get past in the fairway, but I chose it anyway because it seemed more fun. I made sure to keep it flat to avoid a second wall of Redwoods closer to the basket, and let 'er fly.

The first and main objective was accomplished as soon as the disc made it through the 'crack in the wall'. Since the disc disappeared from view immediately, I listened closely to monitor its progress. I was hoping to hear nothing, actually, since that would mean the throw got as far as possible without hitting a tree. And that's just what I heard, until I was . . . . SHOCKED BY THE SOUND OF CHAINS! Honestly, I don't remember being more pleasantly jolted by that sound in all the time I've played the game. It was the perfect tone, too, where you just know it stayed in the cage.

I'm interested to hear if any readers have experienced anything comparable. I was hoping to scratch out a bogey, and in an instant realized that instead I birdied a hole I've only birdied once before. Do you have a similar story of being 'shocked by the sound of chains'?