Barry Arnson [dot] com

Ace!, originally uploaded by mrpbody33.

So this past weekend at Mathews Park in Monroe, GA. It had been since December of 2008 that I hit an ace. That ace was hit during the ace pool throw-off at the end of a tournament at Sequoyah Park. We were throwing from hole 13′s tee box to 17′s basket on top of the hill. Nothing like slamming the chains in front of 40+ people to win $100.

This ace wasn’t as climatic but it sure did feel good. As time passes the feeling of “I am due of an ace” begins to weigh down on a player. It is an irrational thought as most hole-in-one shots are bad shots that just happened to go great. Anyways it was nice to get the Ace Monkey of my back.

So I shot a 59 at Richmond Hill disc golf course while on vacation. Hakeber alluded to it in our Asheville Vacay post on our joint blog. I got to the course just before 2pm and there were a bunch of golfers at the park. Turns out they were going to have an intercollegiate tourney and some doubles side action at the park starting up just after 2:15ish. Well my record for playing local action tourneys while on vacation is 2-1 (I suffered my first defeat at doubles in Charleston last year), so I thought I would give a little stab at a rebound round.

My ego was hurt a little from the last course I attempted to play blind. I wanted a little redemption so I signed up for doubles after only playing the first 4 holes. Might as well jump back into it with both feet and playing doubles with a local partner would save me from my mistakes I might make. Well there were only six that signed up so we made the decision to change the format to winner-take-all singles. So here I was now going up against five other players that have played the course many times and I guess I set the expectation for playing well pretty low.

First hole two people get within the circle, myself and another threw into the shule to the right, one to the left and one golfer threw it two times into OB off the tee. I knew this would knock him out of contention as he holed out with a seven (he eventually quit after the front nine). Second hole my drive went right down the right side of a dog-leg left hole. Got a good kick and had an easy three. Third hole I threw pin high about 40 feet to the right in the woods and still saved par. By this point I had cemented myself at the top of the tee box and I didn’t give it up too often. I just played par and didn’t try to force anything which is what you have to do in the woods. I had a couple of putts that should have gone in for birdie in the middle but finally broke the birdie seal on hole 15 with an ace run on the 300-foot downward shot. I must have been about a foot away from hitting chains. It was at this point I knew I had a chance to win it.

Sixteen I got a birdie. Seventeen played it safe and got the par. Eighteen I tried to play it too safe and ended up getting kicked into deep shule and had to fight my way out to get a five. I beat second place by a stroke. Shooting a 59 might now be phenomenal at that course but for playing the course blind it was pretty damn good. The only thing that sucked was that I was paid out in merchandise rather than cash but who cares it was nice to get a win. I am sure I pissed those locals off that day.

“What just happened”, I asked myself. “Did I really just come in last place?” The truth is sometimes hard to swallow but this pill seemed especially bitter. I guess someone has to come in last place and this time around it was my turn.

I was really hoping I was going to start blogging about disc golf again in a positive light. I have been training for the past few weeks. Working out on a regular basis, watching what I am eating and taking vitamins. I have been putting in the backyard a least three times during the week. The few practice rounds I have been able to squeeze in during the evening have been good and productive. All that work was suppose to payoff this weekend when I was to play the toughest course in Georgia.

Well the toughest course in Georgia had other plans for me. When I added my strokes up after the first round I couldn’t believe what I had shot. Sure I had a few mistakes and even more a few unlucky shots that resulted in some penalties but I didn’t think I could have shot what I did. To add insult to injury the rest of the group I played with shot eight strokes or better than I did. It made me sick. Second round was a blur as the weight of the first round still loomed over my head. Or perhaps it was more like a monkey throwing feces. Either way the lessons I learned in the first round didn’t help me much in the second and crap still seemed to fly from my hands.

Am I going to quit the sport of disc golf just because I came in last at a tournament….no way. What I am going to do is take a step back from playing in tournaments for a little while. Maybe a couple weeks or perhaps a couple months. I am not sure yet. What I do know is that I need to get back to working on the fundamentals. Don’t just go out to a course and play a round. I need to work on the individual aspects of my game to help the overall product. The main aspect I need to work on is the mental game.  I have lost that since last year and my head just isn’t in it to win it.