His: Hurling Plastic.

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H is for "Hurling Plastic"

Last Sunday I played in a local disc golf tournament in a nearby city. I have been playing disc golf for about two years and even though I am never likely to be World Champion I have a lot of fun playing. I played in two tournaments last year and was excited to return to one of the same courses that I played last year to try out my skills again. Last year I finished near the bottom of the standings, but that was due to a few bad shots and a few silly mistakes. Now that I have more experience and a few new discs for the different types of shots I had trouble with before I was determined to play better and hopefully place a little better.

Disc golf is played in a similar way to golf, but instead of hitting a ball towards a hole on the green, you throw a frisbee style disc towards a large metal basket. There are courses set up in many locations, like local parks and some private properties, and unlike golf most of them do not charge for you to play. If you would like to learn about what disc golf is, I explained it in more detail in one of my previous posts. (Click here to read that post) 

The tournament started at 9:30am and consisted of two rounds of 22 holes. I was in the recreational division which is designed for players around my ability level. I knew many of the players in my division and knew they had much more experience and were likely to beat me. I decided the best thing to do is just play my own game, and not stress about what everyone else did. If I threw well and didn't make any silly mistakes the rest would take care of itself. I was not able to throw as far as some of the others, but my accuracy kept me on the fairway most of the time and I was able to keep up with the others in my group. I even was able to get a shot right underneath of the basket on my tee shot on one hole which was pretty impressive.

       After the first round I was right in the middle of the pack in my group. In the second

My prize winning tee shot that landed next to the basket.

round I was grouped with the two guys that were one throw behind me. They ended up playing some really good disc golf and ended up passing me in the standings at the end. It was not that I did anything wrong, it was that they simply played better than I did. I still feel like I played as well as I could and was happy with my results. I am sure that with some more practice and experience I will slowly be able to place better in future tournaments. The best part of the day was that I won a prize for getting my disc closest to the basket, so that was a big deal for me since I had never won anything when playing disc golf before. My prize was a $20 voucher for disc golf merchandise so I can buy some more discs. 

Below are a few more photos from the tournament.

Some holes have lots of trees to avoid (or hit if you are unlucky)

And some are more open like this one.

This was the trophy for the winner of my division. Maybe one day I will win one!

My prize for getting the disc so close to the basket in one throw.

I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about how to improve my game. I have another tournament next month so I am hopeful that I can repeat my performance once again. Have you ever played sports competitively? If so what was your best result?