⚠️ Highly skilled disc golfers only
⚠️ Highly skilled disc golfers only
The Hills Have Discs, Earth Day, and Matt
Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. Your twice-a-week Brita filter for only the purest happenings in disc golf.
Email Read Time: 4 Minutes & 57 Seconds
If you missed the 1st Major recap, then I got you: Champions Cup Champions
Let’s get into it.
Jonesboro Open
PREVIEW (4/22-24)
The 1050 boys left GA with a bad taste in their mouths. McBeth, McMahon, Wysocki, and Heimburg don’t sit well with not capitalizing on a Major. And what better way to release that tension than 3 days at Disc Side of Heaven in Jonesboro, AR.
The course is known for its rolling hills, many par 4’s, and requiring championship level distance. The constant thwack of a tree kick won’t be coming through your speakers this weekend.
You’ll see bombers score low and average about -10 for a leaderboard spot. Even with FPO on a modified layout, the usual contenders are known for their distance.
Sadly, we won’t see the Finnish power duo throw though. Eveliina Salonen and Henna Blomroos have gone back home for a 2 month break from the US tour.
LAST YEAR RECAP
MPO/ After 2 great rounds, Ricky Wysocki held a narrow lead over the other 1050 boys. He made minimal mistakes and watched his card mates bogey trying to chase him down.
Wysocki has won 3 out of the 4 times he’s played here. Last year was one of the good ones, and he averaged a 1070 rating to win by 4.
FPO/ Catrina Allen shot a monster of a 2nd round (1042 rated) to give her a 10-stroke lead. She walked across the finish line on Sunday.
That was the 1st time Paige Pierce lost at Jonesboro. Like Wysocki, she does well here with 4 wins out of 5 attendings.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
MPO/ Gavin Rathbun will be returning for the 1st time in 8 months. He had surgery to repair his torn labrum and has been rehabbing back to competitive form.
Not only should we watch for Rathbun’s progress, but McMahon should take note too. He could have the same injury, so seeing how the process and timeline went for Rathbun might open up his options.
FPO/ This has to be one of the toughest weeks for Kristin Tattar as a professional. She failed to close out the 1st Major, AND she has to navigate the controversy around her daughter and the caddie rules.
Thankfully she doesn’t have the target on her back, but it can still strain her mental game coming off a loss like that. Fingers crossed she can bounce back and win in AR.
You’ll be able to watch these players live all weekend on DGN. Or on next-day coverage from JomezPro, Gatekeeper Media, and GK Pro.
Player Coaches
Last week, Zoe AnDyke and Dustin Keegan (pros, Uplay founders, and great DG ambassadors) announced they’re employing a coach this season. What does that mean and who’s the coach…
Mark Oxer is a “Chartered Professional Coach” and member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association. He’ll use his education and background to help the pair perform at their highest levels.
We’re already through 1/4 of the season, and there were times when a coach may have been useful:
Eveliina Salonen has to find a way past her putting yips.
Kristin Tattar was this 🤏 close to winning last weekend.
Paige Peirce fighting over mentality with her parent coach of a dad.
Could this be the start of player coaches? Swing, putting, or mental game coaches? Well, it’s kind of already started.
For the 2018 off-season, McMahon and Lizotte trained in Switzerland with “therapeutic mental coaching sessions… and [learned] about nutrition and exercise theory.” They both saw improvements in their finishes that year.
In a time of caddie controversy, we can likely count on seeing “coaches” who are at least 13 years old.
Stat That
Cutting edge analytics by StatMando. THE disc golf stats platform.
With the Tour chugging along, the brilliant StatElites in the community dug this up:
What makes sense: Garrett Gurthie throws plastic inhumanely far.
What kind of makes sense: Anthony Barela also throws far, but his inconsistency makes him pay when biting too much off.
What doesn’t make sense: Why Chris Clemons and his lefty power side-arm don’t perform well here.
Random Dubs
1️⃣ Earth Day is tomorrow (4/22). And Trash Panda Disc Golf is doing its part to celebrate and raise funds to remove trash from our oceans.
They asked 50 dyers to create an “Earth Day” themed disc, and the top 32 are being voted on through Instagram. The winner will receive $600, 2nd place $100, and 3rd place $50.
If you want to contribute and maybe win a disc, you can do so by buying raffle tickets for your favorite dye until 4/25. 1 raffle ticket = $1 = 1lb of trash. So far they’ve raised enough to remove 7,500+ pounds of trash from our oceans.
2️⃣ It seems like everyone has throwing arm injuries. We got Paul McBeth, Ricky Wysocki, Simon Lizotte, Eagle McMahon, and the list goes on and on.
Obviously you’re not on their level, but you hit the course several times a week. Before throwing your 400 300ft drives, make sure you’re warmed up correctly.
Disc Golf Strong & Seth Munsey, DGPT’s Director of Health, want everyone to know static stretching is a no-no. You need warm up dynamically to engage your muscles.
You’ve likely seen pros doing his quick & proper warm-up routine. Give it go next time:
Meme of the Week
Thanks for reading today. Get out and play a new course this weekend!
- Charlie
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