🏋️‍♂️ Mr. 1108

Distance Prodigy, Qualifiers, and Career Highlight

May 05, 2022

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. Spend the next 4 minutes and 51 seconds with us and you’ll be the smartest person at league tonight.

If you missed the DDO recap, then I got you: Glass Blown Open

Let’s get into it.

Legends Profile: David Wiggins Jr.

You might be wondering why that name sounds familiar. Sure, he’s been popping up on podcasts and coverage, but his name is also on every single Blizzard Champion Boss.

The Blizzard Boss is a rite of passage for many beginners. The transparent, pearly plastic and “World Record” stamp shout “buy me, throw me, lose me in the water.”

Wiggins is more than just a name on a water carry disc. He’s had a long history in the game at only 26 years old. In this week’s Nick & Matt Show, he spoke about his past and future.

For perspective, here’s his distance progression:

Age 9: 343ft
Age 10: 399ft
Age 11: 484ft
Age 12: 577ft
Age 13: 735ft
Age 16: 836ft
Age 20: 1108ft

Besides training like a javelin thrower and earning world records, Wiggins grew up in NC and learned to carve putter lines in the woods. He tried the touring lifestyle back in 2013 but decided to pursue marine engineering.

Now after the Covid Boom, Wiggins still has it and is joining the Tour. He can’t hit every stop but plans to play a lot of them. In about 5 weeks, keep an eye out for the DGPT docuseries highlighting legends of the sport. Wiggins will be featured in an episode.

Challenge @ Goat Hill & The 303 Open

After 3 straight weeks of big events, most pros are taking a much needed break. With no Elite or Silver Series this weekend, there’s a smattering of A-Tiers across the country.

Now if you were a touring pro, why would you use your off week for an A-Tier? Two words: USDGC Qualifiers

Those attending will have a chance to qualify for the invite-only USDGC tournament in October. To do so, they have to finish in the top 4. The invite gets passed down to the next person if someone is already qualified.

PREVIEW (5/6-8)

What you need to know for Goat Hill:

10th Challenge at Goat Hill Park
Oceanside, CA golf course with lots of elevation change
Many pros’ favorite course on the west coast
More than 22% of the field over 1000 rated
Allen Risley (TD) hopes to move the event to Jan/Feb and rejoin the DGPT as a jumping-off point before LVC
Last year’s champ: Ricky Wysocki (not attending)
Runner-up: Anthony Barela (attending)

What you need to know for The 303 Open:

11th Annual 303 Open
Sponsored by Discmania & 10 miles from their US Headquarters in CO
Park style course designed by Avery Jenkins & owned by Anheuser-Busch Brewery
More than 15% of the field over 1000 rated
Last year’s champ: Kyle Klein (attending)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Goat Hill/ Drew Gibson took time off to buy a house in AZ and hasn’t had flashy performances since his LVC win. Looking to get back in the conversation, he’ll need both distance and accuracy at Goat Hill.

The 303/ Reigning champ, Kyle Klein, wants to defend his title and get his 1st win of 2022. With subpar performances so far, he wants to prove that he deserves his promotion to Discmania’s Sky Team.

You’ll be able to watch post-produced rounds on CCDG for The Challenge @ Goat Hill & Gatekeeper Media for The 303 Open.

Tip of The Week

This week, the Chain Clankers podcast had Robbie C on to tell his DG story and do what he does best: Give Tips. Robbie is 940 rated & loves to teach players through his YouTube channel (30k subscribers).

To listeners, he explained how to park your upshots:

Use a great disc: A really OS approach disc & a really US approach disc for straight shots.
Find your Comfort Circle: Where you can make 80-90% of putts.
Practice: Dial in your upshot distances (50ft, 100ft, etc.) with 100s of throws. Upshots are replicable, and practice mimics reality.
Change your mentality: Comebackers don’t exist. If you land your upshot past the basket and in your Comfort Circle, then you’ve succeeded.

Be sure to listen to the Chain Clankers on all podcast platforms. As 2 Covid players, they welcome all disc golfers, have great interviews, and share their journey each week.

Random Dubs

1️⃣ Ever wonder what the best course in Italy is? Probably not… But UDisc made the effort to sort through their directory in case you did.

So if you’re ever planning a trip to a new country and want to see their courses, visit this UDisc blog post and bookmark it.

2️⃣ Big Money Skins Match:
Scott Stokely won $15.5k of the $21.5k pot (including $9.7k bonus) and will donate 100% of the skins money to Hope 4 Autism with a donor matching the amount.

To do it, he had to throw the “best shot of his career” through a 5ft gap to secure the majority of the skins after push after push.

At 52 years old, this may be the climax of his 2022 season. His performances at tour events have been a bit lackluster… Only cashing in 3 out of 7 events. But his victory at Eagles Crossing is inspiring especially from someone in the “twilight” of their career.