Pro Vs. Avg Joe- Skill Gap

[BogeyNoMore]

Originally Posted by bholy08

450 ft drive, 400 ft approach that puts you within 50 ft of the basket. Then have to make the putt. As an ADV player, I definitely could not do that.

^ and don't forget, both shots need to be very much on target to be 50 ft out. Even with a 450' drive and a 400' upshot that managed to stay out of trouble, many people would still be well over 50 ft out. Reality is most folks would be throwing a thumber trying to get outta jail.

[Central Scrutinizer]

I tried a run at being serious from 1998-2000 and got to play in the 2000 worlds in Ann Arbor as an Am-1 player on the same tees as all the pros. Ken Climo beat me by 0.7-something per hole as he won the whole thing and I took 140th in Am-1. :-)

[BogeyNoMore]

Originally Posted by JReynolds

Exactly!! Will Schusterick showed up here and played our B tier. .. he threw the course 1 time with a roc and his putters. On tourney day he showed up and shot a 38 (-16)... our 1008 (?) rated local pro only shot -8 or -9...and it is his home course! The elite are just that, elite, and there is a much bigger gap then most of you think

The more I read this thread, and the more I think about it, the larger I think the gap is. I just think that reltively few courses that expose very obviously.

When I think of courses I played from the shorts, and only admired the true championship layouts:
Idlewild
Renny
Hornet's Nest vs, Charlotte's Web layout.
Leviathan

...the gap comes clearer into view.

Originally Posted by Central Scrutinizer

I tried a run at being serious from 1998-2000 and got to play in the 2000 worlds in Ann Arbor as an Am-1 player on the same tees as all the pros. Ken Climo beat me by 0.7-something per hole as he won the whole thing and I took 140th in Am-1. :-)

Thinking about how many strokes that works out to for the whole tourney = BIG GAP

[McFer]

Increments in disc golf are sometimes misleading.

People think that the difference in going from 150' of distance to 250' of distance is the same as going from 350' to 450'. It's not. Distance happens in big chunks starting out, and then it becomes small increments. Clean up one element of technique, gain 15'. Fix something else, gain 15'.

Same with scoring. Going from bogeying everything to parring most holes happens pretty quickly in DG. But then birdies are a whole other matter. The difference between +7 and +4 for a round isn't much. The difference between -4 and -7, and from -7 to -10 for a round is huge.

I think this question falls in the same category. The climb from being a noob to being pretty good isn't too hard in DG. The climb from being good to being a top pro doesn't look like a wide chasm, but it is, and it's the little things, the increments.

[BigSky]

Originally Posted by Scoot_er

Hole 12?

Not really that hard of a hole.....

Says the 1017 rated player. LOL.

It's hard for us my friend.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Originally Posted by thrembo

Mark Ellis challenged me and my friend (an int/adv) to a round once where we would play best shot vs him (at the original Kensington course). We never had a chance...

Okay, everybody do your best Lizard Lawyer voice!

[New013]

A lot of players can probably three 900ft holes, not consistently but it's very doable. Not that big of a deal if you ask me. Pros should 3 open 900ft holes almost every time.

[NoahChristopher]

Some of you guys need to watch a really good player on a tough course, and then you'll realize that your gonna need a whole lot more than just time to practice and play in order to play at their level. Its not just hours and hours of practice that make the best the best.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Originally Posted by BogeyNoMore

Thinking about how many strokes that works out to for the whole tourney = BIG GAP

Yeah, no doubt! The immortals throw putters where I throw drivers, too. We might tie a few holes, but at the end of the day, they're beating the likes of me by a few standard deviations.

I remember very vividly getting to watch Scott Stokely in 1999 or so throwing a Magnet well past a 350' hole at Hudson Mills. I couldn't reach it with my driver. (I've got VHS footage of that throw from the side of the tee. His big arm just whips through the frame like a rocket ship, then you hear everybody whisper, "...that was a Magnet...that was a Magnet...that was a Magnet..."

Anyway, one of many things that's very, very cool about our sport is how average players like me can find themselves on the same card as a very good well-known player sometimes at a local tournament. (Do they still pair up Ams and Pros on the first card of B-tier tournaments? I haven't played in one in 7 years...) That's not happening in any other sport.

[rocthecourse]

Originally Posted by JReynolds

Exactly!! Will Schusterick showed up here and played our B tier. .. he threw the course 1 time with a roc and his putters. On tourney day he showed up and shot a 38 (-16)... our 1008 (?) rated local pro only shot -8 or -9...and it is his home course! The elite are just that, elite, and there is a much bigger gap then most of you think

Will has also thrown a 961 rated round in the last year. If you go back to BigSky's post what I think he is saying is that he could beat a pro, though it might take a lot of rounds. A hot round by an OK player can sometimes beat a bad round by a PRO.