1035 -5. Not a lot of guys finished so far, so that could move some but pretty good round.

It helps to hit a couple c2 birdie putts early in the round but i also thought he would have a more rollercoaster type round on a course like this.

I think Brodie is up to 1015-1025 by the start of next season. It's going to be hard to get much higher than that unless he starts throwing some hot rounds.

Live card is on the back9 and Brodie is hanging on to a top10 spot. I would imagine it won;t last much longer though

Tied for 15th (with uli, eagle, and jason mathe). pretty dang good!

I was previously thinking his ceiling would be 1025. Watching his offseason progress now I think 1035 is totally in the cards. Will he win big events? Still a nope on that, but he's surpassed pretty much everyone's predictions at this point. I'm not really that surprised though. Ultimate is basically short game/scramble golf, and the guy is 6'5 and strong as a mofo. He figured out putting faster than I've ever seen anyone do, something a lot of big arm athletic guys often struggle with for years before they dial in.

See: Recent Ezra

Especially when you're a bomber like him and miss chances to score, that can drive you crazy if you let it. You gotta fall in love with putting and feel like when you're on the green it's to your advantage.

That and a really, really short memory helps too :D

This was in no way at all remotely surprising, given his background.

Looking like he's going to have that rollercoaster round today. par birdie dubogey par, to start.

bogey birdie birdie

A lot of action just to shoot even on the first 7 holes...lol

We’ve all been there

Yeah I could see 1035, but I do think he has a chance to win big events. I wasn't very clear with my thoughts, but I think that his goal to be "winning big tournaments in 2022" is probably not going to happen. I think he's slightly behind that goal and 2023 is a better goal. He's currently shooting between 980 and 1035 (with more rounds in the upper half of that). If he improves that 10 points, he could get up to 1025. But that's not going to be enough to win big events, especially if his ceiling is 1045 or 1050. So few people win events with a tournament rated at 1050. He's going to have to figure out how to throw some 1070s in there at some point. I realize he still thinks he's a year away from that; I'm saying that I see him being 2 years away.

I dont see him competing with the big dogs BUT we are all gonna get to find out. He has every reason to stick with disc golf. The dood pushes plastic and will be able to make money in the game without competing at the top level.

If he can somehow manage to get on lead cards in big tournies.....he can be hugely successful. His bold love-it or hate-it personality is perfect for the spotlight. Disc golf doesnt have a guy like this at the top level and it would be cool to see.

Nikko?

I think he's referring to his off the course stuff. Nikko's love it or hate it stuff is more about his playing style and demeanor on the course.

No. I was going to reference him.

Nikko is a small cry baby hippee

Brodie is a giant obnoxious corny Jock

We already have tons of hippies in disc golf. We dont have any guys like Brodie. Nikko is the typical disc golfer , just with a love or hate personality. I feel Brodie is the type of athlete we see in others sports and thats why there is a lot of friction with the disc golf crowd. He stands out like a sore thumb.

He settled down and had 3 birdies and the rest pars to finish -3 for the day 1010 atm

If the top players are playing, I just don't see Brodie making a final round lead card. Maybe second day on rare occasion, but not with a chance to win.

why not

Really just comes down to how much he can continue to improve.

Like Chris, I’m not surprised by his scramble or putting. Look at his truck shot type videos, he’s reasonably skilled at throwing accurately.

You figure if Nikko can grab a win with his up and down play, Bro could have a magical weekend.

Playing consistently on Dogwood is pretty impressive.

I don't think any one of us really knows what his ceiling could be. He's only 33 and obviously keeps himself in great shape. He also really seems to want to get good at DG(not just sell plastic) and so far has been willing and eager to put the time and work in to getting there... and he has all the time in the world to practice.

At this point, he just needs time in the field and on the course to refine his game and get consistency... and he needs to stay healthy also. If that knee problem becomes an issue, it would be a major problem.

Nikko has 123 career wins, including a couple at the USDGC. He was also 1030+ from September 2009 through September 2016, with a high of 1046. He is one of the best players in the world.

Brodie has 2 B-tier wins.


There is no comparison.

Of course there is no comparison. Nikko has been playing for 25 years and the other has been playing seriously for less than two...

That's my point. It seems like this new wave of players doesn't appreciate how consistently good Nikko was for a long time.

plus he made that really sick frolf field ace

totally, bruh

I was just thinking this earlier today. Very impressive. Dogwood is a challenging course.

I knew that was going to come up.

I know he was the best at one point—my point is his win in Waco was very up and down. Really wasn’t about Nikko himself, but more how he won a tournament with all the big names playing.

So no it wasn’t intended to compare the players. Brodie will never be a player of Nikkos caliber.

This is where I am. He has enough of a golfing background to have some understanding of how to think about golfing. And more importantly, this can never be overstated, he had a claim to the title of best ulti player in the world. In a world where Pat Brown can start his career as late as he did and get where he did... The best ultimate player, assuming full buy in to the sport which Brodie has demonstrated with his practice habits, has a much higher ceiling.

Fair enough. However, Nikko has a long history of experience to draw from. He's been there. He has done that. Brodie has not. This is still the training grounds for him. I will be pleasantly surprised if Brodie ever cracks top 10 in a DGPT or NT event. If I was a gambling man, I'd put a Get Freaky Zone on it.

I don’t gamble. I’m terrible at it and I hate to give away my money.

I would bet that Brodie has not peaked, but that’s about it.

Brodie is going to need to have some tournaments like Casey white is having at Texas states to win some stuff. He’s been fairly consistent, but he needs to figure out a way to mix in some great rounds and weed out those rough ones.

He was flirting with it today. was t-14th when he took a bogey on 17

Brodie averaged 1023 per round this weekend. I think it's pretty impressive to see a linear positive progression on his overall skill set. At this point it's getting pretty hard to predict a ceiling for this guy, like others have said, it all boils down to his work ethic and how much time he puts into it. Dude was 1 stroke off a top 20 DGPT finish. Who da faq thought that was going to happen a year ago?

I don't know why some people are so surprised.

Andrew Fish still working a day job - 998 end of 1st year, 1016 end of 2nd year.
Bodie Smith full time disc golfer - 999 end of 1st year, ....

I'd venture that those are the exception, not the rule. I think a lot more people could be pro tour level players (1000+) if they didn't have day jobs

I think the point of his comparison is that if a college-level ultimate player like Andrew Fish can get to where he did (WHILE having a day job) - we shouldn't put a cap on where a guy who was one of the very best ultimate players in the world could get while treating disc golf as his day job.

I am shocked at how fast Brodie has improved in his early 30s. Got to respect his dedication to improvement. However, I don't think his ceiling ever is top 15. The muscle memory advantage from playing as a teenager/ early 20s is too difficult to overcome even for an insane worker like Brodie.

I'd venture something near two decades of disc sports including working hard enough at it to be one of the best ultimate players in the world is a benefit to the muscle memory...