You can keep doing whatever you want. But if you think there’s a disc golf conspiracy going on and the dude was secretly playing disc golf for years then go ahead and be that guy. People would have already come out of the woodwork to say that they’ve played with him. Or know of him playing. I also saw Simon throwing an ultrastar once so I guess we should consider him an ultimate player? Good grief, man. I played a 9 hole course with my uncle when I was 8 so it looks like I’ve been a disc golfer for 26 years by your standards. He I am thinking I started at 19, turns out I’m a lifer!

I'm pretty sure everyone already knows these things since they were talked about earlier in this thread and the thread that was started when the SImon/Paul video was posted...


...and there's a difference between occasionally playing a round of frolf and deciding to try to learn how to play disc golf professionally.

Fair enough. Apologies I haven’t looked through the entire thread. Just for the record I have no problems with Brodie. He brings eyes to the sport and who wouldn’t want to see him play well! It’s the fanboys :gross: and the fact that he thinks a lot of things need to change in the sport.

He had such a massive head start. If he had decided to switch to his left hand at the beginning of the year then his progress would be truly impressive. Its an interesting story, how will a top frisbee thrower do coming into disc golf but it's not a story of how will a complete beginner fare, he was way beyond that.

That was basically my opinion in the beginning as well. If he grows into a top level golfer, then it only benefits us as fans to have more competition. If he falls on his face, then we get to watch the carnage. Either way, he will likely bring more eyes and players to the sport...


...Now if he can get Calloway involved with event sponsorships...:D

Good grief dude is way too hard on himself:

https://twitter.com/Brodiesmith21/st...37475796733952

I think he's just frustrated because he was trying to learn how to play, while also compete on some of our hardest courses on tour. Its one thing to try and learn what to do on courses you haven't played before but also when he's not really even confident in his own game to start with yet, its gotta be wearing on him. You could see it sometimes when he started struggling and/or getting fatigued that his Ulti form would start creeping back into his DG throws. It's got to be extremely frustrating trying to do a Yoda and "unlearn what you have learned" lol.

Not to mention, he's coming from a sport where he was arguably the best player ever, to one where he isn't even finishing in the top 50...or 70 or even top100 at that event.

But being hard yourself can be a good thing too. It may drive him to burn out but it also could drive him to be a great player one day.

Bad to mediocre disc golf is easy.

High-level disc golf is hard.

I understand his decision and applaud his work ethic and his willingness to evaluate himself honestly and publicly.

He is not where he wants to be, and now must put in the work to get there.

Every single thing he says in that video is correct. How is that being hard on himself?

You're right but that was the impression I got from watching it...Maybe I'm just reading too much into it

There's probably a couple of different ways of looking at it.

If I were out on tour and finishing where he's finishing, I might say to myself, "Man, I really wish I was finishing higher. But 980 golf ain't too bad, and I'm having lots of new experiences traveling to these new places and playing in these really cool tournaments."

He seems to not have that attitude. He's saying "Man, I really wish I was finishing higher. I'm not playing good enough, I'm not playing smart enough, this sucks. What's the point in playing if I'm not even giving myself a chance to finish well?"

What he said in his video is completely true if he thinks he should finish in the top X% of the field. And that's a decision only he can make. Is it worth it to keep playing if you're gonna keep finishing in the bottom half of the field? There's a lot of casual joes out there who have spent the last 20 years improving from 850 to 890, and that's totally cool if they're cool with it.

Not necessarily my personal opinion, but it was really easy back in April to say, "dude, why are you signing up for DGPT events? Take a year playing B tiers and get your feet wet and figure out how to play." And now that he's stepping off the tour it's easy to say "Jeez, stick with it. Don't run away just because it turns out golf is a little tricky at times."
That is to say, it's pretty easy to criticize anything anyone does from my couch.

You guys can check out his AMA on R/Discgolf

What he actually said was that he didn't feel comfortable off the tee and on the fairway. What he not said was that he felt uncomfortable putting. I can understand if he want's to feel the same way comfortable for throwing as for putting. The latter he seems to have practiced enough, the former he now sees to not have practiced enough.

(Throwing differs much more from course to course than putting. Therefore he might not be able to get used to it as quickly. But I understand the wish to.)



Well said.

I think this is very normal. Seems like he thinks all the attention and hype feels undeserved and unearned.He isnt just here in our game to sell plastic, he is here to compete.

At a disc golf marketing level, it doesnt help missing the big tourneys. We like to root for the charismatic underdog.

At a competition level, this makes all the sense in the world and he will still get the eyes from his social media/youtube. His form does need some work to be a top 30 guy and he has no time to fix bad habits while traveling.

Im happy he is taking a step back. I know he is trying his best to get good. He is putting in maximum effort and i respect it. He could easily just hang around mcbeth and make bank on plastic and merch.

No thanks.

Say anything remotely critical and the fanbois come out in droves with the "OMG U R A HATER"

Last week on Facebook a disc golf page posted Brodie's Idlewild score and place with a screen shot of the leader board. The 2nd reply was "Why the Brody(sic) hate"?
Now posting that info is considered hate. :doh:

DILLIGAF is the name of the page, the post was on Aug 9th.

The publicity stunt is over, nothing to see here. Move along folks.

HATER!!!! LOL!!! :D

but I was just getting freaky, bro!

Keep an eye out for the next buzz word train, should be along any day now:p

Maybe just a buzz that has a "word" stamp

The point is not labelling you a "hater" or something juvenile like that. The point is that you're making emotionally charged, absolute claims that don't seem to be in good faith. If Brodie sticks with DG and returns to the pro circuit after doing a few months of field work, are you going to revise your opinion of him accordingly?

For me, the "null hypothesis" is that Brodie will do what he said he would do--spend the next few months doing field work and playing lower-level tournaments before returning to major events. If he quits disc golf instead, I'll say "okay, I guess I was wrong about that, maybe I misjudged Brodie's long-term commitment".

^ https://twitter.com/Brodiesmith21/st...71901743579141

brodie wants all OB in disc golf to be stroke and distance. :wall:

He needs to take down some B tiers, build up his confidence and tournament experience. Makes no sense for him to expect to crack the leaderboard against the best players in the world.

And really all the hype & attention around this dude is so bizarre and stupid.

Social media in general allows for much bizarre and stupid stuff, and social media is what Bro-D does.

What a lot of people fail to realize is one of the appeals of disc golf is that it is easier than golf to take up. Make it harder and more tedious and you remove that appeal. Stroke and distance will go a long way to make it more tedious and difficult. Doing it for one or two holes at the pro level or at a tourney with a PDGA waiver is one thing but doing it for every OB everywhere would be really stupid.

I think that's part of Brodie's point though, is that the majority of OB in courses is already stupid, and shouldn't be there in the first place.

I know OB definitely makes for more frustrating viewing when I watch tournaments on youtube.

Yes, of course. I appreciate anyone who tries to improve.

And for what it's worth, I'm not a Brodie hater. I hate media hype, fanboys and artificial image building with the aim of selling plastic. Dark horse, get freaky :wall: oh shut the f%^k up!

https://twitter.com/Brodiesmith21/st...68429979746306

not sure he made that argument anywhere in the video... although to be fair once he starts talking about the "fabrication" of OB areas and making OB areas wider, he kinda lost me

Agreed. Artificial OB is sometimes real stupid - Winthrop is a great example. But what I am arguing against is the fundamental change to making ALL OB stroke and distance.

I think one thing that came through in his recent Reddit AMA is that he has a real passion for the sport. I haven't really seen this said explicitly in any of his other posts/videos/podcasts etc, and I think perhaps up until now that's given the impression that he's either in it only to sell plastic and make money, or doesn't think disc golf is that hard and expects to compete with the best right out of the gate (which clearly isn't true and he clearly doesn't think that).

Sure, he's got a lot of natural athleticism and talent from his ultimate days, but he also understands to reach that next level will take a lot of hard work and improvement and he seems ready to make that commitment. I don't think the "reaching his potential" idea should be taken as "based on my talent I should be better than I am RIGHT NOW". It means that his potential is high because he knows he's going to work hard to improve.

He even said in his Reddit AMA that he doesn't expect to contend at the next level until 2022 probably. That alone signals to me that he's in this for the long haul.

I'm fairly certain he is specifically talking about the Pro Tour. I've watched a few of the Foundation podcasts and they discuss multiple rules and equipment changes, but it's all for the Pro Tour events, not all courses or players.

Wasn't it mixed in with terminology discussions? So OB in Golf is always stroke and distance so if we call something OB it should also be stroke and distance but he didn't preclude having another category that was as we currently play OB. Though I might be confusing the discussions though they're weren't totally coherent to be fair.

Oh boy. Next thing you know, Brodie's helping design the newest course modifications at USDGC.

Brodie's "Ask Me Anything"

https://old.reddit.com/r/discgolf/co..._brodie_smith/



Someone posted this on Facebook is the only reason I saw it.

I'd actually be on board if he was talking about changing terminology. It's a little stupid to adopt terminology from another, more popular sport and then change the definition. Makes the sport that little less approachable and attractive. (That said, I'd want to know it's _actually_ a problem before making any changes.)

But that is definitely not what he has restricted himself to. He wants some wholesale changes made because he thinks the would be "better". It's another thing that causes people to get turned off by him. The fundamental arrogance to come in to a game for 6 months and thinks he knows best.

Sounds like he's been hanging out too much with Nate Heinold. Just show Brody footage of the first year they play the Lake Eureka Temp course.

He's no longer signed up for GMC but still is for the 2 A tiers


...and if he wants to cut his teeth, I'm sure they will be plenty of B/C tiers around Texas over the next 6 months

From his Twitter:
“ Potential local tournaments for the rest of the season:
Aug 29-30 Magnolia Open
Sept 5 Town Lake Open
Sept 12-13 Lewisville Open
Sept 18-20 Jacksonville Open
Oct 2-4 Texas State Disc Golf Championship
Nov 21-22 The Open at Belton”

I agree that if you throw your disc off the course boundaries it should be stroke and distance. I totally disagree with any in-course out of bounds. I think water should be considered a hazard and not OB. I also hate TDs requiring a drop in the drop zone (against PDGA rules if you don't have prior PDGA permission), but is common in our area events. The thing that irritates me the most though is the fact that there are times that you can take your drop closer to the hole than where your disc last crossed the OB / water hazard line.