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Keeping a positive attitude is just hippie malarkey

We were just talking about this at league tonight. Some people are so positive i swear it rubs off on the rest of the group. I didnt realize it when i started playing but attitude matters alot. Not just for your own play but positive attitudes make everyone around them play better.
 
Hey, if winning isn't for you, load your ipod with some REM 'shiny happy people holding hands', keep that head in the clouds, and better luck next year.

To each their own.




Let me guess, you listen to Cookie Monster screams through your uber sweet Beats headphones and have a sourpuss look on your face like you just smelled a warm pile of dog****. Next you bust out the suitcase with 100 different discs and make a 20 foot putt with some hard to find exotic disc, then when a random kid walking through the park says, "nice shot mister", you don't respond, instead you hold your head high and strut to the next tee pad like you just won in a playoff for the World Championships.


Can I get your autograph? :confused:
 
I just try to get to a point where outside thoughts cease to exist, if I can block out everything and completely concentrate on my shot I do so much better it's ridiculous. It's almost like a brief meditation before I shoot.
 
WOW

Look, if you live in a little fluffy white cloud world where disc golf is your escape, and you are just out to have fun all the time... yea, have fun being a lifelong rec player.

You do not have to be an outward jerk, but if you keep an attitude where you feel you need to prove yourself, you will.

And if you think all is well in the universe, then sadly, I would tell you to lay off so much Bud Light.

You do not have to be evil to be aggressive. You just need to be focused and strong.

Holy crap, you sound like the worst person ever to run across on the disc golf course. I'd rather be stuck behind a group of 30 senior citizens, playing an alternate shot triples round, than get stuck on a card with you. Have fun? Kicking everybody's asses buddy!
 
I figure the problem everybody has with Elvis's mindset is that he's trying to win. Not supposed to do that in disc golf, right?

Nothing throws me off my game more than talking to my card mates. Costs me more strokes than putting. But I'm "the worst person to ever run across on a disc golf course" because I'm a little different than you.

It's not my job to keep you happy on a disc golf course. If you want to have a chatty cathy, bring your gf.

By the way; the person with the fewest strokes wins. And yes, you can quote me.
 
We were just talking about this at league tonight. Some people are so positive i swear it rubs off on the rest of the group. I didnt realize it when i started playing but attitude matters alot. Not just for your own play but positive attitudes make everyone around them play better.

So ... why would I bring anything but a **** attitude into a competitive round?
 
" fluffy, feminine positive attitude" ??? wow, this dude must be trollin . or a sexist.

So happy = feminine? Somebody wasn't hugged as a child.

You guys don't read much, right? Happy, fluffy, caring, nurturing ... all of these are synonyms for feminine. Along with a lot more. Literature uses "feminine" as a lump term for all the "nice" attributes.
 
I figure the problem everybody has with Elvis's mindset is that he's trying to win. Not supposed to do that in disc golf, right?

Nothing throws me off my game more than talking to my card mates. Costs me more strokes than putting. But I'm "the worst person to ever run across on a disc golf course" because I'm a little different than you.

It's not my job to keep you happy on a disc golf course. If you want to have a chatty cathy, bring your gf.

By the way; the person with the fewest strokes wins. And yes, you can quote me.

I think the problem is that few of us equate being rude to our card mates with winning. I've played my best competitive golf on a card of friendly people where we were talking the whole round, kept me from getting into my own head and let me focus one shot at a time.

I'm willing to concede that not everybody feels the same way, I'm sure many people prefer to keep to themselves in a competitive round. That's fine with me, but I'm not at all convinced that being angry the whole round and playing with a chip on your shoulder is at all correlated (positively) with performance.
 
To each his own. When I play with a chip on my shoulder, I play like crap. When I'm out having fun and being positive about my shots and my rounds I play a whole lot better.

This x 10000000000000. If I take this game to seriously I stop having fun. I play this game to have fun so I'm not about to take it super seriously.

do I try hard and strive to play my best. Yep 100%. But I don't need a chip on my shoulder, Most days I get to play I'm just happy I have the free time to get out to the course.

Or if I'm playing a really tough course I just go out the and try to throw good shots because I know if I throw consistently good shots I'll have a good score.

Also it's not like the other golfers on my card are going to try to finish their check on me after my shot so it's hard to keep a pissed off intensity when I'm enjoying a nice day outside.

Disclaimer: I don't play a lot of tournaments because I don't think they're as much fun.
 
I have a friend trying to instill that same attitude in me actually.

If someone hasn't practiced a course and during a tourney they ask her 'what does this hole do'? She just says 'I haven't really played here much' even if it's her home course.

If a player doesn't know they get casual relief from a ditch holding water on a course, she is not about to tell them, she lets them climb down in it.

I mean, she is there to win. Those other girls in a tourney are not her friend, she wants to beat them. I don't know, sometimes I think I need a little more of that, b/c I have managed to throw away leads in my last 2 tourneys.

And don't even ask, if you throw a dark or black disc into the schule...she is not helping you...."You're on your own" as she would say.

Don't go down her path. She sounds like a rather poor sportswoman. I'll tell you the basics of a hole all day long, and then throw a better shot than you. No need to lie. Failing to help someone look is a courtesy violation, and it seems like not telling someone a rule would be as well. I'm not trying to pick on your friend, I know plenty of people like her, and my comments are more about this category of person in general. People who have to enforce every nitpicky rule on everyone around them, but then don't follow the rules themselves in order to gain competitive advantage. They're fun to beat, as it usually results in a temper tantrum, or at least some serious whining. Either one makes me laugh on the inside. Plus they run out of playing partners quickly, as their abrasive attitude wears on all around them. You can develop a "killer attitude" without being a jerk to everyone around you.

Puckstopper nailed this one.
 
I think the problem is that few of us equate being rude to our card mates with winning. I've played my best competitive golf on a card of friendly people where we were talking the whole round, kept me from getting into my own head and let me focus one shot at a time.

I'm willing to concede that not everybody feels the same way, I'm sure many people prefer to keep to themselves in a competitive round. That's fine with me, but I'm not at all convinced that being angry the whole round and playing with a chip on your shoulder is at all correlated (positively) with performance.

I'm fine with my card-mates talking and such. I'd just prefer that I was left out of it. I'll answer questions about the course and stuff. I'm not angry, I just don't want to be distracted.

I'm feeling a sentiment that if I'm not out there trying to make friends, disc golf is the wrong sport for me. I understand that this is entertainment and social bonding for some people, but for me it's comptetition. Pure and simple. I don't "have fun" playing disc golf. I am fulfilled by gaining competence at disc golf.

I even play casual rounds "for fun". It's not for the golfing, though. Most of the time I'm trying to figure out why it took 3 hours to throw less than 100 discs.
 
This. Yes you are trying to place first, above the other competitors, but they are not your opponents. How they play doesn't affect your score. Playing emotionless and confident works best for me. Playing mad worked for me in basketball and football, with baseball and disc golf the game is a lot more mental and takes more focus and concentration. Also I dont see how having a good/positive attitude is feminine, and if your in a bad mood/ mad all the time, I do not want to be your friend or play a single round of disc golf with you.

^ THIS
 
I'm fine with my card-mates talking and such. I'd just prefer that I was left out of it. I'll answer questions about the course and stuff. I'm not angry, I just don't want to be distracted.

I'm feeling a sentiment that if I'm not out there trying to make friends, disc golf is the wrong sport for me. I understand that this is entertainment and social bonding for some people, but for me it's comptetition. Pure and simple. I don't "have fun" playing disc golf. I am fulfilled by gaining competence at disc golf.

I even play casual rounds "for fun". It's not for the golfing, though. Most of the time I'm trying to figure out why it took 3 hours to throw less than 100 discs.

That's a little different from the sentiments expressed in the OP:

Keep a negative thought pattern. Create a huge bolder, and put it on your shoulder. Have an attitude. If someone says "hi", pretend they said, "you are going to fail." Have a mental attitude that really states the plastic smiles and faces of disc golf. The other players WANT you to lose.

You want to be left alone, he advocates hating everyone and acting like everyone hates you. I don't mind playing with loners, I don't enjoy playing with angry people.
 
I'm feeling a sentiment that if I'm not out there trying to make friends, disc golf is the wrong sport for me. I understand that this is entertainment and social bonding for some people, but for me it's comptetition. Pure and simple. I don't "have fun" playing disc golf. I am fulfilled by gaining competence at disc golf.

All of the "greats" in every sport play because they love the game and have fun doing it. Anybody taking a sport half way seriously is playing to win. Any real DGer even playing a casual round with your buddies for "entertainment and social bonding," is trying to beat their pals. Finding the balance between focusing and playing great and enjoying yourself is what all the truly great players do.
 
I don't think he has to act. No one likes the angry a-hole at the course. He is usually the easiest one to beat, too.

Plus it is easier for the cheeky veteran to poke the big angry bear and make him miss 10 foot putts. Then lets see how your "negative attitude, playing angry method works."

disclaimer: I'm no vet, just saying.
 
Plus it is easier for the cheeky veteran to poke the big angry bear and make him miss 10 foot putts. Then lets see how your "negative attitude, playing angry method works."

disclaimer: I'm no vet, just saying.

Absolutely. I'm no old vet, but I do it to people. It's hilarious. The grumpy, hard ass, chip-on-their-shoulder guys are the easiest to mess with. It's the guy on the course that doesn't let anything bother him that you have to worry about.
 
this has been said 1000000000000000000000 times before this thread was ever made, said 10000000000 times in this thread, because it is true: don't play your opponent. play the course. as soon as you start worrying too much about what everyone else is doing, you lose sight of what you are trying to do
 
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