I want YOUR experience

[Horsman]

and also to get grief from everyone in MA2 at the time because I shot a thousand rated round. heh.

Did that as well, it was fun

 

[sidewinder22]

Hey guys,
Just interested to hear your first tournament experience. From what was different than you expected, things you learned, what discs you threw, mistakes you made, triumphs you had. I would love to hear your stories!

My 1st singles tourney I was on card with Mike Moser. I probably made every mistake you can think of and learned a lot about the rules. I shot much worse than my regular rounds on that course and learned that pressure and waiting between shots makes a big difference on performance especially with putting. Also learned that a stool to sit on is critical for me and was really tired when I got home. More H2O/Gatorade/snack is necessary to carry. My only triumph was outdriving Moser occasionally and tying him on a couple holes. Only disc for certain I was throwing was a Banger GT, probably a KC Roc, X Comet, Star Teebird, Sidewinder, and XCal.

 

[Nick Pacific]

Bring sunscreen and an extra pair of shoes and socks

 

[jakebake91]

My first (and to date, only) tournament experience was last year at a MVP circuit event. It was a lot of fun, card mates were great. I very seldom get to play with anyone, let alone tons of people, so that was new. I struggled a little with the driver (plasma shock I think). Twas too beefy for me to do much with. Noodle arm new guy, less than perfect form. The plasma axis and electron anode are in my bag now. My favorite part was one temp hole set up, about 340', very low ceiling trees half way down fairway. The only true clean line was a giant spike hyzer up and over it all, or a low screaming forehand. I have neither. So I laid down a beautiful roller with that axis, and it curled up inside the circle. My cardmates were more stoked than I was. It was the second roller I threw with that disc (since that driver was giving me fits) and both were inside circle putts. Great memories, lots of fun!
I ended up shooting a personal course best with the circuit discs. Was 11 strokes off the leader, but I was still super happy. I was under par, and even par was my goal.

I learned a few things. Bring water! A stool would have been nice too. Also learned that a discs has to enter the basket the intended way to be considered "holed out". It was weird marking my lie under a disc in the chains.

 

[armiller]

I enjoyed "playing up" in an A-tier, even though I finished 43rd of 46 finishers. Some players complained about the TD for various reasons, but I found it a well run event and exactly the organized/serious experience I desired.

I benefited from preparation:
1) Arrived early and making a pre-tourney walk through to check course conditions and re-evaluated all shot choices for round 1 including some conservative "play for par" decisions that turned out well, and some more aggressive shots that failed
2) Adequate hydration and adequate/appropriate snacks
3) Two pairs of shoes and at least two pairs of socks available per day!

I enjoyed my card mates all three rounds, but particularly rounds 1 & 2 before I sifted to the bottom. Incidentally, I ended up on a Round 2 card with people well over my eventual rating, partly because of my preparation for round 1 and some better players' lack of prep (e.g. a ~980 player trying to play the course blind). At the beginning of round 1, I mentioned the "first tournament" factor to my card mates and invited comments or criticism if out of line in any way. I think it was a good move and don't think I made any rules or etiquette mistakes.

Funny/Not-funny Moments
1) Nutmeg - while teeing off on one hole, I heard everyone gasp/exclaim just as I released my drive. Just as I had planted my bracing foot, an errant roller from the group behind us rolled between my legs . In retrospect, I'm glad both that it a) didn't hit me in the leg or catch my eye and mess up my drive, and b) didn't kick up off the concrete tee and hit me in the kahunas.
2) Less, not Moe! - I paid the price for over-eating Moe's provided by the tournament. Cramming down way too much ground beef, chicken, beans, cheese, pico de gallo, chips and tortillas may have been a big reason my 2nd round went much worse than the 1st. I may or may not have upchucked, with my poor cardmates wondering what was wrong... Next tournament I learned my lesson and kept lunch reasonable.
3) Not so prepared after all! - I didn't prepare for rain and got lucky to miss it. 10-15 minutes after the final round ended, we had a downpour that could have potentially made for a miserable tournament experience. Maybe I should start bringing umbrellas and adequate towels to tournaments? Naw, I still haven't adjusted and have been just as lucky on two other occasions.
4) Tournament fatigue? I managed to close out my tournament with two bogeys from poor putting. On the last two holes, I missed from inside 12', one particularly pathetic. I believe it was fatigue, mental as much as anything.

 

[jmdaire27]

Great thread topic.

Lakewood Open in 2014. Was a great time. Got to the course early since I'd never been there. Ended up tagging along with a local pro, even though I didn't know it at the time. He kind of explained the course in brief. Again, the tourney was fun, the weather was great, and my card mates were great people, but I remember a few key takeaways:

- playing a course blind sucks (I still do it... but you have to pick your battles; play in an event blind on a day you can, or don't play... I really like tourneys)
- I was happy to have some experience playing in local leagues to learn some rules
- scrambling and putting are very hard when you have some nerves
- I'm happy I started in intermediate (I was debating between MA1 and MA2 when I signed up...)
- finally: just cuz you are competitive against/better than your friends (who play casually) doesn't mean you'll show up and win...

 

[filobedo]

First event was interesting and fun. Played in Charleston in the 2006 Summer Sling and I did not know a single person which is rare for me in Charleston as I typically always run into someone I know around town. I had one of the highest PDGA #'s (# 30239) because I thought you had to have a # to play. Got to the course and one of the guys saw a Mikey sticker on my car and we talked about Widespread Panic which made me feel comfortable. The first round I played with some interesting characters and one of them decided to roll a tree and smoke it on hole 10s teepad which was comical as I really did not know the rules but thought they were similar to golf tournaments. Over time I have played 140 sanctioned tournaments around the US and seen many people come and go but overall my first event was a good experience and I met several people that I have remained friends with to this day.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

My first tournament was a very humbling experience. I had been throwing recreationally for 3 years and thought I knew enough do pretty well at an event. A primarily self taught player that RHBH flexes overstable drivers for everything, what could go wrong?

Finishing 5th didn't bother me until I realized that I was playing in the Intermediate group. There were 2 higher divisions full of players that were destroying my scores? How could this be, I was the best of my small group of friends?

Back then, I tried to shoehorn discs into fairways. This led to a lot of complex and creative solutions to finishing technical holes. That playing style was very risky, low on rewards. In a sense, I had no idea how little I actually knew about DG.

I still play local singles tournaments here and there, but I would much rather throw a league, bag tag, or doubles round instead.

 

[DavidSauls]

Mine was before disc golf landed on the internet, before local leagues were created in my hometown, and before I'd seen a tournament, so I had no clue how it would work. I'd only played casually with my brothers and a few friends.

In my first tournament they mixed divisions for the first round. There were only 3 divisions, for any practical purposes, but I was tossed in with a Pro and Advanced player.

Which is where I learned that there was such a thing as etiquette, and I didn't have it.

 

[DoWork]

Doubles tourney at the now-defunct Okemo Maples. Went with a friend not realizing it was *random* doubles, only had like 4 discs, the longest of which was a DGC Valk. At that point I could only really turbo putt.

My partner was/is a pretty awesome guy but I can only imagine how cringeworthy I was to play with.

 

[filobedo]

Mine was before disc golf landed on the internet, before local leagues were created in my hometown, and before I'd seen a tournament, so I had no clue how it would work. I'd only played casually with my brothers and a few friends.

In my first tournament they mixed divisions for the first round. There were only 3 divisions, for any practical purposes, but I was tossed in with a Pro and Advanced player.

Which is where I learned that there was such a thing as etiquette, and I didn't have it.

Coming from a 30 year golf background at the time I discovered dg, etiquette was non existent when I started playing intermediate I felt and some people in age restricted divisions still have challenges with etiquette. Many people that I have spoken with that come from a competitive golf background feel the same way but ever since 1996, golf etiquette has gone downhill as well. I never will forget being at the course I grew up on in MB (Pine Lakes, the first course in MB) after Tiger turned pro and a touron got pissed he was not allowed to play because he was wearing jeans.

 

[DavidSauls]

Coming from a 30 year golf background at the time I discovered dg, etiquette was non existent when I started playing intermediate I felt and some people in age restricted divisions still have challenges with etiquette. Many people that I have spoken with that come from a competitive golf background feel the same way but ever since 1996, golf etiquette has gone downhill as well. I never will forget being at the course I grew up on in MB (Pine Lakes, the first course in MB) after Tiger turned pro and a touron got pissed he was not allowed to play because he was wearing jeans.

Perhaps, but by missing etiquette I mean that I was talking while people putted and walking ahead of them while still out and throwing out of order and so on. Really basic stuff, but I'd never heard of it. The pro was gentle with me, but the Advanced player made it very clear he was P.O.'d.

 

[Geer_Boggles]

My first tournament experience was April of this year actually. Devil's Grove Open in Lewiston, Maine. I played MA2 as MA3 isn't really offered in this state and if it is, nobody competes in it. My first year being a PDGA member and my first tournament. I skimmed the rule books and watched a lot of Jomez and CCDG beforehand so I got the general idea of tournament rulings and etiquette. When I actually played though, it was much more laid back than I was expecting which was nice but I still had crazy jitters throughout the rounds.

Ended up scoring a 68 the first round and a 71 the second on a much shorter but more technical course. First round rated 789 and second rated 717. I got top of my card the first round which really made me happy and boosted my confidence level. I knew I wouldn't win with that score but I could actually COMPETE with people which had me psyched. Second round arrived and I was feeling good but the technicality of the course as well as my frustration with hitting almost every tree on each hole just kept snowballing into an abysmal round.

I finished 3rd from the bottom of my division. My goal was not to get last place but after the first round I had high hopes that I might get to the middle of the division. An upsetting result but definitely achieved my original goal and found that I could compete which in itself is a victory for my first tournament.

 

[Kegelexercise]

First Tournament

Finally got over my apprehension and entered into an unsanctioned tournament in May of this year, the Celtic MKE tournament at Dretzka Park. Super fun, chill, relaxed atmosphere. Free (well, after you paid your tournament entry fee, of course) food and beer too!

I registered in the MA3 rec division not quite knowing what I was getting into, and as it turns out, I should have probably registered a division up, because I won the one I played in by 6 strokes (would have finished in a 3 way tie for 2nd in MA2) The course had all but a few of the shortest pins out, so the final scores got pretty gaudy (MA1 & MA2 winners both finished -20 over two rounds of 18, I finished -16, and the MA4 winner finished -9). RHFH Firebird & Starfire drives were my bread and butter that day.

Overall, I loved the experience (playing some of the best disc golf of my life helped ), met some cool people in the local disc golf scene, and will definitely enter another tournament sometime, life/work/fatherhood/general responsibilities permitting. Also, somewhat related - pardon my ignorance, but do you need to be a PDGA member to enter a "sanctioned" tournament, or can a recreational hucker like me enter one without becoming a member?

 

[Three Putt]

I have no memory at all of my first tournament. I'm sure it was an unsanctioned local thing. I'm sure I started playing "organized" disc golf in a bring-your-own-partner doubles league at White Birch, although when that was and who my partner was I could not tell you. At some point the guys I hung out with every Thursday were talking about something they were playing in that weekend so I showed up. Where/when it was I have no memory of at all.

I have random memories from certain events that I played in back in the 90's, but the first one must have been quite uneventful because I don't remember it.

Truth be told, I don't remember the first time I played disc golf, either. I can repeat the story as told to me by the guy I played my first round with, but I don't actually remember it. It's a weird thing since he doesn't play and I do, so you would think it would be important to me and just another day for him. It's the opposite, though. It's an out of the ordinary experience for him that for some reason stood out. For me it was the first of thousands of rounds of disc golf and when he tells the story of that day it doesn't ring a bell. "How could you not remember that your second shot was in the middle of the street?" Uh...I've thrown golf discs into a lot of streets, dude. :|

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

My first tournament was in 1991 when I was a senior in high school, Oxbow Park in Goshen, IN, led by the guy who designed and put in the course, PDGA #315 who lived about five minutes away. There were maybe a total of 7 or 8 players. It was the first time I'd ever seen any other enthusiasts gather and play at the same time.

My bread and butter shot was a flick with a Stingray to maybe about 150' and it served me well on that wild, crazy course. They redesigned about half of it for the '96 worlds to make it way easier.

When we read the scores at the end of the round, a couple of players who weren't on my card disbelieved my score. "There's no way!" I don't remember what the score was but it was legit. I won the gathering and #315 handed me a couple of Discs, a Roc and I think that's where I maybe got my Viper too? Not that I could throw it worth a damn.

It would be 1995-96 before I'd move to East Lansing and get out to Grand Woods Park where J-Bird and the Capital City Renegades ran an actual good league full of players who actually knew what they were doing. That's when the Disc Golf bug really, really bit me and turned into an obsession. I played an Am-3 tournament that summer and took like 3rd place. So I moved up to Am-2 and did well there too. Mark Ellis had taught me how to throw an X-Clone 300' with a forehand by that point. I was still light years away from the guys playing Am-1 and Pro though.

When it was announced Ann Arbor was getting Worlds in 2000, I decided I wanted to get good enough to play Am-1 and be in it. I never was as good in that division as I was the lesser ones but all you had to do was accrue enough points and you were in. By this time the Banshee, Teebird and XL were top drivers. Probably the pinnacle of my career was tying for the 10th best round in Am-1 at that worlds on Kensington's original course, a 54, but I still finished 150th for the whole event. It was Toboggan's debut and it POURED rain during my round. I remember my SE Teebird slipping out of my hand constantly.

 

[Lazerface]

My first tournament was in 1991 when I was a senior in high school, Oxbow Park in Goshen, IN, led by the guy who designed and put in the course, PDGA #315 who lived about five minutes away. There were maybe a total of 7 or 8 players. It was the first time I'd ever seen any other enthusiasts gather and play at the same time.

My bread and butter shot was a flick with a Stingray to maybe about 150' and it served me well on that wild, crazy course. They redesigned about half of it for the '96 worlds to make it way easier.

When we read the scores at the end of the round, a couple of players who weren't on my card disbelieved my score. "There's no way!" I don't remember what the score was but it was legit. I won the gathering and #315 handed me a couple of Discs, a Roc and I think that's where I maybe got my Viper too? Not that I could throw it worth a damn.

It would be 1995-96 before I'd move to East Lansing and get out to Grand Woods Park where J-Bird and the Capital City Renegades ran an actual good league full of players who actually knew what they were doing. That's when the Disc Golf bug really, really bit me and turned into an obsession. I played an Am-3 tournament that summer and took like 3rd place. So I moved up to Am-2 and did well there too. Mark Ellis had taught me how to throw an X-Clone 300' with a forehand by that point. I was still light years away from the guys playing Am-1 and Pro though.

When it was announced Ann Arbor was getting Worlds in 2000, I decided I wanted to get good enough to play Am-1 and be in it. I never was as good in that division as I was the lesser ones but all you had to do was accrue enough points and you were in. By this time the Banshee, Teebird and XL were top drivers. Probably the pinnacle of my career was tying for the 10th best round in Am-1 at that worlds on Kensington's original course, a 54, but I still finished 150th for the whole event. It was Toboggan's debut and it POURED rain during my round. I remember my SE Teebird slipping out of my hand constantly.

I have a client in Goshen IN and play Oxbow when I travel there. Fun little course, but quite swampy. I had no idea it was such an old course. Cool!

 

[ericb45696]

Kinda sad memory, and I'm sure one that has happened to a few. First throw of the tournament on my card and the first guy throws an Ace. Super awesome high fives all around , $500 Ace pot and he is in it. His round didn't go too well but he was pretty upbeat the whole time talking about that Ace money. We go up to the TD after round one and he finds out he must have clicked the wrong box and did not pay into the Ace pot. There was not much the TD could do in fairness, but it was our new TD of the year if I am correct and he at least offered the guy something.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I have a client in Goshen IN and play Oxbow when I travel there. Fun little course, but quite swampy. I had no idea it was such an old course. Cool!

Yep, was installed the year I got my driver's license in 1989. The site of the original first hole is now all overgrown, the very location where I played my first hole with a basket. I haven't been back since the emerald ash borers laid waste to many of the trees.

 

[kenjiac]

Finally got over my apprehension and entered into an unsanctioned tournament in May of this year, the Celtic MKE tournament at Dretzka Park. Super fun, chill, relaxed atmosphere. Free (well, after you paid your tournament entry fee, of course) food and beer too!

I registered in the MA3 rec division not quite knowing what I was getting into, and as it turns out, I should have probably registered a division up, because I won the one I played in by 6 strokes (would have finished in a 3 way tie for 2nd in MA2) The course had all but a few of the shortest pins out, so the final scores got pretty gaudy (MA1 & MA2 winners both finished -20 over two rounds of 18, I finished -16, and the MA4 winner finished -9). RHFH Firebird & Starfire drives were my bread and butter that day.

Overall, I loved the experience (playing some of the best disc golf of my life helped ), met some cool people in the local disc golf scene, and will definitely enter another tournament sometime, life/work/fatherhood/general responsibilities permitting. Also, somewhat related - pardon my ignorance, but do you need to be a PDGA member to enter a "sanctioned" tournament, or can a recreational hucker like me enter one without becoming a member?

Yes but there is a $10 additional fee for non pdga members.