Chains and the Brain

[Barton Erickson]

This blog is written for anyone who’s ever felt their game disappear during tournament/league play. There are many things that contribute to players’ faltering when things are on-the-line. Most of the reasons players screw up has everything to do with the mental game and little to do with one's physical ability to throw a disc. How someone chooses to throw it is a whole different dilemma.

After 15 years of playing I have decided to begin the quest of bringing the mental aspect of the game to disc golfers. I’ve watched so many players, myself included; lose the ability to finish tournaments well. The mental part of the game brought my physical skills into an abyss. Ever thought, “Where did my game go? That was such a simple shot!” And my favorite couple lines 1. “I swear I’ve never thrown it there before!” 2. “That disc has NEVER done that before-- EVER!”

If the mental game is discussed it is rarely done so in a way to help veteran tournament players. Although I’ve never made a major mark in the world of disc golf through my playing ability, I have been a tournament disc golfer for over a decade. Many travels to play top tournaments around the country have made me a student of our sport and the different mental games people bring to the course- some good, some bad, some ugly.

To help my game I started reading ball golf books that addressed the mental aspects of the game of golf. I am also a person that will re-read something over and over, just like I’ll watch USDGC DVD’s over and over. David C. Morley’s book “The Missing Links: Golf and the Mind" had a couple chapters I liked. I got tired of transposing chapters in my head and decided to re-write them into disc golf terminology for later reading. Those couple chapters later turned into re-writing the entire book.

A few copies went to friends in the DG community. Multiple people said his book was full of good ideas, but a bit redundant. So with that said any writing in this blog that was originally crafted for the mental game of ball golf and has prompted me to write a blog about it, will be properly acknowledged. There is no need to re-invent the wheel and with a couple tweaks in language some of the greatest minds in ball golf can offer disc golfers insight that can imporve our game.

I will make regular additions to the blog and this will be something players can read on a regular basis.

Please feel free to comment.

-Barton

[Barton Erickson]

***For the benefit of myself (it will help determine future posts) and all readers would you please quickly take time to rate the blog 1-10 when you're done in the comments section.

1-that sucked, 2- boring and not informative, 3-I didn't wate me time-but still pretty bad, 4- I get it, 5- It made sense, 6- I liked it, pretty cool- I can see how that'd help my game, 7- good use of my time- a couple helpful points, 8-useful good stuff, 9-very-very helpful 10-all inner demons are gone because of this brilliant piece of writing!