Hey all, just wanted to share my insights I've picked up in two months of playing NEARLY everyday. I started playing back in mid-July and got bit by the bug hard. I picked up a few discs and found every local course I could and started playing. Lucky for me one is just down from work and I play there every morning (sometimes lunch). It's been a great learning course and I've really pushed myself on it learning new shots and techniques... With that being said, lets get into it.

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• Learn to shape shots***:*** STRAIGHT is not always the best shot. Now this sounds like crazy talk, but it's true. I didn't realize this at all until I played my first league night on a course that I've played a dozen times. The other guys in my group would attack holes from crazy angles that I just never even considered. For example: 290' par3 wide open shot. Both guys in my group threw major hyzers and parked like it was nothing. I went straight at it like an idiot and had a 50' putt after my disc did whatever it wanted to in the air and went off course... It really opened my eyes to the potential of having multiple shots to use rather than straight... I've adapted this into my mourning course: first hole is a short par3 I used to go straight at the basket, now I use a hyzer around a guardian tree and went from par average to Birdie.
• DON'T BE AFRAID OF LEAGUE/TOURNAMENTS: I know people say this all the time but for real. Just go. Good or bad, it will be loads of fun AND like I said above, you will learn a ton. League is a mess of talent - both good and bad. I shot the round of my life at league BECAUSE I was pushed by my group just to keep up. They finished -9 / -8 and I killed it at -4. I didn't win anything but it was super fun to be surrounded by skill and push myself to be the best I could. Tournaments are the same, but the best part about them is you can pick your flight. First one? - enter the rec flight. Play your best, and size yourself up to the competition. Check out the scores at the end and see where you think you would be the most competitive and enter that flight on the next one. Nerves can get you on the first hole... but once you throw that first shot, you'll loosen up, and it'll be like any other round.
• Fieldwork is key to improvement: As someone who has golfed (ball golf) My entire life: *Practice is for the driving range/putting green. NOT the course.*THIS is the best way to get better period. You can play 1000 rounds... but go up against the guy that spent 1000 days on the range... you'll probably get served. The gist of field work is to grab your discs and get out there and throw... Yeah, not really. Every time you do field work you need to go out with a goal. I'm just doing putters today. Working on technique? Distance? Shaping shots? The list goes on. You need to be intentional with field work. Just take your putters out and hit landing zones at multiple distances. Take drivers out and work on 1 step throws with a hard focus on technique. Pick a skill go out and do it. This is how you get better. Facts.I've found Soccer fields are the best places for field work. The goals make for great targets, the center circles are pretty dang close to a circle 1, there is a lot of potential for practicing every shot with what's on the field.
• Distance DOES NOT make you a better Disc Golfer: Yeah I said it. And I mean it. Again, I've (ball) Golfed my entire life. I can say with absolute confidence I can hit the ball farther than 97% of the field. BUT I keep getting out scored by the guy that hits the ball 250 dead straight. As the late great B.I.G. put it so eloquently... Mo Distance Mo Problems. And that couldn't ring more true. Back to my Golf example... I typically suffer MANY penalty strokes a round from rogue drives.This being said, if you have distance and can control it... good. But those two things RARELY go hand in hand.Bobby Locke coined the most meaningful phrase that applies to any kind of golf: "Drive for Show, Putt for dough." Meaning if you throw 400' you better make that putt cause I can still par pretty easy from 100' behind you. AKA You win on putts not drives.
• Accept your limits: Piggybacking off the last point. Everyone is trying to throw further and further.. and further.........and even further still. But there is something to be said about the guy that says... "Ok, I'm good." In the past two months I've gone from a steady 250' starting out to now maxing at 380'. I can taste 400' it's right there... but man I feel like I've done it all right and all I've got to show is 380'... Well my 380' probably puts me in the top 30% and when I look at it that way... well, that's nice. BUT I also have to learn... 380' is full bore, cranked to 11, and everything was perfect. It can be replicated but for all intents and purposes it was a unicorn. My average drive is 320ish, when I crank it I can usually expect 350', miss throws end up in the 280-300ish range... this is my limits. This is exactly what I expect off the tee. I know my shots, AND because I know my shots... I can score better, I can put the disc where I want it, I can play holes smart. There is a lot to be said about Knowing your limits.
• Know Your Discs: This the biggest revelation to me, that I also picked up on league night. Knowing what disc to throw and what that disc does is CRUTICIAL to scoring. The course We played on league night has a lot of putter length holes (220-250' range). Normally I just crank my putter and there you go. Again, I watched these guys throw mids on these holes!? I was baffled, these guys got no distance... chumps. They then proceeded to shape a perfect shot that ended up parked. They knew the disc, and what it would do. After witnessing this, I took a long hard look at my bag and took every disc to the field and learned their shots. NOW, I know what discs hyzer, which ones Annie, which ones can flip and so on. KNOWING my discs and their flights instantly gave me 1-3 strokes on the course.
• Technique is Fluid: Ok... first off there is something to be said about proper technique and how Teach it. That being said... Technique is a fluid form that is unique to everyone. Don't beat yourself up too much if you can't nail down every single detail and achieve the coveted PERFECT FORM. Frankly it's probably impossible to throw a shot with perfect form... and the reason is we're all different. James Conrad takes a MINIMUM 20' approach to every shot. Wysocki, dude pulls the disc up by his head then blasts it through. Matty-O does something very similar... their pull backs are unique, and nothing near what you would be instructed by a teacher. But dang... they work. Back to ball golf... Look at one of the best golfers to play the game Jim Furyk. Any Golf pro would have a hernia trying to fix his swing... but it worked for him. The point is, everyone is different, your form may not look great but as long as your avoiding injury and getting results... it's probably ok. Me for example... I've gotta keep two hands on the disc for the entire pull back. I lose 40% power if I don't... it's weird but it works for me.

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Well that's enough rambling from me.. hopefully something in here lands with someone and helps them improve their game.

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Loving the game so far... keep chucking discs!