🥏 Welcome to the sixth post in this limited series on improving Disc Golf Putting. You can read the first post introducing the series here.

 
This series is tailored for intermediate level players so we won't cover much in the way of beginner concepts and I assume you have knowledge of the jargon.

A word about format. These are more essays than blog posts. This is intentional. There are many serving the DG market with tips and tricks that teach us how to adjust our game for the better. There are also many who provide great video and image to help us improve our form and for our entertainment. I use them often.

Here the intention is a deeper exploration into the more cerebral concepts that can only be addressed with words. If you are of a mind, I'm glad to have you along as we research and seek understanding in the depths.
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In this post we will make the bridge from the last post about fatigue, through the Mental Game, and to the Emotional Game that we'll cover next time.

While tightly linked, I make a separation between mental and emotional games because the techniques we have to manage each of these is different. Control, or lack thereof, is also different as the former is part of the upper brain that offers more ways to train and retrain than does the lower part of the brain, the seat of our emotional responses.

We begin with the mental game because there are concrete methods we can employ prior to tee time to minimize fatigue during the round which is, of course, paramount to managing both the mental and emotional games during the round.

I was not expecting to learn about mental game during this putting league. Putting in my living room was quiet, hidden from the gaze of others, and I could choose to practice & record when I was at my best. This pacific environment gave me the chance to detect the smaller things that can get lost in the clamor of a public round. And gave me prompts to improve the mental game.

We'll get to recommendations for improving the mental game after we talk about two insights as a direct result of the many reps in the living room: Mind-on-Task and, let's call it, Cognitive Mode.

It's trite to say we need to be focused and undistracted if we want to perform something as pressure-packed as a competitive putt. But, putting alone in a safe & quiet place demonstrated just how sensitive is my putting game to concentration level.

It happened 10+ times during the 8-week season. I would be putting great, hitting 10-20 consecutive putts from 20-25' when my mind and focus was on my form and on where & how I wanted to hit the chains. Then, the instant the smallest stray thought crept in, I would begin to waiver.

It could be something as simple as: "hey, I just made 12 in a row" or "I missed two in this first five so I better go five-for-five now" or "I have to prep the chicken for dinner". I could see how fragile is my concentration to  inner chatter.

I'm not nearly as sensitive to external, physical distractions. This, perhaps, is a byproduct of my EMS days where we have schema and checklists to enable keen focus on the critical things amidst a noisy and chaotic environment while still ensuring we don't overlook the smaller things that can signal danger. Well-tested ways to assist concentration under duress. There are some techniques here we can use.

This one was a bigger surprise to me. I always performed better in the 50-putt scheme when I came away from a completely different activity, did a mere 10-20 warm up putts, and then started the run rather than taking extra practice putts from the longer distances. It happened again and again. What was going on?

In post 4 of this series, we covered a scientifically-proven better way to practice. The way that gets one to proficiency in the least amount of time no matter the pursuit. This way prescribes practicing to ensure there are errors and then concentrating on fixing those errors.

I now believe the extra putts I was taking were, subconsciously, putting my mind in practice mode where it was necessary to make mistakes. I was telling my mind and body not to make the putt, but to miss so that the diagnostics could begin.

Damn.

I've done this to myself before many tournaments. I arrive early and fill most of the time with putting. I was often "cold" on early-round greens despite these many practice putts and a solid warmup routine. Now I think I know why and will change my routine before the next tournament.

Your response may be different. I recommend you give it a test.

Ego Depletion and Decision Fatigue are recognized psychological phenomena. Our confidence crumbles and the quality of our decisions deteriorates following a long session of decision making and our cognitive abilities are impaired until we can mentally recharge.

We become impulsive and avoid & procrastinate on any activity that requires additional decision-making. We lose endurance and persistence opting for short-term (mental) comfort over all else. Ultimately, our behavior becomes erratic and downright irrational. Later, we feel regret that promotes this vicious cycle.

On the course, we sometimes we react by over-thinking to the point of paralysis, or, we take no time to consider and overlook blatant obstacles. Or we don't account for hazards and fade. We can forget where we threw our disc. 🥴

Sound familiar?

We all know it in disc golf and in our working & personal lives. A competitive disc golf round is the picture of a long session of decision making. Accounting for our skillset, obstacles real & manmade, wind & weather, elevation, insect bites, etc... All this and we have the added burden of serving as umpire for our competitors. 

No wonder we can't find our disc, spend too much time fussing over a lie, rush through a shot, or hit blatant obstacles. I'm getting uncomfortable just typing the words.

Next time we'll talk about lower-brain ways to cope once we are in the spiral, here, let's talk about a few concrete ways to prevent and mitigate decision-fatigue in competitive play. We'll take cues from methods used in emergency medicine.


Make a plan to play to your strengths and minimize shots with which you are not yet comfortable. Being able to trust the swing you brought to the course is the biggest opponent to decision fatigue there is by side-stepping the need to analyze & debate every shot.

Doubt pre-shot is the perfect storm for regret and fatigue because it presses on emotional, mental, and physical buttons at the same time as the cortisol begins to flow. Any good surprises here are swamped by the negative things that happen that lead to more fatigue. Practice is the time to work on new shots & skills and then confidently & proudly roll them out in the next tournament.

Practice your putting enough to be confident on the green where the pressure is amplified; make it top priority. Practice with intent and a supportive group. Build each skill to confidence before moving on to developing the next skill to minimize doubt-riddled situations and so the confidence in your primary techniques carries you through the dodgy lies.

I find it easier to stomach a miss when I know it's from lack of practice in that lower probability situation. I tell myself it will be better once I do practice and that it will be better on the next hole when I get back to my comfort zone. Use these instances that test your undeveloped skills to guide your upcoming practice sessions.


Make as many decisions as you can prior to tee time. The earlier the better.

Have a plan of attack. Know when it's best for you to play aggressively and when to play conservatively. When intuitively and when by-the-book. Have a list of your preferred shots for given instances. Make mental or written checklists for the situations that give you the most stress. We all know what is our best drive off the tee, but do you know which is your best scramble shot? Your worst putting stance/approach? It helps to have these things in your mind when you walk up to a lie with options.

If you are new to the game or are missing major skills, consider competitive play only on courses you know so you already have tee drives decided and how to avoid the hazards. So you can have your plan of attack pre-horn.

Address the administrative and tertiary things the day before. Pack the bag & the car, pack lunch, lay out clothing, have the route to the course and departure time prepared because sometimes Siri adds to stress level in the dark of a pre-dawn departure.

Use lunch break to relax between rounds at the park to avoid all the decisions, as small as they may be, associated with going out to lunch: picking/negotiating a restaurant, driving to it, ordering a meal, driving back, figuring out where to park. These decisions all pile on.

Staying at the venue also offers more time to take your mind to a relaxing place for a little recharge. It's best if you put your mind on other, uplifting and not-related-to-DG, topics for just a little while before getting to your warm-up routine again.


Simulate tournament conditions as closely as possible in practice in the days just prior to competition.

In social and skill-development rounds, I like to test out different shots from the tee or lie to learn; that's just good practice. But, that doesn't offer practice with the pressure of the decision for the one shot we get to take in a competitive round. And, we can get sloppy with our pre-round routine with marking lies, with foot placement, or by taking un-sanctioned relief. If we don't practice these things, they take up more of our decision budget in-tournament.

In EMS, we know we perform better in the field when we practice under stressful situations and role-playing is the best way to supply the stress in a safe environment. So, play this simulated round with friends where everyone agrees to follow PDGA rules. We are better prepared if we practice with the added stress of: diligently keeping score, watching others' throws, reminding ourselves of rules that don't often come into play, working out differences of opinion, etc...


Take Notes on the things you learn, both good and bad, during the round. It consumes a lot of mental resources to try to remember these things when we are under stress. Worse, we may not retain them after we pay the price of trying to remember. A little notebook or 3x5 cards can also hold any reminders or checklists that help us.

I hope your found these insights & recommendations practical. We all know that concentration and good decision-making are key to better performance, but sometimes we need a reminder. Work on your concentration prowess, simulate sanctioned-round conditions, and employ whatever methods work for you to minimize the number of in-tournament decisions.

In the next post we'll cover emotional game and on-course coping skills when things go awry. After that, one last post to wrap the series.

Thanks for reading.

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