So after my last post about my disc golf slump, I decided to change a few things to help get my game back to a level that I’m comfortable with. “Comfortable” to me means I’m playing at a minimum level of skill that I expect to be playing at. So “changing” things just ended up being going back to a few things I was doing before the slump happened.
As I may (or not?) have commented before, I have a very aggressive fight or flight system that I’ve been dealing with my entire life. This results in high amounts of adrenaline that kicks in when I get nervous, excited, etc. I’ve been dealing with heart arrythmia my entire adult life (PVCs) and let me tell you, combine that with an over active fight or flight system, as you can imagine the nervous system goes into overdrive pretty quick resulting in almost instantaneous panic attacks. I’m a stickler about medicine and haven’t taken any medication for my PVCs since I was around 19 years old. The “beta blockers” they put me on turned me into a zombie so I stopped taking them. Now that I’m older and the arrythmia is unfortunately more common in my life, I may be forced to start taking some form of a beta blocker in the near future.
The past year of my life has been a roller coaster for sure…
I had a bulging or herniated disc last May 2023 and for a while there didn’t know if I would ever be able to play disc golf again. Seriously, I never knew the human body could feel so much pain when I had sciatica pain from my lower back that radiated down to my calf muscle. After about 4 months of self therapy I was able to start playing again.
My father’s dementia was also starting to get worse, he ended up passing away in November 2023.
I talked to a nutritionist where I buy my supplements, and told him about my anxiety, excitement, etc, when I play disc golf and also about my arrythmia. He suggested I take L-theanine before I play a round of competitive tournament disc golf. It took a while for me to understand the effects, but it was clear this supplement caused me to chill out a bit, have more mental focus, etc. My rounds started getting better and in 2023 I ended up being in the top 100 Global AM Masters in my age division.
As a matter of fact, a couple of weeks after my Father passed away I played in a tournament, won the tournament and it became the highest rated round of my life. I remember thinking of my Father strongly during that tournament.
So I’m not saying this is the only reason I ended up in a bad slump recently, but I ran out of L-theanine a while back and didn’t really put any thought into it, and just assumed I’d refill it when I can. But days, became weeks, and weeks became a few months and all of a sudden I’m not playing too well. Looking at my tournament round ratings, you can almost pin point exactly when I stopped taking the L-theanine. lol..
So the past few rounds I’m 100% back at playing at a level I’m comfortable with.
What exactly am I doing to encourage this rebound from my disc golf slump?
My disc golf bud and coach A Ray and I play tournaments together from time to time and he told me I was rushing through my throws, much faster than usual. He reminded me to count to 20 before each throw or putt to help calm down my nerves., I had stopped doing this a few months earlier. Actually I owe this to playing by myself a bit more so I can work on various shots. This ultimately lead me to get used to playing way too fast. So I’ve been back to counting to 20 before each time I throw or take a putt. This allows me to calm down a bit and make a better mental decision.
I’m practicing my putting more than ever. This is definitely helping. To be honest, as I write this I’m probably putting better than I ever have in the past 11 years playing disc golf.
I’m trying to think a bit more, not playing aggressive unless I feel very confident.
And yep…I’m taking L-theanine before each competitive tournament round. 🙂
The past few rounds have been much better and the last tournament I played in resulted in my highest rated round so far of 2024! As a matter of fact, I’m closer to my 2024 goal of being in the top 50 Global AM Masters Ranking for my age group. I’m currently ranked #63! 🙂
Who knows… maybe I should go on those beta blockers, maybe it will make everything about me mellow out a bit, perhaps I need that in my life at this point.
Speaking of what I need in my life, and that’s more of my grand children, I haven’t been able to spend much time with all of my grand children, but I have been blessed to be spending a lot of quality time with my 6 year old grandson Wyatt. Wyatt is my oldest daughter’s (Teresa) oldest child. And let me tell you, he is a ball of energy and is so fun to be around. I mean.. c’mon.. at that age kids are so innocent and they just love learning about new things and just having fun in life. This has been a very hot summer so we haven’t spent as much time in the outdoors as I would have liked, but we have managed to go fishing a few times and I even started teaching him disc golf and he seems…. to be a natural! I am so stoked for this little guy, he’s already throwing pretty far and that form… wow… just look at that nice reach back and follow through, from a stand still!
August 7, 2024
