Disc Golf In Korea

Watch live coverage of the Kansas City Wide Open this weekend. If you don’t see it live they usually try to keep the stream looping.

http://discgolfplanet.tv/our-discgolfplanet-tv-portal

(I will try to add some updates soon.)

Hi everyone,

I wanted to write a quick post about playing with the wind. Playing with the wind is something that gives a lot of people fits. I defiantly have hard time playing with strong wind. Not only does it make the discs fly differently, but selecting a disc can be confusing for newer players. Today I will try to clear up a few small things for new players. Today I will deal with driving straight into a headwind or with the wind at your back.

The basic idea is pretty simple. When you are throwing into a headwind, your discs will become less stable. When you throw with a tailwind, your discs will fly more stable.

Why is this? I don’t understand? I don’t get it dude!?!?

Think of it like this. Think of everything from the discs point of view. When you throw a disc fast and hard, it will fly understable and flip. When you throw a disc slowly it flies stable. Now let’s add in some wind. When you throw into a headwind (let’s say 10miles per hour) the disc will act as if you are throwing it 10mph faster (and therefore will fly more understable). When you throw with a tailwind (same 10mph) the disc will act as if you threw it 10mph slower.

I added a quick chart below (ya, i’m pretty artistic):

SO… here are some general rules when you want to throw somewhat straight:

1) Throw a stable disc into a headwind.

2) Throw an understable disc into a tail wind.

3) If you throw a stable disc with a tail wind it will hyzer VERY hard and it will be hard to control. DON’T DO IT

4) If you throw an understable disc into a headwind it will flip VERY hard and most likely roll off some type of death cliff or into a rushing river (In my experiences). DON’T DO IT

* Understable discs tend to rise up as they flip but are easier to hit a line with because you can throw with a hyzer motion.

*** The best way to play in the wind is to use very stable discs. The worst thing that can happen to you is flipping a disc when you don’t want to. Throw stable plastic and bracket off a side of the fairway. One KEY to being able to play in the wind is throwing forehand and backhand well. If you can always throw hyzers with stable plastic it will help shave strokes off your score.

***** What’s the moral of the story? Well, most players will have a tough time playing in the wind. You score will be a little higher than usual, just remember so will everyone else’s. Try to stay mentally strong. On a windy day you have to forget what you normally throw. Take a good look at the situation and pick the correct disc for that day.

The First Annual Jeju Canola Open flyer is officially up. Check it out it looks like a lot of fun!

SEE THE FLYER HERE

Jack Quinn and partners have been working very hard to prepare this event. Hopefully this will a big step in a long line of impressive disc golf tournaments in Korea. I hope everybody has a great time See you there if you can make it.

Hello everyone! The weather is getting better and disc golf season is getting in full swing. Lucky we have some amazing people in Korea who are creating some upcoming tournaments. You can see the dates of some of the major events on the schedule of events. I wanted to give everyone some quick tips and ideas that I use when approaching a tournament.

Pre-Tournament Days

1) Of course, in the weeks and months before the tournament you want to get your game up to par. You should be playing a decent amount of golf on a course, throwing some field shots, and putting often. Basically you just want to get your skills up so that physically you can preform as well as possible. It is also important to remember that many tournament last multiple rounds and getting your stamina up is very important.

2) One of the most important parts about playing a tournament is throwing on the course at least a day before a tournament. Bring your whole bag, don’t play with a group that needs to play quickly, and truly examine the course. It is easy to misjudge distances and angles the first time you play a course. You want to throw multiple shots on each hole. “Do I need to throw a driver? Can I get to the basket with a more controlled disc? Is there any danger on the hole that I need to watch out for on tournament day?” Don’t just think about the best shots, think about possible safe shots that might save you strokes.

***** A big key to “figuring out” a hole is looking at the hole from the perspective of the basket. At the end of playing each hole, take a few minutes to look at the hole backwards. It is easy to see what trees you need to miss right off the tee, when often the most important thing while actually scoring birdies on a hole is letting the disc finish with a proper flight. You can get close by knowing what happens at the beginning of the flight, you can park if it you know the end of the flight.

3) Be realistic in your plan. Imagine a hole that is 400 feet with ob reasonable off both sides. You can throw drives around 300 feet around max. As satisfying as it is to get that perfect throw leaving an easy upshot, how many times will you throw out of bounds? Also, how many times will your competition throw out of bounds. On holes where a monster throw will not score you a birdie anyways, maybe throwing a putter or mid-range off the tee, and taking your easy par, might gain strokes on the field.

4) Get your bag ready. Nobody wants to pack in the morning. Some things I try to keep in my bad are: pencils, towels, plastic bags if its rainy, a mini and an extra one for your dumb friend that forgot theirs, some snacks, hand warmers, and fingernail clippers.

5) Get to bed a bit early. Hey, let’s be honest, dinner and drinks with friends is often on the schedule, but you wanna keep it reasonable. Have a good time, but save some energy.

Tournament Day

1) Wake up early and get a little bit of food in you. It will help you later in the day to have some energy.

2) Get to the course early. Nobody wants to be in a rush when starting their day. Put on some sunblock if your pasty white like me. You will be outside all day.

3) Stretch! “But Derek, I’m not old enough to need to stretch.” Yes you are jackass. You are trying to throw something as far as you can, while lugging a heavy bag, while hiking across a huge course. Not only that, but you are taking large breaks between holes to cool down and tighten up. Just stretch so you can play tomorrow eh?

4) Get in some putting. Of course you should already have your putting confidence set up. What you are really doing is just getting the feel. When you practice putting on tournament day, don’t putt 5 times in a row from the same place. Go through your entire routine. Set down your mini, do your routine, putt like it means something. I personally switch from straddle putting and standard putting. My morning putting practice usually determines what I will do for the rest of the day. (Sometimes if my putting is falling apart I will switch mid-round, but I try not to.)

5) Play a few holes to get the rhythm. 18 holes is not really that many. Being tight on the first 6 holes can really hurt your score. Get out there and play some holes before the tournament. Not only will you be in rhythm, but nothing is worse that literally having your hand shake on your first few putts. Bang some chains before the round and you will feel much better your first hole.

6) Keep fueled up. You don’t need to eat a big lunch, but drink some water and eat a handful of nuts or something throughout the round. It sucks to get a headache midway through the second round.

7) Before the first round you’re going to want to decide how you want to play your game. Do you want to smash the first round? Do you want to play conservative? Do you care what your opponents scores are or are you just playing your best? I personally think that the lower divisions should play to their scores. The higher divisions might not want to let the competition get out too far ahead of them. If you beat your card on every round of a multi-round tournament you will do amazingly well for yourself. There is always the old saying “You cant win the tournament during the first round, but you can defiantly lose it.”

8) During the round play how you feel comfortable. Sometimes I like to play without talking to my competition even if they are my friends. I like to focus on the course and what I need to do next. Others, if I am not playing well or feel stressed chatting between shots might help me out. I also find myself staying focused on the present holes more if I don’t constantly look at the scorecard. Of course as the tournament gets close to the end you want to know where you stand, but think about staying focused on your next shot.

9) Last round strategy: This is when you need to decide what position will you be satisfied finishing in. If you just want to do your best, play your own game and don’t worry about the scores. If you will only be satisfied with 1st place, you might need to take some chances. If you are winning by a few strokes, don’t give any easy ones away. This is when you might want to throw some controlled shots down the center on scary holes. If you are losing by a few, you may need to go for some putts that may give you a bogey if you miss. Just remember, you need to decide what your goals are for the tournament.

10) Have fun. You will play better.

I hope you guys grabbed a few pointers for the next tournaments. See you out there. Good luck!

-DHop- #31966

Great Fun at the 1st Daegu Open Tournament.

The 1st Daegu Open Disc Golf Tournament was held last week and it was a great time had by all. The tournament was held at the Daegu Environmental Resource Park where around 80 players showed up to show off their skills.  The event was organized by Mr. ByeongWook Baek and James Pearson who both did a great job.  Mr. Kim Sung Bae and members from the KPDGA also provided some great support to make this event the first PDGA sanctioned tournament in South Korea (XC-Tier).    Mr. Baek, James, Tom, and all the members of Team Daegu really put in the hours to host a great event.   Teams from all over Korea showed up to try their hand at the course.

Group Picture

Team Daegu

Team Busan

Team Seoul

From the beginning everybody could see that a lot of effort went into the planning of this tournament. The morning was brisk and sunny. A great type of day for disc golf. As players got out of their cars & taxis they could see two large tents and countless portable baskets ready to be used. Tournament central was a buzz of activity. Players registered smoothly and then picked up their custom Daegu Stamp Valkerie as well as a Daegu Stamp Aviar. Players received a course map and a hole by hole breakdown on the rules. KPDGA brought a bunch of discs for new players to round out their bag… oh ya… and buy new bags if needed. Player cards were prepared ahead of time and it gave players a chance to get out to their holes smoothly.

Mr. Baek was an excellent host and “go-to” guy handling the planning and registration

Registering some rookies.

Getting the kids some shiny new discs.

As the first round started, so did the wind. The wind was a major factor for the players. Everybody did their best, but even top players had discs fly the wrong directions. Putting was very difficult and the course was not easy to score on. Overall it was a windy, but beautiful day.

Look at that form!

 Everybody say kimchi

Putting is easy when you can park your drive under the basket.

After the first round everybody was glad to come back to tournament central and get some cover from the wind. Lunch was ordered and a feast of chicken and Chinese food was had. One of the most fun parts of the day was the accuracy challenge contest. Players got a chance to throw discs at baskets about 50 meters away. If a disc landed in the ten meter circle they got a chance to go to the finals. It was a very fun time to toss some stress free discs while the amazing tournament volunteers were totaling the scores.

I even won a basket during the accuracy challenge.

Congratulations to Min for winning the accuracy challenge in the Amateur division.  Are we looking at a future disc golf world champion in the making?

Mr. Baek getting the second round started on time.  Let’s see who is on the top cards…

As the second round rolled around players started to make their moves. The wind died down a bit, and the pros played some special, and difficult, holes made just for the tournament. The pace of the round was very good. There were not a lot of backups and everybody had a good time. Players finished with the sun still in the sky and some returned to the tent victorious.

There was a nice closing ceremony where trophies and certificates were presented to the players. Overall the tournament was great. The main goal was to advertise disc golf in Daegu while getting much needed plastic to some new players. The organizers did a great job and the tournament was a great success. Thanks to all the people that helped make the event possible. I hope future tournaments in Korea will look at the Daegu Open as an example.

Awesome Trophies

-Derek-

 -Before the tournament players should sign in to let the tournament director know they have arrived.

토너먼트 전에 선수들은 자신이 참석했음을 디렉터에게 꼭 알리도록 합니다.

  – Usually each player has a card and they are placed together by what starting hole they are on. The TD calls out names and what holes they are starting on. The “Top of the card”, of the first person on the list, is responsible for picking up the scorecards and heading to the correct hole with their group.

각 선수들은 카드를 가지고 자신의 시작점으로 모입니다. TD가 이름을 호명하여 어느 홀이 자신의 시작점인지 알려줍니다. 첫번째 사람인  “Top of the card”은 책임지고 점수카드를 챙겨서 팀과 함께 자기팀의 홀로 이동합니다.

   – Everybody goes to the hole and warms up. When the TD calls 2 minutes you should stop throwing and discs. Any extra discs thrown after this and during the round is a penalty stroke.2 Minutes later the TD yells ‘START’ and you begin playing.

모두가 홀로 이동하여 워밍업을 합니다. TD가 2분이라고 외치면 반드시 활동을 멈춰야 합니다. 만약 그 후에도 디스크를 던지게 되면 이는 반칙으로 패널티가 주어집니다. 2분 후에 다시 TD가 “시작!”을 외치면 다시 게임을 시작합니다.

- The player that had the best score on the previous hole always goes first. This carries back to previous holes if there is a tie.

- During the round players take turns holding the scorecards and taking scores after the holes.

     - Before playing hole 18, you usually shake hands and say “good round”.

점수가 좋았던 플레이어로부터 순서대로 던지고, 만약 동점인 경우에는 이전 홀로 역으로 거슬러 올라가서 점수가 좋은 사람부터 던지게 됩니다.

- 경기하는 동안 선수들은 각자 점수카드를 들고 있을 수 있으며  홀에 이른 뒤에 점수를 기재할 수 있습니다. 

 - 18번 홀 에 이르기 전까지 손을 흔들어주며 “good round”라고 격려해 줍니다.

***Players are in charge of totaling their final scores. They should check their own scores AND have somebody else double check it. You are responsible for your own score and if there are mistakes you are penalized strokes. You should initial your score. The “top of the card”, or best score that round, is in charge of turning in the scorecard with totals and initials to the TD.

선수들은 자신의 파이널 점수를 마무리 지어야 합니다. 선수들은 자신들의 점수를 확인하고 파트너를 이루어 더블체크를 하도록 합니다. 만약 점수 계산에 실수가 있을 시 패널티를 얻을 수도 있음을 명심하기 바랍니다. 자신의 점수에 서명을 합니다. “Top of the card”나 가장 좋은 점수를 받은 경우 대표로 점수카드를 TD에게 반납합니다.

-If there is an ACE, usually everybody in the group gives 5 dollars, and everybody at the tournament tries to pay the person a dollar when they see them. It is tradition.

ACE의 경우 그룹 모든 사람들이 ACE에게 5달러를  주며 토너먼트의 모든 사람들이 ACE를 볼 경우 그에게 1달러씩 주는 전통이 있습니다.