alexrowan.com

Tomorrow will be day one for the drills for me. 100 throws a day to be a better disc golfer. Its right peck drill time. I am only going to work on getting rid of OAT (off-axis torque). The beginning is going to work on wrist extension only. I toss what I have been referring to Snap-drives. its a few tosses at the beginning of practice to feel snap and get timing down. 10 shots with a fairway driver, in my case my teebirds. I am going to follow up with 30 putter tosses no steps from the right peck. I’m going to work on pivoting my hips, late acceleration and wrist extension. I posted this drill a few ports ago, so look down. This will be followed with 30 putter tosses with a wizard from the right peck with 1 step and 30 tosses with a X-step. I’m also playing with Tom L and Cass C tomorrow Colfax/Newton.

In other news, I have decided to stop p90x until my schedule clears up the begining of next month.

Last week I played in the Des Moines Ice Bowl. Finished tied for 9th out of 20 people in Intermediate with a +3 111. Driving was a little scary, but my putting was dead on all day. I sank about 8 putts outside the circle. I used about 5 molds (Champ Teebird, Squall, Valk for 1 shot, Wizard, Crush for 1 shot) for the tourney. As for the rest of my disc golf game, I haven’t been playing much.

I think I also need a smaller bag for casual rounds. My tourney bag is just a little too heavy to carry for a round. I find I am using my squalls a lot more each round and my rocs less. I like the 177+ squall as a roc replacement. Its as straight with less fade on the end. The lighter ones, 173-174, are slightly understable and hold that line for a long time. I am thinking about dropping the crush for a Predator. Maybe adding a Pro/Champ/Star Destroyer. I dropped the monarch and the rogue didn’t work and I may add a sidewinder or roadrunner. This will make my bag:

• Understable: Valk, Roadrunner/sidewinder?
• Stable: Teebird
• Overstable:Predator
• Distance: Wraith, Destroyer?
• Midrange: Squall, Demon
• Putter: Wizard

I do have a couple of goals for this summer. RAGBRAI is ending in Burlington and I might try to ride across Iowa. That’s one week this summer. PDGA worlds is out. Bowling Green Am’s is a maybe. I kinda want to tour Iowa this summer and play disc golf tournies. Before I do that, I will need to lose about 40 pounds.

Its been a while sense my last post. Wednesday I played a round at waterworks with Roy and Tom. Roy shot a 4 down and tom was up 1. I was probably about 5 up. When I got back I found out I won a fade tourney bag. I got it on Friday. Its really nice. Room for a lot of extra stuff and holds a ton of discs. I did decide to get quads for my bag. It makes it a lot easier to carry for a round.

Over the weekend, I played in Newton for the 15th annual Newton Parks Open. I drove decently, buy not consistently. I several shots I was surprised, others I was hitting my lines perfectly. I couldn’t putt. A lot of my putting is weight transfer. I couldn’t get my weight forward. I had 3 fives my first round and ended up with a +7 61. After lunch I shot a +9 i think. Great tournament on a very nice “Iowa Park” course.

I think I have a stress fracture in my right foot. 5th metatarsal to be exact. I hope it goes away soon. I cant afford to be laid up for 3 weeks. That’s all for now

On my way to do laundry today, I had to walk threw the basement. I realized something across the basement, this would be the perfect place to practice putting this winter. Its warm (huge plus), has an empty corner, and a 10 ft celing. I figure I can keep it inside 50 ft. for most of my shots. All that I would need is a portable basket to setup and some minis.

Second, the throwdown at Grandview is awesome. Shane really knows his shit. I was able to play with Jay (God Damn Lefty) and Mike. They are both quite good. I tried watching Mike drive as he really does a great job clearing his hips and getting all the momentum forward. I shot a +10 but did have 1 OB that cost me about 75 feet and gave me an awful angle to the pin. I also 3 putted on 3 for a 5 (ouch). I think I did have a 5 on one other hole. It did feel good to not be last on my card for a round. Mike had a even par round and Jay had a +5.

On a side not I made a mistake in yesterdays post. It is not the avenger SS I am looking at for my distance driver. It is Discraft’s Surge SS.

After reading DGR.com forums for about 3 or 4 years, I decided that its about time for me to really work on my game. If everything is going perfectly I can controllably throw 375-400 ft. This means I am more than capable of throwing almost any driver on the market. Over the years I have had almost as many favorite drivers as I have had drivers. When I first started it was the DX Eagle, then the DX Banshee, X XS, Z XS, Z XTRA, and on and on. Just this year I am on my 3rd favorite disc. It started with a X XS. This is a driver I have thrown for years. Lately it just was not working for me. I divorced my XS for a Champ Valk. I have no idea how long I have had it, but its older. After issues of turning it over and having it never come back I left it for a brand new Champ Teebird. Its working fine for me, but its a shorter driver. What I need now is a distance driver. Group think from DGR.com has left me scoffing at the idea of a new driver. What I am now thinking about is finding someone with a XCaliber, a Wraith and a Destroyer and tossing all 3 for a few minutes in a field. I believe that the Xcal is too overstable for me. The Wraith is a disc I considered too overstable and I think I need to try it in a different plastic. After picking 1 mold, I am going to stick with that mold for a while. This will leave me with 4 tiers of discs.

Tier 1 is Putter and short approach. This is going to be filled with my Wizard. I also think I am going to work a second wizard into throwing shape.

Tier 2 is Midrange approach. This is going to be filled with demons and rocs. I really like the way a Demon can fly and fishhook. There is something special about this disc. Right now I am thinking about getting a E Demon and a S Demon to go with my beat S demon. I also have 1 Roc currently and I am going to get a DX Ranco Roc and maybe a Pro Roc. If I carry all of these molds that will leave me with 6 midrange discs in 2 molds, which might be a little much.

Tier 3 is fairway drivers. I Currently carry a Teebird and Valk. I just lost a TeeRex in a tree and a Crush in the Cedar River. I believe that I should carry 2 each of this disc and have 4 discs for the 4 flight patterns. 2 for very overstable shots (TeeRex), 2 for slightly overstable shots (Crush), 2 for straight shots (Teebird), and 2 for understable shots(Valk). I also plan to carry a Monarch in case I loose my valk. 4-5 Molds and 8-9 discs.

Tier 4 is Distance Drivers. This is going to be the Avenger SS, XCaliber, Destroyer, or Wraith. And I plan to double it up. 1 mold 2 discs.

To sum this all up, that’s 2 putters, 6 midranges, 8-9 Drivers, and 2 Distance drivers. 18-19 discs is a lot to carry for a round.

As for putting practice. I think I have 3 ideas. First idea is around the world. 8 shots from 10 feet, 6 from 20 feet, 4 from 30 feet, 2 from 40 feet, and 1 from 50 feet are setup. Standard Around the World rules apply from basketball.

The second is Up and Down. Each player places 10 discs up or down. the Down player tries to turn all the up disc down and vice versa. The game is won with 1 player gets all 20 discs facing the same direction. You putt until you miss.

The third is a game I cannot take credit for. DGR.com forums have it posted so I am not going to post the rules.

Its getting late and I have a lot to do tomorrow so I am going to stop for now. Hopefully Erin can get in here and edit these posts on Saturday or Sunday.

I happened to notice that the new ratings are up for GottaGoGottaThrow.com. Blake T over at Disc Golf Review does the stats for the page. I happened to notice a few new things. First, there is a new Power group. Power 6 discs are for people of capable of throwing 375′ feet or more. The new driver are all here.  There is also a range 5.5 grouping. These discs are all tied together for the most part. Beyond the new ratings, it has rained all day. I was going to go to Ames to play a round of disc golf and pick up Angela, but ended up not golfing. Its making me feel not so sore. I was having pain in my off shoulder and in my left knee. THe shoulder pain was from carring my bag around with no padding. The knee pain was a strained tendon. Back pain is also gone.

I did find a bike that I really liked. Its a Specialized Sequoia road bike. Scheels had them for sale for 650 bucks. I am also going to get a new bag for my golf equipment. Mine is looking like hell. I also am looking forward to the big game tomorrow. Iowa is going to beat Iowa state by 17 points in the sloppyist game all year long. I cant wait for erins graduation stuff to get over. Thats all I have for now.

So I was able to play a round of golf today with Hoef at Grandview. Didn’t shoot well, but I did manage to get a really good drive on hole 15. We were passing a group of 8-10 golfers that Had driven already and I was CTP on all of them. It made me feel pretty good inside. I also had a deuce on 2. I didn’t play that well today again, but I was more out there to bullshit and catch-up, not to keep score. Teebird is flying well, valk is not. Roc is solid and the demon failed me on 1 shot. Took a solid 4 on 12. My drive was right down the center, but shot of the speed limit sign. Second shot was a demon past the pine trees about 50 feet short of the pin. 2 putted and went on with my round. I did play a nice roc shot on 12 that left me with a 15 footer for par. I am starting to have second thoughts on buying so much plastic as my valk might take the place of a monarch and leave me with one less mold.

As for work, I still might have to quit Raccoon soon. Its not that I don’t like it, its my other job is going to be more important. I still have to figure out how this is going to work. I hate not having a stable job.

So I decided to break down and start fresh. I didn’t kill the old alexrowan.com. You can still see it. Its at alexrowan.com/OLD. Tricky huh. Anyway This site is going to be for logging disc golf stats, ongoings in my life, stories, jokes, and other things you might like. I hope to get a better layout and upkeep this one. anyways…

I played in my first PDGA tourney this weekend. I finished DFL. Seriously, shots bad the first round. The second round started out great, then went to shit for about 12 holes. I was a mental basket case. I keep reading about how important the mental game is. Wow, the pros are not kidding. I ended up shooting a 103/110 over 2 27 hole rounds. Exchange park needs to be fixed though. The bike path really fucked things up. The only bright side was claiming the CTP on hole 18. People always ask me why carry a demon. That is why. My disc was resting about 2 inches from the pin. The first round I short armed it a little and landed right behind the tree. The tree for those that don’t know is a 12 foot diameter cottonwood. The basket is about 4 feet behind the tree.

Today I did get a job at Sage in Windsor Heights. Its a really nice place, but shits its not cheap. Right up my alley. I have to tell my boss at Raccoon that I think I am done working there. Just as I finished training. I am really tired of up-scaling, but I think I am done. (At least until I get an IT job.) After I decided to go to GVCC and play 18 in celebration. I really didn’t worry about my score too much. I know I birdied 3 and overshot 7 and 16. I think my lines are getting better. A second Champ Valk might be in my forecast. Right now my bag is Champ Teebird 175, Champ Valk, 11x Pro Roc, S Demon, Med S Wizard, Pro Classic Roc, DX Jagurar, and X MRV. The MRV is on the way out with the Jag and the Classic Roc. A second S Demon and a DX Roc is on the way in. I might get a second Wizard, perhaps a Soft for putting. I had a lot of blow-through today on solid chain hits. A few more drivers are on the way in. I am thinking about adding a Z Crush or Predator, a Second Valk, a DX Teebird, a Star Teerex and a Champ Monarch. That will give me 5 Drivers, 2 Mids and 1 Putter molds and about 13-14 discs. The Perfect amount for a Crunch box. That about raps up disc golf. Tomorrow is 18 at Grandview with Hoef and telling work that I am probably not going to work there any more. Damn that was a long thread.