After the amazing day that I found my new passion, I was enthusiastic to learn everything I could about the sport. I would go to YouTube and look up disc golf tutorials and I was going out to the field by myself to practice my backhands and forehands. One day, I was playing at Lincoln Park with my wife when a guy named Mark playing alone approached us. He continued to ask us if we heard about any of the local disc golf Facebook pages and informed me of the fact that Western New York hosts both leagues and tournaments. That piqued my interest!

I joined the group immediately and found out about an upcoming tournament. It looked to be the last one of the season as fall was approaching and was a PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) sanctioned event, which was another lead down the rabbit hole that is disc golf. A PDGA sanctioned event? Sounds legit! Now I need to research the PDGA... you better believe I paid $50 to get a membership immediately! They keep track of your career and you get a rating at sanctioned events. I also signed up for that tournament I saw on Disc Golf is Buffalo, the Black Diamond Fall Classic at the Black Diamond Disc Golf Course in Emery Park. I figured I would start out in recreational, but at the time (2015) disc golf was still growing in Western New York. Nobody else signed up for recreational. I asked the tournament director if I could move up to intermediate so I could compete with other players.

For anyone that doesn't know Emery, this course is massive! Very long holes and super tight woods in the front 9, mixed with wider open distance holes in the back 9. At this point I've only been playing for about 4 months and went in to this tournament playing the course blind... wow, what a mistake that was! I shot a 764 rated 93 strokes through 18 holes in round 1! Here's the thing, I wasn't in last place! I thought, "alright this isn't a complete disaster." The next round I shot an 809 rated 87, so I shot 6 strokes better in the second round! I even had a 75' throw in from a knee! My goal in every tournament is to shoot better each round to this day. I really was pleased with myself. I ended up finishing the tournament in 23rd place out of 27 total players in intermediate.

The environment at the tournament was absolutely amazing. Every person I met that day made me feel welcome and taught me a lot about tournament etiquette and rules. What a pleasure it was to watch these guys that have way more experience than me throw discs. They would fly in ways I couldn’t even imagine at the time. I instantly knew it was the sport for me, especially after playing such a beautiful course in the woods. Emery is still my favorite course. I have not played a course anywhere else that I would trade for it. This is why I’m determined to help fundraise for the tee pads and really turn it into an unforgettable course for anyone who plays it. Make sure you check out my store to buy a disc and support the cause! This tournament really shaped my outlook on disc golf, and was one more reassurance that this was going to be my new favorite sport. Disc golf brings all communities together and it is absolutely incredible to witness.

Be sure to check out my PDGA profile page where you can see all of my previous sanctioned events including the 2015 Black Diamond tournament scores! Here’s the link to my profile: pdga.com/player/77512. Make sure you subscribe to my Instagram and Facebook page to follow my current disc golf events! Links at the top and bottom of this page!