Cannabis and disc golf go hand-in-hand. Similarly to football and beer. That doesn’t mean that every disc golfer is a stoner, just like it doesn’t mean every football fan is a drunk. It’s simply a tool to help people relax and connect with nature, or expand your mind to think outside of the box. The first time I played disc golf, it was at a heavily wooded course with a lot of elevation. I was hiking through the woods while playing a sport. I remember my friend telling me that people play with a drink or smoke weed, and I was instantly hooked. I get to be out in nature, smoke my cannabis, and play a sport all at the same time? Well damn, that’s right up my alley!

I’ve been playing for seven years now, and I’ve had an array of experiences in that time. I would say a vast majority of my rounds I’ve played high. Sometimes I would feel like I’m in the zone, executing shots with ease and very little thought, and other times I would feel like I was overthinking everything and would have less control of my body. When I was on, it would feel phenomenal, but when I was off I’d start questioning whether smoking was actually benefiting me or not. So that’s what I’m going to talk about in this post, what my actual experiences are with cannabis and playing disc golf. I expect this to be fairly controversial due to the fact that people have opinions on playing tournaments sober versus under the influence, but I’m not here to give my opinion on whether I think it's right or wrong. I’m simply discussing how I feel cannabis has affected my game, both on and off the course. 

To give you a little back story, the first time I smoked cannabis was in high school. It was never a daily thing for me back then, just something I’d do when I got together with a few of my friends and we would sneak out into the neighborhood and smoke some ganja. It wasn’t until my adult life that I began smoking every day. It wasn’t just once a day, it was in the morning, during my lunch break, when I got home from work, throughout the night and up until bed that I would smoke. At first it was because I got an incredible euphoria from it. Food tasted better, movies were funnier, my wife and I could have deep conversations about anything without judgment or the feeling of rage when we talked about sensitive topics. Eventually it became a habit.

A part of growing as a person is being able to reflect on your past, your present, and your future. Take a look at your goals in life, see how your present aligns with meeting your goals, and cut out bad habits that you’ve built in the past that hold you back from meeting your goals. What I’ve learned about myself is that when I smoke cannabis, it makes it incredibly easy for me to have the “I’ll just do it later attitude.” That’s great to kill some anxiety about getting something done, but if it’s impeding your ability to reach a goal of yours, it becomes a problem. 

Now it may sound like I’m heading in the direction of saying that cannabis is bad and it is the reason I am not achieving my goals, but that’s not the case at all. I LOVE cannabis. I think it’s an incredible tool that brings out creativity, empathy, and love. Just like eating too much pizza, or spending too much time on social media, too much weed can be a problem. I’ve been trying to find a way to balance my consumption of cannabis so that it doesn’t affect my ability to achieve goals that I’ve set for myself. The next few paragraphs I’ll talk about the pros and cons that I’ve experienced with weed. 

The pros: One of the greatest things marijuana does for me is help ease pain. I’ve been an athlete my entire life and consequently have had a ton of injuries. Smoking makes my life comfortable and is much preferred over taking pharmaceutical drugs to kill the pain. Another benefit I’ve had is in my relationship with my wife. We both smoke, and it makes it very easy for us to have open conversations about things that may be bothering us without that underlying anxiety that usually comes along with those conversations. Instead of being defensive, it makes you more accepting and introspective. It gives you an ability to examine yourself in a conscious way and have empathy for others. The short-term memory aspect of weed could also be considered a benefit. When it comes to disc golf, I find it helps me get into a zone at times. I feel dialed in and have less of the “what if” fears. When I do miss an easy putt, I may find it easier to “forget” about it and move on to the next shot. Another positive benefit to smoking and playing is the fact that you’re surrounded by nature. When I smoke, I appreciate nature on another level. Instead of being in my head, I’ll watch a bird in the trees, or look at some cool mushrooms or moss off the fairway and truly enjoy being connected with nature. This in itself creates a calming effect that I believe improves how I play. On an analytical level I find that smoking helps me break down what I’m working on in my disc golf game. It’s great for reflecting on a practice session to understand what works and what doesn’t, but may not always be beneficial when physically practicing. 

The cons: Like I said before, smoking makes it very easy for me to say “I’ll just do it later.” When I was working part time, I had intended on practicing every morning out in the field as if it were my job. Unfortunately, I found myself waking and baking every day and it became difficult to get the gumption to get off the couch and actually hit the field. I also find it very difficult to stay focused on a single task. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d walk to the kitchen to get something and would just stand there wondering why my cat is so damn cute, completely forgetting what I actually got up for. When it comes to playing disc golf, I’ve had experiences, especially during tournaments, where my anxieties were heightened. All of a sudden I would drastically overthink every shot, and have a hard time getting my body to flow and execute like I would in practice. This might not seem to make sense, especially because I just mentioned how it benefits me in the prior paragraph, but there are different types of marijuana that interact differently with the body. At times I find it hard to hold conversations. My mind may be wandering and does so incredibly quickly, jumping from one thought to another in a snap. This makes it hard for me to speak with fluidity as there seems to be a disconnect with what is processing in my head versus how quickly I can actually speak my thoughts. 

In the end, cannabis works differently from person to person. Some of the hardest working people I know smoke a lot of cannabis every day, conversely some of the laziest people I know smoke a lot of cannabis every day… but I think that has less to do with the flower and more to do with the character traits of each individual. A hard worker works hard regardless of being a stoner, just as a lazy person is lazy whether they smoke or not. Over the years I’ve tried to find my balance with weed and figure out what works for me. It turns out I’m much more productive sober, and when I get my stuff done for the day, I will take a nice rip of the bong and enjoy some R&R.

I’d love to know how cannabis affects you, both on or off the course. I’d also love to hear your opinions about cannabis in disc golf. Do you think there should be more cannabis sponsorships? Should there be any association between cannabis and disc golf? If you don’t use cannabis and have questions about it, I’d love to hear those as well! Hit me up on Instagram or Facebook and let me know your thoughts 🙂.