The Disc Golf Experiment

I haven’t written a blog post in quite some time now and I will get to why that is later on as you read. First I want to fill you in on what led me to starting this website in the first place. Back in May of 2020, COVID was still in its infancy and it was a scary time for everybody. It seemed that nobody was safe from the possibility of dying if you contracted this virus. It made me take a deeper look at myself and I realized that I had spent my entire life doing things that I was told to do… go to school, get a job, work, work, work and never look back. There was a point in time that I was going to school, working a job, and playing rugby all at the same time. In my free time I would have to study for school, working towards a degree in something I had little to no interest in pursuing. I asked myself, “Who am I? What am I passionate about? What really interests me that I would be willing to spend a vast majority of my life, my energy, my undivided attention on, to make a living?” It turns out that all I really wanted to do growing up is play sports! Sports are my passion and I knew for a fact that if I set my mind to it and dedicated time to perfecting a sport that I could become a professional. I was passionate about disc golf at the time and I know I have the talent to be exceptional at it. So I told myself that’s what I was going to do; I was going to spend as much time as I could practicing and perfecting my skills in disc golf.

At the time I was working full-time at a small manufacturing company, doing what some people think is the ideal American dream. Start at the bottom at some corporation and work your way up into management, then you’ve made it. Well that’s exactly what I did. I worked my way up the ladder, from the lowest paid job as an assembler to a much more lucrative position as a supervisor where I managed my peers that I had been working with for the past 4 years. In doing so, I doubled my starting salary and could live comfortably. Although the money was good, that was not the reason I became a supervisor. Growing up I knew I never wanted to work in a corporation, let alone be a manager of anyone. I’ve always been an introvert that doesn’t like to express my opinion, but I figured if I took on a role where I would be forced to engage with people more that it would help me grow as a person. I took the position purely to step out of my comfort zone. I definitely learned a lot of valuable life lessons in my 2 years supervising, but I also hated it. I consider myself an empath, always putting myself in other people's shoes to try and understand what it is they feel, and perhaps what may cause a person to act in a particular way.

Our company was never very stable, in the 6 years I worked there we had 6 layoffs. The last one hit the hardest. I had been interviewing people and hiring them as a supervisor and after working with these people for so many years, they had become friends of mine. I met their families, knew about their kids and what they enjoyed to do in their free time and because business was down, which happened just about every year, I had to lay off some of these people I truly cared about. This was early on during COVID. I had picked up a second job delivering pizza at Mustachio’s just to make more money not knowing that it would eventually become my backup plan. With my wife getting her new teaching job and me working a surprisingly lucrative job delivering pizza, we decided that I could work part-time delivering pizza and leave my current full-time job. So I went into a one-on-one with the president of the company and I had asked to be laid off with everyone else. Unfortunately he didn’t want to let me go so I put in my two weeks right then and there. This would allow me to spend more time pursuing my new dream of playing disc golf professionally and “find myself.”

Fast forward a few months and this blog was born. My sister had inspired me after sending me a t-shirt with ”HannyBoy” across the chest and a logo of a disc golf basket with tree roots at the base of it. That’s how this all started. It was intended to be a way of documenting some of my experiences on my new journey, and it allowed me to sell some of the discs I had won through tournaments which in turn funded future events that I played in. The funny thing is that I never enjoyed writing when I was in school. This blog was another opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and try to grow as a person. I believe it’s possible to rewire your brain to actually enjoy things that you would otherwise dislike if you put a conscious effort into working on whatever it is. Another thing I never felt comfortable doing is talking in front of people, and even more awkward is recording it on video. So in February of 2021 I started a YouTube channel. This was the main reason I stopped posting blogs. I was now investing my time in producing videos for the channel and I had a lot of fun during the process.

Let’s jump ahead to May now. I was playing in my first tournament at Bond Lake which was relatively new in the area and had quickly become one of my favorite courses. Only a few holes into the event I had excruciating pain in my left knee, hip, and back. Remnants of an old rugby injury where I blew my knee out at 15 years old. I tried playing through the rest of the round but ultimately had to drop out of the tournament. This was the first time I ever dropped out of a tournament for any reason and it was devastating to me. I went to the doctor and had fluid drained from my knee and began steroid injection treatments. At this point I was at an all-time low. Things were looking up, I was playing some of my best golf, I had my blog and YouTube channel and I was engaging with people all over the country because of it. Now my old injury, that had already been a nuisance and kept me from doing what I loved most, which is playing sports at a high level, was back to haunt me again. I stopped playing disc golf for over a month to try to heal, and in that time lost all motivation to manage the blog and YouTube channel. My main goal this season was to earn enough points for an Amateur Worlds invite in 2022, which now seemed out of reach. 

This wasn’t the only time that I had a flare up of some seemingly random injury. In my 7 years playing disc golf I’ve gone through a number of issues, that all seem to sprout up when I’m playing at my best. I spend a month doing nothing but field work and putting and then all of a sudden I injure my hand, fracture my shoulder, have achilles pain that makes it nearly impossible to walk when I get out of bed. These things kept happening to me and I’d fall into a depression, in cycles just like the layoffs at my old job. I had started drinking more because fuck it, it killed the pain. I wouldn’t do field work anymore because I could hardly get 30 minutes in without being in so much pain that it felt pointless to continue. The dream of playing professionally was dying.

The thing is… I’m stubborn as hell! I may have lost the passion to continue my blog or YouTube channel, but I continued to play disc golf as much as I could. I had found exercises that helped to ease my pains, even if it was only temporary so that I could get some practice in. I shortened my sessions so that I didn’t over exert my body and managed to compete on a weekly basis in order to earn enough points for my Worlds invite. I was so dedicated to this goal that I even played a tournament down in North Carolina to make sure I achieved it! And sure enough I did. 

The grind was real. It was frustrating at times, and to be honest I missed my wife and spending time playing casual rounds with my family. Between playing tournaments, running tournaments and a weekly league, I had very little time to myself which was one of the leading factors for me leaving my full-time job. Ultimately this led to me cutting down on disc golf drastically in 2022. I went from playing 21 sanctioned events in 2021 to just 7 events this season. It allowed me to find a better balance between my personal life and the sport that I enjoy which in turn brought me much more happiness. 

The best part about this decision is it kept me from burning myself out. I would do field work once a week, putt everyday, and play one or two casual rounds per week with my family. Not only did I find more time to do other things I enjoy, but my game improved drastically! I played my first local event of the season in May where I finished in the top 10 and averaged well above my rating. In June I traveled to Indiana to play in the Amateur World Championships where I had the pleasure of meeting and playing with some of the best amateur talent from all over the planet! When I returned, I began playing in the Open division with some of the best players in New York. Although I haven’t cashed yet, I have a good understanding of what I need to work on to eventually start making that money and ultimately achieve my dream of being a weekend warrior in my local disc golf scene.

I’m still nowhere near where I want to be with my disc golf game, but the progress is there and it’s keeping me motivated. It comes down to understanding myself and being able to adapt. I’ve learned that speed bumps will show up when I least expect them, but it’s important for me to slow down, assess the situation, and react accordingly so I don’t bottom out when I face these challenges! Going forward I have a better understanding of my disc golf/life balance and what truly matters to me. 

For those of you that feel like it’s impossible to live your dream life, I want you to know that it is possible. It takes some sacrifice, self-reflection, and perseverance, but ultimately you can make your life whatever you want it to be. It will take time, but remember to find what brings you joy and spend more time doing whatever that is!