While I was beginning to think that the season would be over, we got a few more nice days. It has been a welcome interlude as with COVID-19 once again flaring up, gyms and restaurants have once again started to close in Minnesota. Any excuse to get out of the house is a good one, and I have a few new discs to try out which I’ve been itching to get to.

Throughout the past year I’ve been throwing a lot of Westside discs along with some random Discraft, Innova, and MVP discs. But recently, I discovered Discmania which has some really interesting plastic. It sounded like they share some facilities with Innova, which in my view means decently consistent blends, but I’m not going to pretend to be a technical expert on this. Either way, I’ve been enjoying exploring some new brands and different shots in the offseason. The offseason is always a good time to take it easy and play some shots that one normally would not play.

Since today ended up being a 50+ degree (fahrenheit) day, I decided to go to “The Valley” which is well-known local course in Minnesota where I played a lot when I was younger. It’s a nice course that is situated in the middle of a literal valley, which means there is a cool mix of woods, park, and hills to play on.

Even though I have not been throwing much, I still have my distance and playing today was fun. Everyone is wearing masks and doing their best to socially distance, so it’s a bit weird passing groups, but probably the best case scenario. At least we are all getting outside and enjoying the end of fall, while we still can.

One of the shots I have been working on is hyzer flips. The basic idea is that you throw the disc tilted towards the ground (either forehand or backhand) and rip it, letting it flip sideways before following whatever trajectory you initially sent it on. I know when I was younger, I basically always threw really over-stable discs and let them fall the same direction for consistency.

What I’ve learned over the years, is that sometimes this is not the best approach. For technical, tight holes sometimes you have to throw straight and do not want the disc to end up right or left of your line. This is where flip shots come in handy! They go straight and fly forever when done right. I still have work to do, but learning new shots is always fun and watching discs fly in their unique ways is part of why we all enjoy playing the game. Here is a Paul Ulibarri video where he explains the importance of this concept to nail fairway shots. He’s always got a good technique or concept for breaking down issues you may have in your game. Been enjoying his channel lately!

Unsure of where the year will end up, but with the round today I’m thinking of signing up for at least one more tournament to round out the year. I think taking off December is probably wise, but it would be nice to give competing another shot yet for 2020.