Dropping the Hammer

I have an inherent flaw to my personality. Most people, regardless of whether or not they are good at a certain thing, will continue doing something despite their inability to do well because it is "fun" or "others like to do it" or some other silly reason like that. Me? Not so much. There are a number of things I simply do not do because I am not good at them. Fooseball for one. I am terrible at Fooseball, I mean flat out abysmal. In the grand scheme of things, if you could rank everything I've done in my life based on quality of my own performance, coming in last would likely be Fooseball. So I do not play it, because that is in my personality. I'm not sure if it is because things naturally come easy to me (that isn't bragging, it's just the truth to a degree, I'm naturally good at most everything I pick up...but never great...) or if it is just because I'm a poor sport. Who knows these things?

The point is, for the longest time I have been terrible at Frisbee Golf (or Frolf...or Disc Golf...speakers choice) and I could never figure out why. I could never throw it far on my opening throw, I couldn't consistently do anything right...I was just crap pretty much. But I continue to play it because its something nice to do outside and a lot of friends play it. Near my house (roughly a minute and a half away) is Westchester Lagoon and the Frisbee Golf course that goes along with it. It is a mostly easy to intermediate course that I somehow consistently shot between plus 4 and plus 8 on, in only nine holes. I sucked. My putting was very solid, I normally made it pretty consistently once I got within 15 feet or so with a decent shot at even longer puts, but my drives were so putrid it was taking me 3 throws just to get in that position. Bad news bears right there.

So one day, when Colver and I were both playing two discs simultaneously, I decided to only throw Hammer style as a joke with one of them. Turns out, I am very good at throwing the Hammer. This joke turned into utter seriousness, as I found my key to success in Frisbee Golf, and it is based around throwing it Hammer style. For those not in the know, the most common throw is the backhand (the natural way to throw a Frisbee) with the forehand being the second most commonly used style. It is basically the opposite of the backhand...shocking right? The Hammer on the other hand is a throw in which you essentially throw the disc like a football, and is traditionally difficult to throw it far or accurately, and even more difficult to do both simultaneously. Not this guy. It works perfectly. The distance on my throws are increasing daily, and I'm getting closer and closer to the goal every round. Here's an example below, taken with my camera phone on hole 7 at Westchester. This is where my disc was after the drive.

Awesome right? I now love Frisbee Golf. My typical score on Westchester has went from an average of plus 6 down to a negative 4. That's a 10 shot turnaround! Yes! I even went and played by myself today because I was so enthused with my newfound ability at the game. I think the moral of the story is that I need to learn to not give up on something too early on just because I'm not good at it. If I do it a few more times and just get more comfortable with what I'm doing the rest will just fall in place. I need to not quit so early and just stay with it. Shouldn't be too hard to do, but actual application to life is not necessarily a sure shot. We'll take it a step at a time, but Frisbee Golf was a solid first step as it is. Now if you don't mind, I have some sweet, sweet Fooseball to play.