World Champion Disc Golfers

This weekend, the Pro Disc Golf Tour has a stop at De Laveaga Disc Golf Course. Six of the top 7 players in the world will be here to compete. Earlier this week, they got a group of World Champions together to play at De Laveaga. Ken Climo (12 Time World Champion, 2006 Men's World Champion), Des Reading (3 Time World Champion, 2006 Women's World Champion), Nate Doss (2005 Men's World Champion, 22 year old who lives in Capitola) and Steve Rico (6th rated Men's player in the World) all came together to play a round of disc golf.

As a side note, a few years ago Ben entered a random doubles tournament. Players showed up and were randomly paired. Ben got paired with some high school student. As they started playing, Ben discovered that his partner was pretty good. Ben was paired with Nate Doss, who won the World Championship a few years later. Can you imagine going to your local club, entering a competition and getting randomly paired with a young Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong? Amazing. Nate was very nice and they had a great time.



I took a few hours off on Wednesday afternoon to watch the World Champions play. I was first struck by how much fun they were having and how well they got along. While they were competing against each other, they also seemed like close friends. They were constantly joking with each other or giving each other tips. They all seemed like friendly people and were very nice to everyone. I was surprised that each of them had a caddy. Someone to carry their disc bag with about 20 discs. The caddy would also give them advice on different shots. There is nothing wrong with it, its just that disc golf does not seem like a sport where you would use a caddy.

All of the players were amazing. They could all throw the disc a long ways, but even more impressive was that they could put the disc right where they wanted it. And they had great accuracy with a variety of different throws (backhand, forehand, rollers, etc). But it was also refreshing that they make mistakes as well. Sometimes one would hit a tree, sometimes they would miss an easy putt (one I could have made!) and sometimes they would just shank it off to the right or left. I was also impressed about how they handled bad luck. If the disc decided to roll the wrong way or if they hit a tree or branch, they would just smile and shrug, “its part of the game”.

The competition was set up as a “Skins Game”. In this format, it matters how many holes you win, not your overall score. So some of the players would try some pretty extreme shots to try to win a hole. It was interesting to see the different styles of the players. Des Reading had great technique and was very steady. She rarely tried any crazy shots, but always played well. Her only problem was that occasionally she would miss an easy putt. Ken Climo tried a few crazy shots. Mostly they worked, sometimes they didn't. His putting was incredible, he made all of the “makeable” putts and a few that were “unmakeable”. I don't remember him missing a putt that he had any chance of making. Steve Rico took chances, less extreme chances than Climo, but they also paid off more often. He also putted very well. DeLa is Nate Doss' home course and it showed. He just seemed to have a little better knowledge of the course and what the wind would do, than the others. He always seemed to know exactly what throw to make, at what time. Unfortunately, his putting seemed the shakiest. Not bad at all, just not as strong as the others.

In the end, Steve Rico won the most holes, Ken Climo took second, Des Reading third and Nate Doss came up in fourth. Even more importantly they all seemed to have a great time. That includes me, I had a great time watching these masters playing their sport. I hope I get a chance to watch them again this weekend at the Master's Cup competition.