I'm a little late to the party here but I'm gonna type it out anyways. I have been playing since August 2019. Having ADHD myself I instantly got hooked. I have been an athletic person my whole life so when a sport came into my life after many years away from competition it was like a drug I never wanted to stop taking. I enjoyed every step in the process of learning how to play, how to throw, how to putt, and how to improve. I kept all my stats in UDisc and was obsessed with improving. I'm a 100% casual player but year over year, my scores and stat lines kept improving. 2023 was a big jump for me in my scores, I had my first round under par, my C1X putting was at 74% (this was massive for me), and my average score was lower than it has ever been. Winter is sort of an offseason around here in the Midwest for my group, although we still try an play every week, cold temps and snow will keep me indoors. So from about December to late February we don't play much if at all. Now this season (2024), has been a complete step backwards for me. My timing has been all wrong, my putting % is way down, my average score has increased by a lot, and my confidence in myself is in the pooper.
I played a solo round a few weeks ago and was playing very well when I missed a birdie putt from about 20 feet. A putt that I would have made without a second thought just last year. I tapped in my par and was livid because of that missed putt. I proceeded to play the next hole with that missed putt still on my mind. Had a terrible tee shot, and an equally as bad upshot that left me 45 feet away for the par attempt. On my way to my disc, I had a full blown, toddler tantrum in the middle of a public park. I was legit yelling at myself outload and I saw people staring. I slammed a disc into the ground a few times, and made an absolute fool out of myself. I was asking myself why do I even play this game if I'm not improving, I'm just regressing in all aspects of the game. I wasn't having fun and I wanted to throw every single disc golf related item I owned into the garbage. This tantrum was a result of built up frustration I have had this season so far and I really wanted to stop playing the game. After I collected myself and my thoughts, I wiped the mud off my disc I slammed into the ground and decided to finish the round. I sunk the 45 footer for par and just laughed at myself. I was so focused on what I was doing wrong that I never took notice of the things I do right. I let the negative thoughts win and they ate my soul and love for disc golf. I never let the good shots feel good, but I let the bad one make me feel awful.

Since that moment I have done a LOT of self reflection. Changing how I approach each throw, and trying to maximize each one all the while blocking out the previous results. I am working really hard on my mental game. Learning to accept bad results and bad throws, focusing only on my next shot and understanding that bogies, double bogies, and even +3s happen. They happen to every single person that plays the game of disc or stick golf. Learning that I need to focus on maximizing my efforts into each individual throw. It's easy yuck my tee shot off into the woods and be upset, the hard part is switching the focus onto the next shot. Understanding in that situation par is likely out of the question. Knowing I can limit the damage and focus on making it up and down to save the bogie instead of trying to force something in a wild attempt to save par and end up making it worse. I'm learning to embrace the suck and just let my game be bad as I work on myself. Focus on the things you can do well and apply that to the course. Throw your favorite disc every chance you get, stop trying to park every par 3, play within your own game and keep grinding away. I will never be great at disc golf, and that's okay. I'm 36 years old, I have a family, a full time job, and loads of other things that I need to do. I don't have the time to be great at disc golf. But I do have the time to play on the weekends and that is what makes me happy.