The Year in Review -- or "How to Ruin an Entire Year By Being a Data Nerd!"
Man, 2025 was NOT a good year for my disc golf game.
(I just needed to state the obvious.)
Let's get the record keeping out of the way. In 2025, I played 21 sanctioned events, as well as 5 unsanctioned (club) events.
The sanctioned events are broken down like so:
Division #Events Points Earned
- MP40 1 24.00
- MP50 3 22.50
- MP55 1 12.00
- MP60 16 97.00
Of those 21 Events, I placed
- 1st 7 times
- 2nd 5 times
- 3rd 3 times
- Worse 6 times
However, when I look at the competition lists, those stats don't look as good...
- 1st out of 4
- 1st out of 3
- 1st out of 2
- 1st out of 1
- 1st out of 1
- 1st out of 1 (League)
- 1st out of 1 (League)
- 2nd out of 5
- 2nd out of 4
- 2nd out of 4
- 2nd out of 3
- 2nd out of 2
- 3rd out of 5
- 3rd out of 4
- 3rd out of 3
- 4th out of 7
- 4th out of 4
- 5th out of 8
- 5th out of 5
- 9th out of 12
- 10th out of 15
When I apply my own personal rating system (0 points for last, 100 points for first, appropriate points for anything in between) and dropping the "1st out of 1" rounds (which I just can't bring myself to count!), the stats show an uglier picture:
- 1st out of 4: 100
- 1st out of 3: 100
- 1st out of 2: 100
- 2nd out of 5: 75
- 2nd out of 4: 66
- 2nd out of 4: 66
- 2nd out of 3: 50
- 2nd out of 2: 0
- 3rd out of 5: 50
- 3rd out of 4: 33
- 3rd out of 3: 0
- 4th out of 7: 50
- 4th out of 4: 0
- 5th out of 8: 43
- 5th out of 5: 0
- 9th out of 12: 33
- 10th out of 15: 36
Average: 47.1
Meaning? My "placement average" was slightly less than 50% of the field total. Not good.
Looking at a different set of data (round ratings) shows
Tier Date Div Rate
- C 02/02 MP60 903
- C 03/08 MP60 893
- C 03/15 MP60 882
- C 03/15 MP60 899
- L Apr to Jun MP60 895
- L Apr to Jun MP60 871
- L Apr to Jun MP60 894
- L Apr to Jun MP60 897
- L Apr to Jun MP60 899
- C 04/19 MP50 956
- C 04/19 MP50 872
- B 04/26 MP60 892
- B 04/26 MP60 927
- A 05/16 to 05/18 MP60 929
- A 05/16 to 05/18 MP60 850
- A 05/16 to 05/18 MP60 937
- C 05/03 MP60 919
- C 05/03 MP60 943
- C 05/31 MP60 891
- C 05/31 MP60 891
- A 06/20 to 06/22 MP60 896
- A 06/20 to 06/22 MP60 919
- A 06/20 to 06/22 MP60 879
- C 06/07 MP60 916
- C 06/07 MP60 905
- C 06/14 MP40 925
- C 06/14 MP40 930
- C 06/28 MP55 913
- C 06/28 MP55 889
- L Jul to Sep MP60 896
- A 08/02 to 08/03 MP60 901
- A 08/02 to 08/03 MP60 902
- A 08/02 to 08/03 MP60 909
- A 08/30 to 08/31 MP60 866
- A 08/30 to 08/31 MP60 847
- A 08/30 to 08/31 MP60 890
- C 09/06 MP50 899
- C 09/06 MP50 889
- C 09/20 MP60 892
- C 09/20 MP60 906
- B 10/11 MP60 942
- B 10/11 MP60 883
- B 10/18 MP50 894
- B 10/18 MP50 894
- C 11/02 MP60 871
- C 11/02 MP60 941
All Rounds:
- Average Rating: 901
- Median Rating: 897
- Best Rating: 956
- Worst Rating: 847
All Tournament Rounds
- Average Rating: 902
- Median Rating: 899
- Best Rating: 956
- Worst Rating: 847
All League Rounds
- Average Rating: 892
- Median Rating: 896
- Best Rating: 899
- Worst Rating: 871
Tournament Rounds By Division
*A* *B* *C*
- Average Rating: 894 905 906
- Median Rating: 899 894 901
- Best Rating: 937 942 956
- Worst Rating: 847 883 871
At this point, I may have taking the "Data Nerd" thing way too far. The statistics for the ratings numbers don't really show me anything -- other than a pretty sad decline from 2024 to 2025.
All Rounds: 2025 2024
- Average Rating: 901 903
- Median Rating: 897 902
- Best Rating: 956 967
- Worst Rating: 847 857
All Tournament Rounds: 2025 2024
- Average Rating: 902 902
- Median Rating: 899 902
- Best Rating: 956 967
- Worst Rating: 847 857
All League Rounds: 2025 2024
- Average Rating: 892 904
- Median Rating: 896 903
- Best Rating: 899 928
- Worst Rating: 871 883
Tournament Rounds By Division
*A*
2025 2024
- Average Rating: 894 915
- Median Rating: 899 909
- Best Rating: 937 944
- Worst Rating: 847 892
*B*
2025 2024
- Average Rating: 905 909
- Median Rating: 894 915
- Best Rating: 942 967
- Worst Rating: 883 857
*C*
2025 2024
- Average Rating: 906 897
- Median Rating: 901 901
- Best Rating: 956 953
- Worst Rating: 871 861
Ok, so now I've completely bored most of you, let me give you my take on what I see, tempered by what I know of my overall season last year.
The decline in my statistics (and, therefore, my game) was NOT caused by physical (ie: aging) issues. Most, if not all, of the problem was between my ears. I mention this in several of my practice videos, but I'll state it here as well. I have a serious issue with my mental expectations of my game not matching my physical performance. I do know that this is a fairly common issue among athletes, some of whom spend a RIDICULOUS amount of time, effort, and resources working on a solution. Quite often in the past year I would find myself getting increasingly frustrated over the course of a round -- which then affected my focus and my mechanics.
I got into a downward performance spiral. I practiced less, then performed poorly, then got frustrated at my poor performance, then performed even MORE poorly -- and, eventually, I EXPECTED to perform poorly, which made the spiral even worse. Now I've been told in the past that I am a "head case", and, in this instance, truer words have not been spoken. And, as I have said about others in different and unrelated situations, this is a "self-inflicted wound", one that SHOULD be self-correcting.
I got away from my style of tournament prep, which involved both physical practice as well as data analysis (I'm a data nerd, remember!?) and mental preparation. The physical practice takes large blocks of time (which I often don't have as much of as I need), but the research and mental preparation can be done in the "in-between" moments that I often waste on "doom-scrolling" and time-sucking mobile games. It's time to get back to earning my old nickname from my racquetball days - "The Professor" -- and using what I do best to my advantage.
I'm REALLY hoping that returning to "Rusty Chains" is going to help me get back on track with all of those mental aspects that I have been neglecting over the past few years. And who knows, maybe someone else can benefit from my struggles as well.
So, until I see you out on the course...