I started playing disc golf my senior year of college. That was in the fall of 1992. In 1995 I won the PDGA Am World Championships and turned pro immediately following. At the time I was a grad student working on my Master's in Computer Science. I tried to hit as many tournaments as I could in 1996 and 1997, but was constrained by both time and money. It was 1998 that I really made a concerted effort to get to the events that had the most women and the toughest fields. That was also the year that I won my first Pro Women's World Title. In 1999 I played 31 PDGA sanctioned events winning all but one. In 2000 I quit my job, sold my house, and hit the tour full time. I continued to tour full time until 2004.
When I first found disc golf in college, I was craving an athletic outlet. By 2004, I was craving an intellectual one. I slowly stepped away from playing. I then took up running and competed in about 13 marathons and a handful of ultra marathons. My best marathon performance was at the 2011 Seattle Rock 'n Roll marathon where I ran fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. By this time I had settled into a programming job that I really loved.
In late 2013 I became refamilarized with the Flying Disc Overall by attending a double disc court tournament in Mesa, AZ. By early 2014, I started training for the WFDF Flying Disc World Overall Championships that would be held later that year in Fredericksburg, VA. Flying Disc Overall events consist of as many as 7 disc disciplins including: disc golf, accuracy, distance, discathon, DDC, SCF, and Freestyle. Of the 7 events, 2 require a partner and are arguably the hardest to learn. They are DDC (Double Disc Court) and Freestyle. In 2014 and the first part of 2015, my focus was mostly on DDC. In August of 2015, I dedicated myself to learning freestyle. During this time, I was playing disc golf a little bit given that it was part of the overall, but it definately took a back burner to Freestyle and DDC.
Fast forward to 2021. I decided that I wanted to play a few more disc golf events mainly to see people from the disc golf world. Just before hitting the road, my programming job dissappeared as a result of COVID. I expected I would play disc golf for a month and then spend my time looking for another programming job. But during my time on the road, I once again caught the bug. I had a renewed energy for the sport and thanks to the Disc Golf Pro Tour, the concept of living on the road as a professional disc golfer was changing very much for the better. There are so many people touring now for the sport that it is a community. I fell in love once again with the concept of being a professional disc golfer and decided that, at my age, if I want to do this again, it has to be right now.
In 2022, I got a slow start to the year as I was recovering from a break to my throwing hand that occurred early November, 2021. Not more than a week or two after I was able to throw right handed again, Jim, who at the time was my fiance, went to the ER for chest pains which ultimately lead to a quadruple bypass. Our plan to be on the road in February was pushed back to May at which time we joined the DGPT and followed the tour through the Tour Championships. I ended up 26th in the standings for the DGPT. Player's top 8 elite events were used (as well as their top 2 majors, top 3 silver series, and both of the playoff events). Because of the late start, I was only able to play 6 elite events, so I was missing 2 scores and was not able to drop any of my low scores. Though dissappointed that I didn't reach my goal of making it into the Tour Championships, I can look back on the season and be proud that I was as close as I was with the unintended handicap.
My plan is to give it one more try. In January I will be 52 years old and I know that my window of opportunity to play with the best women in the world is waning. Hopefully getting on the road at the beginning of the year will give me the luxery to take a weekend off here and there and thus keep the intensity up at the events I do play. Either way, I can't wait to get back out there again.