I know informative blogs are a big hit, but it feels like it’s time for an opinion blog.
These are my own opinions about a variety of disc golf topics, not my employers’. So please enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments.

1. James Conrad’s shot wouldn’t mean as much if he hadn’t beaten Paul McBeth.

Suppose it’s Nate Sexton leading Worlds by a stroke on 18 instead of Paul, or Kevin Jones, or Chris Dickerson (they finished 3rd, 4th, 5th). Defeating the favorite, the 5x World Champion, THE Paul McBeth, that’s what mattered. It took the shot of a lifetime to bring him down.
Conrad taking down anyone else would have been something you were asked in a disc golf trivia tweet 5 years from now.
“Remember who James tied at the 2021 worlds with that throw in, then beat in a playoff?”
“Oh yeah, he beat… Sexton?”
“Yeah I think so.”
Paul's gravitas added to that moment significantly.
I don’t think I’ve seen it mentioned yet, but Ricky had the same chance in 2019. He missed short by maybe 2 feet.

2. Pros need to bring an average player with them to demonstrate new discs.

It’s no secret that pros throw far. If you think you’re on the same level as a pro, I highly recommend seeing them throw in person. You might be, or you might just be blown away by their skills.
The average recreational player throws between 175 and 250 feet. This is normal for people who only play on the weekends.
Here’s a video from Innova Flight School. This is a demonstration of the Firestorm, a 14 speed stable driver. Chris Shotwell demonstrates how the disc flies, but he’s rated 993 and has hovered around a 1000 rating for the last 8 years.
After that video I feel inspired! But when I go out and throw my Firestorm it doesn’t do anything like that. And I throw 375’ consistently with my Wraiths, so what gives?
Pros are entertainment, not informative. I wish they’d kind of drop the pretense that you can throw like they can when they demo high speed drivers.

3. Match Play as a tournament was fine, but if it needs tweaking, I’m for it.

You know what was awesome? Nathan Queen winning the DGPT final. That was an elimination tournament where the top scores moved onto the next round. Nathan was top score or second best every round and he won. So why are people so bent on watching a 3-4 round tournament with cumulative score every single weekend from March through October?
That’s what we have now. If it’s 1 course we have 3 rounds, if it’s got 2 courses it’s 4 rounds.
Let me see something else competitive occasionally.
I really want to see a match play tournament again. 16-8-4-2 That’s a 4 round elimination tournament to determine who is the best. It would last 4 days like a regular tournament and as long as the courses were challenging, I wouldn’t mind seeing it on a course we’d already played.
It’s a different game; hole to hole matters. Take that triple bogey out of your mind because it doesn’t matter. Here’s the 2021 Finals with Calvin versus Eagle.
As an invite only tournament, with guaranteed money to everyone who is invited, I think it’s got a place in disc golf, but I understand not as a major. Everyone should have a shot at a major, not just the top 16 ranked players. Nathan Queen proved that everyone should have a shot at a big title.
If you win in Match Play, you stick around, if you lose you get extra days off before the next tournament. I think that this would have to be played where there is a two week break on tour. It would give other pros a little time off in the middle of the summer when they might want to vacation or rest.

4. Disc golf companies need a Forehand Starter Pack.

I think back to my blog What Discs Are Best For A Beginner Forehand? Where I talked about the need for a beginner forehand set.
Anecdotally, from my lessons. The reason that people don’t learn a forehand is because they try to forehand the wrong discs. They got the starter pack and threw a Leopard / Shark / Aviar and turned them over, and never tried again.
I get why companies do it, one pack makes it easy. It’s the one answer for anyone who wants to start playing, and when a parent buys the discs for their kids they need 0 knowledge of the sport.
I just wish they created a pack with the Eagle or TeeBird as the fairway driver. Maybe they use a Rat as their mid. Get Nate Sexton to put his face on the pack and call it the forehand starter pack.
Having a second reliable way to throw a disc opens up a new world of shots for players. Seeing people write off half their shots because of bad discs is a total bummer.

5. Ranking the flavors of Double G Beef Jerky

They’re all awesome and I’ve enjoyed each one of them (see my waistline for proof of purchase).

1. Garlic Lovers Dream
Garlic Lovers takes top spot because I love garlic so much, a vampire would die trying to give me a hickey. Plus garlic as a flavor is so different and big on its own, people always try to add other stuff to it.
2. Nate Sexton Sweet and Spicy
The Sexton blend is very sweet on the front and spicy at the end just like I like it. It’s no hotter than a cinnamon hot ball so don’t be afraid. I definitely finished my first bag in under 4 minutes.
3. Hot Boom Sauce
Hot boom sauce has the chili pepper taste without being too hot. It’s the most different texturally with the seeds and that makes it special. It’s that snack that packs a small punch.
4. McBeast BBQ
That classic sweet BBQ flavor with some hickory wood smoke. This is more of a Kansas City BBQ flavor with brown sugar and soy sauce. It’s as smooth as Paul’s approach shots.
5. Smashed Cracked Pepper
Smashed pepper has that super strong taste that brings out a lot of beef flavor at the end, a summer night treat for sure.
6. Teriyaki
Teriyaki is a common beef jerky flavor, but Double G manages to keep their meat soft and not dry as a rock out of the package. I like that classic taste; it’s a perfect road trip jerky.
7. Original
Original flavor is ranked last just because I like my jerky a little more seasoned, it’s still phenomenal though. So many jerkies miss the mark and are too sugary or salty. GG got it right and this simple flavor is for everyone.

6. You’ve got to get All Stars for All Star weekend, and promote it well.

The NFL struggles with this as well DGPT, you're not alone. Baseball/Hockey has their All Star game in the middle of the season, maybe that’s something to look at.
Right now the DGPT decided to run a promotional picture with Ricky and Paul.

The big problem here is that Paul isn’t going. And Ricky has stated on Twitter that he may skip the event to work on his new discs for Vegas (totally reasonable, but disappointing).
So that’s the two biggest MPO names in the sport dropping out.

Does it really matter?
Yeah, it does. Here’s a really great article from Aidan Anderson of Ultiworld about how Paul and Ricky affect the view count of Jomez videos. From what Anderson found, Jomez performs about 43% better for views when Paul is on coverage. People want to watch the best players, and he’s clearly one of the best.

So why aren’t the two biggest MPO players attending?
Is it that it’s 2 additional weeks players have to be on the road before the Las Vegas Challenge starts?
Is it that financially it makes no difference to them?
Is the format something that they don’t like?

It could be another reason entirely. But if the DGPT wants an All Star Weekend you can’t lose the top names in the sport. Make it worth the pros time so people will watch.

I’m excited to see how Kona, Hailey, and Catrina do with their new disc companies. I know that the Ricky move to DD was huge news. But 3 of the top 8 women in disc golf switching companies is crazy to me. I want to know if someone in MPO has put in big offseason work and is ripping 50 feet further or has a new putting style. But I could find all that out 2 weeks later at the Las Vegas challenge and be totally fine. The product being put out better be good for me to pay attention.

I’ll give the DGPT the benefit of the doubt and be playing the All Star weekend on my laptop though. It’s year 2 of All-Stars, and they’re just getting back into the swing of things after the offseason.

So that’s some things that I feel strongly enough about to put into a blog. The beef jerky rankings could have been a blog by themselves, but I don’t think there’s much of a call for that.

Feel free to let me know what you think of my opinions in the comments. Or come into the shop if you’re in the area, we always love visitors.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397