💰 The culmination of the season

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. 

It’s officially the off-season. So starting today, you can expect only ONE edition of TPM every Wednesday until the 2024 season kicks off.

Let’s get into it.

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TOUR COVERAGE
DGPT Championship

RESULTS - 🏆RICKY WYSOCKI & MISSY GANNON

After a long season, it’s all led up to this. The Tour Championship had the best players, the hardest course, and the biggest purse.

In no particular order, here are the storylines you should remember or you may have missed:

1 - The new hardest course on Tour.

Heading into the event, the difficulty of “Nightmare Nevin” was drilled into everyone’s heads. In the first two days, the warnings were proven true as more than half of the best men and women shot worse than par.

But how was the new format received? It had mixed reactions. Some felt the flukiness didn’t reward top players enough, while others still found enjoyment in a possible Cinderella Story.

Towards the end, Jeff Spring reflected on the event and said the format would likely return next year with a few tweaks. Even if you hated it, you can’t deny that the combo of extreme woods/OB with a big paycheck made for entertaining golf.

2 - “It’s nice that my namesake is holding true.” - Big Money Missy

With Tattar out of the conversation, it was a 3-horse race between Scoggins, Mertsch, and Gannon. As the round progressed, no one really stepped up but Gannon kept it clean while the others smacked trees.

She stuck to her game, made all her C1X putts, and took the reins. Unknowingly, Gannon built herself a lead and added to her reputation of performing when big money is on the line.

Immediately after tapping in, Gannon celebrated with her BFF and new neighbor, Paige Pierce, down in Pensacola, FL. The $40k check will go to good use in her and her husband’s new house.

3 - Smelling blood, Ricky’s killer instincts took over.

If there’s one thing that Wysocki does best, it’s creating momentum and finishing strong. But before he won, he showed what was possible on this difficult track.

On Saturday, his -10 course record was described as insane, impossible, and the best round all year. Then on Sunday, he backed it up becoming a man-possessed as he drained huge putts at huge moments.

Reflecting on his year, Wysocki deserves to be proud of this accomplishment. By defending his Tour Championship title, he became the only player to win this event 3x.

Catrina Allen, Chris Dickerson, and now Missy Gannon have all won it twice. After over a decade on Tour, this legacy player isn’t done yet.

Ricky Wysocki is forever.

4 - Stories were rewritten.

Even with the format change, there were still impressive underdog storylines:

• In their 1st time qualifying for this event, Ali Smith, Jen Allen, & Stacie Rawnsley all started outside the cut line. But after making it and canceling early flights, they all walked away with the biggest paycheck of their careers

• In the past 2 months, Adam Hammes’s performance has been lacking: DNF’d at Worlds and missed cash at Idlewild & MVP. But on Friday, he shot a hot -8 to make the cut and finished 4th to cash a $9.5k check

5 - After a long season, tensions were high.

On Friday, Catrina Allen and Jessica Weese butted heads after finishing their round. Per the live scorer and Hole 18 Livestream, the pair hurled insults back and forth after disagreeing on Weese’s score.

While there’s been no love lost between them in the past, this particular incident has rumors flying. Some even believe Allen could be suspended by the PDGA for part of next season.

HIGHLIGHT

With Raptor Legs in full force, Wysocki’s C2 putting was the highlight of the weekend. And coming down the stretch on Sunday, here’s the 75-footer that deflated Kyle Klein:

NEWS
The European Powerhouse

Let’s talk about the biggest buzzwords in disc golf right now… Private Equity.

You either:
a) Know what it means for our sport
b) Have no idea what I’m talking about (and, at this point, are too afraid to ask)

So, just so we’re all on the same page…

On Monday, Jussi Meresmaa (Discmania founder) announced a move that everyone saw coming. Discmania was acquired by House of Discs earlier this summer.

No, you’re not having déjà vu… Unlike Dynamic Discs back in March, this was never announced. Founded back in 2006, Jussi’s Baby joins DD, Latitude 64, Westside, and Kastaplast under the parent company of HoD.

So what does this have to do with Private Equity? HoD is owned by 2 European private equity firms that plan to invest and streamline their manufacturers into a cohesive family.

Is this good or bad? According to DiscGolf.law, there’s nothing to fear. Like everyone, this parent company wants to make money and apparently, there’s still some to be made in disc golf.

But whenever money becomes a driver, then tough decisions will be made. The outlook of the disc market is the shakiest it’s ever been since Covid, and it wouldn’t be surprising if there were more consolidations coming.

But 2 questions still remain… What do we call this European empire? Pentalogy or Trilogy+?

POWERED BY POWERGRIP USA
Fresh Plastic

👉 Powergrip’s Highlight: Discmania Swirly S-Line FD (7|6|0|1)
For now, Discmania is operating as usual and they’ve got another Wednesday release.

Starting today at 11 AM ET, the fan-favorite FD comes out in Swirly S-Line plastic. The timing of this release is perfect as the fall season kicks into high gear.

With cooler weather, most courses get covered in thousands of camouflaging leaves. Your favorite orange or yellow disc will be lost instantly.

So grab the Swiss army knife of fairways and pick either a pink, blue, or purple color. Being relatively flat, this run of FDs is very similar to Ella Hansen’s Show Stopper.

FLICK TIPS & SCORING DISTANCE
Random Dubs

1️⃣ When you first started playing, the FH throw likely felt very one-sided. You either quickly picked it up with chop flexes or it still flies like a dead duck to this day.

According to Joseph Phillips (co-owner of Another Round & ace whisperer), the best way to improve your FH is to play catch. With a putter or mid in hand, force your friend to warm up with some tosses before a round.

After a while, you’ll learn more angles and the importance of emphasizing the wrist flick in these low-power throws. Then just pretend the basket is your friend…

2️⃣ Fun fact: The only person to choose their own PDGA number was John Kirkland (#100). As a close friend of “Steady” Ed Headrick, he was given the rare opportunity early on.

A less fun fact: The “drive for show, putt for dough” phrase is mostly untrue. Neither will save you strokes as much as accurate upshots.

On PDGA Radio, Kirkland - now 76 years old - shared his wisdom on improving your game. He thinks that getting up and down from <300 ft is very underrated.

In ball golf, your “scoring distance” is extremely important to lower your handicap, and it’s no different in our sport. So start your off-season training now by dialing in your upshots.

Meme of the Week

Thanks for reading today. Get out and miss 1st available this week!

- Charlie