🔥 Disc side of Heaven and hell

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. The only newsletter where April showers bring May league hours.

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If you missed Jonesboro’s preview, then I got you: Ticks Suck

Let’s get into it.

JONESBORO OPEN

RESULTS - 🏆CALVIN HEIMBURG & KAT MERTSCH

As the last stop before the West Coast Swing, Jonesboro gave us one of the most entertaining weekends to date. Here are the storylines you should remember or you may have missed:

1 - Two-faced course - Disc Side of Heaven and Hell.

For Friday & Saturday, “the air was literally not moving” at the Disc Side of Heaven course. This was not normal, as it’s designed with AR winds in mind.

With optimal conditions, players burned this course to the ground. The two MPO leaders shot back-to-back rounds of -13’s but took a backseat to James Conrad and “The Heavenly Round.”

With an intentional par on Hole 5, Conrad shot -17 on Saturday. He was locked in with 100% C1X putting and 83% C2 putting.

Blowing past the previous course record (-14), it was one of the most spectacular rounds in DGPT’s history. But the conditions changed to 20mph sustained winds, and the course showed its teeth.

Conrad went all the way down to 16 strokes worse with a -1 final round. The course WAS soft, and then it wasn’t. Either way, Jonesboro is exhilarating.

2 - It came down to an FPO cage match.

There was a battle on lead card all Sunday morning. The lead bounced around more than tee shots in the wind, and it was all eyes on the young stars.

Kat Mertsch (age 21), Hailey King (21), and Aria Castruita (17) fought for the win, but Macho Mertsch was the last woman standing. Her home state cheered her on and viewers teared up at her emotional playoff finish.

She may not believe in a home-state advantage, but a local legend - James Lecy - was on the bag. He’s known her since she started playing and helped keep her tendencies in check.

This breakthrough win will go down as the biggest in her career… so far. With her 1st DGPT win behind her, Mertsch’s motivation and goofiness will never go away. FPO is in good hands.

3 - Families that disc golf together, win together.

For the 1st time, Aria Castruita finished on the podium at a DGPT event. And while that’s usually a career-defining moment, she’s accomplished so much already:

• 2022 PDGA Rookie of the Year

• 2021 Junior ≤15 World Champ

• 2021 NADGT FPO Champ

• 2019 Next Gen Champ

But Aria isn’t the only person in the Castruita family that has all those wins. Being the middle child, she has two sisters - Melody & Haley - that have their own junior world titles and dominate the Austin, TX scene.

With her dad on the bag, this was an experience that will lead to her next great performance. She’s not fully on Tour yet, but she and her family are clearly living disc golf and will continue making their name known.

4 - The Terminator of Jonesboro continues his consistency.

With fewer mistakes than McMahon, Heimburg closed out his 2nd Jonesboro in a row becoming the 3x champ. He’s finally #1 in all the different rankings and has expanded his stranglehold on DGPT points.

It’s only May and he’s already taken down 3 2.5 events. With McBeth & Wysocki nowhere to be found, it’s safe to say 2023 is officially The Year of Vinny.

And with his early season dominance, don’t be surprised to see him dropping out of Silver Events. During the press conference, he mentioned he won’t play them unless he needs the points… which he doesn’t.

As for FPO’s consistent force, Kristin Tattar played below expectations placing 6th. Her Major hangover finally caught up and the prospect of heading home for May couldn’t come quicker.

5 - The ratings debate finds new life with The Heavenly Round.

Conrad’s unimaginable -17 round will go down in the record books, but on his PDGA page, it’ll forever be rated as 1101. To some that isn’t high enough.

As a reminder, here’s the ELI5 of round ratings: The comparison of a player’s rating and score against everyone else’s rating and same round score. 1 stroke is assigned a point value based on those factors.

Because this course had minimal OB and wind, scoring separation was low and each stroke affected the rating less. Compared to Fountain Hills which has tons of OB, Disc Side of Heaven can’t cough up an 1132 round with the current system.

Big Jerm is the loudest proponent of changing it. He wants a curve to recognize that “it gets progressively more difficult to shave those extra shots the better a round gets.”

The debate sparks up every time a jaw-dropping round gets recorded. And it will continue to go round and round for eternity (or until the PDGA changes it).

HIGHLIGHT

On the road to victory, Mertsch was the ONLY FPO competitor to eagle Hole 14. She did so in Round 1 with a 500ft bomb from the same tee as MPO.

FRESH PLASTIC

Sponsored by Powergrip USA… A PRETTY GOOD disc golf shop.

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The Mystery Box exclusive from months ago is now dropping for its C-line stock release tomorrow (5/3) at 11AM ET.

Formerly known as the CD2, the CD1 is the epitome of fairway drivers. The domey 9-speed fits like a glove and its neutral stability makes it useful for all shot types.

For most throwers, this disc can be your farthest flyer while doubling as a FH straight-shooter. For Crush Boys, the control driver has great torque resistance for baby hyzer flips and turnovers.

Similar throwers are the Discraft Undertaker or MVP Tesla. Add to your 9-speed collection with Powergrip USA.

RANDOM DUBS

1️⃣ Coach Chris Taylor is back at it again with another myth busted. For years, online form reviewers would advise pocketing your off-hand to practice rotational speed.

With 3D motion capture of David Wiggins Jr., Coach explains that the off-arm’s role is to assist with maintaining balance and proper timing. He recommends to never “try to ‘anchor’ or restrict anything in a throw.”

2️⃣ If you’re from any southern state, then the name Tom Monroe likely means something. From Huntsville, AL, he’s PDGA #33 and is known for his role in spreading disc sports across the country, especially the American South.

As our Johnny Appleseed or Jack Nicklaus, Monroe has many accolades. Here are just a few:

• 1 Master World title & 7 Grandmaster World titles

• Inducted in the DG Hall of Fame’s inaugural class (1993)

• Designed many courses in AL

Typically, he’s at his local course spreading the love of DG from the back of his car. But earlier this year, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and has had several life-saving surgeries.

Four days ago, a GoFundMe was created to help ease his healthcare costs. See if you can contribute to the other donations totaling over $20k.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Thanks for reading today. Get out and splurge on supreme this week!

- Charlie