Mac Givens Disc Golf

24th Azalea Open Recap

I decided somewhat last minute to play a B tier about two hours away in Wilmington. It was a decent field, in a good course with a lot of added cash so I figured why not.

Round 1:
I played pretty good this round but tbh I felt like I could do no wrong in the course. A lot of good breaks that I capitalized on led to a really good opener and a tie for the lead.

Round 2:
I don’t know why but I hit a huge wall on the first tee this round. My energy levels were very low the entire round which threw everything off. I drank an entire energy drink which just didn’t help. It was the worst my forehand has looked in probably three or four years. I missed multiple shorter C1 putts. It was just all around BAD. This dropped me pretty far off the lead and into chase card.

Round 3:
This was probably the round that I actually played the best. I was cruising all round getting birdies when I could and parring the rest, until hole 15. A long C2 putt hit cage and rolled away, then I missed a 20 foot putt to take my first bogey and it just kind of went downhill from there. Missed an easy birdie hole next, then did birdie an easy par 4. Hole 18 my disc randomly decided it didn’t want to flip like it had been all weekend so I ended up in a super pinched spot and bogeyed. Final hole I threw a good drive that caught a pinecone and stopped around circles edge short. Threw a good putt into a head cross that didn’t lift and got nubbed (we gotta get rid of those things). Really disappointing finish to an otherwise good round. I was on pace to come back for a second place finish but ended up in sixth. Disc golf is crazy that way sometimes.

I feel like overall I’m happy with where my play is at currently but I NEED to figure out how to put three good rounds together. Round 2 was frankly embarrassing and should never happen. My putting stroke feels good but is still occasionally misfiring which I need to fix with a lot of practice putting. Bright future but still plenty of work to do.

Shoutout to my sponsors Prodigy Disc and Tree Magnets Disc Golf. My F3 and my Archives were doing work for me.

Al Glory goes to God.

DGPT Q-Series: Blue Ridge Championships Recap
This weekend, I played the Q series event at North Cove. I haven’t been here since 2022 CDG Nationals, before the hurricane damage. Since then, the course has changed fairly significantly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out there in time to get any practice rounds in, so I played round 1 fairly blind.

Round 1:
I actually felt like I was throwing and putting really well, but I definitely lost strokes to a lack of course knowledge and some pretty bad breaks. Despite a poor scoring round, I wasn’t feeling discouraged because my throw felt good and my putts were clean.

Round 2:
This was the opposite of round 1. My play felt substantially worse this round. My throws were a little off, leaving me with a ton of awkward putts, none of which converted into birdies. A silver lining is that this was the cleanest scorecard of the three rounds, despite rainy and windy conditions. I just couldn’t score the majority of the round. I did step up and birdie the last three holes to salvage a somewhat decent round.

Round 3:
This round started out a little slow with a bogey on the first hole. However after I (finally) birdied hole 3, I switched gears and went on a huge birdie streak. With the exception of hole 11, I birdied everything from 3-13. It felt really good to finally score like I know I can on this track.

Overall, I’m happy with the results. I feel like I performed decent overall for my first big tournament of the year. I also maintained my cash streak at Q series events. My throws are feeling strong and my putt is close to where I was when I was playing my best. I need to work on my forehand to make it a more reliable tool in my game.

Shoutout to my sponsors Prodigy Disc and Tree Magnets Disc Golf. My FX3 and FX4 were crucial on a lot of these touchy backhand shots and the Good Boys had my putt feeling confident despite strong winds.

All Glory goes to God. Jesus is Risen.