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I have 2 events that are 1,000+ miles that I will be able to bring it to during the next few months, so that will be fun, but I think on a day to day basis, I have to mix things up a little. I played 2 new courses this weekend in Washington, Fort Steilacoom and Mount Lake Terrace. I remembered how much I love playing in new places. I really don't enjoy visiting the same thing day after day. League is fun but seeing new courses or playing with new people is one of the main reasons I wanted to go on the road in the first place. So, I have a big ole' moveable house, I think I'm going to try to live more adventurously while I'm here. There are plenty of courses within an hour or two of Portland that I haven't played, and I'm going to play them all, dammit! Who says just because you have a day job that you have to have boring weekdays? That life isn't for me. If I want to camp at Milo on a Tuesday, I'm going to do it! Hopefully this will help my "I feel stuck here" mentality. You only live once, I refuse to only live for the weekends. Also, I guarantee new courses every week will help improve my game too. My new house: PLC is a 2002 with a brand new V10 engine (it can tow my other house!!). It looks like it's barely been used on the inside, it's just a little outdated. I'll be doing a before and after for sure!! I'm crafty, creative and handy so I'm going to make this baby my own. I can't wait to show it off once it's done! There hasn't been a whole lot going on golf wise as I had a weekend off to do projects with my best friend. I'm happy to say I'm shooting lower and lower scores consistently without any work, and even rounds at my home course that feel pretty awful end up putting me at +2 (where I used to shoot +10). Life is good. Simple even. Even though I always have a lot going on, they're all positive and progressive. I wish I had more to share this week but I feel so centered, and at peace with the direction I am headed. Oh, I almost forgot!!!! If you click around the blog a bit, you'll find some tabs with tips and info and some videos I made for beginners and the like. Right now the content is small but there is more to come and they're basics for a lot of people but I've had some of the most amazing teachers in my disc golf life and these are bits and pieces of what made me a good golfer today, I wanted to share. Enjoy :) Next up: -Huk for Independence/first maiden voyage for Penelope Cruise -Then, HOLY CATS AM WORLDS! For the love of frisbees, Tina Hey guys!
I took home 1st in my third event this year! If I really take a step back and look at the last 6 months, they’ve been full of success and many things I had not thought possible yet. I feel like when you’re in the middle of all the craziness, you can forget how many amazing things are actually going on! This week specifically there’s a TON of chaos, but I like it that way. I have about 500 projects I’m in the middle of, but they’re all exciting and wonderful and I feel like I am making a difference in the world (the disc golf one anyhow) and that is what really matters to me. I started a few projects/concepts to give back to my fellow ladies in the sport in hopes to grow it and improve it for everyone’s future here. I’ve tackled a bunch of pieces of my business that have been on my “to do” list for over a year. And most excitingly, I believe I’ve nailed down my future home on the road a fully self-contained motor home. And by future, I may very well mean this week...whale see what happens, fingers crossed. There of course has been a lot of turmoil as well but I feel so incredibly strong pushing the bad from my mind more often than not. My GREAT days hugely outweigh my tough ones and it’s only going to get better. As for golf, I want to talk about a part of my game that I discovered this weekend. Golf has felt amazing recently. My putts have been going in, my drives are further than ever and accurate (thank you DDx) and I’ve been shooting my personal course records in most of my rounds all while feeling easy. I made a post a few weeks ago about my decision to move up to Open next month and I mentioned that watching the pro women’s concentration made me realize how quickly I throw and how little time I take for each shot. I went into this weekend’s tournament thinking about that. “If I take my time on each shot and give it my all, I will play better.” I was wrong. Round one started and I was trying to focus so hard! That was a terrible decision. I played my entire first round feeling very competitive, and trying to focus on each and every shot. Well, I think I just don’t don’t function like that. I’m more of a Cam Todd than a Philo, and that’s okay. Everyone has their own golf style and maybe someday I will be the type that can easily focus and take their time but there is so much crap running around in my brain right now, it’s much better for me to walk up to my lie and think “oh sweet, I totally know how to throw frisbees…*toss*” move on. I walked away from the first round shooting an 813 rated round...yikes...and it certainly felt like it, and I had a bad attitude. I took a few minutes by myself afterwards and tried to figure out what went wrong. I realized that I need to keep playing for the fun, keep playing with a casual mindset, let every missed putt go, forget every OB stroke and move on, smile, skip, and love your frisbees. My second round I approached this way and shot 9 strokes better, had a great time and ended up winning by 3 when I started behind the lead by 8. It’s alllllllll mental! You all probably know I very recently came out of a 2 month slump of bad golf and negative thinking, and now I’m back in love with disc golf, BUT, that is still a new feeling. I need to be careful about how competitive I am being because it’ll suck the fun RIGHT BACK OUT without me even noticing and that is not okay with me. I am in no place to push myself too hard during a tournament. I know there is a tricky balance to still enjoy it while competing and the FUN aspect of disc golf is 9,000 times more important to me than winning. I think we need a reminder of that sometimes. Not everyone is the same, but allow yourself to find what works for you and most importantly, don’t be so damn hard on yourself when you’re struggling! In other news, I picked up a sponsorship from our local Salem, OR disc golf shop - Tiger Discs! Roger has supported Whale Sacs over the last 2 years and asked me to join the team. I have the opportunity to do some clinics for the ladies in the area and have his support for my tour! Thanks again Roger for having me! Next up: -A weekend off?!?!?! -Huk For Independance - North Plains, OR -AM WORLDS/Tina gets to spend her birthday with her family for the first time in 3 years!!!!!!!! -PRO Status! Plug: If you have a moment to check out the Whale Sacs site, I did some construction and just put up a bunch of new inventory, I promise it’s all cute! Life is good, even when it’s hard. Love your frisbees and keep your chins up, Tina Life is in a weird place right now but overall things are going remarkably well, especially compared to 2 months ago. I’m getting out of my slump like I promised I would in my last blog. The positive thoughts and vibes and all around good things are back and I feel like my old self again. I’m not 100% there, but boy am I close.
I am asked often these days what my living situation is like. Most of you know I own a 27 ft travel trailer that I’ve lived in for over a year. Unfortunately, because of the fact that I don’t own a truck and it costs an arm and a leg to move it from Arizona to Oregon, Elizabeth Trailer remains in Arizona. I’m coming up on a strange situation where my Prius just isn’t doing it for me right now. My inventory is growing, my need/want to stay in my car on weekends is also growing but it’s just not working out. I am staying in an apartment in Portland right now, and will be relocating to a friend’s house nearby (thank you Kara for your kind heart and allowing me to stay with you). But there’s this little feeling that won’t go away. Well, not little, it’s there all the time and it’s pesky. I dearly miss RV life. You’d think having laundry and space and a comfy couch and places you can actually do yoga and a full shower you can use for more than 5 minutes would be a luxury (though I do like the occasional hotel). But I don’t love it. There’s something about that small simple space in an RV that my mind/soul craves. That small space and the ability to pick it up and go anywhere while never feeling stuck. That feeling is irreplaceable. I didn’t realize how much of that was so important to my happiness, but it is. Anyhow. I’m looking into road vehicles/trailers,etc. right now, trying to figure out the right scenario and I’m selling my 27 footer when I get back to Arizona anyhow. I have a hell of a long schedule still while I’m Oregon for the next few months and I’d like to be able to travel and work comfortably and hopefully have space for a tour buddy too. Right now, I am almost exactly one month into working at the bank, that means for sure another 2 months left, perhaps 3 depending on the scenario. It’s gone quick, but imagining another 3 months here at this desk when I want to be out playing is a little unbearable to think about so I try to focus on today, and the future tour and not dwell on the middle part. It will work in my favor in the long run, and already is, and in reality it is just a small blip in my career. There’s so much golf to look forward to in the future! Which brings me to the rest of the season! I posted my schedule yesterday on facebook and I have made the decision to play in the open division after AM Worlds - despite the outcome. A handful of things lead to this and it may seem strange after just coming out of an extremely low rated couple of months. -I watched the pro women field at the Lynx and I noticed a few things, a. I can totally throw that far and that accurately (most of the time), b. with confidence like they have, I can make most of those putts, c. I really don’t focus or put nearly as much effort into my shots as they do and that is completely fixable. -Next, I was scrolling through my ratings detail on the PDGA and noticed one large outlying factor. Every time I played open, I’d shoot one of my worst rated rounds simply because of pressure. I’ve overcome so many types of pressure strictly because I did it over and over and over until it was second nature, and I know this is the same thing. If I challenge myself against those girls, I will get better and I will improve and I will handle that pressure with ease. -Ya’ll know Eric, The Eric Oakley, Putterpants, Team Coordinator, etc. He just won his first ever open tournament which was also an A-tier and also against a LOT of really good players (Fort Steilacoom Open). I’ve seen Eric struggle through a lot of the same golf issues as myself and his story is inspirational. He’s trained and he’s fought and he’s shot great rounds followed by bad ones and he never quit. He never let his rating or other people's expectations of his game slow him down and he came up and beat a bunch of thousand rated players - through persistence, and accepting the tough times as a challenge to get better. Seeing that kind of success story has really allowed me to look at my rough time in a different light, a bright hopeful one where determination pays off. -Lastly - just determination. Something happened to me in the last few weeks where I feel I am getting to the edge of the fence where although I may be comfortable in AM, I’m not pushing myself as hard as I want to. I’m here in this sport to someday compete with the BEST (and someday BE the best)! I think it’s important to give yourself time in the right divisions while you’re figuring things out and that only you can decide when it’s time to move up. But for me it is time. I’ve learned what I can from the AM division, I’ve won some things, I’ve lost some things, I’ve shot terrible rounds, and stellar rounds I’ve let myself down, I’ve battled pressure, I’ve overcome huge issues and now I’m ready. I’m ready to be humbled and to observe and absorb and to focus better and to take each stroke/each round in stride, and to tour alongside my heros who are now my friends. This is not the year I had planned, not even a little, but it’s STILL MY YEAR! Next year will be even bigger! Thanks for reading, this is a long one but I’ve come out of my swamp and I’m ready to kick life’s ass! For the love of frisbees, Tina |
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Tina Stanaitis - Professional Disc Golfer (#68076), Entrepreneur, Full Time RVer, and Dream Follower Extraordinaire!
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