I know it’s cliché to say that the year flew by, but it did. This year was different for me in one really unique way though. From the beginning of the year when I played my first Ice Bowl till after Halloween I was planning my tournament schedule. I played 14 tournaments, and eight unsanctioned events. 22 Events in 10 months, plus two leagues and numerous casual rounds with friends. Basically I was booked every weekend.
I started the year with a goal of earning 250 points in PDGA sanctioned events, that would be enough to earn an invite to the Amateur World Champs in 2016 (250 for Advanced Masters. Advanced and Intermediate need 700). I ended up with 373 points, so good enough perhaps. I learned a lot this first season so we’ll see what happens with the invitations to the Worlds. I learned that points awarded in the Advanced Masters division accumulate a lot slower than playing in either Intermediate or Advanced categories. It’s primarily because of the number of players in the categories, age protected categories are always smaller fields and points are partly awarded by how many other players you beat. Makes sense, but I was a little worried I might not make 250 points about halfway through the season. When I figured out I could accumulate points in any Amateur division (Intermediate, Advanced, Advanced-Masters) I played an out of state tourney in NJ in the Intermediate division where I placed second out of 16, earned me almost as many points as I had earned in adv. masters in all my previous tourneys combined. I will say that in playing advanced-masters the points incentive might not be that great, but the prizes have been generous and the opportunity to play guys your own age is nice.
All in all a good season I think. It started out o.k.,then I got beat up a bit, then I got whupped at the State Champs, then I won at Tamaqua and closed out the season strong with a pair of second place finishes. Looking at my calendar I have three Ice Bowls looming, a doubles challenge on the 9th, winter fun league and the putting league. Lots to do…