It’s 8:25am on Easter Sunday. I’m sitting at the short tee on Hole 1 at the Ranch.

At 9:00am, the first card tees off. We’ve got water and ice out. 

Around 9:00am we expect a small storm to roll through. Maybe. 

I’m usually up by 5:00am on event days. Even if I don’t have to drive to the course.

By sometime close 7:00am I knew what today’s blog would be about. Another missed holiday.

For the last 5 years I’ve been doing this 5:00am to 10:pm grind every 2-3 weeks. Some months it’s every week.

I want to be able to wake up at 9:00am and then go have lunch with my family on Easter. Even if I’m not necessarily religious these days, I miss it.

Time management is why Mint has probably gotten this far. We use every hour of the day we can. It takes a toll, but it’s also who we all are. We were this way as players.

I was always there at 9:00am even if my tee was at 12:00pm. But when you run out of time in the day, that means you can’t do other things.

HOTT grew because it had Mints focus. For the last couple of years I’ve been fully aware that Mint now holds HOTT back.

When we took over HOTT the goals were simple:

1) Use the best courses. Preferably private ones. The competition was the focus, not the fun.

2) Affordable entries for AM players.

3) Feature local companies like Live Oak and Austin Beerworks that put their dollars into disc golf already.

4) Leave the courses better.

5) Reshape the Texas schedule and elevate key events into A-Tiers. 

I think we’ve stayed pretty true to that. It’s led to the development and improvement of many of the courses on the tour today. We also attracted the players that are here to be challenged, not just get paid out.

That being said, Sprinkle Valley wasn’t a thing when we first took over HOTT. It was also a big reason why we scaled back some of the amenities over the last couple of years(event attendance normalizing post COVID also played a part).

Mint needs to focus on Sprinkle now. I have known since 2023 that we were now holding back these events. We don’t have the time to add more to the events. We don’t have the resources to throw big parties.

So it’s time to find help.

My goal this year has been to transition HOTT into new hands that we can support/manage it rather than operate.

Why? Investing our resources into Sprinkle and Mint is also just a better path for the sport right now. The post-COVID attendance dip was proof of this for me. 

When players take breaks or quit competing, these dollars that were invested in them leave the sport with them. So it’s a balance as we grow.

I see a need to invest in things that last longer than the players right now. Sucks to say, but it’s just the reality of where the sport is.

So hopefully by 9:00am next Easter, I’m waking up to go hang out with family.

It is 8:58am. Two minutes.

Live on Hole 1

Round 3 of the Mint Discs Open is here.