Laptop open.

YouTube on in the background.

It's Day 1 of competition at the 2025 United States Women's Disc Golf Championships.

They are in Manitowoc, WI this year.

From everything I know about the team running it, they have done a fantastic job getting ready for this weekend.

It's a really important event for the Women in this sport. One of the few large events where they are the focus of the disc golf world.

The pro men show up to caddie all week for their friends, teammates and signficant others. Many of the future US Champions are getting to meet their hero's for the first time like Lätt, Gannon, Pierce and of course Des Reading.

Last year, I heard a lot of the FPO competitors talking about how excited they are to meet the junior women each year at this event. You can tell they really want to help the next generation be the best they can. They know they need to be inspiration for whoever is going to be next up in FPO. It's not a vibe you get from the MPO crowd. 

For me though, I definitely was ignoring that this event was coming up.

Like, I knew it was coming up, but at no point until today did I think to myself: "Hey Zach, you should probably do a blog about USWSDGC since it's coming up again".

It wasn't until I got a text from a competitor today about a rain delay on the courses in WI that I considered doing a blog about my experience hosting a major.

Apparently my phone number was still showing on PDGA live and hadn't been updated. So players texted me asking what was going on with the rain delay thinking this was the number for the TD who is running it this year.

Shit happens.

That's how many little details have to get covered at these events and because one field in a database didn't get updated...the players were contacting the wrong person.

Anyways, until I got the texts, I had forgotten it was starting today. I've not wanted to talk about it. 

The same goes for The Open at Austin. I've very intentionally avoided explaining the why/who/where/when for Hole 18.

Some of those stories are for the people that experienced them, not you. They can't really be described in a blog or book or podcast. They aren't meant to be shared.

There are also relationships at play. I have to protect the interest of Mint and Sprinkle with the topics I talk about.

That being said...I do want to pass on my knowledge and experience.

I do not view running PDGA events or really any disc golf as a "private IP" thing.

We run things the way we do because others taught us. We adapted it in our own ways, but it took learning from other TDs and player feedback to start to dial in how we operate events. That information needs to be shared if we want to keep pushing the level at future events.

I plan to dedicate the next few days of this blog to last year's USWDGC.

To the operational stories and knowledge that I can share.

Some of 

Friday will be about the bidding process and general event planning from an administrative side.

Saturday will be about the courses. All the work we did to get those things ready.

Sunday...will be the experience during competition and the 1-2 weeks leading up to it. The hardest two weeks of my life. The good, the bad, and the amazing.

Within that general scope that I have laid out, are there any topics people want to hear about?

Like if you could ask me one question about UWSDGC, what would it be?

In general I am only going to talk about "my story" from Mint's perspective. If it's about something someone else did, or might embarrass a player...I am not answering it. I want to pass on lessons for the next TD or staff, not cause drama.

Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy it!

PS: Please take some time to watch USWDGC on the Disc Golf Network this weekend. Show the women some love this weekend!