Forward Momentum (Day 9 of 365)

The plan was to talk about the 2025 PDGA Rule Book today.

I'm not feeling that today.

I will be moving that piece back to 1/14.

There's a lot of other stuff on my mind today. The kind of stuff I want to talk about way more than boring PDGA rules.

I'm assuming I'll need a brain dump day like this once a week. 

It's genuinely nice to be able to talk about what I want.

I have come to appreciate how genuinely amazing it is that I have this outlet to speak. 

Many do not get a platform. I get to speak to all of Mint with this blog. I am lucky in that regard. Ears listen for me that do not for others who need it more.

My opinions might not always be right but people will still be listening and reading. It's a weird feeling to know you have peoples ear. With that attention comes a sense of responsibility. 

So thank you again to everyone that has come to chat with me in person about this blog, specifically my opening one. The responses have helped me cherish this opportunity even more. 

I am realizing now that I am not just here to talk, but to listen. What you have to say in those moments of passing are important. I am going to try to embrace the fact that sometimes I just need to be here to listen, not to talk. Your ideas need to matter more than ours. I think that's an important part of building a good community. We have to understand what you want. 

One thing I covered in my initial blog was a feeling of not having a specific direction for myself.

There had always been "a next step" for me in disc golf. Then there wasn't.

We had accomplished some big things. The steps were huge. I asked others to take them with me.

US Women's was one of those steps. So was Sprinkle Valley. 

Making Austin the Disc Golf Capital of the World is my next step.

I don't think I really firmly believed that again until I wrote the first blog. By finally writing it out publicly, that become my next step. It meant that if you saw me working, you knew that was my goal. I had to live up to that. If you worked with me in Austin, I put that expectation on you as well. 

Even if it's wrong, it sure does fit Austin.

We keep it weird.

The Live Music Capital of the World.

The Capital of Texas.

We are used to being the Capital.

We have hosted PDGA Majors, Disc Golf Pro Tour, and NADGT Finals. World Doubles used to be in the area too.

Each year we have local Texas tours like HOTT, Wildflower, Goose Promotions, and Armory come through.

The clubs. The courses. The endless amount of daily events.

The breweries embrace us.

Live Oak, Austin Beerworks, Red Horn, 512, Zilker. The list goes on.

Did you know Fierce Whiskers distillery has a course in South Austin too? 

Home to the Texas Disc Golf Hall of Fame. 

Waterloo Classic and The Capital of Texas Open.

Disc Nation and Play It Again each have two stores here.

Drop Zone is up in North Austin. 

Another Round just joined the party.

Have you heard about Dudes Dubs too?

Austin is the Disc Golf Capital of the World.

But is that what everyone else wants?

Am I being responsible by claiming that.

I'm not sure yet, but I guess we'll figure that out as we go.

I'm going to work like Austin is the Disc Golf Capital of the World.

Why not.

It set's the standard we all need to live up if we want to make disc golf better. You have to keep up to a claim like that. You can't slack. Others will come for it because others deserve it just as much as we do. Charlotte, Portland, DFW, Denver, Minneapolis...and so many more.

We have more we can do. Let's be proud to be the Capital city.

Now for some other news.

The Open at Austin is coming up soon.

We haven't really talked about the fact that The Open at Austin is also coming to Sprinkle Valley for 2 days.

MPO & FPO this time.

We'll have new turf and some new tees by the time the event is here. It's also time for us to have more volunteer days.

I will talk more about this event and Sprinkle on 1/11 but for now if you want to learn more go here: https://www.dgpt.com/event/2025-the-open-at-austin/

The "ninja" Salamander boxes are sold out.

Props to ZAMDesign for this design. It was all him.

He has this art on some sublimation shirts over on his website.

You can buy this shirt here if interested: https://www.zamdesign.com/search?q=ninja

Support him if you can please!

We will run more of this stamp in 2026. It was insanely popular. For now, it is sold out.

Thank you to everyone that purchased a box & apologies to those that were not able to secure one. I guess we need to make more next time.

Talk tomorrow

Upcoming Blog Topics:

• 1/10: 2025 Heart of Texas Tour (HOTT)
• 1/11: Sprinkle Valley
• 1/12: Team Tryout 2025 Recap & 2026 Plans
• 1/13: Community Hero
• 1/14: Thoughts on PDGA Rule Changes
• 1/15: Weekly Team Recap