Jesse, originally from USA, had played well all season and came 2^nd in several tournaments and won at the Quary Park Open in June. While Chris, in his first season on tour, was victorious at Burnlaw and Quarry Park in the spring and took second place at Quarry Park in the summer. So, the Burnlaw Equinox was set up for a fantastic decider between the two, with Chris an Am-Stats rating of 387.16, just 0.52 behind Jesse.

On the BDGA Forum, 5 weeks ago, Jesse let out his war-cry ‘Bring it on O’Brien, BRING IT ON!!!’ and with that, Chris quietly got to work.

Following a mediocre performance by Chris at the St Andrew's Open (9th & 10th August), a visit to his young ‘padawan’ Rick Murphy in Prudhoe helped to put him back on the right track. Rick pointed out that Chris needed to spin through on release in a more compact fashion. This tip, combined with focussing on a faster snap of the wrist helped produce a much better release of the disc and enabled Chris to begin driving with greater, power, control and consistency.

Another change was to simplify the contents of his disc golf bag! Chris adopted a philosophy of using fewer discs to do a wider range of jobs. The Tracker ESP was selected to be the new ‘go to’ driver. Chris took one of these down to Jesomnd Dene in Newcastle on 19th August and threw it back and forth along a tight fairway, averaging steady 95m throws. Many times the disc went into the bushes, and often wasn't easy to find. Rummaging around looking for his disc again and again gave Chris some valuable thinking time, which he used to motivate himself to keep his disc in play for the next attempt! So after a couple of hours of practice the the Tracker was tamed, and naturally flew on a low and straight trajectory or a long turnover drive or on a medium trajectory with a classic ‘s’ curve flight. At this time, Chris took a few notes, to help remind him of the key mechanical and mental process for greater consistency and success:

• Visualise the direction and trajectory

• Feel the true spirit of the moment

• Relax the body and mind, become centred

• Run up with a ‘springy’ skip in the step

• Stay compact and spin on the ball of the front foot smoothly

• SNAP the wrist (KEY) and watch the disc fly...
  

• And finally, be patient (also key!)
  

Chris stuck with the Tracker as his 'go to' driver for a week or so, then begun to put the technique to the test with some of his old favourites, such as the 150g Champion Teebird. Chris found that this disc was now so much easier to throw well! He was able to throw long hyzers, huge turnovers and also get 120m s-curve drives with it. The other disc that proved worthy of staying in the bag for the showdown at Burnlaw was the Predater ESP, a fast, overstable driver for headwinds and uphill drives.

Then the mid range section of the bag needed to be simplified, so Chris tested out a range of options, including the Buzzz FLX, Wasp ESP, Meteor ESP, but one disc that just felt right and had a great habit of hitting metal from all over the place was the Buzzz-D, so this was declared his new favourite disc (and not for the first time!). The Pro D Drone had always remained so reliable for headwinds and big hzyers - definately a must. The Meteor earned it’s place too, exclusively to attack the basket on hole 16 and for approaching the basket of 13.  

Chris then began to work on his putting, refining the technique he had learned from Derek Robins earlier in the year, with regular sessions of 20mins to 1 hour, he took his putting to a new level. The main thought being to follow through as if 'shaking hands with the basket'.

Chris putting for par on the 'jungle hole' in the Final, Sunday afternoon.

Chris stuck with his Pro Challenger for putting and practiced by playing a range of disciplined putting games and challenges, sometimes alone and sometimes with training buddy Rick Murphy.

The Soft Challenger proved to be a handy disc for 30 to 50m approaches, using a polished technique for that specific disc and type of shot… this soon became programmed into muscle memory. Here, for the first time, Chris really started to apply a pre-shot routine which resulted in hitting metal and sinking long shots with increasing regularity. Another valuable approach disc for Chris was (and still is!) the Soft APX - great for straighter lines to the basket, air-bouncers and turnover approach shots – these shots too slammed into the chains more and more frequently!

Leading up to the event, Chris considered his nutrition… he cut out all that was not good for him personally, such as wheat, milk, alcohol and sugar and instead stuck with a much healthier diet, including plenty of protein and fresh vegetables.

Chris picked up the pace with exercise too, by going swimming once per week, jogging a few miles here and there, and an occasional workout in the gym. Chris also began using a Powerball everyday to strengthen his forearms.

An insightful book called ‘The Inner Game of Golf’ by W. T Gallwey was keenly digested and Chris began applying many of the ideas into his game, with excellent results! 

So, at the end of August, with less than 4 weeks to go before the Equinox event, it was time to apply his new skills and strategies to the course. Over the following 2 weeks, Chris made several visits to Burnlaw to work out how he wanted to play each hole. Some highlights of this exercise included hitting metal in the par 3 14^th (Buzzz D), hitting chains on the par 3 16^th (Meteor) and ace on the 4^th (APX). The first of the two practice rounds yielded a score of 52, with a 7 birdies on the back nine!!!!!!! On the 18th, after the last putt dropped for birdie, Chris finally replied to Jesse's war-cry from 4 weeks before and shouted "Bring it on Denny, BRING IT ON!" The following week, in windy conditions, Chris then went on to shoot a decent round of 55, playing alongside Rick and Burnlaw resident, Vic Parker. 

With a week to go before the tournament, Chris rested his arm a little by toning down the frequency and duration of his practice sessions. Instead, he focussed more on the mental side of the game such as playing virtual videos in his head of the perfect shot on each hole. Chris also practiced some yoga here and there, which was great for keeping flexible and a strong sense of alertness. There was still a fair dose of putting practice going on too, of course!

On the Wednesday Chris went to the local rugby pitch in Ponteland with a couple of Traveler portable targets for an hour to keep the driving technique working. The best shot was a 92m Teebird that actually went into the basket!! 

So the work was done. The plan for the 48 hours before the tournament was to stick to the healthy diet and get plenty of rest.

And so it was time for Chris to translate the preparation into scores on the board… a round of 52 in the morning put Chris 5 shots ahead of Jesse, and joint leader overall. Then Chris played in the lead group alongside the top players from the open division – Woody, Bruce and Derek on the Saturday afternoon. Chris holed some sweet 12 to 15m putts to help secure a second round of 53. This further extended his lead from Jesse and as a bonus, maintained the position of joint leader for the overall event, tied with the great Master of British Disc Golf: Mr Derek Robins!

The Sunday morning was blessed with glorious sunshine, Chris was playing in the lead Amateur group alongside Jesse and Duncan for the 24-hole round. Chris continued to play well, going 5 under par after just 7 holes. A total score of 67 put Chris more than 20 shots clear of Jesse, who was lying in second place, and 1 shot ahead of Derek!

Chris driving with his sacred 150g Champion Teebird on the 'jungle hole' in the Final.

The 9 hole-final was a relaxed affair, with Chris’ two sons and his parents in the gallery. A score of 27 in the final put Chris 24 under par for the tournament and secured victory of the 2008 Amateur title.

Advanced Amateur Finalists. From left to right, Simon Fox, Chris O'Brien, Jesse Denny, Duncan Hartshorne, James Luton.

 

 

And, as if that wasn't enough, Chris finished 1 shot ahead of Robins to make it a real Walt Disney ending to an already perfect weekend!

 

  

See the Table of Results

See the Power Stats and Am Stats

More Pictures from the Burnlaw Equinox - All pictures courtesy of Alessa.

 

 

On behalf of all players - thank you to Gary and dear wife Rosie for hosting yet another superb event at Burnlaw.

 

 

The Future
Both Chris and Jesse are promoted into the Open Division for 2009, so the rivalry is set to continue. Will Chris' holistic approach to the game of Disc Golf serve him well next season? Watch this space!

The 2009 BDGA tour begins in February with the 'Frostbreaker' in Dorset.