The Upshot: 2024 Season Preview

Charlie Eisenhood and Josh Mansfield welcome in Brian Earhart to talk about the 2024 Disc Golf Pro Tour season! From new rules and new courses to the most interesting on-course storylines, they break down all aspects of the tour as they get exited for the year ahead.

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0:00 Changes to the 2024 Pro Tour
4:30 Clearing Lies
9:10 Group Pace of Play
12:40 Aggregate Playoff Holes
17:30 Course Changes & Additions
26:00 Emporia CC Gettting Overhauled
33:50 2024 MPO Major Winners
39:10 New Putting Records
43:20 Least Likely Repeat Winners
46:20 MPO POTY & Event Winner Candidates
51:30 Who’s First? Heimburg or Barela
54:50 Breakout Candidates
1:00:55 Who Could Beat Tattar?
1:04:20 Does Tattar Hit 1000?

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Welcome to the upshot UL World dis golfs podcast about the latest in the dis golf world I’m the editor Charlie Eisen Hood joining me is Josh bfield as always and today we have a special guest Brian aart is back with us on the program Brian welcome how are you I am fantastic just

Gearing up for tour yet again thanks for having me great to have you on this Thursday February 8th we are so close to the start of the 2024 season and it’s a chance today for us to kind of lay out the land and get you ready for the

Season now there’s going to be a little bit of uh nuts and bolts today for those of you who are maybe a little bit newer to following the tour trying to kind of understand how it works uh it’s a lot less confusing than it was like even

Three years ago when we had the national tour and the pro tour and there were these different point series and it was all very complicated these days it’s pretty much we got the dis golf pro tour events we’ve got the majors they all feed into the same point system with the

Top players qualifying to play at the Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship there is also now a semiseparable but most of the big tournaments over there also feed points into the main disc golf pro tour point standings and it all makes sense regular events are worth 100 points for a win and as events

Get more prestigious like the elite plus events the playoffs and then the majors at the top they each get progressively more points so winning a major is worth twice as much now as winning a regular season tournament great change from the tour love to see that and uh it really

Feels like things are correctly aligned in terms of incentives for players to go to select events Brian you’re a veteran of the tour uh how do you feel like the sort of the evolution of the kind of like beginning to the end of the season focus is now that we’re here in

20124 yeah I think the biggest change is that there’s just less tournaments and I think last year um I think Calvin heimberg was actually the most vocal about this but you know with the silver series kind of being in place last year or the silver events as they called them

Um they were 50% of the points and a lot of players felt like they had to play an extra five six tournaments on the season and then towards the end you got that crazy stretch of four round tournament four round tournament major major major uh I think a lot of players just got

Fried and injured and uh it kind of made for a uh stressful finish for for a lot of the players this year we have done away with the silver events uh we’re adding a different type of series I believe in regards to qualifying to get

A tour card um but now the players can focus on the big ones and I also believe that the majors should be worth more um I know that there’s been talks in the past that Majors sometimes don’t feel like they’re as important as they used to be because every player that’s at

Idle Wild is probably going to be at the Majors as well I’m not to say that Idol wild is not a big tournament but it’s just a regular Elite Series event um but there should be a field there there should be an event where we assign um a

Lot of uh importance to it and I think it’s a great change I think twice the points is totally understandable I mean again if you have a player like Isaac Robinson who wins two major events like he did last year uh and maybe he does average at some of the other events he

Should still be way up the the points list he should still be way up the leaderboard board so I I love it I think it’s great so I want to talk about a couple of things that may have gone under the radar for you uh there are some rule changes here in

2024 nothing that’s too dramatic but there are a few things that we could see affect tour uh and a lot of the changes are more clerical in nature but there are three I think that really rise to the level of being interesting to fans of professional disc golf um and the

First one we talked about we were just talking about it in our pre-show discussion the rules about clearing the LIE of you know a stick or an obstacle that’s that’s behind your lie has changed uh it used to read that you you were able to move things that were in a

Position where you might take a stance so if there was a stick right behind your disc you could move it but now the rule says you can move any obstacle that is behind your lock Li anywhere so if there’s something that is maybe in the path on your runup but wouldn’t be in

Your stance you can now remove that obstacle so that you have a clean runup Josh how do you feel about this change uh this this is an excellent change because and and a lot of people speculated that this rule kind of came from when at Worlds Paul moved a stump

That was intentionally placed as an obstacle of part of the green and then the next year we get this rule that says you know you can’t move anything uh except that’s that’s in your lie and what I what I think is interesting and was a problem you saw videos of like

Pros who would and I think Casey white was one of them or like Alden Harris they would lay down behind their disc to establish a legal supporting lie and then stretch out to show how far back they could clear stuff and that that was kind of like their joke about like how

Far you can take this rule but but the point is is that in especially wooded courses when you want to have a run up and you just have an unfortunate limb that has fallen in your path it doesn’t make sense from a safety perspective if

You have rocks in your lie that you know if you were to take a step um just a one step for for your throw could really jeopardize safety without much return and so I think this is an excellent change I I think it’s a change that really is oriented towards player safety

And one that was a big mistake by the PDGA in the first place and I’m glad that they’ve re to fight it I feel like you know like what’s what’s the counter point I don’t even know that there is one oh you should avoid that stick on

The left side of the Fairway 350 ft down that you can’t see from the tea like it’s so stupid like there’s already enough weird Randomness in dis golf that like requiring people to have to do a little jump over a a rock or a stick in

Order to be able to throw their shot or be forced into a standstill because of like essentially total Randomness uh it’s already random enough when you get tucked behind a tree and you have to go to a patent pending let’s not make people roll their ankles on random debris I’ll take that Counterpoint

Charlie and I’m not saying that I agree with the Counterpoint um but I I I definitely understand uh the other side of it and first off I think also going along with what Josh is saying I think one of the reasons for the rule change originally of making it harder to clear

Things out of your lie was for pace of play I think that also was a factor in it because sometimes players will take that a long way clearing debris out of their lie and they’ll have the the card come help them out um and it takes quite

A bit of time and then you have four players doing that maybe it’s a wooded Par Four maybe you have players doing that four or five times per hole and you have kind of a tough situation so um going along with the fact that players are not necessarily calling the clearing

Of debris part of the 30 seconds of throwing you do have some backups that that start up because of that so I understand that but then also on the other side if we just throw that in the trash and we try to come up with a gameplay counterargument um I think some

People want the players to just adapt and you throw off the tead you should have no obstacles when you’re out there on the course you should be able to throw a standstill and I think they they wanted to see the players um not not always have a perfect runup tead so to

Speak uh to throw the shot but I I agree in the sense that uh there’s enough uh challenge in footing and dis golf anyway um and even if you clear your lie of debris most of the time there’s going to be stumps there’s going to be Roots

There’s there’s going to be slickness on the ground stuff that you can’t necessarily see or uh predict ahead of time so yeah I I agree I think it’s a great change yeah slopes and weird ditches and things like that are still going to force players to throw

Standstills all the time um speaking of pace of play That’s Another big change there’s now a rule on the books and this is essentially what you see in the PGA Tour an entire group can get put on the clock if a group is causing slow play uh as opposed to just a single

Individual out there playing slowly um it will be interesting to see how this is utilized buy TDS buy the tour uh because often times you do see if there’s a couple of slow players on a card the card ends up being glacial and perhaps you could argue that that’s only

Due to the one or two players who are playing slowly but their partners are often not calling them on time violations not pressing them to play more quickly and you then end up with one card playing super slow there’s now a mechanism in the rules for the entire

Card to be put on the clock and then you have an official timing everybody on the card and if if they’re still playing slow the whole group can get stroked so I like this change because I think that it incentivizes better overall enforcement of the rules by the players themselves

Because they don’t want to have to get put on the clock as a group and to me while this will be rarely used I expect we’ll see it a couple times this season and probably once you put the group on the clock everyone’s going to play a lot faster uh

And you won’t need to actually send out Strokes in order to make things improve thoughts I’ll I’ll take this one first I think uh anything to get the players to self- officiate more is good uh on the other side of that I think we talked about this briefly before the podcast starts or

Started uh we’ll see if the players actually are forced to have to call themselves more we’ll see how ridiculous 30 seconds actually is we’ll see if it’s an appropriate amount of time or with all the randomness in dis golf uh if it’s not enough time and we could go through

A really uncomfortable period where players are like what the heck this is just simply not enough time to throw and now I’m getting stroked um you know frequently I I don’t know we’ll see how it goes but I think it’s going to be great to uncover how valuable and uh

Accurate the 30 second rule actually is now that it’s going to start to get called more uh I think I the reason I like the group play One is because what it does it’s the 302 rule is odd but the way that we like the rule feels and and

When you look at slow Play It’s not that because one player takes more than 30 seconds one or two times that it’s a problem right it’s it’s per people who take chronically long in certain situations or are regularly taking too long and it’s funny because I almost think of

The quote like you know the phrase I know it when I see it like I don’t exactly know how slow is slow play but I know it when I see it and and the reason I know it is because there’s backups on parts of the courses where there

Shouldn’t be and so this targets the oh yeah I know it when I see it kind of mentality when you are walking along the course and you see a backup with a card and it’s not on whole 12 ledg stone then you should probably be looking at that

Card and starting to follow them and decide if they need to be put on the clock and that’s a high bar Josh only whole 12 and lone is in a legitimate backup hole um but but at least you you start asking questions at that point and

I think I think that’s what I like about this change all right the last one of note and no real indication at this time whether we’re going to see this used on tour but I bet we will once or twice this season the playoff rule of course

You know we all know what a playoff looks like sudden death players you know if they’re tied at the end of regulation they go to a hole they play the hole if they tie they keep playing but if one player you know beats the score of the

Other player on the hole the tournament is over and they’re Crown The Champ now you can also choose as a tournament director to play a set of six or fewer holes that is an aggregate playoff so you could say okay our playoff is H 16

17 18 and whoever has the best score at the end of those three holes gets to gets wins the tournament um and then perhaps if it’s still tied you go to a sudden death at that point uh I think one of the problems with the sudden death playoff system while it is certainly

Exciting it’s very random you know you’re playing one hole maybe two holes and it just feels like you know one player makes one bad shot and it’s over and so you go to a playoff and even if you have Kristen Tatar number one player on Earth by a mile playing

Against Holland Handley who’s had this great tournament but you know kind of coughed up some Strokes late they play one hole and Holland wins and it was exciting at throw pink there’s no question about it but what would it looked like if they had played the full set of potential playoff holes once

Through I think that has an opportunity to be a lot more strategically interesting a lot more decision making to talk about and feels like a little less fluky as a way to decide who actually wins the tournament what do you think Josh yeah uh first be careful with

The word fluky uh the Discord will come after you so it’s that’s a dangerous word here I here’s the biggest problem with a sudden death playoff format as it previously was the the the decision-making calculus was so heavily tilted in the in the direction of you

Must play safe you cannot make a mistake so the priority is playing safe and waiting to see which player makes a mistake while there is some interest to that it there was never an incentive to make the hero shot to go for what would

Be a little bit more of a risky shot to get an advantage on your opponent uh number one because I think the holes often the playoff doesn’t develop long enough and so we’re playing holes that you know you only have like one hole so there isn’t a lot of decision- making uh

Outside of that singular hole but but number two now and what I think is more important is because it’s an aggregate one mistake doesn’t feel like a death blow right off the bat and so maybe you do play a little bit riskier shot to gain an advantage and give yourself you

Know an easy Birdie on the first hole and then cruise and it like it it it now creates and balances out that calculus a little bit to the point that I think we will see some more interesting shots out of players as opposed to just both play

It safe play the easy route and see who makes a mistake first Brian anything to add I think it depends on the design of the holes that they’re playing um I think aggregate for uh usdgc or throw pink is fantastic I think whole 117 and 18 played aggregate

Uh is awesome um because I mean again like you said Holland coming down the stretch she got that great break on the drive but then she went OB I believe two more times after that and almost blew it and uh Kristen going OB on 17 might not have

Mattered if they were playing aggregate if you know Holland was struggling with that hole she just has the bad memory of what happened previously um it could be an extremely exciting finish to have a player make a mistake early and then be able to have this heroic comeback uh to

To win and also I think with sudden death the the coin flip matters too much too um I I like the idea that it doesn’t matter if the players are going first or second an aggregate because you have so many more shots to throw um and it’s

Guaranteed so um and you can steal the box from somebody if if necessary and it kind of balances itself out like that so I think that’s on the TDS and you know the tour or whoever makes the decisions to pick very intentionally like where the players are playing um because that

Definitely matters agreed agreed um one more note uh no no more notes on rules that’s the big stuff there and so changes how it affects the tour this season and and uh let’s talk now about the courses I think we already mentioned the big change the silver events have

Been eliminated there’s going to be a new qualifying tour like a set of tournaments that if you’re not a touring player you can play to accumulate points to get onto the tour this was always the long run plan for these silver tournaments but they ended up being sort

Of pro tour lights and you would have 25% of touring players playing them and but they kind of on you know it was like worse run events less oversight from the tour uh sometimes we got Great Courses sometimes we got Duds so now they’ve really streamlined the tour and created

A lot more space between events you know it’s not a lot of times in the season where we’re going to be going back to back and we certainly are not going to see what we saw last year where we had like five weekends in a row with Elite

Series or Majors uh it was way too much and this is something I’ve been looking forward to seeing for quite some time uh so I just wanted to note the the biggest changes uh some tournaments that are coming to the tour this year that were

Not on the tour last year first of all we’ve got the throw down the mountain property the now Olympus course that was bought by Paul MC Beth and Dylan CE that will be the uh kickoff tournament this year as Las Vegas challenge leaves the tour uh they are also bringing Beaver

State fling back to the tour we’ve got two brand new tour courses uh at Worlds that are going to be uh hosting down in Virginia that we’ll get to see and then Texas States is back it’s in Houston this year so that will be I believe a

Brand new course to tour uh do what do we know do you know the course much from from that tournament Brian you said Texas States yes yeah I I commentated uh a fantastic finish with sananda and Christen Tatar I think as an Foo course uh it scores really well I think um a

Lot of the players were very happy with how it was designed um some of them said it was kind of bland um just again being on flat ground um but I think it scored fantastic um and then for the men I think it got mixed reviews uh I think a

Lot of times players sometimes see the the Rope lining the fairways and they just kind of get tired of their holes getting consistently lined on either side but I thought the shot uh selection was pretty incredible I I I thought that Calvin put on a phenomenal show out

There um I thought it was one of the most compelling silver events on the tour um that’s right so this is Brock Park again yeah I had for I had kind of blocked this out of my mind maybe because it was called Innova open last year uh but I remember this course

Because it had all it had the the pin up on a really steep hill and that was when Sayan really went off that was like the big sond breakout tournament it was great it played so well I thought it was a really compelling course um and on

Both sides uh it delivered a really great result and I also love that there’s a separate FP and a separate no course which is rare and I I love it uh so those are the new courses to tour of course we have Champions Cup changing venues as WR Jackson has been

Essentially eliminated due to the tree clearing but they’re putting a new course in down at the idgc that should be ready for Champions Cup next year 2025 uh instead it will be played at Northwood black which means that that also affects ledstone because they won’t use Northwood black during ledstone this

Year it’ll be four rounds at Eureka uh but you know we know those courses of course very well so those are the big changes on the course front I think an interesting note we were talking beforehand about how last year it felt like there were a lot of

Open courses on the tour and I wanted to take a look at has that changed going into this year so I categorized the courses from last year and I picked out seven from the Elite Series so excluding Silvers that I either categorized as open or wide open that was Las Vegas

Challenge open at Austin Music City open Jonesboro OTB open uh DDO Dynamic dis open and Emporia uh and preserve and then the back half of the tour was like all Woods or Park U or mixed use stuff which makes sense you’re on the East Coast those are the kinds of courses we

Play on the East but Josh it looks a little different this year doesn’t it yeah it it really does and so if when I when we’ve been through into the same categorization the biggest change when we look at open or wide open courses we go down to six when we lose Las Vegas

Putting in then the chess.com Invitational at the throw down of the mountain property which really is a wooded course uh it’s very wooded it’s and uh so that like that switch is is very nice and the biggest thing and Charlie you highlighted this when we were chatting a little bit is it breaks

Up the the course and the tournament or the schedule so nicely it’s not Vegas followed by Texas followed by Midwest that’s open it’s really like you know you get to start in the woods and then we’ll move to Texas and then you know we’ll have the Champions Cup in there

That is very wooded and so it it’s just a nice it adds that extra checkpoint of Woods Golf that I think is going to keep us going a little like and and to the point that hopefully we can enjoy the Midwest swing a little bit better right

When we go to DDO when it’s it’s going to be a little bit more enjoyable because we haven’t watched the same style of golf all year long and and that breakup will hopefully kind of reinvigorate other areas of the Tour by making just that one pretty significant change I think the sequencing matters

And starting in Florida instead of lvc and lvc had the weakest courses on tour easily easily it was it very weak and so that being gone already helps but you’re also just getting overall more Woods courses this year because Beaver State fling is being re-elevated to the Elite

Series um and you know worlds is going to be pretty heavily wooded this year uh so you go from five Woods style courses and I included worlds in that from last year up in Vermont to seven this year and that’s like a pretty big difference so and and this doesn’t even include all

Of the European dgpt events which will invariably be wooded so I think overall people who have been complaining about too much Golf Course are kind of getting what they wanted mhm I think it’s great I think it’s exactly what uh disc golf wants and and needs at

The professional level I also like that the golf courses that we are sticking with are great I think we’re starting to figure out design on golf courses obviously the big challenge is you can’t carve lines at a golf course uh you have to just use the trees that are there and

Hope that it sets up for some really cool Park style golf but when you look at Glend I mean some players still don’t like it cuz it’s a golf course but uh I I forget if it’s either the east or the West course has some of the coolest

Shots that the players throw all season long I mean um I don’t know I think we’re starting to find a nice nice uh Common Ground a happy medium so to speak and I know it’s odd that Paul MC Beth is designing like the courses at Worlds but then he’s also you know redesigning

Olympus and playing those tournaments but I also love that players of his caliber are getting to throw their 15 plus years of high level experience into the game and actually start designing these courses I think our sport at the top level is in great hands I think

We’re about to talk about the Young Guns starting to kind of shape the game at the competitive level but I just I love that players like Paul are starting to actually Express their opinions and get the opportunity to make it a a legitimate thing on tour I think New

London is just one of the nastiest Woods courses in the entire world I cannot wait to see worlds played there speaking of course changes this is not something that’s going to affect this year’s tour but Jeremy rusco the founder of Dynamic Discs he sold the company to House of discs he’s

Now on the board of that uh but on his own external of House of disc or Dynamic Discs has purchased the Emporia Country Club and he is planning to turn it into a new venue called Champions land in that’s kind of a disc golf first mega

Venue I talked to him yesterday and I’m going to have a lot more about this in an upcoming Cash Line article that you’ll get if you are an ulti disolf subscriber uh but he wants to turn this thing into like a mega tourism local in the middle of kind

Of rural Kansas he wants to have a hotel on site a vent space a brewery uh whole new like restaurant facilities and uh clubhouse disc golf obviously pickle ball uh they’re going to have like you know musicians come in and play and so like this I mean it’s a very ambitious

Concept uh he’s already gotten $500,000 committed from the city of Emporia he has a meeting today in Topeka Kansas uh to try to get more funding from the state as well uh I believe that he’s looking for a a bond issue that would allow him to cover

Up to 50% of the development costs for tourism draws like sports facilities so the pickle ball courts the disc golf uh course Etc so I think the plan is to essentially completely rethink what the Emporia Country Club course looks like and I mean he acknowledged that perhaps in the long

Run Emporia won’t be a tour stop because discol outgrows a stop kind of in that rural of a place on a property that isn’t that big but you know he he basically said like could dis golf outgrow the 85 Acres that we have to use there maybe but he

Says we are going to do everything we can to make this a long run stop that becomes a great experience for players fans media um and you know basically said they’re going to have Eric mccab come in start thinking from scratch like what would it look like to landscape

This property for disc golf it’s very interesting future potentially there I I think this is this is a big deal and you know when I think when Vegas left you you have to see the writing on the wall for DDO it it was a tournament that for worlds did not go as super

Great when it came to spectatorship it’s a course that has been played out and uh you know once once once they kind of moved away and what everyone always said right when they moved away amateur weekend which I think is back now um that that really hurt kind of the entire

Feel of that event and so I think this is a an amazing step and I am always of supportive of properties that are dedicated to disc golf and are controlled by private disc golf entities to then be developed for the professional scene love it I mean they’re going to put millions of dollars

Into this do you do you think that this can be a tour stop for the long run well I’m interested to see what happens when they get more free rain over the property um because again we almost never get that with golf courses so uh I

Think now that again like you said Eric mccab gets to go in there and say hey I I can align this course not just with the length of these golf Fairways I can maybe change things up utilize the trees in a different way and I I think a lot of times

Players they don’t hate Park style Golf and I feel like there’s enough trees on this property to make an open course that spectator friendly um that also feels like there’s more obstacles in the way for the players to get creative around so I’m super excited and I think

Some of the holes on that property are actually great I think hole number nine uh the forced Gap hit Mando is so sweet I think it’s an awesome par 4 it forces two really cool shots with high pressure off the tea and I hope they can do more

With the trees on that property I think it’s a really interesting Endeavor and I also just really admire the ambition and the you know the pride that Jeremy rusco has in the city of Emporia you know like you said he’s not involved with uh the companies he used to be involved with

But he just loves dis Golf and clearly loves business uh and wants to invigorate the town yeah there’s probably some sort of profit uh in the back of his head like obviously there’s reason he’s doing this but the value he’s deliver delivering to this community even outside of disc golf is

So cool um I I hope it pans out I hope it I turns out I hope it turns out to be a fantastic facility he rusco also told me he’s basically helped convince the city of Emporia to commit $300,000 to improving the public courses in Emporia and convince them to hire a dis

Golf superintendent to oversee all the courses and make sure that they’re kept in great condition it’s incredible yeah it is incredible like think about that like it’s got to be the only place in the country and maybe in the world where they have a city employee who is dedicated to

Focusing on making sure the disc golf courses are in great shape and have great signs and are safe and benches Etc I think it’s a amazing thing and you know for the complaints about having to go to Emporia it’s still an iconic property we’ve had some incredible moments there

There I mean just recently MC Beth you know like whole 16 it it’s it there’s there is an elite course to be carved out of that land I I really believe that it’s just you have to take the time to do it and they say they’re going to

Bring in Golf Course landscapers to like help them think through it I love the ambition and this is one of the first times really besides Eagles Crossing maybe where it feels like somebody’s really going to pour money into dis golf property as a way of looking at it as a

Long run investment and this is the future we will have 10 courses like this by the end of the decade if not more that’s that’s what I would bet so we’re going to take a quick break when we come back we’re going to start talking about

What’s going on on the course make some predictions give some takes stay with us it’s the upshot the upshot is presented by pound disc golf makers of the best bags in the sport they just got some new Earth Tone colorways of their fanny packs which are

Awesome if you’re just trying to carry a couple little snacks maybe some water while you’re walking around the course great to have that and they’ve got some new Mini zipper pouches dropping tomorrow if you want to just you know uh keep your headphones in there some uh

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Yourself a pound bag first and foremost at pound dis golf.com and then accessorize as you Like welcome back to the upshot Charlie Eisen Hood Josh Mansfield Brian airheart with you and we’ve got some questions to ask one another about the upcoming season on the course Josh I’ll let you go first you can dip into your own personal mailbag all right I I actually

I’m gonna borrow one I was tagged in the Discord for this message so I I think I get a claim credit for this uh comes from the Discord I think it’s an excellent question uh and then we also have a poll in the Discord with the

Answers as well so I’m going to ask you two and then I’ll give you what our disc thinks which of these groups do you think will win the most moo majors in 2024 number one the 2023 major winners that involves Kyle Klein Cory Ellis Isaac Robinson uh option number two the major

Beasts of old MC Beth and Weiss saki number three the 2019 to 2022 major winners Ganon Burr Eagle McMahon Chris Dickerson James Conrad number four the and this is quoting the Discord not me this this is the Discord the chokes at Majors groups heimberg lazat Bella option number five the rest of the

Mo field wow Brian I’ll let I’ll let you I’ll let you go first it’s a lot of groups it’s a lot of grou it’s a lot of groups to choose from um well I think uh you said the chokes that major group is Calvin ab and who

Simon you know I’m actually going to go with I’m going to go with the recent major champions in Isaac Corey Ellis and uh Kyle Klein um Isaac is unbelievably good I I watched him up close all year long and none of what he did was a fluke it

Was unbelievable some of the shots he was throwing and now Nevin is my home course uh I I live like just down the road from it and I play that hole back in the woods it’s a par 4 I play it all the time now and the shots he was

Throwing on that like it was just playing darts on a dart board is just ridiculous and yes everybody on tour can throw technically shots like that but he was doing it like he was playing catch in a park he is Elite on every level so just just for Isaac being in that group

I’m going to say it’s it’s the one Cory is obviously still getting better and Kyle kle no no one really talks about him but he’s unbelievable as well so that’s my group easy well I I hear you Brian I just it’s hard it’s really hard that these groups

Are categorized in such a way that it’s it feels impossible to to pick uh the obvious category I think I’m going to go with the 2019 to 2022 major winners so that’s Ganon Burr Eagle McMahon Chris Dickerson James Conrad now I feel like I’m drawing dead with Chris Dickerson and James Conrad I

Mean maybe Chris Dickerson is going to like refin the form because he he he did not have it last year but I just think that having Ganon an eagle like to me that like if I had to pick two guys to win Majors this year those guys might

Be at the top of my list so I want those two in that category even though I think this it’s actually a very interesting exercise because I’m not sure that there’s much that separates these various categories uh I actually would say I find it quite unlikely that it

Will be the rest of the mo field even though that’s a huge group I just think pretty much all of the really great players are captured in these other groups so Josh what did the Discord say yeah so Discord has a tie actually between the 2019 2022 majors and the

Chokes at Majors group they both people people ready for that Calvin win uh-huh yep yep so so those were tied at 10 interestingly though the rest of the mo field comes in third at five and then the first and second categories 2023 major winners and major beasts of old are both tied at

Two are people sleeping too much on on particularly Ricky but also to an extent Paul probably uh I mean very very good chance um I mean MC Beth is what one year removed D from he didn’t win a major last year but one uh one one in 2022 and

Lost to Eagle who played the best disc golf that we’ve seen in decades like let me just remind you Ricky finished fourth in tour points despite missing basically half the tour he did not play until Music City and then he had to skip Champions Cup Jonesboro and OTB open so

Despite missing tons of time he still finished fourth yeah like there’s no reason Ricky with a healthy season couldn’t win multiple Majors honestly very true all right Charlie that’s to you let me let me go to an uh let’s see I I I this is like an

Interesting note because I just saw this on Twitter I didn’t realize this now I knew Andrew mared was the best Circle one putter on tour this is known what I did not know is that he actually set the record this year for the highest ever Circle one putting percentage at over

93% in now technically in the udisk live era but I would venture to say that it’s probably all time um so my question is and I will ask this to Brian first will a player in either no or Foo set a new putting record for their division so

That’s percent made from Circle one or Circle 2 obviously we only have you know five or six years of data uh but looking at the years that we do have will somebody in either division set a new putting record um you’re saying this year 2024 yes yes 93% Circle one is pretty pretty

Unbelievable and this is circle 1X so previously even when I started touring tap-ins counted towards your circle one percentage and now it doesn’t so 93 from you know mid-range to late Circle one is insane um the only argument for Circle 2 that someone could break a new record

This year um is because we’re playing Less open courses um less of you know uh putts being affected by the wind and I think once you get towards the late Circle 2 range uh it’s kind of up in the air whether or not you can make a putt

Consistently um but I think Ganon was like 41% Circle 2 last last year which is unbelievable and then I forgot what own was at but I think she was the best Circle two Putter and she was pretty close to that as well but now they have

Less win likely to deal with so um ‘s ‘s Circle 2 record is 31% that’s the circle 2 max she set that in 2022 no one really has even come close to that since the the elite number is like 21% which is what ‘s number was this

Year I don’t really know how she set such an amazing stat in 2022 but just could not miss from Deep so I I have to say something about mared real quick though I I talked to I believe it was either someone at udisk or Stat Mando I had a conversation with some stats

Person that dug deep into this and mared was Far and Away the best mid Circle one putter like best 20 25 foot putter in the game apparently by whatever metric it was Paul MC Beth was the best late Circle one putter um but overall mared had the best

Percentage um just just wanted to throw that out there he was just Rock Solid from the range that a lot of players get The Yips from it I also I didn’t realize this until I just was looking at the numbers but genon burrr set the highest

Ever Circle two record this year at 40% Circle two he was the first guy Eclipse 40 MH so will somebody do it again what do you think yes yes for sure less less tournaments have to do it at and like I said less open exposure to the wind okay

What do you think Josh um give me I’ll get I’ll give me the yes as well and I want to I want to highlight a name really quick um Silva sain first re like real year on tour she was oh so own set the mark in

Fpo 84% Circle 1X 21% Circle two putting Silva sarin 83% Circle 1X 20% Circle too you’ve got a special player in Silva and I think that she has the real ability to challenge some of those numbers this year and you know and that’s just one name of many that I think have that

Capability so yeah I’ll I’ll take the yes as well it’s gonna be real interesting but the the the bar gets raised every year it feels like all right Josh what you got I I want to we talk a lot about new winners and who has the potential to get

Their first win on tour I’m going to flip this question on its head which Mo and Foo winner is the least likely to repeat in 2024 interesting question and this is winner not major winner this is just anybody on tour right Elite Series or major are we count okay so no silver no

Silver let me think you’re making me think about Winners now now me too let me let me give you some candidates who that that came kind of to my mind Emerson Keith you’ve got Parker Welk you have Cory Ellis you have th those were the big ones that

Came to the the first ones that were on the top of my mind you have Adam hamus fpo it it’s like I guess Holland Hanley would be probably the number one candidate yeah fpo might be a bit harder there okay well across the two divisions

I think my answer I think a lot of people are going to reflexively want to pick Parker Welk but I’m actually going to pick Emerson Keith who didn’t really have any tournaments where he was really In Contention besides the one that he won now you could say the same thing

About Parker wel but Parker wel just came out of the gates and played amazing to start this year he wins the Shelly Sharp Memorial and while certainly not as talented a field he also wins Mora open um he was the highest rated player there but you know there were plenty of

Thousand rated guys in the field so I actually think Parker wel you know while I think it’s unlikely I still think Emerson Keith probably the least likely in my mind although maybe a bag change will do him good we’ll see what do you think Brian uh I think I’m in the same

Boat as you I mean I think Emerson’s a phenomenal player he has been for a long time but he’s been playing on the tour for a long time and you know know he got into the Tour Championship uh which is a a really impressive feat uh at this

Point on the tour but I kind of agree with you in that Parker Welk is kind of on the up and up right now and it seems like he’s just getting better and better and better and when I watched him play at DDO I was inspired I mean I saw a

Really complete skill set and I saw a lot of uh motivation I saw a lot of new like fresh energy coming from him and then yeah two wins to start start out the year um I mean he popped off some really incredible golf so we’ll we’ll

We’ll see how it goes but I I’d have to agree Foo anyone who won last year I I think could repeat and and and it’s probably on the up and up Holland and Cat won for the first time um but I think they could very easily win

Again all right uh which no player is going to win the most events in 2024 and will they win player of the year the answer this year in 2023 was no Ganon won the most events and did not win player of the year so who wins the most and will they

Will they add player of the year to their uh resume as well it feels like I’m fanboying a little bit but this is there’s context to it I I think Isaac is going to win a lot of events this year I think he’s going to win a handful of Elite series

Events um he could snag another major who knows but I’ve played with him in the past and just his trajectory his rise to where he is now is so impressive and it’s happened so fast um and he’s still young he’s still getting to his athletic Prime I mean he only graduated college a

Couple years ago so he’s my guess to win the most events and with that could also come uh player of the year because if he wins another major which he’s proven to us he can do now you get 200% of the points I give me Eagle McMahon Eagle had a season that was

Overshadowed by Calvin but without like without Calvin would absolutely like he would have been the Calvin without Cal like without the wins right I mean if you look at his schedule second at Champions Cup second at Jonesboro he had fourth at preserve fourth at PCS fourth at European open which got dropped he

Had to drop a fourth place at a major because of how well he played at the majors last year wow finishes the year second at daglo third at worlds first at discmania open a silver event and second at MVP he was the best player in the second half yes yeah he absolutely was

It just he didn’t get the win right and and so that’s why it’s easy to forget the eagle was actually playing Amazing disc golf and we’re not too far removed from Seasons where Eagle was winning the most and so I think I think I’m picking Eagle for Resurgence here he’s got the

New bag which is obviously the risk but he’s one who I really think we he’s he’s shown the ability to close out events like that and I I really think he can wouldn’t be surprised if Eagle pulls in another major this year as well given him player of the year I cannot

Decide I’m I’m going cha I’m I’m going continuation I think it’s going to be Ganon Burr but I can’t decide if I’d rather pick him or Calvin I you know the thing is like there’s like all these narratives that get created around players based on like

Very kind of random things like yes were there moments where Calvin had a chance to win a tournament and then didn’t play his best round and and failed to close it out 100% he obviously didn’t win nearly as much as you would have expected you know if you ran like the Pythagorean on

It it’s it’s just like he didn’t close out these tournaments but probably would if given enough time span so if he plays the same way he did last year right you run it back basically he plays the exact same level he probably wins five tournaments it’s just like kind of

Random that he didn’t win more and I I think it’s easy to ascribe it to like he’s unable to close and we’ve certainly had people make the case we literally got like a 2,000-word email like making the case for why Calvin chokes every time but I I don’t know

Like I think he’s got a really good chance to be the number one guy again win Player of the Year and win the most tournaments but but I’m gonna take Ganon he’s wanted to be the dis Mania guy for a couple years now I think you know will

We see him step forward because he’s filling some holes in his bag that he didn’t have at Prodigy I think that’s very plausible to me um he’s now like established on tour he kind of had weirdly like his sophomore slump last year and yet he still won the most

Tournaments it’s just he was very inconsistent like he had weeks where he played terrible I always wonder though when a young player signs a big contract what that added responsibility and that added money uh does to them um and and what it does mentally to them maybe they

Start to feel like no no longer is the game just about me playing and doing the thing that I love it’s now pleasing these other people uh that are paying me a lot of money you wonder what he’s going to do with that pressure um some

People might run with it and Thrive some people might get really scared and get imposter syndrome and struggle and he’s going to have to maybe take a couple Seasons to get used to it but um he has impressed me every single time that he stepped out on the course and his

Maturity for his age just the way he speaks about the game is really impressive in its own right so uh I’m open to being impressed for sure all right Josh what you got well let’s while we’re on the discussion of Calvin let’s let’s just follow up one more

Question which comes first Calvin wins a major or Anthony bella wins an Elite Series it’s not a lot more chances for ab to win an Elite Series lot more CH there just more tournaments yep I mean I’m going to say AB I’m going to say AB yeah I I agree

Fly I I just think he’s good enough and was close enough at times last year that he’s just going to he’s gonna pop off one weekend on a bomber course and take it down and Calvin like I don’t really think I see him winning at Northwood black and so

Then he got he’s got to wait a while um C Calvin won ledstone two years ago in the weird shortened version and took second I think he might hold the course record at at Northwood black am I fraudulent I might be fraudulent might be a fraudulent

Take he shot I watched the round I he shot nine under par yeah um and it was so funny cuz my brother was on that card I went up to watch him because I was in between uh you know jobs that I was doing and my dad was following and

Doesn’t know anything about disc golf and I walk up to him and he goes I don’t know who this tall lanky guy is but he is throwing darts out there and he he was right I mean Calvin played the course exactly how it was supposed to be played uh I think he

Could very easily win Champions Cup he’s only one of a handful of guys that can shoot that seven eight n under par mark on that course people truly don’t understand how absolutely ridiculous those numbers are bogy can happen with a drop of a hat I mean it’s

It’s so tough I’m not I’m not going to try to talk my way out of just a blunder because like this year he was six under through two rounds there he had a really good round uh in round two and then had a big bogey stretch in the

Middle of his round three that kept him at even par um but you know he finished second at ledstone I’m I’m right I’m just I was just wrong I’m just wrong so I I I could see him winning that that doesn’t necessarily invalidate your Anthony Bella pick though I I stand by

The take for a but mostly because of the math sure no that and that that math is that’s fine that is a fine take Josh you want to weigh in no not really okay no I I think I think I probably agree with the Anthony Barella Choice that’s that’s uh that

Would probably be the route that I would go as well I will say I have Calvin winning a major in 2024 and and I do not off the schnide yeah uh I think Anthony Bella played really well at music City open he took second uh remember he had

That four putt he was in the lead and then three or four putted on like whole 14 and that ended his tournament there and let Simon win it but there are a couple courses early that if if Calvin doesn’t win Champions Cup um Anthony Bella could have this contest locked up

Before European open in fact his best chance I think is to lock it up before European open all right I want to hear some breakout player candidates for the 2024 season what do you think Brian I have two that I have done a little math on we just talked about Parker Welk

But I don’t think he’s a part of the two that I want to talk about um Ezra Robinson and Cole ralin are the two guys that I think are about to pop off and yes we already know who they are they’re starting to play pretty good but I think

They’re about to play spectacular good um both of them um have already played tournaments this year and I believe they’re both averaging 1050 um and they’re playing fantastic they’re winning tournaments by a sizable number of Strokes um and I think Ezra blew me away towards the end of last

Year it seemed like he finally found his voice as an elite player I always knew he was good um but now it feels like he’s really finding out how he can score with the skill set that he has um and and then Cole ralin is just unbelievable

Talent um he kind of has this really cool old old school way of throwing Putters in mid-ranges and yet he can still throw 6 to 650 with a distance driver I love also watching him kind of find his voice uh as a player as well

And I think uh correct me if I’m wrong he still is physically growing um if we look at at age and biology and whatnot so he could be even taller and stronger uh over the next couple of years so those are my two

Picks I I I have a I have a name that that been Buzzy I don’t know if this is legit but there’s been a lot of talk and I think maybe this is just a halo effect of Simon lazat about Paul cran now Paul cran he’s 1023

Rated um he didn’t really play Too Many notable tournaments last year he was 40th at Worlds and otherwise mostly played A and B tiers he did play uh Champions Cup as well he finished 20th so so if we see him you know he’s got the new MVP

Sponsorship if we see him go out on tour I think he’s someone we could see pop off a little bit I mean when you watching him playing against Simon in some of these videos like he’s absolutely holding his own uh so he’s like a name that’s like not really as

Known that I think could actually show up and have a really good season he won a bunch of A and B tiers last year can I weigh in oh you can yeah real quick if it’s his first year on tour I think Paul cray has a sweet swing I

Think he has a swing that reminds me of a lot of like European players like low leonin and and all those players that just throw gorgeous lines um but first year on tour there’s so much information to take in there’s so much learning trial and error that has to happen

Before you feel like you can really attack a course um but I think this could be a year we see one or two weekends where Paul finds the stride um and and then the year after that is where we could see him establish himself he’s he’s the real deal for sure he

Signed up for all the early tour events you got some names Josh I I do one one in particular that that comes to mind let’s uh I’m gonna give give it to Silva sainin it’s the one that I I’m looking forward to she’s also signed up for all

The early events she Mrs so I guess her first tournament is going to be the US Women’s in late March and then she will be playing all the way through Champions Cup before going back to Europe for the Copenhagen open um silvar in last season set a record for wins or or was

Like last person since Kristen to win as much as she did in Europe uh except you know if you take out European open and do just the European silver swing she won four in a row she also then comes back to the States and takes sixth at Worlds and don’t get me wrong

Was a ways behind in that sixth place but that still requires a level of of of skill and talent that I think is still developing and with a full season on tour we very easily could see her show up at a tournament and now she is she’s

One of those that’s limited by power but we’ve seen players who are limited by power before play well and and I think that there are courses that are going to set up well for her game agreed fully agree uh fpo name I’m not going to take the obvious one which is Ellie midling

MH uh her time will come but I think she’s going to have an up and down bumpy year as you would expect from a teenager uh I’m pretty curious about lucky Lorenson who arguably had a breakout season in 2023 but I don’t know if you would quite

Put it to that level but she certainly played some of her best disc golf she is knocking on the door of 950 rated and I think showed us some really good stuff at the end of last season um you know sixth at Idol wild seventh at

Worlds uh with that huge putt to to keep the top 10 spot uh eigh at US Women’s so I’m pretty curious if she can step forward obviously she’s been training super hard if you watch any of her social media stuff she is switching bags we’ll see how that affects her but I I

Like her chances of having like a nice uh little uh kind of mini breakout season even if she doesn’t win a tournament but you know multiple top fives top 10 she also announced that she’s got a four-year Visa in the US now that’s all taken care of wrapped up uh I I think

That sometimes we don’t focus enough on how important the legal s is uh for European players to not have to stress about in terms of their ability to focus on the game train travel Etc which FP player not named Kristen Tatar is most likely to win Foo Player

Of the Year Charlie I’ll say it I’ll say it Paige Pierce that is not going to be a popular opinion but I I think we could see the paig Renaissance Year love it I’m all for it she still won events last year saying people act like she doesn’t exist anymore it’s crazy

I think it’s it’s obviously because she was dominant for so long I think people wanted a new hero but I what was it like 2022 she got PDGA Player of the Year and people freaked out but then you look at her season and you’re like what the heck

Why are you why is this why is this even in question like like why are we freaking out that Paige had a phenomenal season like of course she did um I think if we’re not saying Paige Pierce I I can’t wait to see how she plays after um

You know dealing with such a freak injury um and having all of the wind taken out of her sales um I also if if I had to pick another one she’s already a champion but I I think Haley King can have a season uh that’s better than we

We expect I I think she feels like she’s starting to mature mentally physically she’s putting a ton of work in this off season uh to get herself ready for tour and uh we all know that she has one of the highest skill ceilings that we’ve ever seen but this could be the year

That she wins more events Than People realize um I think this is going to be a good one especially with less tournaments being on the tour give give me Missy Ganon sure I like I odd on pick I think it really should be and and the problem is is I

Think that there are times Missy won player of the year was it 2021 when she won throw pink the the fraudulent Victory the fraudulent Victory um did not deserve a play of the year that year but Missy like I think like with Christen Tatar even like Missy could Elevate to

Christen tatar’s level it is spectacular watching what Missy has done and the level of progression year-over-year that she continues to make and it it it really is something spectacular her game is becoming more and more compl compl she’s adding distance uh she really she really has all the necessary tools the

Only thing that’s held her back is that there’s another player who also has all the tools that’s just a tiny bit sharper Missy and has an elite forehand and has an elite forand that’s it’s for me it’s a stretch to say that she could reach Kristen’s level and

And I mean Kristen’s playing on a level that we’ve never seen you’re and you’re right you’re right I mean it it would probably require Christen to come down a little bit but man Missy Missy has just been so close and has been in it so many

Times and wins in big moments that you know but Missy I I’ll take the odds on pick give give me Missy Canon and helps that like Champions Cup is at Northwood black where you know I don’t know Miss’s won multiple times now so he plays great

There yeah yeah yep give me miss my my final bonus question okay uh Kristen is 998 rated I I feel like we kind of forgotten about the conversation because it’s the offseason but is she going to hit a thousand this year oh yeah you think easy no questions at all

Uh I I got nothing I got nothing it’s just it’s it’s inevitable that it’s going to happen and I I just love seeing the what she writes about what she’s doing this offseason it seems like she’s like ascending to this enlightened state mentally and physically she’s putting so much work

Into uh controlling her mentality and like trying to stay present in every moment and that can only eliminate those moments where maybe you do feel burnt out emotionally physically and you you just don’t have your best stuff maybe all this work she’s putting in eliminates those those tournaments I

Mean Jonesboro last year when it looked like she clearly wanted to go home is a great example maybe she doesn’t have that next year and puts on uh an even better performance that we’re not even expecting I’m really curious to see what happens because Kristen’s first event of

The season is going to be open at Austin in March so she will not start the tour uh in a couple weeks here and that was one of her worst performances last year she finished fifth uh obviously what a season to have that be one of your worst performances yeah oh

No fifth place um but you know she had a great opening round she shot over a thousand in her opening round but then she shot a 928 final round so how does she handle that tournament coming back to it uh I I think it’s it’s going to be

A lot of pressure on those early rounds because she hasn’t played in whatever six months or something between the end of last season and March uh I think she’s not going to get there oh I just think it’s like you you have to she has to shoot above a

Thousand for like a extended stretch to start the year maybe but I I think we I’m more I think it’s more likely we’ll see the sort of more inconsistent Kristen that we saw at the beginning of last season she’s got a lot going on in Estonia and a lot of it is not

Practicing disc golf right now and that’s that’s exactly and you don’t even need like the up and down necessarily you stick on three or four 950 940 rated rounds and you’ve just made your life so much harder right those are fresh and I agree with you here’s the other part that I

Want to pair with it she has something that’s really going for her at the beginning of the season and that is that she has two events and then a third that are courses that are going to be a little bit shorter or designed for the foo game and have the opportunity I

Think to that she could really score well that’s US Women’s Texas states which that Houston course has a separate fpo course and then she’s playing in any tier the annual Pon Pimon Ridge ret Pidge Pimon Ridge thank you um out in Arkansas those things I think boded well

For her to to shoot well and to play well but if if those courses that I think give her a good opportunity because you know when it if you take away courses that aren’t necessarily the longest then then the only thing that P players like Paige or henna have on Kristen is

That they can throw a bit further than her you take away those courses and make them more designed for Foo and remove the the benefit of that distance Advantage she really has the opportunity to separate herself but if it’s on the early part of the season when I don’t

Think she’s going to be in the best form I think she’s going to lose out on the key moments when she needs to be getting to that thousand Mark and then I think it’s just going to get harder from there especially when she goes back over to

Europe we’ve seen ratings over in Europe just they’re they’re so much harder to get there and starting in June she’s going to be back in Europe for a while and and that’s going to make life a little bit more difficult I think for her it’s very similar to the dynamic

When Paige was trying to get to thousand it is she’s going to drop rounds that average I would I’m ballparking right now that probably average in the nine high 980s so she’s dropping rounds below her rating which is a positive but it does mean that she wants to replace

Those with that north of a th Mark I definitely think it’s possible uh it’s going to be fascinating to see if she can pull it off it would be it would be quite the story and uh one for the history books so so real quick going

Into last season she came off of a surgery correct yes she was yeah yeah she she had dealt with the elbow stuff we can’t act like she’s the same player going into this season that she was last year it’s a great Point um she’s going to start the year with a much

Like she came out and played bad at the beginning of last season yeah uh no yeah yeah let me give you let me give you I want to give you two more ratings context Charlie that you brought up as well um it going through the end of March she

Has 2,000 rated rounds she’s got the 1021 at Waco and a 1011 at the open at Austin from last season yeah from last season yep everything else through March is below her rating however when you get to April she has 1 2 3 4 5 6 7,000 rated rounds in the

Month of April with some like 10 26s in the mix with a 1026 1018 1016 1012 1019 two 10 26s yeah so she if she’s going to hit a thousand it really looks like she needs to do it before the end of March she’s got to play great in March and

Then at the April ratings update that’s going to be her best opportunity of the Season I’m fired up I’m fired up what a what a nice subplot to start the year um great bonus question Charlie thank you that is going to do it for today’s show

Thank you so much for being here and joining us as we get ready for the start of the Season we’ve got a lot of awesome uh shows coming your way in the next couple of weeks and uh let’s see what do we got uh next week I think we’re going

To be talking to Jeff spring and also Kristen who’s going to join us on Thursday next week so really looking forward to all of the conversations and uh Brian thanks for being here so so excited you’re leaving for tour in just a couple days right just a couple of

Days heading down to Florida for the allstar event and the chess.com Invitational another really exciting partnership uh couple of my favorite worlds colliding so yeah it’s going to be a great start don’t miss our subscriber bonus segment out the back where Josh and I continue our conversations about the 2024 season and

And go deeper with some questions from the Discord as well get yourself a subscription dis golf. world.com subscribe and we will talk to you next week right here on the Upshot