Congratulations to Sue Summers for passing her assessment and becoming our latest ADG accredited Tournament Director. Mentoring her through the process of running the ‘Run The Chains’ event – The first women’s-only event to be run in Australia and the largest turnout of women in the PDGA Women’s Global Event this weekend in Australia – was Kris Kohout.

If Hootie isn’t the most experienced tournament director in Australia then he’s certainly in the conversation. He is most definitely the most experienced TD mentor though, with two students now successfully running events under his guidance.

‘I saw how easy all you guys made it look so I thought it’d be a breeze – but bloody hell!’ An un-named source quoted Sue as saying this week. By all accounts she ran the event like a charm though and has paved the way for more women’s only events to come.

You can find out more about the Tournament Director Mentoring Program here.

by David Kynaston.

Over the coming months and maybe beyond, we will be featuring regular player profile posts to bring you some insights into the minds and disc golf life of our nation’s top pro players. To kick this off we sent our questions to Mr Jordy Wheeler, who has been tearing it up in the WA events so far in 2021.

Name: Jordan (Jordy) Wheeler

PDGA #63995

Current Rating: 975

Playing Division: MPO

Predominant throw: Lefty backhand

Sponsors: RPM Discs, Disc Connection

What are your strengths as a player?

My biggest strength in recent years has been my ability to let go of bad/unlucky execution, in turn, I’m more present for each throw. My strengths when it comes to skills would be a consistent driving and putter approach game.

What is your best or favourite competition result to date?

My best result and my favorite win would be The 2019 Rock Cities Open. Also coming second at the 2019 Australian Disc Golf Championships. Although I fell short of the win it was an awesome competition.

What are your disc golfing ambitions and plans for the next two or three years?

Enjoy the ride, help where I can, play disc golf, hang out with great people, and take the least amount of throws in competitions.

Can you share a top form tip or something that substantially helped you improve your play?

Really my top tip for improvement would be to film yourself and then compare your form with somebody with better form, spot the differences and try what they do.

How did you first get into disc golf?

A great friend went to Queenstown NZ and played on the Queenstown Gardens course, came back and told us about it. The Rob Hancock Memorial Course was just down the road from my home so we grabbed some bucket lids out of the shed and headed down for my first round. What was born from a friendly competition with friends, slowly escalated to league days and then tournaments.

What top pro player do you look up to and why?

James Conrad for his disc golf game and his outlook on life. He stands for a lot of things I believe in and can beautifully control those discs.

Your favourite disc in your bag right now?

RPM – Atomic Ruru

Thanks Jordy!

A picture of Australia isn’t complete until you’ve been to one of the gold boom towns. Ballarat, Bendigo, Kalgoorlie, Southern Cross, Bathurst and Orange are just a few; all inland and all places that fermented the hard working larrikin spirit, with a healthy lack of deference to authority which is a big part of the Aussie character.

The civil disobedience of the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat in 1854 was largely a protest against taxation without representation and the beginning of the end of colonial rule in Australia. Many say it was the birthplace of Australian democracy and it was crucial event in our countries history.

The sell out of 108 competitors for this weekends Vic Open in Ballarat is, in some ways, a celebration of that same spirit. It’s not that long ago that the Victorian disc golf scene depended on a few dedicated volunteers carting portable baskets around from park to park for tournaments. The boom we are witnessing now is due in no small part to their efforts; and this weekend its all taking place in a boom town.

You can follow the event here and here.

For more information on disc golf in Ballarat click here.