Disc golf superstars capture the hearts and minds of players in Quebec
By Isaac Olson, Association Disc Golf Montreal
If Avery Jenkins and Simon Lizotte walked into a Quebec-based grocery store or Montreal movie theatre, they likely wouldn’t be recognized but, when the dynamic duo rolled up on Longueuil’s 18-hole, Charron Island disc golf course in their custom-painted Discmania RV this September, they were surrounded by dozens of fans seeking out autographs and photos with the two superstar athletes.
“At the beginning of the year, in America especially, nobody really knew who I was, but then I started noticing that more and more people were noticing me,” said Lizotte, the 21-year-old 2012 European Disc Golf Champion who has been touring around the world this season, playing in all the top tournaments and wowing crowds with his super-sized distance that nears the 700-foot mark.
“On Facebook, I’ve been getting friend request after friend
request. Everywhere I go now, especially in that van, hanging
around Avery all the time, I get recognize a lot. People seem to like how I play and I try to please the crowd as well as I can. It’s pretty awesome.”
Lizotte is from Germany, but he has family in Quebec and, therefore, holds dual citizenship with the two countries. There are pictures circulating around the web of Lizotte, at just two years old, hucking discs in Quebec with better form than most adults. At age 16, he won a Quebec tournament hosted by his uncle, Peter Lizotte of Disc Golf Sherbrooke, while visiting his Canadian family and this year was his first time back in the province since.
“Just seeing how disc golf has grown here in the past five years is pretty amazing,” said Lizotte. “I remember five years ago, we were looking for courses to play around here and it seemed like there were literally no courses. Now, I don’t know how many, but there are courses everywhere and that’s how it is in the entire world right now.”
His energized passion for the game radiates from his tall, thin body as he plays casual rounds with local players just as eagerly as he does high-stake tournaments. He is ready and willing to play all day, every day.
“I just want to practice and get better,” he said, after a skins game at the newly established disc golf course in St. Bernard de Lacolle’s regional park just steps away from the New York border. “And it’s great to be in beautiful places like this. You want to get out there and play the holes.”
This season, Lizotte has been traveling across the United States and Canada with his close friend and 2009 World Champion, Jenkins, as they hosted Discmania Deep in the Game clinics from coast to coast. During that time, Lizotte has been playing in tournament after tournament and, overall, most would say the 1039-rated player, with 51 wins under his belt and over $32,000 in career prize winnings, has done quite well for himself. But, like any athlete, he’s not fully satisfied with his performance.
“For me, I always want more,” said Lizotte. “I’m mostly disappointed after a tournament if I finish second. I want to win and I’ve finished second a lot in the last couple of weeks. It’s pretty good, but it could be better.”
Doing the Deep in the Game tour, he said, has been helping him improve. This was the first season that Lizotte has taken on such dedicated role as an instructor.
“This has been a great process of learning for me,” he said. “Every time we do a clinic, I learn something new too. It’s good practice and it’s a lot of fun.”
Lizotte said he tries to focus on teaching people to relax and "not try to force anything. Keep everything in one line, linear, and it will work.”
Simon Lizotte signing autographs. Photo: Isaac Olson
Peter Lizotte, Simon Lizotte's uncle, Avery Jenkins (centre) and Simon Lizotte (right)
Photo: Isaac Olson
Simon Lizotte tees off on hole two on Charron Island
Photo: Isaac Olson
Jenkins, at age 35, is now in his 15th season of professional disc golf. This was the first year that he took Deep in the Game on the road. His YouTube videos have been a hit in the disc golf community and, after a few test runs, he realized he could bring his advice on the road to help people improve their game in person.
“I think we’re going to pass through 44 states this year and do about 35 clinics,” said Jenkins, who holds a degree in human physiology and sports medicine from the University of Oregon. “I’ve done 55 or so personally, including the European tour, this year. It’s been a long clinic year, but I still love what I’m doing out there, teaching people. It’s wonderful to see the expression on people’s faces when they hit that shot they were going for. People want to improve as players.”
Professional clinics are common in just about every other mainstream sport, he said, and there is a demand for it in disc golf because it is important that people understand proper form and technique. The clinic, he said, reaches out to beginners by building their game from the ground up while helping the more advanced players lose bad habits and improve their technique. Discmania, he said, is setting the standard for clinics like this and, he added, “I’m sure, in the future, there will be many more tours that will be very much like this.”
Jenkins said, to be a teacher, it is important to first examine his own form and technique. Then he has to put that technique into words that people can understand. To do this, he explained, he considers how he, himself, would like to be taught by a professional.
“It’s not always an easy task,” he admitted. “We’ve taught a lot of people and some people get it a lot quicker than others. It really comes down to athleticism. Some people think that learning disc golf is as easy as throwing a frisbee in the woods, but it’s not. You have to be an athlete. You have to have body control and coordination.”
Eventually, he said, everybody, no matter their skill level, learns something from his clinics and he has really enjoyed passing his knowledge onto players that are just as passionate about the sport as he is. Jenkins said, in these two-hour clinics, he gives people the tools they need to properly practice in a field and learn on their own. As he stressed during his Montreal clinic, it’s very difficult to improve if you play the course every day. It’s important, he said, to go to a field and make hundreds of throws until you have the proper form and technique needed to find and hit that perfect fairway line.
The age-old expression of “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was proven a falsehood when Jenkins and Lizotte taught Montreal’s mixed bag of beginner and advanced disc golf players how to simplify their form for longer, more accurate shots. While the disc-golf scene in Quebec is relatively new, the province now has 14 beautiful courses on a wide variety of terrain. Jenkins said he is impressed with how far the sport has come in Quebec, in Canada and across the globe.
Now, he added, it’s important that people learn how to play the game like the professionals and his goal has been to help people do just that.
“With our clinics, we try to give players more than they expect,” said Jenkins. “By the time we’re done with the two to two-and-a-half-hour clinic, players leave inspired and very passionate about what they are going to do. They want to go out there and practice the advice we gave them.”
Note from the author: I’ve been playing disc golf since 2001 and always thought I played a pretty decent game, but, I have to say, both Avery and Simon showed me some key points that I need to work on and, in just a few weeks since the clinic, I already see those adjustments improving my game. The clinic was incredibly professional, enjoyable and very informative. From the Association Disc Golf Montreal and all the players that enjoyed the clinic immensely, we offer our sincerest “merci beaucoup!”
All text and photos used in this article are property of the ADGM, but feel free to share the link.
During the Montreal clinic, Simon Lizotte explains the proper backswing when lining up for that perfect, straight-down-the-fairway disc golf shot. Photo: Isaac Olson
Simon Lizotte launches a monster hyzer bomb over a lake and trees to park a hole that would otherwise prove a difficult par 3 for most disc golf players. Photo: Isaac Olson