“We’ve gone a little hard core with this – just like I have done with everything.”
And this time, he has a partner.
Thomas Hums already knows what it’s like to climb several echelons in a given sport, ascending to the level where provincial, national and international competitors reside. The 33 year-old local teacher has accomplished the feat in road cycling, track cycling and weightlifting.
Only time will tell exactly where his top end potential lies in disc golf – but he is certainly well on his way. The introductory quote is certainly a far cry from his initial meandering to the local disc course off Frood Road back in or around the year 2015.
“Some colleagues at Sudbury Secondary got me into it – very casually at the time,” Hums recalled. “I was actually very resistant about trying it out. It was never a major focus because cycling was a focus at the time; but I was always competitive when I played and wanted to improve my skills.”
In the summer of 2019, with Covid-19 bringing indoor activities to a screeching halt, disc golf became the go to, both for Hums as well as his wife and fellow teacher, Alicia. “We were teaching from home at the time, so when we finished school, we would head over to the course,” he said.
“We were there all the time. Daily. Twice daily. If it was nice outside, we were there – and if it wasn’t nice outside, we were probably still there.”
While the attraction lie in a handful of different aspects of the sport, the opportunity to spend more time together pursuing an athletic endeavour certainly ranked near the top of the list. “This is something we’ve enjoyed doing together,” said Hums. “Unlike cycling, where she was my trainer and driver and all of the above, now we can kind of support each other and compete together in disc golf.”
For someone whose life has evolved largely around sport, Hums embraced both the physical and mental diversity of this new undertaking. “On the physical side, it was the challenge of learning new skills – skills that were unique or different from what I was used to doing. I’ve never done a lot of hand-eye coordination stuff throughout my athletic career.”
“I think the sport of disc golf, and golf in general, is a largely mental game,” he added. “It’s about dissecting the different lines on the course – but also keeping composure. I am easily frustrated as an athlete. I need to maintain my composure and try and have a short memory when you make a mistake.”
“You don’t want to carry that mistake to the next shot.”
With a disc golf rating of 1000 being something of the gold standard on the professional circuit on which Hums competes (golfers can also register in recreational, intermediate and advanced), the Sudbury native has bumped up from 930 to 970 this past summer, earning a couple of tournament victories in the process.
“For me, I would like to see my play become more consistent,” he said. “I’ve been all over the results list in this division, from dead last to middle of the pack and then winning some tournaments as well. It’s a continuous progression – very fluid.”
Mind you, it should be noted that Hums may not have followed a standard more gradual path of development that many of the other competitors perhaps favoured. “I never dabbled with the lower level stuff,” he said. “Because I want to learn and progress quickly, I signed up for professional level competitions right from the get go.”
“It’s very humbling.”
With a seemingly never ending array of different discs at their disposal – discs are actually sold as distance drivers, fairway drivers, midranges and putters – the tools of the trade that are essentially akin to a Frisbee are typically created with a thinner profile and a sharper outer edge to increase aerodynamics and distance.
“There’s a lot of different skills and techniques that you have to learn in order to be successful and throw far and accurate,” explained Hums. “I’ve put in a lot of time to develop those skills, but I certainly haven’t mastered them.”
“This is a new journey for me.”
At the very least, it’s a different journey, to be sure.
