Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2018/09/07/experience-collector-lloyd-weema-takes-pro-worlds/
If you scroll down to the bottom of the UDisc Live leaderboard at the PDGA Professional World Championship, there’s more to the man who’s 41 strokes behind the next closest player.
This spring, I was checking players in to my local C-Tier in Canton, Ohio. A single player signed up for Pro Masters and when he arrived, I offered to move him to Open. When asked, this player declined, opting to play in their own division where they would win uncontested. This player was Lloyd Weema.
For a 735- rated player like Weema, I can understand the desire to take home a guaranteed victory. Pro Worlds, however, is an entirely different beast featuring some of the best talents in the sport. Why would a disc golfer enter a tournament he is almost certain to finish last in, by a quite large margin?
Well, Weema isn’t wired like the rest of us. A cursory Google search pulls up such a wide variety of hits from across the hobby-spectrum that you wonder if it’s all the same person. There is only one Lloyd Weema. It is all him.
“I am mostly known for setting the three day burpee world record, 9,480,” Weema said, clarifying that they were, in fact, the “real” burpees, and he holds 36 total world records. He’s also currently the Houston air guitar champion, and has given a TedX talk on his adventures and pursuits, including riding a scooter across the country and doing humanitarian work with Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization which Weema joined to provide primary care to refugees at a camp in Greece.
[caption id=“attachment_10999” align=“alignright” width=“616”]
Lloyd Weema performing as “Stonehenge” at the Houston air guitar championships. Photo: Lloyd Weema[/caption]
But where does disc golf factor into the secret life of Lloyd Weema?
“I usually rely on my athletic speed to get me through most sports but disc golf is much more mental than physical and I enjoy that challenge as well,” Weema said.
If you see Weema on the course, you’ll know it’s him. He’s often wearing animal print, Zubaz-esque pants, and is probably throwing an overhand “hammer throw,” his best distance shot option after breaking his wrist several years ago.
We still haven’t gotten to why Weema has traveled to Smugglers’ Notch for Pro Worlds though.
“I’m enjoying myself and having fun out here in beautiful Vermont. This is really a great experience,” Weema said. “It’s been a unique experience thus far. It’s been nice to meet some of the big names in the sport.”
So it’s an experience thing. Lloyd Weema is an experience collector. And being a seasoned experiencer, Weema is both ambitious and practical in his expectations.
“I like to compare myself to the best in just about anything I do, and the world’s best are definitely here this week. I definitely got my money’s worth on hole 18 [on Fox Run] today, somehow finding the out of bounds four times. There are some brutal holes on the course. I did do a little dance after my first par at Worlds.
“My goals are to finish my rounds and not DNF. I have been sick for a few weeks so I’m feeling pretty fatigued. I unfortunately just threw up all over my jersey, so perhaps not doing that again is a good goal.”
Lloyd Weema is a person who goes for things. Maybe we can all take a lesson from Lloyd Weema.