My Journey to a 1000 Rating

Do you know what happens when you are scared to do something but do it anyway? Of course, assuming you listen to your heart and follow your passion. Paying attention to your inner voice could be frightening but typically very rewarding. My journey in disc golf has been quite intimidating at times, but it has led me to a place where I have made history by becoming the first 1000-rated woman in disc golf.

Disc golf has been a part of my life for 10 years now, and as I have grown within this sport, so have my goals. At the beginning of my career, I would never have dared to dream about my achievements today, yet they have come—one step at a time. Especially regarding ratings because Estonia was known for having really low ratings compared to the local player skill set. Years ago, when a large group of Estonians started competing, their ratings were low because they were new to the game. These players then became the benchmark for determining other players’ ratings. While everyone’s skill set improved, the ratings remained poor compared to the rest of the world.

My first Estonian Nationals Title in 2014.

A good example is when I went to the US for the first time in 2017 to participate in the USWDGC and averaged more than 40 points over my player rating for the tournament. People were impressed that I played so much above my rating at a major, but I felt like I played very average golf because of my immense nervousness at such a big event for the first time. This is completely normal, but the ratings didn’t reflect that. Despite this, I never really bothered myself with the rating stuff. It only mattered when it gave me an advantage to register for some events. Yes, there were times when I had to wait for the last stage of registration and keep my fingers crossed that I still had a spot in a tournament. So, finally, exceeding the 900 rating mark in 2017 made my life a little easier. Other than that, my goals have always been about improving my skills or winning certain tournaments.

My first major win in 2019 (USWDGC).

The talk about achieving the historic 1000 rating mark came up in 2022. Despite my injury, I had a lot of success that year, and my player rating increased. This chatter became even more intense in 2023 when I had the best season of my career, taking home 12 victories, including all 4 majors. However, exceeding 1000 rating points never really became my goal. In 2022, I was focused on winning my first world title, and in 2023, I had my eyes set on the Grand Slam. Coming into this season, I didn’t have a clear goal, which felt weird because I usually have something to strive for. But I made peace with it and told myself the goal would present itself at the right time.

My first DGPT win in 2021 (DGLO).

As the tournaments started, I thought it would be cool to get my rating to four digits finally. But this was a strange goal because there wasn’t much I could do about it directly. I felt my job was to set the intention, loosen the grip of wanting to make it happen, and instead just let it happen. Somehow, this is exactly how everything unfolded. What makes me especially happy and proud is that my rating is an average of 69 rounds. There have only been two occasions where my rating was calculated with an average of more rounds—70 and 71. The point is, I didn’t make any changes like cherry-picking tournaments or playing less; I continued what I was doing and didn’t stress about the future. And it finally happened!

The 14th of May 2024 marks the day of this historic achievement! It is still hard to wrap my head around leaving such a huge mark in women’s disc golf history. I hope this inspires you to dream even bigger and make bold choices that are in harmony with your heart’s desires because everything is possible that way.

CELEBRATE THIS SPECIAL OCCASION WITH ME BY PURCHASING THE SPECIAL KT1000 COMMEMORATIVE DISCS I HAVE AUTOGRAPHED BY HAND. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.