Spring League in West Bend

I ought to note that in the past 2 to 3 years I’ve not been a regular league player. I played about 3 league rounds in 2017, and that was on different courses. From 2011 to 2014, I played leagues fairly regularly. Took first a few times in my division. But was never able to move up since my driving was always far less distance than those just one division up from me. Plus my putting and even up-shot game weren’t as good then as they are now.

Last week, I shot in the Sandy Knoll league in West Bend. The course is still being completed and is currently 9 holes, all in the woods. If you visit the link before mid June of 2018, you’ll see the course I played on during my league rounds. After that date, I think the course will go to 18 holes, many of which are not in the woods. And hopefully with cement tees instead of the all natural tees like exists currently.

I find the course very challenging. Mainly because it is all wooded shots, partially cause the holes are semi-long going from 240 to 400 feet, and partially cause there is elevation changes on all the holes. On many holes, lines become either very tight or impossible to go directly at the basket. As challenging as it is, it’s also lots of fun and unique since every other course I’ve played on in past 5 years has at least some holes that are not in wooded areas.

During league round, the league director requires players shoot one round of 9 from short tees and second round of nine from pro tees. Being a flex start, and fairly lax league, I had the pleasure of playing in a two-some my initial round with a good friend. We decided to shoot long tees first round with hopes the short tee round would be easier.

And easier it was. I basically bogeyed (scored 4 strokes) on 8 of 9 holes in the first round from pro tees, with one par. So +8 was my score in first half. But also my final score! I had 7 pars, 1 bogey, and 1 birdie from the short 9. Finished even on that half, to maintain my +8. I thought I shot very well, but then noted a day later when I got home that in my only other round on the course, I shot a +6. That too was one round from long tees and one from short. My friend during the league round shot a +18, which being his first league round ever, isn’t all that bad. And it made my round seem even better.

Well, today during the second week of leagues, I learned my +8 was easily good enough to take first in my division (of 5 people). I beat 2nd place by 7 strokes. Not too shabby. Given that I was changing my throwing style up and also not feeling quite as energetic as that first week of league, I was expecting far worse results. Turns out I was mistaken.

I started off rather poorly. Again, I shot with my good friend and again we started with the long tees in first round. This time, he went par-par on the first two holes to my double bogey-bogey. I was only 1 stroke worse than last week at that point, while he was a good 3 stroke better, and beating me by 3 strokes. I would note that on the first 2 holes I went with my new throwing style and seeing that my score seemed already off, I decided why not just use the whole round as way to build upon the new style?

That turned out well. By end of first nine, I was down 1 stroke and even beating my game from previous week. After 12 holes, I was actually winning the overall round with my friend. We did enter into a tie after hole 16, but he had a very rough hole 17, and so I ended up winning the round by 3 strokes. Not too shabby.

While I ended up 2 strokes over my round from last week, I beat the score of second place from last week by 5 strokes with my round this week. Who knows if that’ll hold up?  But the key for me is the new throwing style is now incorporated into my game and I look to improve upon that going forward.

I really couldn’t be more pleased at this point.

Changing My Throwing Style

While I am a predominantly forehanded thrower (or more specifically, RHFH), the fact of the matter has been that I drive at an intermediate level. Prior to that, I was throwing back handed (or RHBH). Then, I was throwing at a novice level. Over 30 years and haven’t been able to go beyond those two rather paltry levels. Until just recently.

During the fall of 2017 and winter of 2018, I had been planning and waiting until spring of 2018 to improve my forehand. I’ve watched a good dozen videos on YouTube to help improve my forehand. Perhaps in another post, I’ll recommend the ones I think are most helpful.

For about the last 8 years, I’ve thrown forehanded. Nearly always with a single finger under the rim and almost always with a side step approach on the tee. My objective was to change all that and throw forehand like a pro. The goal was to get 300 feet, or an increase of 40 to 60 feet from my previous top average.

I’ve really just done 2 days of field practice. First was focussed on throwing straight. I would note that all discs I practiced with were either under stable or stable. And a few were speed 5 to 7, but most were speed 9 to 11. Starting with slower speed I found to be helpful in warming up my arm and focussing on shooting straight. The first session went very well on straight shooting until I went to the practice baskets at the location. Those were about 200 feet apart, and I was routinely hyzering out with discs that ought to go straight, and were flying straight just 10 minutes earlier on the practice field.

Second session was my looking to improve distance and not lose much, if anything, on straightness. In the first session, I was truly thinking I was averaging 250 feet on my throws. Given there was no emphasis on throwing distance, I found that fantastic. In my second session, I probably topped out at 280 and realized after about 20 tosses that more distance will likely come in time. That I ought not to expect much from just 2 sessions.

The great news in the second session is the new grip became comfortable. I went from one finger to two fingers under the rim. And both the stacked grip and power grip were relatively comfortable for me to hold the disc and even while throwing. Where I could still tell I needed work was on the step approach, the use of my hips to generate power, and my wrist snap.

Instead of the side step approach, I went with the facing the target, taking 3 steps forward, approach. During practice in the first session, I committed to the pull back where my throwing hand goes over my head on swing back. That’s how McBeth and A. Jenkins do it, so that made sense. Felt comfortable, or so I thought. In second session, after watching more videos, the pull back changed to swinging my throwing hand back by going down. I find that to be more natural, less to focus on.

But during that second practice session, I was quickly realizing that the way my hips turn back and then swing forward, along with what sort of wrist snap am I truly achieving is how distance is gained. There’s other mechanics involved, but that I feel I get what to do mentally, and can pull it off. The other is a work in progress.

Yesterday, I had a third practice session, but this time on an actual course. I chose to play a game of best disc. Both (or all) drives with 2 fingers utilizing the new step approach, but varying discs between ones currently in my bag and new ones I’ve had sitting around for awhile. I actually counted how many of my drives were decent or better. Out of the 38 drives total, I counted 20 to 21 were decent or better, with maybe 3 being great. Thus, 17 to 18 drives were kinda on the bad side of things. While that is a bit discouraging, I managed to have an all around good game.

I also determined during that round that if at least half my drives, that being 19, were decent or better, I may actually try to work the new style into my league round today. A bit of a gamble since just 7 days ago I shot a league round with the previous style and had zero practice sessions prior to that date.

The next post will explain how that went.

End of Spring Putting League

My spring putting league was not a success in terms of attendance, but a huge success in terms of fun, practice and figuring things out.

The 18 game is now a game that I see as great way to practice and I still have hopes for making it a successful league. I shall try again in the summer to get some interest going. I know I’ll be using it for practice along the way.

The bowling game is still a bit of a work in progress, but I’ve now done about 10 games with it. The previous post provides most of the rules I still use when I play, but here are some additional items:

• first determination is deciding how far each shot ought to be. I varied this over the weeks I tried it, and obviously the closer you shoot from, the higher your bowling score. I find 25 feet to be perhaps ideal, but also think it may be division dependent. I probably putt as intermediate, low advanced player, so the 25 foot distance is good for that. Beginner types would probably benefit from 20 foot distance. Advance may be best from 30 feet and pro I would think would be best around 35 to maybe 40 feet. With all that said, I think if the game really caught on that the 30 to 35 foot range is what would make for an ‘actual game.’ But since it’s really just another way to practice putting, I think the variation is something to strongly consider, unless looking to run an actual event.
• Instead of 5 stations around 1 basket, I’d suggest go with 10 stations. I also think varying the distances slightly is the way to go. Such that if looking to go with 25 feet, perhaps have a few, or up to 3 stations, that are say 22 feet, while 3 to 4 are at 25 feet, and then the final 3 to 4 would be at up to 28 feet. The tenth frame makes for more fun, greater challenge if slightly longer than the rest or equal to the other longer ones.
• The spare markings are also plausibly subjective or unique to the player. I would say gimme type shots were 9’s. They’d have to be true gimmes in my book. A few feet back from that is 8’s, but amounts to shots I would make around 80 to 89% of the time. Then just go down from there, 7’s are ones I’d make 70% of the time, etc. Also, the initial station distance will determine how far you are to likely go over. If too close, and otherwise a pretty good putter, then count on likely getting 7-spares or higher. Go to 30 feet or further, add a little wind, and 6-spares, or even worse, are possible.
• I would suggest a 3 game minimum but obviously that depends on how many total people are playing and how much time everyone has before wrapping things up. When playing alone, as I did, the 3 game is more fun, much better for checking your average.

I believe my best game was around 250, but that was from the closer stations, or when I was basically going from 20 to 25 feet. When I averaged 25 feet, it was more like a 225 best game, and around a 200 to 210 average.

The really cool thing is as spring is now here in Milwaukee, my putting is noticeably better than in recent years at this time. If I’m on a course now and 25 feet away, I’m far more confident in what I need to do. Between the strategy in both the 18 and bowling games, I’m making far more, attacking the basket more aggressively, and ensuring I don’t get worse than a two at that point.

 

18 Into Bowling

Week 4 of my putting league also was a solo round. I pretty much expected it, and still love the format so much, I’m not giving up on playing it. I really do feel others are missing out, but also have appreciation for playing solo rounds. This week that paid off, big time.

It’s still relatively cold here in Milwaukee. The day before league we had enough snow that I actually had to shovel the walk in the morning. Yet during the league round there was fortunately no snow on the ground, even while temps didn’t rise above 45. During my play it was a feels-like temperature of around 30 degrees and falling. The wind seemed to pick up as well.

I shot surprisingly well my first round of 18 with a minus 6 total. Neg 4 on Am side, and neg 2 on Pro side. Due to the wind factor and chill in the air, I took a 10 minute break. I knew then I’d want to play more than just one more round, but wasn’t sure exactly what I’d do since the wind was blowing my shots all over the course. Anyway, I played another 18, and while I went bogey free, I ended up at minus 3 with 1 birdie on Am side and 2 birdies on Pro side. That makes 3 weeks in a row where I played bogey free and now in the 4 weeks of playing, I have just one bogey. Is it any wonder why I love the game so much?

I decided during the second round that for my third round, I’d only play medium and short holes, and really only on one side (the Am side). So, I picked up all pins on pro side, and all long pins on Am side, leaving just 6 holes to play. After a short break, I proceeded to play the 6 holes and about 4 holes in, it dawned on me that this is somewhat like bowling, with 10 frames. Play 2 rounds and you have 10 frames. Well, if you remove one of the 6 I had, LOL. So I did, and then proceeded to play 2 games (or 4 rounds) on the set up. The first one was just for fun to see how easy it was. I found it only moderately easy as in not really able to get all 10 strikes, especially with the wind, unless completely on your game.

The way scoring works is make it in one, that equals a strike; make it in 2 (via comeback shot), then you pick up the spare. Miss the 2nd shot and it’s an open frame. No need to shoot a third shot. During the first round, I was figuring if you miss the first shot, but land a certain distance away, those could be counted as 1 thru 9 points. So, within say 6 feet, score a 9, within 12 feet, score an 8. While a score of 5 or less is rather hard, the distances could be adjusted if that is truly wanting to be included in the game. It’s really more about strikes and spares, but since spares rely on the next shot, which may not be a strike, then the individual numbers kinda sorta matter. Oh and on the 10th hole/frame, you get 3 shots total, like in bowling.

The second round is where I tracked my score. Here’s how it went:

1. Strike
2. 9-Spare (score 20 in frame 1)
3. 9-Spare (score 39 in frame 2)
4. 9-Spare (score 58 in frame 3)
5. Strike (score 78 in frame 4)
6. 8-Spare (score 98 in frame 5)
7. 9-Spare (score 117 in frame 6)
8. 8-Spare (score 135 in frame 7)
9. Strike (score 155 in frame 8)
10. 9-Spare plus 7 (score 175 in frame 9, and score 192 in 10th frame)

So my final score was 192. As one who plays 18 bogey free, spares are rather easy for me. In my previous round I actually got a bogey, or open frame, but wasn’t really tracking score that round. Also like bowling, putting together a turkey (3 strikes in a row) would greatly increase your final score.

I found this would be a great way to finish off the evening after playing the 2 rounds of 18. With the game of 18, I think if playing with 2 or more, everyone can shoot from the same hole and then everyone that misses can walk up together to make their individual comeback shots. With bowling, it makes more sense to have a player shoot and if they miss, they shoot the comeback alone. Then the next player goes, and so on.

The thing that occurred to me later, when I got home, is that all the shots aren’t from the same line, as one would do in bowling. I could easily see a variation where all shots are shot either from same distance, different spots, or the same spot for all 10 frames. But given that this follows from the game of 18, I think having the variation in distances makes it interesting and obviously more challenging. While not exactly like the game of bowling, it’s pretty darn close and offers it’s own unique method of play.

Eighteen, And I Like It

One nice thing about writing in a blog that no one is (currently) reading is I get to say whatever the fuck I want. But even knowing that, it’s not like I’m going to curse or anything, cause that would be fucked up.

I just completed the 3rd week of my leagues and care to note some of my thoughts over the last few weeks regarding it.

Forgot to mention in my earlier post that the number 18 is and always has been a favorite number for me. Long before I played ball golf, it was a favorite number. Yet in golf, it is a number likely to come up, as it is how many holes are on a typical course. Really, the game I play for league could be any number (of holes), but I think 18 is the best, though 9 would also be good.

18 holes are ideal because there are 6 sets of short, medium and long holes. 9 holes is good for a pick-me-up game, but really plays too quickly. More than 18 isn’t something I’ve tried exactly, but I think for 1 basket set-ups, the holes would have too much overlap and/or confusion. On a 2 basket set up, I could see going up to 36 holes total, but also think it would be a bit crowded.

I’m now thinking the whole format deserves more than a mere league. I find it that fun. I realize it’s fairly similar to miniature disc golf since everything is basically a par 2. It doesn’t require a lot of space and offers a number of nuances to make it interesting beyond the mere description of throwing 1 disc to the same basket, over and over.

I find the game most enjoyable. I’ve been caught off guard with how much I would grow to appreciate it. Yet, I now have ideas of making a course or place of business based just on this format. Ideally, I’d have 1 or more big courses on my (business) property and then 1 or more of these mini-courses. But without dreaming too big, I think it would be cool to have a barn-sized indoor spot for the 18 putting game and then an outdoor putting course as well. I’d do league inside during inclement weather and then outdoors whenever possible. I’d let people come play as groups or solo whenever they want (to pay say an hourly rental fee). There would be glow rounds, morning rounds, evening rounds, crazy rounds.

But right about now, there are just solo rounds. Apparently, I’m the only person in Milwaukee that has high interest in this type of game, at this time. Week 1 of the league had 5 people show up, and weeks 2 and 3 had just me showing up. All attendees from week 1 told me, directly, they found the league fun. There are a few ways to explain the lack of attendance, but given how great the game is, in my mind, most of me doesn’t care whether others like it.

Started A Local Disc Golf League

During mid winter 2018, I was assisting my buddy Gene with his indoor putting league. I love indoor putting leagues in winter since it’s so cold out while the weather inside is delightful. No wind, beverages near by and hopefully an abundance of friendly competition.

Well, this league never really took off. We had a few weeks with 5 to 8 people show up, but many with 3 or less. Yikes! Anyway, it was during this league that a pro, and friend, taught me the game of “18.” The way he taught it was playing on a single basket, and you use just one disc (a putter). You first take 5 steps (in any direction) away from the basket and drop a mini (marker) as place to putt from. Everyone in the group shoots from the same spot initially. If you make that putt, you score minus 1, or a birdie. If you miss the putt, you shoot from where you missed. If you then make that “comeback” shot, you score a par, or zero. Miss it, and you keep putting till you make it, scoring bogey, or worse. After that first hole, you take 8 steps away from the basket, again in any direction, and drop a marker to putt from. 3rd hole is longer, going 11 steps away. Then the pattern just repeats itself, 5 steps away, then 8, then 11. Play that way until you’ve played 18 holes, and calculate final results.

I immediately enjoyed the game, as it resembles regular disc golf round play. So really, an awesome way to practice your putting. After a regular round of disc golf, about a month ago, I played the putting game with my buddy Chris on the course’s practice basket. We just played 9 holes, and I arranged the markers before we began. It was then that it occurred to me. That this game would make for a great league outdoors.

It took me a good 3 weeks to implement plans I had in mind. The local (Milwaukee) courses are all currently closed for spring thaw, while the practice baskets remain in. I thought those would be ideal, but needed information from the Parks department. They basically said: go for it. So I did! I decided on 2 different locations / courses, and scouted each location, while setting up 18 hole layouts on both. Each of these locations has 2 practice baskets, so I decided on 9 stations for each basket, with one side being noticeably more challenging than the other. The more I played on each layout, the more enamored I became with the league idea.

I made final details for the league which included: 18th hole would be a par 3, and play the longest. All other holes are a par 2, so make it one shot on those, score minus 1. Make it on hole 18 in one shot, and score minus 2. Instead of markers, I use flags planted into the ground at each station. Seeing that the league starts at 6 pm and it still gets dark by 7 pm, then we put lights on baskets for glow putting. The league consists of 2 rounds of 18 holes. First round you score 1 point for everyone in your division that you beat, including yourself. In round two, you score 2 points for everyone you beat. And I chose to shorten the league because I didn’t want to overlap with established leagues, plus this being first time for this type of league, I decided to do a test run of sorts, so settled on a 7 week league.

First week of leagues was 5 days ago. Only five people total played that first night, which was fine with me. Easier to manage a group that small and it was a bit on the ridiculously cold and windy side. We didn’t light any baskets up as the collective goal was to finish ASAP and avoid playing in even colder temps in the dark. I ended up taking first in my division (Amateurs) due to the points doubling in 2nd round. And Pro division had the odd quirk of person winning the week due to double points in 2nd round, even while the other pro (there were just two of them) had the best score for the night.

I’ll look to update this blog along the way, keeping a diary of sorts of how it all plays out. I  truly see it as a great league that is lots of fun, good way to socialize and awesome way to practice one’s short game.

Putting Game: Redemption

I’m thinking I’ve invented a new disc golf putting game. Seems similar to other putting games I’m familiar with, with the caveat of ‘redemption’ being perhaps a key difference.

Here’s the simple version of the game:
> For 2+ players
> For intermediate players (and up)

The (9) Putting Stations

• 2 stations situated 10 feet from basket = Level 1
• 3 stations situated 20 feet from basket = Level 2
• 4 stations situated 30 feet from basket = Level 3

Each player holds 3 discs (putters), and throws all 3 at each station, whenever it is their turn.

Level Goals
> Note: This is for intermediate level (more advance players can make the goals for each level more challenging)

• Level 1: Shoot at both stations, must make all 6 shots (perfection) to complete the level.
• Level 2: Must make at least 6 (out of 9) shots. 3 misses are therefore allowed. Shooting 9 out of 9 (perfection) at level 2 is encouraged, even praise worthy.
• Level 3: Must make at least 6 (out of 12) shots. Allowing for up to 6 misses.

So, making 6 at each level would mean the game is complete. Whichever player does this first, wins the game. In the simple version of the game, all players start at level 1 and can only go up 1 level at a time after completing a level.

A Player’s Turn

There are essentially 2 ways a player’s turn ends.

1. Whenever a player competes a level, their turn ends
2. At any level, if a player misses a single shot out of 3 throws, their turn ends. They can still shoot all 3 discs before their turn stops.

One important stipulation to the 2nd scenario is if the player, by missing a shot has failed the level as a result, their turn actually continues. They have a chance to redeem themselves.

Redemption

After any shot in which a player misses and therefore has failed the level’s goal, their turn continues. They return to the next lowest level, and shoot from all stations at that level until they miss. If they do not miss, and instead complete that (lower) level, then their turn ends when the level is complete. If they do miss, their turn ends, unless they are already at the lowest level. Once a player misses one shot on level 1, they can continue throwing all remaining discs in their hand, or start again at that level. They must make 3 shots from both stations at level 1, to complete the level.

If a player on Level 3, misses a shot that causes them to fail that level, their turn continues by shooting at a station on Level 2. Missing even 1 shot here, means their turn ends, and they stay at Level 2. Because the game is all about redemption, if a player should miss all 3 shots after being demoted from Level 3 to Level 2, then this would equal failure of the level and they would continue their turn by going to Level 1, and making 6 out of 6. Once that occurs, their turn ends. Their next turn would start at a station on Level 2, and their goal would be to make 6 out 9 (which may take them up to 3 turns to complete).

Final note for the basics: If one player completes the goal on the 3rd level, and wins the game, the other player(s) get one additional round to complete levels, plus advance to the next level if they complete the previous one. Once they fail at a level, their turn ends and they are out of the game, aka they lost. If they complete the goal on level 3 in this final round, they would tie for the win.

Simple Variations on the Simple Version

If player fails at level 2, and returns to level 1 for redemption, if they miss a shot, their turn ends, and their next turn would then be to make 6 out of 6 at Level 1. After that is done, their turn ends again, and their following turn would start with level 2.

If player is redeeming themselves on Level 2 (after having failed at Level 3), they can miss all 3 shots, end their turn, but still remain at Level 2 (next turn) to go 6 for 6, and complete the level. Missing even 1 shot on their next turn would mean they fail the level and have to find redemption at Level 1.

Suggested Variation for Advance Players

• Level 1:  make all 6 shots (perfection) to complete the level.
• Level 2: Must make at least 7 (out of 9) shots. Only 2 misses allowed.
• Level 3: Must make at least 8 (out of 12) shots. Allowing for up to 4 misses.

Under this variation, the chances of failing a level can occur much sooner than the Intermediate goal levels. At Level 3, if a player misses all 5 shots over 2 rounds, they would automatically fail the level and have to redeem themselves at level 2.

Possible Variation for Pro Players

Being a non-pro, I don’t know if this is too easy or too challenging, but seeing that I as intermediate player have played under the Advanced version and was able to hold my own on Level 2, while never completing 8 out of 12 on Level 3, I’m thinking it would be easy for a pro.

• Level 1:  make all 6 shots (perfection) to complete the level.
• Level 2: Must make all 9 shots.
• Level 3: Must make at least 10 (out of 12) shots. Allowing for up to 2 misses.

The Elite Variation

Must make all 27 shots, or achieve perfection at all the levels.

 

What I’m Currently Up To

I have 3 primary vocational interests right now, and none of them are currently resulting in income. That’s okay. I got a little job for income and pretty sure I’ll get another one, or ten, soon enough. My primary interests, perhaps in order of highest interests are:

1. Article Writing / Blogging / Story Writing
2. Application Development (training now)
3. Website Development (forever training)

Writing has been my ‘first love’ for a long time running and I don’t see that changing. I used to have Scriptwriting as a primary interest and while it still appeals to me, it isn’t top priority anymore. I see article writing as good way for me to do freelance work and help others with finding right concepts and expressions to convey whatever it is they wish to convey. Blogging is what I’m doing in this very sentence and something I’ve done before, perhaps will do forever. I dunno. Story Writing is a prime interest and yet I never seem to make the time to do the work to flesh out characters, dialogue and plot like a good writer ought to. I’ll keep it burning low on the back burner and who knows, one day I’ll have a post announcing my latest story has been published.

Application Development is my desire to catch up with the current times and what’s popular in the modern world. As I don’t have a strong computer programming background, I’m going slowly, but loving the process. Today I trained on creating operations and strings. Still learning the basics of coding, but been dabbling in it for a good 3 or so years now and so I’m getting the hang of it, I think. Oh and currently training on iOS 8 or Swift 1.0 using Xcode.

Web Development is something I’ve been doing for about 7 years now and I’m constantly wondering where I stand on the path of knowledge in this very wide open field. I’m thinking I’m in early intermediate stages, though have completed a few websites, 2 of which I’m proud of, none of which are currently on the www. Lately, I’m trying to get all caught up on HTML5, but traditionally, I’ve been immersed in all things WordPress. I may be moving away from the template based approach, but if I had to design a website today for someone, it would be using the template approach and adding plugins that match the functionality they say they want. Last year I was trying to learn PHP and got pretty far, but lost a little focus there and decided App Development was more important and then, later, that HTML 5 would be easier to learn and stand a better chance of keeping me motivated to finish a training course.

I certainly have more interests than these, such as video/film, consulting/teaching, graphic design, and more things computer related, but just wanted to capture what my current primary interests are and what I’m up to when not looking for a job, but trying to work on top priority type stuff.

Repurposing for the Nth Time

Back to this blog and wanting to stick to it this time around. Previously, I was too caught up on how to best administer this blog/site and caring a bit too much with how polished my works were before I’d let anyone read them. Even on my, ahem, private blog.

That’s changed.

I’m making this blog open to visitors and the almighty search engines. But not real interested in this moment in promoting it or sharing it with friends. Just looking to get into a routine of writing more frequently on this type of blog and sharing the many things that occur to me. Lots of stuff occurs to me. Daily.

Most of that is related to leisurely pursuits, but some of it is philosophical, political, spiritual, and hopefully insightful. My outlook tends to remain roughly the same, while my interests are numerous and my focus is seemingly constantly shifting. Therefore ‘hodgepodge of content’ is perhaps the best tagline for this blog.

I make no apologies for being long winded on this site. My site. My blog. My long ass winded rules. Someday, I’m sure I’ll want to revisit how the posts are organized and laid out, but for now, I’m just making it up as I go along.

Greatest Music Artists of All Time

This is a list of top 20 music groups or artists that I find to be the greatest of all time. This spans over 50 years of music and several genres, including Classic Rock, Funk, Prog Rock, Hip Hop and Alternative Music. It is rare that I find music I don’t like and there is not a genre that I will rule out. Catch me in the right mood, and I’ll listen to yodeling, classical, scream metal and (small doses of) country music.

This is an abbreviated list of my top 50, which you can see at Squidoo (click here). I also make note there of “honorable mentions” as I am aware of artists I am leaving out that would be on most people’s list (i.e. Elvis Presley). Unlike the Squidoo list, I am counting here from 1 to 20, with number one being the greatest music artist of all time.

For what it’s worth, this was last updated on April 26, 2011.

1. Led Zeppelin
2. The Beatles
3. Beck
4. Pink Floyd
5. The Who
6. The Doors
7. Prince
8. Outkast
9. Grateful Dead
10. Cee-Lo
11. Queen
12. Stevie Wonder
13. Cat Stevens
14. Steve Miller Band
15. Neil Diamond
16. Earth Wind & Fire
17. The Rolling Stones
18. Bo Diddley
19. AC / DC
20. Gap Band