From the Backyard to League Play
You’re dominating the backyard or the beach and it’s starting to get noticed but what’s next? You could surely keep winning at this level but the thrill and challenge is quickly diminishing. What the fuck do you do to make winning great again?
This was my dilemma. Like many of you, I had spent a good chunk of the pandemic watching the ACL on ESPN and thought that it’d be fucking awesome to play at that level and move beyond beating my friends. I was hooked. I think I lost a collective four games last year but it was backyard competition; I knew I wouldn’t get any better if I didn’t play anyone better. I found a podcast, the Doghouse Cornhole Dogcast, and asked them on social media if they knew anyone in my area who ran leagues and struck gold. They put me in contact with John Clark and once local covid rules allowed, I was able to finally get going with the Maineiacs Cornhole League. This is my experience from backyard to league play and advice I’ve found along the way.
First, I had to find a teammate. I assume if you’re reading this you aren’t socially inept so this shouldn’t be too hard. Pair up with someone you can drink 4 pitchers with on a Thursday and take an L or two. Competitive interests are important to consider too. Side note, you’ve got to have a team name. Ours is “Stephen Hawking’s School of Dance,” so get creative. Most people have something centered around corn related jokes but let your imagination run wild, you can only do so much with corn before it gets old, repetitive and forgettable.
Local laws were lifted after the long night of Winter that was Covid-19, and it was finally the first league night. I had left work early to practice on my own boards at home - I was so pumped. My teammate and I were ready, or so we thought. We honestly got fucking smoked at first. We went 3-3 during week 1. My teammate wasn’t used to the speed of the boards and my bags weren’t as broken in as I thought. Everything I threw was flying straight to the moon off the end. We started in the C league, but still faced some heavy competition at first while the competitiveness of the leagues were figured out. We quickly righted the ship in the following weeks, going 5-1 the second week, 6-0 the third week and 5-1 the fourth week. C League play realistically wasn’t bad by any means. There was only a game or two where it felt like the other team didn’t stand any chance at all. Just put the bags on the board and in the hole as much as you can and don’t overly worry about strategy here. C League fun league.
Week 5 rolled around and we had hit the big show. Promoted into B league! However, we got fucked on and went 2-4. Absolute buzzsaw game one. That team missed a week and plays against A leaguers all the time. Shitshow. Game two, we won handily. Game three was against people just relegated from A league. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Game four was another absolute shitshow buzzsaw situation, and we lost 23-2. Those dudes could not fucking miss. Game five we lost too. Finally, game six. We were playing against a rival team from C League who we went 1-2 against in previous weeks and had a promotion to B league with us. We beat them but it was a tight match. All was right in the world again.
So far, it’s been a completely different ball game between B League and C League. B League is all about controlling the board and strategy. I’m throwing blockers and pushing mine in or trying my best to keep everything as close to the hole and in play as I can. Losing is tough sometimes but I’m learning and improving every game. Beyond that, everyone is quality here. You earn every point and every win has been satisfying.
So what’s the advice here?
- Buy Proper Equipment.The most important first step for me was to buy my own boards and bags so I could practice. I had a local guy make mine, but I would suggest buying from West Georgia Cornhole (5% off with code Doghouse), or Wicked Cornhole. It’s going to cost you around $250 but it’s tournament level quality and it will last you. For bags, I started with SlideRites and GameChanger Steadys but I’ve since moved to Fire Cornhole’s Blaze bags. Fire Cornhole’s bags shipped to my house in two days and were basically broken in when I got them. Literally smelled like fabric softener and I threw them that night, won all six games. Last year, it was about a month wait on bags so I was shocked they were this quick. There’s plenty of reviews on YouTube or the “Bag Life” page on Hard Drag Push, but a good idea here is to go with a bag that suits your play style. My teammate needs a bag with some speed and I like to throw blockers and push or airmail.
- Practice. The second most important step has been actually practicing. To be fair you don’t HAVE to do this, I do because I’m a psycho when it comes to competition. I’ll set up blockers in front of the hole and work on airmails or getting around blockers with cut shots. Anything I can think of or have seen on TV, I'll set up and work on beating it. Again, I’m a psycho who has spare time. I would strongly suggest to download Scoreholio now and use it to practice with. You can play against Ghosts and it’ll track your games. They created a “Ghost Ben” player who can shoot a 4 bagger one turn and 0 the next. You never know what he’s going to hit you with. Scoreholio has upcoming events listed nearby so you don’t have to get as lucky as I did with randomly messaging the guys with the Dogcast. If you just want a drinking night with a few friends, totally cool, skip practicing. All about knowing your priorities.
-Arrive Early. I recommend arriving early to your league. Ours starts at 6:15. I usually get there between 5:15 and 5:30 so I can throw and warm up and get a quick beer or two in before the first game. Nothing worse than using your first game as a warm up and taking an avoidable loss.
-Study the science. Get your throw down to a science. I think of this just like a foul shot in basketball, so find a base stance that’s comfortable for you and stick to it. Are you a step guy or a standing shot guy? Figure it out. I watched a few videos on Youtube to help with this but my thought process is if I can eliminate a step in a process I’ll always do it— so I’m a standing shot guy. I can’t stress enough how good the “Cornhole Science” videos are on YouTube. Those have taught me a decent amount of shit I wasn’t finding anywhere else. Cornhole Science had shown a situation where there was a bag in front of the hole and the opponent having a bag behind the hole and basically said sack up and go for the airmail, even if you miss you’ll probably hit theirs off. I sank mine but also knocked theirs off the board for a four-point swing.
-Break your bags in. Make sure your bags are broken in. Place a bag on top of the hole with the corners supporting it up, if it falls, it’s generally accepted as “broken in.” There are a few methods to do this, Fire Cornhole actually has a product they sell called “Sac Relax” for $15 dollars or you could run them in your washer with fabric softener and then the drier on no heat/tumble. OR you could just throw them like a normal person. Totally up to you. Personally I’ll run mine through the wash a time or two to speed it along but I throw a couple hours a week outside of league so that’s usually all it takes.
-Network. Socialize and network. Most of the folks I've met and talked to have been super nice and if you need any help, they’re more than willing to give it. You never know, someone could have a tip that completely changes your game for the better. You might even run into one of the people described in an earlier blog!!
-Podcasts. In addition to everything discussed above I highly recommend listening to Big Asp Cornhole Podcast and Doghouse Cornhole Dogcast. They have pros on occasion who drop excellent knowledge during interviews. I’ve learned a bunch listening while at work plus they’re pretty fucking entertaining and will keep you interested from start to finish.
-Enjoy yourself. I’ve got about 3-4 other teams that go who I’ve been friends with since college and we have a great time tossing bags. Recruit a few friends to make a team or network your way. Have fucking fun, start the tab and get the pitcher.
-Andrew Rideout
