Disc golf! (You really should)

My brother and I threw a lot of frisbees back in the day, did Tron fantasy matches, etc. It’s something that most do when young but drop as they get older. Then Ultimate popped somewhat decades ago but it’s much more about soccer-levels of running fitness, so no thanks.

Enter COVID. What’s a cheap sport that can be done outdoors with minimal fuss? Disc golf. Our courses opened up around June, and I’ve been hooked. Asked around and it turns out that I have several friends also into it, it just never came up.

The quick sell: COVID safe as anything outside can be. Extremely inexpensive, 20 bucks gets you a starter set that if you’re honest will last you years, no greens fees, and it only takes an hour and a half to play a round.

Do you like to walk in the woods? Got it. Do you want to exercise but hate exercise for exercise’s sake? Done. (Me in a nutshell.) Want something physical that is super technique heavy if you want to get serious, but perfectly cromulent if you don’t? Nailed.

I kick myself for not doing it sooner.

Yes, I’m enjoying it too. I only started about three weeks ago and weather and various other things have kept me from playing as much as I’d like.

There’s a course very close to me that is super challenging. Lots of holes in the woods so it’s easy to end up behind a tree, etc. It’s also very long. Frankly, it’s a bit much for me now. Here’s a pic of a par three guarded by trees.

Off camera to the left there’s a wider opening. You would need to throw your tee shot to that area to have a shot at a birdie. It’s a narrow corridor from the tee and a healthy distance – 231 feet. That’s a lengthy throw.

This course tore me up. Fortunately there’s another nearby course much, much easier. It’s nine holes. I played it in -4 recently. All the par 4s there should really be par 3s.

Any, it’s fun, free, quick, and literally a walk in the park and/or woods, depending on the course.

Yeah, we’ve got one bastard course in the area, so of course that’s where I played my first round. 38 over par. Couldn’t play for over a week because of muscle soreness.

Only advice I can give is to play bad, quickly.

Yeah, the tough course was the first I played and I was probably about 38 over par too. The holes are just really long.

I’ve since played enough that I have better control of the disc so that will help me when I try it again. I’ve gained a little length, too, but I’m not that worried about distance yet.

One thing I haven’t been able to do yet is make a forehand throw. I’d like to figure that out. I’ve also seen an overhead throw. It’s weird but you have a chance to get a roll for extra distance.

I really need to get back into disc golf. When you overthrow an understable disc and have it fade around a stand of bushes in the distance right into the chains, there’s no feeling like it.

Local (San Diego) courses are not generally free (there are a couple of exceptions) and usually entail hefty wait times for tees. My strategy used to be to arrive at the Balboa Park course at sunrise and try to be the first guy out there. I could throw the 19 holes in a little over an hour and still make it to work. Such a great sport and I need to pull my discs out of mothballs and start practicing my throw again.

I love this video of Paul McBeth demonstrating how pros throw drives

I mean look at how he cocks his arm back, twists completely backwards, then uses his chest and shoulders to slingshot his arm around, releasing the disc pretty early in the swing. I stopped doing a run-up to throws and focused on doing a standing throw with proper form and my game improved considerably.

Paul McBeth is the guy who has had a couple of rounds at -18. Pretty amazing.

Scott Stokely on youtube, easily the best, simplest explanation of the forehand I’ve seen. I still can’t throw it like my backhand but I was never a baseball player.

Best advice for throwing around corners: to add hyzer or anhyzer (horizontal tilt) to your throw, don’t tilt the disc, tilt your body. Lean back for a RHBH throw that arcs to the right and lean forward for a RHBH throw that arcs left. It really works.

I got my first ace in the second month, and I’ll admit it was from the short tees at the great local course that actually has two tees per hole. Lovely anhyzer around a tree, faded back to hyzer and centered the chains. Only 215 or so but it looked so good.

Side story: since getting into it my buddy and I have made a full sized basket out of scrap wood, paracord, and drilled golf balls to provide the stopping power. Then we made two tiny baskets for trophies in our impromptu scrambles, as well as a midsized basket to throw mini discs.

My favorite local course is at a junior ball golf course tucked into a couple of city blocks right in the middle of the city. There’s great vertical terrain on the course, but every hole is short enough (300’ or less) that you can throw the whole thing with a putter. Super fun and great practice for precision throwing.

Quick explainer for the curious: there are only two new words to learn in disc golf, hyzer and anhyzer and I have no idea where they come from but sound suspiciously German. You throw with the disc angled away from your body it goes away, towards it goes towards. Bunch of other stuff happens down the line.

Midwest, open courses are the exception. I love the short technical holes where I’m at least physically capable of finding a birdie with a perfect shot. Nothing I can really do about a 450 par 3.

Here’s me at a course in Worcester, MA a couple of years ago. I don’t think it was this hole, but I definitely dropped a brand new disc in the drink at one point while throwing this course. We saw Ricky Wysocki while playing it. He was getting warmed up for a tournament the next day.

I haven’t went since I moved west, but I did all the time back in Chicago. I should get a set for my wife and have us go soon.

Ok, that’s a crazy hole. I refuse to risk losing my disc. I’d have to feel a lot better about my game before trying this kind of hole.

Portland has some of the best courses in the country. Get out there!

Agreed, but after you gain confidence and skill, that’s what the starter set is for. ;)

I play randomly during warmer months, maybe around once per month on average, and I find it a great “excuse” to just get out and bullshit with friends in nature. Especially useful this year…

This is one of the things I really miss. Rheumatoid Arthritis has stolen away my game but in my younger days, I was a very avid disc golfer and was actually pretty good. I helped design the Grand Woods Disc Golf Course, in Lansing MI. and my disc golf club split the cost of the baskets with the city, when the course was finally built. I won several tournaments over the years and placed in the top 50 twice in the World Amateur’s Tournament. I played several times with pro players and while I couldn’t beat them on a consistent basis, I could hold my own. My friends and I ( we are in Michigan ) used to make an annual trek to Bowling Green KY for their Halloween tourney. Now I cant even grip a disc tight enough to throw it more than 50 feet. One of the highlight of my active days was playing in the Grand Woods Fall classic. I was 5 strokes out heading into the back 9 and suddenly hit “the Zone”. I came back and won by 2 strokes. That included an ace on one of the final holes that jumped me into the lead and won me a $250 ace pool. At that point I actually had a gallery following me and the hole was blind, as the basket was hidden behind a copse of trees. I still can hear the sound of that disc hitting those chains and the reaction of the crowd. Those were the days.

Philo, is that you?

J/k, but cool stories. I may pick your brain on technique.