Disc golf: Do solo-round aces even count?

My father-in-law is one of the best, most brilliant men I’ve ever met.

My second son is named after him, in fact.

Plínio.

When my wife was pregnant with him, she floated the idea past me. She was prepped with an argument to convince me of why this strange, seemingly made-up name would work for the little guy. No arm-twisting was required, though. I know the man; I admire the man; I love the man.

Plínio it is.

He does have one small flaw, though …

With no malicious intent whatsoever, he sometimes embellishes the truth. Thankfully, this never happens with anything serious. For example, he’s known to tell a story about having dinner with Robert Redford. The reality of the situation, however, is that – though he technically did have dinner with Redford – it was at a restaurant, and Bob was seated five tables over from him.

Basically, he had dinner with near Robert Redford.

That’s better.

It was nothing more than a coincidence. Robert has no earthly idea who my father-in-law is, and I highly doubt he ever will, either. To date, our family has a light-hearted laugh about this at get-togethers. And being the good sport he is, O.G. Plínio is game to laugh at himself, too.

And loudly, might I add.

So, what does ANY of this have to do with disc golf and solo-round aces?

Similarly, there are well-intentioned disc golfers out there who might stretch the truth just the tiniest bit to drive home how epic a solo-round ace was – or something close to one, at least.

“You had to be there.”

What actually took place might not have been quite so impressive, though.

Some oft-ignored details:

• It was their 10th off the tee.
• It was a black (or brown) ace.
• It didn’t stick, but it should have.

My advice would be as follows:

Consider the source.

But even if it’s not all that reputable, as a listener, don’t let it bother you much. Should someone feel the need to fib about something as trivial as throwing a frisbee, they’ve (likely) got bigger things to worry about in life. Let it be, Columbo. It’s not your job to investigate the matter.

Fortunately, 100% of meaningful, needle-moving aces have an audience – an entire card of them, incredibly. They all happen during tournaments. And they greatly impact the final leaderboard.

Anyway, back to the question this post poses …

Do solo-round aces count?

Yes.

My first-ever ace was of the solo-round variety. There was a group on another hole that heard the smashing of chains and congratulated me from afar. They didn’t see my Discraft Predator actually go in, though. At the time, this bothered me. Nowadays, I couldn’t care less.

As a forever amateur, my aces are for me and my own sense of accomplishment. If I’m alone, and nobody witnesses one of my one-throw wonders, it’s a bummer. But again, as long as I’m honest with myself, it doesn’t change what happened – that’s good enough for me.

Also, just for the record, I once threw nine holes with Woody Harrelson …

But that’s a story for another day.

*** Wink, Wink ***

Have anything to add? Take to X to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.

Editor’s Suggestions:

• Gripe No. 59: Standing water on disc golf courses
• Long live the local, brick-and-mortar disc golf shop
• Review: The PuttConfidently MP (Mini Pocket) Apparel Hat

Real quick, if you happen to buy something through a link in this article, there’s a chance we’ll get a small share of the sale. It’s how we keep the lights on. To learn more, click here.