Through two days, the 2022 DGPT Match Play Championship has been a blast. The format’s unique and the players have put on a show. Later today, we’ll have an MPO and FPO champion. With many of the best players in both divisions passing on the event, I was expecting a bust …
I was wrong.
I can admit it – if I have to …
I guess.
Apart from the stellar play, however, one thing that’s stood out to me is the INSANE elevation in Bailey, Colo. I knew the Centennial State was “up there” (literally), but Bailey comes in at 7,740 feet above sea level. I’m in Salt Lake City. Given the host of ski resorts within minutes of me, I’d always thought I lived in an elevated location, but I’m 3,500 feet shy of those guys …
Good gravy, bust out the oxygen masks.
Breathable air’s not the only sparse thing atop Mount Bailey, though …
You’ll be hard-pressed to find an understandable disc, as well.
You see, amongst a host of things that control how a disc flies is elevation. I grew up in Edmond, Okla. The entire state’s as flat as a pancake. Though years ago, when I first started playing disc golf, I remember getting WAY more turn out of a new Champion Beast than I do currently.
Fortunately, I’m not losing my mind …
My arm speed’s not plummeted, either – this is to be expected.
Here’s how things work:
- Low Elevation – Discs fly more understable, with greater initial turn and late push.
- High Elevation – Discs fly more overstable, with less initial turn and heavier late fade.
As altitude increases, air pressure decreases. As air pressure decreases, the lift generated at a constant speed decreases, as well. The result is a disc that flies more overstable. To generate the same flight in Ogden as you’d see in Death Valley, your flight speed needs a 10% increase.
That’s all fine and dandy, but really …
How BIG of a deal is all of this “elevation” business?
Christian Dietrich is a veteran disc golfer out of Helena, Mont. He’s a member of Team Innova. His best years are behind him, but in his prime, he was a 1020-rated disc golfer. No stranger to the Rocky Mountains, Dietrich routinely refers to the Sidewinder as his “Mountain Destroyer.”
So, yeah – it makes a difference.
Want to throw farther with less effort?
Move to Florida – I hear Clearwater’s nice 😉
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