Your golf discs have way more life in them than you think

Foundation Disc Golf does great work.

If it can be done with a disc, they’re all over it.

And with a camera on-hand, of course.

One of my favorite new installments on the guys’ YouTube channel is “Disc Golf Demolition Derby.” The point of the series is to intentionally annihilate plastic, play with it and see how it performs. To that end, everyone throws a quick, nine-hold layout. If you do well on a hole, the single disc you’re playing with gets pulverized. If you do badly on a hole, you’re the one pulverizing the disc. Between each hole, for 10 brutal seconds, almost anything goes.

Assuming you’re big on the Putter Line Zone, look away …

This is R-rated material.

It’s entertaining, yes.

But there’s a lesson hidden here that wasn’t intentional …

Your golf discs have WAY more life in them than you think.

Whether you watch it or not, by the end of the video, each and every Putter Line Zone flies like a tissue in a tornado, which is to say – poorly. Technically, they’re flying, but not by much.

For the sake of this piece, I’d encourage you to focus solely on the first few holes. It’s a Zone, so in a cheaper, more affordable polymer, it remains a beefy disc. But even after nearly a minute of John Wayne Gacy-levels of inhumane treatment, the Zone still fights at the end of its flight.

And again …

It’s baseline stuff.

My point is that amateur disc golfers tend to swap out their plastic far too frequently. And right when one or two of their frisbees are (finally) on the verge of doing something truly special.

It could be an aesthetic issue: Maybe the stamp is fading a bit. It could be a structural problem: Dinged rims and warped flight plates might compromise the flight of the disc. It could even be a matter of social pressure: The latest and greatest in new releases is too strong of a temptation.

Whatever the case, there’s a good chance tossing a disc to the curb is NOT necessary.

For example, an old R-Pro Pig of yours isn’t nearly as overstable as it used to be. But as opposed to replacing it with a freshie and buying a KC Pro Whale to further expand your arsenal, keep it. 

Depending on where it’s at stability-wise, your war-torn R-Pro Pig might BE that Whale. The only difference being, of course, that your hand doesn’t have to learn the feel of a new mold.

See how this works?

It’s a beautiful thing.

Up to this point, I’ve referenced more entry-level polymers, but the same logic works for the high-end composites, too. Still not convinced? Check out one of my all-time favorite disc golf images. This one comes courtesy of Philo Brathwaite’s Instagram account from forever ago …

Charred. Chipped. Chunked.

This is what love looks like.

Everybody builds a bag differently – this goes for the pros, too. But golfers within the Pro Tour put into practice what far too many amateurs only give lip service. They beat discs, continue to bag them when they’re no longer pretty and allow their games to grow along with them. In a sport jam-packed with plastic-obsessed, weekend warrior-type golfers, be a Brathwaite.

The game needs more of them.

So could your local landfill.

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