Perk No. 7: One shot can right a crappy round of disc golf

I have great rounds of disc golf.

I have awful rounds of disc golf.

Most of my rounds are somewhere in-between, though.

As I see it, one of the best things about disc golf – or perhaps just my temperament, at least – is that, after a day or two, no matter how bad I sucked out on the course, I forget about it. There’s simply too much on my plate to dwell on stuff of quite literally zero consequence in my life. 

Furthermore, there’s yet another saving grace …

It’s the subject of today’s piece:

One shot can change everything.

I’ll give you an example.

Last week, a buddy of mine and I threw a glow round together. He’s the guy with whom I share 95% of my disc golf, so it’s an added bonus that our skill levels are nearly identical. His forehand is elite, but my backhand trounces his. Our putting ability comes and goes at a similar rate, too.

I win some. He wins some.

Virtually every round between us is close.

This was NOT the case last Friday.

He was up big. I tried to hide my displeasure. I didn’t do a very good job of it. It was for this reason I decided to try and birdie the final hole (groundbreaking) with a Rollo – on an air shot.

It was a 350-foot hole with nada in the way to chop down a mid-flight frisbee. This wasn’t the first time I’d attempted this. But previously, any effort was always a third or fourth throw – and with no success. I understand that there are disc golfers reading this article who have little issue pushing a five-speed out 350 feet, but for me, it’s an accomplishment – and a rare one, at that.

This shot is further complicated by how insanely flippy the Rollo is by nature. Too much power, and it’ll turn and burn – or roll, which doesn’t count. Not enough hyzer angle, and it’ll do the exact same thing. The trick to this is striking the right balance between power and angle.

All while accounting for wind, as well.

Long story short, with a fan grip, I made it about 320 feet on one of the nuttiest sweeping, left-to-right drives I’ve ever thrown off a tee in my life – it looked like something you’d see in a comic book. I then proceeded to jam the putt from circle’s edge to card the ever-elusive birdie.

Round made.

Here’s what I love:

• The birdie did virtually nothing to improve my overall score.
• The birdie did everything for me to label the round a “success.”

Such is disc golf.

At least for us amateurs, anyway.

One shot can make ALL the difference.

That’s it.

I’d also mention that what this “one shot” looks like will differ from disc golfer to disc golfer. Aces are great and all, but let’s not act like they’re the be-all and end-all of disc golf. Most of the time, they’re bad, overpowered drives that miraculously wind up using the basket as a backstop.

Or whatever witchcraft this is:

For you, maybe the “one shot” is successfully hyzer-flipping a forehand. For another, it could be executing a park job with a thumber for the first time ever – and with minimal shoulder pain.

Think of the lengthy list of skills found in a gifted disc golfer’s bag of tricks: turbos, rollers, scoobers, skip shots, turnovers, jump putts, scrambling, gap-hitting, scomahawks, big-distance bombs, etc. And as you well know by now, there are dozens more skills where those came from.

The bottom line?

For those eager to enjoy disc golf, even when things are going poorly …

One shot can right the ship.

That’s hope enough for me.

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

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