In my last post, I informed all of you on how to start playing the sport that I love so much: disc golf. I briefly skirted over the discs themselves, recommending a starter set for beginners. However, in the next 2 articles, I will be going in-depth about everything disc related: where to get them, what discs to get, the different kinds of discs, etc. This first article will be a sort of “crash course” on the way that discs are labeled and how that affects how they are going to fly.

 

 

First off, who am I to tell you what sort of discs to get? Well, I’ve been playing disc golf recreationally since I was a kid, but I started on the competitive scene about two years ago. Naturally, I’ve played a lot of disc golf, and I’ve had the luck to try many different types of discs along the way. I’ve built myself a bag in the beginner stage, the recreational stage, and the advanced stage, so I know a bit about building a bag.

 

Before we talk about where to get discs and what type of discs to get, I’m going to briefly cover flight numbers. When you pick up a disc, there will likely be four numbers somewhere on the stamp on top of the disc. These are called flight numbers, and will inform you about how a disc should fly when you throw it (Flight numbers differ slightly between manufacturers, but not in a significant enough way that a beginner should be worried). These numbers are called Speed, Glide, Turn, and Fade.

 

 

Speed

The Speed of a disc is the amount of power you need to throw it on to get the expected flight out of it. Discs from 14-11 Speeds are considered Distance Drivers, 10-6 Speeds are Fairway Drivers, 5-4 are Midranges, and 3-1 are Putters (We’ll talk more about these later). Although higher speed discs tend to go farther, you have to have the “arm speed” to throw them at their intended speeds; if you don’t have enough “arm-speed”, the disc won’t fly as well for you.

Glide

The Glide of a disc is how much time it will spend gliding in the air. The number doesn’t actually measure the time the disc will glide, but it provides a relative scale for how “Glidy” a disc is, with 7 being the most glide, and 1 being the least.

Turn

The Turn of a disc is how much a disc will turn the opposite way of how it is going to finish. Discs with high turn (0 to 2) will be less likely to drift the opposite way, and discs with low turn (-1 to -5) will be more likely to. For example, if you were to throw a disc flat and you were right handed, you would expect a disc with a neutral turn (0) to move a little bit right in the air before dumping out to the left.

Fade

The Fade of a disc is how hard it will finish in the direction that you threw it. Discs with high fade (1 or 0) will dump a lot, while discs with low fade (-1 to -3) will be more likely to finish straight. If you were to throw a disc flat and right handed and it had a lot of Fade, it would go to the left a lot at the end of the flight.

 

So, now you should be able to have a somewhat basic knowledge of how a disc is going to fly when you are looking at them. Hopefully you could follow along and are able to somewhat understand Flight Numbers now, but if not, that’s totally ok! One of the best ways to learn how discs fly is to go out and throw them, the Flight Numbers are just there to act as a signpost of sorts for the beginner buyer. In my next post, I’ll walk you through the 4 (Or 6) different types of discs, and advise you on how to build your own bag!