Stepping up to hole 15 at my local course, a short wooded par 3 with a generous gap for a back hand righty, I took my one step and threw hard and level. One of my friends waiting to throw his drive was directly behind me and as he watched my disc he just whispered to himself, “…Ace run…” Well, it ended up hitting basket, and I settled for a drop in birdie.
To date, I’ve never thrown an ace. I’d like to say it’s because I only play super difficult courses with par 4 holes, however that is not the case. I’ve just never thrown one. That experience on hole 15 is something that will happen, in one way or another, every couple of weeks for a regular player. You get holes dialed in, disc choice narrowed down, and you start to see the lines in your sleep. This year has been a good one for hitting chain and basket, but nothing has stayed in the bucket.
I caught the bug early though- in my first month of playing, I discovered my home course. But the person who introduced me to the game was living in Minnesota, so I took a few videos of some of the signature holes. On one of these videos I happened to catch a direct center chain hit with a DX Valkyrie (a disc I have grown to hate!) but it was too high and the top link of the chain didn’t have any give so the disc came directly out! Here’s the video:
Just like that- the moment came and went- I threw a disc, almost aced, but didn’t, and then it was over. Three years later I’m still trying. It’s not the only reason I play, clearly, but it is a great motivation. I think about it all the time- especially in the midst of a terrible round… “Well, this round is in the crapper, but maybe I’ll ace hole 14 today!” Who knows where, and who knows when, but I’m hoping it’s soon…
DG Squared 