Equipment you need

Discs are virtually the only essential piece of equipment that you need to be able to play disc golf. Worldwide, there are 80 companies that produce different disks, and all of them are approved for use by the global players association PDGA.

Discs differ in weight, the type of material they are made and the flight characteristics. It is important to know that each throw, if it is properly thrown in a backhand technique and by right hand thrower (most common throw) have a tendency towards the end of the flight to turn to the left. For throws made by right-handed players using a forehand technique the disc will turn to the right at the end of the flight. For the left handed players disc will fly the other way around.

Different characteristics of discs can significantly change these tendencies, but the tendency will always remain, at least in the minimum extent.

Weight of discs is usually about 165g to 175g, but the on the market you can find discs ranging from 130g to 180g. Lighter discs are suitable for beginners, children and young people or people who do not have strong muscles or explosive power in their hands. Lack of playing with light discs is in the fact that even an easy wind will affect their flight and probably change their trajectory. Heavier discs are more resistant to the effect of wind and it is easier to predict their trajectory, but to get them flying in a correct way you will need more strength and explosiveness in the body.

The material used to make discs is plastics and rubber, or various mixtures of these compounds. Almost every disc manufacturer offers several types of plastic that are distinguished by resistance to hits (e.g. hit a tree) or the slipperiness / roughness of the material, which is important when holding a disc to throw because not every players likes each kind of plastic.

Each disc is described by four standardized numbers that indicate speed, glide, turn and fade. Some manufacturers, such as Innova, print these numbers on the discs themselves, while others do not keep these standards and use some other principle, but on many other sites, such as the Flight Analyzer, you can check out these figures for almost every disc on the market.

Speed describes the velocity at which the disc needs to be thrown so that it will fly as intended. Speed ranges from 1 to 14, and a common classification according to the speed, and thus the purpose is to putters, midranges, fairway drivers and distance drivers. The bigger the speed of a disc is, the more speed you will need to throw it in such a way to get the expected flight pattern. The speed of more than 10 is not recommended for beginners.

Glide describes how to disc will "sail" on the air and keep the intended path. Discs with a larger glide number are better for less experienced players as they need less power, and more spin. Glide is referred to figures of 1 to 7.

Turn describes how much the disc will turn in the direction opposite of its intended direction in the initial stage of the flight. If the disc is thrown backhand by a right handed player it will have a tendency to turn to the left at the end of the flight. Disk with "turn" 0 will not turn to the right and stay on the line towards the left. The disk marked with -2 will turn first slightly to the right, but in a later phase of the flight it will return and finish left. On the other hand a disc with a turn -5 will draw heavily to the right and then just slightly return to the left.

Fade describes how much will the disc turn in the expected side in its final part of the flight. The disk marked with 0 will draw a minimum and finish nearly in the line on which he flew, while the disk that is marked with a 4 will turn quite a lot and move away from the path that it was flying while it was in full speed. Discs with a large "Fade" are good choice in the case of wind as it is more predictable where they will land.

Lagoda j.d.o.o. is at the moment selling discs by manufacturers Innova, Discmania, Prodigy, Latitude 64, Discraft and Prodiscus. Prices depend on the manufacturer and type of plastic they are made of, and range in price from 75kn (~10€) to 130kn (~17€). For additional info on discs we sell check out our shop page on discs.

Additional equipment players use while playing disc golf is towel, mini disc, bag, backpack or cart, birdie bag to help with mosit on hands etc.