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Course Strategy

Disc Golf Course Strategy

Course management, shot selection, and reading conditions. Below are all 16 lessons in this path, each with the video we teach it from.

The 16 lessons

Know Your Lines

See the shot before you throw it.

Players who score well see the whole flight before they throw; players who do not aim at the basket and hope. The difference is not vision, it is a habit — and it costs nothing to build. Picking a line also forces the honest question of whether you can actually throw it, which is where most strokes are saved.

Drill · Say the line — 1 full round naming the line out loud before every tee shot. For one round, say the whole plan aloud before each drive: disc, angle, where it lands. It feels absurd for three holes and then becomes genuinely useful — mostly because saying a bad plan out loud is how you notice it is a bad plan.

Watch: How to FINALLY Hit Your Lines in Disc Golf — Gannon Buhr

Reading the Landing Zone

Aim for where the disc lands, not just the basket.

A disc is not finished when it lands. On hard ground it skips, on a slope it runs, in wet grass it stops dead — and the difference between those outcomes is routinely thirty or forty feet. Players who plan only the flight are planning two thirds of the shot.

Drill · Predict the finish — 18 holes predicting where each drive will STOP. Before every drive, say where you think the disc will come to rest — not where it will land. Then check. You will be wrong a lot at first, mostly by underestimating skip and roll, and the habit of looking at the ground is worth several strokes once it is built.

Watch: How To Hit Your Landing Zones — David Konoplev

The Three Shot Types

Hyzer, flat and anhyzer cover most holes.

Hyzer, flat and anhyzer cover the overwhelming majority of holes you will ever play. Having all three reliably is worth far more than another thirty feet of distance, because distance only helps on the holes that already suit your one shape.

Drill · All three, one target — 10 of each shape at one target (30 total). One disc, one target, ten hyzer, ten flat, ten anhyzer. Mark the three groups. Those clusters are your real shot shapes, and the gaps between them tell you which hole shapes you currently cannot cover.

Watch: Physics of Flight 2.01: Shot Shapes | Disc Golf Instructional Video — DynamicDiscs

Position Play

Throw to a spot, not just as far as you can.

Distance is only useful where it leaves you a shot you can play. Throwing as far as possible every time means regularly finishing in positions you did not choose, and a drive that ends 40 feet further down the fairway and behind a tree has lost you a stroke, not gained one.

Drill · Work backwards — 9 holes planned from the basket outwards. On each of nine holes, before teeing off, decide where you want to putt from, then what approach gets you there, then what drive sets up that approach. Play that plan. It is slower and it usually produces a better score, which is the point.

Watch: Making Risk vs Reward Decisions in Disc Golf — Goeringer Disc Golf

Risk vs Reward

Weigh upside against the cost of a miss.

Most strokes lost by competent players are lost to decisions, not to technique. The arithmetic is simple and almost nobody does it: what you gain when the aggressive shot works, against what you lose when it does not, multiplied by how often each actually happens.

Drill · Do the arithmetic — 1 round writing down the sum before each risky shot. On every hole where you are tempted, write two numbers before you throw: how often you make it, and what the miss costs. Then throw whichever the numbers favour. After eighteen holes you will have a page that argues with your instincts, and the page is usually right.

Watch: RISK VS. REWARD! The disc golf dilemma. — Bear Bite Disc

Adjusting Lines for Wind

Let the wind pick your disc and angle.

Wind does not just move a disc sideways, it changes which disc you should be holding. Trying to fight it with the same disc and a different throw is how a windy round turns into a bad one — the adjustment that works is in the bag, not in the motion.

Drill · Pick the disc, not the throw — 9 holes on a windy day changing only the disc. Play nine holes in real wind with one rule: you may change discs and angles as much as you like, but your throwing motion stays exactly as it is in calm conditions. This forces the adjustment into the bag where it belongs, and it is usually a revelation about how much the disc choice was doing.

Watch: There is only one strategy that works in the wind when you disc golf... — Scott Stokely

Tournament Course Management

Play the percentages over a full round.

A tournament round is won by avoiding the big numbers, not by collecting birdies. Over eighteen holes the player who shoots level with no disasters almost always beats the one with four birdies and two doubles. Course management is the discipline of playing for that first scorecard.

Drill · Mark the card first — 1 round with every hole pre-labelled birdie or par-save. Before teeing off, go down the card and mark each hole as a realistic birdie chance or a par-save. Play accordingly for all eighteen. Compare the total with your usual. Most players shoot better while feeling as though they tried less, which is the entire lesson of this category.

Watch: Tournament Advice for Disc Golfers — TrevDom

Scrambling

Recover cleanly when you are out of position.

Everybody throws into trouble. What separates scores is the decision made from inside it, and the expensive instinct is to try to win the stroke back immediately. One bad throw is a bogey; one bad throw plus a hopeful recovery is a double or worse.

Drill · Take your medicine — 9 holes, always taking the safest escape. Play nine holes with one rule: from any trouble, you must take the safest available route back to a clean lie, with no exceptions and no heroics. Compare the score. Almost everybody shoots better, and the number is the argument the instinct will not accept on its own.

Watch: Discraft Disc Golf Clinic: Getting Out Of Trouble — Discraft Disc Golf

Playoff Strategy

Make smart decisions when it counts most.

A playoff hole is one shot where everything you have practised either shows up or does not. The mistake people make is treating it as special and therefore playing it differently — reaching for a bigger shot than they own, on the one hole where a mistake cannot be absorbed.

Drill · One shot, cold — 10 single shots with a full routine and 5 minutes between each. Throw one shot, walk away, wait five minutes, throw another. Ten of them. This is far harder than throwing ten in a row and it is exactly what a playoff asks — one cold shot with a full routine and no rhythm to lean on.

Watch: Decision Making Disc Golf Tips From the Pros — Eric Oakley

Using Course Maps

Read a course map to plan each hole.

A course map tells you the distance, the par and where the trouble is before you have thrown anything. Thirty seconds reading one is the cheapest stroke saving in the game, and on an unfamiliar course it is the difference between playing the hole and discovering it.

Drill · Map before tee — 18 holes reading the map before arriving at each tee. For a whole round, read each hole’s map while walking to it and form a plan before you can see the hole. Then check the plan against the reality. You will find the map tells you most of what you needed, and the habit transfers directly to playing somewhere new.

Watch: How I Break Down Holes on The Disc Golf Pro Tour — Gannon Buhr

Reading Elevation

Adjust for uphill and downhill shots.

Elevation is the most commonly misjudged thing on a course. Uphill holes play significantly longer than their stated distance and downhill ones considerably shorter, and discs behave differently in both. Getting it wrong is how a well-thrown shot finishes forty feet from where it was aimed.

Drill · Pace the slope — 10 throws each on an uphill and a downhill hole. Find one uphill and one downhill hole and throw ten on each with the disc you would normally use. Pace out how far short or long you finish against the signed distance. Those two numbers are your personal elevation adjustment and they are worth more than any general rule.

Watch: What You Should Know About Throwing Uphill VS Downhill — JustDisc

Playing in the Rain

Adapt technique and gear for wet conditions.

Rain changes grip, flight and ground all at once, and the players who score well in it are the ones who simplified rather than the ones who threw well. A wet round rewards preparation and conservatism far more than it rewards skill.

Drill · Play one wet round on purpose — 9 holes in the rain, drying the disc before all 9 tee shots. Go out deliberately in light rain and play nine holes with a strict towel routine on every throw. You are rehearsing the handling as much as the shots, and the first time you do it in a competition should not be the first time you have done it.

Watch: 5 HACKS for RAINY Rounds // Disc Golf in the Rain — Apollo Disc Golf

Playing All Wind Angles

Handle head, tail and crosswinds.

Each wind direction does something different and the effects are not symmetrical. Knowing which is which turns wind from a source of random results into another variable you plan around — and since most players never practise in it, it is one of the largest edges available.

Drill · All four directions — 10 throws in each of 4 directions (40 total), one disc. One disc, one windy day, ten throws into the wind, ten with it, and ten across it from each side. Note the finish of each group against your aim. This produces a personal reference table that is more use than any general advice, because it is measured with your arm and your disc.

Watch: Reading the Wind | Headwind, Tailwind, AND Crosswind | Disc Golf — Gladiator Disc Golf

Play the Position, Not the Basket

On long holes, set up the birdie instead of forcing it.

On a hole you cannot reach, going for it anyway is a decision that looks ambitious and plays badly. A planned lay-up to your best putting distance converts a long hole into a routine par; an unplanned one leaves you somewhere awkward with the same number of throws gone.

Drill · Lay up on purpose — 9 long holes laying up to your best putting distance every time. Play nine holes you cannot reach and lay up deliberately to your favourite putting distance on every one. Count the pars. For most players the number is higher than when they go for it, and seeing that written down is what makes the habit stick.

Watch: Are You Playing SAFE or AGGRESSIVE on this Hole? #discgolf @agarduno29 — DGaiden

Managing a Blow-Up Hole

Stop one bad shot from becoming three.

Big numbers come from sequences, not from single shots. One throw into trouble is a bogey at worst; it becomes a double or a triple when the next decision is made in frustration rather than in arithmetic. Breaking that sequence is probably the largest single scoring gain available to an average player.

Drill · The next shot rule — 1 round pausing 30 seconds after every bad shot. For one round, after any throw you are unhappy with, stop and count thirty seconds before you even choose a disc. Note at the end how many holes could have become big numbers and did not. The pause is the whole technique and it costs nothing but the time.

Watch: Pro Tips-Nate Perkins Teaches How to Overcome Blow Up Holes | Disc Golf Tips and Tutorials — Robbie C Discgolf

Playing Unfamiliar Courses

Score well somewhere you have never played.

Playing somewhere new is where good players lose strokes to bad information rather than to bad throws. Everything on an unknown hole is uncertain — the length, the trouble, where a miss finishes — and the right response to uncertainty is conservatism and a few minutes of looking.

Drill · Walk the blind ones — 1 new course, walking every blind hole before throwing. Play a course you do not know and walk up every hole where you cannot see the landing zone. Note how many times what you found differed from what you would have assumed. That count is the argument for doing it every time, and it is usually higher than people expect.

Watch: How to Play New Courses Blind and Score Well | Beginner Disc Golf Tips — Robbie C Discgolf

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More paths: New to Disc Golf · Disc Golf Form & Technique · Disc Golf Putting · Disc Golf Driving & Distance