New to Disc Golf

New to Disc Golf

Never played? The rules, your first discs, and your first round. Below are all 7 lessons in this path, each with the video we teach it from.

The 7 lessons

What Is Disc Golf

The game, in five minutes — how it works and why it is fun.

Disc golf is the rare sport you can play properly on your first afternoon. Most courses are free, a starter set costs less than a round of ball golf, and nothing about the game needs a lesson before you can enjoy it. What it does reward, immediately and for years, is accuracy and putting rather than raw power — which is why a 70-year-old regularly beats a 25-year-old who throws further.

Throw from a tee to a basket in the fewest throws.
All you need to start is a putter, a mid and a fairway driver.

Drill · Nine holes, three discs — 9 holes with exactly 3 discs, counting every throw. Take a putter, a midrange and one driver, and play nine holes counting honestly — penalties included. The number you write down is not meant to be good. It is your baseline, and beating it a month later is the most motivating thing in the sport.

Watch: Disc Golf For Beginners | How To Start | — Rippin Discs

Your First Discs

Three forgiving discs that make the game easier to learn.

The single biggest cause of early frustration is a disc that is too fast for your arm. A high-speed driver thrown at beginner speed finishes hard left for a right-handed backhand no matter how well you throw it — so it punishes good form and bad form identically, and teaches you nothing. Picking three forgiving discs is the cheapest improvement available to you.

Start with a comfortable putter and a straight midrange.
Lighter, understable discs fly farther with less power.

Drill · Learn what yours do — 10 throws with each of your 3 discs (30 total), into an open field. Throw each disc ten times at the same target with the same effort, and watch where it finishes rather than how far it goes. You are learning the shape: which one holds straight, which one fades left, which one turns right first. Knowing those three shapes is most of course management.

Watch: How to Throw Your FIRST Disc Golf Discs (Nate Sexton’s Beginner Guide!) — Innova Discs

Your First Throws

Get the disc flying flat and straight.

Almost every beginner throw fails the same two ways: the nose points up, so the disc climbs, stalls and falls; and the arm swings out away from the body, so the power leaks sideways. Fix those two and distance arrives on its own, without throwing harder — which is fortunate, because throwing harder makes both of them worse.

Grip firmly, reach back level, and pull across your body.
Follow through toward your target and stay balanced.

Drill · Stand-still flat — 20 stand-still throws, no run-up, with a midrange. No approach, no x-step: just stand side-on and throw. You are not chasing distance, you are chasing a disc that leaves flat and lands flat. Watch the last second of each flight — if it is turning over or stalling upward, the nose angle is the thing to change. A flat 200 feet beats a wobbling 250 every time.

Watch: How to throw a disc for a beginner! | 1 on 1 disc golf lessons with Danny Lindahl Ep. 1 — Danny Lindahl

The Basic Rules

The handful of rules every new player should know.

You only need about six rules to play a fair round, and they settle the two arguments that actually come up: where you are allowed to stand, and what going out of bounds costs. Knowing them also means you can play a casual round with strangers without anybody having to teach you mid-hole.

Tee off behind the tee line; play from where it lands.
One penalty throw for out-of-bounds; mark your lie.

Drill · Play one strict round — 1 full round marking every single lie. Play nine or eighteen holes marking every lie with a mini and placing your foot deliberately behind it, including on throws where it obviously does not matter. It is slow and slightly silly for one round, and after that you do it without thinking — which is the point, because the rules only cost you strokes when you are improvising under pressure.

Watch: The most important disc golf rules | Disc Golf Basics — Latitude 64

How Scoring Works

Par, birdie, bogey — keeping score without confusion.

Scoring itself is simple arithmetic. What catches people out is the vocabulary, and not knowing it is the thing that makes a first round with strangers uncomfortable. Ten minutes here means you can keep a card for a group on day one.

Count every throw plus any penalties on a hole.
Under par is good; the lowest total wins.

Drill · Keep the card — 1 full round, writing each hole score down before leaving the tee. Keep the card for your whole group for one round, on paper or in the app. Writing somebody else’s score forces you to actually watch and count, and after eighteen holes of it the vocabulary is yours permanently.

Watch: How to Play Disc Golf | Everything You Need to Know — JustDisc

Etiquette 101

Be the player everyone wants to share a card with.

Disc golf is played in groups, on shared ground, with objects flying at head height. Nearly every bit of friction on a course is avoidable, and the habits that avoid it take no skill at all — which makes this the fastest way to be welcome in any group you join.

Stay quiet and still while others throw.
Furthest from the basket throws first; keep pace.

Drill · Watch where you stand — 1 round deliberately positioning yourself for every throw. For one round, before each person throws, consciously put yourself behind them and off to the side where they can see you are not in the way. Notice how often you would otherwise have been ahead of the thrower. After one round it stops being a decision.

Watch: Learn to Play Disc Golf with Nate Sexton - Course Etiquette — Innova Discs

Your First Round

Walk onto a course and play with confidence.

The first round decides whether most people come back. The sport is not the problem when they do not — the course usually is. Picking a short, open, quiet course for your first outing is worth more than any amount of practice beforehand.

Find a beginner-friendly course and go at a quiet time.
Bring water, a mini marker and a towel; have fun.

Drill · Beat your own number — the same 9 holes, twice, within 2 weeks. Play nine holes and write the total down. Play the same nine again within a fortnight and compare. Almost everybody improves by several throws between the first and second attempt, purely from knowing where the trouble is — and seeing that happen is what turns a first round into a second season.

Watch: COMPLETE TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNER DISC GOLFERS — Disc Golf Kid