Disc Golf

Every backhand I threw curved hard left into the rough and I spent half the round bushwhacking for lost discs. Then one putt rattled the chains and dropped, and that sound is immediately addictive. A quiet wooded course on a morning costs nothing, which seals it.

Tip: Don't start with the discs the pros throw. Get a slow, understable putter and midrange and learn to throw straight before you touch a driver.

You slowly start feeling the disc's flight before you release, the nose angle, the snap of the wrist. The walk is easy. The consistency is the part that takes ages. I lost fewer discs once I stopped fighting the disc and let it do what it wanted to do.

Tip: Mark your discs with your name and phone number. You will lose one in tall grass eventually, and decent people do return them.

The honest truth is the throwing motion takes years to get repeatable, far longer than the casual vibe suggests. But by now I know how each disc in my bag wants to fly and which to grab for a tunnel shot. The walk through the trees became as much the point as the score.

Tip: Spend more time putting than driving. Big drives are fun but rounds are won and lost inside the circle.