2013 Discraft Ace Race

[JRW III]

Same thing as last year's AR. The Zombee is a good disc, its just not good for throwing 150 ft. lol

But at the end of the day I am happy. I would much rather have a driver or mid-range that is not the best disc for an ace race, but ends up in my bag (2010 & 2013), than to have a putter that is a great ace race disc, but does not end up in my bag (2011).

 

[thisislorenb]

Man...... i really am exxcited to try this thing..... September 14 can not come soon enough. i like vikings a lot and if that's what it flies like i like the idea of habing something like that in ti plastic. we r doing ours on a big wide open course too which only makes me want to explode in pants even more

 

[smarkquart]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAccqckYSw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUk0jx0AJpC93GAG2jJogi5A


Video from our Ace Race

 

[apparition]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAccqckYSw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUk0jx0AJpC93GAG2jJogi5A


Video from our Ace Race

Looks like a few holes were super short. What, maybe 70 feet?

 

[mashnut]

Looks like a few holes were super short. What, maybe 70 feet?

It's way more fun that way, the more aces and metal the better. I love it when you have a big chunk of the field with multiple aces and the winner comes in with 4+.

 

[jcassidy1990]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAccqckYSw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUk0jx0AJpC93GAG2jJogi5A


Video from our Ace Race

I love the "putt" ace. The chick gets real excited lol.
This is how that tourney should be done.

 

[justactnormal]

This hole was set at 178 feet. I would say that this disc is a tracker / pred mix. also peoples were calling it a Stalker OS which I could see as fitting. We had a couple long arms Bombing this in a open field at lunch and were getting some mad Distance for a disc designed for a beginner (i.e. STABLE!!)

Interesting.

Stalker OS = Teebird

It would seem so anyways.

KC's first event is Sunday. Last year was a lot of fun, as I'm sure this one will be but it is, as others have said, awkward to throw a driver (I'd consider the Zombee a slow driver) at 150' holes.

 

[apparition]

It's way more fun that way, the more aces and metal the better. I love it when you have a big chunk of the field with multiple aces and the winner comes in with 4+.

Yeah, I see the appeal. It would definitely make it more fun for everyone and not just the handful that get lucky on 150-200' holes. Out of 18 holes, how many would you guys think is an optimal number to be shortened that much? Just thinking about the one I'll be putting on in October...

 

[mashnut]

My personal preference is nothing over about 180', and an average more like 100-120'. This is a tournament aimed at beginners, if even the newest player or a young kid has a chance of hitting metal it's more likely to bring them into the sport and really get them excited about it. The ace race shouldn't be about the best local players being the only ones able to compete because the holes are long.

 

[zugthug1705]

I think we had one "long" hole for last year's Ace Race, out of 21 holes... It was about 250-275 but anyone who hit it won an extra Ti plastic disc. It was pretty cool. I hope they do the same this year after reading the description of the disc.

 

[justactnormal]

Just watched a couple of the videos and the disc does look to be pretty OS and that bright yellow might be the first Ti disc that I can see myself actually using on the course if it flies like it looks. The Zombee was not overstable enough for me to trust in the winds that always seem to be a factor out here. Plus a Ti disc that doesn't turn on a cloaking device when it lands on a leaf or in a shadow... I'll take 2.


Seriously, I'll take at least 2. If I like it, I'll do what I did last year and end up with 4.

 

[smarkquart]

Looks like a few holes were super short. What, maybe 70 feet?

Out of 27 holes, we had two over 200 feet and I believe three 70 feet or less. The one featured in the video most was 33 feet (10 meter putt). The woman at the end is excited for her ace because her husband right next to her had 0 aces for the whole tournament despite taking two shots at this hole.

I think we had a great mixture of holes despite again for the second year in a row setting up our course for a non-driver disc. We needed to have everything set and measured a week prior to learning what the disc was so we could print maps on the scorecard we provided.

 

[Three Putt]

When we started out we ran a course with the recommended hole lengths. It was always one or two random aces. We shortened the course up because of the Zeppelin two years ago; we had a bunch of Aces and the winner had three (more than the entire filed had the year before.) Last year I left the Zeppelin layout and we had a similar number of Aces with the Zombee. I'll never go back to the longer course. Every hole has a shot that is < 50' and the longest shot in the entire layout is around 160'. It's a lot more fun that way.

 

[Earic02]

Rant:

I'm with the guy who said 180 max, which ours might be around 200 max. This will be our 3rd Ace Race and most of our holes are around 140-150 on average..

.. Buy my god those putt holes are horrible, on all Ace Race videos I've seen. I would be pissed if I saw "putts" at an ace race. I'm not normally this opinionated / rude, I just think it's really weird...

And I'm not a pro by any means, it's just that it's an ACE Race. We're throwing ACES, to (somewhat) mimic realistic tee shots..

I think a well-run Ace Race has SOME aces, but not LOTS of players with MULTIPLE ACES.

Our first year, we had 66 players and the winner had 1 ace and 2 metals.

Last year, we had 130 and the winner had 1 ace and 3 metals.

We'll have close to 200 players this year, and it will probably take 2 aces and 2 or 3 metals (or 3 aces if more than 1 multiple ace player) to win.

If someone besides a pro has 4 aces, that means that I didn't make the course (moderately) difficult enough. I'm NOT a Nazi about it, I just like the fact that it "meant" something that someone won our Ace Race. ..That it was somewhat of a challenge.

Here's our 2011 / 2012 highlight for examples:

 

[BogeyNoMore]

When we started out we ran a course with the recommended hole lengths. It was always one or two random aces. We shortened the course up because of the Zeppelin two years ago; we had a bunch of Aces and the winner had three (more than the entire filed had the year before.) Last year I left the Zeppelin layout and we had a similar number of Aces with the Zombee. I'll never go back to the longer course. Every hole has a shot that is < 50' and the longest shot in the entire layout is around 160'. It's a lot more fun that way.

^this. More Aces = more fun, and less luck.
IMHO, if you win with a just couple of aces or and Ace and a metal hit, that might be as much luck as it is skill.

If the winner has 5-6 aces and 2nd has 3, that winner's truly earned it.

 

[Earic02]

^this. More Aces = more fun, and less luck.
IMHO, if you win with a just couple of aces or and Ace and a metal hit, that might be as much luck as it is skill.

If the winner has 5-6 aces and 2nd has 3, that winner's truly earned it.

No way. There's always luck involved. The best player could throw lights out but still not get the "luck" he needed to win that day. It's a combination of luck and skill.

Our winners the last couple years have been very good players, with 1 ace and 2 / 3 metals.

If a winner has 5 or 6 aces, that means the course was all <100 footers.

----------------------

^All my opinion, and I think there are 2 different schools.

I'm the "teacher grading students" school. Kinda like when teachers don't want all the kids to get A's, because it meant the test was too easy.

Vs. the "more aces= more fun" school.

To me, you don't need aces for fun.
You need ace opportunities at least. Some years no one in a group gets an ace. That doesn't mean they didn't have fun. That's also what our "Losers Pool" prizes are for. Anyone who didn't get top 3 gets in a drawing for plastic and other prizes.

Sure, you want SOME aces in your event, of course. It would suck if NO ONE in your whole event got an ace..

My main gripe: Don't do 30 / 50 footers!!! They look silly on video!! No one should ever line up at a tee in a putting stance. I would be embarrassed to have anything less than like 80 / 100 feet, kinda depending on the disc..

(not to be a bad-*ss, just being honest. Selfish: I don't want TD's to keep making silly looking holes. But hey, they can do what they want.)

 

[smarkquart]

Rant:



.. Buy my god those putt holes are horrible, on all Ace Race videos I've seen. I would be pissed if I saw "putts" at an ace race. I'm not normally this opinionated / rude, I just think it's really weird...

I thought I would agree with you when we put our course together, but I let it stand and see how the player's responded. I never heard one negative thing from our 90+ players.

We had two players tied with 3 aces, which lead to a sudden death playoff hole which actually added a lot of excitement. Actually, two of our three years running it we have had to have a playoff. Of the two players this year, only one of their three aces was carded on this hole. This means that they had two aces each somewhere else on the course.

Also, our Ace Races have a tendency to draw inexperienced and new players. As you saw by Cassie's excitement, even a 33 foot ace is an exciting moment for some (I realize that not everyone seemed excited in the video). I can maybe understand if your tournament is filled with a lot of experienced players that such a hole seems dumb, but the percentage of new players we had made the hole worthwhile. We knew we would have such a turnout because of some piss-poor planning on other TDs' part; there were two other non-Ace Race tournaments running locally on the same day drawing away most of the experienced players. If those tournaments had not been planned the same weekend as ours (we had been advertising ours since February), then we could have anticipated more experienced players showing and maybe we would have set up the course differently.

Then again, maybe not. We had plenty of experienced players show up and as I said before, never heard one complaint. Heck, I was disappointed because I only carded two metals on this hole.

So in regards of this tournament being research and development for Discraft: the prototype driver does not make a good putter.

 

[Earic02]

I thought I would agree with you when we put our course together, but I let it stand and see how the player's responded. I never heard one negative thing from our 90+ players.

We had two players tied with 3 aces, which lead to a sudden death playoff hole which actually added a lot of excitement. Actually, two of our three years running it we have had to have a playoff. Of the two players this year, only one of their three aces was carded on this hole. This means that they had two aces each somewhere else on the course.

Also, our Ace Races have a tendency to draw inexperienced and new players. As you saw by Cassie's excitement, even a 33 foot ace is an exciting moment for some (I realize that not everyone seemed excited in the video). I can maybe understand if your tournament is filled with a lot of experienced players that such a hole seems dumb, but the percentage of new players we had made the hole worthwhile. We knew we would have such a turnout because of some piss-poor planning on other TDs' part; there were two other non-Ace Race tournaments running locally on the same day drawing away most of the experienced players. If those tournaments had not been planned the same weekend as ours (we had been advertising ours since February), then we could have anticipated more experienced players showing and maybe we would have set up the course differently.

Then again, maybe not. We had plenty of experienced players show up and as I said before, never heard one complaint. Heck, I was disappointed because I only carded two metals on this hole.

So in regards of this tournament being research and development for Discraft: the prototype driver does not make a good putter.

Yep, and I was gonna say it depends on your crowd and it looks like they had a lot of fun.

 

[Three Putt]

My crowd used to wander in all tired and bummed out when we had 2-3 aces all day. There was nothing to get excited about. Now we get more like 12 aces all day and people getting excited and energized. The mood of my crowd is 100% better now with a bunch of 50' shots during the round. 50'ers are still not gimmies.

 

[DiscJunkie]

My crowd used to wander in all tired and bummed out when we had 2-3 aces all day. There was nothing to get excited about. Now we get more like 12 aces all day and people getting excited and energized. The mood of my crowd is 100% better now with a bunch of 50' shots during the round. 50'ers are still not gimmies.

Well said.
Ace Races are about fun, the competition is a sidelight for most people.
We had 120 people at our Ace Race and how many Grand Prizes did they give out?? ONE

If it's all about competition, then only one or maybe two have fun.
It's about making ace runs, smack-talking your buddy/friend whatever.
Having fun.