Losing a beloved disc.....then spending a few hours finding it

[Twmccoy]

I jinxed myself. Threw a solo round this morning, spent 5+ minutes finding discs twice. Got back to the car and thought "man, I'd really like to dial in my throw on 1 Black". First throw Thunderbird landed in the open, but a touch shorter than I wanted, so I tried hyzerflipping a Valk. Too much hyzer and a little bit early release sent it into the shule on the left side of the fairway. Saw which tree it hit first and searched all around the base of it with no luck, it probably fought through and was deeper in the nasty. Gave up because I had to get home and do breakfast for the kids. RIP Pro Valkyrie.

It sucks. Most of the discs I've lost were doing field work in stupid spots. Or using the wrong disc for a particular shot.

 

[jakebake91]

I calculate the cost of the disc vs my salary. It's just not financially reasonable for me to search for more than 15 minutes. (a bit like that story about Bill Gates who loses more money than he picks up if he spends one second on picking up a 100$ bill).

I kind of do the same thing, but I don't use my salary as part of the equation. I use my disposal income I'm willing to dispose on disc golf. Which usually means I don't leave a disc behind. I spent 45 minutes looking for a new plasma wave shanked into chest high grass. I don't have much extra money to spend on discs. And I'd rather spend that money elsewhere if possible. Maybe on new plastic instead of replacing old. That's just me.

 

[R-Ogre]

I kind of do the same thing, but I don't use my salary as part of the equation. I use my disposal income I'm willing to dispose on disc golf. Which usually means I don't leave a disc behind. I spent 45 minutes looking for a new plasma wave shanked into chest high grass. I don't have much extra money to spend on discs. And I'd rather spend that money elsewhere if possible. Maybe on new plastic instead of replacing old. That's just me.

Yeah the salary equation really only works if you have the option of picking up extra work at your leisure. For a lot of us especially with the current economic situation, free time to look for a disc is in greater abundance that money to spend on a hobby.

 

[aclay]

Yeah the salary equation really only works if you have the option of picking up extra work at your leisure. For a lot of us especially with the current economic situation, free time to look for a disc is in greater abundance that money to spend on a hobby.

I agree with you. Plus, I am cheap, so I've spent a lot of time looking for discs. I've been known to go back after a round (or the next day) trying to find a lost disc. And none of them were significantly valuable or irreplaceable.

 

[zontar]

I will spend more time than I make at my income. I figure it's just extra exercise; and damn it feels good when you spend a little too long looking and it pays off

 

[R-Ogre]

I jinxed myself. Threw a solo round this morning, spent 5+ minutes finding discs twice. Got back to the car and thought "man, I'd really like to dial in my throw on 1 Black". First throw Thunderbird landed in the open, but a touch shorter than I wanted, so I tried hyzerflipping a Valk. Too much hyzer and a little bit early release sent it into the shule on the left side of the fairway. Saw which tree it hit first and searched all around the base of it with no luck, it probably fought through and was deeper in the nasty. Gave up because I had to get home and do breakfast for the kids. RIP Pro Valkyrie.

Update: got a text this afternoon from one of the locals that she'd found my disc and left it in the usual spot at the course. 3 hours later when I made it out there, someone had already walked off with it. People suck.

 

[4ormal]

I am the type that always looks for an hour, will stop my round and even go back the next day with proper supplies (water gear, poison oak clothes, loppers etc etc). I also stupidly play discs that are, special to me, and hard to replace. I've been working on not getting so attached to my discs lately for this very reason and playing more basic stuff. Very rarely do I lose a disc and not get it back.

 

[dino2disc]

I'm definitely guilty of getting "too attached" to my discs. I tend to prefer using one that I can really control well either til it doesn't fly right anymore or the wind helps me shank it into a pond. Not really that I think they're expensive, but it's so nice having a disc that you use so much you know exactly what it's going to do under all types of throws. Makes we really want that disc back when it's buried in the leaves or rough...

 

[R-Ogre]

I am the type that always looks for an hour, will stop my round and even go back the next day with proper supplies (water gear, poison oak clothes, loppers etc etc). I also stupidly play discs that are, special to me, and hard to replace. I've been working on not getting so attached to my discs lately for this very reason and playing more basic stuff. Very rarely do I lose a disc and not get it back.

This is one reason I've been picking up some DX stuff lately.

 

[DatRedDude]

I always find my disc as soon as i give up hope.

 

[Nick Pacific]

I can't count how many times the frustration extra shot has caused me more pain looking for a disc than just taking my medicine and playing as it lies.

Or forgetting to go pick up your first shot! I think I've accidentally left as many on the course over the years as I have actually lost. Discs come and go. I've got quite a few in my bag now that I really don't want to part with though.

 

[wproct]

My local course that is about the only place that I play disc golf is usually a very low chance of losing a disc, except in the fall when leaves are really thick on the ground. The main other hazard is burying a disc in an evergreen tree or a very small creek. I'm one of those guys that only uses around 4-5 discs to play the whole round, so I do get attached to my favorite users. I looked over an hour one evening just before dark for one of my favorites and had to give up. Came back to play again the next morning with a friend who I told about it and that I had given up. He says "we aren't leaving till we find it", and sure enough, about 5 minutes of looking and we both spotted it about the same time.

 

[Casey 1988]

Not sure what you mean but the Asperger's is what causes the ADD, I do not have the HD to the ADD at all and I can sit still for long periods, it is my internal mind that thinks about other things or I get board with what I am doing quicker then most on some subjects. I have found that for me ADD meds do not work or have too many side affects for ones that work well, that I stopped using them at age 21. I feel better without them to be honest and I can hyper-focus on my work when needed at my full time job which I started more at almost age 22.

This is also why some of my posts get hard to read on this site.


Sorry for thread drift everyone back to discs and where to look for them.

I have yet to since getting DX Dragon disc in 2005 loose a disc into the water, only an old Ace race Impact at the old layout of the St. Marry's university in 2009 where one hole was barely on other side over a smaller dump pond with an old truck in it, I did not care as that Impact was in he weights of the discs that work. This is of how I started using DX Dragon discs. I first another floater a 171 gram #2 Driver glow from Lighting in mid 2005 playing at Sandy Shore rec area in South Dakota after it being on the water 15-25 minutes at most, the discs I looked at the time online in reviews on the Lighting site and saw that #2 driver discs over 170-175 grams will only float in water for 30 minutes most in clam weather, this was bad crappy winds etc. So later a few days after that I got to the local place that sold Innova only and got a DX Dragon, same with my brother.

That should be I did not care as that Impact was not within the two wight sets that work for the mold.

 

[BillFleming]

Hole #10 at Watson Lake DGC in Prescott Arizona has it in for me. There's a lake off to the left of the fairway and a wind that frequently blows right to left. Three of my discs have ended up in the lake and others have gotten really close. I've lost others in the many bushes. Most have found their way back to me....but there are still three in that lake

 

[ChrisinFL]

Yesterday I decided to throw next to an elementary school that has a nice patch of grass behind it. The land is flat, but eventually drops toward weeds and a creek on the right. inevitably I grip locked my new G* Corvette pretty bad.... right into a thick mess of weeds and willows along the small creek. I couldn't even see exactly where it landed. I had only a vague idea of where to look, and quite honestly didn't have high hopes of finding the Corvette.

Yesterday I searched for over and hour, trudging through the weeds on both sides of the creek digging through all the thick clumps of vegetation. I also looked in the (shallow) creek. All to no avail. It was getting murderously hot and I finally realized I wasn't going to find it. I stalked off, pissy yet determined. I decided to return early the next morning and search the place again when it was cooler. The area I lost this disc is also alongside a pedestrian trail, so I was getting all sorts of weird glances from passers by while rummaging through the bushes/weeds.

Today was more of the same. Searching in cooler temps made things easier, but I had no better luck finding the Corvette. I literally pored through the weeds on both sides of that creek with a fine tooth comb. Nothing. Eventually I decided to step down right to the edge of the creek to a small sandbar to take a closer look in the water. It was about a 4' drop down the bank. No disc in the water. However, as I looked up I caught a glimpse of something on the other side of the creek on the steep slope. The Corvette was literally right in front of my face as I stood in the creekbed. It was positioned in such a way that I'd have never seen it from up above. I had to get down in the creekbed to ever have a hope of finding it.

This was literally a needle in a haystack find. I had to get in the perfect position to even see the disc. By the point I actually found it I was almost ready to give up on it entirely. Total time spent searching was probably 3 hours, an hour and a half each day.

Once I found the Corvette I went to one of my usual throwing locations and the disc let me know that the time I looked for it was well spent. This G* Corvette was smashing, once again besting all competitors for sheer distance.

I'm surprised I found it in the end. The disc was ultimately way harder to locate than I imagined. I covered so much ground, and did so very thoroughly. I don't think I've ever searched for something that hard in my whole life.

The whole idiotic process was my fault. I picked a lousy place to throw and then grip locked the disc like a woeful noob right into the thickest weeds possible. If not for sheer determination I never would have found it.

No way I look that long! If I am you, on Friday, I use the Innova F2 Friday deal, and order me 3 F2 Gstar Corvettes, either same weight as yours, or maybe also try 5g lighter and/or heavier. I think Gstar F2s are $9 each, and use F2 Friday code to get a free disc to offset $6 cost of shipping. If you really want to get crazy, buy 5 discs and get 10% off, too. Maybe mix in any of a Pro/Star/Champion). Then you got more discs to practice with, probably all bomb for you, and on dangerous holes, throw a cheaper F2 disc (F2s fly as good as full price discs, just not as pretty). I have close to 10 F2 Terns, 145-155g, mostly Pro, but some other plastics too. It is my best distance disc, I can easily practice with them a lot, I always bag at least two of them on game day, and if I lose one, I got plenty more waiting for their turn in the bag! Bonus, my best one no longer gets thrown in practice, or on any shot with risk of loss, or even where there is risk of a hard tree hit - I now have two Katanas, and still working on consistency with them, but when thrown good, they bomb far for me, and hoping maybe I eventually need to load up more of them! Have fun!