Playing Disc Golf in the Rain

[thechamp]

I'll finish in rain if I'm having a decent round or better.

I will not mess around with storms/lightning, though.

The lightning starts when you're at the hole farthest from the parking lot. Then you have to do that weird walk, jog, speed walk thing.

 

[Dcinmd]

I don't use my glove until wiping and drying is starting to become tedious and less effective . . . then I pull out the glove and throw wet discs without wiping and frankly the grip and results are pretty much the same as normal. And it is so much better walking up to your lie and throwing without going through the whole drying process.

I know someone that use them pretty much year around in all type of weather due to the summer humidity on the east coast.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

The lightning starts when you're at the hole farthest from the parking lot. Then you have to do that weird walk, jog, speed walk thing.

Haha yeah the lightning shuffle where you don't want to run like you're scared of it but you also don't want to linger.

 

[seedlings]

Haha yeah the lightning shuffle where you don't want to run like you're scared of it but you also don't want to linger.

Probably need to be 40 or older for reference.

 

[SocraDeez]

I've become slightly more of a diva recently because it's more annoying than it used to be when my grip slips.

(Warning: self-quote incoming). Here's a post about rain + how our relationship to the game can change as we improve, or also change:

This is a story from yesterday. Maybe it fits here.

I had gone to play a new course. Never mind where. The sun is shining while I perform the delicate dance of picking out & putting back all the discs* that will be my arsenal at this never-played-before course.

*Oh, I would not like to know how many times I have agonized over bagging a disc only to not throw it that day.

Beside the first tee, a lively cricket match is being played in crisp white uniforms. In between shots, I watch the cricketeers - the whiteness of their uniforms is mesmerizing, like Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s smile in the blockbuster smash hit Snow Dogs. A guy with one disc and his dog get out to play & break the spell. I am annoyed because I now must fast walk to collect the rest of my scattered practice tee shots & finish the first hole.

After a few holes, thunder begins to bounce & roll across the hemisphere. The guy and his dog and his disc head home.

I catch up to a couple guys searching for a misplaced disc and decide it's high time to throw on my crumpled-up rain jacket & dig out my bag's rain-fly while I wait. I have a good shot and finish the hole quickly. I try to beat down the small unhappiness I feel waiting again on the next tee pad & watching them play army golf down the wooded fairway.

I find them waiting for me at the next tee. They have on shorts & t-shirts while I'm looking pretty water resistant at this point, and all three of us are wearing well-loved ballcaps. One guy holds a couple discs and the other guy has one of those $15 starter satchel bags from Innova or Dynamic. They are friendly and in good spirits and enjoin me to play through. We small talk about the weather but the talk does not feel so small.

Me: You think the rain'll hold off?

Guy 1: Hope so! Man, you got the stuff, though.

Guy 2 (laughing): Jacket would have been good.

They are genuinely excited to watch my Roc fly down the fairway through the woods - "That's the way you do it!" - but I'm not very happy with the shot. I thank them & keep going.

Soon, it starts raining - and by raining, I mean the good Lord up and let the bottom out. My grandpa would have called it a real gully washer. I take shelter under some trees with thick ivy-covered trunks off to the side of the green on hole #8 or #9, well across the cricket pitch from the parking lot & the shelter of my car. I bust out the cheap travel umbrella that I keep in a seldom used pocket of my bag.

So there I was: rain jacket, bag fly, umbrella, sheltering beneath the trees and their ivy coats, listening to the rain fall, and watching the ground rivulets grow and blossom into little streams. Maybe twenty minutes passes.

Then! in whizzes a high speed driver (it's a short hole), and here come the two guys I had passed earlier. They are drenched. Really. I mean Luca-Brasi-sleeps-with-the-fishes-soaked. They are smiling & making jokes about their shots. Guy 2 hits a 50 footer for birdie. I celebrate with him. He says it part-way makes up for all his bad shots before. I say I know the feeling. They wish me a real nice rest of the day. I watch them play on. Nobody mentions the rain.

I wait a few more minutes before deciding to head back to my car to sign the ole scorecard. I zig zag across the abandoned pitch trying to avoid stepping in all the higher-than-the-waterproof-part-of-my-shoes pools of water. I pass some leftover cricket players huddled beneath a pavilion in now sodden white linens. They are calling it, too.

It rained seriously for another few hours after I left, and I felt a small bit of satisfaction in my decision to run home - you know, at least the sun didn't burst out 15 minutes after I left, right? But I keep thinking about the two players that I had played through and that then had played through me. Why did I put on the rain gear to go home? Why did they keep playing?

I know I'll be back to finish the course, but I can't shake the feeling that I've forgotten something.

 

[Brychanus]

(Warning: self-quote incoming). Here's a post about rain + how our relationship to the game can change as we improve, or also change:

This is lovely, thank you for sharing.

I can't wait until it rains again.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I'll play in all sorts of weather: sweltering heat, frozen over, windy as hell...

Rain? *shakes head vigorously*

I'll finish if I'm already started (especially on a road trip), but I sure as hell won't start a round if it's coming down. Don't get me wrong: over the years, I've played a BUNCH of rounds in the rain. More than enough wet rounds to realize: I just don't like it. I've used good rain gear, and given it an honest effort.

Bottom line is: I play disc golf for fun. If I'm not having fun, I'm out. :|

YMMV

 

[matycakes]

Very much depends on the circumstances. All of them really. If it's a torrential downpour and forecast to last a long time I'm less inclined to play. If it's rainy but not pouring or raining intermittently that's tolerable. If I'm in the middle of a 3 or 4 week stretch of no free time and this is my only chance to get away and clear my head I'll tolerate worse conditions than otherwise. All that being said, I'd way rather play in heavy snow than heavy rain.

 

[biscoe]

When I worked indoors all the time I would play disc golf in pretty much any conditions. Since I returned to having to work outdoors in crappy weather I prefer not to disc golf in it.

 

[ILUVSMGS18]

If I'm planning on playing and it's not below 50 and raining, I'll play, but below 50 and rain, and my back/shoulder/neck start to lock up and I can't throw well, I'd rather it was snow than rain as well. I do practice in the wind/rain though which makes people wonder what's wrong with me. The course I usually use is fairly flat with sandy soil and lots of pine trees so it's not too bad, but the discs and I still get wet.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

It depends on the course, the severity of the rain, and whether or not I'm course bagging on a road trip. Typically, I check the weather beforehand and go where weather is clear. If I'm bagging a wooded course with a canopy and it's a light to medium rain, I'm likely out there. Open courses with medium rainfall, less so. As for locally, not if I can help it.

 

[Innova63]

It depends on the course, the severity of the rain, and whether or not I'm course bagging on a road trip. Typically, I check the weather beforehand and go where weather is clear. If I'm bagging a wooded course with a canopy and it's a light to medium rain, I'm likely out there. Open courses with medium rainfall, less so. As for locally, not if I can help it.

One day in quad-cities...

Sure you wanna play in the rain...?


No, Wolfhaley, this was not at Camden2...

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

One day in quad-cities...

Sure you wanna play in the rain...?


No, Wolfhaley, this was not at Camden2...

Gross...

 

[Brychanus]

I'm surprised more people don't use friction gloves (I use Gorilla gloves) rather than trying to wipe discs on every throw.

Got em', love em'. Thank you!

 

[b-mart]

I live in the NW, so our winter is all rain. So is our spring. And our fall. And three weeks in the summer. I don't know what to do when my discs are dry.

 

[Hampstead]

For some disc golf is a hobby and for some it is a way of life. The hobbyists probably prefer ideal conditions. For those who consider it a way of life you play in what conditions the day gives you because it's just what you do.

 

[ray1970]

I'm a patient guy. I'll usually just wait five or ten minutes for the rain to stop.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I would imagine playing in the rain is fairly common in the Pacific NW, while in the desert SW, it's is a rare novelty.

In Florida, you're probably to tired after boarding up your house, to play. I don't miss hurricane season.