Pro Tips with Holly Finley - Winter Disc Golf, Where is my Disc?

[John Rock]

And DO NOT play from the tee pads unless they have been cleared (or better yet, clear a few yourself).

 

[Magnet69]

Love it!!! I'm over here in Minnesota, my course has about 10" and we are getting a couple more over the evening... I play with a couple 70+year old men, and they lose 1/2 their distance with the ribbon... I'll see if they want to try the chalk tomorrow... My winter bag is all discs that aren't in my spring/summer/fall bag, so I just hope I can find em after each throw...

 

[The Shide]

Best tape I've found is called Nashua snow & ice duct tape. A little pricy, but I've never had it come off, like some common duct tape can do in extreme cold conditions. Also, 2nd or 3rd the tips above about doing it inside, in the warmth of your abode. It' s also not a bad idea to clean the disc first, to remove oiliness & dirt.

 

[Magnet69]

Didn't care for the chalk... I'll just watch my disc closely...

 

[Magnet69]

And DO NOT play from the tee pads unless they have been cleared (or better yet, clear a few yourself).

I really wish more people would follow this suggestion!!! The pads are so much harder to clear off AFTER some d-bag walked all over them!!!

 

[elmexdela]

sound is a little quiet on the mix btw

 

[BogeyNoMore]

It's really a two part deal.
Attach tape inside when it's warm.
Keep discs outside overnight or for a while prior to play. Warms discs thrown in the snow are a nightmare to clean off.

This is how veteran snow DG'ers roll.

 

[wolfhaley]

sound is a little quiet on the mix btw

That's a barometric pressure thing. Or lake effect something or another.

 

[TAFL]

If I could add a winter/snow tip I'd say throw more midranges and probably Fairways max. Mids don't slice into the snow the way high speed drivers do. ...

I dunno, man. My Zephyr has burrowed more than 15 feet many times. Finding the entry point quickly is no guarantee of finding the disc quickly.

 

[wolfhaley]

I dunno, man. My Zephyr has burrowed more than 15 feet many times. Finding the entry point quickly is no guarantee of finding the disc quickly.

I didn't guarantee you wouldn't lose a disc. The consistancy of the snow plays a big part. Powdery snow eats any kind of disc for sure. Mids tend to not burrow as much, especially if there's a crunchy coat on the top of the snow. The blunter edge just doesn't knife in as much. YMMV or whatever.

 

[mmueller]

7 Years of snowshoe disc golf at Haybro Redtail DGC

Steamboat Springs Colorado likes to call itself Ski Town USA. Haybro Redtail DGC, near Steamboat, is on its 7th season of snowshoe disc golf including the 7th annual round new years day round which is always a big hit for everyone that comes out.

Thank you for the fantastic videos Holly and for working to grow the sport. We've learned a lot over the 7 years that we've been doing this so I thought I'd throw in some comments. First off, ribbons are the only way to go; and:

1. Tape is important, there are some good ones suggested in this thread. We tend to go with the aluminum tapes as it can hold for a good part of the season, and is thinner and lighter than duct tape.
2. We tape our ribbons at the center on the bottom of the disc. The main reason is that the ribbon doesn't get caught on your arm as easily; it's less likely to fall off; and we think it has less impact on the flight, though that's just gut feel
3. Store discs in the freezer or outside after they have been taped
4. Bring extra ribbon and tape
5. We have snowshoe rules, like you can play your lie from anywhere the snowshoe is touching the marker
6. Bring one or more good towels

 

[mmueller]

Snow hat penalty

Sometimes we play where it's a one stroke penalty to hit the snow that is on top of the basket.

 

[mmueller]

More tips and pics

I finally got out today and a few more things came to mind to share. In the beginning we would bring shovels and meticulously clean off the tee pads every time we played. It wasn't long before we figured out how pointless that was. We were spending way more time cleaning off the tees and taking off our snowshoes than playing. Once the snow level gets to the 4' - 6' range it becomes even more obvious. We do pack the snow around or dig out the baskets so that the snow doesn't interfere with a putt.

When doing a drive or making an upshot, it's deemed acceptable to spend as much time as is reasonable packing the snow on the tee pad or behind your disc in order to get stable footing, otherwise, the snow can give way during a throw and mess up your shot.

We came up with a winter placement on whole 8 (normally a 200' drive with an 80' drop in elevation!) where the basket is in an alternate placement for whole 9. It's a short 140' shot so we made it a par 2. But it's a bugger to get better than a bogie on it because your playing across a steep slope, there's trees that like to interfere and the green is the only flat spot. It is a real blast to play in the winter.

One Thanksgiving we were all excited to get out the next day and play a round in the 2' of fresh powder that just arrived. Then we had a huge rain storm that night. The video below shows how that turned out. We quickly learned to hyser are discs such that the knifed into the snow and stuck there.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GR3TBok3lT0L-7zemSm-GsEfQ0cJN4sR/preview

 

[smarkquart]

As a Minnesotan, I deal with the winter and will play 365 regardless of the weather, temperature, or snow depth. However, to be clear, when I want to play a round, I hate winter. I hate the cold; I hate the bitter wind; I hate searching for discs despite it being a good shot; I hate having to be selective with courses because some courses are not conducive to quick winter rounds.

With that being said, and now with fingers crossed, this Minnesotan winter has not been bad. The snow we have had so far has not been problematic. Aside for a few days or here there, the weather has created snow that is not really gobbling up discs. For the most part, I am throwing my normal discs and am not using my ribbons. I still have them ready to go, but so far this winter, I have had to search for only one disc for more than two minutes.

Again, fingers crossed. My first big tournament is this Sunday and we are supposed to get a quick dusting of 1-3 inches Saturday night.

 

[wolfhaley]

I've been playing quite a few glow rounds this year. It's actually better than day rounds as far as finding discs is concerned. But putting is much harder since you can only guess where the basket is in the woods at night. I've even had to wander around to find a couple on the course that I've played hundreds of times. It's kind of trippy.

 

[DiscFifty]

That's incredible. Does anyone ever try to organize some indoor play at local gyms, ymca's etc?

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Sometimes we play where it's a one stroke penalty to hit the snow that is on top of the basket.

I can't imagine playing in snow that deep. I can only imagine what playing in snow shoes is like.

 

[nate22]

Wow, amazing.

Disc golf in snow is beyond my comprehension here in Australia.

Summer here and I lost a disc last evening ... a straw coloured disc thrown 50 metres into straw coloured, knee length, couch grass. I know exactly where it is ... can't find it.

Played disc golf in the snow in Australia...not uncommon with courses all over snowfields and in mountain areas