Register

  • Discover new ways to elevate your game with the updated DGCourseReview app!
    It's entirely free and enhanced with features shaped by user feedback to ensure your best experience on the course. (App Store or Google Play)

Basket or Tone pole

A perfect putt is one that lands in the tray without relying on chains.

If you want completely fair and unambiguous targets, just use trays on poles.
 
IMO, baskets are the way to go. I like the element skill require to keep a disc in the basket. Tone poles remind me of trees and I hit enough of those as it is. I understand some folks enjoy the poles and thats ok, I just can not see myself playing a course where a pole is the target.
 
Maybe a combination pole/basket. That way, all you have to do is hit it. If your disc spits out it still counts. They could be named after a certain individual who has 500 aces.

Or, how about 7 tone poles in a straight line one foot apart on each hole, matching the notes of the C scale. You could go for a "full scale ace" by having your disc hit each pole in succession.
 
Can you still purchase tone poles and how much do they cost? If money was an issue I would probably just consider getting instep baskets which 18 of them would only cost around a grand.
 
Tone polls! Like Chuck said the beauty of tone poles is anyone can build a course for virtually no cost. That is more powerful than it sounds. It means wherever you go, anywhere in the world, you can still play disc golf, and better yet introduce it to others.

Another big benefit others have said is the purity. Their is no chain out. Their is no, "through the chains" ace. You either hit the damn thing or you don't and you never hear people complain about "oh I got robbed".

Don't get me wrong I love the sound and sights of hitting chains but I will always have a special place in my heart for tone polls. Tone polls single handily launched me into disc golf, and additionally have been a HUGE part of the Southern Oregon (rouge valley) disc golf scene. Medford and Ashland, Oregon have an awesome tone pole course for every season, ranging from epic to fun. The area (couple hundred thousand people strong) had their only 9 hole course pulled due to complaining neighbors and due to a lack of organization have not been able to get more baskets in the ground. That though has not kept them from enjoying public lands and discing at (in order of importance) - Shale City (Frog Creek), Emigrant Lake, Forrest Creek, Lost Meadow, and finally lonely Cougar Ridge (BLM put up a get to keep 4 Wheelers out, they don't mind the discers)

It's encouraging too when you see a tone course sit well with land managers. Emigrant lake is a great example. By spreading the word to keep the place clean, and maybe a few well placed messages or signs, the managers seem to realize that discers are maybe even a good thing for the land, and in that case a tone course actually opened a dialogue about a potential permanent course.
 
Last edited:
Did no one here play dodgeball when they were kids?

The problem with tone poles/trees is the ambiguity factor. With a basket it's either in or out, there are no judgement calls.
 
HiFi said:
Did no one here play dodgeball when they were kids?

The problem with tone poles/trees is the ambiguity factor. With a basket it's either in or out, there are no judgement calls.
Click to expand...

I find the opposite true. Their is no disputing the sound of a proper tone poll. Baskets constantly find people short changed. I've played hundreds of rounds on tone polls and never once had an argument.
 
Played on tone poles once, and absolutely hated it. There was no satisfaction of holeing out, the pole made a sound and that was it. Baskets are the way to go because there is no questioning if the disc is in or out, while on tone poles you are going to get people that swear they heard it hit while others do not think so. Also how would tone poles work for the deaf? I don't think baskets are flawed, I think peoples putting styles are flawed. If the disc spits through or something then its the players fault for throwing the disc there. Everybody has to play on the same baskets so it is fair. What a smaller target like a tone pole does is it evens out the playing field between ams and pros. Lets take a 40' putt on normal basket. The pro will make that 75%ish of the time, while the am is at a much lower percentage, lets say 20%. Now with a smaller target like a tone pole, the ams percent will drop by a bit but they are more than likely going to miss the putt anyways. The pros percentage will drop a lot more than the ams will. This will more even out the playing field of putting then it will for anything else.
 
No one doubts that baskets are the baseline and future of our sport. I just think tone polls should get more credit for the accessibility they offer to the sport. Unless you have lived in a place with no basket courses one likely won't completely get it though.
 
They really just lack the appeal of a basket I think. Take a public park where dg is in a very visible place to the public. Throwing a disc into a basket is easier to grasp by the public then throwing a disc at a pole.
 
This is like asking if you prefer to ride a horse or drive a car. :|
 
Horsman said:
They really just lack the appeal of a basket I think. Take a public park where dg is in a very visible place to the public. Throwing a disc into a basket is easier to grasp by the public then throwing a disc at a pole.
Click to expand...

I almost always prefer things that a inexpensive and efficient so admittedly when I see a tone poll it has a special glow for me.

And streets that is a good analogy. Because with a horse you are using a simple tradition which can get you across distant mountains. A race car costs a lot more, doesn't really work in a lot of situations, but certainly is "shinier", and has more curb appeal than a big smelly animal that craps all over the place. Wait...I think I lost the way with the analogy :gross: ;)

But you get the idea. Everything has it's place.
 
geographic bias

It seems to me that most courses with Tone Poles are west of the Mississippi; have heard of any/or very few on the east side. Never played a course with them, but has to be infinitely better than hitting a tree or power pole.
 
Tone poles are an excellent intermediate step between object and baskets. They're cheap and make tough targets.

We have a course in my region that is only playable in the very late fall and very early spring. It is too large and has too much vertical to mow in the summer. We put tonals in there and they are perfect.

I have also played a secret putter course where the tonals are nothing more than capped fence post hanging on rebar bases. Those are tough putting

Tonals have their place

Just ask the guys on Pender Island
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
  • Poll
Getting to the nub of it - a completely different basket question
2 3 4
Replies
65
Views
8K
Wayne Mags
Wayne Mags
hawgdriver
[Recommend] Mega-understable Envy?
2
Replies
27
Views
3K
ThrowaEnvy
ThrowaEnvy
Kjimsern
Putting and how to become elite level.
2 3 4
Replies
64
Views
4K
DG Fanatic
DG Fanatic
dreadlock86
recent review discussion
Replies
6
Views
1K
dreadlock86
dreadlock86
geebob
Champion's Cup and other meanderings
Replies
0
Views
187
geebob
geebob

Latest posts

Top