Ball golf is harder. Tell me I'm wrong.

[BogeyNoMore]

Anyone who's played both knows golf is significantly more difficult than disc golf, for a variety of reasons.

Putting: what the ground does between your lie and the hole is paramount in golf. Really doesn't matter in disc golf

Scale: trying to hit a 4" hole from 250 -400 yards away in a vs a 2ft basket from 250-400ft away. Golf involves hitting a target target about 1/6 the size from approx 3x the distance.

Discs are thrown directly with your hand, vs swinging a 3-4ft stick to propel the ball makes controlling disc much more intuitive, and therefore easier. Golf requires better hand/eye coordination.

And last but not least:
Way more costly to bag hundreds of top rated golf courses vs an equal #of top rated DG courses.

 

[Brian Gallatin]

I've found disc golf to be much harder. Physically and mentally.

Physically, I've had to hike up some hills and cliffs that golfers would never have to deal with. And never the offer of a ride. Not to mention the briars I've had bloody battles with on the course.

Mentally, I doubt golfers ever have to choose their balls or clubs from a thousand approved models in a hundred different plastic formulations and dozens of weight options. And that's before making the decorating schemes of colors and stamps. Sure, golfers have to weigh quality and costs when choosing products, but they're not faced with the choice of a million variations.

So, yeah, maybe it's a lot harder for them to control their shots and hit their target, but that's not everything, you know.

Have you ever looked at the choices of equipment you have to choose from in real golf? I won't even go into grip and shaft selections. I got into disc golf because regular golf was just too damn expensive.

 

[TiltedFlipCurves]

Not wrong. Hard enough to even hit the ball. Even harder when the clubs are Grandpa's from 1960 or something like that. 1-4 persimmon woods and 2-9 forged irons, no fancy metals or cavity backs or "hybrids" or anything. Putter for that set? Just another iron with no loft. Only played 27 par-3 holes ever and that was enough. Bowling has been much more my thing.

It would be cool if I could buy a full set of discs at once that are clearly designed as a set, though.

 

[Salto]

I don't think it makes much sense to compare the difficulty of sports in which you compete against other humans. The difficulty is set by the skill of your opponent. We can say that the competition is more skilled in ball golf. The sport is older, more people play it, the coaches and training infrastructure is more professional, there is more money involved. However, the difficulty of playing the sport itself is a different discussion.

Yes, it is harder to get birdies in ball golf. Yes, ball golf requires more precision as you are swinging a longer lever at a tiny ball. Yes, you can lose a lot more strokes on the putting green in ball golf. However those are not good arguments for saying ball golf is easier. We wouldn't call basketball easier than soccer because more points are scores in basketball games. I think it is more useful to look into different aspects of the sport and stipulate which aspect is more difficult in the sport that we are comparing. Id say soccer is more demanding of your ability to run fast whereas basketball requires higher agility.

Comparing ball golf and disc golf in this way I'd say these are the 'difficult' aspects of either ball golf or disc golf.
More difficult in ball golf:
- Precision
- Technique
- Putting
- Reading undulations
More difficult in disc golf:
- Strategy (more shot shapes and disc types to choose from, compared to golf pros getting away with only hitting draws or fades)
- Driving (by extension of putting being easier, more strokes to be gained from the tee)
- Wind
- Trees

 

[Hammer_Time_1977]

Anyone who's played both knows golf is significantly more difficult than disc golf, for a variety of reasons.

Yes, stick golf is much harder, but the two sports are so vastly different that this is a pointless comparison. It's like comparing drag racing to Indy car, or rollerblading to BMX. Like... who cares. Both sports can be played awfully by someone who really sucks, they can be be played ridiculously well by elite talents, and then there is everything in between.

 

[Countchunkula]

Not wrong. Hard enough to even hit the ball. Even harder when the clubs are Grandpa's from 1960 or something like that. 1-4 persimmon woods and 2-9 forged irons, no fancy metals or cavity backs or "hybrids" or anything. Putter for that set? Just another iron with no loft. Only played 27 par-3 holes ever and that was enough. Bowling has been much more my thing.

It would be cool if I could buy a full set of discs at once that are clearly designed as a set, though.

You sound like me. I play regular golf once a decade or so. Still using my old man's clubs for the most part. Wood woods and all. I eventually cracked the Johnny Miller driver and decided to replace it and the Cary Middlecoff bladed putter. Spent about $50 total on two cheap (but modern) used clubs and it made a night and day difference. Putting was nearly impossible with the old putter. I'm still comically bad though.

 

[jeffmonty]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone that has played both say disc golf is harder. I played both for years and I would never say it. I NEVER shot a golf round under par, but under par disc golf rounds are routine (on my local courses).

 

[Steve West]

Wall street Journal Article:

For the First Time, Most Golfers Play Off-Course

Golf courses, clubs look to tap in to growth of Topgolf, other grassless venues

 

[zontar]

^damn, that's sad.....

 

[ru4por]

Wall street Journal Article:

For the First Time, Most Golfers Play Off-Course

Golf courses, clubs look to tap in to growth of Topgolf, other grassless venues

Sounds like opportunity to me.

 

[mostlynorwegian]

Golf is harder in every aspect. As a game. On the land. On the wallet.

 

[Al Dente]

Wall street Journal Article:

For the First Time, Most Golfers Play Off-Course

Golf courses, clubs look to tap in to growth of Topgolf, other grassless venues

IMO, golf as an industry made the mistake of making their courses increasingly difficult, and forgetting that their average customer was just a hacker out for a pleasant afternoon on the course with friends and a beer. Fairways have been cut so low that they are now like greens were long ago, and the greens are like concrete and won't hold a wedge shot. Putting from above the hole? There is no way to lag it up close.

I'm seeing some of this now in disc golf as well. Newer courses are putting a premium on distance of the tee even though most players don't average more than 300'. You don't need short baskets on every hole, but I'd recommend them on these long holes that the big arms desire.

 

[Stanko]

Damn, team. I didn't think I'd get such a reaction. Some very valid points all around.

I'm celebrating my first Ace this weekend from ~220 Ft. using a Glow Paradox from an MVP Glow tournament. So the bag grew with two more discs including a Glow Envy.

A prize from MVP was a Factory 2nd Detour. Have any of you tried one out? It's supposed to be right in between my Hex (Glow) and Uplink.