Disc Golf vs Ball Golf

[Dan Ensor]

neither is harder or easier ... you're competing against people in both. That is how difficult both are (how good other people are).

I'd say it took about the same amount of time to learn a chili dip as a thumber. About the same for a punch shot as a roller.

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

neither is harder or easier ... you're competing against people in both. That is how difficult both are (how good other people are).

I'd say it took about the same amount of time to learn a chili dip as a thumber. About the same for a punch shot as a roller.

Golf, like disc golf, is a game in which you are not always competing against others. Often you are just "competing" against yourself. And golf is an order of magnitude more difficult as anyone who has really played both can attest.

And you have either never played golf or don't really understand much about it. A "chili dip" is not a shot that you "learn." You just do it - and kind of like throwing your tee shot into a tree, you don't really want to.

 

[thrembo]

Who let the ball golfer in here? Sounds like you are the insecure one.

 

[Halcón]

I have never played golf, but everyone I've spoken to who's played both says that golf is more difficult.

 

[Norcal]

Ball golf is much, much more difficult than disc golf.

 

[Norcal]

HOWEVER, disc golf is harder than bowling or darts. So, we've got that going for us.

 

[nrihan]

A Friend once put it too me this way.

Putting in Ball Golf is harder. Small ball, super small target.

DG= Large target, no elevation while putting= easier

HOWEVER,

Accurate Drives in DG are pretty tough. The size of the object ( disc in this case) vs the size of the fairway is much tougher IMO. The lines you have to hit in woods?!

In Ball Golf, you have a tiny little ball and ( from my experience) a GIANT OPEN fairway in which to hit it into.

Obviously, the mechanics are hard to learn in both, but once you learn

 

[simpletwist]

You never compete against other people, you compete against the course.

 

[DavidInIowa]

You never compete against other people, you compete against the course.

Unless you want to play a round where people can try to shoot down each others putts. Then you're competing against other people.

Ball golf really sucks as a "Casual Sport". Disc golf is the greatest of all casual sports. You can get started with a $10 bill and you can always bring your friends and relatives to the course. The gentle learning curve is a good thing, not a bad thing. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Ball golf is better for moneyed people who like to accessorize and buy pricy things to wear and tote and drive and swing. I ain't hatin', just sayin'.

 

[Lewis]

We're used to thinking a 900 player (PDGA average) is a 10-handicapper in DG which is true for 48-54 SSA courses which are the most commonly played. But the reality is they are a 20-handicapper on an SSA 72 course. Add another half throw per hole if our putting were tougher and we get our average competitive disc golfer in the neighborhood of a 27-32 handicap. Now I'm thinking that actively competitive amateur ball golfers might be in this same handicap range or even better? Again, this is when we get courses closer to equivalent and adjusting for putting differences.

i wouldn't say a 900 rated disc golfer compares to a 10 handicap ball golfer.

maybe more like 950.

That's what I said.

Keep in mind that a golf handicap is relative to course par, but a disc golf handicap is relative to a 1000 rating, which usually works out to be several strokes below course par. I think that has a lot to do with how much easier it is to score an even par round on a disc golf course. In other words, the concept of "par" is different between the two sports, which makes the measurement of handicaps different as well. If you want to synchronize the concepts, you have to use dg courses where SSA is around 72, as Chuck suggested, but those courses are so much less common in disc golf that it's hard for most of us to relate.

 

[Lewis]

A Friend once put it too me this way.

Putting in Ball Golf is harder. Small ball, super small target.

DG= Large target, no elevation while putting= easier

Very true, but in my humble opinion, putting is the easiest skill in ball golf. When I play a round of ball golf, I tend to relax, even breathe a sigh of relief, when I get my ball on the green, because once I'm putting, there is soooo much less that can go wrong! Any disc golfer who has ever been struck by "tournament roll" knows this relief is not so easy to come by on the dg course.

 

[PMantle]

Who let the ball golfer in here? Sounds like you are the insecure one.

Way to make his point. Ball golf? bwahahahahahah

 

[Dan Ensor]

Golf, like disc golf, is a game in which you are not always competing against others. Often you are just "competing" against yourself. And golf is an order of magnitude more difficult as anyone who has really played both can attest.

And you have either never played golf or don't really understand much about it. A "chili dip" is not a shot that you "learn." You just do it - and kind of like throwing your tee shot into a tree, you don't really want to.

Oh. Sorry. You're probably a pro then. I wasn't that good; I never got my handicap any lower than 3. I guess if I was good like you I could have just done a chili dip. Silly me, I had to open my stance and clubface, and strike the ball quite a bit differently than a typical iron.

"Competing against yourself" is symantically null. What you want your "self" to do, is beat other people. I never saw a kid think it was hard to grab a stick and hit some gravel around; until I came and hit some gravel farther.

 

[Toro71]

For me personally, the "which is harder/which do I like better" are tied together.

It feels like ball golf is overall harder to me, because I don't like it nearly as much, and so have played as many rounds of ball golf in my life as I played of DG the first 6 months I was playing it.

Never mind the videos, technique threads, field practice, putting practice, etc., none of which do I give a crap about w/r/t ball g.

But, aside from the obvious physics, the real differences are the added element of hitting a ball with a stick vs. throwing a disc (extra element?,) and the fact that ball golf, as some famous old pro ball golfer who I can't remember described, is like two games, one played in the air, and one played on the ground (putting.)

 

[Toro71]

DG= Large target, no elevation while putting= easier

No elevation while DG putting? I'm almost envious, after a club singles round this past Sat at Renny Silver, the "new" "short" layout.

Also the size comparison of disc/ball and basket/hole aren't as relevant as the disc/basket and ball/hole comparison. And, it's really not the size of the tray/cage that matters in DG, it's the margin of error w/r/t the chains, and what stays in and doesn't.

Not to argue the basic point that ball golf putting is/isn't more difficult, which I find it to be, but just the fact that the ball and hole are smaller, to me, isn't the hard part.

 

[filobedo]

I started playing traditional golf when I was 6 years old (37 years ago) and played consistently from the ages of 9 - 32 and only broke 80 twice and practiced or played almost everyday during my high school years. Nowadays, I would rather watch traditional golf (college and professional) than play other than a couple of times a year because for the past 10 - 15 years it seems like it takes 5 - 6 hours to play a round on public courses versus an hour or two to play disc golf. I can say though that I have only taken time off from work at the last minute to play traditional golf because of the courses I got to play. Not sure if I would do that for disc golf because so many great courses are accessible.

 

[Puckstopper]

One of the other clear distinctions between golfers and disc golfers is that in golf, you just don't see the pervasive insecurity about the sport that you see in disc golfers Is it so problematic that this sport was essentially borrowed from golf by people with Frisbees that yInou can't even acknowledge that golf is just "golf"? Refusing to do so just highlights your insecurity like heavy makeup and a mini-skirt highlights your grandmothers advancing age. It also brings to mind all those rednecks in my part of the country who say "Old Mexico" when referring to America's southern neighbor because, you know, if theres a "New" Mexico, the other one must be the "Old" one and you don't want anyone to be confused . . .

Couldn't have said it better myself. I enjoy both disc golf and real golf, but I hate how disc golfers feel the need to trash real golf. As far as difficulty goes, I routinely shoot below course par at most of the disc golf courses I play, forcing me to play all holes as part 3 to be challenged . On the other hand, I don't know anyone who shoots below par regularly on any of our local golf courses. Just saying...

 

[Cgkdisc]

I think if you lived near Idlewild and played the longs, you would find your scoring and that of other rec players to be closer in line with your ball golf scoring experience.

 

[TimSyl]

Golf handicaps are actually based on 80% differential over the
course rating, not par.

 

[ian.]

i once had a friend of my dad ask me... "disc golf?.. so what you just hit the disc with your club?" fwiw i live in SC