Ace Mentality

[chain_ape7]

In just over 13 months of playing I have yet to hit an ace. I've struck chains twice (one a blow-out at AM Worlds!) and hit the pole and basket 4 times. I feel like I've been hurt by being more aggressive out of the tee box trying to ace. I'd much rather get a birdie than blow past the hole and and par. It's a delicate balance. As my putting has gotten better I feel that I can run at an ace more often and also be more aggressive on upshots (I've made quite a few now from 50-150 out). I think you need to look at all the factors on each shot out of the tee box and make a judgement call on your ace run mentality. Who doesn't want to write a 1 on their scorecard?? Who doesn't want to pick up a much needed birdie on certain hole instead of par or worse?
I guess it all depends on your skill level and the particular round you are in ( casual, tags, tournament, or dubs)

 

[Broken Shoulder]

Casual: run it, unless it's a particulary dangerous green.
Competition: depends.

Both of mine were thrown on good lines and happened to stay up long enough to hit chains. Usually, I don't throw good lines. :\

 

[Tee1]

If I'm playing a hole that I feel I can make a run at the basket off the tee then I'm going for it every single time. I play for fun and i don't play tournaments or leagues so why not? If i end up with a bogey if i miss then so be it, you won't get many aces if you don't try.

 

[disc qualified]

you won't get many aces if you don't try.

Not true. I've got over a dozen and i never tried to get any of them, they just happened

 

[Kodachrome]

Sorry. Sometimes terminology gets in the way of conversation. I meant "put it as close to the basket as possible, up to or including inside of it".

People are getting way too worked up about this. Op didn't really ask us whether we though it was right or not. I run the basket when I see appropriate. More times than not I feel it isn't. Deal with it. Im not saying you are wrong, I,m saying i do see lots of people turn basket hits into pars. There are some factors you don't have control over and I like to keep those out of my game.

And op, I assume your question has clearly been answered, haha.

 

[smarkquart]

For me so much depends on the course and circumstance.

1) If it is within putter range, I will make a run for the basket because I trust my putters that I can get it basket high around the basket but that it will die and drop down quickly after overshooting it, leaving me with a birdie opportunity, or par at worst.

2) If the best line to get near the basket is also going to put it through the basket, I will give it that little extra to make the ace run.

3) If it is a casual round, especially with people that I know I can normally beat if I play my normal game, I will make the run knowing that I will get extra practice on upshots and long putts.

4) If I am playing a solo round, I will not make a run because I am concentrating on how I should be playing. The only exception is that if I am throwing second or thirds with discs I KNOW I would normally not use in that situation, then I will make a run.

5) In a tournament I will never make a run because my game is set up for making a clean drive that makes the upshot easy for an easy par. If I can guarantee that on every hole, than I know that birdie opportunities will present themselves. If I make runs at the basket, that can and often does suddenly take away that second easy shot, making me scramble for par when I know I could have gotten an easy par if a birdie was not in the cards. The only exception to this rule is rule number 1.

6) If I know the course, know what disc works best for that line and power, I will always make an attempt at an ace run. This is similar to rule 1 in that because I know the course so well, I know what I am capable of, I will definitely have a birdie opportunity despite the run. I can count the number of courses that I play like this on one hand.

 

[chrishysell]

my last tournament ace was a 225ft hole with an ESP Nuke. It was so perfect it barely made a sound.

 

[Phantom Discs]

After my first ace. I have hit the same basket twice this year. Dam basket keeps getting in the way.

 

[DiscinFiend]

I think trying to hit an ace depends on a few things. First , how confident you are with your putting. If you feel confident that you can nail most putts inside in the circle (maybe a little outside also) then going for an ace isn't as big of a deal b/c you can still get a birdie. If your putting & your confidence isn't so good its most likely a better idea to just go for the deuce. Another factor is the line you take for your ace run. Throwing a skip shot or spike hyzer will in general allow you to have a shorter putt than throwing a laser straight at the hole. I currently have 32 aces, but most of them were 250ft or less. I tend to go for aces on shorter holes that are more open. If the hole has a low ceiling I won't run it b/c I will need more of a laser line. I tend to play less cautiously than most people. In tourneys I tend to still run a few holes, I play less recklessly than I normally do but more reckless than most competitors.

 

[wake911]

Top level players are able to take risks that safe players can't because of their putting confidence. When you make everything inside the circle, you can run at things a little more aggressively.

Agreed. If i was confident at 30' that it was a birdie, i would run more aces too. My comfort range due to lack of practice is 15'. Throwing ace runs, being aggressive will more than likely take me out of confident putting range. Whereas a "lay up", "safe shot" will put me with 15' from the basketmore times than not so I can nail my birdie putt with confidence.

 

[KRATC]

Give it a chance! That is where the fun is. I just try to hit the line I want. If I am worried about a blowby, then I may throw a slower disc or change it ever so slightly. If I think I have the ability to land a disc, after hitting the line I want, a specific distance away, then I should have the confidence to go for the basket. If there is a dangerous green, that may change things, but not every ace able hole is going to have a dangerous green. Just have fun and have some putting confidence. Why not?

 

[JC17393]

Not true. I've got over a dozen and i never tried to get any of them, they just happened

This, this, 100X this.

Maybe there's an occasional player who runs at aces and gets them (I'd bet even the best at that "skill" are hitting maybe 1-2% of their actual attempts), but by and large, aces are accidents. By that I don't mean they are bad shots gone lucky or good shots gone lucky, they are just shots that happen to go in.

Ball golfers will tell you that holes-in-one in that sport are pure luck. The only skill involved is being able to hit the ball on to the green...whether it goes in or not is just chance. Same thing applies in disc golf, though I think due to the size of the target, the frequency of good fortune is greater for us. It takes definite skill to get the disc near enough to the basket so that it has a chance to go in but it's mostly random as far as whether or not it does go in.

 

[smarkquart]

Last night I had a Champion Roadrunner, my Dr. Doofensmirtz Disc-Get-An-Aceinator, magically go through the basket without getting an ace. I have no idea how it did not go in the basket considering its height and line, and normally my depth perception is really good when I wear my contacts versus my glasses. Later in the same round it hit the front of the cage on a nearly identically perfect line. That disc wants an ace so bad.

This basically proves that it takes skill and technique to get the disc to fly towards the target, but there are way too many variables in this world to ever be able to claim that getting an ace is anything more than just good fortune. Buying more lottery tickets increases your odds of winning, but at the end of the day the odds are still so astronomically against you winning the jackpot that it still cannot be considered anything but luck if you do win.

Then again, you cannot win if you do not play.

My last ace was a few weeks ago at Justin Trails, with a Z Nebula. It was a hyzer dump that I knew if I could just get it in the area that I would be putting for a birdie. The next round on the same hole, as I am talking about the ace I had earlier in the day, I was no where near the basket and just outside of my comfort zone for putting. That one I actually tried going for the ace and just made things worse.

Now that I think of it, most of my 42 aces are from hyzer dumps; shots that I knew would be in the area but I am actually going for placement than anything else.

And on a final side note, of all my aces, none of them have been for money. I have four metals hits, two solidly in the chains where I have no idea how they did not stick, when the pools have been in triple digits; one during an NT event and another during league that I at least got on video.

 

[DonCasper]

I think a lot of good things have been said about the ace mentality at this point, but I'm going to toss a personal anecdote into the mix.

I got my first ace this past weekend. The shot was pure luck, it was a little high and a tree branch kicked it down into the basket. I've hit chains plenty of times, but almost all have blown through. Hitting the tree must have slowed it down enough to keep it in the basket.

My buddy has 4-5 aces, most of them skip aces. We play similar amounts of disc golf, and his comment on our shots is that I tend to throw long, and he tends to throw the same distance short. In practice he tends to shoot 2-3 shots better on any given course.

If I had to base a conclusion off of this, it is that if you play smart golf, aces will come. If you run at the basket from every distance (like I prefer), you might get more metal hits, but your score will stuffer, and in the end you might end up with fewer aces just because your discs will hit the chains with too much power.

 

[BirdieMachine]

I play all casual golf so I run Aces. It's way more fun. If I got a 30-40 footer coming back I dont care because my putting is All World Mega Cash anyways. I Aced one today and got one yesterday also. Shot 9 Down on 9 holes at Ham Lake. Rinky dink easy course but still 9 Down. Chained out three others too.

 

[pmatt1969]

Never had one but have had 2 blow-through in 2 days and hit the ring that holds the chains a week ago. Came up 1 foot short of an ace 2 weeks ago. I do not have the control to throw a disc 1 foot different at 300 feet. The blow-throughs were ace runs. The other one and most of the time I am just trying to make a deuce.
And the object of the game is to get the disc in the basket in the fewest amount of throws. Not get it in on every throw. It is all about scoring.

 

[jesusfreak]

In most cases, an ace is a bad shot that would have caused an extra stroke. Unless it is a spike hyser or tomahawk shot, or like you said , something to stop it from flying past, it is a bad choice to go for an ace.

 

[simpletwist]

I try to ace every hole that you can ace-- trying to ace the hole means I am trying to have my disc land in the basket not sure how this could ever be a "bad" shot.. maybe lucky but not BAD.

That's like saying you hit chains and splash out with a 20' roll away for nasty comeback putt is a bad shot while someone else same hole throws a worm burner 20' short of the pin for a good layup?!

Okay?

All my aces were good shots and yeah I tried to ace them wtf why would I try for a 2 when I CAN get a 1?! I have never hit ace where the disc is going 100' by the pin as those shots are BAD. Now playing a tourney you have other factors to think about but to say aces are bad shots is too funny.

This was the first reply that made sense to me. :hfive: And exactly the way I go about it. That sounds like an Ace Mentality to me. Before that to be honest about it, it sounded like sour grapes.

With my old, decrepit, noodle arm there are few, quite a few depending on the course,300 or shorter that I don't try to run. And I've been rewarded 5 times for it. I will also agree that the course is a big factor. And all 5 were on holes that regularly get aced.

But if I didn't have an Ace Mentality I doubt I'd have many, if any.

Not that the ace mentality is always a good thing. With gunslinger mentality frequently if you're off you can be horribly off. Look at two of the greatest bolfers that ever played, Jack Nicklaus and Arnie. Arnold Palmer rarely laid up. And the Golden Bear was more of a tactician. Jack's victories far outnumber Palmer 's.

 

[Jay Dub]

I do not ever remember standing on the tee thinking I want to or am going to try to ace this hole. If it's close enough I do concentrate on the basket's position and try to hit it. But to me that's just a good mental game.

If you want your disc to go to a certain spot (which is the case on every shot) then it's best to mentally have a target in mind. If there's a big metal object sticking out of the ground in the exact spot I want to go to, it would be stupid of me not to aim for that big metal object.

 

[simpletwist]

I think trying to hit an ace depends on a few things. First , how confident you are with your putting. If you feel confident that you can nail most putts inside in the circle (maybe a little outside also) then going for an ace isn't as big of a deal b/c you can still get a birdie.

I don't agree. I was never confident with putting, and yet if I saw a line I thought I could hit, I went for it.