Does anyone ever return discs?

[bazillion]

I've lost half a dozen discs, none returned, and found maybe 20. I always try to contact the owner if there's any info at all on the disc, and have returned about 6 to where they belonged. If there's no ink on it, it goes in my bag.

Best story: A guy from Missouri played a tournament in California and lost a disc. Fast forward about four years, and I find it (that tells you how deep the schule is I get into), email the Missouri club, get the owner's email, contact him, and he says "Go ahead and keep it."

 

[John Rock]

I have found about ten in the last year and a half, called the ones with numbers and got no response. I found one in a creek that had dried up enough where the top of a disc was sticking out of the mud, close to where I threw mine. the only part of the phone number left is (601) which written like that suggest the area code I think, does anyone know where the 601 is and the name on the back is written as so, Allan "hogman" Morrow. does anyone know the Hogman?

Seems like there is a guy who posts under that name on the Southern National website (I think it's sndg.org). You might try there if you found it somewhere in the Southern states.

 

[ShortBusDiscGolf]

i get back 1-2 for every 10 i lose. what a horrible stat. it makes me want to kick someone in the junk.

 

[jroll]

i get back 1-2 for every 10 i lose. what a horrible stat. it makes me want to kick someone in the junk.

last summer i felt the same way. probably lost 15 discs over a three month period all with my name and number on the back. during that time one was returned, I was called about one other, but let them keep it. I found one with a number during that time and returned it to the owner so last year i was 1 for 15. so far this year i am 0 for 2. hopefully i don't have to lose 13 more to get one of them back

 

[Dthunderchicken]

If there's a number, of course I'll call. If not I leave found discs where ever the score cards are. If they get to the owner great. If some newb picks them up well, that's fine too. (At my home course I've seen phones, keys etc stashed with score cards.)

I'll often check out the score card kiosk and if someone's stashed a disc that I've never thrown, I have been known to borrow it for a round.

 

[kyflash]

I have gotten back less than 10% of the discs I have lost. I bet I have returned 30 or more to people who have lost them.
It is good to get a call out of the blue from someone who has found your disc.

I always tell newer players to put their name and number on their disc and explain that it is customary for people to call you when they find your disc. Most beginners tend to loose alot of discs, thus they spend alot of time looking for discs, so the chances of them finding someone elses disc is pretty good. They will know that it is right to call the owner.

 

[soladeos]

i'm not much abeliever in KARMA but..

tossed my brand new champ valk into some nuclear cabbage (akron pa) a few weeks back. nice guy paused on his way through and helped me search. he was saying how he lost a blue disc on the course recemtly as well. i eventually found the valk after he left. low and behold, 3 tees later, found a blue cjhamp orc in the middle of a fairway. call the number and BAM.. it was him.

there is a divine what goes around, comes around in this sport...

all this to say... you shouldn't be able to sleep at night unless you at least make the effort to return a found disc to its rightful owner.

taking off on another thread that going on... do it at no cost unless you have to mail it, they should at least pay shipping fees if you need to mail it.

 

[milow369]

I'm going to stop marking my plastic with sharpie, at least I can keep the value high if I want to trade or sell it. I don't have any misconceptions about getting a call for any plastic above DX and/or good condition.

I have been thinking about a custom dye that personalizes all my good discs, has my name, PDGA number and phone number, otherwise blacks out disc mold/weight/etc. It would have some code on it that would be known only to me that identifies which disc it is.

This way I might be able to get back some of my good stuff should I ever lose it. I might be able to come up with some less than manly design that would prompt the finder to just return it because they'd never be caught dead throwing it...Like Gay, Lesbian and Tranvestite disc throwers assoc. (not that there's anything wrong with that) or "Double Bogey Maker" or maybe some phallic design, meanwhile, it's my priceless CE teebird.

Sure I'd catch some crap from my buddies for carrying such discs, but I'd still be hitting those 200'+ upshots or 25' tunnels. Maybe I'd start throwing this stuff again.

 

[RallySoob]

I've lost 3 and only got 1 back. I found 1 last time I was out with no contact info, No lost and found at the course. I kept it

 

[A.Mutt]

As a matter of fact I am returning a champion wraith tomorrow to its true owner. All because they took the time to write in permanent marker their name and phone #. I've done it before and I never ask for anything in exchange for it. I believe throwing a disc with somebody else's name on it is very bad juju. And to who ever has my FLX Buzzz and is ignoring the huge name and number on the back I wish upon you the worst juju.

 

[ERicJ]

[...]I have never gotten a disc back that I lost.
Does anyone (aside from me) call people if they find a lost disc with a phone number? If not, why not?

If you search these forums you find there are numerous threads on this topic already.

Here are my stats as of last month:

Lost discs stats I track...

151 - Total times a disc has been lost between myself & my girlfriend
59 - Number of my discs still lost
21 - Number of my girlfriend's discs still lost
48 - Number of discs returned once
10 - Number of discs returned twice
1 - Number of discs returned three times

47% return rate.

I've probably returned as many as I've gotten but I don't track those stats.

 

[billnchristy]

My god...you have lost about 5x as many discs as I own.

 

[ERicJ]

My god...you have lost about 5x as many discs as I own.

Learning to play disc golf at The LINKS at Quail Valley was a rough experience.

 

[roadtripstuff]

I always make several attempts to return any disc that I find. If it has a number i will call, if there isn't one, I will talk to any players encounter and see if they lost a disc. I think every disc golfer should take the time to do this. I also think everyone should make it a point to explain this to anyone they introduce to game to as well. This goes with all course etiquette for that matter.

 

[BrotherDave]

lost 4, got 2 of them back. As a general rule I call the number if it's on there but sometimes you get in those moods where you're selfish, like pulling out in front of people. I'm not gonna lie.

 

[billnchristy]

Learning to play disc golf at The LINKS at Quail Valley was a rough experience.

Makes so much more sense now.

 

[Hamilton]

returned the teebird to the owner today, ended up throwing a few holes with him...tossed my star destroyer just into the treeline...found a no-name, but dyed, star driver (KARMA FTW)...

not sure which model it is, looks like "STA" on the back, but that does not match any Innova abbreviations, maybe the A is actually an R and it is a star teerex...i would be ok with that...

 

[Dillon_Gourley]

I have a few disc on standby that I like to call "water ready".

 

[Lewis]

Around a 50% return-to-me rate is pretty good. Mine isn't that good, but I've gotten several calls back in the past year or so. Some of the discs I never hear from again, and some people go out of their way to recover my disc and then call and meet me. It depends on how lucky I get. As a personal rule, I always call back when I find one with a number, which there almost always is in my experience. Sometimes they want it back, but sometimes they say something like "I live 2 hours away so just keep it." Those I tend to give away to the newbies.

 

[ERicJ]

I have a few disc on standby that I like to call "water ready".

I have a pair of DX Eagles that replace my CE Eagle-X and 10xKC Eagle-L when on a couple water prone courses. Also, my Z-Drone sites on the sidelines while the D-Drone gets called up.