disc play variations

[whofarted]

Just want to see what other games are out there other than the typical singles or best shot doubles play.  These are the two that I know about and directions on how to play them.  if you got one that you like please post it up....

4 ball - get a random partner, but instead of playing the best of either shot you play your own disc and take the best score betwee the two.  for example - if you and i are partners.  we tee off on hole one - you finish the hole with a duece and i finish it with a par - we take you score and we are now both negative one.

Wolf (my favorite) - 5 players are numbered i through 5.  we play 20 holes.  everyone plays in order 2 will go after 1, 3 after 2, etc... i am going to just give an example because explaining it might take a while....

tom - 1
greg - 2
dan - 3
mike - 4
brett - 5

you tee off first on hole one because you are number one (also 6, 11, 16).  you didnt really park it so you dont cry 'wolf' (which means the other four players play against your shot.  you wait to see what i do next.  i completely shank it left and leave it 60 feet from the basket - you pass on me.  dan steps up on the three spot and parks it right under the basket - you pick him as a partner.  now it is you and dan vs myself, brett, and mike.  both brett and mike shoot and leave it 20 feet away.  we take the closest shot and all three miss.  now you and dan are one under and mike, brett, and i are even (assuming we make the par putt). 

next hole - i go first because i am in the two spot.  i shoots and park the stank out of a 400 slow fade anhyzer - i know that there is a very small chance that anybody else is going to park it so i cry 'wolf' and then the remaining four of shoot and play the closeest of the four against my shot.  luckily, i missed the seven foot putt and brett canned the 60 footer from deep.  now you are two down.  i am still even.  dan is two down.  brett and mike are one down. 

it goes on till the 20th hole and the best score wins.  you cant choose a player after the player after them has thrown.

[Mike S]

Someone was telling me they got sick of the same doubles every week, so they mixed it up... they played one-disc worst shot doubles, and the other team on your card got to pick which disc out of your bag you had to use for the round.  Sounds hilarious.

[paultimore]

i run a weekly at druid hill dgc in baltimore called thursday night triples (TNT).  we average just over 30 people per week.  this is my third season running it, but it's been played every thursday during DST since about 1990.  it has a reputation of always being fun and VERY newbie friendly.  everyone who comes out has a chance to win.  here's how it works (these are the official rules posted on our kiosk)...

•   TNT starts approximately 2 hrs prior to sunset listed in The Baltimore Sun.  It is recommended to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to that with a mini and $3 to guarantee getting in the draw.  Visit www.md-discgolf.com for start times and details.
•   The format is teams of Three playing Favorite shot.
•   A mini clearly marked with name and 1-5 rating for every player is placed in a bag for the draw.  Ratings are approximately as follows—1=Novice, 2=Intermediate, 3=Advanced, 4=Open, 5=Top Pro.  If you are unsure of your rating, ask around.  If you do not have a mini in at the draw, you will not be able to play TNT.  If you need to buy or borrow a mini, ask around, you will usually find one.
•   When the TD says the draw is final, the draw IS final.
•   10 is the maximum combined value of ratings on any team.  No two 1's and no two 5's are allowed on the same team.  5's will be drawn first and placed on separate holes.  If the last team out has two 1's, we will redraw.  Six is the targeted lowest value of a team, however, if two 2's are drawn with a 1 to form a team rated "5" as the last team out of the bag, that team will stick .
•   If there are one or two minis left after the draw, those players will be randomly allocated to the lowest rated teams.  If there are multiple lowest rated teams, the extras will be distributed randomly among those teams.
•   The winning team takes the entire pot ($3/person)
•   In the event of a tie, there will be a playoff from the wood tees on the following order—10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18
•   Customarily, we will alternate between metal and wood tees every week.  The order may be changed to accommodate weather or special conditions.  The tees played are up to the TD.
•   There is a $1 optional Ace Pot.  50% of the collection goes to the payout, 50% carries over.  In the event of multiple aces on the same night, only the payout portion of the pot is split.  Only aces that happen during the normal 18 holes of TNT play are eligible for the pot.  Aces in playoffs do not count.



http://www.md-discgolf.com/courses/druid/

[whofarted]

thats a pretty cool game.  i like the point total limitations too - keeps it fair for everyone involved. 

[paultimore]

there is also a game called fox and hound.

flip discs until there is an odd man.  that man is the fox, the rest are the hounds.  keep flipping to determine the order of the hounds.

the fox shoots first.  then the hounds.  the hounds play best disc.  if the fox beats the hounds on that hole, the fox gets one point.  if the fox ties the hounds, the fox gets a half point.  if the hounds beat the fox, the next hound in order becomes the fox.  only the fox can score points (we play that if you get an ace, you get 3 pts no matter where you are in the order).  talking smack is usually encouraged.  the most pts at the end of 18 holes wins.

[whofarted]

damn, paultimore is full of the good ideas!  kind of like wolf, but could work well with three palyers

[paultimore]

thats a pretty cool game.  i like the point total limitations too - keeps it fair for everyone involved. 

it's been dubbed "the thursday night disc golf lesson" or even "thursday night happy hour" by some (because it's all about fun).  

what's cool about it is that newbies have a chance to play with more experienced players and learn not only technique, but tourney rules in a more relaxed setting as well (foot faults, not flipping discs, etc).

we had a guy earlier this year who had only been playing about a week.  he got paired up with jim 'no spin' myers (former masters world champ) and won.  needless to say, he's been back every week!  that's somewhat of a common story.

more often than not, the winning team will have a newbie on it.  but the most fun is winning with a balanced team (say 2, 3, 3) when there are stacked teams out there (5, 4, 1).  our rating cutoff to be a five is about 980 or so, but it can be tailored to fit the population at any course.

[SERG]

RIPT Card Game if you have it. Can be fun...especially when you make a player the hole with a putter and the hole is #18 at Fairfield. The bad thing is they still only took a 5.

Do a search for "ball golf" games. Alot of them can be adjusted to fit disc golf.

[Bruce Brakel]

There is a group playing a game in Ann Arbor that started off like Bingo Bango Bongo but is now too complicated to explain.  It now sounds like Calvin Frisbee.  Anyway the basic idea is you pick certain events that earn points like:

Longest Drive on the ground in the Fairway, on holes that have definable fairways.  On every hole you have to settle this before anyone throws.
CTP Drive on ground in the 10 meter circle
First on the ground in the 10 meter circle
First in the basket
Lowest score on the hole, if there is one lowest score
Aces score 5 bonus points plus likely one more each for first in basket and lowest score. 

You have to keep stroke score for honors and play in order, but the winner is the guy who scores the most points.  Points are either converted to skins, like 25 cents a point, or you're all putting in a certain amount and it is winner take all. 

If you play for skins, it is best to settle up as you go, but this is how you settle up at the end: Add the total number of points won by all players, divide by the number in the x-some, and multiply by 25 cents [or whatever a skin is] .  That is your entry fee.  Everyone pays in.  Everyone takes out 25 cents per point [or whatever a skin is].  This game is best for equally matched competitors, and people for whom the max burn is not a big deal.

I can no longer explain what they are doing in Ann Arbor.  Terry Calhoun was explaining it to me at dinner on Saturday and it was hilarious.  Last time Terry played so well he lost.  On the last hole he needed to miss a putt to win and he forgot to miss!

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When you play TNT, is it in sixsomes, or on the honor system?  We used to play a similar game at Kensington when the mix was good for it, and we did threesomes on the honor system. 

We also play three player best shot at our junior league when we have nine or six.  We assign equal numbers of players to the high, low and middle groups, play six or nine holes, and then make new teams.  This way at the end you are not necessarily tied with your original teammates. 

We found for RIPT there are a couple of cards that are just dumb for a competitive fun round.  Trade scores is one of them.  You don't trade scores on the hole; it is for the round so far.  Even if it was for the hole, you could intentionally score a 50 on a hole and then trade scores.  We either discard that card, convert it to another card, or impose a maximum burn. 

[Bruce Brakel]

At one time I heard about a game called Colors.  Discs are assigned nine basic colors and you can only carry nine discs, but they don't have to be all nine colors.  The colors are Black, White, Red, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green, Purple and Tie-Dye or Mixed.  You disclose your bags and agree on the colors at the start of the round, especially for Teal and other ambiguous colors. 

The color that the player before you throws on the tee gives you an advantage and disadvantage based on the color you choose, if you choose to throw the appropriate color.  Like if the player before you throws yellow, and you throw blue forehand, you get to subtract a stroke from your score.  Each color had one consequence and referred to one other color so that it formed one complete circle of consequences, and it was decided for the hole on the tee.  But I cannot remember the combinations.  They had it written on a card.  So you never had to throw a color, but there were advantages to maintaining the cycle.  The rules were well designed so that the advantages got better and better down the line so that BOB got a pretty good deal if everyone maintained the cycle and #1 started it somewhere with mild consequences.   #1 never gets anything, so there is no reason to start with a sweet color, unless maybe that forces the next guy to drive with a putter or something to get the sweet deal.

There might have been another rule about driving once with each color during the nine.  I'm color blind so i listened to the rules and just said, "Fascinating." 

[paultimore]

When you play TNT, is it in sixsomes, or on the honor system?  We used to play a similar game at Kensington when the mix was good for it, and we did threesomes on the honor system. 

it's an honor system (1 team per hole).  not that anyone would want to cheat, but it'd be nearly impossible if they did.  three cohorts would likely never get paired up, and even more likely never win as a team.  even suggesting it would be heresy, especially if done among the wrong people (most at TNT are regulars).  i guess foot faults and such might slide by, but TNT is traditionally a time to teach newbies not to do that sort of stuff.  even if we were to put 2 teams per hole, would three people on the opposing team calling, seconding and thirding a foot fault have any credence? 

we've come close to filling before.  at three per hole with two foursomes, we can handle 56 people before we have to decide to either stack teams or add extra holes.  we've had as many as 53, while our max attendance this year was 49.  we have nine extra holes at druid, but playing all 27 would probably cause us to run out of time-- especially at the bookends of the season.