Ace
Definition: An ace occurs when a player throws directly from the tee into the basket for a score of one. Although aces involve skill, angle control, and precision, nearly every player also admits that a touch of luck is usually involved. The rarity of aces gives them a mythic quality within disc golf culture, and many players remember every ace they have ever witnessed.
Why It Matters: Aces become stories retold for years and often define a player’s emotional connection to the sport.
Term Observations:
- Players often evaluate the potential of course holes achieving an ace. Spectacular aces are those that involve particularly difficult holes in length, angle, or intervening hazards, or unusual throwing techniques or trajectories.
- In tournaments it is not uncommon for there to be an “Ace Pot,” where every player who wishes “buys in” and the pot is then divided between those who score an ace during the tournament. If no aces are scored the pot can roll over to another day or round, be donated to charity, or contributed to the course operations.
- Another Round, and Lula others, have set up special “Ace Holes” that are separate from the disc golf course and offer opportunities for players to test their skills, achieve a moment of profound pleasure and gain bragging rights, or take a chance at a rolling pot based on the fee to play. The floating basket on the Hilltop Pond at Lula Disc House is an example where players can throw thousands of “mermaid” discs, floating discs, at a basket situated on a floating dock in the middle of the pond.
