What it feels like…

To hit a hole-in-one in disc golf:

“I was playing a tournament in Austin, Texas, where I used to live. I’m getting ready to throw, and there’s a big tree near our tee. A squirrel runs down the tree, stops right by me, plants a nut behind the rope [that marks the tee-off], and runs back up the tree. After that, I throw and hit the hole-in-one. So every time a squirrel has planted a nut by my tee, I’ve hit a hole-in-one.”

Photo by Ryan Bumgarner

To help beginners learn to throw better:

“It’s like choosing golf clubs. There are 200 kinds of discs, but most everyone gets those fly-the-farthest, fly-the-best discs—long-range drivers. Those all curve way too much—that’s way too much club, as they say. You need a lighter disc with a shorter range—a putter. That’s the biggest thing, the quickest way to improve your throw, unless you can already throw a disc the length of a football field.”

To play an ‘urban skins’ game:

“We’ll go downtown with a couple of portable baskets and make holes down the street or in an open spot. [This year], the top four to six tournament winners will play. In a ‘skins’ match, win the hole, win some cash. It’s money in the players’ pockets.”

— Asheville resident/world-class disc golfer Eric Marx

To make your best throw in an ultimate game:

“I don’t know! Ultimate is about having fun, laughing and playing, like throwing a disc upside down, against a strong headwind, for the score—and no one believing you just did that, because no one in their right mind would try that throw, but you did, and it worked. Or yelling to your teammate to throw it to a beginner like Teresa, who’s wide open in the end zone, and she catches it. That’s a victory.”

To throw a forehand toss:

“It’s a flick, with two fingers and a snap of the wrist. I can teach you in 20 throws or less.”

— Asheville Ultimate Club member Chris Thompson