Earlier this month one of our readers, Ty Herrington sent us an email with the photo above and this message:
This is a pic of Jacob B, a high schooler who just nabbed his first ace at Horn Creek Camp in Westcliffe, Colorado. He was up there last month for church camp. Interestingly, his small group leader, Mark, was playing in the group with us and had hit the chains from the tee pad on hole #1 and this hole before Jacob carded his first ace. There’s been some good discussion about what one should do with a disc following an ace. Most of us believe the disc should be retired and find a prominent place to hang in one’s apartment or house. Jacob is yet to buy into this thinking, so Mark is holding onto his disc until he comes around to our way of thinking.
This got us thinking as to what the most common practice is. After you hit an ace do you retire the disc for good or do you keep throwing it? Some feel that the disc has ran out of magic and remains on the wall to celebrate the ace. Others think if you love the disc you should keep on throwing it.
In our opinion, we say keep throwing it! We’ve aced a few times with the same disc actually. It doesn’t hurt to mark the ace on the disc and record the history of the event, but we keep on throwing it. If a disc is perfectly seasoned and is helping you improve as a disc golfer, there should be no reason to remove it from the bag.
So we turn the question over to you. When you hit an ace, what do you do? Hang it up for good or keep on throwing it?
23 Comments
The first ace should definitely be kept on the wall. However after that I think that discs should continue to be thrown with the exception of milestone aces (25th, 50th etc..)
25th? 50th? Are you kidding me? Anyone that says they’ve hit that many has been playing everyday since the creation of disc golf or is a liar. No one is that good.
I just hit my 24th yesterday and my good friend billy has over 150
I keep playing with it after getting it signed :). If anything it would be a cool disc to show off to others while playing.
Keep throwin’ it and don’t let anybody sign it with their ugly kindergarten-ass handwriting. I have a mini (a couple now!) at home that I leave date and hole info on.
I only have one Ace, but I’ve kept throwing the disc. Whenever I line up to the same hole, it’s near-impossible to grab anything but the disc that did it for you before.
I’ve marked it with the hole/date info and even created a certificate that hangs on my wall at home with the signatures of the witnesses. It’s such a great disc that I can’t imagine taking it out of my bag though.
Keep playing with it. I got my first ace with the first disk i ever bought innova archangel dx. Was going to retire it, but i put down all the info on the bottom of the disk and now keep it in my bag as a memento.
Hang the 1st one on the wall. My 1st one landing in the trees above the basket & somehow fell down into the basket. I lost it later in that round & never saw the disc again. Over a year later & being a much improved player, got what I feel was my first true ace. I’d come close on the 2nd to last basket at Oak Grove with my Legacy Discs Rampage many times, hitting the basket, pole & chains. Finally got it my buddy Brian waswitness too it. I took it out of my bag, but then put it back in. I nearly lost it, got a replacement & hung it up.
If that magical throw ever happens to me and I bang the chains off the pad, the decision to retire the disc or not will be a tough one. I know for sure that I will mark on the disc the date and time of the event and have a witness sign it. Maybe, if the ace was spectacular enough, I would retire it. Kind of like ending things with the disc on a high note. If the wasnt anything to it more than a straight ace, I might keep playing it. Overall I think this is something each disc golfer will have to determine for themselves. But some sort of record of the event is a must!
I say just write your ace on the disc and keep using it unless it’s your very first, then that one deserves a special spot.
I now have four aces across three discs. My first ace disc is sitting at home in my entertainment center, only being thrown a couple more times after the ace. My 2 Ace in one round disc should’ve been retired but unfortunately, it is now in a lagoon. Searched two separate times for it but with no luck. Losing that disc hurts me every time I think about it. :/ My last ace is still in my bag and will be in there until it gets replaced with a new version of that disc. I think from now on, I will replace them as they are aced. They are the only thing thatt signify my ace and are like trophies after that.
I say keep using them if they are working for you. I followed that advice on an Ace Disc of mine from 4/20 and promptly lost it about 6 weeks later. Still hopeful it will come back to me as my contact info is on it including my Ace Date.
I retire them… and by “them” I mean the only one I’ve ever had… Well the only one witnessed. I don’t get too attached to discs personally. Too many courses with water hazards about to really become invested in a specific disc.
That is until I ace with it….
Have yet to retire my two ace discs, I rarely lose discs anymore so generally I’ll probably wait til a disc gets a couple or has reached the end of its’ life span
Always keep using it!!!
My first ace was an FH with seasoned PD2 which, for me, has and is one of the best for FH.
Second and forth ace was Ti Buzzz … need I say more?!
PS: what about the Third? Yeah … I lost that disc… sic :)))
I put my first and only ace disc up, took it back down, threw it again on the same hole – birdie, then hung it back up and there it rests – Innova Blizzard Katana. Video witness. I might have to buy a double just for kicks.
My first ace was with a Discraft focus i hung it on the wall for about 2 years then decided to put it back in the bag until i nearly taco’d it in half on a tree on the same hole a year later …. for me it depends on the disc and if i can find another that flies like it ….. i have 6 aces since 2009 all with different desc but i still carry 2 of them in my bag the rest are hanging on the wall as my arm changed so did what i threw so i retired what i didnt need anymore
*ADDITION* Any ace disc that i keep in my bag doesnt get thrown anywhere i think im gonna lose it EVER
I was there as a witness. It was a spectacular throw. Thru and around trees, up a hill and the basket was somewhat hidden.
The throw was perfect and as soon as it left his hand we all had a sense that it could be close, when it rattled the chains it could not have been a more momentous occasion.
The disc should be signed, dated, and retired. Buy another one just like it and keep throwing.
Playing disc golf well centers around your confidence, in my opinion. My confidence level is over 9000 when I have a disc that flies well in my hands. So an ace disc to me is an automatic confidence boost. If you want a visual reminder, take a picture. Discs were meant to be thrown baby!
I’ve been playing for 5 years and I’ve never had an ace, so I’ll let you all know what I do with it once that happens! I play with a guy who used to carry this beat up old sidewinder because he aced with it once. He never threw it except off the tee that he aced on. He would sit down on the bench and let someone else throw first, even if he had the tee, to try to recreate the magic of that first ace. After a year went by, he finally retired that sidewinder because it got too understable for him. It now hangs on his wall.
I have 3 aces and they are all hanging on my wall. If I did choose to throw them, I would only pull them out on holes with no chance of losing a disc.