Try to research the origins of disc golf, and the path with lead in many directions. As I see it, one parent of our sport is Golf, and the other is Flying Disc. We know plenty about the origins of golf, which has been around for more than 500 years and serves as the ‘rules and objectives’ framework of disc golf. By comparison, what we know about the physical component of disc golf – that involved with the effort to throw relatively flat and cylindrical objects in contests of distance and accuracy – is minimal and scattered. There is of course ‘discus’, and when you expand your idea of what is being thrown there are other sports as well.
It seemed possible that a game called quoits has been around for quite some time, and originated with tossing a metal ring (with the same basic shape as a disc) first for distance then for accuracy. Side note: The first ones were fashioned from bent horseshoes by those that couldn’t afford an actual discus like the ones used for the Olympic Games- makes me think of all the great homemade baskets made by disc golfers that I’ve seen over the years. Common gene, perhaps?
In checking further into quoits, I discovered this video of Ultimate Quoits Shuriken: Throwing Meditation. The (badly) translated English subtitles of course make it more entertaining and easier to watch this 10 minute video. If you do, you’ll see a guy trying to use a technique very similar to putting a disc at a basket to land a small metal throwing star improbably on a peg. The best part is the subtitled translation of ‘failure!’ each time he’d miss and the all-too familiar soft grunts and sighs that signal tried patience. He hit’s thew money shot in the end, but it’s worth watching it all, and asking yourself throughout whether he plays – or would like to play – disc golf?
That was fun to watch. But I got here trying to find out if anyone uses a throw style I am trying to develop for mid range putts. It’s a secret hand and disc position. If I get it right I hope it will smash deadly!