Disc golf: How to bend a disc to alter its flight (and what to expect)

This is illegal.

Let’s just get that out of the way right from the get-go.

And if you don’t believe me, here’s what the PDGA has to say about it:

“Allowed modifications to a disc after production are limited to wear and tear from usage during play, moderate sanding to address wear and tear or small imperfections [and] marking with dye or permanent-marker ink.”

Still, I’d be lying if I told you I’d never seen Philo Brathwaite “massage” more than one of his Star Destroyers on the teepad moments before a drive – and it’s not just Philo, either.

Pay attention to DGN coverage the next time a disc golfer needs a long, left-to-right drifting flight out of their frisbee. You know what I mean: One that won’t fight out earlier than it should.

This process is called tuning.

To tune a disc is to bend it in a way to alter its flight. Yes, more extreme measures can do the same thing: dryers, sunlight, boiling water, throwing rollers in parking lots, etc. Here, however, I’ll focus on quick, on-course techniques that lead to small, yet useful changes to a disc’s flight.

New discs fly more overstable. They beat in to fly more understable. When you hit a tree with your disc, the plastic bends inwards and then snaps back into place. Do this a few hundred times, and – though seemingly imperceptible – the disc’s general shape is now more arched than before.

Tuning discs mimics this process.

For a more understable flight:

• Taco the disc downwards three or four times while rotating it.
• Do the same thing with smaller, more subtle bends a dozen times.

For a more overstable flight:

• Taco the disc upwards three or four times while rotating it.
• Do the same thing with smaller, more subtle bends a dozen times.

I get that the “subtle bends” part might be hard to visualize …

Click here for a brief, time-stamped clip of this being done.

In my experience, the hands-on approach is much more effective going the understable route. And while upward bends will help with an uptick in stability, as well, your best bet is to simply bag a freshie of the mold you want to throw. Also, doing this with discs in baseline polymers?

Hard pass.

The changes are sudden – and WAY too drastic.

Though it’s certainly out there, you don’t see as much of this mid-round tuning in today’s game. There are enough manufacturers with enough molds that getting the flight you want is more an issue of bag-building. It’s nice to have the option, though. Quick, micro-adjustments matter.

And no worries …

My lips are sealed.

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