Last Saturday was a day of “destination disc golf” for me and a buddy of mine – kind of. We’ve both got small kids, so nothing too noteworthy. We drove south for a good half-hour to play one of the more beautiful courses in all of Utah Valley: Jolley’s Ranch in Springville, Utah.
If you’re not from the Beehive State, and the course sounds familiar, it’s because it was featured on an episode of “Bogey Bros Battle” last year. It was awesome – I’ve never been so proud.
Anyway, one of the holes on the course requires a small, but fast-moving stream be crossed off the tee. The last guy to tee off from the group in front of us nailed a tree, so his disc dropped straight into the drink. Fortunately, he found a strong, sizable stick with which to fish it out.
You know the type.
What he did after removing his disc from the water, however, was something I’d soon come to wish he hadn’t. After pulling his frisbee from the water, he immediately tossed said stick back into the free-flowing stream before drying his disc and throwing with a penalty stroke.
You can already see where this is going …
Naturally, just as night follows day, as soon as the hole was clear of flesh and blood, my partner in dad-bod crime and I proceeded to throw both of our drives into the water below – and in relatively the same place, to boot. It was then that I immediately thought to myself …
“Why did that guy throw that stick back in the water?”
It was perfect.
With it, both of us would’ve had our discs back in our bags in a couple of minutes. Without it, the entire problem took about seven or eight minutes to resolve. Fortunately, no discs were lost in the process. But a small backup of perturbed disc golfers did form behind us – tragic, I know.
Before long, we were both on our merry way with a pair of pocket bogeys to our names.
If you’ve read this far, do your local disc golf scene a favor: When you find a great disc-nabbing stick and use it to save a submerged flier, don’t toss it back in the water like some sort of godless heathen. Instead, leave it on the edge of the pond, river or stream – there’s a reason for it.
This indicates to the army of disc golfers who will undoubtedly soon need it:
“Hey, this thing grabs discs. It must’ve worked for someone else. I bet it’ll work for me, too.”
It’s a simple (and anonymous) act of kindness, but one that’ll reunite disc golfers with their missing frisbees, as well as improve the pace of play on overcrowded disc golf courses. If you’ve never thought to do this, no worries: Now’s your chance to make the world a much better place.
For disc golfers, at least.
Thanks in advance.
Have anything to add? Take to X to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.
Editor’s Suggestions:
- This is the single-scariest putt in all of disc golf
- Gripe No. 69: The dreaded three-putt in disc golf
- Disc golf: The one massive flaw floating discs present
Real quick, if you happen to buy something through a link in this article, there’s a chance we’ll get a small share of the sale. It’s how we keep the lights on. To learn more, click here.
