What’s ‘army golf’ in disc golf? (it’s demoralizing)

Disc golf slang is great.

Per the norm, today’s comes from ball golf.

Have you ever heard this one before?

Army golf.

If someone tells you you’re playing “army golf,” it’s not a good thing. Sadly, it’s not a creative, outside-the-box way of complimenting your ability to compete fiercely in the face of adversity. 

In fact, there’s nothing tough-as-nails about it at all.

The phrase comes from the stereotypical chant most of us civilians assume actual soldiers use when marching – I have no idea if it’s actually the case or not. You’ll (likely) recognize it …

This little ditty:

“Left, left, left, right, left.”

If you’re chanting this in your head, there’s a pause between back-to-back uses of “left.” The pause is for the step of a right foot. So no, soldiers aren’t marching in incessant circles. The use of the right foot is usually indicated by a brief moment of silence – that’s all there is to it.

It’s rhythmic.

Anyway, to play army golf is to continually overshoot the fairway.

That’s how it works in ball golf. That’s how it works in disc golf, too.

The term can be used on a macro level to indicate a general poor performance over the course of 18 holes when getting off the tee. From the teepad, if the disc rarely comes to rest in the fairway, that means it landed either left or right of it – see how that works? Remember the chant …

Army stuff.

However, whether as the disher or recipient of the “army golf” diss, for me, the reference is far more common when describing a single sucky hole – usually a wooded one, to be more specific.

Using myself as an example, if I’m off the fairway from the tee, to compensate for it, I’ll attempt a “hero shot” to get back to where I need to be. The result is often that, instead of advancing the frisbee up the fairway as I’d hoped, my disc now finds itself on the other side of the fairway.

Having learned absolutely nothing, this process will frequently repeat itself a few more times until – bruised, bloodied and with an ego the size of a black-eyed pea – I tap in a triple-bogey.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right.

Make it stop.

THIS is army golf.

During post-produced Pro Tour coverage for JomezPro, if you’ve ever heard Jeremy Koling talk about “taking medicine,” he’s referencing a disc golfer who should pitch out to the center of the fairway and continue with the hole, so as to bypass becoming yet another casualty of army golf.

If you can avoid it, do it.

And here’s the good news …

You can.

Golf with discipline, and you’ll be just fine.

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