The Best Disc Golf Discs (2024): Disc Sets, Putters, and More

You may notice many discs marked with a set of four numbers. These are the (mostly) industry-wide standard for defining flight patterns, and a basic understanding of them can help you know what kind of disc you’re looking at without having to go out and throw it away.

Number one is speed, which is pretty self-explanatory. Discs with higher numbers are designed to travel further and faster, while lower numbers will fly at slower speeds over shorter distances. The tradeoff is usually that high-speed discs are harder to throw accurately.

Next is glide, which describes the ability of the disc to hold in the air for a long time. A high-riding disc will trap air beneath it as it moves, which can give it a longer wind time, but that also means it’s more susceptible to storms.

Turn around and zoom in to look at the nature of the disk’s flight path, and it’s a little different. As the disc leaves your hand, it will naturally bank to the right, but a low turn will cause it to bank hard, and a high turn will keep it stable. Fade, on the other hand, defines how much the disc will turn back to the left after finishing its first bank. Remember this is for right-handed players who throw a backhand, so if you’re left-handed, the swing is how much bank it left initially, and the fade is how much it swings back to the right.