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A “spring” tournament
On the cusp of spring, Ben and I played in a non-sanctioned flex tournament at Maple Hill. When we signed up, we figured it would be a nice pre-season tuneup with springlike weather. But central Massachusetts got two or more feet of snow during last Tuesday’s nor’easter. Despite two intervening days of well-above-freezing temperatures, tournament director Steve Dodge reported on the tournament web site “ I'd say on average there is a foot of snow and in some cases even 3 feet.”
Time to ribbon up: what?
To avoid losing discs in the snow, I taped ribbon to some of my discs1 (since this was a non-sanctioned tournament, the tournament director allowed ribbons) :
Ribbons will add a bit more drag during flight, but the important thing is that if the disc dives under the snow, the ribbon will protrude, providing a telltale to help us find the disc. 2
Ribbons as a bag enhancement
In addition to saving my discs, ribbons makes my bag look very festive:
Ribbons at work
The ribbons saved a few discs! Here is one I probably never would have found after my tee shot on hole 14:
Here’s a ribboned disc in flight at hole 15 on the red course:
Despite all the fun ribbons bring, I’m looking forward to spring disc golf without ribbons or snow!
Ribbons are not legal for sanctioned tournaments, since they modify the flight characteristics (even though they likely degrade the flight). See PDGA rule 813.01.C.1 Illegal Disc: Modifying the disc in a way that alters its original flight characteristics.
Technical details: Split the end of the ribbon, and bend the halves in opposite directions. Tape the ribbon to the center of the disc with sticky tape (I use electrical tape). Do it indoors before you go (warm tape sticks better to warm discs). The ribbon should be at least 2 feet long so it doesn’t get buried along with the disc.