A throw from the tee straight into the basket — a hole in one. The single biggest moment a round can produce, and the loudest word on any course.
An ace is a throw from the tee pad straight into the basket: one throw, one hole. Since a standard disc golf hole is scored as par 3, an ace saves you two throws in one go — hence the noise when the chains rattle. The word comes up constantly on the course, usually as an \"ace run\": a throw that misses so narrowly it nearly was one. For beginners there is a trap in it, though. Short holes tempt you into muscling the disc at the basket, and those forced throws fly short and crooked. They also load the throwing arm, which is where nearly every disc golf injury sits — over 80 percent of players report at least one, nearly all of them on the throwing arm and most of them gradual overuse. The honest maths: a controlled throw that parks beside the basket wins you more throws across a season than the one ace you tried to force.