With summer winding to the end and shorter days, potential hours for disc golf are dwindling. If only you could play in the dark…. Well you can, and it’s pretty fun as long as you have discs you can find.
Glow in the Dark Discs
Nearly every manufacturer makes glow in the dark golf discs. While these are better for night play than regular discs, they really don’t work all that well for actual night play. Glow in the dark discs need to be recharged with a UV blacklight flashlight every throw to provide adequate visibility.
Chances are that you aren’t playing in pure darkness either. While playing at twilight or with a full moon, the glow really won’t help much at all. Glow discs work best if you’re playing in a deep woods course where it is really dark.
If your throw is errant, and your glow in the dark disc lands in thick brush — good luck finding your disc before the glow diminishes.
While I’m not going to recommend any glow disc for actual night play at most courses, Gateway and Lightning Golf Discs glow discs are among the brightest glowing. These are actually the least expensive glow in the dark discs on the market. While MVP discs with glow rims are the most expensive, these discs really aren’t very easy to see at night with just the outside rim glowing.
Easiest Disc to Find in the Dark
By far, the best disc for night play is the with Nite Ize Flashflight Disc Golf Discs. Nite Ize currently manufactures three discs an understable high speed driver, midrange, and putter. These discs have bright lights and utilize fiber optic technology so that they can be seen from a mile away (not really) but you’re not going to lose these discs. The nice thing about these discs is that the entire disc lights up so you are able to see the angles and lines your disc travels, which makes it much easier to find that trying to follow a single LED light. When throwing the Flashflight discs, you need to be careful that locals know what’s going on, otherwise they might report a UFO siting to the NSA.
Light Up Any Disc
If you want to use your regular discs, the ones you’re comfortable with, you can simply attach a disc night light to them. While clear Champion/Z/Opto discs work best, these lights are bright enough that they work with opaque discs as well. Finding discs in the dark with a light attached is actually easier than finding your disc during the day. These lights emit about a 3 foot glow around the area where the disc lands making it easy to find even in tall grass.
There are several companies that make small lights that can be attached to any disc, and while all the lights we tested work well, you might as well buy the least expensive ones. Rod-N-Bobs disc lights looked the most professional, but these lights were more difficult to use and didn’t have as much battery life.
We found that the flat LED lights with big batteries provide the best values. These disc lights are available in blue, green, red, and white and have two different settings. Disc lights can flash, or provide a solid steady light. Battery life is enhanced when lights are set on flash mode. The lights stayed bright for more than 24 hours, and still glowed after a week of constant use.
Diminishing daylight hours are no longer an excuse to keep you from your favorite activity. Get out there and play some night disc golf.
