Disc Numbers (Flight Ratings) Explained

Understanding disc flight ratings for your discs is absolutely critical to your disc golf game. Knowing what each number means and the ranges for each rating will help you throw the disc the way it was intended. This will result in better scores and more fun on the course. Let’s get started!

Back before I knew anything about flight ratings, I only focused on one number. Speed. Why? Because “chicks dig the long ball.” (watch that video for wonderful glimpse into life in the late 90’s. And while you’re in that state of mind, here’s an equally glorious one on Y2K. You’re welcome.)

Where was I? Ah yes, the need for speed. Speed, power, distance. Speed, power, distance.

I just kept buying discs with higher and higher speeds. The higher the speed, the less distance it went. So naturally, I got even higher speeds… What?!

Please, if you are new to the sport, learn from my mistake! We all want to throw it a country mile. I do too. But simply buying “more powerful discs”, isn’t the way. Typically, the pros stop at speed 12. Why then did I have a speed 13 in my hands?

But you’re smarter than me and that’s why you’re actually looking it up.

It turns out that there are 4 universal flight ratings on a disc. Each one is important. Knowing how the disc was designed to fly will help you get the most out of it. This will lead to better throws and lower scores. This (lower scores), not blindly “crushing drives” is the actual objective of the game.

So, with that in mind, let’s get into these flight ratings and see how they can help you determine which disc to use on any given throw out on the course.

From left to right, the ratings are speed, glide, turn, and fade (we’ll revisit these). They all have different ranges (explained in next section), which can be confusing at first, but are important to know.

Also, just to make sure we are on the same page, I’ll be using a right-handed backhand (RHBH) throw as the reference point throughout. That is a pretty standard practice and I’m in no position to zag on that.

Let’s look at the ranges of the the numbers first. As we go, we’ll also discuss what each number might mean for a beginner new to the sport. Hopefully, by the end you’ll feel good about the flight rating system AND what it might mean for you in terms of disc selection.

Knowing the Ranges

As we said before, there are 4 universal flight ratings. From left to right, the ratings are speed, glide, turn, and fade (I repeat with the hopes that the more you see it the better it will sink in for you.)

We also said that each of these has a range of numbers. This can be confusing!

Speed, for example, has a range of 1 – 14. That means a speed of 5 is relatively slow (midrange).

Fade, on the other hand, has a range of 0 to 5. That means 5 is the highest fade rating. A fade of 5 indicates that the disc is going to cut hard to the left at the end of its flight (for RHBH).

See how this matters to know the ranges? One of the 5 ratings is relatively benign, while the other is somewhat of an extreme.

Here are the ranges for each of the 4 universal flight rating numbers.

I’ll reference/re-post these ranges as we continue. Now that we have seen these, let’s take a look at what speed, glide, turn and fade mean for the flight of your discs.

Flight Rating for Speed

Speed Range: 1 – 14 (1 is slowest, 14 is fastest).

Speed is a very important number to understand on a disc. It’s just not necessarily for the reasons that I originally thought.

Basically though, speed dictates how the other ratings will work. Another way to say that is this: When you throw the disc at its intended speed, the glide, fade, and turn will behave the way the disc was intended.

This is why going up in speed never worked for me. I wasn’t throwing the disc anywhere near the speed it was intended to fly at. This usually means the disc will “hyzer out” (go out and quickly dive left (RHBH) with very little distance to show for it…)

That’s what happened to me! But did I learn? Nope! But you’re smarter than me, so I like your chances better…

So if you are a beginner, you are going to want to throw discs with speed ratings that match the speed you are throwing at (usually midranges or fairway drivers). Let’s look at these next.

speed and disc Classification

Speed also dictates the classification of each disc (putter, midrange, fairway drivers, distance drivers).

These are helpful to understand so you don’t get fooled as I did. Not surprisingly I heard “distance driver” and thought it would give me distance… (I actually don’t blame myself as much for that one).

Really though, I think it’s better to just concentrate on the speed of the disc and disregard the titles.

Here they are below just so you know.

Putter – Speeds 1, 2, and 3

Midranges – Speeds 4 and 5

Fairway Driver – Speeds 6, 7, and 8

Distance Drivers – Speeds 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14

Personally, at the time of writing this, I’m only using speeds 7 and lower. Here’s my back-story if you are interested (teacher that played 10 years ago for a year then stopped. Now I’m back and documenting the ride while I try to share what I learn (teacher becomes student) along the way! Subscribe here if you want to come along for the ride!)

Now that we know how speed affects the other ratings, let’s give those a look as well!

Flight rating – Glide

Glide Range: 1 to 7

The second rating on a disc is glide. It pretty much does what it says. The Glide tells you how long a disc is inclined to stay up and “float” in the air.

I think there is a natural tendency to automatically think that more glide is better. This isn’t always the case, however. Sometimes you want your disc to get down (a lot of times it’s on approach shots).

Higher glide can also be sub-optimal in higher winds. Sometimes the wind will have it’s way with discs with higher glide and take the control of where the disc lands almost completely out of your hands.

We’ll get into it more, but I just wanted to make a note of it so you don’t just get seduced by the higher glide scores (also happened to me).

Glide and Turn can be connected so let’s look at Turn next.

Disc Flight Rating for Turn

Turn Range: +1 to -5 (-5 is most turn)

Turn is the 3rd rating on a disc. Turn tells you the tendency for a disc to turn over in it’s flight. When a disc turns over it can make that classic “S” shaped flight.

This number is also directly related to the stability of a disc. A turn rating of +1 and 0 means a disc is “overstable”. A rating from -3 to -5 means the disc is “understable”. Anywhere in between is some degree of “stable”.

This is also seductive to beginners. And in general, the beginner will benefit from a more understable disc. These understable discs have a higher likelihood of making that “S” curve at a given speed. This means your disc is less likely to hyzer out before it ever has a chance to straighten out.

Beginners naturally throw slower so that understability helps them get the disc up and flattened out.

And while this is good to know, my only warning is to not go too far overboard. Eventually, as you improve your speed, that understable disc you so coveted in the beginning can become a nuisance. It can turn hard on you and dive-bomb into the fairway. You may eventually use it as a roller but be sure to account for the fact that you’ll want a mix of stabilities for different shots as you evolve.

Having just gone through all these “flights of fancy”, they are all fresh in my head. I know how I thought about each one so I’m telling you so that you learn from some of my “misguided notions”.

Okay, onto Fade!

Disc Flight Rating for Fade

Fade Range: 0 to 5 (5 is highest fade)

In my mind, this is the least sexy of the flight ratings. I’ve never actually gone too extreme on this one. As such, I won’t have too many cautionary tales!

Basically though, fade is the tendency of the disc to cut, or finish to the left at the end of it’s flight (for RHBH). Almost every disc has some of this when thrown as intended.

Discs with higher fades just cut harder. This can be useful if the basket is directly behind an obstacle or to skip a disc a little more easily.

Personally, I mostly avoid the ratings of 4 and 5. Where my game is, I don’t see a huge need for it. I know the pros and higher level players will intentionally throw “spike hyzers” (extreme hyzers). I’m just not there yet so I stay within 0 to 3.

I’ll come back and update if and when that changes. If anyone reading has other thoughts, put them in the comments.

For now, let’s put all these ratings together for a complete picture.

Know Thy Disc!

This is so important that I wrote a whole post about it! You can find that post here. Basically though, if you want to get the most out of a round, you have to know how each disc flies in any given situation.

How does it fly if I throw it full strength(or 80%, 50%, etc.)?

What happens if I release it at such an angle (hyzer, flat, anyhzer, and all the micro-variations of that)?

How does it fly into the wind or with a tailwind?

You get the idea. Basically, you want to really know each disc in your bag extremely well. Once you learn those discs, you can make educated decisions on future discs (with differing flight patterns) and decide what will work best for you.

Based on that, here is my recommendation: I recommend that you buy a small number of discs to start and learn those discs very well (through repeated use). Then, based on your results, you can decide what to get next.

If you are interested, I wrote a post on the 3 starter discs that age very well (you can use them for life (explained in post)). This might be a good place to start. Then, after you learn those discs, you can decide where to go next…

Other Considerations for Flight Ratings

If you wanted to, you could dive so far into the weeds with this that you’d never be seen or heard from again.

There’s of course the effect of wind, disc weight, and different ratings for different manufacturers.

Then, there are many people that claim (I’m not discounting you, I just don’t actually know) that each color of a given disc will have a slightly different flight. The same is true depending on which year a disc was made…

You see how it gets murky fast?

I would recommend that you don’t get too caught up in the minutia. If you’re just beginning (most likely if you’re reading this) then that is way, way too much to factor in. Go back to my earlier advice and learn a few discs really well and proceed from there.

For now, I think you will find the following tips with regards to wind to be helpful.

Into a headwind you will want slightly faster (1 or 2 higher)and slightly overstable (1, 0, or -1 for turn) discs for a given shot.

With a tailwind, you will want the opposite (less stable, less speed).

For more information on how wind affects flight, you can click on this post (coming soon). With regards to this post, let’s put a bow on it…

Disc Flight Ratings in Summary

As hopefully we’ve come to see, understanding a disc’s ratings can have a huge impact on how well we perform on the course. It’s important to understand each number and how that number dictates flight path.

Personally, if it’s not written on the disc, I write it on the underside in sharpie. These numbers are important, and I want to make an informed decision before I select a disc for a given throw.

To review, the disc flight ratings, from left to right, are speed, glide, turn, and fade.

Each has it’s own range that is helpful to know as well. Speed (1 to14), glide (1 to 7), turn(-1 to 5), and fade (0 to 5).

Throwing a disc at an intended speed will help the other factors (glide, turn and fade) work as intended.

It’s therefore important not to be “seduced” by the high speed “distance drivers”. It’s much better to throw a disc that matches your actual arm speed. With time, your skills and abilities will go up. Included in that is your arm speed. Forcing it, by using discs that are too fast for you, can yield poor results and bad habits. I should know form experience!

The best advice I can give is to use a small number of discs (with lower speeds) and gradually add as you form a better understanding of what each rating means. The best way to form this understanding is to get out and throw.

By understanding flight ratings and using a given disc as it was intended, you’ll see far better results and lower scores. This will keep you disc golf’n around for a long time to come! Enjoy!

There you have it! I hope that helps! If you have more questions please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or contact me. This site was started in April, 2022 by a teacher looking to improve his own game and help others in the process. I welcome you to come along for the ride and subscribe to get all my posts delivered right to your inbox. In the meantime, have fun out there throwing and learning those flight numbers!