The four numbers at a glance
Flight numbers are always written in the same order: Speed / Glide / Turn / Fade. A disc marked 7/5/-1/1 has speed 7, glide 5, turn -1 and fade 1.
| Number | What it measures | Usual range | Low value means | High value means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | Arm speed needed to fly as rated | 1 to 14 | Putter, easy to throw | Wide-rim distance driver |
| Glide | Ability to stay in the air | 1 to 7 | Drops quickly, predictable | Floats, carries farther |
| Turn | Early drift at high speed | +1 to -5 | 0 or +1: resists turning | -3 to -5: turns a lot |
| Fade | Hook at the end of flight | 0 to 5 | Finishes straight | Hard, reliable hook |
Ranges vary slightly by brand, so treat them as typical, not absolute.
Directions below are for a right-handed backhand (RHBH) throw. For a right-handed forehand or left-handed backhand, flip left and right.
Speed
Speed tells you how fast the disc must be thrown to fly the way its numbers say. It mostly comes from the rim: wider, sharper rims mean higher speed ratings.
- 1 to 3: putters
- 4 to 6: midranges
- 6 to 9: fairway drivers
- 10 and up: distance drivers
Speed is not distance. A speed 13 driver in the hand of a player who cannot reach that arm speed will usually fly shorter than a speed 7 fairway driver.
Glide
Glide is how well the disc holds its lift. High-glide discs (5 to 7) carry farther with less effort, which helps newer players. Low-glide discs (1 to 3) drop out of the air sooner, which helps with control in wind and on approach shots where you want the disc to stop near the target.
Turn
Turn describes what the disc does during the fast, early part of the flight. With a RHBH throw, a negative turn means the disc drifts right.
- +1: resists turning, very stable at high speed
- 0: flies straight early
- -1 to -2: gentle drift right, good for long straight lines
- -3 to -5: turns hard, used for turnover shots and by players with lower arm speed
Fade
Fade is what happens as the disc slows down at the end. With a RHBH throw it hooks left.
- 0 to 1: finishes nearly straight
- 2 to 3: a moderate, dependable finish
- 4 to 5: a strong hook, useful in headwind, for forehands and for shots that must finish left
How arm speed changes the flight
The numbers assume you throw the disc at roughly its rated speed. Change that and the flight changes:
- Under-powered: the disc never reaches the speed where turn happens, so it skips straight to fade. It flies more overstable than its numbers suggest.
- Over-powered: the disc spends more time in the high-speed phase, so it turns more. It flies more understable.
This is why beginners often find that a “straight” distance driver hooks hard left for them, and why a slower disc with some negative turn feels straighter.
Wind and wear change flight too. A headwind makes a disc behave more understable, a tailwind more overstable, and a beat-in disc gradually turns more. The overstable vs understable guide goes into stability in depth.
How to read a flight chart
A flight chart draws the expected path from above: the throw starts at the bottom, turn shows as drift one way, fade as the hook at the end. Read it with two questions:
- How far does it drift during turn? That tells you how much line it needs.
- How hard does it finish? That tells you where it lands relative to the line.
Good charts let you change arm speed, because the same disc draws a very different line at low and high power.
Flight numbers in My Disc Golf
My Disc Golf, the disc golf app I built, includes a database of thousands of PDGA-approved discs with their speed, glide, turn and fade. Each disc has an interactive flight chart showing how it behaves at different arm speeds, so you can see why a disc that flies straight for a big-arm player fades early for you.
Once your discs are on the shelf, the Flight Matrix maps the whole bag by flight, which makes gaps obvious. Setting up a disc golf bag shows how to use that to choose what to carry.
