THE DISC GOLF COLLECTION (below) that Austin Wiese (above) has accumulated reached almost 100 at one point. – Submitted photos

Ahh, the power of social media.

Austin Wiese had so many golf discs he’s found over the years, he decided to let the world know – okay, just Facebook – that he was giving them away.

“I was busy that day and wondered what is happening to my phone,” the 2014 Plymouth graduate said. “I’m not this popular and then realized (the phone notifications) were from the (online) post.”

One of the messages came from a Sheboygan family.

“They reached out,” Wiese said, “and said, ‘hey we play occasionally, kids are good at losing discs, love to have a couple extra because we’re running a little low.’

“I said, ‘of course, I can make that happen.’”

Another Sheboyganite who contacted Wiese turned out to be his house inspector. The two hadn’t talked since the purchase about a year ago.

“It’s a funny way to stay in touch with somebody,” he said.

Wiese, who lives in Plymouth, started disc golfing his freshman year at UW-Platteville.

Since then, any discs Wiese found he would try to return if there was a name or phone number on it.

If no one responded, or a disc did not have any contact info, Wiese kept them in boxes around the house because he wasn’t going to use them since he has about 250 of his own.

But while rearranging his new home with his wife recently, Wiese’s personal lost-and-found disc count became to high – with more than half of them coming from Plymouth’s Meyer Park – and enough was enough.

“I had always ‘pretended’ that I’d give them away or just get rid of them, but I realized I was accumulating a lot more of these; I was finding a lot more than I was giving away,” Wiese said. “I’d find one or two people a month to give them to, and I’d find like five or six discs a month.

“So all of a sudden four years later, you’ve got 100 discs sitting around.”

So in mid-July, Wiese posted the following on Facebook:

“I’ve accumulated dozens of discs I’ve found over the last few years with no name or phone number on them. I will not throw them. I’d love someone who is interested in trying disc golf or is just getting started would take a few off my hands and put them to good use.”

The post was shared by a few friends right away and Wiese was getting responses from a couple dozen people the first day.

In fact, he eventually changed the settings of the post so people could no longer share it because the response was too much.

One man who does missionary work in Milwaukee was visiting his family in the area and stopped by for some.

Another from Manitowoc told Wiese that if he runs out of discs, he’s found some over the years he would give him to give away.

“It was a weird, weird experience,” Wiese said. “I expected to get maybe six messages and then that would be it.”