Bag and Disc Selection Help for a Beginner

[djjeremiahj]

Max Distance Drivers
Z Nuke (173) - Keep it... Nice to have when you need it.
Star Wraith (172) - Once you master it... It will be your best friend.
DX Wraith (167) Redundant and plastic issues.
Champion Beast (175) With the wraith and sidewinder this is redundant (and probably too heavy for you anyway)


All Purpose / Fairway Drivers:
Star Sidewinder (169) - This is your current fav.
Sirius Orion LS (172) slightly redundant with the Wraith & sidewinder.

Champion Firebird (172) - Great sidearm disc.
Z Reaper (170) i love this disc, but it's discontinued and it's a "mini" version of the firebird. * Experiment, keep only one of these two discs. (my nature is to igore any hard to find or discontinued... but the lighter weight might suit you better until you grow UP into the firebird.

Star Valkyrie (168) - keep. not the longest in the bag, but might be the most controllable in the long distances.
Champion Valkyrie (150) redundant and too light. (Take this disc to a field and work on your form with it...perfect disc to practice form and technique with!)
Champion Teebird (155) redundant. Light discs are great if you play high elevation courses.
DX Eagle (172) - Keep for wind, emergency forehand, and all purpose.
Star Teebird-L (170) - keep for precision, tunnels and slight turnovers.
Star Teebird-L (164) redundant
Z - XS (172) redundant
XXX (172) redundant
Pro-D Cyclone (168) redundant

Approach Discs:
DX Roc (172) - learn it!
DX Roc (178) redundant - i'm going to nix this as it's probably too heavy to be useful for you. keep it and one day it might be awesome!
Z Buzzz (174) - alternate to roc. useful
Z Buzzz (178) redundant - this is a straight line shooter, the extra weight will kill your distance.
DX Wolf (176) useful, but probably not necessary at this stage of your playing career. Also too heavy.
DX Shark (150) too light... if you can control your roc, there is little use for this disc.

Putters:
Star Dart (168) - probably your main putter and would make a good roc alternate (long putt/ short approach disc: 25-75' ????)
Rattler (176) - i'd recommend replacing this with something else...but in the mean time, practice driving with it.... (search strategies forum for tips).

this above criteria is based mainly on reducing and finding a very simple bag. once you master the above mentioned discs, you will be able to tell if some of the others are useful or not. I am also one to really try to streamline the weight issue as the yo-yo effect tends to be counter productive for most beginner players. Based on your size, i'm guessing that the 170g to 172g range is where your natural weight would be. Deviating from this affects the flight.
to get to 9, i'd probably drop the eagle and rattler. (theoretically, you could drop all of the buzzz's and really work on the Roc and Dart Shots instead.....???)

also note, as you've acquired these discs from friends, i'd be careful of them being really beaten in/up and realize that (in general) most people dont get rid of "good discs".....what i recommend is based on "average wear" not what a disc could become if it's very seasoned.

[rhinos00]

Originally Posted by djjeremiahj

Max Distance Drivers
Z Nuke (173) - Keep it... Nice to have when you need it.
Star Wraith (172) - Once you master it... It will be your best friend.
DX Wraith (167) Redundant and plastic issues.
Champion Beast (175) With the wraith and sidewinder this is redundant (and probably too heavy for you anyway)


All Purpose / Fairway Drivers:
Star Sidewinder (169) - This is your current fav.
Sirius Orion LS (172) slightly redundant with the Wraith & sidewinder.

Champion Firebird (172) - Great sidearm disc.
Z Reaper (170) i love this disc, but it's discontinued and it's a "mini" version of the firebird. * Experiment, keep only one of these two discs. (my nature is to igore any hard to find or discontinued... but the lighter weight might suit you better until you grow UP into the firebird.

Star Valkyrie (168) - keep. not the longest in the bag, but might be the most controllable in the long distances.
Champion Valkyrie (150) redundant and too light. (Take this disc to a field and work on your form with it...perfect disc to practice form and technique with!)
Champion Teebird (155) redundant. Light discs are great if you play high elevation courses.
DX Eagle (172) - Keep for wind, emergency forehand, and all purpose.
Star Teebird-L (170) - keep for precision, tunnels and slight turnovers.
Star Teebird-L (164) redundant
Z - XS (172) redundant
XXX (172) redundant
Pro-D Cyclone (168) redundant

Approach Discs:
DX Roc (172) - learn it!
DX Roc (178) redundant - i'm going to nix this as it's probably too heavy to be useful for you. keep it and one day it might be awesome!
Z Buzzz (174) - alternate to roc. useful
Z Buzzz (178) redundant - this is a straight line shooter, the extra weight will kill your distance.
DX Wolf (176) useful, but probably not necessary at this stage of your playing career. Also too heavy.
DX Shark (150) too light... if you can control your roc, there is little use for this disc.

Putters:
Star Dart (168) - probably your main putter and would make a good roc alternate (long putt/ short approach disc: 25-75' ????)
Rattler (176) - i'd recommend replacing this with something else...but in the mean time, practice driving with it.... (search strategies forum for tips).

this above criteria is based mainly on reducing and finding a very simple bag. once you master the above mentioned discs, you will be able to tell if some of the others are useful or not. I am also one to really try to streamline the weight issue as the yo-yo effect tends to be counter productive for most beginner players. Based on your size, i'm guessing that the 170g to 172g range is where your natural weight would be. Deviating from this affects the flight.
to get to 9, i'd probably drop the eagle and rattler. (theoretically, you could drop all of the buzzz's and really work on the Roc and Dart Shots instead.....???)

also note, as you've acquired these discs from friends, i'd be careful of them being really beaten in/up and realize that (in general) most people dont get rid of "good discs".....what i recommend is based on "average wear" not what a disc could become if it's very seasoned.

Thanks so much for the in-depth response! This definitely helps a ton.

[BrotherDave]

Originally Posted by rhinos00

I'm about 6 ft. and 195 lbs. Beginner that can backhand a Star Sidewinder about 350 if thrown correctly. My technique is crap so that's few and far in between. Regular distance would be 250-280 feet. I'm often in sticky situations and found that I can throw a thumber pretty well (270-350 with a roll). And that's pretty much it...

Drivers:

Z Nuke (173) Way too much/fast
Champion Beast (175)
Star Wraith (172)
DX Wraith (167) speed 9 discs and up taco too easily in DX

pick one for overstable/headwind driver slot
Champion Firebird (172)
XXX (172)
Z Reaper (170) may or not be OOP

Pick one for stable driver
Sirius Orion LS (172)
Z - XS (172)
Champion Teebird (155)
DX Eagle (172)
Pro-D Cyclone (168)

Definite keepers
Star Teebird-L (170)
Star Teebird-L (164)

Pick one that your most consistent with for Max D slot
Star Sidewinder (169)
Star Valkyrie (168)
Champion Valkyrie (150)

Intermediary:

Pick one mold, either Rocs or Buzzzes b/c they'll overlap a little too much.
DX Roc (172)
DX Roc (178)
Z Buzzz (174)
Z Buzzz (178)

DX Wolf (176) Can be useful in certain touchy, finesse areas but your putters should make this obsolete.
DX Shark (150) Maybe keep temporarily for understable shots since it's light.

Putters:

Star Dart (168) If you like it, maybe add a heavier one if you think wind is hurting you.
Rattler (176) Discraft Pro Mark Ellis' favorite disc

My bag can hold about 8 discs, 9 if I stretch it. Sorry for the lengthy list, but any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Okay, you're in luck b/c there's plenty here to work with. You sound a LOT like me a year ago so I heavily suggest you give this thread a read b/c discing down combined with the Dan Beto and Bradley Walker videos have greatly reduced my consistency issues. The bag I suggest for you would be:
XXX or Firechicken
Eagle-X or Cyclone (slower, line shaping specialists).
TLs (should be your main drivers, the lighter one might wear into a good understable driver).
SW or Valks (Valks are a little more nose angle sensitive than SW's are, could explain your throws that are too high.)
Buzzzes or Rocs
Comet, Fuse, or Qms (for understable shots and line shaping, great for working on form)
Dart(s) or Ions, Wizards, Magics, Voodoos, Aviars, Magnets, etc.
Rattler (for finesse approach shots, takes really clean form to throw one of these around, might want to drop.)

Hope that helps.