[Recommend] Approach discs?

[hawgdriver]

Just wondering what everyone's favorites are and why?

So Harp, Tactic, Suspect, etc, what is your go to Approach that meets the requirements I'm looking for? Thanks

I have spent the most time throwing Pigs prior to my Envy marriage, now I'm monogamous. In my wild youth I also had extended dalliances with Zone, Banger GT, A3, Harp, Tactic, Suspect, Caiman, Dart, and Berg.

I'll share my thoughts on each for posterity--Superwook you seem like you are narrowing in on exactly what you need and I'll circle back to that.

Envy - maybe the best balance of stability, can really visualize and rely on the mind-map of the disc's flight--lack of overstability forces improvements in touch that will show up later--similar to the Barsby comment earlier. I find the Envy challenging to master on FH, I usually just throw my Hex (or Firebird or Pyro if I need big OS).

Pig - along with Zone and Caiman, the best at hyzer and steeper lines. Flat approaches it can be a cheat code for distance. Anny lines it has that inexorable stability so you can really shape some neat lines. I see Pig and Zone as relatively interchangeable in terms of flight, but the feel is different. I would have thrown a Zone if I started there, but I happened upon Caiman first (Zone equivalent). Zone feels the best of these three, but Pig you get used to I guess and the weirdness has its own comfort. FH Beast-mode disc.

Suspect, A3, Tactic, Harp - step down in sheer OS, my favorite among these was my 750 A3. All of these are fantastic on FH and BH, which is a huge plus. A3 was best utility disc in terms of escape shots, and that 750 plastic is great. Tactic has such a beautiful rate of fade, it's pretty close to an Envy in terms of how your mind can visualize how it will fly (but more stable ofc). I like the feel of the Suspect in the hand maybe the most, I love the shallow.

Disc I wish I'd hooked up with prior to marriage: Hawg. Just, well, you know. Hawg_driver. :\

So after playing with these two Tactics over the last month or more, I've come to realize a few things.

I'd LOVE to get this Tactic in a premium C like plastic (Champ, C-line, Neo, Lux, whatever), as it would have a super clean release.

I have a Lux Tactic from the December mystery box in great shape, 9/10 or 9.5/10, maybe we can work out a swap or something, pm me if interested.

 

[Jolt]

I have a hard time to get rid of the "slow ones" in my bag..the Loft Hydrogen and K2 Berg

but at +150ft i use CryZtal Fierce. K2 soft Reko or CryZtal Luna on BH.... FH CryZtal Zone

 

[aphilso1]

I have spent the most time throwing Pigs prior to my Envy marriage, now I'm monogamous. In my wild youth I also had extended dalliances with Zone, Banger GT, A3, Harp, Tactic, Suspect, Caiman, Dart, and Berg.

I find it interesting that you're an exclusive Envy man. It's a great disc that I use a ton, but I do find it a tad fast for <200' and not overstable enough for a lot of my forehand lines. Zone/Envy/Berg all coexist in my bag, whereas it sounds like your Envy kicked out the Zone and Berg. In my bag:

-Berg is for short BH approaches exclusively (since I eventually gave up trying to get a consistent FH release out of it)
-Zone is for true OS approach duties, probably 80% FH
-Envy for BH approaches/drives >200', or for short FH approaches that need to stay straighter than a Zone
-Judges for putting and floaty anny approaches

Berg is the one disc out of that lineup that I periodically tinker with removing. It's a one trick pony for me, so I feel like I should be able to cover Berg shots with a different disc. But it is just so slow and accurate, that it really does do the job better than anything when I have an awkwardly short approach. I never sail it 30' long.

 

[Rastnav]

I find it interesting that you're an exclusive Envy man. It's a great disc that I use a ton, but I do find it a tad fast for <200' and not overstable enough for a lot of my forehand lines. Zone/Envy/Berg all coexist in my bag, whereas it sounds like your Envy kicked out the Zone and Berg. In my bag:

-Berg is for short BH approaches exclusively (since I eventually gave up trying to get a consistent FH release out of it)
-Zone is for true OS approach duties, probably 80% FH
-Envy for BH approaches/drives >200', or for short FH approaches that need to stay straighter than a Zone
-Judges for putting and floaty anny approaches

Berg is the one disc out of that lineup that I periodically tinker with removing. It's a one trick pony for me, so I feel like I should be able to cover Berg shots with a different disc. But it is just so slow and accurate, that it really does do the job better than anything when I have an awkwardly short approach. I never sail it 30' long.

Zones feel so nice for FHs. And so not nice for BHs. Maybe that says something about my FH, or my BH, idk.

I'm curious about the Berg being potentially out of your bag. Is this a minimization thing? A bag space/weight thing? The fact that the shot you throw with the Berg is so specific that you find yourself not actually using the disc on some rounds? Like I said, just curious.

 

[aphilso1]

Zones feel so nice for FHs. And so not nice for BHs. Maybe that says something about my FH, or my BH, idk.

I'm curious about the Berg being potentially out of your bag. Is this a minimization thing? A bag space/weight thing? The fact that the shot you throw with the Berg is so specific that you find yourself not actually using the disc on some rounds? Like I said, just curious.

Yes to the first and third questions. Generally speaking, I like carrying fewer molds when possible. When I carry too many molds it makes me neurotic and grates on me. It's like an annoying papercut on my brain. And yes, there are some rounds, particularly when I am playing well, that I just don't have any shots between 80'-200' and thus I don't throw the Berg even once. Then again, on bad rounds I throw it probably 4-5 times and it likely saves me a stroke.

The Berg is the ultimate "one shot" disc. I truly can't grip it correctly forehand, so it is backhand only for me. And with how slow and low glide it is, 200' is as far as I comfortably throw it. It really is just a straight-to-small-fade backhand disc for 80'-200'. And yet it does that shot sooooo much more reliably than any other disc in my bag, so no matter how many times I try to put it on the shelf it seems to always find its way back into the bag.

 

[Jolt]

More that half my bag are "opps or just in case discs" that i hope never to use.....but when i need them they are nice to have

 

[Tinkles]

Love the Berg and Zones for approach duties.

• Berg - straight, easy to range BH and FH. I briefly took this out but there is just no replacing it.
• Z Zone - nice overstable for hyzers, flat shots, touchy FH flex
• Z FLX Zone - lovely disc, much less overstable than a Z Zone. Easy to throw BH and FH and really goes straight and lands much softer than Z. This is very similar to the Eclipse Envy I was trying, only I like that this is slightly faster with slightly less glide, and just feels better in the hand.

I also putt and approach with Rekos but there are a lot of alternatives to those. Straight, shallow, putter with decent torque resistance. Kasta plastic is quite nice.

 

[hawgdriver]

I find it interesting that you're an exclusive Envy man. It's a great disc that I use a ton, but I do find it a tad fast for <200' and not overstable enough for a lot of my forehand lines. Zone/Envy/Berg all coexist in my bag, whereas it sounds like your Envy kicked out the Zone and Berg.

It was an experiment in minimalization. I've put the Zone back in the bag, and Stego has picked up a lot of shots where OB or going long is punished.

Having said that, I keep throwing Envy-only rounds at the local 9-hole. All the holes are 200-100'. I figure you should be able to throw just about any disc in your bag that distance and get it pretty close. I want to be exceptional with one disc, and that disc is the Envy. I need to master it and throw it more and more.

But...

In my bag:

-Berg is for short BH approaches exclusively (since I eventually gave up trying to get a consistent FH release out of it)
-Zone is for true OS approach duties, probably 80% FH
-Envy for BH approaches/drives >200', or for short FH approaches that need to stay straighter than a Zone
-Judges for putting and floaty anny approaches

Berg is the one disc out of that lineup that I periodically tinker with removing. It's a one trick pony for me, so I feel like I should be able to cover Berg shots with a different disc. But it is just so slow and accurate, that it really does do the job better than anything when I have an awkwardly short approach. I never sail it 30' long.

This is pretty close to where I am, conceptually. On scoring rounds, wind, upsloping or downsloping or sideways terrain, ground play, gaps, distance, FH, and a million other variables can indicate disc choice.

Full send or close to that helps with distance control. Berg was that disc for me for a good spell, now it's a Stego. Envy on FH isn't my first choice, it's too straight for my plane-of-release inaccuracy. Great performer when I hit my angle, but the feel isn't as good as more confident FH discs.

I have found that FH shapes are enough of a unique animal to justify adding an A2 in addition to Zone and Stego. It's a matter of minimizing shanks. A2 can get close to Zone distance, but is notably more OS, so on flex and hyzer lines, it's comforting. I've never thrown a Mortar, but it legit feels like artillery lobbing a mortar round when throwing an A2. Stego is a brick, Zone is a flying disc. A2 is in between.

My point was to revisit the Envy man concept. Whatever that approach/putter disc is for you. I want one disc I can reliably park when the basket is within upshot range. So I want to do that with an Envy, and just compensate for the intrinsic distance of the disc using hyzer if possible, or energy control and anny if not.

But full-send muscle memory is a thing, so Stego and A2 get used fairly often. It doesn't take a ton of fieldwork to know that a full send will go the proper distance, no less and no further, and those discs offer that.

Zone is just, you know...as an example, hole 1 at the local. It's a 300' downhill (about 250-260' flat), blind behind a hill, downsloping, hard left to right, ravine if you go long. Envy on hyzer absolutely risks going into the ravine. I've parked it with the Envy, but the Envy is kind of like a Berg...it goes straighter than you think, even when you demand a curling hyzer. Zone curls and hunts the pole. Plus the ground impact angle minimizes risk of no putt.

The only odd duck I've been dabbling with lately are Elevation's floppy discs that just splat. Corner case disc for shortish approaches where roll-aways are too severely punished. Don't have any holes I'm planning to play with that aspect right now, but I've been trying to develop the skill.