Putters - how far before mids?

[tmaniac]

Say I wanted to use only putters until I hit a certain distance. What would be a good distance threshold for putter drives? 250ft? I'm throwing max weight Pro D Challengers.

I want to try this to build consistency in my throw and familiarity with my putters. I realize it might be overkill to drop mids, but I am having fun.

 

[NOStheBOSS]

I would say 225-250, yeah. Practice throwing them forehand as well. Maybe not 250, but for upshots, short drives, get out of trouble. it will be invaluable as you improve

 

[MarkDSM]

Too long. 175 -AND- you get confident of where it will land within a dozen or so feet.
Pushing putters for max D early in your is really not priority if you are going to. Long distance is something to come back to when you get a mid game going IMHO.

 

[roggenb3]

I like the 225 number. If you're throwing a neutral putter straight, accurately out to 225, you're definitely ready for a step up.

 

[tmaniac]

Thanks guys... I can get them out to about 210-215' right now, but am very accurate around 200'. 100' is another story

I'll probably work to 225'.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

If you're already accurate with putters at 200' I think you're ok.

 

[armiller]

It's gotta depend which putter. I'm noticing my Envy acts more like a mid, so I could throw it on longer holes with a "mid-like" line. I suppose I could throw a Pure on similar distances, but it tends to need more air under it. My Zone, well, it's in a league of its own...

Lately I prefer throwing my Buzzz with less than full power, both forehand and backhand. I have more fun playing that kind of "touch game," although it may not say good things about my form.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

The cutoff point for me is about 200ft, but it depends on the shot. Pretty much anything in the 180-210 range, I'm deciding whether to throw my Challenger hard or if I should power down on my Ibex. Typically comes down to how forgiving is the shot of my putter turning over or my mid fading a bit too hard.

 

[grotto]

Say I wanted to use only putters until I hit a certain distance. What would be a good distance threshold for putter drives? 250ft? I'm throwing max weight Pro D Challengers.

I want to try this to build consistency in my throw and familiarity with my putters. I realize it might be overkill to drop mids, but I am having fun.

And having fun is a great way to practice too! If you're throwing your putters (with accuracy) to 220+, then mids are worth revisiting.

I can throw a putter out to 250-280, (fun to bomb on a football field) but my accuracy falls off after about 225ft. After that when accuracy counts I step up to a Roc.

 

[DiscGolfMaster]

There's a certain amount of power I can apply to the disc, maybe 80%, where I can be consistently accurate. So if I walk up to a straight, flat, 275ft shot, even though I could power a putter out to that distance, I'd rather just disc up to a mid and throw closer to my target power of 80%.

A 250ft putter shot is definitely a solid drive. But instead of bombing a putter 250ft, It's usually more accurate to just throw a mid a bit softer.

 

[slowplastic]

IMO it's overkill to drop mids. It's also overkill to not throw putters. You're throwing putters over 200', so throw some mids and get an easy 20-30' extra out of them with the same effort.

Also don't think you can't throw fairways either. Throw something mellow like Pro Leopard, DX Teebird, etc. Putters will teach you plane preservation. Mids will do similar things but get you a bit more consistency. Fairways will teach you nose angle and force you to have a bit more speed in a controlled manner. There's good things to learn from all of these discs, they can highlight different problems.

 

[INTP]

I putt my putter, but have a separate. 'driving/approach' putter. I am also in the touch-shot camp. Would rather control a mid than crank a putter.

It's like, there's an overlap in a distance to opt for a bike ride v using the car. I can and have biked to 15 mile destinations, but I'll opt to drive a car to just about anything over 3 miles away.

 

[tmaniac]

Good info. I'm going to try and get to 225' with decent accuracy and then re-add mids.

PS. INTP, I am also INTP.

 

[Noill]

I've never taking the Meyers Briggs... but I do think I may be an INTP or maybe not... anywhey...

I have a hard time with midranges historically... that is, I will tend to go from putter to fairway driver and cut out the midranges... that isn't always the case but is more than not for me...

225' is a good distance for a putter... but if you are hitting ~200', you may want to add in your step up disc from there... whether it is a mid or a fairway.

 

[DanJon]

If it's 250' and under, I'm probably throwing a putter.

However depending on the shot I will throw a Firebird or Roc from 200-250'.

 

[tmaniac]

Its cool how everyone is being helpful, but about half haven't actually read my post. I guess my title kind of sucked.

 

[tmaniac]

I've never taking the Meyers Briggs... but I do think I may be an INTP or maybe not... anywhey...

I have a hard time with midranges historically... that is, I will tend to go from putter to fairway driver and cut out the midranges... that isn't always the case but is more than not for me...

225' is a good distance for a putter... but if you are hitting ~200', you may want to add in your step up disc from there... whether it is a mid or a fairway.

Yeah I was a big Comet guy, but I have been trending towards Challenger and Leopard as my 2 disc setup.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Shivjon]

Like others have said, OP, accuracy is a lot more important than raw distance. I can usually get my Judge out around 275 feet in a field with enough room to drift and fade back to center, but that doesn't help much in the woods where the lines are tight. Focus on specific lines (hyzer, hyzer flip, anhyzer, flex shots) and worry about distance after you feel confident* that you can park a putter under the basket anywhere within about 200 feet. Then, add the distance to your lines in ten- or twenty-foot increments until you feel like you've maxed out with putters, and move on to mids after that. This is pretty much the same advice that helped me rapidly improve last year.

*Disclaimer: feeling confident in your abilities and executing do not always correlate.

 

[armiller]

Its cool how everyone is being helpful, but about half haven't actually read my post. I guess my title kind of sucked.

Haha sorry. Such is DGCR.

I think your original question stemmed from wanting to improve your game, and that's the question most of us didn't answer. If you're just trying to improve your putter drives and approaches, then definitely throw those Challengers up to 250 if you can. It will improve your consistency with those putter shots.

But particularly when you're in more competitive rounds, I think you'll benefit from recognizing the point of diminishing returns. I.e. Yes maybe you can throw a 180-200' challenger shot, but your Leopard or a mid will likely get you a lower score until you've mastered the putter.

 

[Stardoggy]

Say I wanted to use only putters until I hit a certain distance. What would be a good distance threshold for putter drives? 250ft? I'm throwing max weight Pro D Challengers.

I want to try this to build consistency in my throw and familiarity with my putters. I realize it might be overkill to drop mids, but I am having fun.

235' is about my threshold for putters. 236-275 or so is my mid area. Over that, I'm throwing a fairway. For reference, my max golf distances usually fall in the 370-380 range, with occasional 400' power.

To be fair, even at 235, I may sometimes throw a mid. That 225' number seems like a pretty solid spot, with my power level.