[Innova] A beginners first distance driver

[tu-f-o]

sidewinder if you have good form, teebird if you don't or think you're a strong thrower

 

[Questatement]

Really liking my Gazelle (speed 6), TeeBird (7) and FD (7) now. Every now and the Escape or roadrunner come out, but those slower fairways can go really, really far.

Anytime I'm having a bad driving day, my DX Gazelle always bails me out... always.

I'm hoping the 11x pro you sold me flies close enough that I can stop cycling the DX version for a few years. I'll be throwing it for the first time tonight after work.

 

[esc1]

Couple DX Teebirds.. Cheap and when you lose or beat one up you have a backup.

 

[Monkeypaws]

Valkyrie is a pretty good choice.

 

[Sooner34]

I always suggest DX or Pro Leos and DX TeeBirds for newer players. I try to make everyone get an Aviar, Roc, Leo, and TB to start out with. No need for anything too fast for several years imo. Get that form down, then when you're throwing your TBs 400' with seemingly little effort, you'll get more out of something like a Wraith or Orc. Escapes are really really good drivers though. Can do a lot of lines.

 

[Alexplz]

I recommend a nice champ or star roadrunner as a first distance driver. You can put some juice on it and get it to turn a bit but with the premium plastic it shouldn't be flipping and rolling at this point in the game.

I am not a big fan of the ultralight plastics. I gave blizzard a try for a while but I found that the molds are just too inconsistent to reliably predict the flightpath of a given disc. Plus a nice pro vulcan 167g flies farther for me than the ultralight stuff anyway.

I recommend high 160s or low 170s on an understable speed 9 disc. It will turn into an invaluable control driver in the woods.

 

[metallicafreak121]

Anytime I'm having a bad driving day, my DX Gazelle always bails me out... always.

:hfive:

 

[DieselX]

I found a really light Blizzard Katana that I can throw further than anything else I have, I know it's too fast for me but on a wide open hole I throw that thing about 10' high and I can get it from 300-330, which I know is still weak but it's further than anything else.

Point is buy used or better yet try someone elses to see what works. Plenty of other discs I can't get up to speed, like a 175 Archangel for some reason.

 

[Questatement]

I found a really light Blizzard Katana that I can throw further than anything else I have, I know it's too fast for me but on a wide open hole I throw that thing about 10' high and I can get it from 300-330, which I know is still weak but it's further than anything else.

Light weight distance drivers are great in many ways but also have their drawbacks. Don't let David Wiggins' Blizzard Boss distance record make you believe that light drivers can be thrown anywhere near the distance if thier max weight counterparts in the real world. Wiggins used the hang-glider's ideal enviroment (hot rising air) in which lighter is always better. I've thrown Wraiths between 144g and 175g and, assuming you get the disc up to speed, heavier goes further. Lighter is easier to get up to speed assuming you are throwing a speed which would be too fast for you in max weight. Hence, if you get the lighter disc up to speed and it will fly both further and as designed. Since I carry up to 3 Wraiths at a time, going up to this speed in a lighter weight saves weight in the bag over carrying 3 max weights a speed down and, between that and less effort driving with them, saves a bit of wear and tear on the body over the course of a long day. I recently outgrew my Blizzard Wraiths other than one at 163g and added a couple of regular champs also at 163g. My goal is to power up a max weight Wraith by the end of the year or early next. I don't know what distance that will be (450'?) but I know it will be further than what I'm throwing the 163's.

Lighter is also a better learning disc in that, just like slower speeds, it responds better to form flaws which helps you improve but at the same time throws your score off on bad form days compared to a slower speed, heavier disc that would go the same distance and be a bit more resistant to form flaws.

 

[KniceZ]

You're getting a lot of good ideas but as you can see there's no single answer. My main comment - don't go past speed 9 to 10 and go with a better plastic. DX or other base materials are fine if you have open courses. But drive them into a few trees and they will VERY quickly become more understable. And those 150g DX starter discs will soon become flip machines if you play on anything other than open courses.

My suggestion - Star versions of same discs in the high 160s. You can't go wrong adding a teebird.

 

[BirdieMachine]

Beginners shouldn't have a distance driver. I suggest a Teebird and Leopard fairway driver, DX would be OK. Maybe go Star if you play a lot and want a longer lasting disc.

If you're throwing with good accuracy and distance then step into something faster (Teebird/Leo at least 325). Faster discs curve more and are harder to control so unless you have the skill to use them don't get sucked in to the distance disc myth. Far too many new players are chucking Nukes 200 feet and doing themselves no good.

 

[runningDoc]

just get a champ 160g Leopard or Valkyrie. from there you don't have to be afraid to hit trees and rocks and it'll actually be a good thing because you will start to beat it in to the point where you'll have a beautifully beat in champ Leopard/Valkyrie that goes dead straight or a turnover shot maker. I'll be your excalibur.

these discs can last you years (and take a while to break in). its a great investment.

after that, buy a 165-170g champ teebird (because its actually so much more overstable compared to a leopard/valkyrie) and learn the feel of what an overstable disc is like (which combined with your knowledge of the leopard/valkyrie under stable throws) will have you prepared for all conditions (because overstable tee birds are great headwind discs). eventually that'll beat in and you'll have two wonderful discs a leo/valk thats under stable and a tee bird thats stable as a nice core have your fairway game based around.

a dx teebird is something you can invest in too. but they can be like DX rocs where you end up having to cycle more than one after they get beat up. might as well invest in a champ tee bird that'll last you 5-10 years and will be perfect for most of that time.

 

[Grungedude42]

Start with a Leopard, get an Eagle after you get the Leopard to finish to the right of the the line it started on.

 

[Fenrir]

I've been playing for 6 years and wish somebody had told me "faster does mean longer" a lot sooner.
With that I'd say 165-170g champ or star Leopard then when that starts to beat in and not fade out get a teebird or eagle x in the same weight range.
Btw at 6 years playing roc Leo eagle are still my go to discs

 

[wims]

Thanks for all the excellent advice so far, there's a lot of wisdom in them and I'm glad that I can learn from your experience. Even tho the advice that were given was sound, today I went out and bought myself a Champion Valkyrie, I believe it was 171g. Boy, you guys were correct in saying that it takes a lot more to successfully throw distance drivers! I wasn't able to propel my Valkyrie up to turn speed, on most of my throws it went straight for a bit before it started to fade hard, and I mean HARD. So much so that it spiked the ground most of the time. It's clear that I got a lot to learn, but at least I have a disc I can grow into, and there's some utility to having a hard fading disc as well I guess. The champion Valk definitely requires a lot more energy to fly like how it's supposed to compared to my super beat up 150g dx Leopard.

 

[BradC]

Thanks for all the excellent advice so far, there's a lot of wisdom in them and I'm glad that I can learn from your experience. Even tho the advice that were given was sound, today I went out and bought myself a Champion Valkyrie, I believe it was 171g. Boy, you guys were correct in saying that it takes a lot more to successfully throw distance drivers! I wasn't able to propel my Valkyrie up to turn speed, on most of my throws it went straight for a bit before it started to fade hard, and I mean HARD. So much so that it spiked the ground most of the time. It's clear that I got a lot to learn, but at least I have a disc I can grow into, and there's some utility to having a hard fading disc as well I guess. The champion Valk definitely requires a lot more energy to fly like how it's supposed to compared to my super beat up 150g dx Leopard.

I find champion valks can be fairly beefy new. I've had valks that were flippy out of the box and some really beefy ones. Keep throwing it, the freshness will wear off and it'll get some turn for you.

 

[DieselX]

Get a light DX Valk, Champs are overstable compared to dx. I have a 175g DX Valk that's really beat but works for my noodle arm.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

I think you should stay away from anything over speed 7 for now. Get a champ/star TeeBird or Leopard. Maybe a River from Lat 64. Learn to throw it on a smooth hyzer, hyzer flips & turnovers. When you have those shots down then move on to a Distance driver. I wish someone would have told me this when I started. I thought bigger faster meant farther. It doesn't when you're still learning. Even after my 5 years of playing I rarely use a Distance Driver. The Saint is the fastest disc in my bag. I use TeeBirds and Leopards for almost all my wooded drives. Much more controllable.

 

[Questatement]

Boy, you guys were correct in saying that it takes a lot more to successfully throw distance drivers! I wasn't able to propel my Valkyrie up to turn speed, on most of my throws it went straight for a bit before it started to fade hard, and I mean HARD.

You can use this rough guide to see when you are ready/able to use a given disc as it was designed to be used.

http://www.gottagogottathrow.com/discgolf/pdf/JoesFlightChart1.pdf

You will see that the Valkyrie was designed to travel in the 325'-375' range when powered properly. My advice is that if you can't hit the lower end of a disc's given range, don't use it until you can grow into it by achieving that range. It will only slow down your progess by hiding form flaws and more so as you go faster and faster (and/or more stable) without hitting the minimum distance in the range.

I would stay away from anything really overstable until you can get your max D disc (whatever it is at that time) out to at least 300'. This would include anything with a positive number of 5 or more when high speed stability is added to low speed stabilty.

And good luck resisting the tempation.

 

[Questatement]

You will see that the Valkyrie was designed to travel in the 325'-375' range when powered properly.

Sorry, I read that wrong, the Valk is in the 4 power rating (far right column) on that chart.... 275'-325'.