giving up on drives

[tomn8r]

"RustyP has good advice"! See your local course pro if you have to, he will be happy to help you! "Your never too old to learn"..."ive been playing this game for over 10 years now & still learning"!! I'm going to try one of those power grips myself. One mistake newbee's make is getting heavy disc's. I thow 150 class whenever possible & there are plenty of disc's available, both understable & overstable!! The only disc's i don't throw in 150 are putters. "I know i'd like to reach the basket in a single throw"...better chance for an ace too!

 

[DannyM]

One other thing that has helped me in the same situation, not having a long drive, a few years back I read an article in Disc golf news, they talked with a tour pro about how he handled pressure, etc... One thing he said and it stuck with me....Don't play against your opponent, play the course. If you play the course the best of your ability, and get beat, then you just got beat by a better player, but did your best. But if you try and play your opponent, match drive for drive, shot for shot , etc..., you are more likely to make mistakes because you are trying too hard to play THEIR game not yours.

 

[ERicJ]

One other thing that has helped me in the same situation, not having a long drive, a few years back I read an article in Disc golf news, they talked with a tour pro about how he handled pressure, etc... One thing he said and it stuck with me....Don't play against your opponent, play the course. If you play the course the best of your ability, and get beat, then you just got beat by a better player, but did your best. But if you try and play your opponent, match drive for drive, shot for shot , etc..., you are more likely to make mistakes because you are trying too hard to play THEIR game not yours.

For casual play that's fine, but when you're in a tournament there are definitely times when you want to play against your opponent. In a tournament you're not (necessarily) trying to do your best... you're trying to win the event.

I was playing a tournament just last week where I had a two stroke lead going into the final hole. My tee shot landed 40' from the basket, and the guy behind me lands 20'. I'm "out" so I'm throwing next. I'm looking at a slight downhill putt with mild wind. Knowing that my opponent is throwing after me and has a legit shot at a birdie putt... I have two options here: (A) make a run at the basket for the birdie attempt, with the possibility of the wind kicking up and sailing my disc away, or hitting metal and getting a bad roll, either event although unlikely could leave me with a long comeback putt that I might miss as well resulting in a '4'. If my opponent hits his birdie putt we'd be tied. Or option (B) toss a nice, safe, low layup under the basket for a drop-in '3'.

Since I normally want to log the best round I can it hurt me to do it but I went with option (B) and... easily won the tourney.

ERic

 

[Lewis]

Donovan has the right of it. Or as I'm fond of describing the same idea, a 20 foot putt is preferable to a 100-foot approach. If you drive it 330' on a 330' hole, you're going to be putting (unless your aim sux), but if you can't get it past 230', you're definitely NOT going to be putting. I'll take the putt any time. Here's how I see it: distance creates opportunities, and accuracy cashes them in. You can't discount the value of one or the other.

To those who haven't yet found their "snap," don't worry. It's not as much about strength as it is about coordination and grip. I have to agree with others that switching to the power grip from the fan grip adds huge buckets of distance. In my case, it has added maybe 50 feet to my full-strength drives. For those of you who have always had the "big arms," let me tell you, there's a huge difference between 270-300 and 320-360. My concern now is remembering how to throw it with the fan grip when I need that reliable approach shot.

 

[treethacker]

Wow! Thanks for all of the advice and encouragement guys!
I have to admit I wrote that thread after coming back from a game and I was really discouraged about my drives(did that show just a little?)but I never expected this much response! It is much appreciated though.
I was ask what drivers I use and before I name them I must tell you that no one told me to use these ones they are really just ones I took a chance on for better or for worse.
Drivers -
Innova Champion Beast (175)
Innova Star Firebird (172)
Innova Star teebird (150) my favorite (some distance with it)
Quest A technologies T bone (165) Given to me by a friend
Discraft flick elite z (probably not for beginners!)
just a side note -has anyone heard of the Innova Hydra(175)? I use one for my putting and it works very very well for accuracy,imo.
Thanks for any input on my drive disc and recommendations are welcome on any other drivers.
Thanks again!

 

[magictenor1]

For casual play that's fine, but when you're in a tournament there are definitely times when you want to play against your opponent. In a tournament you're not (necessarily) trying to do your best... you're trying to win the event.

I was playing a tournament just last week where I had a two stroke lead going into the final hole. My tee shot landed 40' from the basket, and the guy behind me lands 20'. I'm "out" so I'm throwing next. I'm looking at a slight downhill putt with mild wind. Knowing that my opponent is throwing after me and has a legit shot at a birdie putt... I have two options here: (A) make a run at the basket for the birdie attempt, with the possibility of the wind kicking up and sailing my disc away, or hitting metal and getting a bad roll, either event although unlikely could leave me with a long comeback putt that I might miss as well resulting in a '4'. If my opponent hits his birdie putt we'd be tied. Or option (B) toss a nice, safe, low layup under the basket for a drop-in '3'.

Since I normally want to log the best round I can it hurt me to do it but I went with option (B) and... easily won the tourney.

ERic

that's what golf is all about, risk/reward. You always have those decisions when you play. In order to get a 2 sometimes you risk a 4 or you can play it safe for a sure 3. If you are in a tourney or just playing against someone you make your decision accordingly as you described. I think in a casual round sometimes it comes down to personality and style of play. Are you agressive with your shots or are you more conservative? You see these ideas in play all the time on the PGA tour. Ball golf and DG share the same types of strategy and on many shots you have those risk/reward decisions to make. the best layouts force you to make a lot of them. in the situation you described laying up under the basket was absolutely the right strategy and I would not have hesitated to do likewise.

 

[garublador]

Wow! Thanks for all of the advice and encouragement guys!
I have to admit I wrote that thread after coming back from a game and I was really discouraged about my drives(did that show just a little?)but I never expected this much response! It is much appreciated though.
I was ask what drivers I use and before I name them I must tell you that no one told me to use these ones they are really just ones I took a chance on for better or for worse.
Drivers -
Innova Champion Beast (175)
Innova Star Firebird (172)
Innova Star teebird (150) my favorite (some distance with it)
Quest A technologies T bone (165) Given to me by a friend
Discraft flick elite z (probably not for beginners!)
just a side note -has anyone heard of the Innova Hydra(175)? I use one for my putting and it works very very well for accuracy,imo.
Thanks for any input on my drive disc and recommendations are welcome on any other drivers.
Thanks again!

I'm not sure what you have for putters or mids, but those are very important in learning to throw farther.

Pick up a stable putter (Wizard, Aviar Driver, Challenger, Banger), a stable mid (Roc, Buzzz, Wasp) and a slower fairway driver (Ace, Polaris LS or Cheetah are my favorites for learning) all in the lowest end plastic (Polaris only comes in Pro) and focus on throwing those discs smooth and far. The Firebird is OK to keep around for hyzer shots and the Teebird won't be bad for your distance shots, but you'll learn the most from the discs I just recommended.

If you need techniuqe help ask here and/or go to Discgolfreview.com and read the articles and ask questions there.

If you do all that you'll be throwing your putters farther than you throw your drivers now.

 

[martinb]

Wow! Thanks for all of the advice and encouragement guys!
I have to admit I wrote that thread after coming back from a game and I was really discouraged about my drives(did that show just a little?)but I never expected this much response! It is much appreciated though.
I was ask what drivers I use and before I name them I must tell you that no one told me to use these ones they are really just ones I took a chance on for better or for worse.
Drivers -
Innova Champion Beast (175)
Innova Star Firebird (172)
Innova Star teebird (150) my favorite (some distance with it)
Quest A technologies T bone (165) Given to me by a friend
Discraft flick elite z (probably not for beginners!)
just a side note -has anyone heard of the Innova Hydra(175)? I use one for my putting and it works very very well for accuracy,imo.
Thanks for any input on my drive disc and recommendations are welcome on any other drivers.
Thanks again!

dx 150 gr wraith.
dx 150 gr destroyer.

i have both of these in my bag and they go a ton. you dont need to be a big arm to throw them far. one of those two should help you get more distance. if you drop down in weight with the beast you might like it better, star plastic 165 maybe? the firebird is a hyzer disc at that weight, though ive never tried the star plastic. put that one away for long distance, the teebird is an awesome disc and should make you a better disc golfer. the difference between the two i mentioned and the teebird is that you should be able to grip and rip the dx plastic better than the star plastic.
the only time you should be throwing max weight drivers is into a headwind, and distance shouldnt be what your striving for in those conditions. lots of the top pros dont throw max weight discs on a regular basis.
good luck.

 

[DannyM]

Eric.....Nice job on the tourney! Yes, there are times during tourney play that you do have to know what your opponent is and where you stand as to what throw you make, especially at the late stages <final 3-4 holes>. But overall, if you go in with the mindset of playing the course, especially tougher,tighter courses, you should come out with generally an overall good score IF you play the course and not your opponent. Last weekend I played a par 62 course <pro par that is> in a tourney, and generally I don't play it well enough to come out with a lead. There are a LOT of the holes that I do well on, but there are 3-4 that really hurt my score. So I went out and practiced JUST my drive on each and every hole, just to see what disc worked, which gave me the most consistency to give me the best upshot. Well, my first round I shot a 59. A lot of times especially the longer holes, I had my card outdrive me...BUT....I was in the place where I felt most comfortable with my upshot. I had several par drop ins, where my opponents scrambled to get par, or worse got bogeys. I in turn got in THEIR head, because I was in my "zone" playing the course, not them, and they were watching me pull away to a 3-4 stroke lead when it was all said and done. Sadly though the next day when we played the course again I gave it back...shot a 66. Took a 7 on my first hole when the wind put me in a tree 40' off the teedpad, and it kicked 60' into thick woods. Then followed up the 2nd hole with a nice 5.