Rediscovering Disc Golf

[aerodriver]

A brief backstory:
I got my first set of discs in 2005, a DX Dragon, Viper, Aero, and a Pro D Magnet and was terrible. I was never taught how to throw them and never bothered to consult the internet, which resulted in my losing the Dragon and Viper to areas unknown. Fast forward to now, and I have just started to become interested in doing it right this time. I held on to the Aero and Magnet because I knew I would get back to disc golf, just as soon as the Ultimate bug could stop biting. It hasn't stopped, but I've made room in my disc adventures to enjoy disc golf when I can.

Over the summer I bought a Z Stalker and a Champion Roadrunner X-Out by suggestion to round out my restart bag and just got a hearty shipment in of used discs to start organizing a good bag for my local courses.

Drivers
X-Out Champion Roadrunner 175g
Champion Wraith (light wear, stable)
DX Destroyer (a few nicks, still overstable)
Gateway E-Sabre 175g (chalky, low ceiling)
Champion Beast 164g (no heavy marks)
Z Stalker 168g (a few tree burns)
Pro Wraith (beat, overstable)

Mids:
Pro D Buzzz (well-worn, holds lines)
DX Aviar 169g (bumps and bruises, but tacky)
DX Wolf (definitely the multi-purpose disc)

Putters:
DX Classic Roc 172g
DX Aero 172g (driving putter)
Pro D Magnet 164g

They're listed by my favorites to least favorites at this time. I will pare down my drivers as soon as I work more on my form and figure out what features I should carry. I'm pretty happy with my mids and putters, but will likely get rid of the Magnet in favor of getting another Aero for straight putts. The Buzzz was a surprising discovery, I really was impressed with its hyzer and anhyzer performance. I hold these all in a Lightning standard golf bag, storing them from left to right.

Any suggestions on my driver choices would be great.

 

[turso]

What's your max distance with the roadrunner?

 

[aerodriver]

What's your max distance with the roadrunner?

I'm in the 300'-325' range for the Roadrunner. I don't think I need to get much more distance from another disc, but I know I can squeeze a bit more out of the RR before it starts to turn too hard.

 

[turso]

Could you describe for which duties you use each disc.

 

[aerodriver]

Could you describe for which duties you use each disc.

I actually haven't been to the course with all of the drivers/mids I currently have. Before last week my bag was:

Champion Roadrunner: Longer drives, hyzer
Z Stalker: Control drives
DX Aviar: Approach
DX Aero: Approach and putt
Pro D Magnet: Shorter putts

Speculatively, I would use the discs I just got for the following situations:

Champion Wraith: When I need it to turn left, longer distances than the RR
DX Destroyer: Distance driving
Gateway E-Sabre 175g: Low ceiling control drives
Champion Beast 164g: Control anhyzer
Pro Wraith: Huge hyzers
Pro D Buzzz: Short tee drives, long approaches
DX Wolf: The "get out of trouble" disc, anything from FH to thumbers
DX Classic Roc 172g: Approaches/putts within 100ft

I don't see all of the drivers making my bag, especially the Pro Wraith. It's far too overstable to be worth the space it takes up.

 

[JR]

What are the distances between the Beast/Roadrunner and the faster discs? At your distances a River may be better than the Beast/Roadrunner(huge overlap) or even a Leopard might be even more usable albeit very likely shorter. See even the Beast at that light weight might be more power hungry than your current distance. Roadrunner should be better now but the River might be even better at least more versatile.

 

[slowarm]

Doh, the guys are making this way too complicated...

Look, you've got the discs. Now go out and play. If you can handle (at least moderate) headwinds with your Stalker, you don't need anything else right now. In time you'll find out what kind of a disc(s) you're missing. At this point it's crucial to get to know the ones you're throwing.

 

[aerodriver]

Played a few rounds recently and pared down my number of discs. Also got a few extra discs to try out. Would like to shoot for fewer molds. The discs in bold are those that I'm using the most.

Drivers
Innova Champion Beast 164g: Distance drives
Gateway E-Sabre 175g : Short drives
Latitude 64 Opto River 168g

Mids:
Innova DX Wolf : Backhand and forehand upshots
Vibram Obex 176g: Midrange drives/Overstable
Discraft Pro D Buzzz 175g: Typical midrange throws/Finesse
Discraft Elite X Buzzz: Flat release, tunnel

Putters:
Innova DX Aviar 169g: Putting putter
Discraft Pro D Magnet 164g: Throwing putter
Innova DX Aero

Liking the amount/molds for my midranges, but could use some expansion in driver and putter categories. I don't feel comfortable with any of my other drivers, ie. Wraith, Roadrunner, Destroyer, Lat. 64 Bolt which makes me think I need to work with lower-speed/non-wide winged drivers. The Beast is the most predictable of my drivers with a flat release. For putters I think I just need to get another Aviar and Magnet. The Aero is there as a back-up.

 

[JR]

It is tough to beat the Beast i haven't found anything better but it also depends on your playing style and the courses you play. Elsewhere the Beast may not hyzer and drop down fast enough so a more LSS and HSS disc could be better. Maybe that is the direction you need to explore with drivers and putters seeing you have only straight or understable discs. Rhyno/Pig/D Zone/ESP Zone for putters in ascending order of overstability with the Pig and the D Zone being fairly similar. Driver world is chock full of fading discs and the speed that is the most useful for you with the rest of the bag and the courses and conditions you play in guides the disc selection. Z Predator is a good left hook driver that is slower than the Beast and sorter so it is good for distance control and placement and it straightens out a lot in stiff headwinds so it performs that role admirably. Spirit hooks harder and despite being faster it isn't really longer like the Force is. Force is faster than the Beast so the added cruising speed helps in dealing with headwinds.

 

[aerodriver]

I acquired a Force in a trade. I didn't want to take it out to the courses I used the rest of the discs as there was only one 500ft hole, and a majority are heavily wooded. I will field test it to see if I can work with it. Otherwise I may look into the Z Predator as I had a Z Stalker but couldn't get it to do what I wanted for whatever reason.

 

[JR]

The Stalker is straight and the Pred hooks hard and is faster so it skips a lot unlike the Stalker so they are totally different types of discs for very different roles. Good pair because they don't overlap much. Distance is roughly in the same neighborhood so there is some overlap there but it is good to have different flight paths out to the same distance so those together are nice.

 

[aerodriver]

Went to the course yesterday and narrowed my bag down to these discs judging by how often I threw them/results based on experience. Still need a solid headwind driver. Planning on accessing a Wasp to see how it fits against the Obex and alternatively an Ibex to see how it compares to the Buzzz.

Drivers
Innova Champion Beast 164g
Latitude 64 Opto River

Mids:
Vibram Obex 176g: Midrange drives
Discraft Pro D Buzzz 175g
Discraft Elite X Buzzz

Putters:
Innova DX Aviar 169g
Innova DX Aero 172g: Out of trouble disc

 

[JR]

So what is your gripe about the Force as a headwind driver? Too overstable still? If so maybe you can find a poppy top Flash or a flat topped Star Starfire or possibly breaking in a Z Pred if it starts out too overstable.

 

[aerodriver]

JR, I don't like the feel of the Force in my hand, actually. I've worked with it very little but it just doesn't feel right.

Got some more Beasts, a new putter to try, and some loaner/gift discs the other day while at my pro shop.

Drivers:
Champion Beast 164g: Relatively beat
Champion Beast 164g: Fresh
X-Out Star Beast 170g: Fresh
X-Out DX Valkyrie 169g: Fresh/loaner

Mids:
Vibram Obex
Elite X Buzzz 175g
Pro D Buzzz 175g

Putters:
Eze Pure 171g
DX Aviar
Facotry 2nd Soft Magic 175g: Loaner

I decided on the Pure because it felt better and better the more I held it in my hand in comparison to the Aviar. The grip is exceptional as well. Planning an end of the week trip to the course to try the fresh discs out.

 

[aerodriver]

Got to the field yesterday to do some throws. Took some snapshots of the distance I was able to get with minimal wind. There's a concrete slab to the right of the shack near my car that I threw from.

DX Valkyrie 169g

Star Beast 168g

Champ Beast 164g

Opto River

 

[aerodriver]

Got another Stalker to try and working in the Eze Pures was a breeze.

Drivers
Z Force-170g: Max D, headwinds
Opto Bolt-170g: Max D with a little turn
Champion Beast-164g x2: one straight with fade, one with turn
Star Beast-168g: Fresh backup
DX Valkyrie-169g: Straight flyer
Pro Valkyrie-169g: More turn
Z Stalker-167g: Headwinds
Opto River-172g x2: one fresh, one worn-in
GL River-172g: Super fresh

Mids
Medium Obex-167g: Overstable goodness
Z Buzzz-177g: Semi-fresh
X Buzzz-175g: Standing, FH
Pro D Buzzz-175g: Back up?
DX Shark-165g: FH trouble disc

Putters
Eze Pure x4
Zero Pure x2

 

[JR]

The Beasts, Valks and Rivers have some overlap. I carried the River as a more HSS Leopard replacement for two seasons with the Beast being the go to driver and still got overlap. Not bad and manageable. Valk in between sounds like a problem. What does the Shark do in there? Especially the Z Buzzz is a great FH disc and the softer plastics handle turning FH well. That is a lot of Pures to be carried around.

 

[aerodriver]

The Valk is the only one that I could get to turn over with my power range. I can get the Beast to do my main distance duties but it still has an awful lot of fade to be useable on a hole that runs to the right. The Shark is much straighter than any of my Buzzz's. The Pures are there for putting practice mostly, as I can typically take multiple attempts at the basket when I'm out on any given round. I would imagine in a tournament setting I would have two Eze and one Zero, the Zero being for upshots or thrown putts.

 

[aerodriver]

Got a NutSac to play/experiment with somewhere down the line. I finally got the Bolt out to respectably longer distances than the Beast, so I figured it was time to put the Force back in the bag and work it some more. I don't play open holes being from New England and all, so max D doesn't come into my game often.

The "Tournament" Bag

Distance Drivers
Z Force-170g: Max D, headwinds
Opto Bolt-175g: Max D with a little turn
Champion Beast-164g x2: one straight with fade, one with turn
Star Beast-168g x2: Fresh backups, headwinds
DX Valkyrie-169g: Bag filler/more understable than Beasts
Pro Valkyrie-169g: Bag filler

Control/Fairway Drivers
Opto Trident-172: Fresh, overstable for headwinds/skips
Opto River-172g x2: one fresh, one worn-in

Mids
Medium Obex-174g: Driving on short tees, wind fighting
Medium Obex-165g: Overstable
ESP Buzzz-175g: Fresh
X Buzzz-175g: Tired, understable

Putters
Eze Pure-172g: Putts
Zero Soft Pure-172g: Approach


The NutSac:

Drivers
GL Bolt-175g: Max D
Champ Beast-164g: Main Distance
GL River-172g: Control duties

Mid
Z Buzzz-177g

Putters
Eze Pure-172g
Zero Soft Pure-172g

 

[aerodriver]

Just ordered two DX Beasts to beat in to turnover/roller discs. Used the NutSac yesterday and would have cut down my strokes if it weren't for a few really sloppy double bogey holes. I felt really good about the Beast/Trident/River/Buzzz/Pure combo I had in there, although I could have done without the River on a few holes. Decided that I need to develop my forehand a ton and throw my tomahawk more with the Trident on certain approaches and short drives to the right until then.

Distance Drivers
Z Force-170g: Max D, headwinds
Opto Bolt-175g: Max D with a little turn
GL Bolt-170g: Backup
Champion Beast-164g x2: one straight with fade, one with slight turn
Star Beast-168g x2: Fresh backups, headwinds
DX Beast-162, 166g x2: Turnover/roller

Control/Fairway Drivers
Opto Trident-172: Fresh, overstable for headwinds/skips
Opto River-172g x2: one fresh, one worn-in
GL River-172g: Backup

Mids
Medium Obex-174g: Driving on short tees, wind fighting
Medium Obex-165g: Overstable
ESP Buzzz-175g: Fresh
Z Buzzz-177g: Main mid
X Buzzz-175g: Tired, understable

Putters
Eze Pure-172g: Putts
Zero Soft Pure-172g: Approach