The trouble with floaters

[luckless_pedestrian]

Yesterday I finally remembered to throw the Hydra in my bag for one shot on #12 at Bradford - usually right, around a corner in front of a small, muddy pond. I usually end up on the bank somewhere but this time I thought, I have this dumb floating disc so I ought to throw it when there's a chance of it going in.

Sure enough I'm in a position to throw the thing on my second shot there, figuring I'll float a nice anny around the corner and settle next to the pin rather than play it safe and lay up. I let it rip and it floats alright... right into the middle of the pond. And I thought, you know what, you did that on purpose. I was so focused on the water that I threw it right in. And the reeds close to the bank kept it from coming close enough to the edge to get so I still had to walk out knee-deep to get the stupid thing.

Moral: just make good throws.

 

[ferretdance03]

...Moral: just make good throws.

Sound advice.

 

[Grungedude42]

A disc floating just out of reach is worse than a sinker, imo. If it's a stream, off she'll go. If the wind is blowing, it'll come ashore and someone will grab it if you don't sit there waiting. Rather just throw something I won't cry about if I lose (anything already in my bag).

 

[FlyingHyzer]

I'd rather watch a disc sink into the abyss than have it taunting me in the middle of a pond/lake out of reach.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I think your scenanrio is true if you only throw floaters for water shots. If it's a regular part of your bag, and you're likely to throw it on non-water shots, I don't think it's in your head as much. I have a feeling that people with 139 Blizz discs probably use those discs on dry fairways as well.

OP: was your screen name lifted from a Steely Dan song?

 

[BirdieMachine]

I carry a couple discs I don't care much if I lose for risky water shots. It's usually some MVP disc.

 

[luckless_pedestrian]

OP: was your screen name lifted from a Steely Dan song?

:thmbup:

 

[JC17393]

I think your scenanrio is true if you only throw floaters for water shots. If it's a regular part of your bag, and you're likely to throw it on non-water shots, I don't think it's in your head as much. I have a feeling that people with 139 Blizz discs probably use those discs on dry fairways as well.

Exactly. If the disc is in your bag specifically because it's a floater, then it becomes a case of self-fulfilling prophecy...it's heading into the water if you throw it. If the disc is a regular part of your bag regardless of the existence of water on a hole/course, and it just happens to float in water, then you're bound to be more successful with it.

To me, throwing a floater over/near water solely because it's a floater is basically saying "I have no confidence in myself to get across or otherwise stay out of the water".

 

[BogeyNoMore]

:thmbup:

I love Becker and Fagen. Royal Scam's a great album. :hfive:

 

[Stardoggy]

Not enough fiber is the usual culprit with floaters.

 

[luckless_pedestrian]

I love Becker and Fagen. Royal Scam's a great album. :hfive:

Right on. That album opened my ears when I first heard it as a teenager. Finally saw them last year and it was a shame that Fagan's voice is way past it's prime.

If I were being precise there should be a comma between luckless and pedestrian. But I was once hit by a car so...

 

[gradus]

To me, throwing a floater over/near water solely because it's a floater is basically saying "I have no confidence in myself to get across or otherwise stay out of the water".

I always carry a Lightning #2 Driver for shots over water or other shots with a decent chance of being lost. You're right, I don't have confidence that I'll always clear the water, not roll back into the water, or clip a branch that results in going into the water. I play this course way too frequently to risk losing discs on a regualr basis. The self fulfilling prophecy doesn't seem to be an issue because I really don't worry about losing the disc. They're cheap at $7.99 and I have 2 spares. I become more focused on the water when throwing a disc that I care about that is a non-floater.

 

[Monkeypaws]

I remember my son borrowed my Dragon to throw on a water hold last spring. The lake still had some sheets of ice on it. As was normal with the Dragon, he turned and burned it, and it landed in the lake ... on a sheet of ice 20' from shore. It floated alright....

 

[chevis]

yeah, if its made for the water it will find it; stupid wahoo.
so then its out in the middle floating, so i throw rocks at it. it moves so slow, takes like 100 rocks just to get it to wading territory.

could a golden retriever have the capibility of getting a floating disc?

 

[luckless_pedestrian]

Actually tried the Golden Retriever on a frozen pond this winter and it was a failure. Too many sticks poking up through the ice. Wasn't my disc though.

 

[Grungedude42]

A retriever works for floaters if you life-hack it by tying an empty twenty oz bottle on the line just in front of the retriever. I've pulled one in using the the string and some very steady casting/slow retrieval when I had no empty. Just throw over the disc, and try to land the string on the disc.

I will confirm it is just about useless on ice though. Be sure to anchor the end of the line before you attempt it, too.

 

[Rob Martin]

yeah, if its made for the water it will find it; stupid wahoo.
so then its out in the middle floating, so i throw rocks at it. it moves so slow, takes like 100 rocks just to get it to wading territory.

could a golden retriever have the capibility of getting a floating disc?

I have a great story about this....

So I was in Emporia KS in March practicing for my first GBO back in 2012. It was a typical March - cold enough to wear jeans and a hoodie, but very playable.

I threw my Wahoo over the pond on Jones East on what used to be the old hole 4 (now hole 11) and it lands in the middle. Whatever.

I keep playing and come across some guys and ask if they have a Golden Retriever and they do. So I borrow it and attempt to throw it out to hook my disc. However, since this is the first time I ever used a G.R. I didn't realize how tightly I needed to hold onto the end and the momentum pulls it out of my hand. So now I got a disc I don't care about floating and a GR from someone I don't even know in the pond. The GR obviously sinks but the string is floating on the surface but slowly starting to go under.

Meanwhile - there is a teenaged girl in the picnic shelter 75' from me watching (see picture, I'm now on the far side of the pond). So, I'm a tad overweight, 40's, etc. and not really wanting to get down to my tighty whities in front of this girl. So I hurdedly get down to just jeans and go in after it to get the GR and continue on out to the middle to get my stupid Wahoo.

Get them both out, put the rest of my clothes back on, and try to continue playing as I'm only on hole 4. After about two more holes, with completely wet jeans, cloudy, and about 40 deg I give up.

And drive 90 minutes back home.

Got 6 holes in for a 3 hour round trip.

I now take dry clothes with me every time I drive more than 45 minutes from home to play.

 

[Rob Martin]

Oh yeah - I eventually sold my stupid Wahoo. I don't bother with floaters anymore. Rather just let them sink.

And - I always lay up on this hole.

 

[luckless_pedestrian]

GR just rescued my precious Envy from the very pond I spoke of. Decent throw, just had a bad roll.

 

[nolzwin]

I use to use a wahoo because there is a local course with some pretty big ponds . I took one of my old reels with a two piece rod and ditched the end piece on the rod, attached a big cork with two treble hooks. It does a pretty good job and it's small enough to attach to my bag. then I switched to the blizzard champion plastic they aren't technically "floaters" but any under 140g will float.