Would Women Benefit from Smaller Discs?

[Broken Shoulder]

Does shrinking the diameter of the disc change the rim height/width? I'm not sure I can grasp the benefit, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[lyleoross]

I'm gonna say no. Beyond the fact that the top women do pretty darned good things with the current discs, part of what makes discs work is their size. Some of the first drivers were the same size as midranges. The increased size made them slower, that is, shorter. However, good flight and spin also relies on circumference. The snap moves the point on the disc out from your hand rapidly on a path along a line equal to the circumference of the disc. Changing the diameter will impact the speed and movemental of that point due to physical limitations. That is, those smaller discs might have significantly different flight mechanics.

So, who's gonna make them, profit matters, and why, given my second sentance?

 

[Nova P]

There aren't nearly enough females on here to get a good survey. But it'll still be interesting to see the responses.

I'm 6'4" (1,93m) tall. Discs are fine as they are.

 

[AndyJB]

Using basketball as a comparison isn't really valid. Because I can go the other way and say that women using much larger balls for fast pitch softball than men do in baseball and a women's fastball is FAST...I believe in high school and even up into college women pitch faster than men. And there are countless sports where men and women use the same equipment.

Plus there are a lot of shorter, smaller men that play and there are a lot of taller,larger women that play. It would get murky about if said smaller discs were mandatory for female play or optional.

I am also just spitballing, so take what Im saying with a grain of salt, but I dont see the benefit. Im not a woman, but I'm married to one and raising two, and I just don't see it being that advantageous.

 

[Lazerface]

Right. A 2 foot diameter disc with small rim config should be throwable by any FPO adult.

I guess i dont get the point at all unless talking macro mini sized which weigh half as much as normal discs toom

This was my first thought. Hand size to rim width would appear to be the issue if there was one. I'm not sure the hand covering a smaller surface area of the disc would be much of an issue unless the disc actually felt too heavy for the player to throw or something. But we have light weight discs.

 

[Lazerface]

I feel like the dragon has a small diameter. I bagged a dragon when I first started playing.

 

[Marmoset]

That's weird I always thought the minimum was 20 cm so I was wondering why this hadn't happened yet.

according to the PDGA document named "GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES FOR MANUFACTURERS TO CERTIFY THAT EQUIPMENT COMPLIES WITH PDGA TECHNICAL STANDARDS " the minimum is currently 21.0cm

(3) not be less than 21 cm in outside disc diameter, nor exceed 30 cm in outside disc diameter;

maybe its time for the WPDGA? LOL

@BroD... the idea makes sense. But I'm a dude so what do I know?

 

[Quinntastic]

I don't think I get the question. Do smaller discs go further? Aren't all women throwing the same discs? I guess if women are competing in men's divisions a difference could help level the playing field, but I am not sure smaller discs help gain distance.

I don't think this discussion is about distance overall. Just whether or not smaller diameter could have any positive effect over traditional larger mids, or any disc in general I spose.

I find I like smaller diameter mids because they seem easier for me to control distance. If I'm throwing all out I'll throw my QMS or Roc, but if I need to judge distance precisely I use my panther, sometimes my gremlin if it's a hard hyzer. They have less glide so I can drop them where I want to. So in that way I find them benificial.


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[DiscgolfStu]

Just polled the two girls in my office who are both pretty sporty and they are offended at the though of "girls" discs. They say that it's insulting to assume they can't handle regular discs and were quick to point out the number of unathletic and tiny men who play disc golf and why don't they have special discs?
opcorn:

 

[Noill]

I'd actually like smaller "girls" discs and would throw them if they were made.

how about shifting this over to just smaller discs for everyone with smaller hands? I mean, Trump might want in on this action too ya know...

Trump: I'm really... really... with surety into this new sport I invented just now called Disc Trump golf... see look at this disc here... my hand looks so large... so large... really... I predict that 6 million people will be playing this by the end of the week

 

[Marmoset]

Just polled the two girls in my office who are both pretty sporty and they are offended at the though of "girls" discs. They say that it's insulting to assume they can't handle regular discs and were quick to point out the number of unathletic and tiny men who play disc golf and why don't they have special discs?
opcorn:

so that's the problem with women specific stuff. There is nothing uniquely female about the equipment other than the fact that women tend to have specific anthropometric measurement X when men tend to have measurement Y. There are plenty of males with a measurement of X that would benefit from using a women's specific design but you won't see that happening.

In the bicycle world, women's specific design means shorter torso, narrower shoulders, shorter reach. Maybe some other stuff I'm forgetting. There are plenty of men with similar geometry that would benefit from riding a woman's bike but you will rarely ever see that happen. I know one or two but outside of that men would rather pay for a full custom frame rather than ride a bike labeled as women specific.

Do we know why the PDGA settled on 21cm? I'd be interested to know that...

 

[Cgkdisc]

We already have allowable equipment accommodations for players with a lower release speed with different disc stabilities and weights available regardless of the player's age or gender. In addition, their rating allows them to find a division in which to be competitive. If you lower the minimum diameter standard, men should also be allowed to use those discs. It's likely the average gap in distance among the top men and women might increase even more, defeating the purpose of the reduced diameter and even further undermine course design and length challenges which have already been compromised with disc technology advances.

 

[Noill]

We already have allowable equipment accommodations for players with a lower release speed with different disc stabilities and weights available regardless of the player's age or gender. In addition, their rating allows them to find a division in which to be competitive. If you lower the minimum diameter standard, men should also be allowed to use those discs. It's likely the average gap in distance among the top men and women might increase even more, defeating the purpose of the reduced diameter and even further undermine course design and length challenges which have already been compromised with disc technology advances.

just a dumb question... do we know that smaller discs would fly so differently and compromise course designs? I mean, what if the smaller discs were still weighted between 150-175g?

just wondering how we know this... TIA

 

[Quinntastic]

I don't see why it would have to be male or female specific. It's a piece of plastic. All that needs to happen it some investment into the small diameter mid category that's already there. As I saw stated earlier they are around, but not very popular. Perhaps if a few discs came out it say, for example, Roc3 dimensions but scaled down by 5% or whatever it is. Then it would still fall in the legal perimeters already in place. No need to market as a "women's" disc but, selling point being for small hands.


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[Halcón]

just a dumb question... do we know that smaller discs would fly so differently and compromise course designs? I mean, what if the smaller discs were still weighted between 150-175g?

just wondering how we know this... TIA

I know that I can toss my Macro Tesla nearly as far as my fairways, and it only weighs 80 grams. So I also would like to hear more info on this. :thmbup:

 

[Cgkdisc]

just a dumb question... do we know that smaller discs would fly so differently and compromise course designs? I mean, what if the smaller discs were still weighted between 150-175g?

just wondering how we know this... TIA

Fastest discs with the sharpest rim configs are within 0.1cm of the 21cm minimum. If larger diameter could be thrown farther, we would see more high speed discs at larger diameters. Separate from any performance differences, we've finally gotten newer baskets approved and older ones retooled with smaller gaps in the baskets to reduce wedgies.

 

[Broken Shoulder]

I mean, what's next.... shorter teepads and higher numbers on their Pars?


:\

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

My wife tends to gravitate towards lighter discs beacuse she lacks the power to throw max weight and discs with a shallow grip beacuse she has small hands

 

[lyleoross]

I'd actually like smaller "girls" discs and would throw them if they were made.

how about shifting this over to just smaller discs for everyone with smaller hands? I mean, Trump might want in on this action too ya know...

Trump: I'm really... really... with surety into this new sport I invented just now called Disc Trump golf... see look at this disc here... my hand looks so large... so large... really... I predict that 6 million people will be playing this by the end of the week

View attachment 62078

Does membership have benefits? Like, do I get to build disc golf courses in Russia using inexpensive labor from the gulag?

 

[lyleoross]

Fastest discs with the sharpest rim configs are within 0.1cm of the 21cm minimum. If larger diameter could be thrown farther, we would see more high speed discs at larger diameters. Separate from any performance differences, we've finally gotten newer baskets approved and older ones retooled with smaller gaps in the baskets to reduce wedgies.

Wedgies... I do not want to know how you play disc golf Chuck.