[Innova] 1980's Innova discs questions

[klmdg]

I know what you mean about the P-38's being flippy. One or two tree hits and it was all over the place. That is when I learned to tune discs. Just bent them back into shape or a tad overstable...whatever you wanted. Made them last forever like that. :thmbup:

That thought never entered my 14yo brain. I was more preoccupied trying to butter knife cracked rims back together on DX. Those were the days.

 

[Three Putt]

Thanks for the info TAFL. I keep seeing the 86 Softie disc coming up in my research on these older discs. I did a search on this forum and it sounds like the Discraft Rattler is about the closest thing you can get today to what the 86 Softie was is that right?

IMO the Rattler is way more stable than an 86 Softie. The 86 was a super-duper touch disc. I couldn't throw one to save my life. I could use a Rattler on a short drive or long approach; it was stable enough to throw. An 86 Softie when I put any power on it at all would turn and burn. I can't really think of any current disc that reminds me of it.

That and the nipple is on top. Who thought that was a good idea? They were next to impossible to spin becasue you couldn't judge the center of the disc by the nipple. My pre-putt is always standing and spinning the disc while waiting my turn, and the 86 Softie would screw that up. It was a really frustrating disc for me. There was a guy from Peoria that was a really good player who used them; he won AM Worlds and was a solid pro for many years after that. Scott Martin? Anyway, he used to come down to St. Louis and beat up on us putting that 86 Softie, so I knew that if you figured out the touch with that disc it could be deadly. I stuck with it for a couple of years, never did figure out the touch.

 

[Ron720]

Maybe it was the Super Puppy that I remember reading about being somewhat like the Discraft Rattler. Wasn't the Super Puppy the disc that was modified that became the Eagle/Aero?

Three Putt it sounds like the 86 Softie was a difficult disc to throw. I bet it was real fun in the wind.

I had a Rattler when I first started. I remember trying to putt with the Rattler and if there was any wind it got blown around. I got frustrated with it traded off for a Discraft Avenger which frustrated me even more. After a couple of weeks of reading around on the internet. I went down to my local sporting goods store and bought a DX Aviar and a Pro-D Challenger. I liked both putters and they still work well for me. Later on over this past summer I went out and bought a JK Aviar, KC Pro Aviar, Yeti Aviar a couple of Judges a Warden a Prodigy PA-4 and a Lat 64 Pure. I played with these discs over the summer at least 3 times every week. I also made the mistake of buying a lot of discs that I was not ready for. It was on one of those trips to the sporting goods store to look at discs that I saw a disc I had never seen before. It was a Purple DX Stingray 168g and my brother was with me and he was just learning how to play to. He ended up buying a Orange DX 169g Cobra. I just clicked with the Stingray it seemed like a disc that really wanted to fly. I liked it so much I went back a bought another Yellow DX one 170g and a 180g Red Star Stingray. My brother threw his Cobra around just few times before moving onto other discs. He ended up giving me his Cobra about a month ago.

 

[Broken Shoulder]

IMO the Rattler is way more stable than an 86 Softie. The 86 was a super-duper touch disc. I couldn't throw one to save my life. I could use a Rattler on a short drive or long approach; it was stable enough to throw. An 86 Softie when I put any power on it at all would turn and burn. I can't really think of any current disc that reminds me of it.

That and the nipple is on top. Who thought that was a good idea? They were next to impossible to spin becasue you couldn't judge the center of the disc by the nipple. My pre-putt is always standing and spinning the disc while waiting my turn, and the 86 Softie would screw that up. It was a really frustrating disc for me. There was a guy from Peoria that was a really good player who used them; he won AM Worlds and was a solid pro for many years after that. Scott Martin? Anyway, he used to come down to St. Louis and beat up on us putting that 86 Softie, so I knew that if you figured out the touch with that disc it could be deadly. I stuck with it for a couple of years, never did figure out the touch.

Absolutely right about the nipples on top. So frickin weird. And they were crazy touchy so I only ever really putted with my 86.
I did win the putting contest at Am Worlds in 1998 with the Softie though. They were great for putting.

 

[Three Putt]

Maybe it was the Super Puppy that I remember reading about being somewhat like the Discraft Rattler. Wasn't the Super Puppy the disc that was modified that became the Eagle/Aero?

Three Putt it sounds like the 86 Softie was a difficult disc to throw. I bet it was real fun in the wind.

I had a Rattler when I first started. I remember trying to putt with the Rattler and if there was any wind it got blown around. I got frustrated with it traded off for a Discraft Avenger which frustrated me even more. After a couple of weeks of reading around on the internet. I went down to my local sporting goods store and bought a DX Aviar and a Pro-D Challenger. I liked both putters and they still work well for me. Later on over this past summer I went out and bought a JK Aviar, KC Pro Aviar, Yeti Aviar a couple of Judges a Warden a Prodigy PA-4 and a Lat 64 Pure. I played with these discs over the summer at least 3 times every week. I also made the mistake of buying a lot of discs that I was not ready for. It was on one of those trips to the sporting goods store to look at discs that I saw a disc I had never seen before. It was a Purple DX Stingray 168g and my brother was with me and he was just learning how to play to. He ended up buying a Orange DX 169g Cobra. I just clicked with the Stingray it seemed like a disc that really wanted to fly. I liked it so much I went back a bought another Yellow DX one 170g and a 180g Red Star Stingray. My brother threw his Cobra around just few times before moving onto other discs. He ended up giving me his Cobra about a month ago.

Rattler and Super Puppy are kinda similar so that might be it.

The only connection I know that the Super Puppy had to the Eagle was that supposedly Dave Dunipace originally tired the idea by attaching a beveled wing (like an overmold) to a Super Puppy and throwing it around Morley Field. After that I have no idea if the dimensions/depth of the Super Puppy had anything to do with the dimensions of the Eagle.

I learned really quickly not to use the 86 Softie for anything other than putts, and it really was no worse in the wind for putting than most discs.

Part of the reason I dropped the 86 Softie was that I was trying to slim down the number of molds in my bag. I could carry the Aviar for short drives and long approaches and the 86 Softie for putts, or I could just carry the Aviar and do everything with it. I ended up with an Aviar/Roc/Stingray/Cyclone/X-Clone bag, which in '95 covered just about everything. After I realized that I could use a beat-up Cyclone as a turnover driver I dropped the Stingray. I swapped some discs in and out, but the bag was basically Aviar or Magnet/Roc or Comet/Cyclone or Cheetah or Gazelle/X-Clone or Banshee for seven or eight years. I kinda miss only having four slots in the bag to fill, but with how much faster discs are now it a bit unrealistic to get away with just four molds anymore. Plus the plastic is different. It didn't take that long to beat a DX Gazelle into a turnover driver, but once you go to Champ/Star plastic you pretty much have to go to an understable-out-of-the-box disc and carry more molds.

 

[Ron720]

I came across this term Berkley grip when I was reading about these older discs. What is a Berkley grip?

 

[Ess-dog]

Since we are sort of off the Innova 80's topic...came across Tony Tomasino's cool 80's videos of a few tournaments. Bunch of guys throwing discs similar to what's being talked about on this thread 200-300ft or so. This is the most complete old DG Tourney video I've seen. Like how they don't take much time to throw.

At 8:16 there's a good section of the lead card throwing across a gully and then a back up of a few cards trying to get these flippy flyers out to a 300ft hole.

1986 Dogwood Crosstown Classic -
Cedar Hills-Raleigh, NC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABW_THEf_x0

Results--WARNING SPOILER

 

[Ron720]

Ess-dog, Thanks for posting that link I enjoyed watching. It looked like one of the guys was throwing a Midnight Flyer.