About those oft-ignored fairway drivers

[Lewis]

Some say Discraft makes the best midrange discs, and some say Innova makes the best long distance drivers. Who makes the best fairway drivers?

The reason I ask is I bought a TL from Innova recently, and realized I can throw it almost as far as my full-speed drivers, and with more control than most of them. Since I more often play courses with 250-300 foot holes than courses with 400-450 foot holes, it would probably behoove me to invest in a greater variety of fairway drivers, and maybe trunk some of my Wicked Fast drivers. As I said, I have a TL and I'm probably going to replace my lost Leopard before long, so what would y'all recommend for an overstable disc, faster than mid but slower than the 21st-century drivers?

 

[zensuit]

Some say Discraft makes the best midrange discs, and some say Innova makes the best long distance drivers. Who makes the best fairway drivers?

I think that the "best" argument is really a matter of personal choice. That said, my favorite driving disc on tight hole is a Gateway Element, supposedly a mid-range disc but every bit as long as my innova fairway drivers. And I have a Discraft Slipstream GT that is the straightest fairway driver I can imagine.

As for overstable, A Discraft Surge SS and an Avenger, both in ESP plastic give me all of the shots I need.

Z

 

[lewisville150]

Discraft is always my first choice. I prefer the Elite Z Express and the XS as fairway drivers. Both become understable and quite controllable when broken in. Both are nice "off the tee" drivers for shorter holes. I also use an Avenger SS in ESP FLX plastic as a longer fairway driver when longer, tight shots are needed. I have also used the Innova Teebird as a fairway driver. Nice flights there also.

 

[Neophyte]

I started playing with three discs one of which was the Innova Leopard. I still think it is one of the best fairway drivers out there.

 

[taxman]

a friend of mine absolutely loves his leopard. i started off with a set of ching discs and my favorite midrange/fairway disc is still the ching sniper. it's been called a faster Roc. to bad i can't find them anymore.

 

[garublador]

I'd recommend something in low end plastic that starts off on the sorta overstable side and carry a few in various stages of wear. That will cover all control and understable shots. I'd complement it with a dedicated very overstable driver that's as fast or than your fairway drivers in high end plastic.

IMO, the best choices for the fairway slot are the DX Eagle-X, D Cyclone and DX Gazelle. There are more, really good options for the overstable driver. If you want something slower, the Blaze or Banshee are good. The Firebird is a notch faster and the Predator or Spirit are both faster yet. Because you aren't going to be trying to throw them straight there is less chance of developing bad habits. They all fight wind really well, even for hyzers and are great for spike hyzers where you need to get over or around something.

 

[t i m]

Teebird. TL. There. You've got your fairway drivers.
You'll be happy, so, soo happy.
All the Destroyers/Wraiths/Bosses/XCals/Forces will be off in the woods. And you'll be 50' back. In the middle of the fairway. Taking your easy three while the rest of your card tries to throw flick-rollers out of the woods to save bogey.

 

[biscoe]

proline or ce leopard.

 

[Three Putt]

so what would y'all recommend for an overstable disc, faster than mid but slower than the 21st-century drivers?

Innova Banshee. Gateway Blaze. Millennium EXP1. Discraft had a great disc called the Xtra in this slot, but they discontinued it.

 

[80playedin10states]

to each his own...a "fairway driver" to me is a putter or midrange..had to laugh at tim's post...

 

[Three Putt]

Also, Latitude 64 is supposed to be coming out with a disc called the Trident in this category. I was set to test it out against my Banshees, but I guess the release has been delayed. If it ever comes out, the Opto plastic is sweet. It might be worth a try. From the specs it looked like it might be more Firebird-ish than Banshee-ish, but it still looked interesting.

 

[Omega SuperSloth]

champ teebird (best disc ever made) imro

 

[cc0049]

I agree wholeheartedly with the the Teebird being the best. Leopards are great too. That's all I throw for 'fairway' drivers. It is a wierd category though, because you can use them as mid-range or long distance too, just like you can use a mid-range disc or a putter as a fairway driver.

 

[Omega SuperSloth]

thats true i got a cro and a skeeter that have never been past 50-60ft all i do is putt with them every thing thats not a drive or a putt is all fairway discs for me t-bird, stareagle, jls. sure i could throw a midrange 300ft+ but why would i want to throw a one trick brick with a weird lip when i can throw a disc thats basically effortless if you have enough skill to make the disc do what you want not the other way around (sounds like your working for your car .........simplify man) random Simpsons quote

 

[DWill]

Don't forget about the Discraft XL, an excellant all around fairway driver.

 

[tamahawk]

i'll agree with teebird and leopard. my 2 favorite fairway drivers for sure. been looking at the TL, seems like a lot of positive feedback on those also.

 

[_.-Dut-._]

Innova Leopard
Innova Gazelle
Innova Cheetah
Innova Eagle

Discraft XL
Discraft Avenger

 

[gusc2375]

Innova:
Eagle in Champion or Star
Tee bird Champion
Discraft:
XS gotta have it in X and Z plastic
XL in Z plastic
Predator in X(discontinued but still some out there) also in Z or FLX

This is just my thoughts these work great for me.
I also carry more fairway drivers than mid disc

 

[TalbotTrojan]

TL is the only fairway driver that I have and I love it. I am not planning on getting anything else in this range except for another TL. I can make the TL do jsut about everything I need it to and then some. I am still trying to figure out how to actually plan for the roller rather than just watching it happen.

 

[Lewis]

Wow. It looks like there's a lot to choose from. I'll have to do some research on the ones I see the most recommendations for. Thanks folks!