[Other] Bag building theory

[Baseballadp]

I started with a dx valk and a dx starter pack (150 leo, aviar, and shark) and then figured out what I liked and didn't. Valk was awesome so I got a star one. The leo was too understable so I got a teebird. The teebird wasn't os enough so I got 2 g star thunderbirds and 2 firebirds. Then I realized I needed a putter that better fit my game so I got some clutches and haven't looked back. Then that the shark flipped no matter how softly I threw it because of wear and tear. I got 3 roc3s of different stabilities. Not every mid range throw was stable to os so I got a mako3 for the opposite end. And not everything could be approached with those so I got a rat and nova (which are great compliments to each other). Lastly I filled with utility discs. A blowfly 2 for uphill approaches and water death putts. A rival for weird lines neither my teebird nor thunderbird could hold, and a hydra and wahoo just in case there is a big water carry.

 

[PBokor]

I will admit to being less than scientific when it comes to filling my bag, which is odd as I am a statistician by choice and vocation.

I choose my discs based on confidence alone. If a particular disc consistently performs to my expectations, it gets a spot in my 12 disc bag.

I also believe that it is the shooter not the gun, so I rarely change my bag. I just try to master the discs that have shown potential. Seems to be working for me.

[Sent from my phone. Typos are mine]

 

[Turnipseed]

What do you guys think?

I think that if your hobby is "bag building" then you are terribly easily entertained. This is something like a bird collecting shiny bits of trash, trying to decide whether to put the gum foil underneath or beside the scorpion earring. Or trying to figure which dresses go with the redheaded doll and which on the blonde.

If your hobby is disc golf then all this bag bulding crap is completely unnecessary. Grab a handul of discs and play. If a particular course demands a particular shot that is made easier by a particular disc, add it. For the most part anything more than three or four discs will have slight to zero measurable impact on your score.

 

[pjhayes7]

I think that if your hobby is "bag building" then you are terribly easily entertained. This is something like a bird collecting shiny bits of trash, trying to decide whether to put the gum foil underneath or beside the scorpion earring. Or trying to figure which dresses go with the redheaded doll and which on the blonde.

If your hobby is disc golf then all this bag bulding crap is completely unnecessary. Grab a handul of discs and play. If a particular course demands a particular shot that is made easier by a particular disc, add it. For the most part anything more than three or four discs will have slight to zero measurable impact on your score.

No one is saying they have a hobby of building a disc golf bag. Playing disc golf is our hobby, and some of us want to be better at it. Therefore, we actively try to do things that will help us improve. That is most likely why we came to these forums in the first place. One of the ways we try to improve is searching for the equipment that has the highest combination of performing for us and being enjoyable to use.

You would never tell a pro ball golfer to just buy 14 clubs and a bag off the shelf and go practice until you are the best you can be. They should tinker with their equipment. Because everyone has different swing characteristics, certain equipment (combination of clubhead, shaft, grip, ball, shoes, etc.) will compliment those swing characteristics and enable the player to perform at their best. The same could be said of all golfers, but some are less interested in putting in the time or money to find the optimal equipment to compliment their skills.

That is all this thread is about. So if all you think disc golf is a fun activity and don't worry about the detail, you are right (for yourself). But it is certainly not a waste of time to have these discussions for those of us who want to improve. Just the writing down what is the best disc lineup and how to achieve it for yourself forces you to think more actively about the process. And although you can certainly take it to far worrying about too much of the minutia, I think it is a practically helpful exercise and frankly, fun to talk about.

 

[Keller]

You would never tell a pro ball golfer to just buy 14 clubs and a bag off the shelf and go practice until you are the best you can be. They should tinker with their equipment. Because everyone has different swing characteristics, certain equipment will compliment those swing characteristics and enable the player to perform at their best. The same could be said of all golfers, but some are less interested in putting in the time or money to find the optimal equipment to compliment their skills.

And no golfer ever got to be a pro by changing up their equipment every other day. They had to learn their fundamentals and form and only after achieving some consistency do they start tweaking equipment.

Disc golf shares a certain mentality with golf; that is, some people chase equipment and presentation more than form and improvement and can convince themselves that it helps their game to buy every new toaster on a stick or the newest 14 speed flippy driver.

Any pro golfer could easily play a good round with a Dick's special set off the wall as can Paul McBeth with a handfull of DX discs. Is it going to be their best? Of course not, but they have put the work into their game, not their bag, and they can compensate.

Nothing wrong with building bags or talking about them and one can get some good insights from others, but sometimes it's best just to turn off all the noise and figure it out for yourself.

 

[wims]

I don't really have a set of predetermined slots I need to fill. I just bag what I'm familiar and comfortable with. Whenever I feel like I have a hole I need to fill I go looking for a suitable disc for that slot. I used to bag way more molds, but nowadays I feel like I can get by with fewer. I'm not really a minimalist by choice, I just happen to prefer the molds I have in the bag right now and I don't feel like I need any new molds. At least for now

 

[pjhayes7]

Nothing wrong with building bags or talking about them and one can get some good insights from others, but sometimes it's best just to turn off all the noise and figure it out for yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with this. But I was disagreeing with the idea that thinking about how to best build a bag is a waste of time. Of course, the time you spend doing that should be a tiny compared with the time practicing and playing. As you said, a Pro can make just about anything work and have little drop off. But I actually think it is more beneficial for an amateur than a pro to spend time building a bag that suits them.

 

[VictorB]

This is the basis of the DiscGolfReview bag building guide. I can't bring up the old site at work, but I know it's archived around here somewhere.

edit: found the mirror, and relevant article: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/resources/articles/choosingadisc.shtml

In my opinion, it's easier to build a bag from inside out, than from top or bottom. Meaning, if you can find a stable putter, midrange, or driver you like, it's much easier to find compliments based off of those things. Based off of that, I find it easiest to work from your stable midrange slot and build from there than any of the other speeds.

 

[Dr. Bogey]

I follow the ground-up US/S/OS approach, but inconsistently. I do it "right" with my mids, bagging one Warrant, one Truth, and one Verdict. My fairways are Teebirds, Valks, and a Predator, which looks pretty straightforward, but that's usually two very different Teebirds (DX and GStar) and three Valks (flippy, straight, and S-curve), which doesn't fit the paradigm well. I love putting with a Pilot and throwing a Pure, so they're both in my bag and I don't care.

Part of me really wants to forget being "logical" and fill my bag with stuff I like to throw. Truth *and* Buzzz *and* Roc, and maybe even a BuzzzGT. Zone *and* Harp. I could really go nuts with fairways, lugging around an insane mess of Teebirds, Valks, Preds, Volts, JLSs, Sidewinders, Strikers, Thunderbirds, Avenger SS, Saints, Saint Pros, Banshees, Leopard3s, Rivers, FDs, X-Clones, Inspires, a few stray Prodigy F-series discs, and my Quest Teebone.

 

[DamonRipper]

...you keep reading these forums and you watch tournaments on YouTube and you're like "I want that disc" and pretty soon you have secret credit cards and you're stashing discs in the attic and running to get to the mailbox before your wife because she threatened to leave if you bought even one more disc.

Awesomeness ... that is the laugh I needed for this Friday! :clap:

 

[btimm]

This is what I do. However, I actually go further and break fairways into control fairways and distance fairways.

putters:
OS / S / US

mids:
OS / S / US

fairways:
OS / S / US

distance:
OS / S / US

So I end up with:
spike/envy/zone
buzzz ss/buzz/justice
leopard3/teebird/banshee
valkyrie/thunderbird/firebird
thrasher/destroyer

What I find is that I have some discs I throw often and some I very rarely throw. I manipulate a leopard3 for quite a variety of shots, same with my buzzz. For forehands I prefer overstable discs. I also prefer to throw hard and not change how hard I throw a disc. If I did that, I could really survive and not see much loss with a reduced bag, such as:

spike/zone/buzzz/leopard3/thunderbird/firebird/destroyer

The discs I rarely use would be the buzzz ss and teebird.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to make a bag. But this is how I do it.

 

[zendragon]

I did the US, S, OS thing for awhile and tested different discs for each slot, but then my friend started challenging me to 2 and 3 disc rounds, challenging me to make a disc work for multiple shots. It also showed me that I score better with less disc options.

Now my OS fairway is also powered down to be my OS mid. My only other fairway is neutral and can be flipped to understate, and is all the distance driver I personally need. It may cost me 1-2 birdie looks based on the 20' loss of distance, but more than makes up for it on the other strokes I save by landing in the fairway more consistently.

I got down to playing with 6 discs this way that cover all of my shots. And yes, I have taken out a few of my favorite molds with this set up. But I also don't have a big arm, and probably have no businesses throwing some of my favorites anyway.

My point is, I don't think a top down approach or a set formula is the best way to make a bag. It's got to be more organic than that and will be different to every thrower.

 

[Three Putt]

This is an echo of stuff already said, but...

I've effectively been out for a year and 1/2 with injuries. Now I can't throw 1/2 the discs that made up my bag before, so I punted and started over. I picked three discs that were pretty neutral and versatile in the putter/mid/control driver slots and ended up with:
Putter-APX
Mid-Comet
Driver-JLS

From there, it is a "cover the holes" approach of shots I couldn't hit with those three discs. So far I have slotted in:
OS Mid-Gila
OS driver/forehand/utility disc-EXP 1
Turnover driver-beat to death DX Valk

I also have an Upshot in the bag, but It's a passenger so far. The APX has been covering all the putt/approach shots so I don't really need to fix what isn't broke. I'm not throwing the JLS very well, which leaves it open to being replaced and also lets me know I really don't need to have anything faster right now. The other discs are working out quite well.

I guess that was a formula approach?

 

[discerdoo]

I hereby proclaim that Keller may only bag 2 molds and SD86 must bag a minimum of 20 molds.

So let it be written, so let it be done!

 

[SD86]

I hereby proclaim that Keller may only bag 2 molds and SD86 must bag a minimum of 20 molds.

So let it be written, so let it be done!

My bag only carries 17 discs max, so the other three will have to be with me in spirit.

 

[discerdoo]

My bag only carries 17 discs max, so the other three will have to be with me in spirit.

Then you must manifest the other 3 molds.

 

[SD86]

Then you must manifest the other 3 molds.

Or manifest a new Grip bag to carry them all... :thmbup:

 

[biscoe]

When I switched over to Prodigy I had to completely rebuild my bag. At that point I simply looked for Prodigy analogs for whatever discs I was throwing previously. That begs the question though of how I arrived at what I was throwing to begin with. In retrospect I would say that I fit the "ground up" model more than the "top down"- I used the discs I knew I liked and tried to fill in around them.

 

[Casey 1988]

I use 10 molds with a few having the second one be the Star/ESP for about 1/3 of my molds, since I can power down on a slow slightly overstable midrange I do not need the overstable putter, and I can use the Valkyrie more so the Low dome Star plastic I have. I do not have a wind for most slots as if I need for windy day discs in my area, Pierre South Dakota needing a Viper or Champion/MF Gator and that might not be enough so I stay home if wind is past 35 mph for the steady wind.

 

[Casey 1988]

It will depend on several factors, including the course(s) you're playing on, your relative abilities, and what you like.

For me, mids are 'caught up' between longer approach putters and fairway drivers. So I only have a couple of those, and one of those, the Pink Panther, is used for utility purposes as much as normal mid purposes. Many people use a full range of mids, from OS to US, so YMMV on that.

Whether you cycle or use different molds, put into your bag what you might need. If your course has a lot of turnover shots, you might need some understable discs. If it's mostly open shots inviting hyzers from fast drivers, add your favorites.

My bag is built somewhat for my home course, but I can take it just about anywhere and have what I need for any shot that might come up. My home course is good in that it has open and technical/wooded holes requiring a variety of shots. So I generally have stable-to understable discs at intervals of speed, and a few very OS discs like the Hornet and Banshee and Destroyer (OS for me) when conditions and a particular shot needs them.

And one way to find out which discs you need... leave one at home on a given day. If you find yourself saying "Darn, I wish I had that Sphinx for this shot.", then that disc goes back in. If you take a disc out and never need it, maybe there's a space for a more needed disc. To me, part of the fun of DG has been trying discs and building my ideal-for-me bag.

Also Good way to find out if a disc you have is hurting your game, play with the disc and use it for what you are trying to use said disc with. That is how I knew the DX Stingray 175 grams and the 166 gram were not good for where I live or for me in general. I wanted a Super Stingray but those went oop when I made my choice and I found they still made the Shark 3 and using the Shark both plastics at 174 grams as a short midrange/long approach as well as the driving putter spot the Shark 3 made sense, got 2 at 176 grams for a mid, I prefer max weight or ~175 grams if max is not 175 grams for that midrange mold.