Discing Up in Winter

[thatdirtykid]

I tend to disc up, and disc down during the colder months. I disc up where I would be pushing a putter or a mid there. However, due to cold hands, slick teepads and elevation (feels like it takes more effort to throw max D drivers up here) I tend to throw my slower more controllable drivers, where I often would be hucking a nuke and barely reaching the pin.

 

[Ryan C]

I actually hate Opto plastic the cold. In normal conditions its nice and stiff and grippy, but in when it gets below freezing, its as hard as a rock and slick.

This weather has made me appreciate FLX plastic, believe it or not.

 

[Stover]

I have noticed I throw almost exclusively forehand in the winter. Since you can generate so much more power on a stand still or one step forehand than backhand. The conditions effect my backhand sooooo much more than my forehand.

Throwing a lot of forehand will also help in a part of the game most people don't practice enough in the summer.

 

[JoshEpoo]

I also lose 10-15% on my drives, forehand and backhand, just due to the cold's effect on the disc and it's flight.

I'm backhand dominant but I have a decent (~325') forehand. I lose less distance because of adverse conditions on my forehand (~25% max) than I do my backhand (up to ~40%). That's because my backhand footwork and form are more developed.

I feel safer throwing forehand because it doesn't require as much rotation/pivoting. Where I could comfortably throw my putter 250' backhand during summer, in the snow, I'd rather throw a stand still forehand shot with a fairway driver. As a result, I disc up and throw most approaches and drives sidearm.

 

[JR]

Oh joy now we have 70 cm of snow and there's more raining today and tomorrow. Crotch time soon enough again :twisted:

I too have resorted to more FH throws in second throws because it is a great skill to possess. I fully recommend it to everyone but keep in mind that FH can be greatly taxing for your health when done wrong. The cold will worsen the problems.

 

[Varsi]

Oh joy now we have 70 cm of snow and there's more raining today and tomorrow. Crotch time soon enough again :twisted:

And we have about ankle deep in Kuopio. I think they promised a few millimeters more today.

Last time I was at the local course I was using only C-MD2 and champ Rhyno. Rhyno wasn't such a good idea since I hadn't used it before, missed a lot of birdies. Well... hadn't really used C-MD2 before either but was getting the usual mid range distance of mine out of it from tees (80m or so). I doubt I'd get more distance with distance drivers unless there's really good footing.

Now that the temperature is a bit up again I really want to go playing a bit. Need to check if anyone cares to join in this close to the christmas tho. Somewhat important to have someone watching where the discs come down.

 

[Dana]

Anyone catch the Sports Science special on Sportscenter today? It is about competing (focus is on football) in cold weather.

 

[dgdave]

I did. It was pretty interesting.

 

[Frank Delicious]

So what did they say about playing sports in the winter?

 

[ChampionMonarch]

that it's cold

 

[JR]

I did field practice yesterday which is among the craziest things i've done ever in DG given the 70 cm of snow and that so much of is fluffy so the discs sink in easily. Deep and travel far under the snow not leaving a trace up top. Didn't lose any discs but walking and in one place where the wind had piled up snow higher i had a touchdown. The crotch has landed. Standing up. Argh!

I was doing equipment testing because i wanted to see what a lot of new gear and new combinations of old equipment did. In 23F bee's wax worked great. Sodium acetate packs didn't work that long outside so they need to be put into well insulated place and there my too large mittens came in handy. Those packs were a major improvement in reducing pain and restoring grippyness of the skin. My new shoes remain to be tested properly for D because i didn't use the cleats because i dug up too much snow and didn't want to damage the cleats and the tartan underneath. After 17 minutes of digging i wasn't about to put the snow back to the track. Vibram soles in Lowa Renegade lo worked for grip quite well but no sole is gonna help when ice breaks under you and you skate on the ice piece. There's no replacement for cleats other than risking trousers and health with cramp ons. And those need stiff shoes that limit mobility of the ankle.

I didn't clear a long enough track to make a full powered run up so i can't tell what the lacks of cleats and new shoes did for my D. Now i lost D in a serious way. I s-curved a Z Nuke 169 to 330'. Maybe i should have made just an x step grr. The conditions meant that i was cold and spent minutes searching every single disc and digging up them after spotting took over a minute each time. I was also testing using just a running jacket for breathability and the muscles certainly weren't warm. Even though the lack of restriction from the clothes allowed fast arm motions which felt good. Unfortunately that didn't translate to D. Discs were fading too early until i disced down to a Champ Leopard. I didn't get an accurate measure of it but i got it to about 290-300'. Roc to 265' and a broken in FR Ringer maybe 250'. So it would seem that proper equipment and warming up and staying warm makes all the difference in the world to retaining D in the winter. And even small details can rob dozens of feet from the throw. I lost 80' from maximum summer time airborne distance (and more from the lack of skips) with the Nuke and about 40-50' of average D from Leopards. Roc was only a little shorter than in the summer. I think that a Buzzz or a tweener disc between mids and fairway drivers would have had a quite nice distance retaining flight with tolerance for lost power from slipped steps. I need to lengthen the track and use the cleats to see just how much D i'll regain.

In these conditions a full speed run up is extremely rare to get unless bringing a shovel with you.

I have no clues to staying warm and not sweating other than getting a warmer breathing jacket. My stomach and sides were red from the cold when i returned and the temperatures will drop seriously so at the moment my gear ain't good enough. I sweat a lot and am not in top form so i generate heat wading in the snow and when i stop i get cold. When i lost only 10' the snow wasn't thick and i didn't need to limit throws to two per set so i was much warmer in the muscles. That is not a realistic expectation for rounds.

Unfortunately it seems that my 280 grams per square meter merino wool shirt doesn't wick and breath enough :-( That's twice as bad because it covers the neck and having to replace it with a scarf reduces breathing and wicking seriously. Doh!Luckily I have other wool shirts that breathe and are thicker to try. So i may avoid the need to buy a new and inevitably expensive jacket. At least for these relatively warm temperatures.

My gaiters may have protected the trousers somewhat but otherwise they were of little importance because the snow was way higher. Come to think of it i was colder above the gaiters than under the gaiter but it's a small comfort.

Because the snow is horrible at the moment for hiding the discs and sometimes obscuring the entry hole partially or fully i think base plastic needs to be employed because you lose less money when you lose the disc. I'm afraid that even with a spotter losing discs will be inevitable not to mention playing alone. That is why the discs need to land as flat as possible and the bag needs to change accordingly. DX Valks to the bag and now i have a reason to throw Rocs and probably buy D Buzzzes. I need to color my 169 DX Leo and give it a go. Roadrunners may get new use. And i got FLX plastic for winter time playing and now i think i need to protect them. Irony. Considering i don't use them in the summer. FLX Surge SS fades harder than Z and is a bit problematic because even with fairly wide s-curves and weight back/neutral throws that are a problem in slippery conditions apexing at about 12-14' the disc faded to enough hyzer to dive deep into the snow.

 

[JR]

I tested my larger sodium acetate pack Vaude taschenwärmer(pocket warmer) and it is in a completely different league to the smaller packs i tested yesterday. I put the Vaude into my glove and went to the grocers and came back and it was still warmer than my hand. So it works for at least 40 minutes. I didn't touch it afterward so i can't say how long it will work.

 

[Frank Delicious]

me, reading this page:

 

[JR]

That is too cheerful of an expression on his face for the crotch high snow i'm dealing with. Extreme situations demand extreme solutions sometime. Hatching a plan and realizing it is always gonna take some experimentation. The more complicated and difficult the problem is the more trial and error is usually needed.

Would you stop playing if you got snow to the balls? I wouldn't but the cold means it gets dangerous to the health to get out on consecutive days because of dropped core temperature. Despite drinking hot water from a thermos and warming up hands with the sodium acetate packs. They are nice for the throat and neck too. It ain't cold enough yet to need nose and ear warming but i'm sure it'll come to that eventually.

 

[J-Man]

ah, Frank... ...love it so

 

[money 21]

i played a round today in 20 degree weather.No snow but a slight wind so it felt fridged. I wore a finger less wool glove on my throwing han and had a hand warrmer in my pocket and this worked well. I shot an average score for me. I did loss some distance because of my coat and less secure grip. One thing that was wierd to me was that my star plastic seemed get way more stable in the cold while my dga proline and Gold line stuff seemed to loose stablity strange.

 

[Loop]

I heard a nice tip from a Finnish pro player how to keep your discs safe in thick snow. Take some gift string (about 50 cm) the kind you use for x-mas presents etc...As narrow as possible. Attach the string on top of the disc with Duct Tape. Voila, much more visible in snow. The down, or upside to this is that it slows the disc and makes it more stable. For example I use PD as GM and DD2 as a PD. Also about throwing in deep snow, I have given up the run-up. Basically I throw standing still, or just use one step. This way I wont ruin my run-up form.

 

[JR]

Most players used ribbons on many discs at Meilahti Millennium XII today. I'm not sure if i was the only one without any discs with ribbons. Plenty of open players of the highest caliber were present. Ville Piipo won, Seppo Paju second, Leo Piironen third, Kalle Savonen edged out Teemu Nissinen in the final. I had trouble with grip because i was testing my new Lowa Renegade Lo shoes and didn't put on Veriga spikes on purpose. It made the event way more physically demanding than i'm used to thanks to the spikes. I was so tired that i made some thinking mistakes in discing up (and not doing that when i should have) and i definitely lost a few strokes to wrist rolls and unplanned tilting of the hips. The snow gave out under me on several occasions even at the slowest of run up speeds. That's because the tees weren't even and i was so tired that i wasn't gonna kick the snow off the tees just to have the others trash the tees again. I got cramps in the legs so i was already beyond my capability thanks to not getting enough sleep and time to recuperate from work before the competition. I would have had my butt handed to me anyway so it doesn't really matter Even the Vibram sole wasn't enough to keep me upright or on planned course and angles on many occasions -there's no replacing the spikes. The spikes go back from now on. I can't afford to injure myself any more than i already have.

 

[DeadEye]

Although I don't get the crazy temperatures here in Texas, I did notice that once it got under about 40 I started throwing considerably shorter. Just guessing it probably has to do with a mix of A. More clothing restricting movement B. Tenser muscles C. Denser air

 

[MasterP97]

I sure as hell don't know the science behind it, but I disc up for almost every shot in the winter. My local courses don't even have concrete teepads so I play on ice or snowy pads all winter. Throw shorter for sure.

I hear that, I've considered moving away from Alaska for that reason sometimes. I use my Gazelle at times that I'd throw a mid or sometimes a putter.