Discussion - Thoughts on how you choose your putter

[Sheep]

I always shake my head when someone is putting with brand new champion type plastic.

I putt with premium plastic only.
I cannot stand baseline plastic.

I also throw every disc in my bag though, so they wouldn't last long. I've never had any issues with putting with premium plastic, even in the single molds. I used proton pilots for a long time, man they stuck in the basket good. Which that's pretty close to champion plastic.

The Warlock came out of my hand cleaner with less wobble all Winter.

This is a thing I want to focus on that people seem to ignore.
"oh this feels good in my hand."
But, they are not concerned with how well it comes out of their hand.

But, then turn around and dump on Hokom cause her putt is so wobbly. There are not many smooth release putters out there playing regular disc golf. They all got janky ass wobbly putts.

A clean release putt with low wobble is going to have a higher scoring probability outside of 15 feet. These discs dont fly very well when they wobbling all over the place regardless of the speed they are thrown at.

 

[Sheep]

Feel matters more than flight for putters inside circle 1 IMHO. If we're talking about saving strokes Id argue youre better off investing time into finding a putter that's comfortable and really honing that in. Otherwise how do you even choose a putter? They all flythe same thing from inside 15 feet. Maybe once you get past 25 feet you will notice a difference but most of us ams arent going to be automatic outside 25 feet anyway.

I will concede from deeper than that flight characteristics start to matter a lot more.

Yeah, that's kind of the point of it when you look at it. Pretty much everything 15 and in .. you can putt with a nuke, rollo, envy, aviar, it doesn't matter. The flight of the putter is really more important the further you get out.

How many people continually are parking the basket within 15 feet every time in here where any of this discussion wont make a difference?

Whats that? Nobody is raising their hand?
Even the pro's are not parking the basket on that level where it doesn't matter.

Making big putts is what makes your score. It's great to have tap ins, but we must understand that a high level tap in is 10-15 feet. Not "drop in." 15 and in you should be 99.9% on the green if you want to have any level of scoring.
And the further out you get from the basket, and the higher you can keep those percentages, the better your score will be.

I'm not sure why I'm talking so much.
But I digress.

If we focus on finding a putter that gives our stroke an advantage further out without us having to have a completely different putting stroke for 20 feet, and another different stroke for 25 feet, then another different stroke for 30 feet. All to adjust to make a disc that might be to overstable for instance for your softer putt to go in the basket at those longer distances, so you're having to really swing it hard and work the hyzer, or you're really trying to do some weird flex thing vs having a putter that complements the swing.

I'll explain it in the video I make.

The only downside to a lot of this discussion is almost none of this applies to hyzer putters.
But if anyones also noticed, there are very few hyzer putting pro's anymore. Its some level of straight at teh basket.

 

[Dcinmd]

I putt with premium plastic only.
I cannot stand baseline plastic.

I also throw every disc in my bag though, so they wouldn't last long. I've never had any issues with putting with premium plastic, even in the single molds. I used proton pilots for a long time, man they stuck in the basket good. Which that's pretty close to champion plastic.

I thing a majority just hate the grip of the champion style plastic, especially when either cold or wet. Much easier to slip out of ones hand.

 

[Sheep]

I thing a majority just hate the grip of the champion style plastic, especially when either cold or wet. Much easier to slip out of ones hand.

It's been so long since I've even owned a champion plastic disc I couldn't tell you. I got star and Eco star here for any of my Innova stuff, or G-Star.

And I honestly dont throw much proton stuff from MVP. It's a great durable plastic, but... mostly neutron/plasma. Cause.. The platsics are so good.

MVP's a weird one when it comes to the overmold stuff too, cause the overmold catches chains different in the premium plastics. The baseline putters all have baseline overmolds though.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

I'm in the same camp about the feel... its a good starting point but sometimes people do have to get over themselves to get a good flight. Case in point COMET, get over the rim and learn it.

 

[dmadill001]

After the Starter set DX Aviar, I wanted a couple more to practice. Classic Aviars were cheaper, so I bought and putted with those exclusively for the first 5 years I played. Then, last year I started cracking a bunch of them in the cooler temps. Messed around with Pures, Warlocks, P1s, Atoms, and Fierces, but none of them made the bag. My requirements are beadless, straight, and glidey. Several of these options were close to what I wanted but not quite there. The whole time I really wanted to try R Pro Aviars, but they hadn't been run in a long time and were hard to find.

Finally, early this year or late last year, Innova ran R Pro Aviars and I was able to stock up. I even grabbed 4 white ones from the factory store in person while on a business trip (I prefer white for my bagged putters). I love them and will probably never change. They do have a bit more fade than classics, but I've come to appreciate it because it is a bit more reliable.

To summarize: Classic Aviar, then R Pro Aviar

 

[GeezerGolfDFW]

My choice depends on what I am doing. Am I putting into the wind? then my hard Sinus. If it is calm I might use my soft Sinus. If I am outside circle 1 then I use a different motion and I might use a Dagger instead for a floaty type throw.

 

[inboxcar]

I used Wizards and Magics exclusively for years...then decided to pick up a pair of tournament stamped Lunas a couple years ago to see what the hype was about when I cashed in a tournament. The first round I tried them out I literally made every putt I looked at so now I have way too many Lunas (The "making every putt I looked at" trend leveled back to reality pretty quickly though)

 

[strunk flugget]

Gosh this will be fun. First two discs were a dragon and a whippet so the whippet was my putter to start. Then I got a rhyno so I putted with that for a bit but then I decided to get serious. My first real putter was the aviar. I didn't know anything about what I was doing but I bought a champ orange aviar with purple foil stamp. I used that for a while until I started to realize I wanted something different from my putters. I moved to the challenger for a while but fell in love with Wizards not long after. Then MVP came on the scene and I moved to some neutron ions. Still, I didn't know a whole lot about putting but I did end up getting some electron ions. Somewhere in there I also had a proton anode that I ended up not liking which is ironic...

I stuck with ions for a few years and then I went putter crazy. I think my first new putter after the ion was the Pilot, then the Nomad, then the pure, then back to wizards and now, finally...Anodes. After all these years my putt has morphed into a spin putt with a little push and I find the anodes to be really comfortable in the hand. It was tough going when Simon picked up anodes but maybe now with the pixel I will have easier access.

 

[ChrisinFL]

I putt with premium plastic only.
I cannot stand baseline plastic.

I also throw every disc in my bag though, so they wouldn't last long. I've never had any issues with putting with premium plastic, even in the single molds. I used proton pilots for a long time, man they stuck in the basket good. Which that's pretty close to champion plastic.



This is a thing I want to focus on that people seem to ignore.
"oh this feels good in my hand."
But, they are not concerned with how well it comes out of their hand.

But, then turn around and dump on Hokom cause her putt is so wobbly. There are not many smooth release putters out there playing regular disc golf. They all got janky ass wobbly putts.

A clean release putt with low wobble is going to have a higher scoring probability outside of 15 feet. These discs dont fly very well when they wobbling all over the place regardless of the speed they are thrown at.

I care about how they feel in my hand, for sure, but I care even more about how they leave my hand, and how they fly for me. They need to leave my hand consistently, so I know what they are going to do, which, for me, mostly means go straight. For example, I loved the Soft Magnet, but with my small hands, either the depth, or that small bead, cause them to come out of my hand less than perfect, so I miss left or right too often. I love how they fly. I loved them on approach shots. But my make percentage at 20-30' just wasn't quite good enough. Now putting with Medium Zero Pure, which feels no better in my hand, but I just get a more consistent straight release. The wind pushes the Pure around too much, so in wind, I switch over to a Jawbreaker Banger-GT. I have to throw it a bit harder to get the same distance as the Pure, but the wind doesn't bother it as much. Then, on days when my Pure just seems 'off', or when I need to curve right, I switch to my second choice putter - Fierce. I have been playing rounds almost daily lately, so I have not been in the back yard putting in a while, but I will get back there again soon - hopefully tomorrow. I definitely tend to putt better when I have been getting in hundreds of practice putts. Got a Victor2 Penny arriving any day - a guy in this thread said it is a lot like the Pure but even easier straight distance. I shall see - I hope so. The best putter for me definitely helps elevate my game. I just won a round today against 2 guys that both out drive me, because I was consistent, and I made more putts. I shot par. 15' - I would say I am almost automatic if not very windy. Florida wind tricky - it can be gusty, stop, change directions - literally change 3 times all in the one minute you are getting ready to putt - really hard to predict and adjust for it. Anyways, 20' - about 70-80%. 30' - trying to get to 50% - definitely not there yet. Beyond 30' - about 10% - try as hard to leave them close as I try to make them, especially in any wind.

 

[Sheep]

I'm in the same camp about the feel... its a good starting point but sometimes people do have to get over themselves to get a good flight. Case in point COMET, get over the rim and learn it.

The comet was one of the few discs that I couldn't get passed the handfeel part of. I usually see it as a challenge to push passed the handfeel part, as its maybe 5% of what I care about in a disc, but the comet was.. just not there.

I have thrown them, as I have friends who play them. And they just dont come out of my hands well either. Luckily there are similar discs.

Gosh this will be fun. First two discs were a dragon and a whippet so the whippet was my putter to start. Then I got a rhyno so I putted with that for a bit but then I decided to get serious. My first real putter was the aviar. I didn't know anything about what I was doing but I bought a champ orange aviar with purple foil stamp. I used that for a while until I started to realize I wanted something different from my putters. I moved to the challenger for a while but fell in love with Wizards not long after. Then MVP came on the scene and I moved to some neutron ions. Still, I didn't know a whole lot about putting but I did end up getting some electron ions. Somewhere in there I also had a proton anode that I ended up not liking which is ironic...

I stuck with ions for a few years and then I went putter crazy. I think my first new putter after the ion was the Pilot, then the Nomad, then the pure, then back to wizards and now, finally...Anodes. After all these years my putt has morphed into a spin putt with a little push and I find the anodes to be really comfortable in the hand. It was tough going when Simon picked up anodes but maybe now with the pixel I will have easier access.

Ion/Anode/Spin share the same core.

MVP's core system should be what people who have a high requirement on handfeel are going for. You can run whole lines of disc speeds that all share the same core giving you almost identical hand feels from 3-8 different discs. It's silly to see people argue about why MVP sucks then talk about hand feel or whatever silly excuse they have.

I'm cool with whatever brand, as long as its not trillogy or prodigy. I search for the tools that can make me successful. Unfortunately, new Kasta stuff moved into that camp as lat64 is jacking with their plastics and molding.

I care about how they feel in my hand, for sure, but I care even more about how they leave my hand, and how they fly for me. They need to leave my hand consistently, so I know what they are going to do, which, for me,

Again, this is the largest point I'm trying to make. Hand feel is important putting, but only so much. It's 10 times more important about how it leaves your hand than how it feels in your hand. If your focus is handfeel, and not flight or release, then you'll never be a good putter if you ask me.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

@Sheep
"
The comet was one of the few discs that I couldn't get passed the handfeel part of. I usually see it as a challenge to push passed the handfeel part, as its maybe 5% of what I care about in a disc, but the comet was.. just not there.

I have thrown them, as I have friends who play them. And they just dont come out of my hands well either. Luckily there are similar discs."


There really is no substitute, when it comes to form and lines and physics there is nothing else that is a Comet.
Sounds like you should get over yourself and throw a disc that will do more benefit to your game rather than focusing on what feels good.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

I keep 4 putting putters.

One soft putter for death putts where I don't want to bounce off the cage. Currently using a RFF Wizard for that slot.

One "00" putter (something that's like 2,3,0,0) for dead straight 5-10 footer push putts. I use a Nexus Xero in one bag and a Eraser Voodoo in another.

One understable putter for those fancy right turn around a tree or obstacle putts. I use a Ponderosa in one bag and a Firm Magic in another.

One "do-it-all" putter.. usually a Wizard or something that is 2,3,0,2.. something with a little fade/overstability.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

I keep 4 putting putters.

One soft putter for death putts where I don't want to bounce off the cage. Currently using a RFF Wizard for that slot.

One "00" putter (something that's like 2,3,0,0) for dead straight 5-10 footer push putts. I use a Nexus Xero in one bag and a Eraser Voodoo in another.

One understable putter for those fancy right turn around a tree or obstacle putts. I use a Ponderosa in one bag and a Firm Magic in another.

One "do-it-all" putter.. usually a Wizard or something that is 2,3,0,2.. something with a little fade/overstability.

Nice setup, I kinda miss my voodoo and magic, I used to have a few of those first run evo's.. as well as the eraser, the right wizard was decent too.

Did you always carry that many putters? Or did you try to go with one or two and kept adding to the bag as needed?

Personally I did one or two, bounced up to 4 or 5, went minimal to one (or two matched), bounced up to 4 and have settled on about 3 now.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Nice setup, I kinda miss my voodoo and magic, I used to have a few of those first run evo's.. as well as the eraser, the right wizard was decent too.

Did you always carry that many putters? Or did you try to go with one or two and kept adding to the bag as needed?

Personally I did one or two, bounced up to 4 or 5, went minimal to one (or two matched), bounced up to 4 and have settled on about 3 now.

I throw mostly putters, mids and fairways so 4 is my minimum for putting putters.

That doesn't even include my two Pigs and a Huklab Aviar3 I use for off the tee driving putters.

Every disc in my bag has it's place and gets used pretty often. I'm very meticulous when it comes to what discs I keep in my bag.

 

[ChrisinFL]

I have over 50 putters - been willing to try a bunch of them. I routinely practice putt with all of them, competition style, to figure things out. I buy a new one now and then, and it has to compete in practice. I look for a 'top ten', which I use when practicing with just ten putters. I look for a top 3-4, which make my bag. I got to say, hands down, in wind, my 2 Jawbreaker Banger-GTs dominate. They were two of ten putters today, practicing on a windy day, and one of those two won 75% of many mini competitions. No wind, my best Fierce and my Medium Zero Pure seem to be the go to putters. 3/3/0/0, 3/3/-1/1, 3/4/-2/0, or right around there, seem to be my sweet spot. Every 5 glide I have tried has too much tendency to float up, glide, and fade left - way too many too long and too left. 2 glide just not enough. 3-4 glide - sweet spot. Sweet spot for turn is 0 to -2. Sweet spot for fade is 0-1; definitely like least fade possible, but also important they have a consistent amount of fade - predictable. One that fades a different amount from throw to throw is no good - need consistency.

 

[ChrisinFL]

The Premium plastics of Pennies have different flight numbers than the base line (Victor) plastics, and Lone Star actually says this on their website to help players out. The base plastics are much more understable in flight, but fly a very nice straight line with just a touch of reliable fade at the end when putting from circle 2. I love both the Pure and the Penny. The Penny just won me over with the glide. The premium plastics are better for throwing obviously.

Quick Reference
3/4/0/2 - Alpha, Bravo, Lima, Glow, Charlie, Founders
3/5/-1/1 - Victor 1 and Victor 2

Well, I got a Victor2 Penny, and tried it out today. 3/5/-1/1. Way too much tendency to float up and glide left, same as I found for all 5 glide putters. Pilot, Keystone - same thing. Some 4 glide putters do that on me too. I like Zero Pures, but I have a couple of old, beat in Pures that I bought used, and they do that, too. Too much glide, and they seem to catch even just a little wind, and they float up and left. Maybe it is a slight nose up issue, but with putters with less glide, less 'floaty' putters, I don't have that issue.

 

[Sheep]

There really is no substitute, when it comes to form and lines and physics there is nothing else that is a Comet.
Sounds like you should get over yourself and throw a disc that will do more benefit to your game rather than focusing on what feels good.

I see what you're trying to do here.

Hand feel aside of anything, cause I've worked past some nasty feeling discs and love them.
The Comet doesn't like to come off my hand good.

Come on over here though, we'll grab all my comet like mids and go play. it will be hilariously fun, bring your comets too.
And... When you throw the MRV, you'll see why I don't throw the comet. =)

 

[biscoe]

Comet is the only disc I have ever set aside for feel despite liking the flight. Fortunately there are plenty of substitutes.

 

[Sheep]

Comet is the only disc I have ever set aside for feel despite liking the flight. Fortunately there are plenty of substitutes.

Yeah, I was in the "want to throw, like the flights"

And just it doesn't work for me.
one of the few discs I truly cannot make work.

If I had to could I?
Yes.
But I don't wanna try "that" hard at disc golf.

There is a level of "handfeel" being important.

But people put far to much emphasis on it. Some of the handfeel stuff people need to just get over and its purely stupidity.

Other things is just your inability to make it release from your hand well.

One of the main reasons I know that handfeel is in most peoples heads was listening to MVP people talk about how they cannot throw the spin because the handfeel is horrible. While they putt with Ions.
The spin is the Ion core, the handfeels are identical.
It was all in their head.

I use the ion core as an example because it's a really troubled one for a lot of people with how the inside of the rim is.
I got over it on purpose because the spin is a very versatile disc.