Distance Difference Between Drivers and Mids

[BenHaavisto]

Hey guys so I consider myself to have decent form and can get good distance with putters and mids but I find that my drivers don't go that much farther. Doing fieldwork I was able to get an Innova spider farther than my drivers and on the course I was placing it about the same distance as my drivers (roughly 360ft) just looking for some advice when it comes to throwing drivers.

 

[armiller]

I'm guessing it's a nose angle issue? Drivers are way more sensitive to a nose-up release and tend to stall out.

Also, how do the flight paths compare? The Spider seems like a pretty straight disc which works well for distance. If you're throwing more overstable drivers that fade out earlier and don't get an S curve, you could be leaving some distance out there.

 

[BenHaavisto]

I could see it being nose angle issue, most recent fieldwork was with mostly stable/overstable drivers, although throwing a culverin, spark, verdict and a harp all on the same angle hyzer line all landed within 15ft of one another the harp went about 3 feet farther than the drivers, roughly 315-330

 

[billyjacko]

I think it might be a better practice of distance comparison to throw more neutral discs. I like to go Nova>Buzzz>Leo3>Tern in the field. My current distances would be 300'>320'>360'>375'. It gives me a better yard stick than say Harp>Verdict>Firebird>PD2 where my distances are more like 300'>305'>330'>340'.

One thing I know from experience is it's easy to get putters out close to 300' with decent snap and a high angle of release. If you get them up in the air, the high glide factor will carry the disc most of the way. When you get into faster discs, you need more speed and lower release angles to pump them out.

 

[armiller]

Interesting. If anything, I have the opposite problem. Something like a Teebird goes so much farther for me than my midranges. And some of my putters go farther than my midranges (especially my Pure) when I'm in an open field. From the distances, it sounds like you're having no problem getting your discs up to speed. If that's true, then improving your angles (hyzer angle, nose angle, and angle relative to the ground) ought to add distance to some of those drivers.

How are things going on the course? Fieldwork can be great, but it also encourages some lines that don't work well for golf.

 

[BenHaavisto]

I play mostly heavily wooded courses and a lot of them can be done with mids but won't always give looks for two, most driver backhand shots are for low ceiling shots but I can throw a similar line with a compass as well. and that is true with fieldwork lines, there is no way I would look at a wooded 320ft hole and think "I should throw the harp on this"

This topic mainly comes from the fact that playing one of my local courses there is a 390ft hole that ends right, where I used to throw a sheriff then switched to culverin because on the same line (low laser beam) I would get almost the same distance and I prefer the grip of the Culverin. Well last night I tried throwing the spider just for fun and I actually got closer to the basket than any of my normal drives (had about a 45 foot look left and a tad short) sadly didn't convert the putt but it made me think that something is wrong with how I throw drivers if an old school mid goes about the same distance.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

Could be as simple as getting used to wider rims and gripping them or being able to keep everything else like disc/arm angles loos shoulders and what not the same with different grips.

 

[Nenja]

Now I must say you throw further than me and I haven't thrown Culverin or Spark but aren't these very overstable? I was thinking about getting them as headwind drivers...

I bet that if you try something glidey less stable you'll get impressive distance.

 

[BenHaavisto]

To me the spark is indeed overstable, I throw both goldline and opto culverins and for me the opto ones are straight with a decently long fade and the gold ones are quite flippy, in particular a 166gl that I can hyzer-flip and have it hold the anny line on it the whole way through the flight.
I will have to take some more glidey discs out for a test run and see how those fare and will post results

 

[billyjacko]

I don't know what the Trilogy equivalent would be, but I'd recommend trying a FD, Leo3, or Patriot. They're all pretty similar neutral fairway drivers that can handle quite a bit of power.

 

[lucasgg]

If your drivers are flying roughly the same distance as your mids, you are throwing your drivers nose up. Keep the driver parallel to your forearm and swing and release on a flat plain.

Please post a video of you throwing both mids and drivers so we can determine your problem without debating useless information and spinning our wheels to get no where

 

[BenHaavisto]

I'd recommend trying a FD, Leo3, or Patriot.

Have you tried a Bandit? I have access to one and it's super nice looking, would that be similar to a longer patriot?

 

[DiscFifty]

I've had this similar thing for almost 2 years. I started doing a ton of research, talking to local pros, etc, etc. One thing became obvious. Arm speed will only get you so far, you need more spin to maximize distance potential. I've been doing long term field work with putters. A by product of improving putter distance is you will also "automatically" develop more snap, spin, etc. Because to get a putter out to 275-300+ it's not just about arm speed, putters need that spin to glide far. So here's the thing.... by adding more snap to my form, that separation in distance from mids to drivers finally happened. My drivers now travel a minimum of 50ft further than my mids.

I'm an old fart, but I also routinely do field work with a local young gun who can now throw 550ft plus. The same thing applied to him. He was plateaued around 400ft or so. We worked on putter throws, he started throwing putters out to 360-400ft and then all hell broke loose and he now throws drivers 550+. His arm speed was fine, but he just didn't develop that natural snap to spin the disc more for that extra glide. I totally agree with people that say "snap happens automatically", but you can really dial it in (quicker?) by working those putters into your field work session and keeping track of how far you can throw them.

 

[Muddyboots]

In addition to practice, which rarely hurts, you might try and find a driver or fairway driver mold that feels more like a mid. If you could replicate your mid grip, with a mold that has more distance potential, you might pick up some good habits. I would recommend a Stalker or Zombee, as those are the molds that I am most familiar with that fit your criteria.

KP

 

[summit617]

I hear the Gobi is another nice glidey midrange . maybe you need to hone in on that bio sheriff in your bag and learn the flip

 

[Cool]

I have similar experience to the OP. Frankly, midrange discs were always the "Jan Brady", unwanted middle child in my bag. But, now that I have better "snap" and disc rotation, I adore my midranges, with the favorite being Opto Compass. I throw it every chance I can for up to 300 feet. To get to 375 feet, my max distance, I go to drivers (Crank and Nuke), but accuracy suffers. I now try to use my midrange every opportunity I can, and I find that my card mates grab drivers when midranges likely would have done them better. I keep my mouth shut, though, and just watch them go into the shrubs or OB. LOL. Let 'em find their own secrets! LOL.

 

[Monocacy]

I read somewhere that mids typically fly about 85% of fairway driver distance. That seems to match my experience fairly well.