High Speed Drivers Goodbye! Hope to see you in my bag another day

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

My distance pretty much stalled out around the 300 feet range for the last 6-9 months. I've been playing almost 3 years. I also noticed I can often throw a fairway driver as far as a good Blizzard Katana or Nuke SS throw.

I've been very resistant to give up on fast discs, even though this forum and people have talked to says you don't get anything out of high speed until you can throw a Mid or Putter 300 feet consistently. Then I went and played a round with all Mids and Putters the other day and threw my Squall over 300 feet. Hmmmm....that is a long mid range so it doesn't really count, but still - my accuracy with a Squall is 10 times better than a Blizzard Katana. So I have decided to make the break from High Speed for a while. Goodbye Blizzard Katana, Nuke SS, Flow, Destroyer, Blizzard Destroyer, etc. etc.

BTW: My AfterShock is slightly shorter. My Buzzz SS is tough to get over 250, and I have to hyzer flip - which hurts my consistency due to the variable angle.


Now here are my questions:

1) What Fairway/Control drivers are OK to play with?

I'm keeping my Vision, Volt, FR Shock and Teebird. I'm ordering a Saint. I never got the river to work well for me. What others should I try?


2) What should be my goal in DG life before I let some speed slip back in and go for more distance?

Throw my Buzzz SS 300 feet consistently with hyzer flip?

Or should I get a regular Buzzz I can throw flat, or does my AfterShock count? Do I need to throw flat 300 feet?

Or should I try to make my Ion, Breaker or Magnet go 300 feet? Should I only declare victory when I can throw a low-glide putter?


3) When I can't stand it anymore and want to move up to Speed 10 and higher, what should I try?

Maybe a Beast, Speed 10? OR hyzer flipping a Sidewinder, Speed 9?

I ordered a Dynamic Disc Trespass for fun. Not sure how fast that is, but it sure looked fast and easy to throw when I saw my buddy throw one.


4) What should I do to improve distance at home?

I think I'll go do the hammer pound exercises first.

Maybe I'll send in a video to tear apart my form one of these days.


Thanks for any advice!

 

[Titan037]

Try out the mvp drivers. They are around a speed 9 and bomb...forever. I am a forehand thrower and can get an amp out to 350 on a calm day. 400 on a tailwind. They are accurate, straight and snap sensitive, so if you have a good snap, they will go the distance...literally.

EDIT: saw you have a volt, keeping working with that and try the amp as well.

 

[depster]

I really need to do this. I can already get my rocs out to 300 but I'm thinking I'm gonna drop everything but my rocs, echo star teebird, and dx teebird. Honestly I really should try pushing my voodoos to 300 instead of movin my rocs up a notch. Both sound like a good idea.

 

[biodarwin]

1) What Fairway/Control drivers are OK to play with?

I'm keeping my Vision, Volt, FR Shock and Teebird. I'm ordering a Saint. I never got the river to work well for me. What others should I try?

This is mostly a preference. Just stick with anything not completely over stable. Personally I prefer Leopards and Eagles.

2) What should be my goal in DG life before I let some speed slip back in and go for more distance?

280-300ft with mid-ranges.

3) When I can't stand it anymore and want to move up to Speed 10 and higher, what should I try?

Kind of a personal preference, but I believe everyone's first distance driver should be a Valkyrie or something similar to it.

4) What should I do to improve distance at home?

Its probably easier to work on putting at home, everyone can use more practice putting, but if you do want to work at home the towel snap drills work great as do Bradley Walker's closed shoulder drill.

 

[wake911]

(this is how I do it, might not work for everyone, but has for quite a few people I've helped)

watch video of good distance driving pros. Watch their hips. Watch how their hips erupt around right before their arm does and just pulls their arm through at a faster speed than you could make your arm alone go. That's the key to distance. (Garrett Gurthie has crazy fast hip turn)

go to wide open field, don't care about accuracy AT ALL. and let some rip. Try to get your hips to erupt as fast as you can (like the pros). Don't care where the disc goes, you are trying to learn the feeling of nailing that power and timing of hips.

once you get the hips into it, then you can start focusing on your arm pull, keeping it tight to your body, and focusing on release angle, disc angle, reach back height, distance, etc.

But until you learn the hip turn, you won't be able to get that maximum distance. And the best way I've found to learn that is to give up on accuracy for that practice session in a safe open field.

I still do this about once a month. More often when I'm playing tight technical courses where power isn't a big thing. If I start losing a little distance on the course, I'll have practice sessions where I'll throw 10-20 discs just as hard as I can in a big field, trying to dial in more hips, more power. I'll have horrible shots, some 45 deg angle to the left and some 45 deg angle to the right. Just trying to regain the timing and hip turn that I've lost. Once I get a few with the good hip turn I can start dialing in the timing and release point again, but without those wild throws of re-learning my power, I can't get my golf power back.

 

[Monkeypaws]

The Underworld from Westside is pretty sweet; as easy to control as a mid, with easy glidey distance.

 

[MrDarkHorse]

I don't think it can be overstated how good the Leopard is. Long, straight, and easy to throw.

Beyond that, any combination of the Eagle, Teebird, or TL (my favorite) are an excellent pick.

 

[davmer2303]

The legacy patriot and rival are a good combo. The Underworld is great on the really glidey, understable side. And the escape is, I believe a 9, and gives very controllable distance. But, any of the above (Eagle, teebird, leopard) isd wonderful too. There are a lot of good fairway drivers out there.

 

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

How about the hyzer flip aspect?

Is part of learning to throw with lots of snap and power getting used the angle you need to throw a less stable disc without flipping all the way over to the Right?

If I can only get to 300 feet with my Buzzz SS by throwing it on a hyzer angle and having it flip up straight, does that still count as having good form and power?

 

[bikinjack]

How about the hyzer flip aspect?

Is part of learning to throw with lots of snap and power getting used the angle you need to throw a less stable disc without flipping all the way over to the Right?

If I can only get to 300 feet with my Buzzz SS by throwing it on a hyzer angle and having it flip up straight, does that still count as having good form and power?

I don't think of it at all in terms of learning release angles. To me it's about learning to throw the more understable stuff without it turning and burning. Its about using discs that tell you when you're rolling your wrist or not following through on the same plane as the rest of your throw or any of the other things that cause the turn and burn. Slower discs do this well because they don't hide their stability with their speed. Its about getting feedback from your discs and learning from that feedback. Nukes and Bosses and the like don't give you the same kind of feedback.

You may find that you don't want or need to "disc back up". You might do it for a month and figure out something and realize that you can "disc back up" with great success.

 

[jtrod]

Legacy Patriot and Rival are awesome. I also carry and throw a Leopard (understable/shorter) and Eagle X (overstable/shorter). Try a Valkyrie and/or Avenger SS, they are money. I use a Mamba for turnover shots, but I have seen guys without the big arms get some distance with this disc. I have a teebird but I only use it for accurate upshots and sliding shots to the basket, but others seem to like it for accurate distance.

Lastly if you dont like your River, I wouldnt mind giving it a toss.

I traded to try out a Sidewinder, Im not too sure about the disc, in the park I can get some distance but im not accurate with it and with the -3 I thought it would be more understable but its been pretty straight.

 

[topdog]

Get at Star TL and a icon Patriot you won't be sorry.

 

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

Thanks folks! I'll investigate the Disc options suggested and work on getting consistent distance and straight lines with Mids and fairway drivers. I will probably start with a Valkyrie when I go back to trying higher speed drivers - that was an old favorite of mine, will be nice to remaster.

jtrod: already gave my River away to my buddy - he loves it.