[Compare] How much disc speed is really needed?

[Jacobpaul81]

Well said. maybe that's why I'm a midrange junkie.....I'm ALL about the second shot!

I highly recommend seeking out low profile Putt / Approach discs and developing your distance with them. If you can learn to maximize your distance with speed 3-4 putt / approach discs, you'll begin to increase your distance with your speed 5 midranges as well. Soon you'll be teeing off with putt / approach or midranges and all them fancy drivers start to only come out on open holes where you can line shape for extra distance.

 

[Odedge]

I guess I need to clarify...

Perhaps it'd be easier if I discuss in terms of disc selection vs. type of shot. On a par 54 course, you should be reaching for a driver (Distance, Fairway, Midrange) at MAXIMUM 18 times. If you shoot a 54, you will therefore reach for a Putt / Approach disc a MINIMUM 36 times.

Understand that while these numbers will fluxtuate... based on course and performance... an average round should always have a sizeable difference in use between Drivers and Putt / Approach. The irony here being most players obsess over carrying tons of drivers... and one putt / approach disc (which they commonly refer to as their "putter"). It should be reversed. Your most variety of molds should be in your Putt / Approach and Midrange Driver categories, followed by Fairway Drivers, and finally Distance Drivers.

I rarely throw a driver (Distance, Fairway, Midrange) 18 times on a course. It'd have to be a pretty long course. I'm reaching for a putt / approach disc whenever possible. I follow that with my Midrange. Fairway drivers when I have to. And Distance Drivers only when I can't reach with anything else.

I hear what you are saying and I am now stuck somewhere in between. As I get better at my driving, I am now buying higher speed discs as I try to extend my drives on the longer holes. On the flip side, I now buying slower discs to drive on shorter holes.

I learned to drive on 200'+ holes with mid-ranges until I needed to go farther with 300'+ holes. I still use mid-ranges for holes 250' to 300'. I need to get some more approach discs for drives as well. More people should work up from putters/approach discs and go up from there.

 

[Streets]

According to Simon, distance drivers are useless for about 90% of disc golfers. I tend to agree with that statement.

 

[Jacobpaul81]

According to Simon, distance drivers are useless for about 90% of disc golfers. I tend to agree with that statement.

100% agree.

Unless you're cresting 350', you shouldn't be throwing anything above Fairway.

Oh, and it's Midrange DRIVER. Folks see "Midrange" and they think "approach".

I made these common mistakes for nearly 2 decades. :doh:

 

[PMantle]

100% agree.

Unless you're cresting 350', you shouldn't be throwing anything above Fairway.

Oh, and it's Midrange DRIVER. Folks see "Midrange" and they think "approach".

I made these common mistakes for nearly 2 decades. :doh:

Yeah, I don't agree with any of this.

 

[aphilso1]

I don't know. I think the "uselessness" of fast discs comes from the perspective that a) low power players will make bad decisions and b) the goal is to lower your average score, so reducing the number of bad decisions will achieve the ultimate objective. I don't fully agree with this for a variety of reasons.

Regarding assumption 'a':
-Yes, there is some validity to this. I've seen guys throw Destroyers on every hole, even ones shorter than 250'. Those individuals would clearly benefit from trying to throw slower discs more often. However, their fundamental problem is learning course management more so than having Destroyers in the bag. There is a time and place for each type of disc, and the way to get better is to learn when to use the correct tool for the job.
-Players would benefit by playing solo rounds where they throw two drives, one with their usual wide-rimmed driver and one with a putter or midrange. That gives them a chance to see the trade-off between distance and control, which then empowers them to make better decisions on disc selection in the future.

Regarding assumption 'b':
-I'm still a relatively new player (2 years). There are a lot of rounds when I play by myself and I don't even keep score; my objective isn't to score better, it's to learn more about what shots I can pull off and what discs to use to do that. So yeah, I throw a lot of fast stuff in rounds that don't count, because I'm trying to execute low percentage shots and grow my game. However, in rounds that matter, I will disc down and throw the high percentage shots rather than the hero shots. Because in those rounds, my objective is scoring better right now rather than gaining skills to score better in the future.

 

[Jacobpaul81]

I hear what you are saying and I am now stuck somewhere in between. As I get better at my driving, I am now buying higher speed discs as I try to extend my drives on the longer holes. On the flip side, I now buying slower discs to drive on shorter holes.

I learned to drive on 200'+ holes with mid-ranges until I needed to go farther with 300'+ holes. I still use mid-ranges for holes 250' to 300'. I need to get some more approach discs for drives as well. More people should work up from putters/approach discs and go up from there.

100% agree. Putt / Approach should be the core of every players game. If you can throw a putter 300' cleanly and with consistency, courses get shorter.

The whole point here is that emphasizing control over speed results in consistently lower scores. With speed, comes a lack of control, resulting in a lack of consistency.

 

[Jolt]

For a young kid fast discs is cool. .

I had a training for new players, a group of young kids last weekend. . and a few of the 10y kids had a Star Destroyer as their only disc!!

After talking to them and their dads the conclusion was. . "we know this is not the right disc for us...but thats the disc we want"

"we want to throw far so we bought a fast cool disc" . . then i gave them a Polecat, the slowest disc i own, and they could throw that Polecat further that the Destroyer. . .. sadly thats the same story every time

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I'm not advocating the use of distance drivers for 250 ft shots, but this is worth emphasizing:

I've seen guys throw Destroyers on every hole, even ones shorter than 250'. Those individuals would clearly benefit from trying to throw slower discs more often. However, their fundamental problem is learning course management more so than having Destroyers in the bag. There is a time and place for each type of disc, and the way to get better is to learn when to use the correct tool for the job.

 

[PMantle]

The biggest problem I see with fast discs is not that lower power player throw them. It's that they throw them too often. I can't get some guys to realize that if they are throwing under 300 or are approaching the basket, they have much better options in their bag waiting to be thrown.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

The biggest problem I see with fast discs is not that lower power player throw them. It's that they throw them too often. I can't get some guys to realize that if they are throwing under 300 or are approaching the basket, they have much better options in their bag waiting to be thrown.

Its so hard to get people to understand this. I see people a lot that max out around 250', and see them fade out early on distance drivers they shouldn't be throwing but then grab a midrange for their second shot and easily throw it damn near as far. Try and get them to throw the mid off the tee and they crank on it and shank it ... and back to the driver.