[Question] Is it more about the number of molds or total number of discs for you?

[austin1]

While I haven't been playing a lot I'm all about mold minimaization AND somewhat disc minimization. Although I havemt been playing long enough to cycle I definitely am gonna go the simple approach with about 6 molds and 10 discs. Atleast simple for me

 

[Aim For The Chains]

a handful of nuke os in different stability and an aviar is all i need. im rated 975 and climbing too

:hfive: don't forget the theory bra. anyone who throws it gets birdies'

 

[DanJon]

I used to only throw five molds. Wraiths, Firebirds, Eagles, Rocs and Aviars.

Mold Minimalization is a great way to improve your understanding of disc flight and manipulation. If you have a disc for every shot, you're never going to learn how to make one certain disc fly different lines. Having minimal molds helps improve your game, although once you reach a certain point you can definitely branch off and add discs for those shots you need.

And I dont know how you could confuse which Roc is your flippy one. Do you really not pay that much attention in life?

 

[elmexdela]

:hfive: don't forget the theory bra. anyone who throws it gets birdies'

too many chain outs with it. i keep almost getting aces but that overmold keeps spitting out.

so yeah i settle for birdies

 

[ThomasOrion]

I used to only throw five molds. Wraiths, Firebirds, Eagles, Rocs and Aviars.

Mold Minimalization is a great way to improve your understanding of disc flight and manipulation. If you have a disc for every shot, you're never going to learn how to make one certain disc fly different lines. Having minimal molds helps improve your game, although once you reach a certain point you can definitely branch off and add discs for those shots you need.

And I dont know how you could confuse which Roc is your flippy one. Do you really not pay that much attention in life?

I used to carry a handful of buzzz's And sometimes the one I THOUGHT was gonna flip, didn't and same with the OS one turning more than I remembered. So I like what I do now.....I pay close attention to...ooo look a squirrel!

 

[Timeetyo]

I can definitely see the fewer mold argument and why that is superior. I haven't been playing long enough to get wear cycles going in molds that are appropriate for that.

However, my potential issue with the 3-4 discs per mold in wear stages, is that if I lose a disc then that could be an issue since another may not be at that wear stage. I've been planning my bag to have discs that I can buy pretty much brand new that do what I want. Sticking to higher end plastic so that they stay that way for as long as possible.

Once I've played for longer and I have some beat OS discs in star or similar plastic, then maybe I won't be using the more neutral brand new molds anymore...who knows. But at the moment I try to identify what I need (generally a neutral/slightly US plus an OS disc at each speed category), and try to match distance/feel for each of them so they aren't crazy different. It definitely takes me a couple weeks before I'm confident with a disc though, so I definitely see the downside.

Lets just say that I have recently seen the light in regards to mold minimalization. For quite some time I've been using a variety of drivers to get the different stabilities that I wanted. I had been starting to get annoyed that my primary star sidewinder has been slowly getting more and more flippy and a bit less reliable. Then it dawned on me....it was flying exactly like my other turnover drivers (mongoose & inertia) had been. So I started using it for those shots...instant love again....and -2 molds from my bag. The same week I also played my first glow and finally broke out my glow champ SW. Wow - very beefy for a SW. Tossed it in the bag and I now have a few different SWs covering 3 different stabilities (and therefore 95% of my distance drives) instead of having this covered with 3-4 molds.

I get your concern though....if I lost that flippy SW today (/shudders) it would leave a hole in my bag until I got another back to that stage. I'm sure it'll happen at some point - but that's why I work in backups as well. Worst case - I'll have a good reason to work on thumber fieldwork.

Also - in the beginning I was carrying duplicates that were exactly identical (I play a lot of 2 shot rounds). Since my discs have gradually picked up different wear it has made me much more aware of the slight differences and how to use them to my advantage.

 

[Kodachrome]

both, but i prefer fewer molds. it simplifies things, and here's why.

i'm looking for a roc that flies nicely overstable to cycle. i examine all the rocs and find one with the highest parting line. now i can use that roc as a measuring stick knowing that it is going to be one of the most overstable rocs i'll see regularly on shelves. i can use it to buy other rocs that i cycle through. they are all going to get beat up, so if i want one that flies less overstable off the bat i will buy one with a lower parting line.

perfect.

now, what about a different setup?

i'm looking for a fuse to fill my understable role. i look at all the fuses, pick one that seems to have a parting line height somewhere in the middle with the rest of the fuses instead of going too far one way or the other, high or low, and i hope to god it flies how i want it to fly. if it does, good, acquire backups and bring that fuse in to compare. but it introduces uncertainty, which i don't like.

i like to start with something moderately overstable so i can find something to season in and i know will be reliable. from there i can work my way down. it's harder to do the reverse, and i am a picky SOB even though i'm not very good.

for me, cycling is just simpler and eliminates a lot of guesswork. it also teaches me how to manipulate angles and throw different shots when i don't have a disc perfectly beat in, say if i lost one recently. it's a good training refresher. it's also nice to just throw a simplified bag.

 

[slowplastic]

It seems also that it is harder to minimize driver molds for the average powered player compared to midranges/fairways.

For example, most decent players can cycle Rocs or whatever mids and use one for turnovers eventually. Higher level players do that with Teebirds, they get to the point where they can do turnovers with champ Teebirds and don't need something a bit more neutral off the shelf.

Take that another level...somebody like McBeth only throws Destroyers for max speed as far as I know. I have a Destroyer worked in to straight/minimal fade, and I have thrown beefy ones that can be my spike hyzer/hyzer bomb disc...but I don't know if the typical "serious" player will have the power to make a Destroyer act like their Katana/Tern/whatever for tailwinds and turnovers.

My point is, I love manipulating angles and being familiar with molds with mids/fairways...but at a certain speed rating it seems the turn and fade of the discs becomes a lot more extreme, and it's harder to depend on one or even two distance molds to cover "everything" in that high speed category. Or am I just making excuses to carry around a few more drivers? Thoughts?

 

[grotto]

No, I don't think you're making excuses. For the average player (Like me) the drivers seem to be the hardest spot to feel comfortable with. Every week some newer and greatest disc comes along that will solve all are problems, "so we think".

I have all my fairway, mids and putters set and after dabbling with many drivers, I noticed that my bench mark drivers are the Wraith and Valkyrie, (have 3 of each in different plastics) I use these the most and know them the best, When I play practice rounds, I bag a Tern, Orc and Archon to toss around, but my go to's are still the same. I do think the Orc is going to make the bag though.

Part of the fun and frustration is trying new plastic and when it doesn't become fun trying new plastic anymore, we settle into becoming proficient with what we have come to know. I also like that what I have come to throw is easily available, I don't have to mail order and hope it feels right or drive 200 miles to replace some odd plastic.

 

[tampabay]

It seems also that it is harder to minimize driver molds for the average powered player compared to midranges/fairways.

For example, most decent players can cycle Rocs or whatever mids and use one for turnovers eventually. Higher level players do that with Teebirds, they get to the point where they can do turnovers with champ Teebirds and don't need something a bit more neutral off the shelf.

Take that another level...somebody like McBeth only throws Destroyers for max speed as far as I know. I have a Destroyer worked in to straight/minimal fade, and I have thrown beefy ones that can be my spike hyzer/hyzer bomb disc...but I don't know if the typical "serious" player will have the power to make a Destroyer act like their Katana/Tern/whatever for tailwinds and turnovers.

Your point is valid, however there is a caveat. Different destroyers for most intents and purposes are pretty much different molds. There are destroyers that are pretty much stilettos and destroyers that are pretty much terns.

 

[runningDoc]

my mold simplification came organically from being alarmed at myself for having so many damn discs in such short of a time playing.

Now I throw:
Aviar (one for putting one for upshots but I'll bring one extra putter so I can practice putting with all 3)
Roc3 (used to bag a champ but had grip lock issues, now just carry a fresh McPro)
Gator (utility, get out of jail, flicks, S curves on purpose, windy)
TeeBird (one beat in echo star thats straight, one g* thats beefy straight, one brinster)
FireBird (just because, dog legs, super skips, high winds)
Wraith (beat 157g starlite for rollers,166g echo star hyzerflips/turnovers, 170 star for regular hyzer lines)
Tern (2 168g champs for max D hFlips/s-curves.actually have longer golf shots than open field with terns)

sometimes I don't even consider Gator/Firebird part of my molds because they are such specific weapons discs. the instances where you use them the are invaluable (like high winds). past a certain point of DG playing it seems like every player should have that super overstable utility disc like a drone/gator/firebird/ect.

but I'm on a quest to maybe disc down and try out some Discmania PDs to maybe knock out the Wraith/Terns and further simplify my molds.

I still have a nice collection of Darts and Comets, but they overlap with my McPro Roc3 and Aviars. What I do is actually warm up with 3 Darts and three Comets for a good 15-20min in a field before my round(s).

 

[Horsman]

It seems also that it is harder to minimize driver molds for the average powered player compared to midranges/fairways.

For example, most decent players can cycle Rocs or whatever mids and use one for turnovers eventually. Higher level players do that with Teebirds, they get to the point where they can do turnovers with champ Teebirds and don't need something a bit more neutral off the shelf.

Take that another level...somebody like McBeth only throws Destroyers for max speed as far as I know. I have a Destroyer worked in to straight/minimal fade, and I have thrown beefy ones that can be my spike hyzer/hyzer bomb disc...but I don't know if the typical "serious" player will have the power to make a Destroyer act like their Katana/Tern/whatever for tailwinds and turnovers.

My point is, I love manipulating angles and being familiar with molds with mids/fairways...but at a certain speed rating it seems the turn and fade of the discs becomes a lot more extreme, and it's harder to depend on one or even two distance molds to cover "everything" in that high speed category. Or am I just making excuses to carry around a few more drivers? Thoughts?

Yea for the higher skilled players its not to hard of a thing to do. Ive got destroyers that I have had for years and cover all my distance shots, from Roadrunner to Firebird in stabilty. Its also a lot easier to maniplate the same disc to do hyzers, go straight and anhyzer.

Im down to 6 molds right now, with the PD being the only non cycled single disc in my bag. Ive also played the best year of golf in my life, but I dont attribute that to my mold minimalizing. It might help but I dont think its the reason.

 

[Stardoggy]

I fill slots in the bag, not molds. If I can find the same disc in different wear (or runs) to fill multiple slots, so be it....but I don't seek that out.

 

[Questatement]

A disc must tickle me pink to stay in my bag. Namely, it gives me positive and consistent results and doesn't overlap any other disc in the bag. I don't care how much I love a given disc if another is more consistent, the prior disc is out.

My only weakness is that I like OOP stuff... good thing I have a full-time job.

 

[Jukeshoe]

My number one consideration in bag building is the ease with which I can obtain/replace the discs in the plastic, weight, and color(s) I prefer. For that reason, I only go with stock discs, and I always buy multiples in exact weight/color/plastic/production run if at all possible. I usually buy a stack of 10+ at a time.

That said, my second consideration is having as few molds as possible and still cover my shots.

My bag has been:

2 dx aviar p&a
2 x comet
2 champ teebirds
2 champ leos
1 kc roc
1 champ firebird

6 molds, but I really only use the roc & firebird as utility-type discs...they've earned their spots time and again, but I'm really only using them maybe once or twice a round on most days. So, really 4 molds cover most of my shots.

I carry duplicates in different stages of wear (one beat to hell, the other fresh) and that helps me obtain a wider range of shots. I used to cycle discs a bit more but I eventually realized I lose discs too often for that to be super effective so I ended up with the "one fresh/one beat" compromise.

Personally, I think a simple bag can force you to learn shot-shaping, not rely too heavily on niche discs (i.e., discs that only really serve one purpose in your bag), and help less-skilled players remain more consistent over time (because they've got a better idea of what each of their discs is going to do on accounts of the increased familiarity.

Really, it's not about being "faddish" or anything like that. It's just a preference that positively affects my game all the way from easing the hurt on my wallet (not "having to" try out all the new molds is a godsend) to helping me remain more consistent in my shot selection and execution.

 

[discddwn]

Fewer number of molds for me (7) but I still carry 21 discs.

 

[Mike C]

I used to be all about cycling molds to achieve all my shots. I still do this to a degree, playing around with various weights and stages of wear, but I'm a lot more open to mixing in different molds now.

Part of the reason is the discs I throw work well for that. A lot of MVP / Axiom discs have incredibly similar wing shapes. The Resistor (OS), Crave (Straight) and Inspire (Moderately understable) all feel pretty much the same in my grip, so I'm fine with throwing those three molds instead of trying to beat in Craves to cover the Inspires role etc. Same thing with the Proxy & Envy. They feel so similar it doesn't bother me in the slightest bumping up my mold count to get a beat Envy flight from the Proxy without having to wait a year for an Envy to season.

Also they tend to design their discs to compliment the stability of their other molds, so transitioning between molds is super easy. Say I normally flick a Crave on a given hole, but there is a 10mph headwind. I can grab my Clash and throw the same shot. 10mph tailwind, flick my Inspire.

The main upside to this is it is so much easier to replace a lost disc for me. I still cycle a few discs, like the beat Volts and Axis I have that I've thrown for years, but being able to grab a fresh disc that covers the same role and know I can replace it if I mess up on a water hole is a wonderful thing.

I could play a solid game with 3-5 molds if I wanted to, but these days my complete bag is 13 molds.

 

[youdidwell]

i prefer fewer overall discs. mentally there is less second guessing disc selection when you don't have the overlap. All the onus is on me, the thrower, for a bad shot, not the disc.

 

[The Last DJ]

I started carrying fewer discs to save my back (and my game) a bit. Here are what my numbers say...

14 Discs
7 molds

So that means I have about two discs for each mold. Duplicates in different weights, plastic blends, and stages of wear will cover a wider variety of shots. The more times you throw a particular disc, the more reliable it will become!

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

Mold minimalization is nice on paper, but I think it's bs. Yes, good players do it, but are also able do things most regular players cannot, mold minimalist or not. Throw what works for you. Hype is wiggiddy whack if it doesn't fit your throwing style.