Lighter weight disc or lower speed disc?

[DiscologyGus]

Would it be better for learning form to use a lighter weight, say speed 9 disc, or would it be more beneficial to use say a heavier speed 6-7 disc?
Example: Would I benefit more from a 150g thunderbird than I would from a 170g Teebird/Gazelle? Or vice versa...?

 

[Nenja]

Interesting question.

My guess is that a balanced disc that you can get to fly as intended is the best alternative. A lightweight disc would also be educating as it gets more sensitive and easier to speed up so that you can focus on form.

Lightweight overstable, 165g neutral or 175+ understable should all be equally educating/flippy? My favourite unforgiving discs are 178g beat in River & 175g Nova, i bag both. I gave a beat in Blizzard Destroyer a go before i got decent form, either early fade or flip due to OAT, wish i kept it.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Any kind of disc besides very fast/OS ones can work for form. You wont "benefit" from throwing any of those discs alone.

I think if truly working out form then normal wts and stable-US putter/mid/slower driver are good. You can even try to throw very high speed US on pure hyzers without flipping or super light putters/mids etc.

It just comes down to experience. I can throw a 140g skeeter on a pure hyzer or straight and obviously can turn it over.

 

[garublador]

The slower disc, for sure. They'll be less nose angle and speed sensitive.

 

[whitefedora]

Learning how to manipulate a 165-170 leopard on drives and getting an x comet going dead straight will do wonders for your game.

Like AIM said, I bag a beat in 150 DX classic roc. Once you start understanding how to manipulate one disc to do anything, it's much easier to learn other discs and figure out a lineup that works for you.

 

[tbird888]

The slower the disc, the cleaner it must be thrown to see its intended flight. There are exceptions to that rule (mostly overstable molds). Always err on the slower (with neutral stability) side of things if you're working on form.

 

[ThrowBot]

I'd recommend working with a slower neutral disc in roughly the weight range you intend to throw normally.

From experience I can say that training with lighter weights is only useful to a certain point. (This is from a person who only throws 165-180g on a regular basis. Anyone who throws more variety of weights might see more benefit. But anyway, on with the story!)

I picked up a 138g blizzard Wraith for funsies. I throw Wraiths for all of my distance slots, so I figured what the heck. After about 10 throws with the lighter Wraith it was going almost as far as my normal ones, but that was on a very non-golf type line. At the end of the day I was able to throw the light disc 90% as far as a normal weight Wraith by using about 60% power on a massive pop fly hyzer flip. I was also able to throw 60% as far on a line drive using 50% power.

So it was a useful exercise in terms of letting the disc do the work and not shredding my arm, but here's the kicker: I didn't notice any change in throwing my normal Wraiths. The feel & form of throwing the lighter disc was so different that it didn't translate into my normal throws whatsoever. I don't bag the light Wraith because it doesn't do anything that my other Wraiths can't, plus it's touchier and unreliable...especially in the wind. I don't practice with it anymore because the practice doesn't help me throw my more reliable discs.

TL;DR -- You can get better at throwing lightweight discs, but that doesn't necessarily help you throw "normal" weights.

 

[aevew]

Both will teach you things, but it will depend on your current skill level and upper body strength a bit. It looks like you're only considering pretty stable/overstable options right now, which are more likely to hide flaws in your form.

I definitely second the recommendation to practice with leopards.

I'm a tall female with scrawny arms (10.5" biceps... total gun show, right?) who has been playing for about a year. I learned a lot by throwing 165ish leopards because they don't tolerate overpowering or bad form very well. But I definitely learned the feel of snap a bit better when throwing a 145ish MVP wave because it was so lightweight and didn't feel like it took any effort to hold up/support throughout the throw. It's also super understable and if I do something stupid during my throw it turns and burns.

When I'm practicing driving, I usually throw both types of discs, but I use the lighter ones as more of a check-up. I use the leopard for most of my drives when I'm playing on course because it is so controllable compared to something higher speed, and most of the holes in my area max out at 300' from the shorts anyway.

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

'would it be better for learning'?
this question is pretty vague.

it is a fact that the heavier the disc, regardless of it's speed, the more it will tend to mask the thrower's technical throwing flaws. lighter discs also 'float' more and are much more interactive with the elements. that being said, the optimal disc would be the lightest one, assuming technical virtuosity is the learning goal. this approach creates problems of it's own, most importantly, many discs are not available in premium weights.

if one is learning 'form', i suggest practicing lots of throws in an open field with multiple examples of the same 'neutral' mold, probably a midrange or putter. you can also take that idea farther by using a faster disc, but the idea is to reduce variables while honing one's delivery - outside of the confines of an actual round of golf, where the overwhelming tendency is to want to score.

Some make a game of practice as well, scoring themselves for various other qualities of their throws or the consistent delivery of multiple throws in a row. In short, the 'fastest' way is immersion and repetition - get to 10K hours asap.

for what it's worth.

 

[sidewinder22]

150g Champ/Star Teebirds are awesome for learning form.

 

[DiscologyGus]

'would it be better for learning'?
this question is pretty vague.

This is funny, I've had someone chime in with the "this is pretty vague" bs in just about every one of my posts.. haha. Like thats really necessary.. pretty straight forward question I think...

But thanks for your vague reply ;-)