Newbie with a new obsession

[DiscVader87]

Hello all,

A friend at work got me into disc golf late last year so I only played a couple rounds before winter took over. This year I have played more but still not enough to satisfy my wants and urges to play!! I was gifted three discs from my friend to get me started, a Champion Katana, an FLX Drone and a Rhyno. I stumbled on a post on my local facebook marketplace to snag up another 22 discs for $20 so I got those as well. Now I feel like I am overwhelmed on what I should really carry and what I should let go or replace at PIAS. I love this game and I can't wait to play more courses in the coming months as I travel around the area. I don't want to dilute this post with a list of other discs I have but I would like some help and advice from experienced players on what to have in my bag. Any help on where I can post that thread? Thank you in advance and I really look forward to learning from everyone and playing more!

 

[DoWork]

I would start with low speed discs and work your way up as your form settles in.

If you can stick to throwing 7 speed or slower until you can hit 250 on a flat flight with them, you will be way ahead of the game form-wise. Just dedicate your next year to repeatable form, clean release and disc release angle control. It takes legit discipline to forego hack forming destroyers but believe me when I say attempting to crank high speed drivers is wasted time. Don't even try to play that distance game yet!

 

[Blobfish]

Welcome to the forum and wow, that's an interesting gift set.
So to build on what DoWork said above, focus on the slower discs to work on your form.
The flight numbers can be a little misleading, especially if you come from a ball golf background. In ball golf, you are told (or at least I was, way back when) that you keep the same swing speed, but you go up and down in irons as the distance dictates, so you might swing the same (rotational) speed with an 8 iron that you do with a 3 iron, but the 3 iron being a longer club has more head (tangential) speed and so knocks the ball a lot further (ignoring the wedge angle which also comes into play)
But I mention that because disc speeds are an indicator of how fast your arm needs to launch the disc in order for it to fly as intended.
In other words, everyone has the arm speed to throw the low speed discs like putters and approach discs (speeds 1-4). As you start to develop the form for "ripping" a disc, your arm picks up and settles into the midrange speeds (5-6). You'll find that early on, you'll get most of your best (and longest) throws from your midranges.

Ok, so on to your gift set:
Katana (understable speed 13): you won't really have much use for it for a while. But soon enough you will.
Drone (dumb overstable speed 5): Yes, it's a midrange. It's also about as overstable as they get, so you will find that it is a very frustrating disc early on. It will dump out (fade hard left on a right hand backhand throw) early on you. Don't worry, it's the disc, not you.
Rhyno (glideless putter): Another disc that will make you wonder why you are so weak. The Rhyno flies like a rhino would fly, if you shot one out of a cannon.

None of these discs are bad, per se. But none of them are discs for new throwers.

Hopefully in your batch of PIAS discs, you got a few discs that are putters and midranges that aren't so specialty. Ignore your discs with the big wings (distance drivers like your katana) for now, and good luck!

 

[JuanA]

If there was one piece of advice I wish I had received early on, it's what DoWork said. Start with your slow discs, and work up.

Throw the Rhyno until you can confidently hit anything in the park sitting 200' away. Mids will be easy after that.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[zontar]

see above! stick with mids to develop form. the Rhyno is a super versatile disc on it's own, so if you want to throw putter rounds, it's hard to beat.

 

[Keller]

Welcome to the game/addiction/obsession!

Read through this thread and follow the advice for a bit, it will pay huge dividends.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32790

 

[DiscVader87]

Thank you you all for the advice and recommendations! It really does make a lot of sense to start that way. It will help prevent some of my frustrations as well with not getting drivers to fly the way I'm wanting or hoping. Carrying a lighter bag with only essentials will help a lot as well. I look forward to reading more of the endless amounts of posts on here and really delve into this world that is disc golf! Thank you again to all that replied and helped me out.

 

[lines]

Star leopards are your friend.

 

[Shutrbug]

Star leopards are your friend.

Why Star and not Pro? They both seem to be more durable than the DX, but I can't tell a difference between the more premium plastics. The exception is Champion... no matter what I throw in a Champion plastic, it hyzer bombs out on me big time. I guess I just don't grip it as well?

 

[lines]

Why Star and not Pro? They both seem to be more durable than the DX, but I can't tell a difference between the more premium plastics. The exception is Champion... no matter what I throw in a Champion plastic, it hyzer bombs out on me big time. I guess I just don't grip it as well?

A pro is not too different than star. The star will be slightly more durable. The star will be a touch more OS and the pro should fly true to the numbers new. If you can, buy both. For me the champs fly like a mini teebird.

 

[armiller]

Why Star and not Pro? They both seem to be more durable than the DX, but I can't tell a difference between the more premium plastics. The exception is Champion... no matter what I throw in a Champion plastic, it hyzer bombs out on me big time. I guess I just don't grip it as well?

A pro is not too different than star. The star will be slightly more durable. The star will be a touch more OS and the pro should fly true to the numbers new. If you can, buy both. For me the champs fly like a mini teebird.

I support the Pro option. I think Star or Champ start out a little too overstable to be a particularly good beginner disc, at least for what a Leopard should be. Pro starts with some decent flip early on, and beats in nicely. Give it a shot.

 

[Shutrbug]

I support the Pro option. I think Star or Champ start out a little too overstable to be a particularly good beginner disc, at least for what a Leopard should be. Pro starts with some decent flip early on, and beats in nicely. Give it a shot.

One of my first discs was a DX Manta, recommended by local pro Tom Monroe. I liked it, but my 7yo son did too, so it became his. I replaced it with a Star version, and it does really well for me. I don't throw well enough yet to notice the difference between the different plastics being more or less stable than others, but that will happen. I now have a Comet in 4 different plastics, I think...

 

[DoWork]

I support the Pro option. I think Star or Champ start out a little too overstable to be a particularly good beginner disc, at least for what a Leopard should be. Pro starts with some decent flip early on, and beats in nicely. Give it a shot.

I have a 150g star leo I used while starting out, then gave to my kids- best of both worlds if you ask me. Pro plastic discs are kind of crap imo, they feel primo but beat in as fast if not faster than DX and that can be confusing to someone starting out. I've had a pro disc go flippy after literally 3 throws. I prefer lighter star because it holds that flight long enough to build yourself around, and at slower speeds there's no danger of the flight changing while you're still figuring out your throws.

Just my .02 but it definitely helped me nail down a lot of things.

 

[2naphish]

i have been using a 156 CE Leopard that continues to show me any flaws in my form/throw. but it holds the sweetest slow turn i ever threw.