Practicing to improve form: What are the best TYPE of discs?

[IR8300]

This came in another thread about the Tech Disc. What to improve my form, practicing the with the discs that I have, so which TYPE of discs should be using? Examples,

• Drivers, Fairway, and/or Putters?
• Stable (i.e. neutral) discs only?
• Any particular range of flight #'s?
• Filter the discs to those that you regularly throw in outings? (vs. the ones that stay home most of the time)
• Practice with ALL of my discs?

Saying it now, NOT going down the rabbit hole of individual discs. Have 21 discs, so there should be no reason why there is at least one suitable for field practice.

 

[HyzerRoc]

You will want to work on your form and how the discs fly is just an indicator of what you did while throwing. You are gonna get the best feedback as to what you are actually doing by videoing yourself and watching the footage with one or two thing you want to change in mind. Discs are secondary.

Now that discs are just an indicator for you, understable discs will be the most sensitive to changes in your form. OS discs are just gonna fade out no matter what you do. They will also feel better on a hyzer release which should be your standard angle.

Using just putters, just mids, just fairways or just distance drivers will tailor the feel of a throw to a specific rim. So I would just throw all of these discs. For about two weeks I just used Aviars to adhere to the old wisdom of throwing putters, however this made my tailor my throw to aviars which meant that my release point is a bit earlier (Aviars rip easily out of my hand) high as putters need height and on a hyzer.

If you cant keep yourself from wanting to throw far in your form work it might help to limit yourself to everything except distance drivers.

Now as a last point you might also want to practice form for specific throws i.e. a low ceiling straight shot with a midrange, a floaty anny with a putters, a hyzerflip with a fairway and so on. So use the discs you would use for those shots.

 

[IR8300]

Thanks HyzerRoc,

1. Yes, already decided that I need to start using video (been procrastinating because of the nuisance factor, but's no longer a valid excuse).
2. Already decided: STOP throwing for distance during practice, and target a flat smooth flight as what constitutes a good throw.
3. So use the discs that I carry in my cart. Leave the practice discs at home.

Got it! Thanks.

 

[HyzerRoc]

1. Yes, already decided that I need to start using video (been procrastinating because of the nuisance factor, but's no longer a valid excuse)

Keep in mind that it should still be fun to out and throw. min-maxing a hobby is the best way to squeeze the fun out of it. I know im going against my own advice here

1. Already decided: STOP throwing for distance during practice, and target a flat smooth flight as what constitutes a good throw.

I just remembered this video about it:

It has a good reason why just throwing for distance is not the way to go: it is better to learn to incorporate your lower into the throw first and then add some upper body work on top of it. Throwing for distance makes it easy to skip feeling the power the lower body can provide so it is better to work up to distance while incorporating the lower body all the way.

How are you going about your form practice right now and what discs do you like to use for it?

 

[RowingBoats]

Saying it now, NOT going down the rabbit hole of individual discs.

Hahaha, good luck Most of us become disc crack heads. I can't even go into a shop without buying at least one disc that I don't need.

But, I am also sure you have plenty of decent discs to practice with, because you can use any of them. Figuring out what discs do for you at any given time in your learning is a lot of fun. I assume you aren't going to solely work on form, and still want to play the game itself. You probably shouldn't expect to use higher speed drivers in their intended way, but as 100% reliable beefcakes that will always fade hard, there is a use for them in your actual gameplan.

For disciplined goal oriented field work, I think I would have benefited from learning how to throw putters sooner. Throwing a neutral putter on a rope 200' would be an amazing goal that will set you up with a lot of workable knowledge to apply to other shot shapes. Having 5-10 neutral putters is worth the investment in that pursuit imo. The mold itself doesn't really matter too much, there are tons of options and Im sure you can find used discs that will be fine. Basically any putter that doesn't make you recoil in horror when you hold it is going to be ok.

I don't find mids to be much different than putters, they just go farther. Faster discs do start to demand more nose-angle control, so I wouldn't avoid them. You said you had a few understable drivers, like the Orbital. Keep tossing this one until you can reliably make it turn over from a slight hyzer. Its a faster disc, but it is also quite understable, and I could see it being a decent one to learn with. I bag one myself, but I live at high elevation and it is not nearly as silly as the numbers would make it seem.

Also, remember that disc flights are very dependent on who is throwing them. If you want to get neutral flights out of discs that are not being thrown very far, you will be looking into discs that are quite understable. Don't get too frustrated if you can't get flights that match the flightplate numbers out of all of your discs for a while (or ever really).

 

[ru4por]

You have to learn to throw them all eventually. Sticking to neutral [stable] mids and putters helps mitigate the issue of arm speed. The flight numbers on these discs tend to be a bit less dependent on how fast the disc is thrown. Most beginners have to build up arm speed.

Fairway/Distance drivers have a tendency to all seem overstable, due to the beginners inability to throw the disc at the speeds require to have the flight numbers make sense. This can be pretty frustrating. The tendency is for the beginner to move to far less stable discs, in order to achieve a flight path that is desired. This is generally not a positive form building strategy. IMO.

Neutral mids and putters can be brought up to speed easier. They are often angle sensitive, providing for immediate feedback on form. The long term benefit of having a strong throwing putter game is seen later for tee shots and the approach game. I still love to get out and play all putter or one disc rounds.

Everyone is different. There are a lot of opinions out there. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the outdoors. Enjoy the people you will meet.

 

[IR8300]

Keep in mind that it should still be fun to out and throw. min-maxing a hobby is the best way to squeeze the fun out of it. I know im going against my own advice here

How are you going about your form practice right now and what discs do you like to use for it?

Collecting stats is part of the fun of ANY hobby, and that includes an after action summary. Not going to fight my nature; stats have to be collected, but not too crazy.

Up till now, it's been either driver or putting practice. Form practice starts Sunday, so I'm trying to define precisely the procedure & what stats will be collected.

Amazing that over my first 9 months, some discs have fallen out of favor, while others have gained it. Based both actual outings & driving practice, these are my current favorites:

• Drivers: Mamba, Orbital, & Sapphire. All 3 were top distance disc at some point.
• Fairways: Crave, Sphinx, TeeBird3, & TL3. For whatever reason (winter temperatures?), the Sphinx has been very bad lately.
• Putters: Ruru & Link, and they go back & forth, as which is the better. (It would really help if I stopped throwing with an 80 degree hyzer.)

Hahaha, good luck Most of us become disc crack heads. I can't even go into a shop without buying at least one disc that I don't need.

But, I am also sure you have plenty of decent discs to practice with, because you can use any of them. Figuring out what discs do for you at any given time in your learning is a lot of fun. I assume you aren't going to solely work on form, and still want to play the game itself. You probably shouldn't expect to use higher speed drivers in their intended way, but as 100% reliable beefcakes that will always fade hard, there is a use for them in your actual gameplan.

For disciplined goal oriented field work, I think I would have benefited from learning how to throw putters sooner. Throwing a neutral putter on a rope 200' would be an amazing goal that will set you up with a lot of workable knowledge to apply to other shot shapes. Having 5-10 neutral putters is worth the investment in that pursuit imo. The mold itself doesn't really matter too much, there are tons of options and Im sure you can find used discs that will be fine. Basically any putter that doesn't make you recoil in horror when you hold it is going to be ok.

I don't find mids to be much different than putters, they just go farther. Faster discs do start to demand more nose-angle control, so I wouldn't avoid them. You said you had a few understable drivers, like the Orbital. Keep tossing this one until you can reliably make it turn over from a slight hyzer. Its a faster disc, but it is also quite understable, and I could see it being a decent one to learn with. I bag one myself, but I live at high elevation and it is not nearly as silly as the numbers would make it seem.

Also, remember that disc flights are very dependent on who is throwing them. If you want to get neutral flights out of discs that are not being thrown very far, you will be looking into discs that are quite understable. Don't get too frustrated if you can't get flights that match the flightplate numbers out of all of your discs for a while (or ever really).

I get that about discs, especially going to web sites like Infinite Discs (various weights, flight paths, plastics, colors, plus the 4 flight #'s).

Under stable discs? Seen comments about using neutral discs. Maybe the right choice, is to practice with the discs that are my favorites to throw?

You have to learn to throw them all eventually. Sticking to neutral [stable] mids and putters helps mitigate the issue of arm speed. The flight numbers on these discs tend to be a bit less dependent on how fast the disc is thrown. Most beginners have to build up arm speed.

Fairway/Distance drivers have a tendency to all seem overstable, due to the beginners inability to throw the disc at the speeds require to have the flight numbers make sense. This can be pretty frustrating. The tendency is for the beginner to move to far less stable discs, in order to achieve a flight path that is desired. This is generally not a positive form building strategy. IMO.

Neutral mids and putters can be brought up to speed easier. They are often angle sensitive, providing for immediate feedback on form. The long term benefit of having a strong throwing putter game is seen later for tee shots and the approach game. I still love to get out and play all putter or one disc rounds.

Everyone is different. There are a lot of opinions out there. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy the outdoors. Enjoy the people you will meet.

So if I interpret this correctly, stick with the stable discs for form practice?

 

[sillybizz]

Nothing shows form flaws like a Zephyr or a Comet.

 

[biscoe]

Putters are the best discs for form practice because they are sensitive to bad angles and you don't have to walk as far to pick them up.

 

[Skervoy]

Anything that is about -1/1 as the turn and fade are pretty good to practice with. But as with Anything self reflection is what enables learning. Many say the river is useless even though they barely reach 100m.

The problem with putters is they like some nose up to maintain lift = better distance.

Fd and drivers need nose down to create good distance.


So a true beginner can practice with putters and mids. Just find something that is neutral and feels good in the hand.

Once you get some feeling then introduce some 7 speeds. If a river fades out fairly quick the nose angle is bad.


So in short neutral discs says that a small hyzer/flat release should net some nice s lines before landning. If they dont something is bad

 

[Kennets]

A hammer. Not taking the piss here, I'm dead serious.

If you do field work (?) , I would definitely bring a hammer, or a full water bottle. "Seabass22 - hammer drill" is the place to go on YouTube. Or aceitdiscgolf.

Spend 5 minutes each time, just dingling the hammer back and forth to get the feeling of "how to throw a heavy object", yeet it while staying composed and try to transfer that to your disc throw.

I usually stick with my neutral putters and mids when I'm doing form work, just doing low power reps and gradually putting more effort into it as I go.

Video yourself, what you might think feels like a HUGE change (for me it's bending my knees some more), is barely visible at times on video.

"The disc/your hand is heavy"

 

[ChrisinFL]

Hahaha, good luck Most of us become disc crack heads. I can't even go into a shop without buying at least one disc that I don't need.

But, I am also sure you have plenty of decent discs to practice with, because you can use any of them. Figuring out what discs do for you at any given time in your learning is a lot of fun. I assume you aren't going to solely work on form, and still want to play the game itself. You probably shouldn't expect to use higher speed drivers in their intended way, but as 100% reliable beefcakes that will always fade hard, there is a use for them in your actual gameplan.

For disciplined goal oriented field work, I think I would have benefited from learning how to throw putters sooner. Throwing a neutral putter on a rope 200' would be an amazing goal that will set you up with a lot of workable knowledge to apply to other shot shapes. Having 5-10 neutral putters is worth the investment in that pursuit imo. The mold itself doesn't really matter too much, there are tons of options and Im sure you can find used discs that will be fine. Basically any putter that doesn't make you recoil in horror when you hold it is going to be ok.

I don't find mids to be much different than putters, they just go farther. Faster discs do start to demand more nose-angle control, so I wouldn't avoid them. You said you had a few understable drivers, like the Orbital. Keep tossing this one until you can reliably make it turn over from a slight hyzer. Its a faster disc, but it is also quite understable, and I could see it being a decent one to learn with. I bag one myself, but I live at high elevation and it is not nearly as silly as the numbers would make it seem.

Also, remember that disc flights are very dependent on who is throwing them. If you want to get neutral flights out of discs that are not being thrown very far, you will be looking into discs that are quite understable. Don't get too frustrated if you can't get flights that match the flightplate numbers out of all of your discs for a while (or ever really).

Disc crackheads - lol. 8 months playing, and I am probably approaching 200 discs. Got about 8 coming in the mail today - mostly Jawbreaker Fierces, to get me a stack of my favorite putter. A few other Jawbreaker putters, since my favorite putters lean heavily to Jawbreakers, so I should see if there is something to that. I lean towards throw what you like, what works for you, and what is fun to throw. For me, the standard "throw putters and mids" was no good - I can't throw them worth a crap with a power grip. I throw more drivers, do putters fan grip only, and I definitely am a fan of the controversial light weight drivers. I do practice putting a lot too - easily the biggest difference for scores is if the putts are going in.

 

[ChrisinFL]

Collecting stats is part of the fun of ANY hobby, and that includes an after action summary. Not going to fight my nature; stats have to be collected, but not too crazy.

Up till now, it's been either driver or putting practice. Form practice starts Sunday, so I'm trying to define precisely the procedure & what stats will be collected.

Amazing that over my first 9 months, some discs have fallen out of favor, while others have gained it. Based both actual outings & driving practice, these are my current favorites:

• Drivers: Mamba, Orbital, & Sapphire. All 3 were top distance disc at some point.
• Fairways: Crave, Sphinx, TeeBird3, & TL3. For whatever reason (winter temperatures?), the Sphinx has been very bad lately.
• Putters: Ruru & Link, and they go back & forth, as which is the better. (It would really help if I stopped throwing with an 80 degree hyzer.)

I get that about discs, especially going to web sites like Infinite Discs (various weights, flight paths, plastics, colors, plus the 4 flight #'s).

Under stable discs? Seen comments about using neutral discs. Maybe the right choice, is to practice with the discs that are my favorites to throw?

So if I interpret this correctly, stick with the stable discs for form practice?

Unless you are trying to go pro, I say worry more about having fun, and have fun getting better, and worry less about keeping track of every detail. If you enjoy the sport, you will play and practice more, and in turn, you will get better faster. Plus, video throws every now and then, find and fix your worst flaws, and progress will keep coming. Best wishes!

 

[Sheep]

Unless you are trying to go pro, I say worry more about having fun, and have fun getting better, and worry less about keeping track of every detail. If you enjoy the sport, you will play and practice more, and in turn, you will get better faster. Plus, video throws every now and then, find and fix your worst flaws, and progress will keep coming. Best wishes!

It really is the toughest part of disc golf.

/me grabs a chair

Learning to play is tough. Learning to play with nobody knowledgeable around you to help is even tougher.

The basic idea's of disc golf are not really present in any media out there that is popular. The ability to pick a proper disc for your skill level is practically impossible without help. The number system makes no sense to a golfer because its explained wrong everywhere.

How you look to manage your growth as a player and setting goals isn't explained.

People want to have fun, and you CAN have fun just grabbing any disc and winging it down the fairway. The problem is, you can have MORE fun with a really really basic lesson on disc golf and the right disc put into your hand.

And without someone to show you that path, you're stuck on your own.

And as you grow, without friends who have any bit of knowledge whatsoever on what to do, you struggle to find discs to help you improve your game and play within your limits.

Because the overall key to growth in a game such as disc golf is this, matching your skill and form to the correct disc to help you navigate the course in a fashion that the disc complements your game and doesn't force you to use bad form to navigate the course and throw the disc.

But the reality of that is, after a certain point of growth in form, which can be achieved with lessons fairly quickly. A really good neutral midrange and neutral fairway driver will be all you really need to improve with as they work as a good training discs, and a good disc from that level to pro level of golfing.
But what I want to make certain that is understood by that last bit. It depends on how much you want to improve in disc golf, how athletic you are and how much you're willing to practice.

If you wanna be a casual rec level player, that method isn't going to work. You're stuck at the find the disc that matches your skill level and doing little bits of form changes, because you're not chasing any level of competitive nature, your chasing fun and having MORE fun.

 

[419HondaGuy]

Learning to throw Competiton approved K9 dog discs really helped me grow so much as thrower! They taught me so much about angles and angle control/ integrity. My dog and I specialize in long distance events and learning to throw these discs 100-130 yards that catchable for my dog really helped advance my form.

Before last year when my dog and I organically got involved in the disc dog league and competitions, I may be thrown a disc 3-4x in the last 6-7 years.
For some perspective, many moons ago when I was active in disc golf, I had over 500 feet of golf distance. ( ChrisWoj can verify my credentials)
As I rebuilt my form from scratch this past year with K9 Discs, I wonder how I was able to throw as far as I did with my previous form?

 

[Sheep]

This is a terrible video I made that goes in line with honda guys comment.

Ultimates will really give you clean form if you use them right.

 

[IR8300]

Good stuff Skervoy,

Limiting my discs to Turn & Fade values, +/- 1, comes up with 7 discs, which includes 1 under stable putter & 2 8-speed fairway discs ... but no drivers.

Trying to summarize the thread, as far the disc criteria,

• Discs I enjoy throwing
• Neutral flight
• 1 <= Turn >= 1
• 1 <= Fade >= 1
• Speed < 7

Applying the Turn & Fade criteria yields 7 discs to practice with. Adding the fun factor, as ChrisinFL noted, reduces to the list to 5. (Alternately, applying the speed criteria, also creates a set of 5 discs, just different ones.) Using all of the criteria listed, leaves 2 putters & a fairway disc; too few.

Maybe I missed it, but no one mentioned the Gide # as criteria for a practice disc. Any good values? Bad values? Or doesn't make a significant difference for a newbie?

 

[Sheep]

Good stuff Skervoy,

Limiting my discs to Turn & Fade values, +/- 1, comes up with 7 discs, which includes 1 under stable putter & 2 8-speed fairway discs ... but no drivers.

Trying to summarize the thread, as far the disc criteria,

• Discs I enjoy throwing
• Neutral flight
• 1 <= Turn >= 1
• 1 <= Fade >= 1
• Speed < 7

Applying the Turn & Fade criteria yields 7 discs to practice with. Adding the fun factor, as ChrisinFL noted, reduces to the list to 5. (Alternately, applying the speed criteria, also creates a set of 5 discs, just different ones.) Using all of the criteria listed, leaves 2 putters & a fairway disc; too few.

Maybe I missed it, but no one mentioned the Gide # as criteria for a practice disc. Any good values? Bad values? Or doesn't make a significant difference for a newbie?

Glide is one of the most BS made up numbers in disc golf "numbers."

Because glide can be factored by to many different things.

The only time you should listen to the number on the "glide" is when it says something 3 or less.

If it flies at all, they slap a 5 on it and call it good, when it could simply be the stability of the disc causing the glide.

And being that they dont measure glide properly, as in a sense of "lift" with a measurement, its a bullshit number that is guessed and made up like the rest of it.

 

[IR8300]

Funny Sheep,

My ultimate disc was the first one that I used to first play disc golf. It proved the sport a viable hobby, but it also convinced me that I needed serious discs.

The grip is too much like my putters. Will consider it later on, but not now.

 

[IR8300]

Glide is one of the most BS made up numbers in disc golf "numbers."

Because glide can be factored by to many different things.

The only time you should listen to the number on the "glide" is when it says something 3 or less.

If it flies at all, they slap a 5 on it and call it good, when it could simply be the stability of the disc causing the glide.

And being that they dont measure glide properly, as in a sense of "lift" with a measurement, its a bullshit number that is guessed and made up like the rest of it.

Thanks again Sheep,

Then remind me not to rely on that for future disc shopping.