jmgdiscgolf
Par Member
I know heavier discs work better in headwinds but what other advantages or disadvantages does a heavier disc have over a lighter disc especially for putting?
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Putter weight 175g vs 150g
- Thread starter jmgdiscgolf
- Start date
I have only played for a few months so take with a grain of salt.. in my experience the heavier discs keep the line of flight better than the lighter ones. I have a 150g Aviar and only use it when really close to the basket.. my 174g challenger I go to for 20' plus shots.. That's only in my experience and I'm sure it would probably depend on the player's strength?
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2012
- Messages
- 2,243
I just throw 175 putters. Heavier discs give you more control. Unless you"re trying to throw your putters over 300' I don't really understand why you would use 150g putters.
As far as mine goes I bought the 150g by mistake.. wasn't paying attention to the weight of the disc because I was being hurried and stressed by family to hurry up and choose.. I agree with you though on the weight but with all my discs.. I feel a special connection to and I feel the need to use it somewhere.. 
OregonDG420
Birdie Member
you should only use the 175g to keep it consistent and a routine, that's very important for putting so when you pick up your putter its the same thing for 10 ft or 40 ft
eday1022
Par Member
I use a 175g Omega, 165g Omega, and a 175g Aviar X
I use the Aviar for windy putts and approaches
I use the 175g Omega for most putts around and inside the circle, I'm very comfortable at that distance and my only concern is not getting spit outs/bounce outs. In my experience lighter putters dont' "stick" as well.
I use the 165g when I need to hit a tight straight line, long putts with little wind, or hard turns.
Now I know hard turns sounds a little odd but a lighter understabe disc can go more left or more right then a heavy or stable disc. You do have to compensate for it's understabiliy and adjust the angle. As far as tight lines, that is pretty simple, light and less stable means its easier to throw on a straight line with less effort. Less effort equals more accuracy. Same thing with long putts, it lighter therefore it will glide more. This allows me to putt for 60' with My 165g without putting a ton of spin or speed on it like I would with a heavier putter.
I did at one time use a 150g Omega but it had a bad habit of being knock out by the movement of the chains. The major thing for Me is getting some putting practice in on a course and see what disc catches best in that courses basket. Some courses I'll use the 165g inside the circle, while other I use the 175g. I know this is the complete opposite of what Oregon wrote above, We can both be right depending on Your putting ability. I'm comfortable putting with anything, but If I wasn't I would take his advise and stick to 1 disc type and 1 weight until I figured it out.
I use the Aviar for windy putts and approaches
I use the 175g Omega for most putts around and inside the circle, I'm very comfortable at that distance and my only concern is not getting spit outs/bounce outs. In my experience lighter putters dont' "stick" as well.
I use the 165g when I need to hit a tight straight line, long putts with little wind, or hard turns.
Now I know hard turns sounds a little odd but a lighter understabe disc can go more left or more right then a heavy or stable disc. You do have to compensate for it's understabiliy and adjust the angle. As far as tight lines, that is pretty simple, light and less stable means its easier to throw on a straight line with less effort. Less effort equals more accuracy. Same thing with long putts, it lighter therefore it will glide more. This allows me to putt for 60' with My 165g without putting a ton of spin or speed on it like I would with a heavier putter.
I did at one time use a 150g Omega but it had a bad habit of being knock out by the movement of the chains. The major thing for Me is getting some putting practice in on a course and see what disc catches best in that courses basket. Some courses I'll use the 165g inside the circle, while other I use the 175g. I know this is the complete opposite of what Oregon wrote above, We can both be right depending on Your putting ability. I'm comfortable putting with anything, but If I wasn't I would take his advise and stick to 1 disc type and 1 weight until I figured it out.
robbrews
Eagle Member
now don't discount the 150 gram putter but not for putting. I would use this for straight approaches or just trick shots that require a ton of glide when you are 50-100 feet out...maybe when you are in the schule and cant get a full reachback. The heavier putter will fade out on you whereas the light putter will keep penetrating. you are still so new that you don't have a beat to death putter. I would use this 150 gram until you can beat the death out of another heavier putter. try it out in those situations before you write it off as something not useful.
It's not just in headwinds that the heavier putter has an advantage, but many kinds of wind, especially if you don't putt with a lot of spin. Here in NOLA, where the wind can get pretty brutal, I've seen putts get blown off course from 15 ft away. If you live in a place where wind isn't a problem, this may not apply, but I don't think you could get away with putting with a 150 g putter year round in some parts of the country.
Questatement
Double Eagle Member
Lighter discs do not travel as far as their heavier counterparts under full power. However, you can get a light putter to travel further than a max weight with less than full power.
If there's little to no wind, I use a 150g for 40-55' stand still putts that I might use my heavier putter for with a step through and again, use the 150g for 60-75' step throughs where I would jump putt a max weight.
Overall, it adds some accuracy and reduces the chance of overshooting the basket.
Mr. David Wiggins, Jr. would say otherwise.
Questatement
Double Eagle Member
Exceptions would be hot rising air from sun heated, non-vegitated ground after a cold night from 2 hours after sun-up and for the next 2-3 hours. Same conditions you would fly a hot air baloon and/or hang-glide over flat ground.
clard
Double Eagle Member
Heavier putters have a more ballistic flight than lighter putters. It's easy to understand if you think about extremes. Say you had a putter that was made of lead. When you threw it at the basket it basically wouldn't matter what shape the putter was or what angle you threw it or what the wind was doing. It would behave more like a rock than a disc. So the difference between 175g and 150g isn't as extreme, but it has the same advantages on a smaller scale.
Questatement
Double Eagle Member
Imagine a powerful catapult (under full power as it were) firing two spheres the size of a softball. One is made of solid steel and the other is a literal softball. Which will travel further?
Now, Imagine the average man (less than full power) shotputting two spheres the size of a softball. One made of steel weighs 15 lbs. and the other made of gold weights 33 lbs. Which will travel further?
The lighter one both times. If the catapult exerts the same force on both objects, the acceleration (and resulting distance) will be greater on the heavier one. Simple laws of motion. I believe you are misunderstanding momentum and/ or inertia's effects. Furthermore, throwing a frisbee is not comparable to hurling an object from a catapult. Throwing something from a catapult is considered projectile motion because the effects of lift and drag can be neglected, whereas when throwing a disc it cannot be. When considering the resultant force on a moving disc, you must take thrust (or exerted force, a constant if both thrown at "full power") minus drag for forward motion and lift minus weight for vertical motion. Since a higher angular velocity equals more lift, and a lighter disc has a higher angular velocity at a constant force due to lower moment of inertia, the lighter disc stays in the air longer. In addition, drag is actually higher in a faster moving disc, but its effects are not enough to make the lighter disc travel slower laterally than a heavier one.
Of course, all of these examples are excluding the effects of wind and user generated OAT. If given an understable disc and a headwind, yes, I will most likely be able to throw the heavier disc farther at maximum power. On the flip side, given a tailwind and heavy and light versions of the same overstable disc, the lighter one will go further. Also, guaging between varying levels of less than full power can be fairly abstract, but I agree that lighter discs go further than heavier at less than full power. It is the opposite I do not fully agree on. In most scenarios, yes, most will be able to throw a heavy version of a disc further than a 150g version of it. However, physics tells us the opposite is true. Therefore, to make a blanket statement saying that heavier discs will go farther than a lighter one at the same full power is not true.
For reference, this is a really good article on the physics of throwing a disc.
Kev, you have some good points in there but you're completely ignoring the effects of drag from the air. The same mold of disc will have the same cross sectional area and therefore will experience the same amount of drag force. The lighter object will experience more acceleration at the same level of force, and therefore is more effected by that force.
If a baby throws a whiffle ball and a baseball, the whiffle ball will go farther because the baseball is too heavy to propel very far. If an adult does the same, that whiffle ball will be slowed by air drag much more quickly and the baseball will go much farther despite being heavier. The horizontal component of the velocity of a disc is very much affected by those forces, just because it also experiences other complicated aerodynamic forces doesn't negate that.
If a baby throws a whiffle ball and a baseball, the whiffle ball will go farther because the baseball is too heavy to propel very far. If an adult does the same, that whiffle ball will be slowed by air drag much more quickly and the baseball will go much farther despite being heavier. The horizontal component of the velocity of a disc is very much affected by those forces, just because it also experiences other complicated aerodynamic forces doesn't negate that.
Questatement
Double Eagle Member
Better yet, get out with the two putters and toss em'. :doh:
Kenny53691
Noodle Arm
^^This
Obviously, but some of us are actually interested in the physics behind why some discs behave differently than others...
