The Reason I Push Disc Minimalism

[Ironhide1]

So how would you build a 'Disc Minimalism' bag? For me I really like this approach so then I don't have to try to remember what each disc does what, but I would find it hard not wanting to try different discs. :lol:

 

[Fightingthetide1]

So how would you build a 'Disc Minimalism' bag? For me I really like this approach so then I don't have to try to remember what each disc does what, but I would find it hard not wanting to try different discs. :lol:

My 2 cents: If you really want to go full into minimalism, find a stable driver and stable mid that you like and get them in at least two different plastics. As for putters, get a stable one that you like and learn how to use it on straight and turnover approach shots...use your mid when you need a really strong hyzer finish. That's only 5 discs and 3 molds.

I've done just that, but added in a few other discs.

167 P DD - Wind distance
175 C PD - Very Overstable
168 S PD - Overstable
173 S TD (stiff) - Stable Control
175 S TD (gummy) - Understable
175 S GM - Overstable Mid
178 C MD2 - Stable Mid
179 S MD2 - Neutral Mid
175 S P2 - Stable Putter (drives/approaches)
175 D P2 x4 - Putter

6 molds, 9 discs + putters. This bag works for everything I need, and nothing is truly specialized (except maybe my DD).

 

[gotchdaddy]

Hey this post literally changed my whole approach to disc. I have recently dumped out my bag, and plan on starting over the 'right' way. The only discs I kept safe from the cull were

4 - wizards, sss, ss
3 - Champion XG Rhynos
1 - Star SL
3 - Elite Z putt'r (I know this one is dumb, chalk it up to an emotional attachment)

I am a rbh thrower, though I do flick if the hole needs it. I would like to fill a few holes in my lineup, but I really want to keep my number of molds to a minimum. Could anyone please advise on

1) Midrange - Roc maybe? - I have used a shark, coyote, and spider here previously
2) Fairway Driver - Teebird or eagle? I have used the eagle, I thought it was solid but the fade was a bit heavy, I've been thinking about switching.

Discs I culled, but could save
star vulcan
champion groove X 2
Champion Boss
Champion Destroyer
Star Valkyrie
Pro Wahoo
Opto Core
Gummy Japan Open Roc
Champion Aviar
Champion Coyote
Champion Shark (gummy)
Champion Spider
Champion XD X 2

anything else you think I could use? Should I keep anymore discs from my bag? I have used high speed drivers before (boss, groove, vulcan, destroyer), but could only outrange my SL by maybe 40 feet (with the exception of the vulcan, that thing can fly)

Thanks alot

gotchermd

 

[curt1]

So how would you build a 'Disc Minimalism' bag? For me I really like this approach so then I don't have to try to remember what each disc does what, but I would find it hard not wanting to try different discs.

Looking at your sig. Beat in some rocs, so you have 3 that fly different. Drop the leopard, get a DX teebird and use it until it is understable. Look at adding something like a firebird or predator. Then you're good.

 

[zeppelin47]

Love the theme of this thread.

Played 5 times a week for two years using two drivers, a midrange, and a putter. Now I use 8. Any more than that and my game actually goes downhill because I no longer know exactly what every disc will do.

Also find it funny I have about 10 friends that could beat 80% of bag carriers out there with just two discs.

 

[Ben Hartwig]

the only distance driver (mold) i have in my bag is a force... i have 4 that cover all types of shots. i guess i can be proud of that for some strange reason

 

[UFO]

I am all for learning technique with basic equipment in any sport, earning better stuff after you get better. But its just so FUN to read about and throw different discs. Relatively cheap to buy a lot of variety in this sport too.

The wind is the only exception I see to having just a few discs when building technique, we had a solid month of wind here and I played with discs I thought I wouldnt grow into for years.

But wind aside, I would eventually like to be the guy strolling around on the course with two discs and showing everybody up, always been a fan of doing a lot with a little.

I always get a kick out of it when guys with huge bags, after making a bad shot, talk about if they had only brought X disc in the bag that day that wouldnt have happened etc! Like you are relying on highly trained specialized squirrels to do your dirty work, you just unleash them and watch them run the perfect line each was trained to do!

 

[Cryshot]

I've been playing discgolf for two and a half years now and i run one discgolf online store here in Czech Republic.. So you can imagine i have way too many discs.. When i was selling some new discs from our store, i was always telling people that they shouldn't buy too many of them, just few and really get to know them. But then they saw my bag with 16 different molds...

But thanks to this post, i found out that my own approach to discgolf discs really is wrong.. Two weeks ago, I decided to make the change.. I went to one smaller tournament (just 9 holes course, 3 rounds + finals) and won it only with my DX Aviar Putt and Approach.. I was like 'Wow', i couldn't make those lines if i had my whole bag... of course that others were throwing further but my consistency was awesome (i had 8 birdies in a row during the second round - my record)..

When i had this new impression, i took my R-pro Roc only to second small tournament (another course but same size)... I ended up second this time..

Next disc i am gonna go for is Factory store Pro TeeBird, we'll see what happens..

But this disc minimalism really works! It's awesome.. although it doesn't really work as a good advertisement for our discgolf store..

 

[Monocacy]

But this disc minimalism really works! It's awesome.. although it doesn't really work as a good advertisement for our discgolf store..

Your customers still need back-ups. Lots of back-ups. :wink:

I definitely play better when I have fewer discs in the bag.

 

[Widdershins]

There is a theory in sports that you need to break it down to build it up.

Maybe there is application here. When I started I tried every disc I could find. For the first few years I threw backhand because my teachers and everybody who was good threw backhand. I switched to forehand due to injury and moved to Pro. When a disc called the X-Clone came out it was clearly superior to any other disc for forehand (at least for me) and I started throwing it for everything outside of putting range (in differing degrees of broken in). My game vastly improved. I was the ultimate disc minimalist. I carried X-Clones (lots of X-Clones like 13 to 17 of them) and Magnets, nothing else.

When Candy plastic came out I switched to CE Firebirds. But candy plastic takes forever to break in. I tried to beat in Firebirds to get some to go straight or flip and continue in the minimalist way. No luck. So I had to find different molds and transitioned to CE TLs and CE Leopards. So where before I only had one driver, the X-Clone, now I expanded to 3 and stayed that way for a few years. My game continued to improve. New discs kept coming out and I continued to try them, adding them to my bag when they were effective.

I figured out how to throw a midrange forehand and added those, mostly Buzzzes and Rocs. Crushes and Flashes came out. They were great! Z Trackers came out and immediately became my anhyzers drivers. My game continued to get better to the extent I was invited to join Team Discraft. Now I could try out every mold they made in any plastic (for free! Hot Damn!) and tested lots of new discs and prototypes for them. I was exposed to a continual array of different opportunities. My bag lost all homogeneity and became an amalgam of whatever I liked best at the moment. Was there any harm from this Anti-Minimalist approach? Heck no. I won more than ever.

Perhaps there is a natural progression in disc minimalism. It may useful to start as a Minimalist as a new player until a certain degree of competence is achieved after which expanding to more molds becomes the advantage. Break it down to build it up.

This is only my experience so perhaps it has little wider application. I'm not sure. I know that when the Crank came out I had no hesitation to add it to the bag, where it has earned a beloved spot.

As an experienced player having more molds is an advantage. I learn individual discs and how to manipulate them. For example for anhyzer shots I currently carry 5 drivers. 2 are Rogues, 2 are Z Trackers. One of each is fresh and strong, the other is well worn. The last is a beat ESP Nuke. I carry 3 molds because the Nuke glides farther than a Rogue and a Rogue glides farther than a Tracker. So for short tunnels I throw Trackers. You know how hard it is to flip a disc and control it's glide! Once it flips it glides like crazy. It is just as bad to go 50' long as it is to go 50' short.

Sure I could go back to one mold if I wanted to. Why would I do that? Different molds fly differently at different speeds. I can either choose the disc best suited to the line and distance needed for a shot or I can try to force a round peg into a square hole. When you try to force a disc to do something which is unnatural for it you shrink the margin of error. Why make a shot harder than it has to be? For example you can throw a very understable disc into a screaming headwind. Good luck baby.

 

[Nght12]

There is a theory in sports that you need to break it down to build it up.

Maybe there is application here. When I started I tried every disc I could find. For the first few years I threw backhand because my teachers and everybody who was good threw backhand. I switched to forehand due to injury and moved to Pro. When a disc called the X-Clone came out it was clearly superior to any other disc for forehand (at least for me) and I started throwing it for everything outside of putting range (in differing degrees of broken in). My game vastly improved. I was the ultimate disc minimalist. I carried X-Clones (lots of X-Clones like 13 to 17 of them) and Magnets, nothing else.

When Candy plastic came out I switched to CE Firebirds. But candy plastic takes forever to break in. I tried to beat in Firebirds to get some to go straight or flip and continue in the minimalist way. No luck. So I had to find different molds and transitioned to CE TLs and CE Leopards. So where before I only had one driver, the X-Clone, now I expanded to 3 and stayed that way for a few years. My game continued to improve. New discs kept coming out and I continued to try them, adding them to my bag when they were effective.

I figured out how to throw a midrange forehand and added those, mostly Buzzzes and Rocs. Crushes and Flashes came out. They were great! Z Trackers came out and immediately became my anhyzers drivers. My game continued to get better to the extent I was invited to join Team Discraft. Now I could try out every mold they made in any plastic (for free! Hot Damn!) and tested lots of new discs and prototypes for them. I was exposed to a continual array of different opportunities. My bag lost all homogeneity and became an amalgam of whatever I liked best at the moment. Was there any harm from this Anti-Minimalist approach? Heck no. I won more than ever.

Perhaps there is a natural progression in disc minimalism. It may useful to start as a Minimalist as a new player until a certain degree of competence is achieved after which expanding to more molds becomes the advantage. Break it down to build it up.

This is only my experience so perhaps it has little wider application. I'm not sure. I know that when the Crank came out I had no hesitation to add it to the bag, where it has earned a beloved spot.

As an experienced player having more molds is an advantage. I learn individual discs and how to manipulate them. For example for anhyzer shots I currently carry 5 drivers. 2 are Rogues, 2 are Z Trackers. One of each is fresh and strong, the other is well worn. The last is a beat ESP Nuke. I carry 3 molds because the Nuke glides farther than a Rogue and a Rogue glides farther than a Tracker. So for short tunnels I throw Trackers. You know how hard it is to flip a disc and control it's glide! Once it flips it glides like crazy. It is just as bad to go 50' long as it is to go 50' short.

Sure I could go back to one mold if I wanted to. Why would I do that? Different molds fly differently at different speeds. I can either choose the disc best suited to the line and distance needed for a shot or I can try to force a round peg into a square hole. When you try to force a disc to do something which is unnatural for it you shrink the margin of error. Why make a shot harder than it has to be? For example you can throw a very understable disc into a screaming headwind. Good luck baby.

Now I don't mean to by any means to disregard your expertise, but it seems you are reducing the idea of disc minimalism to a hyperbolic state. What Blake says is to use the least amount of disc molds possible, he doesn't say however to attempt to use a new nuke and try to turn it over on an anhyzer. I carry a max of three different molds in each type of disc, but I like to keep it to two. Understable, stable and overstable.

Look at rocs, I can take dx rocs and beat them in to get stable and Understable and have a kc roc for overstable. One mold but I used different plastic characteristics and stages of wear to get the different discs I need, and I get to stay with a mold I'm extremely comfortable with. Comfort and confidence goes hand in hand.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Yig.]

Here's my $0.02 .

Played for about 7 years and decided I needed to break it down to ultimate basics , so I played a whole year with only a 150g Champion Cobra. While I never had a record game , I did become MUCH more consistent , and learned what I could and couldn't do with that disc.

That said, for many years after that I used three discs. 1. Champ Teebird 150g (lost the Teebird in a tree at dusk, replaced it with a Star TL 155g) 2. Champ Cobra 150g 3. Discraft Soft Magnet 170ish grams

Since then I lost those discs . Think I had a "D'oh" moment and left them on the roof of the car and drove off , or something else equally stupid. I was pretty mad, especially as I couldn't find a replacement for the 150g cobra or the 155g TL.

Either way , I have slowly built up my collection of discs , more or less to try some different stuff, or to try and increase my distance on drives . I still use a Teebird and Cobra quite frequently , and still believe in keeping it simple. I often look at the collection of discs I have and wonder if I really need all those discs. I certainly don't, and actually could probably stand to get rid of a few of them.

Used to be if I needed to throw a right hook, I would just throw RHFH with a lot of hyzer . Now I use my Leopard RHBH. Same effect more or less, but another disc in the bag.

I often wonder if I really need em all. :?: While each disc has it's role and situation where it is beneficial, it just requires that much more to remember how each likes to be thrown and what to expect from them.

Fewer discs is less to remember.