Why so many discs?

[maynes32]

I currently carry a small Lightning bag, and it is full - 10 discs or so. Almost everyone who plays in my league has at least the midsize (20-22 disc) Innova/Fade/etc. disc bag. My question to those of you that have these is, why do you carry and/or use so many discs? Do you find that you actually use all of them with regularity? I know some pros carry doubles (or triples) of discs that they can't afford to lose in a round. Do you do that?

For myself, I carry:

Distance stable (Surge) and understable (Avenger SS)
Fairway overstable (Z Reaper), stable (Z XL) and understable (beat Pro-D XL)
Mid overstable (X Wasp), stable (Buzz) and understable (Stratus)
Approach (Rattler)
Putter (Banger GT)

The only other disc I could imagine carrying is an extremely hard turning disc like a Flick. I use each of the discs in my bag at least 1x-2x per round, and often more than that.

BLM

 

[jesus]

It depends on the course. Some people carry a lot of discs because they don't know any better. Other people carry a lot of discs because they have a wide variety of shots that they can execute and they have assigned certain discs to certain shots.

 

[jeremy]

I think these people are trying to strengthen their back. I don't like a heavy loaded down bag, or maybe have a difficult time of deciding what to throw. I know if I carried 20+ discs my back would hurt after 2- 8,000ft rounds, or I would be sitting their for 5 minutes trying to decide what to throw.
I just carry 2- comets- 1- Roc, 3- Teebirds, 2-Bosses, 2- wizards. 1 aviar, and 1 wraith.
12-total wow I thought I carried less.

 

[garublador]

It's mostly backups and discs in different stages of wear. I find I only use 6-10 of the discs in my bag for any given round. I spend most of my time working with newer discs trying to get them beat up.

Plus, when you do field work it gets to be a pain when you have to go pick up your discs every 10 throws.

 

[Rbuzz9]

I find that in any given round i end up using 4 discs and a putter - and i would force myself to use some discs like once or twice - just to use them. I once had the huge bag - but im finding that i like having a small bag that's got 6-7 discs and a putter works just as well. The big bag is now the disc locker in my trunk and i sometimes switch out some drivers on courses.
i used to have the Full array of overstable / stable / under for mids fairways & drivers - but outgrew the understable stuff as i got better.


and im a huge fan of the flick - i use it mostly FH - it will fade hard

 

[Roc1Time]

I carry 15 in my bag and for the most part only use 5 or 6 a round. I have alot of the same dics that are all beat just a bit different and just in case I lose a disc or ace with one, I want to have a backup with me that I know what its going to do so there is no learning curve.

 

[garublador]

Also, I actually only carry 8 different molds, but could easily get it down to 6 if I bought a couple more discs.

 

[Huff]

I carry 8-10 and provided i dont lose any will only use 4-6 of them in a given round. Some of the extras are just back ups, some are for specific shots that, if all goes according to plan, i wont have to use unless i screw up.

The rest of the room in my bag is for beer/phone etc.

 

[lko102]

I'm trying to resist the urge to have a disc for every shot, and work more on learning how to make a simple set of discs do what I need them to do for all shots.

At the moment, I think I'm carrying 1 Avair, 1 Buzz, 1 Leopard, 1 Beast, 1 Valk, 1 Gazelle, and 1 Wraith.

I could probably get rid of the Leopard and use just the Gazelle, and get rid of the Valk and use the Wraith, but I haven't gotten around to taking them out yet.

 

[jeremy]

It's mostly backups and discs in different stages of wear. I find I only use 6-10 of the discs in my bag for any given round. I spend most of my time working with newer discs trying to get them beat up.

Plus, when you do field work it gets to be a pain when you have to go pick up your discs every 10 throws.

I do field work seperate from rounds. I have a box in the back of the truck with at least 6-8 duplicates of everything in the bag + a little more besides the Bosses gotta get a few more.

 

[jdggna]

I believe I have 22 in my bag right now. The duplicates I currently have are three Voodoos, two Buzzzes, two Eagles, and two Predators. I like to have them so that I can get a second look at approaches/putts if I misjudge a distance, don't factor the wind correctly, etc. Without the spares, that means I have 17 different discs.

Drivers:
Surge and Avenger: I cannot throw as well as I should be able to. I use them to work on my form on long drives. Essentially my max D backhand discs assuming I'm having a good form day.
Force and Groove: max distance forehand drives. Which one I use depends on space and wind.
Predators for windy backhands/forehands and doglegs.
Surge SS and DGA Rogue: my goto drivers while not windy

Fairway drivers next. The reason I have so many of these is that I'm evaluating them and trying to determine which ones I want to keep in my bag. I'll duplicate one I like when I remove one I don't.
XL: Stable with a decent natural turn. Probably keeping it and getting another.
Cyclone: very stable and seems similar to the Teebird to me (more like a TL). Probably keeping this instead purely because everybody seems to throw Teebirds around my area.
Eagles: shorter XL in my opinion. probably leaving my bag once I get another XL and/or Cyclone
Teebird: Gone once I get another Cyclone unless I determine it to be significantly better than it. After about three weeks with them both I'm not seeing much real difference, and I prefer the Cyclone.
Assassin: a very straight driver. It will probably be staying.
Sidewinder: I love it for a straight, narrow fairway. It also has some sentimental value to me and will not be leaving the bag.
Flick: Works wonders when I'm in a really tight spot (buried in foliage)

Putt & Approach:
Buzzzes: Standard Midrange/Approach
Wasp: Buzzz for the wind
Voodoo: Straight Putter

That is my bag. I may not throw every disc every round, but it comes in handy to be able to do a wide variety of shots.

 

[Doktor John]

I carry between 18-20 discs...

I have some discs that do just one thing, but they do that one thing perfectly and I keep it in my bag for that moment...

I have a friend I travel with and often he'll say something like, "I need a disc like your champion beast for this shot" because my beast does this crazy sharp hyzer like it is remote controlled...everytime

Since I travel so much for work, I'm playing new courses blind and never know what I will encounter, so I bring most of my discs.

If I were to play my home course and had a need to trim down my bag, I could easily play it with 5-6 discs and depending on my lies, maybe only use 3 of them for the whole round

 

[Matthew Gardner]

I carry in my Innova Tour Bag :

2 Champion Boss
1 Star Boss
2 Star Wraith
2 Star Destroyers
2 Star Xcaliburs
1 Avenger
1 Avenger SS
1 Champion Gazelle
1 Champion Eagle
3 Rocs
3 Star Aviars

And I will most of the time use every one of them in a tournament

 

[DavidSauls]

A few good reasons to carry a lot of discs (regardless of which, I rarely do)---

Playing a tournament on a course where it's possible to lose multiple discs in a round. If you've just got one overstable driver and you lose it on the 3rd hole, where are you?

Playing a practice round where you may want to take multiple shots on the same hole. If it's open, you can take multiple shots with different-flying discs. But my course has a big downhill shot with predominant headwinds; if you want to throw multiple drives for practice, you need multiple overstable discs in your bag. Ditto for holes that require turnovers, or tight straight lines.

 

[jdggna]

I have some discs that do just one thing, but they do that one thing perfectly and I keep it in my bag for that moment...

I have a friend I travel with and often he'll say something like, "I need a disc like your champion beast for this shot" because my beast does this crazy sharp hyzer like it is remote controlled...everytime

That is basically my reasoning for keeping quite a few with different flight patterns.

If I were to play my home course and had a need to trim down my bag, I could easily play it with 5-6 discs and depending on my lies, maybe only use 3 of them for the whole round

Same way. Last tourney I played was at my home course. I carried 8 and only threw 4 or 5 of them.

 

[billnchristy]

I carry < a dozen and use *most* of them, really depends on the course.

Vision- My stretch out driver...gotsta have room for it
Avenger- My Hole #17 at Alexander disc (One of the discraft misprints...$7 is easy to swallow if it splashes)
Medius- Something between my vision and core
Striker- Haven't quite found the niche for this one yet but have thumber'd it a few times to get out of trouble
Core- My go-to. Almost every hole sees the core
Gazelle 150- Dogleg disc, no wind driver
Gazelle Pro 172- windy dogleg or driver
Rock-it and Wildfire- More or less in for oddities sake though the flying nipple has come in handy and the Rock-it has hit a 100' putt before
Spike- Putter, 150-180' driver.

 

[gvan]

Casual play on home course I can score great with 4 discs. I carry more to beat them in, learn them and because I get more exercise. For tournaments, it's usually this set-up
1x Star Boss
2x Wraith
2x Destroyer
1x Sidewinder
1x FL
1x TL
3x Roc
1x Coyote
2x Aviar P&A
2x KC Aviar

The reason for so many drivers is differing winds. At a tourney 2 weeks ago, I threw a driver 4 times over 2 rounds. Destroyer 3 times and Wraith once. The rest of my shots were Rocs and Aviars. I'm glad I had the rest with me though.

 

[solomon.trenton]

its nice to have a variety and the storage is a huge plus also

 

[jdggna]

its nice to have a variety and the storage is a huge plus also

Storage is actually the reason I bought a bag in the first place, and why I upgraded to a bigger one later. After that I just filled the bag looking for that variety.

 

[Disc Dog]

I carry 12...

Discraft ESP FLX Challenger 169g
Discraft ESP FLX Challenger 170g
Innova Champion Aero 176g
Innova DX Cobra 169g
Innova Star Cro 170g
Innova Pro Destroyer 169g
Innova DX kite 176g
Innova Champion Shark 176g
Innova Champion Valkyrie 175g
Innova Champion Viper 172g
Innova Star Wraith 170g
Innova Pro Wraith 174g

It would be 10, but I carry an extra Challenger and Wraith so if I ever loose one of these I hopefully already have a beat in extra to pick up the slack.

That being said... I do not see carrying 30 discs. I had a guy who is a sponsored pro tell me learn my discs. If I did that I could carry less and still get the job done. The other thing he suggested was to learn different kinds of throws (tomahawk, flick, scoobie, RHBH, thumber, I am trying to learn rollers now, etc). That makes 10 discs seem like 20.

Less may not work for everyone, because I think some of it is what takes place between the ears, but it has done me well as I continue to learn.