Using basketball as a comparison isn't really valid. Because I can go the other way and say that women using much larger balls for fast pitch softball than men do in baseball and a women's fastball is FAST...I believe in high school and even up into college women pitch faster than men. And there are countless sports where men and women use the same equipment.
Plus there are a lot of shorter, smaller men that play and there are a lot of taller,larger women that play. It would get murky about if said smaller discs were mandatory for female play or optional.
I am also just spitballing, so take what Im saying with a grain of salt, but I dont see the benefit. Im not a woman, but I'm married to one and raising two, and I just don't see it being that advantageous.
I think basketball is a better comparison than softball. In basketball, you have to throw an object into a target from all sorts of random distances. Sound familiar? Professional and most college female basketball players are bigger, faster and stronger compared to the average woman yet they still use a smaller ball than men do. I'm guessing there are reasons for this beyond misogyny? I know that scouts love guys with bigger hands (Kawhi Leonard for example, massive hands and MVP caliber talent for example) and the better you can palm a basketball the better you can control it and generally the tighter your handles. The difference in size between a women's basketball and a men's basketball is small but the difference in performance is like night and day if you're used to one or the other.
How much an advantage slightly smaller diameter discs would be for women, if any, I don't know and definitely worth asking. I think the measurable advantages aren't likely to be large if any. What it boils down to me is, in a game that is so predicated on a disc
feeling good/right in your hand, would the benefit lie largely in increased confidence for women/smaller handed?
I don't think I get the question. Do smaller discs go further? Aren't all women throwing the same discs? I guess if women are competing in men's divisions a difference could help level the playing field, but I am not sure smaller discs help gain distance.
I'm not really talking about distance. The women compete against each other, on the same course layout so potential distance gains is a moot point. What I'm wondering is if women/small handed/short-armed people maybe feel the hit better on slightly smaller diameter discs or something or just if smaller discs feel better and they gain confidence which translates to better control. I was watching the 2017 Gentleman's Club Challenge and Catrina Allen and another lead card pro just brutally shanked drives into this rough on an otherwise wide open hole. I saw all of them guilty of Rec division inaccuracy way more than I would expect from FPO, even Paige Pierce who has amazing control and distance. But the putting is where it really looked like the women just had no confidence at all and their putters looked huge in their hands, like if I was putting with an Aero or something.
Just polled the two girls in my office who are both pretty sporty and they are offended at the though of "girls" discs. They say that it's insulting to assume they can't handle regular discs and were quick to point out the number of unathletic and tiny men who play disc golf and why don't they have special discs?
opcorn:
Okay, absolutely nowhere did I mention or even allude to making women specific discs for women. All I'm saying is, we have a gazillion disc manufacturers now and they pump out different discs like crazy. Would it be terribly awful for companies to make slightly smaller diameter discs for women/children/similar dimension people if the PDGA would allow it and would there be a benefit? So many people want to grow the sport but the courses and the equipment that are constantly getting produced cater to the same glob of established disc golfers.
Another way to look at it is this: Male disc golfers have a huge inventory of discs to pick from to make the bag that feels best to us. Male golfers have a huge inventory of clubs and balls to choose from, female golfers have a decent inventory of shorter clubs and softer balls to choose from. But female disc golfers have whatever the male disc golfers get to choose from, but they can get some of them in pink and in lighter weights and that's supposed to be equitable. :\
