How do you drive for distance with a Putter?

[Dajinni]

I have read posts that emphasize using the putter for training, play rounds with putters, and people throwing the putters hundreds of feet.

I have a 167g GStar Aviar P&A (new). When I throw it on a slight hyzer line(which is what it appears Mike C is doing), with the same power that I throw my drivers, it flips up and turns hard into a roller. If I drop the power/reduce the backswing I can keep the disc in the air much longer. It goes about the same distance as the roller but it's more controlled (150'ish).

I also have a 171g Star Roadrunner(few marks but new). I throw that on a slight hyzer and get a nice hyzer flip that sometimes has a slight turn before fading. If I throw flat it gets a nice pronounced HST before getting a light fade.

My understanding of discs is that the harder/faster a disc is thrown the more pronounced the HST is and the less pronounced the LSF is. This doesn't jive with Simon Lizotte chucking a putter 400'.

I can throw about 300'. I clearly don't have the same power as Mike C or the distance of Simon Lizotte but they can bomb putters out there without them turning into rollers. How are they doing this?

 

[sidewinder22]

Aviar P&A is fairly understable, so you would need to throw it with hyzer past 250'. IMO the best putters to work with are stable/neutral like the Big Bead Aviar Driver, Wizard, Banger GT, Focus, etc.

Close your stance, stay balanced, reachback low and wide, swing the disc straight line through your core/leading with elbow and finish high and wide. That's basically the opposite of how peps learn to "throw" or strong arm high speed discs, they reachback high and curled up hugging themself while leaning back off balance and then throw their upper body over the top the hips and swing the disc around their body with a tiny teerex arm in the finish.

 

[wims]

Also remember that those players got a very smooth power delivery, they are not torquing the disc wildly when they apply power. If you torque the disc off its axis it will fly way more understable than the disc really is

 

[runningDoc]

throw you putter kind of like an ultimate disc/frisbee. remember ultimate players can get those large super understable unwieldy 175g discs 300ft easy (and often times sidearm too) from standstill.

for me the best way I learned how to throw a putter far is by playing catch with a friend in an open field. for some reason its so much easier for me to get 250ft + (some times even 300ft) when just throwing to a friend.

you can even practice hyzer/anny with backhand and sidearm. the biggest thing if you want distance with a putter at first is you really have to put air under it, but you don't do that by throwing high (kind of like long toss in baseball before you start putting your whole body into the throw). it was a fun realization that once you get the sidearm down with a putter its not hard at all to get 150-200ft with it on different lines (turnover/hyzer).

 

[KniceZ]

I can't drive with my main putter - Magic. It's so deep it just doesn't feel right in a power grip. I've been trying to do more driving with my Buzzz.

You may want to try an overstable shallower putter.

 

[pfpro]

Whether it's a putter, mid or driver, if you are turning the disc over, you can power down (as described) or change your hyzer angle. I picked up an understable blizzard disc to be a floater, and couldn't throw it (I was trying to throw everything with a flat release). Clearly, this was the disc's fault, so it went into the trunk for about a year. Over that time, my form improved, and I started throwing discs somewhat resembling their flight charts. I understood what a hyzer an anhyzer shot was supposed to do, and a light clicked. Got the blizzard disc out, took a steep hyzer angle (>45 degrees), and that disc did pretty well. Was pretty light, so I still couldn't power at 100%, had to get up to a higher weight understable disc - but, it's all about the hyzer angle. If you're tracking too far right, flip your angle some more.

 

[Dr.Smooth]

Height, height lots of height and hyzer release angle.

Back in the day you had to do this with most discs because they were so understable compared to the meathooks we have now.

It is very similiar to a max distance throw with an understable driver.

By the way all of my gstar stuff is stupid flippy though I love the plastic.

 

[MichaelWebster]

I can't drive with my main putter - Magic. It's so deep it just doesn't feel right in a power grip. I've been trying to do more driving with my Buzzz.

You may want to try an overstable shallower putter.

Keep practicing with the Magic, it will perform useful putter hyzer-flips once you get used to driving it. Also, a slightly thinner version of the Magic is a PA-4. The slow flight of a thick putter is the reason to drive with putters. Thin putters are ok too, but not quite as controllable.

 

[Puckstopper]

I can't drive with my main putter - Magic. It's so deep it just doesn't feel right in a power grip. I've been trying to do more driving with my Buzzz.

You may want to try an overstable shallower putter.

I agree. I drive and putt with an Envy, but sprinkle in a JK Aviar or Anode for putting duties depending on the course and my mood. The Envy is an easy putter to drive with as it's shallower and more OS than the other two (at least when thrown hard off the tee). I recommend trying an Envy or something similar. The Colt and Whale are both supposed to be shallower from what I've heard, and are Innova products if that's what you prefer.

 

[Pbmercil]

Height, height lots of height and hyzer release angle.

Back in the day you had to do this with most discs because they were so understable compared to the meathooks we have now.

It is very similiar to a max distance throw with an understable driver.

By the way all of my gstar stuff is stupid flippy though I love the plastic.

Word. Your Gstar aviar may be a TAD flippy to be a good driving putter, but that doesn't mean you can't throw it a decent ways with good technique. Lots of height, some hyzer, and a smooth, powerful delivery are all key.

 

[DGHippie]

You'll probably need to do some putter only rounds for a few weeks to get good driving distance with putters. I throw beat to crap dx aviars on hyzer flip lines up to around 300' under pretty ideal circumstance. 275' all day if there is no headwind because the slower stuff is more prone to turning over in a headwind. You might even try a fan or fork grip on the aviar. I know it helps me keep my wrist down on the putters.

Check out this video (don't know how to embed and too lazy to figure it out right now) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1BXp0-v4vs

Good advice toward the end of the video about about finishing the shot with a smooth hyzer. You may be flattening out the disc as you release which would cause the turnover.

 

[grotto]

First off, a putter has to fit your hand and that is unique to every player and some of it is going to be trial and error. I can't throw deep and thin rimmed putter, they hang up on me a little on release.

My favorite driving putter is a Fuzion Judge, (although I can drive any Judge) and the Yeti. They both just fit my hand well.

A good thing to do is play putter only rounds and carry 3 or 4 different putters and play away. You'll soon find out which ones work best for you across the board. Throw the same type of shot with all of the putters you're trying out, flat, hyzer, annies, flick shots. Take some time to get to know your discs and when you find the one that's most consistent for you, go out and buy a couple more and put the others away for a while. When you get better, pull the old ones out and try again. Things change over time and you may find one that you once couldn't throw now flies like a dream as you improve.

For what it's worth, I still can't drive a beadless Aviar to save my life unless I power it down. No biggie, lots of people can, it's just not my disc.

 

[discflinger]

Lip up.

 

[sprintermatt]

One key to throwing putters far is to reduce (I mean down to zero) the amount of flutter. Any flutter will dramatically shorten a putter throw. Stiffer discs are better, stiffer flatter discs are best. I'm not saying lower profile, but dome is going to be your enemy when throwing far. something that is flat from rim to rim will perform better at speed.

You also really have to work your entire throw into the release angle. Your entire throw should be on the plane that you are trying to release on. Not just the last moment or wrist angle.

You also have to stop believing you are throwing a putter. Just think of it as a slow flying straight driver. It's just a really accurate driver that you have to put a lot of power behind to get it to fly. You never know how far you can throw a putter till you try.

I suggest learning on downhill holes. I use a putter on the 389 foot hole 3 at Winthrop Gold. Have for a good 7 years. Unless I throw it wrong or there's a massive headwind, I'm putting.

 

[slowplastic]

A couple of things first. I agree with SW22 that Aviars are on the less stable end of stable/straight, although I haven't thrown GStar. I used a DX Aviar for quite a while and eventually I didn't trust it enough for putter drives around and over ~250' like he said...I have thrown it farther and it's incredibly straight, but it's not forgiving at all. If you want to work with putter drives, get a Wizard if you like the feel as it's the standard, and a good starting point to branch out from. If you've used an Aviar and a Wizard, you then know how the standards feel and fly and can go from there.

Also if you are maxing out ~300' you likely don't have any wrist involvement in your throw/hold onto the disc late in the throw, which gives the disc more spin. Less spin makes discs fly less stable. When people throw farther, they also have the discs act more stable in a way...because they can impart more spin. What I'm meaning is that if you throw your Roadrunner 300', where you max out, and I throw your Roadrunner 300', my throw is going to be much straighter (less turn and less fade) because I'm putting more spin on the disc.

Putters don't need to be thrown all that high to get 250-300'. When I'm throwing them poorly it's easiest to get them that distance with a good 15'+ of height. When I'm throwing correctly I feel like I can get them 275'+ with like 10' of height and they hold straight and hit the ground with forward momentum. I'm sure for putter crushes well over 300' like some guys can do...I wish I could see it in person...they are throwing them 20-30'+. But you don't need to throw them way up in the sky if you're throwing them hard and clean with spin/snap.

Your question about HSS/LSS...discs that are faster have a larger difference between cruising (high speed) and ending speed (low speed/fading). Putters are slower so they tend to hold straight at HS and less fade at LS. The best putters have amazingly good HSS on a clean release, while maintaining the small LSS. But, unlike faster or more overstable discs, any torque or unclean release they will not recover from, and will act very understable/flippy. This is why you are getting rollers and they are acting so flippy that it seems impossible to throw them far.

The benefit of realizing this, is that to get 200-250' out of a putter, you do not need to throw it hard/fast. You need to throw it cleanly, and it will glide out at its cruising speed and still get you a straight flight. As you improve you can add more power cleanly. This is why throwing putters helps your form.

 

[Dajinni]

I went to my local store and picked up a 170g Proton Envy and hit up a course for a putters only run with a friend.

It made all the difference. The putters hold the OAT wobbles long enough for me to see. I asked my friend to keep an eye on the initial release for OAT. Most of my throws had no visible wobbles by the time I looked up from the drive. One of the holes at this course is 255' uphill and I got it within 20'. I used the Aviar P&A only for <100' upshots.

I'm going to throw a few more putter only rounds to see if I can eliminate my OAT.

 

[wolfmandragon]

I agree. I drive and putt with an Envy, but sprinkle in a JK Aviar or Anode for putting duties depending on the course and my mood. The Envy is an easy putter to drive with as it's shallower and more OS than the other two (at least when thrown hard off the tee). I recommend trying an Envy or something similar. The Colt and Whale are both supposed to be shallower from what I've heard, and are Innova products if that's what you prefer.

The Envy flies so well, its almost cheating. Yeah, it's a good putter to learn to drive.