Looking for Disc Recs / Rate my Bag

[meghanm1230]

Vitals:
Years playing/experience: 1 year and a few months
Right/left-handed/ambidextrous: Right Handed
Throwing Style: Mostly backhand for drives/distance, but mostly forehand within 100' of the basket
Golf Distance: Consistently throwing between 200'-230' with my putters, mids, and more stable drivers. Recently began being able to touch 250'-300' with my understable drivers (Lat64 Diamond, Lat64 River, and my beat up DX Cheetah)

Optional:
Age: 23
Sex: F
Injuries/handicaps?: Occasional touchy neck and shoulders, but nothing too serious
Other sport proficiencies?: Some ultimate, volleyball, track & field

Goals/Background Info: I really would like to even out my bag and continue to find discs that will help me grow. I started out with very stable discs that I found in my local sporting goods store. Within the last six months I've been buying more understable to stable discs that will help me seriously work on my form while also seeing some results in distance. I would like to register with the PDGA and start competing in tournaments later this year or next year. Using an estimate for ratings a friend came up with, my recent rounds in the last month or so have been rated between 650-750.

Bag:

Fairway Drivers:
160g Star Valkyrie (pretty new) - headwind driver, average throw ~200' and to the left
170g I-Blend Centurion (loaner from a friend, lightly seasoned) - less stable than the valkyrie, still figuring out where it fits in my bag if it does, also flies ~200' but with a little less fade
170g Gold Line River (seasoned) - this bombs for me, longest throw with it is 313 from earlier this month
157g D Line FD (seasoned) - just picked this up at a pro shop yesterday, gave it a few throws in a field today and it averaged ~250' in a tailwind
171g DX Cheetah (beat) - before sailing full speed into a couple trees this week, this disc would give me a little turn and finish pretty straight to slightly left. Average throw is probably ~245'
155g Opto Diamond (pretty new) - another recent purchase, finishes reliably to the right and ~265' out
164g 400G F7 (shows some wear) - all around solid disc, turns as much as a -3 should be expected to but also fades a bit at the end. Average throw ~250'

Mids:
173g 300s M3 (seasoned) - this disc definitely flies less stable for me than the numbers would suggest, slight turn and fades for a relatively straight finish. Average ~200
180g Star Mako3 (good condition) - flies pretty dang straight for me until it fades. does all the things a mako3 is supposed to do. Average ~200
174g Plasma Pyro (pretty new) - holy stable, haven't quite figured out of this is the right overstable mid for me. Average ~200 but goes left pretty much right out of my hand.
165g Z Archer (good condition) - I haven't really figured this disc out yet. It flies way more stable than I would think it would based off of numbers alone (probably the Z plastic). I get some turn with a decent amount of fade. Average ~200.

Approach:
Medium Caltrop (beat) - I bought this recently to replace my slammer that I wasn't crazy about, but this disc beat so quickly. Still using it as an approach disc, but more often am using it for straight forehands that I need just a little fade on.
K2 Berg - bought this mostly out of curiosity, use it when I'm laying up for a tap in on a death putty type hole since it drops so hard.

Putters:
Tournament Maiden (good condition) - throwing putter, sweet spot of stability and used for both forehand and touchy backhand shots
Retro Pure (beat) - used to be my putting putter, but now I'll use it for forehand upshots that I need to go pretty straight.
Med. Electron Pilot (seasoned) - putting putter
BT Med. Swan 1 Reborn (seasoned) - I need to figure out where this disc fits in my bag, haven't quite figured out what shots to use it for yet.

 

[Streets]

That's a lot of different molds in the bag...which would you say are your most thrown discs out of them all?

 

[autocrosscrx]

I think you might be served well picking a disc or two that you prefer and a putter and just playing those 2-3 discs for a few weeks. Throw for distance, throw hyzers, throw force overs, throw forehands, throw touch approaches, etc.

Then revisit your bag and you may have a better idea of what gaps you need to fill.

 

[the1discChallenge]

I'll second what's already been said. You mentioned you're starting to acquire more plastic and figure out what works for you which is great, but something I personally have a hard time doing is letting discs go that don't work as well. I'm trying to find my perfect distance driver currently and so as a result, am testing a lot of molds. I feel a weird obligation to try them all at once to compare, but I've found working with one or two at a time gives me a better idea of what they do. While it's great to give discs a chance and learn them, having all of those molds in the bag at once isn't super productive since you're only really driving once, maybe twice per hole.

This being said, it seems like you really like your GL River. I might suggest getting a fresh heavy one to compliment your seasoned one. It'll have a very similar flight and feel the same in the hand, but will fight the wind a bit more. Play a few rounds where you're only driving with those regardless of the shot so you really learn the disc and put it to the test to see if you actually like it. It also seems like all of your mids go about 200- I'd personally recommend working with your Mako3 and M3 only for a bit. You've got one disc (Mako3) that will be a great straight-understable mold and one (M3) that will be a more utility disc. Same thing with the putters.

You can definitely keep all of these discs and work with them all, but taking a step back and carrying a bag of 6-8 discs (2-3 drivers, 2-3 mids, and 2 putters) would be beneficial. Just my 2-cents :thmbup:

 

[CwAlbino]

I honestly don't know a lot of the newer discs so I am a little lost on what you currently have, so here's what I can add.

A local adv/pro when I was learning didn't have the greatest arm. What he was, though, was very consistent. His most used discs were sidewinders and roadrunners. Both of those discs he could work on multiple lines and just did whatever he wanted. Varying weights for what he wanted.

As far as my experience, look into limiting your disc selection and get some base plastics. I'll sure someone can come in here and talk about minimalism in your bag, but what I just care about is familiarity with your discs. I pretty much prefer better plastic the faster the disc is.

Putter- dx
Mid range - pro plastic
Fairway drivers - pro and star
Distance drivers - star and some champion

Based on your current lineup I would do this:
-putter that feels good in your hand. Base plastic and then one in premium for stability
- mid: mako that you have. Grab another mako 3 in cheap plastic to beat in so you have that understable finesse mid. Find a good wind stable mid like a wasp, roc, etc. Not overstable. You can get this in premium plastic to keep that stability as long as possible. I use an MVP tensor because I like the feeling and the oversized disc. There are tons of options, I just had a hard time finding one I liked.
-fairway drivers are where I would stop for you. Discs like sidewinder, roadrunner, heat, avenger SS are going to be your go-to drivers. Try them in Pro and Star plastic (x/esp etc.) Valkyrie and Viking are also good for a little more stability. Pick up a slow overstable fairway that you can use as your meat hook. The slower speed will actually net you more control and distance. I'm talking something like a banshee, or if they still made it, a whippet. They are almost tweener discs between mid and fairway. You can get this in whatever plastic you prefer. If you go faster like a firebird or predator then go base plastic. Last but not least you can grab a stable "straight" fairway. If you like that FD, keep it going. Grab another in pro plastic. Discs like the JLS, Sabre, FD, TL.

 

[meghanm1230]

Thanks for all of the responses, everyone! I think this week I will try to limit my mids to the Mako3 and the M3 and my drivers to my Diamond, Cheetah, and River. I'm going to check out the FD more in the field and look into a straighter but slow fairway! This was a lot of really great advice to consider, looking forward to getting to know some molds better!