Putters Going Almost As Far As Distance Drivers...Why?

[Mike C]

Did he say that he throws a buzzz close to 400'?

Anyway, he would definitely be crushing distance discs at least 500' if that were the case.

I have nose up issues or something. My distance spread between my putter and Distance Driver is pathetic. I haven't figured out why this is yet, but take a look at my max D I've measured with my go-to discs.

Wizard - 380' max 360' consistent
Buzz - 405' max 380' consistent
Stalker - 420' max 400' consistent
Orc - 460' max 430' consistent

I know I play too many putter rounds, but seriously there's less than 100' of distance between a typical max D Wizard throw and max D Orc throw.

Here's my video critique thread if that helps (Scroll all the way down for most recent) - http://discgolfreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=18423

Anyone know why my spread would be so unusual like this? Looking at my Wizard and Buzz distances, one would expect me to throw past 500'. As it is, when I'm throwing lines on the course, my max controlled D is usually closer to 430' than 500'. My first guess is nose-up issues, which might of been exaggerated by throwing putters for distance more than any other disc I carry since you have to throw them high to get 330'+ D. Can anyone offer some other suggestions to help me improve with distance drivers?

 

[Ryan C]

I'm going to disclaim this by saying that I'm not an expert advice giver. My form and power have improved slowly with lots of practice, and with basically no thought to specific timing issues, nose down, etc. etc. My approach has always been, "Hm, my disc are coming out with a decent amount of power, but always with more hyzer than I intended." So I just go to a field and force myself to throw and throw, making common sense kind of corrections, until I feel like I have the problem a little under control. Occasionally someone has told me something that helped a breakthrough happen, but mostly it was trial and error, just feeling how the disc wanted to fly.

So my advice, that may or may not just be dismissed by poster #2, is that you must already generate plenty of power to throw a 350' putter. So figuring out how to time your throw to get even more power is probably not going to solve whatever is causing your distance drivers to only go 50-75' farther. Is your grip forcing the nose up? Are you releasing nice and flat? Are you following through the shot? Do you find that throwing so many putters causes you to rely more on snap than arm speed, since putters prefer snap? It takes more grip pressure to get snap on a driver, so is your grip not compensating for a disc that's harder to get leverage on?

Perhaps none of these things have anything to do with your issue, but honestly, if you can get controlled distance up to 430', you already throw far enough to become a 1000 rated player.

 

[x-out1]

Is your grip forcing the nose up? Are you releasing nice and flat? Are you following through the shot? Do you find that throwing so many putters causes you to rely more on snap than arm speed, since putters prefer snap? It takes more grip pressure to get snap on a driver, so is your grip not compensating for a disc that's harder to get leverage on?

i'm in a similar boat as Mike C. i've cleaned up my technique and got back to my Flying Disc Magazine form, but the drivers just aren't what they should be.

i think Ryan C has an interesting point about leverage and grip pressure. i can feel every little thing the putters are doing throughout my swing. the drivers are not giving me the same feedback and feel almost numb. Ryan C has a good point, but i'm not sure how i can work on those points he brought up.

 

[freeus]

I don't know the answer but you're not the only one. I can throw a Rattler 200+ but my longest drivers (Orc, Beast) max out at 280.

 

[JR]

That smells like nose up angle with drivers. Maybe mids too. Possibly incorrect apex height in relation to the speed and spin of the disc too.

 

[jubuttib]

A thought came to my head: I'm pretty sure Avery Jenkins can throws his putters around 400' and over (I've heard that he threw way over that with a Dart), how much over 500' does his normal golf line max D drive go? Is the gap a lot bigger than 100'?

 

[JR]

Has he written or been interviewed for the bag content and how far he uses each disc? That is normal golf use open field D is another matter. At Tali in 2009 he threw Eagles and TBs to about 500' so his favorite fast disc Destroyer should be farther. For a freaky performance Tomas Ekström said that in the early 90s he threw Aviars to 130 m at times and he's been reported to throw Venoms 150 m. Almost 70' gap from putter to a slow disc so faster discs would have created havoc.

 

[zj10021]

That smells like nose up angle with drivers. Maybe mids too. Possibly incorrect apex height in relation to the speed and spin of the disc too.

This is exactly it actually. I can touch rocs to 400 but they nose up and alot of air. In the past i had moments of 400 on nose down rocs and it was a completely different type of flight. I can rarely replicate this on command. I've concluded I am getting nose up from swooping during the pull, when I manage to not swoop I don't see the top of the disc as often.

 

[Mike C]

I know Avery has aced a hole around 300-315' with an Aviar, and the shot was well controlled, so I'm sure he can blast them well past that. I think I heard about him throwing darts past 400' in the dog catch tourney thing.

I worked on making a few changes to my distance drives like keeping the nose down more, throwing lower lines when applicable, longer reach back and exploding my hips later in the x-step and I've been touching the 430-460' range fairly consistently and even had a couple of ~500' bombs. Throwing different drivers too, and since I've been playing monster holes it's hard to know my distances right now but I think I'm along these lines for comfortable course D:

Wiz - up to 350'
Buzz - up to 380'
Cyclone - up to 405'
OLF - up to 430'
Nuke - up to 450'

I think a lot of what you guys have suggested so far is right. Nose down I think was the biggest thing, coupled with me being used to having to throw my Wizards really high to get past 350'. The last couple of weeks I've been playing monster holes and throwing tons of Cyclones, Preds, OLF's and Nukes, and it paid off. I needed a lot of high speed disc practice to help me fix nose-down. Assuming it doesn't get too snowy too soon this year I could see myself getting another 20' out of the Nuke if I can keep getting better at keeping the nose down and my weight forward.