Where Have I Been?

With no posts on the blog in a while and an obvious absence from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, a lot of folks have asked me where I’ve been. In a nutshell, I needed to spend some time trimming the excess from my life. That included a lot of disc golf related stuff.

For example, I spent the last 6 months selling off most of my discs. 362 to be exact. I was trying to organize them one day and just for grins, I started counting. When I hit 500 with more to go I had to stop. What the hell did I need 500+ discs for?!?! This was ridiculous. Especially since I only carry 7 with me when I play. I’ve come to love playing rounds with only a few discs and my trusty NutSac. My enjoyment is up. My scores are down. My need for a garage full of discs is gone.

I’m not done selling yet either. I still have a bunch of discs left to sell… Maybe. You see, I’m down to discs that I like throwing (although I probably don’t need 20 backup Trespasses). If I still carried 20+ discs, a lot of them would be in the bag. Who knows, if I start carrying a bigger bag or cart again this year, I may have a need to keep a few more than I thought I would. So this final batch is proving more difficult to part with. Especially since I came across “the box”.

I haven’t just been selling off my unused discs. I’ve been selling off everything. I have a rule. If I don’t touch it for a year or more, I don’t need it. Time to give it away or sell it. That included the ping pong table crammed off to one side of my garage. It was an easy sale on Craig’s List. 2 hours after listing it I had $150 in my hand and newly cleared space in my garage.

The Discovery…

As I counted the crisp $20 bills, I looked over where the table had been and spotted a familiar shaped container. Sitting in a dark and lonely corner was a box of discs I didn’t know I had. I couldn’t even remember putting it there let alone what was in it. I brushed the dust and cobwebs off, lifted the lid, and immediately smiled when I looked inside.

If you’ve been playing long enough, odds are you’ve thrown a lot of different discs. They tend to come in and out of our bags over time until they blend into a blur of tried and forgotten plastic. It’s one of the many ways you can end up with a garage full of discs. But every so often you come across a mold you really like. If you’re lucky, you find a few you love. When you do, you fill a slot in your bag and that disc becomes an old familiar friend.

But even those beloved discs get replaced occasionally. Woo’d by promises of lower scores and more reliable flights, we take out old faithful to give something new a try. And over time we stop throwing discs we once loved for no real reason at all. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’ll bet a lot of you can think back to a bunch of plastic that fits the “I loved that disc, why did I stop throwing it?” description. And that’s what was in this newly found box laying at my feet in the corner of my garage.

Under the dusty lid was a stack of Discraft Buzzz’s. Of all the mids I’ve thrown (and that’s a whole lot to be sure), I liked the Buzzz the best. It feels perfect in my hand and it flies great for me.

I have no idea why I stopped throwing them. Something about the feel of the plastic I think. But after a few moments of ogling my recently uncovered box of discs, that theory went out the window. Discraft makes a couple of plastic blends that I like quite a bit. I can’t figure out why I stopped throwing these discs I had loved so much.

But here they were, staring up at me like an unearthed treasure from that warehouse Indiana Jones put the Ark in. I couldn’t get a couple of them into my bag fast enough. Out came a new and beat in Compass and in went a pair of Buzzz’s. Off to the course I went. Once again, I’m in love.

Do You Love Your Discs???

In all of the “Building the Perfect Bag” posts I’ve written, I think I left out an important point. If we don’t love what we throw, why are we throwing it? If we do, why do we try out so many replacements? This is an important point not only for building our bags, but everything else in our lives too. It’s a core principle I try to live by.

A while back, I read a blog post called “Hell Yeah or No” by Derek Sivers and it changed my life. I encourage you to click the link and give it a read. I’m pretty sure it can change yours too.

In that post, Sivers puts forth the idea that in life, you should only say yes to things that excite you. The answer has to be “Hell Yes!!!”, not just “yes”. If the answer isn’t a resounding “Hell Yes!!!”, then the answer should be “no”. If you fill your life (and your disc golf bag) with a lot of luke warm likes, there is no room left when the “Hell Yes!!!” opportunities come around.

Why wear clothes you don’t love? Why eat food you don’t love? Why do work you don’t love? And why throw discs that you don’t absolutely love? And in my case, once you find the discs you love, don’t replace them with discs that you merely like!

When you are building your bag, the goal is to love what you are throwing as much as Charlton Heston loves guns. In other words, you can have my Opto Pure when you pry it from my cold dead hands! And I’m pretty sure those same hands will soon be clutching just as tightly to my uncovered box of Buzzz’s.

Your Turn…

So take a look at your bag. Take a look at that stack of plastic in your basement. Do you love what you throw? I mean really, really love it? If not, maybe it’s time to look for something you do. And if you’ve stopped throwing an old favorite, maybe it’s time to get back to it. Make everything in your bag is a “Hell Yes!!!”. It’s a huge step towards getting maximum enjoyment out of this awesome sport.

I think this is a big part of the reason some people go through so much plastic. It’s hard to find those “Hell Yes!!!” discs. It’s rare that a mold clicks with you on all levels. It takes a lot of trial and error. Often, a painful amount. It’s worth it though.

What are your “Hell Yes!!!” discs? Why? What discs have you stopped throwing that should be back in your bag? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

What’s Next For Mind Body Disc???

As an aside, I think that this might be a good time to give you an update on the Mind Body Disc blog and web presence…

As many of you know, I’ve started a drone company with my Dad and brother. That was a year ago and it’s been awesome. We’ve had some amazing opportunities and it’s going well. It’s definitely a “Hell Yes!!!” in my life.

When I pushed pause on this blog, disc golf had grown out of being a “Hell Yes!!!”. I was spending every free moment (and many that weren’t free) on this blog. I was doing daily Facebook and Instagram posts, multiple weekly blog posts, 2 podcasts, and ghost writing for Dynamic Discs. I was growing to resent disc golf and this blog. I had to step away.

Amazingly, you all have continued to follow, like, and subscribe. I’ve gained over 1000 Instagram followers during a time when I didn’t post a single image. That blows my mind. I want to say thanks to all of you. Thank you for the words of encouragement you sent. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Thanks for everything. Disc golfers are the best. I love you all.

So does that mean Mind Body Disc is back? Kind of. I’ve decided to apply the “Hell Yes!!!” filter.

After getting out and throwing the Buzzz’s for a couple of rounds, I wanted to write this post. This post is a “Hell Yes!!!”. So here it is. And that’s how we’ll move forward. If I take a “Hell Yes!!!” picture, it will go up on Instagram. If I have a “Hell Yes!!!” insight, I’ll throw up a post on FaceBook. And if not, I won’t.

Hopefully that works for everyone involved. It’s what works for me.

I have a few things that have been bubbling in the back of my head that I think might turn into “Hell Yes!!!” things for the blog. I’m excited to get back to interacting with you a little bit here and there.

But right now, it’s 70 degrees, sunny, and calm. Those Buzzz’s are calling my name. It’s time to say “Hell Yes!!!” to an afternoon round of disc golf.

I’ll see you on the course.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Do You Love Your Discs? appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

It’s Game Time…

If you’ve ever been to a professional sporting event, you’re familiar with the beginning of every game. It’s when the lights go out, the music goes up, and the teams are introduced to the crowd. Living near Chicago, a die hard sports town, I get the treat of some of the best produced sporting events in the country. My all time favorite and most memorable was, of course, seeing the Chicago Bulls in the early 90’s at the old Chicago stadium.

Golden State and the Cavs have been exciting and all, but they don’t hold a candle to the Chicago Bulls in their heyday. Going to see Michael Jordan lead his team is something I’ll never forget. Every game started with an amazing theatrical introduction. They brought the whole team out during this opening ceremony. But special attention was always given to the starting lineup. The 5 key players that make up the core of the team are always the highlight.

There are other players who see floor time, but it’s these 5 on whose shoulders the game will rest. Each play, substitution, and game time decision starts with this group. Even decisions made off the court are based on the starting 5. Who does the team draft? Who do they trade? Who gets cut? Who is needed on the bench? All those decisions and more are made with those 5 key players in mind.

When you look across the league, there are plenty of teams who don’t have a strong starting 5. They lean on 1 or 2 all stars while the rest of the team is in a constant state of flux. You rarely see these teams in a championship game. There are also teams with no all stars, but instead have 9 or 10 “solid” players. Without a strong core and leadership, these teams also tend to flounder and end up missing the post season.

There is something inherently effective about building your team around 5 solid producers. Each has their role. Each brings something to the team that the others don’t. They all compliment one another and their sum is far greater than their individual parts.

This is exactly how I think we should look at the discs we carry. It’s with this strategy in mind that we start to build our perfect bags. Regardless of how many “players” we have or want, it’s critical that we start with just a core group and build out from there. It’s important that this starting group compliment each other. It’s necessary that whatever situation comes up during your round, one of your team members can rise to the occasion.

How Big is Your Team???

If you’ve read any of the previous posts in this series, you’ll know that I’m a strong proponent of a small team. I’ve written those articles in an earnest effort to persuade you to think the same way. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

For those looking to build a solid bag, figuring out your starting lineup is essential. It all starts with determining how many players on your team are starters. As with many other things in life, this number will vary from player to player. To make it simpler, though, I think most people fall into one of three categories. They manage one of three types of teams. The off season, regular season, and playoff.

[tweetthis]More discs does not equal lower #discgolf scores.[/tweetthis]

Put on Your GM Hat…

When the pros get together to play in the off season, it’s common to see them playing 3 on 3 pickup games. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it allows each of them to play more of a role than they normally do. The jobs assigned to each member of a 5 man squad are now split 3 ways. Each player is required to do more. It’s a great way to stay sharp.

Once they roll into the regular season, it’s back to the normal 5 man group. Each person falls into a role that adds to the team as a whole. Those roles are smaller in scope than when on the 3 man squad, but that allows each of them to be better at their given assignment. Even if a team has a weak bench, these 5 can still carry the day on most occasions.

Once a team knows it has a great chance at the post season, it’s common for a few personnel moves to be made. A great GM will try to add a couple more strong players to help them with their playoff push. It’s now that a team’s starting 5 in any game comes from a central group of 6-7 primary players.

Start Small…

I think that the core of any perfectly built bag starts in the same way. In a previous article I talked about using an additive approach to bag building. Starting with just a few discs and then adding more when two conditions are met. One, the player has reached a high level of skill with each of the discs currently carried. Two, there is a shot that the current assortment of discs can’t cover.

A lot of people out there recommend that we start with just one disc. There are folks who make a case for starting with just a putter. There are others that push for starting with a neutral/stable midrange disc. For me, I don’t think that either of those is realistic. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a HUGE fan of single disc rounds. When it comes down to learning your discs well, few tools can serve you as well the single disc round. You should do those. Often.

But as far as building a bag goes there are few, if any, people who will have the discipline to start with just one disc. If you do, that’s awesome. I don’t and neither do most of the people I know. So let’s live in the world that is for a moment instead of the world that should be. Disc golf needs to be fun first. I believe that starting with a few discs helps that. 3 discs is few enough to allow growth with each one. 3 allows you to gain proficiency without distraction. 3 also can cover most needed shots. Rarely will the player find themselves on the course completely unable to cover a particular line.

[tweetthis]#DiscGolf needs to be fun first.[/tweetthis]

Is it a complete bag? No, it’s a starting point. Moving to a 5 disc starting lineup would be the next goal. At 5 discs, we can play almost any course and be happy. We can cover 85-90% of the shots we need. As a recreational disc golfer, we could get by on a 5 disc bag for a very long time. In fact, we could do more than just get by. We could be competitive and play extremely well with just those 5 discs.

But as we learn those 5 discs and start to maximize their potential, we would realize the need for just a couple more. The missing 10-15% of shots would start to stick out. As good as we got with that starting 5, we would at some point see the need to go to 7.

Moving to a 7 disc starting lineup means you have 95-98% of all possible shots covered. Unless a particular course or condition dictated, there would be little reason to go beyond 7.

These Are Your Starters…

I can feel some of you squirming. You are already preparing your arguments in favor of certain discs. You are ready and able to justify why you have that 8th, 9th, 20th, and 30th disc in your bag. I’ve been there and I get it. I really do. Here’s what you need to keep in mind…

These 7 discs are your starters. They do not make up your entire team in the long run. There will always be a place for role players on the bench. I’m going to try to talk you out of needing 20-30 of them, but I don’t think that ending up with 10-15 discs in your bag is a bad thing. Eventually.

The point I’m trying to drive home is that most of your throws and most of your scoring can be done with a core group of 5-7 discs. With that in mind, doesn’t it make sense to start building your perfect bag with just those discs? Doesn’t it make sense to, at least for a while, remove all the other riff raff from your bag? Why not take the time to become deadly with this core group? Why not make the effort to learn them intimately?

And most importantly, why not take the time to make sure that each of those starting players is the right player to begin with? Maybe a disc you think is a starter really isn’t. Maybe another player would be much more capable in its place. Too often we waste a lot of time trying to fill the bench roles while neglecting to make sure that our core is what it should be.

It doesn’t matter who is on your bench if your starting lineup sucks. If you are not proficient with your starters, the rest of the bag doesn’t matter. If you haven’t taken the time to draft the right players in the first place, that’s a huge issue.

You’ll Get There Eventually…

It’s time to make sure you are building on a solid foundation. It’s time to go down to a three disc bag. It’s time to make sure those three players are the right ones for your team. It’s time to spend some quality rounds with them. It’s time to learn them at a level you didn’t know was possible. What does that mean? In my experience, it takes a minimum of 20-30 rounds and quite a few field work sessions with any given disc before you can start to feel like you might be getting to know it. This is not the time to rush. Play with just 3 until you are 110% confident you have gotten all you can out of each one. Play until you know for sure that each has earned a starting job.

Then, when you’ve done that, it’s time to add a couple more. Not 10 more, a couple more. It’s time to finalize your lineup for the regular season. And then it’s time to ride through the entire season with only those 5. You have to put in the work. Through ups and downs, grip locks and early releases. You and those 5 need to become one with each other. And if you do that then maybe, just maybe, you can head for the playoffs. And keep in mind, the playoffs only come after a full season of play. Again, there is no rush. Patience and hard work will be well rewarded in this process.

Once you’re there, go pick up those two extras that will help you win the finals. If you’re lucky, then at the end of the season you’ll have built the start of a dynasty. You will have signed long term contracts with the 6-7 discs that helped you get your first ring.

And that’s about how long this takes if you play a lot. A whole season. Yep, a whole season. To hone in on 7 discs that make up the core of your perfect bag takes time. I’ve been playing with just 7 discs for almost a year now. I’ve only signed long term deals with 4 of them. I have no intention of moving past 7 until 7 long term contracts are in place. It would be a waste of time. It would make the whole process take even longer.

On top of that, once I sign my 7 and put the franchise tag on them, I won’t let myself eyeball the free agent market any more. Replacing or changing them will be off the table.

It’s the Journey, Not the Destination….

As with most things in life, the magic of this lies in the process. If you go through your disc golf life hoping to luck into the perfect bag, it’s just not going to happen. It’s not something that’s a shopping trip away. It takes work. It takes patience. It takes time.

The great thing about it, though, is that it leaves you a much better disc golfer for having done it. I can promise you that if you devote enough time to a small number of discs, you will make leaps in your game you have previously only hoped for.

It’s not just slimming down your bag. It’s the work you put into doing it that matters most.

Up Next…

Do you know what your starting 3, 5, or 7 will be? You might be able to fill those slots with discs you’ve been playing with for years. You might need to add some fresh blood to your team. That’s going to be the topic of our next post in this series. There I plan to recommend what types of discs make up your new starting lineup. And I’ll finally break out some specific disc recommendations that can fill those slots. If you don’t want to miss anything, make sure and subscribe to the blog by entering your email below.

If you can’t wait for our next article, make sure and check out our friends over at the DG Puttheads where they have some input on what your star player should be and tell you what is the best disc golf putter.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Your Starting Lineup appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

The Dilemma

In a previous installment of Building the Perfect Bag, we addressed the topic of who does the work, you or the disc. We talked about the necessity of altering both your disc selection and your throw in order to cover all the possible flight lines you might need in a round.

That conclusion naturally leads to the dilemma of how many discs we actually need to carry. If some shots rely on a change in throw while others rely on a change of disc, how do we decide what to carry on any given round? Can you cover all needed flight lines with 3 discs? How about 10? Does it take 30? The real question is where is the balance and how do you find it? Not only that, where is the balance that is appropriate to our own individual game? That’s really where the secret sauce is.

From my experience, there are two ways to approach finding that balance. One we’ll call an “additive” approach, The other is a “subtractive” one.

Two Possible Solutions

A subtractive approach is when you start with 25-30 discs (or as many as you can cram into your bag or cart). You lug that big ass collection of plastic around on every round. You throw multiple discs on each shot. You never really get good with any particular disc because you always have a different disc in your hand. Every 10-20 rounds, you go through the bag and subtract what isn’t being used because you have a stack of new plastic you’ve been itching to get into the rotation. You constantly plan on slimming down your bag, but never seem to do it.

The list of thoughts that go through your head when building your bag this way sounds something like this… “Oh, I might need that one, I’ll leave that in.”. “Oooh, this one feels really good, I should probably start throwing this one.”. “I totally forgot I had this one, I’m definitely going to start throwing it.”. “I can’t take this one out, that dye job is so cool!”. “I should probably keep these 4 backups in here just in case”. “What if, what if, what if?”. The litany of justification goes on and on until we end up with an overstuffed bag full of situational discs we rarely throw.

The additive approach is when you start with just a few discs. You work with them exclusively. You learn them better than any of the other plastic you own. You play with a hard and fast restriction on the number of discs you will carry. Once you know them and have maximized what you can do with them, you look for the holes. What shots can you simply not cover? I mean really not cover. The shot just isn’t there. You identify the biggest of those holes and plug it with ONE more disc. Preferably this new disc can be used to fill several holes as you learn it deeply. You keep doing that until there aren’t any more holes to fill.

Our Recommendation

You can probably tell by my descriptions which method I prefer and recommend. That’ right, the additive one. The one that takes more time, more patience, and isn’t as fun. In fact, it can be downright painful. When you are out on the course trying to execute a shot that you’ve never done with just a few discs, it can down right suck. When you don’t have that vast selection to dip into it adds a whole new level to learning the game. It’s hard work. It takes imagination, self discipline, self control, creativity, and a willingness to fail multiple times before you succeed.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s much more enjoyable (in the short term) to go disc shopping every weekend and load the bag to the brim with new plastic. It’s very comforting to carry a disc for every possible shot you can think of. I know this because that was my approach for years. I have a garage full of progressively larger bags and carts as evidence of this. Not to mention the boxes and stacks of unused plastic.

The problem is that while this approach results in an accumulation of stuff, it doesn’t result in an accumulation of lower scores. It does nothing to help improve your results. Having stacks of discs designed for different shots means nothing when you can’t actually execute those shots. And when you carry a ton of discs, you simply can’t get enough quality throws with any one of them to get good with them.

[tweetthis]More discs do not equal lower scores in #discgolf[/tweetthis]

The additive approach was something I always knew I needed to do. Just like I always knew I needed to quit smoking, start working out, and stop eating like crap. None of these things is easy or fun. But the results of all of them are amazing. Most importantly, the results are totally worth the work!

It was the thought of getting rid of my security blanket of 30 different discs that kept me from it for so long. What would I do without all my babies?!?! How would I live without them? And who would be left to blame when I threw a poor shot? I wouldn’t be able to blame the disc by saying, “I don’t throw that one that often”.

The major benefit of the harder process of the additive approach is that it’s the best way to determine where your balance of who’s doing the work is. If you genuinely put in the time, this approach will show you very clearly how many discs you need to carry. This approach will build your bag for you. It will take all of the emotion and sentimental attachment out of your bag building decisions. It also means that starting on the road to the perfect bag is pretty darn simple.

You Don’t Need New Plastic

I know a lot of people have been following this series of articles with their fingers on the “add to cart” button. They’ve been waiting for a magic list of discs they can buy that will instantly level up their game. Unfortunately that’s not how it works. You won’t need to go out and pick out a ton of new or different plastic to start. You only need to start with 3-5 discs. Most of you can do that right now since you probably already own the discs you should start with. No new discs needed, just a bit (or a lot) of self discipline.

So put down the mouse and close the tab you have open for that online store. Go over to your current stack of discs and take a good, hard look. In the next article in this series, we’re going to look at just how many discs should make up the core of your set up. Until then, start thinking about which discs in your bag you could live without. Which ones are truly not needed? Go ahead and take those out now. Get a head start. We’ll be back in no time with the next post!

Let us know what you think your starting lineup should be in the comments below, we’d love to hear!

Why should you subscribe to the Mind Body Disc blog? Because you don’t want to miss a post. Because you want our monthly newsletter. Because you want our free monthly disc golf wallpapers. And also because you you’re awesome and we’d think you’r swell if you do! Just enter your email below… Easy peasy!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Addition and Subtraction appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

Our First Guest Post!

A lot of you have been anxious for me to get to some actual disc recommendations as I slowly plod through the Building the Perfect Bag series. And since I’m probably not going to get there for a bit longer, I asked my good friends over at the Disc Golf Puttheads to serve up some putter recommendations for everyone.

If you aren’t familiar with the Puttheads, you should definitely check them out. Chris and Rodney write a really good blog and are fun to follow on social media as well (check ’em out on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram). Let ’em know what you think of their choices in the comments.

This also marks our first guest post. If you are interested in guest posting here on the Mind Body Disc blog, please see our guest posting guidelines here! Without further blathering, let’s hear from the Puttheads!

7 Putters That All Disc Golfers Should Try

The array of disc golf discs available has exploded into a cornucopia as of late.  It’s always been difficult to prioritize which discs to try and the recent exponential growth has not made it easier.

But don’t worry!  There are people in this world who have taken it upon themselves to make your life just a bit easier by recommending high priority discs to test in your bag.

In our quest to try every disc golf putter ever made we’ve come across some amazing putters and we’ve each chosen 7 that we think every disc golfer should try.  This is not a list of our favorite putters but a list of putters that we think do a good job at representing different categories.  Our hopes are that by trying these putters you’ll be able to identify which disc characteristics are best for your putting game.

High Glide

Chris: Dynamic Discs Warden
Incredible glide resulting in a high level of finesse.

Rodney: Gateway Wizard
Try it on an anhyzer flex line for even more glide.

Low Glide

Chris: Kastaplast Berg
Blunt nose, puddle top. Slow, easy to control but can handle power.  Great for approaches.

Rodney: Reptilian Scale
Feels like a wizard, floats like a lead balloon.

Overstable

Chris: Prodiscus Jokeri
Powerful, consistent, and overstable. Also a good wind fighter.

Rodney: Westside Discs Shield
Not as overstable as the Scale, but performs nice in moderate winds.

Understable

Chris: Prodigy PA4
Blunt nose and deep rim.  Low speed, high glide, predictable and gentle fade.

Rodney: Westside Discs Swan 1 Reborn
Turns and glides without coming back, even on short approaches.

All-Around

Chris: Kastaplast Reko
Low profile, puddle top.  Moderate glide for control, a true workhorse.

Rodney: Dynamic Discs Classic Blend Judge
I still can’t find a better putter. Classic blend or fuzion plastic make for a better drive and approach.

Driving Putter

Chris: Discraft Roach
High glide and versatile, also torque resistant.

Rodney: Discmania P3
Consistent fade to keep your drive on target.

Approach

Chris: MVP Atom
Incredibly straight, also great for shot shaping.

Rodney: Latitude 64 Pure
Straight, easy to throw, easy to shape shots. A close second for all-around.

But wait, there’s more!  I know, we only said 7, but we decided to throw in two honorable mentions for specific putting styles.

Push-Putt

Rodney: Dynamic Discs Classic Hard Judge
Go with the hard plastic for your push putt.

Stall-Putt

Chris: Discraft Putt’r
Extremely slow and understable, catches a lot of air nose up.

Carry any of these in your own bag?  Think we’ve missed any?  Please let us know!  We’ve got many more putters to test out but we’re determined to try them all and share what we’ve learned.

***Special thanks to the DG Puttheads for this contribution!!! Make sure and check out their blog!

And don’t miss their great new article where they tell you what the best disc golf putter is!

Brothers-in-law Chris and Rodney started the Disc Golf Puttheads in 2015.  They are Michigan disc golfers who throw year round regardless of weather conditions.  The Puttheads are founded on a strong belief in the fundamentals, solid putting in particular.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | 7 Putters You Need to Try appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

A few days ago I played a round with a random person I met on the first tee at my home course. He hadn’t ever played there before, so I figured I’d show him around. My home course is pretty tough with a lot of woods and I like to give a hand to folks playing there for the first time. Normally, that’s not a problem, it’s something I enjoy. But I knew we were in for trouble when I saw him throw his first shot.

It wasn’t his throw that concerned me as much as it was the disc he used. As soon as I saw it emerge from his bag I prayed he didn’t have any more like it. Unfortunately there were a lot of them. Turns out this guy was a big fan of black discs with black stamps. At least half of his discs were this color. This was going to be an issue.

I’m always curious as to why people pick the discs they do, so I asked him about his assortment of black plastic. Was it a goth thing? Did his discs sulk in a corner smoking cigarettes and listening to depressing music between rounds? Or were they more part of the death metal crowd? Did they like to go to concerts where they could scream and punch people? I really wanted to know.

He was very proud. Apparently it had taken quite a bit of work to put together the Spinal Tap Black Album equivalent of a disc golf bag (it just couldn’t be any more black!). He told me stories about how hard it was to find certain discs “all murdered out”. He spun tales of epic trades and hard fought Ebay auctions. He told me of private Facebook groups and auction pages. He certainly loved his all black plastic.

As you can imagine, we spent more time that round looking for discs than we did throwing. It got very frustrating very fast. At one point, while looking for his disc, I started to have flashes of an old Wesley Snipes movie, Passenger 57. In that movie, Snipes delivers what turned out to be his signature line of dialog, “Always bet on black”. While that might be sage advice when trying to Kung Fu your way out of a hijacking predicament, it turns out it’s awful advice for disc golf.

That ended up being one of the longest rounds I’ve ever played on my home course. What I can normally do in 1.5 hours by myself took well over 3. We let no less than 5 groups play through. I began to wonder if “murdered out” really meant “causes other people to want to murder you”. I’m normally not a violent guy, but those death metal discs certainly had me thinking about it!

So today’s lesson on building the perfect bag sort of comes from one of my favorite action heroes, Mr. Wesley Snipes. Unless it’s your putting putter, please, for the love of bad action movies everywhere, NEVER bet on black!!! Instead pick colors you can actually see and find in the woods. Choose black for your car, or your clothes, or your motorcycle helmet. Just not your discs!

I’m thinking that Snipes needs to make a new movie as part of his career comeback, “Disc Golfer 57”. In this new movie about a hijacked disc golf tournament, he will deliver his new catch phrase…. “Always bet on chartreuse.”. The villains will each meet their demise at Wesley’s hands while off in the woods looking for their murdered out discs.

Oh, and one more piece of sage wisdom from Wesley… Pay your taxes. Always pay your taxes.

We’ll be back to our normally scheduled series of building the perfect bag articles soon. If you don’t want to miss any of them, make sure you are subscribed to the blog and enter your email below!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Bad Advice From Wesley Snipes appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

In the beginning…

When I first started playing disc golf, my strategy for disc selection was pretty simple. If they sold it at the gas station down the street from my home course, it went in my bag. If the disc was tie dyed, that was even better. That kept me busy until they stopped restocking discs at that gas station. Then I discovered on line disc stores. That was fun, but bad. Very, very bad. Bad for my wallet. Bad for my game. I soon realized I needed a better strategy for what to put in my bag than “I’ll take one of each please!”

After spending countless hours on line (something I don’t do at all any more) and talking to every local player I could, I began to see that there were two basic schools of thought when it came to deciding which discs to carry. Those two schools persist to this day. Both sides can be pretty vocal. Both sides can make a good case for their point of view. Both sides can point to successful pros that ascribe to their philosophy. Which one was better? Which approach would aid my game the best? There had to be one best way, right?

Is it the Disc?

The golfers in the first camp are the “let the disc do the work” group. This group believes that you should never vary your throw. You should always throw with the same speed, angle, release point, run up, etc. The only thing you should change is the disc that’s in your hand. Need a shot that goes left? There’s a disc for that. Need one that goes right? There’s a disc for that too. According to the hardcore members of this group there is a unique disc for every single type of shot you could possibly want to throw.

A lot of things this group says makes sense. Their core philosophy is that you should remove as many variables from your throw as possible. The less you try to change the mechanics of your throw, the less variables there are. The ideal situation is to always use the exact same motion. Zero variables means there is less room for error. And they are right. Removing variables from your play is a huge advantage.

There are also some drawbacks to this approach. The most obvious is that you couldn’t possibly carry enough discs to cover every possible shot. This approach also tries to take the golfer out of the equation. That’s just not possible. Many different flight lines are needed to score well in disc golf and some of those lines simply have to come from varying one’s throw. Disc golf starts with the golfer, the disc is just a tool.

The last thing I’ll point out is that this strategy is often merely an excuse designed to justify carrying way too many discs. I’ve heard countless people try to explain the 30+ discs in their bag with an “I let the disc do the work” explanation. The truth of the matter is that they can’t or don’t want to trim down their bag. Their potential is significantly limited because of it.

Is it the Golfer?

The golfers in the second camp are the “let the golfer do the work” group. These folks believe that you should carry as few discs as possible. They feel that every throw demands a different speed, angle, release point, run up, etc. They state that if you really truly learn a small number of discs, you can learn to make them do anything you want. By mastering that small number of discs, you bring skill into the equation. They think that scoring is up to the golfer, not the plastic.

Like the first group, a lot of things this group says also make sense. Their core philosophy is that there are an infinite number of flight lines you’ll need to throw in your disc golf life. Since you can’t carry an infinite number of discs, you should learn to throw those lines without always relying on a specialized piece of plastic each time. And they are right. Having the skill to modify your throw to perfectly match each shot you face is a huge advantage.

There are also some drawbacks to this approach. The biggest of which is that the folks in this camp are simply making it harder on themselves in many cases. Sometimes it’s easier and more effective to carry another disc than to try to force a mold to do something it really isn’t good at doing.

I also have to point out the disc golf snobbery that goes on with this philosophy. Many in this group paint themselves as superior to the golfer with lots of discs because they use skill to execute shots, not just another disc. They are quick to look down on the first group as lesser skilled golfers. They couldn’t be more off base.

[tweetthis]It takes skill to play #discgolf well regardless of the number of discs carried.[/tweetthis]

Like a lot of things in life and in disc golf, we have two opposing camps. Someone looking for a path to success might find it with either one, but anyone with an open mind and a true desire to do what’s best for their game can see there has to be another way. There has to be a middle path. A compromise. A third option, if you will.

A Better Way…

It’s situations like these that I go back to a time in my life when I became fascinated with my ancestral heritage. I’m mostly European (lots of Irish and English with a healthy dose of German thrown in for good measure). When I was younger, I decided I wanted to research my cultural history. That research led me to discover a group of people known as the druids. Not lawful evil dungeons and dragons druids, but a group of scholars that at one time were the primary historians, story tellers, negotiators, and politicians of their day.

The ancient druids were often called upon to settle disputes. Not “hey, your dog crapped on my lawn” disputes, but “hey, I’m bringing my army to slaughter your country” types of disputes. The reason they were brought in, and the reason they were very often successful in their negotiations, was their ability to find what they called the third option. They realized that whenever there are two opposing sides to something, the right thing to do is to take the best parts of each side and make a middle path that works for all.

And this is exactly what is needed when deciding on a strategy to fill your bag. Somewhere between carrying just one disc and carrying 30+ is the best overall solution.

The Obvious…

This is where a lot of you start to think, “No shit Sherlock, we already pretty much knew that”. That’s very clear by most of your bags. Almost all of you probably carry somewhere between 1 and 30+ discs. Almost all of you have enough common sense to realize that sometimes a shot needs a particular disc and sometimes you also have to alter your throw. Almost all of you didn’t need to read my goofy babbling about the druids to figure this one out!

The reason I’m spending time addressing this is that neither of the positions described above should be taken into account when stocking your bag with discs. The question shouldn’t be “who’s doing the work?”. It should be “What helps me score better?”. Anyone involved in the discussion of who does the work is focused in the wrong place. In the end, it doesn’t matter. It’s a pointless discussion.

But this point is just the start. It’s the groundwork to a very critical part of building the perfect bag. While it’s relatively easy to get people to the point of agreeing you can’t be for either approach absolutely, it’s damn near impossible to get people to agree on where in the middle the best path resides.

For the average casual golfer, there is a better way. Not a way of taking sides or declaring allegiance to one overarching strategy, but a way of logically deciding what is best for their game.

Just the Beginning…

So consider this article a lead in. A primer, if you will. The key point we really need to address is HOW exactly we decide which discs do and don’t belong in our bag. How do we take out the unnecessary? How do we know when something needs to be added? How do we keep our bags from spinning wildly out of control in a flurry of ever changing plastic?

And that, my friends, is the subject of the next article in this series. Stay tuned, math and common sense are on the way to save the day!

If you don’t want to miss the next article in this series, make sure and subscribe to the blog by entering your email below. We’ll email you once a month with links to all the new articles. You’ll also get our monthly newsletter full of things that are good for your mind, body, and disc golf game!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Who’s Doing the Work? appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

If we were to ask any disc golf related company what their company objectives are, we would get a variety of answers. Some examples would include…

• Growing the sport
• Making the best equipment
• Helping people improve
• Legitimizing the game
• Making disc golf more enjoyable

The objectives would vary from company to company. Some would be focused on players. Some would be focused on technology. Some would be focused on being innovative and unique. The lists would be of varying lengths and content. As different as each list would be, they would also have one outstanding commonality.

They would all have the exact same priority listed in the number one spot. Without exception, every company out there in the business of disc golf has the same primary goal. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t exist. If they didn’t they couldn’t exist. By the simple definition of being a company and being in business, they are required to be alike in this respect. Whether we like and agree with it or not, every disc golf related company in the world has one primary objective…

To make a profit.

First, let’s set a few things straight. I am not saying that the ONLY thing disc golf companies want is to make a profit. Even the briefest glance at many of them show they care deeply about our sport, the players, and the world of disc golf in general. What I am saying is that even the best intentioned and noble companies in the world MUST concern themselves with profit first. Without profit, it is literally impossible to achieve any of their other goals.

So what the heck does this have to do with building the perfect bag??? A lot.

You see, a key component of making a profit is sales and marketing. If no one knows about or wants a company’s products, no one buys them. If there are no customers buying things, companies cease to be. It’s a very simple and undeniable fact of business.

And that brings us to the point of this article. Companies must make a profit to exist. To make a profit, they have to sell stuff. To sell stuff, they have to make us think we need things….

Even when most of the time, we don’t!

Right now on infinitediscs.com there are 113 different Innova molds for sale. Does Innova have to have 113 molds to cover all the possible needs of disc golfers out there? NO. We could get rid of 50 of those tomorrow and every player could still fill their bag with Innova discs and play no worse because of it. Let’s be real. Innova has 113 different discs because people buy those 113 discs. The same can be said for the line ups of ALL the disc manufacturers. They produce a multitude of discs because that’s what sells. The more discs they make, the more they sell. The more they sell, the more successful they are.

Just look at the descriptions of each of those discs. You would think by reading them that no other disc in the world could do what that disc is described as doing. The descriptions are designed to make you think you need each and every one of them. That’s how people end up believing that they need to lug around an obscene amount plastic on every round.

To reinforce this, look at the bags these companies make. One of the first features they call out is carrying capacity. Every single company out there makes a bag (or bags) that carries 20-30 discs or more. That, combined with the sheer number of discs they make, just reinforces their hopes that you carry a lot of plastic. Every part of their merchandising and sales effort is designed to increase the number of discs you own.

This is called marketing. This is the lifeblood of any profitable company. Disc golf companies are no exception. They are really, really good at it. That’s why every time a new disc comes out, the marketing machine revs up. It’s time to convince you that you either have a hole in your line up, or that something much better than what you already have has just been released.

Look, I’m not saying it should work any differently. I wouldn’t get to play disc golf if it wasn’t for these companies making a profit. What I am saying is that if we are going to be able to build the best possible bag, we need to understand this process. We need to see that more and new doesn’t equal better. We need to understand that 90% of the time, buying or adding a new disc is not the answer. The answer lies in truly learning the discs we already have.

Having too many discs significantly limits the time spent with each disc. Always putting in new plastic makes learning each disc take a lot longer. The constant turnover of discs and molds never allows players to become exceptional with any particular disc. At best these overloaded and consistently changing bags lead to mediocrity. At worst they do actual harm to player improvement.

True mastery of any particular disc is impossible when the approach to disc selection is governed by quantity and novelty. When a player’s efforts are spread thin over a multitude of ever changing molds and discs, they rob themselves of the ability to reap the benefits of gaining a deep knowledge of any one disc.

It takes years of play with any particular mold to really get to know it. And once you put in those years, it’s very hard to replace that hard fought relationship with a new piece of plastic. I think it’s helpful to illustrate the importance of this with an example or two.

Head over to our Pro In The Bag section. Now pick any pro that has been with their sponsor for more than a few years (I would recommend checking out Ken Climo, Barry Schultz, and Steve Brinster to start). Now watch their in the bag video. Count how many newer molds are in those bags vs. molds that pro has carried forever. What you will find is that almost all of these pros play with the same molds and discs they have played with for years. They rarely add new ones. They have a long standing relationship with over 90% of the discs in their bags.

When they do add a new disc, they add ONE. And they work with that ONE for a long time. The majority of their bag stays unchanged for years. And these are players that get to try out EVERY new disc for free. They do that and they still stick with their long standing line up. That should tell you a few things:

1. Most new discs don’t actually fly or work any better than a multitude of discs that have been around for years. Despite what the ads and fan boys say.
2. Any new discs that are marginally better won’t result in enough improvement to warrant replacing the years of work already put into an existing mold.
3. There are extremely few “game changing” discs that come out. These are discs that are truly breakthroughs and have characteristics not found in any previous offering.

And that brings us to the title of this article. Disc golf companies are not our friends. They are companies. Do they want you to improve and play better disc golf? Sure. But they want you to buy their products more than they want you to play better. And you have to remember that a big part of why they want you to play better is so that you keep playing and therefore keep buying more of their products.

Should you buy stuff from them? YES. Should you hold their need to make a profit against them? NO. The point is to become a smart consumer. The point is to only buy when you know it will help you. The point is not to buy just because something is shiny and new and is promised to “take your game to the next level”.

I want to make sure everyone understands that I love disc golf companies. I give a few of them a considerable portion of my disposable income every month. I buy their discs and their bags and their clothing and their everything else. I never feel bad that I support any of them. I WANT THEM TO MAKE A PROFIT FROM ME! I also think that almost all of them do great things for our sport. From Innova’s EDGE program to DD’s tournament sponsorships to MVP’s pushing of the technological envelope, these folks are all out there moving this great sport forward.

I don’t want to take any of that away from them. I also didn’t write this post to convince you to never buy any new discs. It’s quite the opposite. Over the coming series of articles, you may discover that you don’t, in fact, have the right discs for you in your bag. When that happens, I’m going to try to walk you through how to buy the best possible replacement.

The reason just can’t be because of hype over a new disc. It can’t be because you saw your buddy throwing a new piece of plastic well. It can’t be because you got a disc at a tournament and feel like putting it in your bag. It has to be because you have a true need for a new or different disc in your line up.

What we need to realize is that maybe the disc we need came out 20 years ago. Maybe the best driver for us is 10 years old. Maybe the putter that will be our best choice is one that’s been sitting in our garage neglected for months. Remember, new does not equal better. Slightly different also does not equal better.

All disc golf companies make products that can improve your game. You should be on the lookout for those. You should spend time figuring out when they are needed. You should spend even more time figuring out which specific products are best for you and your game. And that’s what this series of posts is for. With hundreds of discs to choose from, how can we make smart decisions? How can we not waste money? And most importantly how can we end up with discs that we can use and grow with over the many years we will play this great sport?

In other words, how do we find a way to wade through all the marketing and hype to find what will be truly beneficial to us and our enjoyment of the game?

The first steps on that journey start with figuring out what type of player we are and what our approach to building the perfect bag is based on. We take those first steps in our next article where we learn what the ancient Druids have to teach us about how we should start to decide what discs we might need in our bags. (That should leave your curiosity sufficiently piqued for next time!)

Until then, make sure you are subscribed to the blog by entering your email below. In an effort to make sure each of these posts is as good as possible, we have strayed from a regular posting schedule to one that is dictated only by when we have something quality to bring you. Make sure you don’t miss anything!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Disc Golf Companies Are Not Your Friends appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

First things first…

I realized as I was writing the next couple of articles on building the perfect bag that there was a post that needed to be written first. It’s just a bit of housekeeping, but a very important one at that. If I am going to be able to communicate my ideas effectively, we have to lay down some basic definitions. We have to define the terms we’ll be using when talking about those little round pieces of plastic in your bag.

This is not intended to be a full disc golf glossary. I have no interest in inciting arguments over what a scooby or grenade really are. Honestly, I have no interest in inciting arguments at all. Some of the definitions I’ll put forth may be different than what you have heard. If that’s the case, I’m not asking you to change your definition. All I’m asking is that you keep my definition in mind so you know what the heck I’m talking about in future posts.

Also, just so I don’t have to constantly call it out, all flight descriptions of discs in this series of posts will be as if the disc was thrown RHBH. That’s the most common type of throw and that’s also how I throw. I’m not trying to alienate anyone, but articles get way too cumbersome when trying to address all possible throwing types. As a general rule, keep in mind that RHBH and LHFH are pretty much the same. LHBH and RHFH will be the opposite of my descriptions. If you are a lefty or forehand player you are probably already used to this type of translation.

Flight and throwing angles…

Flat.
Hopefully no definition is needed here. The one note I’ll make is that recording yourself on video may show you that what you think is flat is really not. What many people would swear is flat is often anything but. What your throw feels like and what it is in reality is often two different things. Do yourself a favor and record one of your throws. You might be surprised!

Hyzer.
This often misused term simply refers to the angle of the disc when thrown. A hyzer angle is when the edge of the disc that is furthest from your body is lower than the edge that is nearest your body. It is NOT a reference to fade or overstability.

Anhyzer.
The opposite angle of a hyzer. The outermost edge of the disc is higher than the edge that is closest to your body. It is NOT a reference to turn or understability.

Hyzer and Anhyzer are angles the disc can have when thrown or in flight. They are not a type of flight or throw (that should raise some eyebrows). I understand that many people “throw a hyzer” or “throw an anhyzer”. I am not going to try to get you to change that. For the purpose of these posts, I will be saying “throw with a hyzer angle” and “throw with an anhyzer angle” instead.

Types of discs…

Stable.
This means that a disc is just that, stable. It holds the line you put on it. It holds the angle you threw it at to the end of its flight.

If you throw a stable disc…

Flat – It goes straight.
With a hyzer angle – During its flight, it keeps that hyzer angle.
With a anhyzer angle – During its flight, it keeps that anhyzer angle.

That also means that one disc cannot be “more stable” than another. Discs are either stable or they aren’t. Typically when you hear someone say to get a “more stable” disc, they mean get a disc that fades more at the end of its flight. They are really telling you that you should get a disc that is “overstable”.

Examples of stable discs:

• Innova TeeBird
• Innova Roc
• Millennium Orion LF
• Discraft Buzzz
• Discmania PD
• Dynamic Discs Trespass
• Latitude 64 St. Pro

These are all discs that when thrown with a lot of speed (and with proper form), don’t tend to turn over (turn to the right) easily. They also tend to have minimal end of flight fade (low speed stability) when thrown at their intended speeds. Almost all discs want to fade, but stable discs tend to fade less than most. When a stable disc does fade, it likes to stay closer to its release and flight angle when it does. Stable discs typically don’t change their angle (hyzer, flat, or anhyzer) very much while in flight.

Understable.
This means that a disc has a tendency to turn right early in its flight. Some understable discs will turn more easily than others. Some will have more overall turn. Some require a harder throw to see the turn. But in the end, understable discs all go right in the right circumstances.

If you throw an understable disc…

Flat – It will turn right. The more understable it is, the faster and more pronounced its turn will be.
With hyzer – It will “flip up” to or past flat. This is where the term “hyzerflip” comes from. If and how much a disc flips past flat is determined by a combination of throw speed and the amount of understability.
With anhyzer – It will hold the anhyzer line further to the end of it’s flight than a stable disc and will often increase its anhyzer angle in flight.

One misunderstanding is that many people think an understable disc does not fade at the end of its flight. That is not true. Some understable discs can still have a good amount of fade at the end of their flight. All discs want to fade left in the low speed portion of their flight and understable discs are no exception. Some discs never get to a slow enough speed to show the fade. Other discs start showing fade very early in their flight. But just because a disc fades after it turns doesn’t mean it is not understable.

Another major misunderstanding is when players see a disc go right and immediately assume it is too understable for them. What they don’t realize is that that particular throw didn’t go right because the disc was understable. It went right because they threw it with an anhyzer angle, rolled their wrist, or otherwise used poor form. Many a disc has been mislabelled because the thrower doesn’t want to take any responsibility for the flight of the disc. To prevent this, please revisit our previous article, “It Starts With Your Throw”.

Examples of understable discs:

• Latitude 64 Fury
• Westside Discs Underworld
• Westside Discs Tursas
• Innova Wolf
• Innova Sidewinder
• Innova Roadrunner
• Discraft Meteor

Overstable.
This means that a disc wants to go left. At a low enough speed, all discs want to go left. That does not make them overstable. Overstable discs have a more pronounced and earlier fade than their stable counterparts.

If you throw an overstable disc…

Flat – It will turn left. The more overstable it is, the earlier in its flight it will fight to go left. A very overstable disc will also fade more aggressively (sometimes called “dumping”). That means that they turn sharply towards the ground in their fade instead of simply gliding to the left.
With hyzer – It will fly with a hyzer angle and often increase that angle through its flight.
With anhyzer – It will fight out of the anhyzer angle back to flat and beyond. How much it fights back and fades is determined by a combination of throw speed and the amount of overstability.

Examples of overstable discs:

• Discmania PD2
• Innova Firebird
• Westside Discs Giant
• Discraft Predator
• Dynamic Discs Justice
• Discraft Zone

In Flight Behaviors…

Fade.
This is the movement of a disc from right to left, typically at the end of its flight.

A hyzer angle can also cause the disc to turn left, but that kind of left turn is not considered fade. See “low speed stability” below.

Turn.
This is the movement of a disc from left to right, typically early in its flight.

An anhyzer angle can also cause the disc to turn right, but that kind of movement to the right is not considered turn. See “high speed stability” below.

A Better Way to Look at it…

We have saved the best for last. If I could go back and define disc terms from the start of our sport, I would make every effort to get people to use and understand the following two terms/descriptions. They are much more flexible and a far superior way to describe disc flight than “stable”, “understable”, and “overstable”.

This is because disc flight is dynamic. It changes from start to finish. It is also impacted by several external variables. Because of these things and more, the traditional descriptions are too general and are not suited to describing a disc’s full flight potential.

So during this series of posts, I’ll also be using the next two terms a lot. If you take a minute to really grasp what they mean, they can benefit you in both selecting discs and making those discs work for you.

To understand these two terms, you first need to understand that a disc’s flight has two parts. The high speed (early) portion and the low speed (late) portion. If you think about it, this is common sense. The disc leaves your hand at the highest speed it has for its entire flight. The moment it leaves your hand, it starts to slow down. It continues to do so until it hits the ground.

If you have ever thrown a disc flat, watched it turn, and then watched it fade back, you have witnessed both parts of a disc’s flight in action. The turn was the high speed portion. The fade kicked in when the disc reached its low speed portion.

The two terms we will be using define the flight characteristics within those two portions of a disc’s flight are:

High speed stability.
This is an indication of how resistant to turn a disc is during the high speed portion of its flight. The more high speed stable a disc is the harder it can be thrown without it turning over. Bigger arms tend to prefer discs with a lot of high speed stability. With these, a lot of power can be put on the throw without fear of the disc turning right or flipping up too far out of a hyzer angle.

Keep in mind that the amount of high speed stability a disc has will change based on who is throwing it. It is a function of throw speed and disc design. Some discs show a different amount of high speed stability based on how fast they are thrown. Other discs, like those listed as “stable” above, show similar high speed stability across a wide range of throwing speeds.

This is a big part of the reason that the “turn” number published as part a disc’s flight ratings doesn’t mean a whole lot. A disc could easily be a +1 for one player while being a -2 for another player. It changes based on the power of the throw. Other discs could be a solid 0 for almost all throwing speeds. This is one of many reasons not to use flight numbers as a gauge of what discs you should try.

Low speed stability.
This is an indication of how much the disc fights to fade during the low speed portion of its flight. In general, the higher the low speed stability, the more fade a disc will have. Bigger arms also tend to like discs with good low speed stability. When you hear someone say a disc is “reliable” or they trust it to “always come back”, they are referring to a disc’s low speed stability.

This flight characteristic also varies by player. With low speed stability what changes is where in the disc’s flight it kicks in. If you think about the example I gave above of you seeing a disc go from turn to fade mid flight, you’ll know where the low speed stability of a disc kicks in. The faster a player can throw a disc, the longer it takes for the low speed stability of that disc to show.

Combining the two.

If you think about these two terms, you can now see how they can describe a disc much more effectively than just calling a disc “understable” or “overstable”. It is with these two terms that we will make most of our disc recommendations. When looking to fill certain flight line slots in your bag, it is extremely helpful to know these traits.

They will also come in handy in selecting discs that you can grow with down the road. One of our goals will be to put together a bag that serves you well into the future without having to constantly change things as you grow as a player. These types of descriptions will help to accomplish that.

To recap for simplicity…

Stable, Overstable, and Understable are generalizations as to how you can expect a disc to behave in flight.

Flat, Hyzer, and Anhyzer are the angles at which the disc is thrown as well as the angle of that disc in flight.

Straight, Fade, and Turn are the paths the disc flies in the air.

High speed and low speed stability describe the two discrete portions of a disc’s flight.

Again, I’m not trying to change your definitions. I simply want to make sure we are all on the same page. If I recommend that you add a stable disc to your bag, I don’t want someone to go out and buy a Firebird because their definition of stable is actually what I would refer to as overstable. Hopefully we are all now speaking the same language. If you have any questions, or would like any clarification, please let me know in the comments.

I also want to thank Tero Tommola for his help with this article. What started as a quick post to define a few terms turned into a 2500 word beast. That meant I had to call in reinforcements from Finland! I know of few, if any, people who understand this subject better than Tero. Tero, thank you for your help and I’ll see you at the GBO my friend! I owe you a beer!

And with that, we can get on with the rest of the series. Stay tuned for our next article in the “Building the Perfect Bag” series: “Disc Golf Companies are NOT Your Friends”. If you don’t want to miss that or any of the other upcoming articles in this series, make sure you subscribe to the blog by entering your email below!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | Basic Terminology appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.

In the Beginning…

Over the next several months, I’ll be conducting a deep dive into disc selection. I want to dissect how, in my opinion, to put together the perfect bag for you. One of the biggest weaknesses I see with most amateur and casual players is that their bag is in a constant state of flux.

If you head over to our in the bag section and look at some of the top pros (check out Steve Brinster, Ken Climo, and Barry Schultz for great examples), you’ll see that they have been playing with the same discs for years. Every once in a great while you might see them add a new mold. Unless they have switched sponsors, though, they tend to stick to the same tried and true discs that have served them well for years.

Before we can get into the actual selection process, there is some ground work that needs laying. There are a fair number of topics that need addressing before we can begin to talk about the act of picking discs.

To start with, there is one topic fundamental to all the others… Your throw.

Your Throw Matters…

A while ago there was an article posted on the Disc Golf Answer Man website. It claimed that the flight numbers of discs don’t matter. I whole heartedly agree and flight numbers will not be a part of this series of bag building articles.

One of the biggest reasons I think people shouldn’t use flight numbers is that everyone’s throw varies wildly. Head out to your local course and you will see as many different types of throws as you see players throwing.

[tweetthis]#discgolf flight numbers don’t matter. [/tweetthis]

While there are a lot of ways to throw a disc well, there are also a lot of ways to throw a disc poorly. They all impact how discs fly. This creates a problem for those with a less than optimal throw. They often select their discs to mask or compensate for their throwing technique. These folks rarely end up with discs that will help their games in the long term. Instead they want to offset either their lack of ability or their refusal to work towards cleaner form. There are a wide spectrum of possibilities here.

For the most part, these players have one thing in common. Regardless of where the opportunity with their throw lies, none of them can throw a stable putter off the tee. At least not with finesse and for a reasonable amount of distance.

The Putter Shall Set You Free…

I harp on this skill all the time. That’s because it’s one of my core disc golf beliefs. I believe that everything good that can happen with a disc golf throw starts with being able to throw a putter for more than just putts. This is the true test of whether your throw is on the right track or not. People often make excuses about how they don’t need or want to do this. That’s usually because they haven’t tried, can’t, or don’t want to put in the effort to learn.

And that’s fine. I can’t make anyone work on this skill. I can’t even make them agree with me. What I can say is this…  Nothing I write over the next few months will help someone who doesn’t at least understand the importance of this skill. It would be even more helpful if they took a little bit of time and started working on it.

You see, building the perfect bag for you requires that you can throw discs as they are intended. They are intended to be thrown with no flutter, no off axis torque, and no wrist roll. One of the first few discs I’m going to recommend for your bag is a midrange you can throw in a straight line that finishes straight. That disc doesn’t exist for people that can’t throw a putter well off the tee.

It’s Not That Hard, I Promise…

Let’s back up a step before anyone gets discouraged. First, throwing a putter off the tee well isn’t all that hard. I’ve taught a ton of people to do it. The technique I teach is identical to the stand still technique that Will Shusterick teaches in this video.

If you were to dedicate just one week to learning this skill, you would most likely be able to approach doing it well. Just 3-5 sessions of dedicated field work should have you in great shape. You simply have to commit to making a few changes to your throw.

Second, let’s make sure you are learning this with the right putter. You need something stable. A Swan or a Magnet are not the right discs for this. You need something like a Judge, KC Pro Aviar, Shield, Challenger, Wizard, etc. Check the Inbounds flight charts for discs that fly like these. You are looking for a flight that shows as straight with a little fade, like this:

Third, you don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to be launching your putters 500 feet like Simon Lizotte. You don’t even need to be able to get them to 300 feet (although that is a completely attainable goal if you work at it). If you can throw a putter straight with no flutter and get it to go 150-200 feet, you are in great shape. You are in even better shape if you can do that with no run up.

Like I said before, this is not that hard. Will’s video and that week of field work should get you there. Commit to working on your throw. I promise it will be one of the single best things you have ever done for your game.

Disclaimer…

If someone doesn’t want to learn this skill, they shouldn’t. A new skill can only be acquired with an open mind. Besides, it won’t hurt my game or my feelings at all. I know that there is a group of disc golfers out there that will fight this idea to the death. We will never see eye to eye. But everyone is entitled to their opinion. Of course there isn’t a single pro in the world that agrees with them, but hey, some people like to be different. I wish them the best of luck.

What’s Ahead…

I am really looking forward to the upcoming in depth articles on plastic selection and bag building. Probably more than any other articles I’ve written. It’s something we are all passionate about. It’s something we all spend a lot of money pursuing. And it’s something that when done right, will pay you great dividends over your time playing this great sport.

So until the next article, get out there with your putters and start exorcising the wounded duck out of your throw. If you start now, you’ll be ready just in time for our next post! Make sure and let us know how you are progressing in the comments below!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The post Building the Perfect Bag | It Starts With Your Throw appeared first on Mind Body Disc - Disc Golf Blog.