how do you build your bag?

[money 21]

I have decided to build a new bag. Today I am going to go play a round with what are going to be the 4 disc I am going to use as the back bone of the bag.
putter 173 chief
mid 177 sparkle squall
BH driver x xs 172
FH drive 163 star fl

How do you build a bag?

[dgdave]

I find a main mold that can be used in just about all conditions in various stages of wear in my 4 speed categories -

Putt/Approach
Mids
Fairway
Distance

Then I just fill in between them as needed.

[Leopard]

I walk up to the flight chart like it's a bingo card and start winning.

[jubuttib]

Neutral putter, neutral mid, neutral driver and an overstable utility driver. After that it's just filler.

[keltik]

Pick a midrange workhorse and go from there. the usual suspects are: Roc & Buzzz. I'm not going to go into the old fight but I will say they are different and work to different styles of play.

Roc is a bit shorter but more overstable. it is better in base plastic and can be used as a single mold in different stages of wear and in different weights. most Roc throwers tend to have a traditional "Fairway" driver in their bag.

Buzzzes are longer and straight. they work best in premium plastic (specifically Z). Buzzzes also tend to need the complement of other discs (usually something like a Comet and Hornet). more advanced players can really work the buzzz by itself but I need the help from other discs. Buzzz throwers can usually get away with just the Buzzz and a longer control driver like a PD or OLF and not use a traditional "Fairway".

after you've selected your mid (which IMHO is the backbone of your setup), you can pick your main driver as mentioned above. and then based on what you throw as a main driver you can then pick a distance driver if necessary. I'm not so well steeped on the double digit speed drivers but my 2¢ is that they are better used if you can throw a Teebird consistently 350+.

depending on your style you can pick a OS driver. I still subscribe to the Type I vs Type II OS disc theory. a Type I is like the FB or xXx, something ridiculously OS that fades immediately out of your hand. these discs don't go far and are better for trick shots etc. the Type II is like the Pred or Trident (the good ones). they go straight and then fade hard. they are good distance wind fighters and can still do the trick shots like the type I's but not as well. your "utility" disc really depends on your approach to the game and your main driver selection.

last but not least are putters. you do need a good driving putter but sometimes a different mold is better for putting depending on your putting style. I also like lid type putters for touch approaches.

I'll use my setup as an example.
Wizard | Polecat | Hornet | Buzzz | Comet | xXx | Avenger

I putt and drive with Wizards but I like the Polecat for weird touch shots.
I use the Buzzz b/w 280 & 350 but I'm not great at manipulating it. so I use the Comet and Hornet for the other situations that don't require a laser straight shot.
I use the Avenger for anything over 350. I use X's for big turnovers and rolling and I use Z's for stable driving and long FH's (which I suck at).
I love the xXx for OH and FH rollers etc. there are also a few holes on the courses I play that need that hard BH fade.

[victorb]

at this point, if I was to build a new bag, I would just pick molds I hadn't thrown in the basic categories:
putter, stable midrange, workhorse fairway driver, and overstable wind beater.

I'm confident enough in my skill that I could shoot good scores as long as I filled those 4 places in a bag lineup

[jakee]

Pick a midrange workhorse and go from there. the usual suspects are: Roc & Buzzz. I'm not going to go into the old fight but I will say they are different and work to different styles of play.

Roc is a bit shorter but more overstable. it is better in base plastic and can be used as a single mold in different stages of wear and in different weights. most Roc throwers tend to have a traditional "Fairway" driver in their bag.

Buzzzes are longer and straight. they work best in premium plastic (specifically Z). Buzzzes also tend to need the complement of other discs (usually something like a Comet and Hornet). more advanced players can really work the buzzz by itself but I need the help from other discs. Buzzz throwers can usually get away with just the Buzzz and a longer control driver like a PD or OLF and not use a traditional "Fairway".

after you've selected your mid (which IMHO is the backbone of your setup), you can pick your main driver as mentioned above. and then based on what you throw as a main driver you can then pick a distance driver if necessary. I'm not so well steeped on the double digit speed drivers but my 2¢ is that they are better used if you can throw a Teebird consistently 350+.

depending on your style you can pick a OS driver. I still subscribe to the Type I vs Type II OS disc theory. a Type I is like the FB or xXx, something ridiculously OS that fades immediately out of your hand. these discs don't go far and are better for trick shots etc. the Type II is like the Pred or Trident (the good ones). they go straight and then fade hard. they are good distance wind fighters and can still do the trick shots like the type I's but not as well. your "utility" disc really depends on your approach to the game and your main driver selection.

last but not least are putters. you do need a good driving putter but sometimes a different mold is better for putting depending on your putting style. I also like lid type putters for touch approaches.

I'll use my setup as an example.
Wizard | Polecat | Hornet | Buzzz | Comet | xXx | Avenger

I putt and drive with Wizards but I like the Polecat for weird touch shots.
I use the Buzzz b/w 280 & 350 but I'm not great at manipulating it. so I use the Comet and Hornet for the other situations that don't require a laser straight shot.
I use the Avenger for anything over 350. I use X's for big turnovers and rolling and I use Z's for stable driving and long FH's (which I suck at).
I love the xXx for OH and FH rollers etc. there are also a few holes on the courses I play that need that hard BH fade.

Great post keltik! Thanks! I just ordered a 169g Z Buzzz. I can't wait to get it and screw my whole bag up and get to start again from scratch! The Buzzz will be my first Discraft disc as the retailers around here don't carry many except ultra long range drivers that I don't feel up to throwing yet and putters. My putter of choice is the Wizard also.

[Destin]

Great post keltik! Thanks! I just ordered a 169g Z Buzzz. I can't wait to get it and screw my whole bag up and get to start again from scratch! The Buzzz will be my first Discraft disc as the retailers around here don't carry many except ultra long range drivers that I don't feel up to throwing yet and putters. My putter of choice is the Wizard also.

What you are doing now is what I did 6 months ago and it transformed my game. I started out with all Innova discs (Leopard, Valkyrie, Shark, Aviar). My friends steered me in this direction. These were fine at first but I just felt like something was lacking. I wasn't getting better. I started reading this site and bought a Roc and a Buzzz. The Roc wasn't my favorite because it tended to drop like a rock. The Buzzz however seemed to glide without much effort and went super straight, something I could never do with my prior discs. I started out with an X buzzz and I now carry an X, an FLX ESP and a Cryztal Z Buzzz. My beat in X turns slightly to the right which is very helpful on the course I play on, the FLX ESP is my straight flyer, and the Cryztal Z for those slight hyzer shots. I recently bought a Buzzz SS but it hasn't found my bag yet. After playing with those for a while and gaining confidence, I added a Z Nuke for longer hyzer shots and into the wind shots. I recently added the Nuke in the new X plastic and it has become my longest, straightest disc I've ever thrown. I tried a bunch of putters but finally settled on the MVP Medium Ion. I can't say enough about these discs, my utting has just gotten better and better. I also have been working on my forehand and that has helped my a lot for shots that go straight but have a hard turn to the right at the end. The discs I've been throwing are the Flick, Destroyer and the Drone for forehand approach shots.

[money 21]

I have decided to build a new bag. Today I am going to go play a round with what are going to be the 4 disc I am going to use as the back bone of the bag.
putter 173 chief
mid 177 sparkle squall
BH driver x xs 172
FH drive 163 star fl

How do you build a bag?

This is what i have added to the four discs above
171 opto riot FH open distance shots
165 opto halo BH open bombs
z xs 169 slightly over stable BH shots
z xs 163 straight bh shot
star fl 166 fh more overstable then the one above
174 proline squall beat and flippy
176 proline squall stable
175 hpp demon fh mid
174 dx focus driving putter
172 dx polecat touch shots

taking a look at my bag this way and figuring out really what my bread and butter discs are has helped me get the molds down, and i hope will improve my consistance.

[jubuttib]

What you are doing now is what I did 6 months ago and it transformed my game. I started out with all Innova discs (Leopard, Valkyrie, Shark, Aviar). My friends steered me in this direction.

+ all the stuff about DC discs that came later:

Am I reading/understanding this wrong or are you saying that Innova discs are inherently inferior to Discraft?

[jakee]

What you are doing now is what I did 6 months ago and it transformed my game. I started out with all Innova discs (Leopard, Valkyrie, Shark, Aviar). My friends steered me in this direction.

+ all the stuff about DC discs that came later:

Am I reading/understanding this wrong or are you saying that Innova discs are inherently inferior to Discraft?

I say no. What I'm doing is taking a mid (in this case a Buzzz) and starting my bag over from scratch. Innova will always have a place in my bag. Although I WOULD like to branch out and try some other brands too! All this PD talk has sparked my interest. I think that my next purchase will be discmania.

[jubuttib]

Well, Discmania discs are made by Innova from their mold parts with plenty of tweaking around. You could say that the Discmania lineup is Innova's Jussi Meresmaa signature series. =)

[Smigles]

Pick one from each cathegory :

understable putter
stable putter
understable mid
stable mid
overstable mid
understable fairway driver
stable fairway driver
overstable fairway driver
understable superspeed driver
stable superspeed driver
overstable superspeed driver

and off you go.

( I do actualy have 2 of each driver class. a less and a more understable driver, a less and a more stable driver etc. )

[victorb]

Pick one from each cathegory :

understable putter
stable putter
understable mid
stable mid
overstable mid
understable fairway driver
stable fairway driver
overstable fairway driver
understable superspeed driver
stable superspeed driver
overstable superspeed driver

and off you go.

( I do actualy have 2 of each driver class. a less and a more understable driver, a less and a more stable driver etc. )

seriously, about 3/4ths of those categories are not needed. too many niche categories, you can build a good bag with 4-5 types of discs.

[CatPredator]

Pick one from each cathegory :

understable putter
stable putter
understable mid
stable mid
overstable mid
understable fairway driver
stable fairway driver
overstable fairway driver
understable superspeed driver
stable superspeed driver
overstable superspeed driver

and off you go.

( I do actualy have 2 of each driver class. a less and a more understable driver, a less and a more stable driver etc. )

seriously, about 3/4ths of those categories are not needed. too many niche categories, you can build a good bag with 4-5 types of discs.

Most tournament players, and virtually all pros, are going to have discs that fall into all of those categories. For each speed, they may all be the same overstable mold in different stages of wear.

A lot of people will have additional types, like an overstable putter (Pig/Zone), and another whole speed range between fairway and superspeed driver (like an Orc/PD). Even with those included, that's only 15 discs. Very reasonable for a tournament bag.

Ridiculously overstable (xXx, xtreme, certain FBs and Preds) and thrashed understable discs would be the only discs I'd call "niche discs".