Air bounce putt?

[Timko]

I was faced with an interesting situation last night, and I was wondering if someone could provide me some insight. I had a 35 ft putt that was pretty good to run at; it was uphill, but there were tree branches about 15 ft in front of me. The tree branches really took away both the hyzer and anhyzer routes, so all I had was a straight shot. Unfortunatly, the branches only let me see the cage of the basket; I couldn't see the chains at all. I was attempting to throw nose up to get the disc to rise after the limbs, but to no avail (it was low, and just a lay up). I was wondering, how can I make a better effort at making this putt. Nose up? On my knees? I seem to be faced with these quite often on my course, and my lofty putt just doesn't work well for those type of shots.

[adidadg]

get yourself a slow floaty putter (86 softie, Rattler, Putt'r, Whitler...) and throw it nose up probably from your knees. If you dont have a disc like these you can try it with your wizard/challenger/aviar or whatever you use, but IMO the ones i mentioned are far superior for Air bounces. Its a really fun shot to learn and practice with, and it will come in handy. They are also great for making 60-70 foot runs at the basket without flying too far past if you miss.

[Blake_T]

air bounce putts are best suited for understable discs.

[Discoman]

Blake can you please elaborate on the air bounce, is it just in putting, discs, tech. etc? Thank you I am very interested in more ways to make a run without leaving a huge comeback on a miss!

[disc_golfing_fool]

air bounce putts are best suited for understable discs.

Blake, is an "air bounce" putt the same as a nose-up style putt (like Dave Feldberg)?

I saw him putt this way all weekend on the way to a win at the Skylands Classic. Simply amazing.

I've since been playing with this (feldberg sytle) putt, and find in low-wind conditions it really increases my range of "go for it" putts.

I use my most-beat wizards for this style of putt, consistent with what is said above.

Would the whitler be a good choice for this type of putt?

edit: spelling

[Timko]

An "air bounce" putt, if it's the same as it is in ultimate/freestyle, is thrown nose up, but the disc is release slightly down (this is on flat ground). the disc goes down, then appears to "bounce" up.

I think I've found a reason the buy a whittler. Now all I've got to do is find one in the 170-175 range....

[Thatdirtykid]

youll have to wait, they only made the one weight yet, but its for a reason, its ideal flight charateristics are best in the weight they made em in

[Weebl]

i like lighter discs for airbounce putts. Especially a 107g wizard i was fooling with the other day...

[calvarycoffee]

i tried the air bounce putt the other day.

it was simply hilarious. . . can't wait to try it at league. . . and get other's reactions.

[Terrence]

I am very intrigued by this method. I never had a solid technique for putting under/over tree brances. I'm going to experiment with this if it's not raining out tomorrow (third day of straight rain today.).

[roadkill]

To truly get an airbounce shot to "bounce" upward, you need plenty of snap and spin on the disc. This will take a fair amount of practice to be consistent at it. If you watch freestyle videos you'll see that the setup throw is an airbounce shot.
The "hover" airbounce shot used for go for it shots from longer distances is a little easier to learn as the main requirement is a nose up attitude, extra spin is helpful but not as crucial as in a shot that must rise rapidly.

[Blake_T]

air bounce putting is different than nose up putting, but similar concepts are involved, but the reasons are a little different.

generally, nose up putts are done for range purposes (they carry farther on less power) whereas air bounce putting is done to make a legit run but limit fly by.

an air bounce putt generally isn't in the strictest use of the term air bounce.

strict definition:
a shot that is thrown downwards towards the bottom of the disc causing the disc to dip and abruptly rise (bouncing off the air).

loose definition (the one that i use):
a nose up shot thrown with off axis torque to achieve a flight path that is not consistent with the angle of release.

i've never been a big fan of this style since it is nightmarish in the wind. i will use it on some touch approaches. this is very difficult to perform with an extremely stable disc.

[snap]

i know this sounds like shameless self promotion but i'm going to say it anyway. the air bounce approach is one such shot the Whitler was specifically designed for (in addition to long range putts and a multitude of trouble/escape situations where there isn't room for a typical throw or putt). And not only was this function the basis for the design, but I've seen Glen "Whitler" Whitlock make a handful of amazing air bounce putts in competition with it.
Maybe you've seen this video clip from the Beaver State Fling?... This isn't really an air bounce but it's definately a nose-up shot...
http://www.geocities.com/thegranolaman/Whittler.AVI

[trogdor]

Best thing about that video is what would have happend had he missed. I'm sure that shot would have been within 10' had it missed.

[Thatdirtykid]

people with an honestly good touch game is not so common anymore, discs that have been coming out for a long time (longer than Ive been playing) are not very conductive to a touch game. I hope to try a whitler some time too.