One disc round

[discmonkey42]

I just had one of those "what the ..." experiences. I've been really working on (for the last 2 months) not changing a single disc in my bag so that I learn each disc well. It has been very, very hard not rotating in new discs. My scores have not really improved tremendously (maybe a couple strokes on average), but I do feel I know my discs a lot better. I also feel very confident in my disc selection on every shot.

Today, though, I went out to take pics of my home course for playdg.com and found a 165g, kinda beat, fly dyed, milky/opaque, champ eagle. So after the pics, I took it out and played a round with only that disc...and then another...and a third. For background I carry all Gateway and am very happy with my disc assortment (insert smart a$$ comment about Gateway or only carrying one mfr here ). My main discs are 175g H illusion, 177g E illusion, 175g E Blaze, 180g S element X, and 175g soft Wizard (there are more, but 85% of my shots are with these discs).

On the first round, I shot my average score, second was a couple strokes better, third was about 5 shots better than norm. All with just the Eagle. Drives were within 10-20' of my norm, but more accurate. Approaches I threw with anny and they flexed right in under the basket, or I just threw with more room to hyzer in. I threw sidearm for the first time ever (on a few 200'ish, right turning woods shots) and got better results (a lot more accuracy) than trying to turn over or anny some of my other discs. By the third round, I could get this disc to do just about anything (including some surprising 40' putts!!!). I even holed out for a deuce in the woods throwing a crazy flex shot that steered itself around a dozen trees in the space of about 75'. All this with a decent wind, too.

So I need some objective advice (in other words, I don't need the Innova is better than everyone else thread jack) on what the heck just happened today. Do I keep my bag at home for a while and only play with one disc? Do I buy lighter discs (I've never played with a disc this light before - 168g is as light as I carry)? Is it the mold? Is it all in my head? I really feel that there are a bunch of really valuable lessons here and I want to make sure I learn them all and make changes accordingly. I am currently stuck at the 300 - 330'ish distance plateau with only moderate accuracy and have not improved my scores noticeably in 5 months (I shoot about 7 shots higher that most of the guys I play with, so I know there is room to get better). I do field practice a couple days a week and play at least 7-10 rounds a week. Other than that being a heck of a lot of fun, not a lot of improvement because of it.In fact, this is the first glimmer of hope for me in improving my scores and skills that's come in a while. There's a lot of "what if's" floating around in my head right now and I could use some of the patented DGR insight here. As usual, there are no live people around here who are good at/willing to teach and I've got to figure it out on my own.

[krusen]

Post the rest of your bag.
From what you listed, it sounds to me like you don't have anything similar to an eagle, and that you should.
I wouldn't start over with your bag, but maybe work to balance it out some. Illusions are very fast and therefore not quite as accurate as a slower disc. You need to get some slower stuff in there. I'm not sure what Gateway has in that category, but limiting yourself to one disc manufacturer is like limiting yourself to blondes only.

[bigs348]

limiting yourself to one disc manufacturer is like limiting yourself to blondes only.

Lord knows I love myself a brunette...

[garublador]

Were you doing anything else different besides just using the Eagle instead of the rest of your bag? For example, were you more relaxed and less concerned with your score? It could be a mental barrior that you didn't know was there, but broke because you weren't trying too hard. I know that I have to tell myself to relax and back off sometimes and that always improves my technique and score.

I'd also agree that if you're only throwing 300'-330' that the Blaze and Illusion may not be the best discs to use as main drivers. You might have to do some funky things to get them to cover some shots that would be a lot easier with different discs.

You could try a few rounds with just the Eagle, Element-X and Wizard and see where that gets you.

[adidadg]

I have found that playing with fewer or even just one disc is good for your mental game, as there are no seeds of doubt in your head about the possibility of pulling the "wrong" disc, simply because you dont have any other options.

In a fun tourney a while back we were forced to play the second round with only two discs...and in doing so I improved over my first round score by 5 strokes just throwing a buzz and an orc (obviously there is no overlap between these two discs). It forces you to think more about the shot than the disc.

[Jwt4412]

I find myself throwing mainly a roadrunner, element x and wizard, wondering why do I care this heavy deluxe bag all of the time.

Then you hit a Demon from 160 feet out around a tree and stop complaining about the weight...

Found a Millenium LS 1.16 @ 175g beat to death that I absolutely throw the hell out of the other day - about 20 feet farther and no fade at all. It is much heavier than anything else I throw - other than the Demon - so like you, I started questioning - a whole bunch of stuff...

I have started tuning my S plastic stuff by flexing it after seeing how well this broken in LS was working for me.

I have improved about 10 strokes this last month, so I think alot of stuff is all coming together at the same time...

[Solty]

i played this winter with carrying 1-2 discs....usually a roc/buzz and a teebird. What i learned was that i could use the discs to do different things. It made me think outside the box. My score dropped a lil bit from last year but the biggest gain i feel was knowing what disc(S) to throw in certain circumstances.

mike

[rodman]

I've found the same thing. I went overboard on buying plastic and now have an awsome variety however I've also started tinkering with sidearm when appropriate and it's dropped my average score by about 5-8 strokes per. I think that 1 thing will help you as much as the plastic. Practice moving the disc to the right from the sidearm and you've just opened up shots that otherwise gave you some trouble...

Regarding the number of discs... I cary 14 but use 4 for 90% of my throws. I dont want to throw my Tye died TL over a lake (she's my goto disc). I think there are probably 3 discs of the 14 that get 1 throw per round but they are especially for that particular shot. Not that I couldnt make the TL do the work or something else...

Simple is better (probably).

[Blake_T]

dm42:

basically you found a disc that is in the speed/stability range that is much closer to the speed you can actually generate.

the gateway high speed drivers are too fast for you to really perform well with them consistently, and the blaze is too overstable to really get any D out of it if you are only throwing ~325'.

what you are discovering is the "power requirement" part of the flight chart i did for GGGT.

[Thatdirtykid]

I understand throwing just gateway in your circumstance (you got 80$ in a bet right?). But I think its more the eagle is a very virsitle driver (the champ is fairly overstable unless beat in) and you were able to learn it well. That and when I play the same course the same way all the time, my score dosnt get any better, it only gets better when I start trying to learn and develop new skills which makes it easier to be a more versitle player

[discmonkey42]

Lots o good stuff here, thanks. Played a lot of golf today and found out a few things...no surprise, but a lot in line with the above. I started throwing all gateway on a bet and really liked them so have kept doing it. I am not averse to adding different discs to my bag at all. I have a ton of other plastic here and spent a lot of time in the field today. The gateway that is staying in the bag is: E Spirit for wind - broken in really well. S element X, E element, S element, 3 wizards for approach and putting. E and S Blaze stay for straight and overstable fairway drives (both are really controllable for me out to about 280'). Beat H Illusion for max D (I've put this out to 360-380 on occassion and with control).

All of the above I really love and am very confident in. To them I added the Eagle I found, and a champ Tbird I used to use. Blake, you'll not be surprised to hear I replaced my Demon with a Champ Gator. Played my last round of the day with Eagle, Tbird, Element X, Wizard only. Did pretty well.

I added a skip shot, sidearm, and flex approach with a driver to shots I'll throw more often as well as practice. I also threw an anhyzer distance line instead of hyzer flip on 2 holes I have trouble reaching. Finally, I was throwing the Eagle on a high, nose down anhyzer instead of trying to turn a disc over on long right turns.

A lot of light bulbs went off today and my head is swimming with all the new info. I am going to spend the day tomorrow at a course other than my home course throwing the above bag (probably shoot a couple rounds with just the 4 discs again). I'm also going to start the week one training with these discs.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, I really appreciate it.

[Thatdirtykid]

Just a question then how does the champ teebird fill a different spot than the more stable blaze? Is it really any longer? DX and even KC teebirds have been pretty long for me, but the Champ were more overstable than wanted, even as much as a champ eagle.

[discmonkey42]

The tbird I have is quite used and flies straight and flat out past the blaze. The blaze hyzers the whole way with a little stronger dive at the end.

[DiscCrusher]

The heavy champ Teebirds are a little strange. I've had one for quite some time and when I first got it I didn't like it at all. It was overstable for me and didn't get much glide at all. I used a champ eagle instead of it for a while. But I lost my eagle and I started getting better and using my t-bird more and more as an in-betweener. As it's broken in and as my technique has gotten better I'm finding it's getting longer and longer and with predictablilty even in the wind. Now it's one of my favorite discs but I no longer use it as an in-betweener I have filled that spot with a max weight kcpro Gazzelle.

[TexasOutlaw]

I've always liked the idea of one disc rounds, but I worry about how quick a disc would beat up (unless you want to beat it up). I try to carry a dedicated putter to keep my approach discs from getting to flippy.

I have been playing a lot of 3 disc rounds: I use a d buzz (approaches and putts), control driver (d cyclone), and a super fast disc (surge, wraith, orion, or even an avenger).

In the case of my buzz and cyclone, I'm purposely trying to beat them up.