Sabres

[bigs348]

Last week I picked up a few of these -- an Evolution and a couple S-Series.

Everything I've read about them from Blake and the sponsored Gateway guys makes them sound amazing. I was looking forward to trying them out.

The only problem is: I can't figure out the optimal way to throw them. I keep hearing you need more height on them, but there's got to be more than that.

Any help? Thanks.

[Jwt4412]

Bigs -

Higher Elevation on the Sabres - Lower Elevation on the Hybrids.

I am not a big distance guy but I throw the Sabres STRAIGHT.

[bigs348]

I appreciate the response, but all I keep hearing is "more height," and I was looking for a little bit more specificity than that.

How high is "more height"?

What nose angle is best?

Should I throw flat or try a hyzer flip?

Just wondering from some of you more experienced Sabre throwers what might be the best way to go about learning the disc. I'm sure I could throw it in a field for an hour and figure this stuff out, but I like to have a little bit of guidance before I completely go the trial-and-error route. (Plus it's really friggin' cold and if I'm in a field for an hour I'd prefer to already be throwing it correctly and getting that practice in.)

Thanks.

[Jwt4412]

This is going to sound strange...

When I throw the Sabre now, I invision trying to scrape a low ceiling, you know like with a putty knife when you are scraping off popcorn texture... a little higher than even with my shoulders... I've been getting up to about 18 to 20 feet - any higher then I "lose the nose"...

When I throw the Hybrid Kind of little lower than even with my shoulders... 8 to 12 feet...

Man, I hope this doesn't confuse you...

It's the only way I can think of explaining it without using all of the jargon.

Blake is just going to look at this and think 'What the hell is he trying to say..." but it works for me.

Remember though, I am not a long distance big arm... I am very dependent on my second shot. I can throw straight and toward the basket. I now spend very little time in the trees.

For the way I play the Sabres and Trackers are my Best Choice for a Driver... I don't have the Arm for the Wraith, Surge or Spirit etc...

When I go understable the RoadRunner and Star Stingray.

I am just a par to +3 player on my home course [when I don't throw the "extra" discs] but my game improved tremendously when I disc'd down out of the super fast stuff.

[presidio hills]

i got two salmon colored E sabres. so far the best shots i've had with 'em are hyzer flips that go about 15'-20' in the air. i still feel like i haven't figured it out because my best throws with them are moving too much side to side... so thanks for starting this thread. the E plastic feels awsome... good for gateway!

[garublador]

With regular S Sabres, old H or E Sabres I found that a high, hyzer flip line worked the best. If you don't want the disc to go as far, just throw it lower. I find it hard to use specific heights without knowing your power level. I guess the answer would be, "Throw it as high as you can while keeping the nose down." For me, that's only about 20' or so and on a good rip I've gotten them out to perhaps 350' or so. Thrown lower, like 10'-15' I'll only get 300' or so out of them.

A newer Sabre FX, or a newer E Sabre will probably fade more, so I find that less height is required as well as less of a hyzer angle. I have a few heavy E Sabres that will flex out of being turned over so I try to throw them flat and high, which is hard to do. I find it easier to throw them lower and flat, or slightly hyzer to get a good, straight 310'-320'. I also find that they'll work well for gradual hyzers that don't flip up and don't fall short like a Blaze would. They'll hold the hyzer you put on them and stay that way to the ground rather than divebombing like most overstable discs will do.

The Sabre is a fairly unique disc and it will take some experimentation to get it to fly the way you want. I find that it's best not to skip the experimentation step because it can be a very versatile disc. You can get consistant midrange distances or consitant long range drives with it if you can control the height. You can also pull out some crazy hyzers and anhyzers if you have the skill.

[bigs348]

I have a newer heavy E Sabre and I was surprised at it's propensity to fade. I kept hearing that they stayed very straight because of the weight on the flight plate and that they wouldn't fall off as hard.

Throwing about 70% with a very slight hyzer it flipped up flat very quickly, not gaining much height. After that it didn't quite turn over but there was a lot of left to right movement.. Then it faded back to straight for a little while and then dove into the ground left. I was very surprised and this wasn't what I wanted at all. I was expecting a straight flyer that would glide to the ground without much fade, because that's what I'd heard it would do. Obviously, the more height on it, the more it has time to fade, but throwing it low doesn't get any distance at all. I'm going to keep working with this and see if I can figure them out and get them to do what I want them to do (i.e., what I keep hearing they're good for.)

Keeping in mind that I'm not giving up, and I'm going to try and learn them, do I really need this disc at all? I was thinking I wanted a tweener disc between my mids (Panthers) and my fairway drivers (Teebirds and TLs), but the Sabre seems to be the same as my Panther distance-wise, and I have much more control over any type of shot with the Panther. I'm just not thinking it's worth it to have another disc in my bag when several other discs can do its job, however much I love the E plastic and want to support Gateway. We'll see.

Completely unrelated, I just received a nice box of discs in the mail -- some bottom-stamp Beasts and some new Wraiths. I must say, I am digging this new DX driver plastic.

[TexasOutlaw]

JWT,
I understood you completly.

The sabre is a nice straight disc when thrown low 8-10 feet of the ground. Also, I don't muscle this disc (well I try not to muscle any of them); what I mean is that I don't always throw full strength with it. To get more distance, try a hyzer flip up higher. I have trouble gauging how high I throw above this, so I cannot advice you on that.

The hybrid was actually pretty straight for me also, but I have a tendency to throw lower shots unless I'm going for a 500 + foot hole.

I may pull out my sabre and experiment with it. I'm pretty happy with my cyclone, tracker, avenger, predater set up though.

[garublador]

I have a newer heavy E Sabre and I was surprised at it's propensity to fade. I kept hearing that they stayed very straight because of the weight on the flight plate and that they wouldn't fall off as hard.

The newer E Sabres do fade noticably more than the older ones or the regular S Sabres, so I'm not suprised to hear you say that. They also fight back from being turned over better than the old ones, too but I find them harder to flip up from a hyzer. I have a S Sabre "FX" that acts kind of like the newer E Sabres, but I haven't tested it out extensively.

[kvanorsdel]

Probably a dumb question but,

I just picked up 2 Sabres that have the weight and 844 written on the bottom, what does the 844 stand for?

[garublador]

The fourth post down explains the 844 thing:

http://www.pdga.com/msgboard/showflat.p ... #Post32251

Apparently they're a bit more overstable than regular Sabres.

[kvanorsdel]

Thanks I knew I had read about it somewhere.

[kvanorsdel]

So any idea how I figure out if they are made from the welding material?

[garublador]

I vaguely remember something about them smelling a bit like cherries, but I don't remember where that came from.