Is spin putting really all that bad?

[Tossin' in Memphis]

You don't need a overstable putter. A lot of spin putters use stable to understanle putters more. Including myself...omegas

I've been using my P2 with good results

[Hyzerline49]

I have a combination of both styles. I reach farther down and snap the disc up with spin, but I push up on the back side to put the nose slightly down. Seems to work good for me and my jump putting has been very very good lately

[Sean40474]

You don't need to have an over-stable putter to spin putt....

...most pros are in the school of overstable putters...at least a large portion of pie anyway.

Sometimes that is simply because they can be in the school of over-stable putters, since they have access to stocks of discs that other schmucks don't have. So many runs of supposedly "over-stable" putters turn out to be stable or under-stable (Challenger is my latest favorite example of this). All the sponsored pros can go to their disc benefactor and poach all the nice over-stable putters from the stock that they need. When Joe Consumer buys the same kind of putter off the shelf, there's no telling whether it will be over-stable or under-stable. We have to buy 20 or more to find that single good putter that's money. And I can testify that I've received numerous hand-me-down putters from pros that were way more spectacular than anything I could buy...if only that source was more reliable...

Also, a lot of Ams throw their putters nose up, mostly because they don't run the basket as hard, and are thinking conservatively about the possibility of making the next shot if they miss the putt. Spin putting pros, on the other hand, are putting flat or nose slightly down, and are drilling the chains. They're not thinking about the next putt if they miss...they're going to hit that putt. If you throw nose up, you make your putter behave more over-stable than otherwise. If you throw nose down with vigor then the disc flies more under-stable, so you need a more over-stable putter to compensate.

I smell what you're stepping in, appreciate the drawn out answer. It makes me think about things I took for granted a little more.

[jenb]

Doss seemed to do fine with it this past weekend.

It's funny how spin putting was for losers last year, and now that both of this year's world champs are spin putters, it's all cool again.

[RustyP]

Doss seemed to do fine with it this past weekend.

It's funny how spin putting was for losers last year, and now that both of this year's world champs are spin putters, it's all cool again.

I jumped on the push putt bandwagon (albeit a few years earlier) after I met with Blake and he showed me the whole apex push-putting style. IMO its a great method, especially if you have a hard time "feeling out" a putt and need a style that is more formulaic (for lack of a better word), but my comfortable style has a lot of spin so that's what I use now. I still pitch/push in certain situiations, but I prefer a medium spin with a slight pendulum arm swing.

[Mark Ellis]

You don't need to have an over-stable putter to spin putt....

...most pros are in the school of overstable putters...at least a large portion of pie anyway.

Sometimes that is simply because they can be in the school of over-stable putters, since they have access to stocks of discs that other schmucks don't have. So many runs of supposedly "over-stable" putters turn out to be stable or under-stable (Challenger is my latest favorite example of this). All the sponsored pros can go to their disc benefactor and poach all the nice over-stable putters from the stock that they need. When Joe Consumer buys the same kind of putter off the shelf, there's no telling whether it will be over-stable or under-stable. We have to buy 20 or more to find that single good putter that's money. And I can testify that I've received numerous hand-me-down putters from pros that were way more spectacular than anything I could buy...if only that source was more reliable...

Well it is hard to deny that being a sponsored Pro is an advantage but I'm not sure so much in the way described above.

Having had many conversations with many sponsored Pros on many equipment preferences, I don't recall ever hearing from any Pro how important the stability of a particular run of a putter is-at least for putting purposes. IF a Pro can walk in the factory, a pretty rare event as most Pros are not geographically close to the factory, then he or she can hand pick discs from the stacks. Which is very cool and much appreciated, btw. But my experience is that Pros pick discs the same way as anyone else, primarily by feel. (Probably color second) If a disc, ESPECIALLY a putter, feels great then it will be a good putter. Whatever differences in flight can be easily adjusted for.

For driving putters the stability is much more important, while conversely the feel is less important. Any disc thrown hard is gripped harder so the feel doesn't matter as much. But of course, the blunter the edge a disc has the less it varies from run to run and color to color, so putters tend to be a consistent product.

When a player walks into a store with lots of discs they can do just what a Pro does in the factory-on a lesser scale-as there are not as many choices. But even in the factory there may not be an especially overstable run of a particular disc and even if it there it is not labelled as such, leaving even Pros basically picking discs (of the molds they like) based on feel (including dominess or flatness of the flight plate) and color.

Usually a Pro calls into the factory and an order is sent by mail. So the Pro gets whatever is on the shelf, from the same run that gets sent out to the stores and internet houses. If a particular run of a particular disc is discovered to be unique or for whatever reason beloved, it may well be that they are all gone from the factory by then.

The advantage the sponsored Pros have is the volume of discs they can try out, without the financial risk of trying a disc which doesn't fit the slot in their game they were hoping for. The popular conspiracy theory that the very best runs are only released to the sponsored Pros, is unfortunately a Frizzzbee Myth.

Except me. If you get a disc from me, I actually did hand pick it from the factory and I just may have enough extra sensory perception (ESP, eh?) to know the good ones. );

[Whiz]

I have talked with Geoff Bennett about his particular difficulty finding stable foci (focuses). He told me that he either hand picks the stable ones or has someone at/near the factory who he trusts to do so for him. At the time we were talking he was using a crazy domey focus (like a cone in the center of the flightplate almost) that was very stiff and very stable. I believe he said he had hand-picked it or had it chosen by someone else.