FTT's (slower) bag project

by **plex** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:06 pm

FTT, you should try a Latitude 64 Gold Line River.

Its a low speed, high glide driver that is great for holding an anny line or straight as arrow shots and if you throw it with hyzer it will straighten out and fade like an overstable

its a hidden gem if you havnt tried one out yet

by **Fightingthetide** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:56 pm

Thanks for the suggestion. I had one in my bag a while back, but never found it to be workable...almost like a Teebird with more glide and a touch less fade - super straight. But it could be different now that I've improved my game. At what distances do you notice them starting to show high speed turn?

by **plex** » Tue May 01, 2012 9:30 am

Anything over 300 and it gets hard to stop the turn. But its an amazing disc for 300+ shots that you need big right turn backhand. And my sword replaces straight shots over 300

by **Fightingthetide** » Sat May 05, 2012 7:22 pm

I'll stick with Leo's. Partly because I need to stop buying new molds. I still need to work more with my Super Stingray. It hasn't broken in yet, and at this point it seems to overlap with my seasoned, flat C MD2.

Sticking with what I have:

175 Champ FB (flat)
170 C/S Valk
169 S PD (new)
168 S PD (seasoned)
169 P PD - to be replaced with Valk once one beats in
169 C/S TD
172 Star Leo

(looking for a lighter Leopard to compliment the one I have)

175 Champ Gator
178 C MD2
178 D MD2
170 D P2

165 SS Magic
170 SS Magic

by **Taylor** » Sat May 05, 2012 8:36 pm

What kind of shots do you use the gator for that you wouldn't use the firebird for?

by **Fightingthetide** » Sat May 05, 2012 8:42 pm

Taylor wrote:What kind of shots do you use the gator for that you wouldn't use the firebird for?

Good question. Never thought of using my FB on shorter stuff. Is it doable?

My Gator is beefy, but it's still workable on shorter throws, where I wonder if my FB would flex back and/or fade too soon/too much. BUT, I've never tried.

by JR » Sat May 05, 2012 8:50 pm

At midrange distances a powered down Firebird goes left immediately and the Gator goes straight then left and not so hard left without as much skip. Both skips and less skipping are useful shots and needed in different situations. Skips can be bad in the winds and placement shots.

by **Taylor** » Sun May 06, 2012 6:36 pm

Yea I think i've been powering down a champ tee bird for that shot (what I would use a gator for) and it has the tendency to go long. I also can't put a firebird thrown flat to much more than 270' because it's so beefy. Maybe a gator would be a better fit in my bag.

by JR » Mon May 07, 2012 12:40 am

A powered down Teebird still does not fade as much or as abruptly as a Gator does. So the TB is more like a hyzer gliding immediately slightly left moving then a little more fading disc once the fade kicks in and the Gator is straight then abruptly hard left fading disc.

by **Fightingthetide** » Mon May 07, 2012 1:21 pm

I love my Gator. It keeps earning a spot in my bag each round. It dumps left on a dime.

Now I'm just waiting for "KC" P2's to come into production around here, and I should be set for a while...but I think I really mean it this time

by **Fightingthetide** » Sat May 12, 2012 10:15 am

I've had a lot of fun learning to forehand my D P2 recently. If anything, it just finishes straight, and works really well for touch approach shots where I have to reach around a tree or flex around a corner. So right now I have one Magic in my bag as a filler until I can get my hands on KC P2's.

My rotation of champystar Valks is beginning. For a while, I had one in my bag next to a TD, and they flew on almost the exact same lines. Now my first C/S Valk is seasoned and I've added another. It's lost some HSS and LSS, and surprisingly is a lot straighter than I thought it would be. I was expecting to lose HSS and retain some LSS, but it seems to have lost both pretty evenly. For those who know...at Renaissance yesterday, hole 14, I got a frozen rope hyzerflip down the tunnel and landed about 20' short of the small bench under the big tree. I've never had an easier look at the basket.

I also bit the bullet and picked up an FD after reading and hearing so much about how they were "better Leopards". I got a 169 red champystar with a good bit of dome. So long Leo's.

So now the only thing I want for my bag (to bring it up to 12+2) is another flat, gummy C MD2, KC P2's, and a C FD.

by **NeuralBlaze** » Sat May 12, 2012 12:59 pm

I'm really liking the looks of your bag and will probably move in this direction next season if I don't make decent improvements in my form this year.

I'm going out today with A GL River 173, Proto River 170, and Star Leo 171 to see if the Rivers operate like a longer Leopard or if they fly differently for me. How are you liking the FD over the Leos so far? That's probably the next disc I'll test out vs Leo/River.

How are you liking the Valk as a Max-D disc? Are you having to pick specific Valks out or are they pretty consistent? I'm going to have to look into "champystar", is that just a fluke of a run of Champ that feels more Star like or what? I've also been thinking of switching to something like a Valk or Archon over my Flows for Max D, as I don't QUITE have the arm to get everything out of the flows.

If you ever want to try out a different midrange setup I just recently fell in love with the Vector/Axis/GL Fuse setup. I've been hearing great things about the MD2s, I think my buddy is rocking at least one of them at the moment. You've piqued my interest in the Gator now, my same buddy who has the MD2 was raving about his last time we played...may have to add one. Is that as overstable as a Drone? I was on the Wasp/Buzzz/Stingray kick last year and found the wasp pretty good, but I occasionally wanted something a bit more overstable. I'm going to try powering down my FB for the rest of the season and see how that works so I don't spend too much more money on plastic :-)

by **Fightingthetide** » Sat May 12, 2012 7:06 pm

Haha good luck on not spending money on plastic

Actually...im in the same boat. I need to stop too...which is why I am hesitant to add a new mold like I did today. I have yet to throw my FD, but I'll report back once I do.

As for Valks - I LOVE the 3 that I have (all from the same run). I don't know if champystar discs are a fluke or what, but they are grippier than star and champ (in my experience), fit right in between champ and star with durability, and seem to have a little more dome to them. If anything, they look cool too. You can tell which ones are champystar because if you hold it up to the light, you can see through it...but it's more than just having light come through. You should be able to literally read something through the disc. Anyway, I can't really say anything about any other Valks, because these are the first 3 I have ever thrown. I love them. They are my furthest reaching disc, and are incredibly reliable.

One thing about Archons - unless you find an understable one, they can still be pretty beefy. I had an understable Archon which worked great for hyzerflips, but it would fade really sudden and I would lose D. I prefer Valks over Archons because they need less height (assuming an understable Archon that won't fly well on a lower line) and fade much less because they are a slower disc. But that's just me. I'm sure someone with a stronger arm could take a more stable Archon and bomb with it.

Good luck with your bag! Looks like you are off to a good start. I would suggest slowing things down to speed 9/10 if you can. I dabbled in the faster stuff for a while and really did not benefit at all in terms of distance and accuracy. Take my 13 or so pages on here as a lesson and just slow your bag down...haha I wish I had done this sooner!

by **Fightingthetide** » Sat May 12, 2012 7:16 pm

Heres my suggestion - Grab a Champ Valk around 166-168 and use it till it starts to need a good bit of hyzer to fly straight. Then add another.

Oh, and as for Gators, I can't compare them to anything because they are the first truly overstable mid I have ever used...well, the first overstable mid without much glide. All I can say is I love the one I have.

by JR » Sun May 13, 2012 2:01 am

If you want a Valkish type flight Northman could work. There are shape thus flight variations in them. Low PLH ones are very much like Valks but a little more HSS. High PLH ones are very much more HSS and neither has a tremendous amount of LSS. Probably less than Star Valks and not too far from Champs but maybe a hair less. In appropriate weights that is. I have a 154 and a 165. 150s are rare mid 160s should be easier to find. The 154 flips a few degrees at full power and not at all with 90 % and i usually can't make the 165 track if it ain't a very good day. The 165 with a high PLH is bullet straight until the fade in calm weather at sea level for me. Both are VIP plastic so i don't know about Tournament Plastic.