Buying first discs

[Quentin.T]

Hi everyone. I have been interested in disc golf for a while, and have played a few times with ultimate frisbee style discs, but never with the real deal. Now that I have tried it out and know that I like it, I want to buy my first few discs.
I am not looking to buy a lot of discs right away. My plan was to buy a good distance driver and a putter and then decide from there. My problem is that as I'm looking around the internet for discs, and reading many many articles on disc selection, I find myself in an information overload. It gets especially bad once i start looking among different brands, which is why I have decided to ask for some help.

My biggest concern is that I will buy a disc that I can not control, and will be money down the drain. I am an avid ultimate frisbee player, and can throw a backhand around 70 yards and a forehand around 60. I thought this would qualify me as having a pretty strong arm, but when I tried my friend's new Groove, It came out of my hand and immediately twisted to the left (RHBH), landing about 40 yards away. Ive tried it many times, but I feel like I'm not getting the disc up to its cruise speed.

Because the groove was twisting to the left right away, I was looking at stable discs (innova mostly). after a lot of looking, I thought that the teebird was the perfect disc for my style, seeing as i was transitioning from a traditional ultimate disc. but now the more i think about it, I don't think that the teebird is even a distance driver.

So does anyone have any advice? Am I looking at the wrong type of disc for my style of throw? really any advice at all would be a great help.

Thanks,
Quentin

[Quentin.T]

ps. i was looking at the birdie as my putter

[JeffzeNub]

I am fairly new to the sport as well and had basically the same problem. There are just so many discs out there and when you don't really know exactly how you throw the disc yet its hard to decide which ones would be right for you. This might not be possible for you, but a local course near me sells used discs for 5$. None are in perfect condition, but are definitely throwable. I basically just went and bought 3 or 4 discs with significantly different weights, stabilities, etc...

This may not work for you, but maybe try to call around and see if there are any courses near you that do the same? If not maybe try a local disc golf club on one of their days at a course, I am sure a few of them would be more than happy to let you throw some of their discs.

Also, a teebird happened to be one of the discs I got out of the used bin, and is probably my favorite disc in my bag. It is a fairway driver, but it will definitely get the job done off of the tee, especially when you first get started. I got an actual distance driver out of there as well(I cant remember which one off the top of my head), but I have the same problem with throwing it. I cant seem to get it to level out before taking a hard dive to the left.

Hope this helps,

Good luck!

Also, I bought a Valkerie(an actual "distance driver") recently, it throws kind of like a teebird, for me at least. In case you are looking for an actual distance driver.

[Ryan C]

Welcome, try not to get as addicted to buying plastic as I did.

If you come from an ultimate background, I assume you have fairly clean form. I believe that a Birdie would work well for you as a putter. As for midranges, try a Z Comet. Z is the plastic. They are very neutral, and will probably be very easy for you to pick up. And for a driver, I believe a Leopard is a good choice. They are probably the best first driver made. You should find it significantly longer and faster than the Comet, but still very controllable. These are all great discs to begin with. As you progress, you may want to add something more stable to your bag. Rhynos, Buzzzes, and Teebirds are discs that are a step up in (over)stability and should enable you to do some different shots when you have begun to get the hang of your starting stuff. If you are concerned about weight, I would ignore the common advice of beginning with very light stuff. I would try your putter and midrange at about 175g, or slightly less, and your driver at 170, or slightly less. If you are a healthy male with an athletic background, you should not have a problem with these weights.

Anyway, I hope this advice was helpful. Others may differ, and they may also have good suggestions, but I'm confident that these are the sorts of discs you're after.

[Quentin.T]

yes, I'm looking mostly to alter my form to alter the flight, instead of buying a different disc. I'm very used to changing my form to get different curves after playing ultimate for several years, which is why i was looking for a straight flying disk instead of something that curves out of the hand. Thanks!

[Quentin.T]

Another thing that is confusing me is innova's ratings. You said that the leopard is a good first choice disc, but it has a tilt number of -2. The groove that I tried also had a rating of -2, and it curved uncontrollably. was the excessive curve caused by me not throwing it fast enough? I'm just getting very lost in all of the numbers, terms, and everything else

Thanks,
Quentin

[Mark Ellis]

Disc golf and Ultimate are as different as fast pitch baseball and slow pitch softball. Both use balls and bats and have certain carryover skills but have significant differences.

To optimize disc golf skills you will need to unlearn your long distance Ultimate form. Golf discs are more overstable which allows much greater distance potential. As you learn new techniques you may well find your golf discs behave differently than they do presently. So this transition period is one of learning and experimentation rather than honing skills.

So try any and all discs (except the crazy overstable discs, which may never be useful to you). Just because a disc does little good now does not mean it won't be a staple down the road. The cheapest way to buy discs is used. A used disc works just as well as a new disc. In fact every disc in my bag is used. Some just by me. Some by multiple owners. What difference does it make?

At first understable or stable discs will fly more like Ultimate discs and so will be more useful. Eventually you need to figure out the whole spectrum. Now is a good time to start that learning curve.

The good news is that Ultimate gives a huge leg up for short range shots: backhand, forehand, overhead and rollers.

Disc golf has no running but Ultimate has no putting. In some ways putting is even harder than running.

[JR]

Another thing that is confusing me is innova's ratings. You said that the leopard is a good first choice disc, but it has a tilt number of -2. The groove that I tried also had a rating of -2, and it curved uncontrollably. was the excessive curve caused by me not throwing it fast enough? I'm just getting very lost in all of the numbers, terms, and everything else

Thanks,
Quentin

Innova glide, turn and fade are relative order rank vs other discs of the same speed. Also throwing a disc that you can power makes it fly as advertised but a fast disc goes straight despite having the same numbers. When a more powerful player can make the higher power requirement disc turn just like the low power disc.

Groove is a unique snowflake of suck stands in one signature on this forum. I got a good one or am better at throwing it flat and nose down. Many have reported horrific flights and large variations between Grooves.

[Quentin.T]

ok, Thanks so much for the help guys. I think im going to buy a leopard, and either an aviar or a birdie as my putter, then I'll go from there


Thanks,
Quentin

[Quentin.T]

Actually, I have one more question!

Where is the best place to buy discs? In my area I have a dick's sporting goods, which carries innova, but at what i assume to be a high price compared to online. I have also checked amazon, but I was wondering what the all around best online store is, as far as price and variety. Thanks!

[Quentin.T]

So i just bought the innova starter set from dicks, (leopard, shark, and aviar) but then i read a few review on them and saw that they are all 150 class discs. Is this bad? i know that Ryan C said that I should look at 170-175 weights

Quentin

[dgdave]

150 is great to start with. Ya may look into a putter in the upper 160s for putting, but ya can't go wrong with that starter set.

[Ryan C]

I just found the 150g DX plastic discs to be too understable to be useful very quickly. They aren't very stable to begin with and beat in quickly. I also still don't recommend such light weights.

[nicknels]

I am about 5 or 6 rounds in to my frisbee golf career and I just purchased the Innova DX starter set (leopard, shark, aviar - 150 class).I have been doing a lot of reading and have played with some friends that have been doing it for a while (all who have different opinions), but I still think I made the right choice with my discs.

I also come from an ultimate background so I am very comfortable with throwing a frisbee in general. That being said, I will agree with what someone else here said in that ultimate and disc golf are about as different as SP and FP softball. I don't want to carry over my technique from one sport to another because I can already tell there are a lot of differences with the grip, approach and generally philosophy.

I actually consider myself in a fortunate position. I don't need to unlearn anything. Unlike my regular golf game, I am new to the sport. I don't need to try to change years and years of bad form or wrong technique. It is much harder to try to get rid of bad habits than to start fresh. So I have been watching Youtube videos and reading some things online in regards to technique and fundamentals. The general consensus is to start with the 150g discs until you get a feel for the sport and form good habits before going onto the discs the veterans use.

I know this means the ceiling is only so high in regards to distance and turn and some creative things the veterans can do with their discs, but I'm not going to let my ego get in the way of developing my game the right way. I realize I am going to have to buy heavier discs (with better plastic) down the road, but I am prepared to make the investment. Besides I got all 3 of my starter discs off amazon.com for less than $25 which seems like a great value.

At the end of the day there is just a ton of information out there, but a little knowledge can be dangerous if you don't have proper perspective. There are so many discs from so many manufactuers! I'm sure I will look into many of them in due time, but for now I just want a good foundation. The 150 class Innova discs seem like the right way to start.

[Fenrir]

When I started I got a dx beast and dx dart now that I've been playing 3 years I would say your best bet is a dx roc or a z buzzz toss Mids and putters till you can toss a putter over 150 ft and a mid over 200 it will help you get good form then stick with fairway drivers ect just my 2 cents also I started at all max weight and now I'm tossing stuff in the 170 range for drivers and putters and 175 for mids lighter will go farther unless you can toss 500 ft