So how many discs do I need? Short answer: one. I recommend more, for several reasons. 1) You'll find quickly that discs are easy to lose on our course, and having a backup keeps the round going. 2) having several that fly different lengths becomes valuable quickly. 3) They get beat up! South Texas is brutal, with thorny things everywhere on the course. I typically carry 6 Vibram discs.
Just like golf has many clubs to choose from, disc golf has many discs to choose from, each one goes a different distance and flight pattern, depending on how you throw it. As a beginner, you are most concerned with getting distance and accuracy, and so many people, me included, look as a disc with high speed and say, "I want THAT one!" not knowing that there is no way you will throw that disc anywhere near like it was designed.
I learned the hard way that there is a huge catalog of discs, and 90% of them are for a good to great player. You'll get there in time, but you're not there yet. Trying to throw a disc that is designed for a better, stronger, faster arm than you have will only frustrate you. You will learn bad form trying to make it do something it won't unless you do something crazy to overcompensate. What you want is a small collection of easy to throw discs that you learn proper form with.
As you learn to throw better, your form will improve and your distance will lengthen and your accuracy will increase. Once this occurs, you may start adding other discs to your collection.
What do I want to start with? you ask. Most discs that are under-stable are easier for people with low speed to throw well. Until you master your throw, you have low power. Embrace your inner wuss and get over it. When I started, I could get 180' tops out of a good throw. Now I can go over 300'. Simon Lizzotte just made a new world record throwing 863.5', and he's a skinny 21 year old! Power is in the form. If you grab an over-stable disc like he throws, it will turn hard and crash into the dirt. Not exactly what you want. If you are a child or a woman that doesn't throw discus, I'm going to make a recommendation for you here that you will not regret. My 13 and 14 year old girls throw these discs great! The manufacturer is Latitude 64, and the discs are called the Diamond as a driver, the Ruby putter and the Pearl mid-range. If you're just getting one, make it the Pearl. They fly straight and far with little effort and are easy to learn a good form with. If you are a man, I recommend the Stingray, (not the super stingray) as a mid-range and the Sidewinder for a driver and an Aviar Putter. If you are already a beast with an Ultimate disc, you can try a Leopard and a Cobra. Academy sells sets that include a Shark, which is really a harder disc to throw. I find a lot of these deep in the brush, if that tells you anything. The first driver I could ever throw was an Archangel. Good memories of those.
You're going to throw horrible the first few times. It's OK. As your form improves and you can easily get out past 250' with these, then you can start looking around for something with more stability. You'll notice the disks you were throwing straight are starting to turn for you, (going the opposite way they do at the end of their flight.) This is a good sign that you are improving!
There are many types of plastic out there. The cheaper ones tend to be softer, and so they bang up more easily, and the bumps eventually affect the flight. They run $8-9. More expensive plastics last longer, but when you are starting out, you have little control, so it's easier to lose discs. Losing an $8 disc is not as painful as losing a $15 one. I'd stick to the cheaper plastics if you are stronger, at least until you gain some form. The Lattitude discs I recommend are more expensive, good quality plastic. Vibram discs are made of a rubber compound, and are practically indestructible. They are also very pretty. The better quality discs are in the $12-20 range, still pretty cheap if you are not losing one every other week. If you are getting Vibram, (and I recommend them highly) the Sole or Summit putters, Ibex mid and for driver the Unlace. These are all easy for beginners to throw, and that Unlace flies a mile.
COLORS! I recommend thinking about what color sticks out best when my disc doesn't obey and it's off in the monte. I like bright yellows and oranges, and don't like the greens and blues.
Below I'm including some charts from three of the major manufacturers that list their discs. Stick to the right side of each chart and you'll pick some winners. As you get better and need to replace plastic, more more toward the middle. If you ever get to the left side, I'll watch out for you!
Innova discs have a 4 number system that describes their flight. The first number is SPEED, which is really how aerodynamic it is, but it is also a measure of how fast you need to throw it to get it to perform well for you. The faster ones tend to be for the monster arms. Getting a 13 when you can only throw a 7 will frustrate you. The second number is GLIDE. This shows how far that baby will keep sailing. For longer shots, you like the glide number to be a 4-6, for putters, it doesn't hurt to have a low number, because you want it to stop if you miss a putt. (What? Me miss?) The third number is the HIGH SPEED TURN. This tells you which direction the disc, thrown at its proper speed, will turn during the first part of the flight, when it is still going fast. If you throw right handed with a traditional backhand throw (RHBH) a negative number goes to the right, or turns, a positive one goes left, or resists turning. Bigger numbers, more turning. If you throw Forehand (sidearm) like I do, the directions are reversed. If you are a lefty, everything I just said is reversed Beginners tend to throw best with the biggest negative numbers here. The last number is the LOW SPEED TURN, or fade. As the disc loses speed, it will turn opposite the direction it is spinning. This means if you throw RHBH, it will die to the left. Sidearm will die to the right. Leftys, reverse that! The bigger the number here, the harder it will turn at the end of its flight. There are no negative numbers here, but there are a few zero discs that end straight. On hole #3, I like to hit that larger gap with a disc that fades pretty hard, dying to the right just past the trees toward the basket. You'll see pretty quickly how having several discs can be a help.
-Steve
If you want to join a disc golf club here in Laredo, or have questions that are not answered here, email me at: frolf@stevepaulson.com
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