Thank you for reading, responding, interacting with me on SDG’s social media or in person over the last 4.5 years here at trainzwholesale. I’ve really enjoyed working with, learning from, and engaging in the fun conversations we’ve had.

This is my final blog for trainzwholesale. I’m leaving SDG to take a position in the Mechanic Falls Police department. My last day will be Wednesday September 13th. Come out that night for a special round of dubs!

I took the Sabattus Pro Shop attendant job in April of 2019 with the intention of getting free rounds at my favorite course and a discount on some plastic for a summer while I finished my Sports Management degree at the University of Southern Maine.

But as Winter 2020 approached I was offered a chance to stay on and keep the shop open as long as I found a way to keep busy. So we opened Sabattus on Thursday-Sunday from 9-5 and I would update our product descriptions, and write a weekly blog.

Disc golf grew during the pandemic, and Sabattus grew with it. Now we’re open every day of the year (excluding Thanksgiving and Christmas) and I have written a weekly blog for the last 190 weeks. 

I want to touch on some of the changes to SDG I’ve gotten to be a part of in the last 5 summers.

1. We now have weekly random doubles, and that’s year round. Wednesday’s in the Spring/Summer/Fall and on Saturday’s in the winter. 
2. We lit the Owl course up and in the Fall/Winter/Spring we run singles league on Friday and Saturday nights. That’s right, you can play disc golf under the lights and in the snow at the same time!
3. We have a disc golf library. Check out any mold we carry in our shop at the front desk for free. This is something I’m immensely proud of because it’s what I would have wanted and needed starting out in disc golf.
4. “Get The Pros to Sabattus”. Is a project to get pros here for clinics the last couple of years. Sabattus doesn’t make any money on these. All the money goes to the touring pros and helps them out, and locals get a chance to meet their YouTube heroes and heroines. Our sport is relatively small and not everyone can afford to travel 3 hours and pay hundreds of dollars to go to a DGPT event. This keeps everything inexpensive and local. I’m confident that SDG will continue these events in the future.
5. Donating our lost and found discs. We used to hold onto them until they started to take up too much room. We call discs, put them on a spreadsheet, even ship them to you. But after 60 days they get donated to local schools and nonprofits. I’m glad SDG increases public access to disc golf.

Thank you to whomever read any of my blogs over the last 4 years. I’ve written exactly 212,734 words total (including this blog). That’s the equivalent of about 4 novels of disc golf related writing. I’m pretty proud of that number and the fact that people continue to read them each week. 

I’ve met thousands of people from all over the world who love the sport of disc golf. It’s been a real joy to hear from you about where you’re from and how the disc golf there is different. And it’s been really special to meet so many people from all over Maine as well. We’re all connected because we like watching the way a disc flies through the air. It’s crazy how excited we all get when a disc does exactly what we want it to.

Sabattus is the real deal. It’s a place that I held in reverence before I started working here, and it’s a place that I’ll always love. If you’re interested in working in the disc golf industry, I can’t think of a better place to start. Ownership and management worked with me to find what my talents are and helped me find the creative outlet of blogging. There’s a lot to say to them, but thank you for supporting me is the main thing I want to say. And for always at least listening to my ridiculous ideas.

Thank you again readers for your reading of the blogs, coming into the shop and talking disc golf with me, and for all the love over the last few years. This job has been fantastic and way cooler than I ever imagined. And you’re the reason why.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

There’s a lot of discs out there you want to try, and accessories, and then you might want backups of your favorite discs, a practice basket, rangefinder, it can add up. This is the same for any hobby.

What I recommend is really starting out with 5 discs.
Putter & Mid (You Need These To Start), A slow fairway driver, understable distance driver, and then get something that’s a little fast and you can work towards.
Get a towel, or two. Mud, dew, rain, amber colored beverages, discs get into everything.
Get a small bag until you know what you want.

I tell everyone a bag is $20 a year. You can either buy a 20 dollar bag every year, or maybe a $40 bag lasts a couple of years. And when you know you want a big bag that’s about $250 it should be one that lasts a decade.

Buying bags can be expensive, make sure you look at what your friends have, what other players have, and what can hold what you need.
If you’re looking at a bag and a cart, we’re talking somewhere between $300-$500. Take it slow with the newfound hobby.
I talk with people about different bags all day long. If I haven’t seen a bag in 5 summers working here, I want to know why someone would use it.

I recommend snagging one of our inexpensive over the shoulder bags like these while you figure out your bag needs. These bags are $15, hold about 10 discs, and have a zippered pocket (where you need to keep your keys/phone/wallet so you don’t lose them on the course). I’ve kept mine as a spare for 13 years for bringing out people who don’t play.

Try discs before you buy (if you can). We have a FREE demo program in the shop here you can use on our courses. Try your friends' drivers, try their mids and putters too if they’ll let you. This sport takes a lot of fine tuning to find discs that work for you. You don’t need to buy them all at once.

2. Give yourself time to warm up before rounds if you want a good score.

I know you want to get out onto the course and just start hucking. There’s nothing like seeing a piece of plastic fly down the fairway to send endorphins rushing around in your brain after a long day at work.
Take 15 minutes and slowly work up to those longer shots. Get that arm ready for an hour and a half of use.
Think of yourself like a baseball relief pitcher. They get 15-20 pitches per night . You’re going out there for 18 drives and you want them to be the best 18 you have in you. They warm up in the pen and then again on the mound. Your arm deserves a chance to warm up for your best throws.

It helps to warm up so you don’t overthrow and hurt yourself too. I’ve had tennis elbow a number of times and nothing ruins your favorite pastime like your arm hurting and a poor score at the same time because of it.

3. Putting well will take you far.

There’s always jokes about an old disc golfer who throws a beat up Roc on every drive and putts with an Aviar that’s older than you are. But they still beat you at the end of the round.
Putting is hard, we all struggle with it sometimes. The best scores you ever get will likely include making all of your C1 putts that round.
You can overcome a bad drive and make your upshot to give yourself a look and take a 3 with a good putt. But if you have a decent drive and then miss your putt and have a tap in 3 you have the same score.

Spend a lot of time practicing putting. As you get older and your distance starts to fail you, you can rely on your putting to keep you competitive. I think a good putter is a great equalizer when you don’t have 400 feet of power.

Find a fun way to practice your putting, I know it can be repetitive and boring. I like to practice with Disc Dots and some music playing while I’m smoking meats.
Some folks like to use 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet, and work on only moving back when they make those putts. Whatever you choose, have fun with it.

4. The reason popular discs are popular is because they work for lots of people.

I understand the desire for uniqueness out on the disc golf course. To me a bag is an expression of creativity and your personal shot selection.
Some players get hung up on not wanting a disc because “everyone uses that one.”
Don’t suffer with a disc, just because no one else uses it and you want to be different.

I don’t throw the Discraft Buzzz. I wish I did, because I think they look great, they are always available in different plastics, they have a variety of weights, and often with cool stamps.
There’s a tradeoff to throwing unpopular discs. Sometimes they go the way of “out of production” (OOP) or become difficult to find. I get excited every time they make another run of Discraft Z Line Predators because I’m not always sure when I’ll find the next one.

Find what works for you, but try out the popular molds. The companies who make them put a lot of work into testing the discs to make sure they’re good.


5. Baseline putters and Mids are excellent, they last awhile too. Don’t be afraid they’ll get “flippy” too fast.

I can’t stress enough that the pros use baseline putters to putt with. I understand the shiny cool looking star plastic discs fly a little better when they’re thrown hard. But a baseline plastic putter (DX, Jawbreaker, D-Line, Electron) these all get nicks and chips in the plastic that catch the chains more effectively. They also change out putters fairly regularly, but you can make a $9 disc last the season.

And baseline plastic mids are great because they offer excellent touch on shorter shots. You want all that grip, all that extra spin from the friction in your hand.

I did an experiment earlier this year where I threw a DX Firebird into a rock. I started by throwing regular backhand drives into a tree but that didn’t have a noticeable effect on the disc. So I started throwing full overhands into a rock from like 15 feet away. It still took 25 throws at full speed directly into a rock to warp the disc enough to dramatically change the flight pattern.

Since you’re not throwing your mids into a rock as hard as you can, I imagine it will take a lot longer for them to get “flippy” or “seasoned” or “understable” whatever word you want to use for a disc that has deviated from its intended flight pattern.

Those are my 5 things that no one tells you when you start disc golfing.
It’s cheap, but you can spend a lot quickly. Don’t get more than you need right away.
Warming up is good for the body, good for the overall score. Don’t dismiss it.
It all comes down to putting for most folks. Find a way to love practicing it and win.
Don’t be different to the detriment of your own game. Popular discs work.
Baseline plastic is fine if you aren’t throwing powerful shots, and it has great grip.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

One thing I want to point out is for all forehand players. Look at where Sarah Hokom stands on the tee pad. She really works the teepad to her advantage by giving herself the most room possible for her disc to swing from left to right.

The first thing is that this hole is up, over, down, and then putt. That’s 4 separate throws if you want. But if you can combine up and over, and over and down from 3 shots into 2, you’ll be looking at birdie putts.

Here are the things I want to go over about Hole 7 today.

1. Disc choice for forehand throwers or backhand throwers.
2. Landing zone 1. Landing zone 2.
3. Why the approach disc is a little faster on this hole than usual.
4. How to avoid skipping off the chips.

1. Get up and halfway over. Pick a disc that can execute that shot. Practice it a handful of times if there’s no one behind you.
2. Throw something a little faster on the 2nd shot and match the slope of the hill as you approach.
3. Find where you can approach from, and get there consistently. I’ve found my approach shot spot after a few years of trying to get as far down the fairway as possible each time.

This was my first time throwing a disc that could really break to the right. I didn’t have a forehand, so I was use to just throwing my Aviar or Shark with massive height and anhyzer and being able to throw flat turnovers gave me significantly more distance.

I suddenly had a shot in my arsenal that I’d never had before. I was birdieing new holes, hitting different trees on the other side of the fairway, and expanding my game in a way that I hadn’t been able to.

While being understable is the best part of the ESP Meteor, to me it’s really an all in one disc.

I love it for hyzer flips.
I love it for short approaches.
I love it for holding a slow high anhzyer forehand.
I love it for basically anything under 300 feet.

I’ve lost it in a tree, in a stream, and it’s been returned both times. Once I lost it practicing the day before a tournament. Then it was returned about 30 minutes before the tournament.

When I give disc golf lessons, it’s one of the discs that I let folks try because I know exactly what it’s going to do. If they’re not flipping it over, or throwing nose up, I can figure it out fairly quickly. Because I have thousands of throws with this disc and know what it’s going to do.

The glide on this disc and slow speed turn are what keep me using it regularly. I can muscle up a putter to fly straight for 200 feet. Or I can throw the Meteor softly and give it a little extra spin and it will fly straight for me.

Here's an example of it being thrown slow and straight on a long par 4 at BSR. (Thank you to Sean Sanderson for the video)

Here’s me on Hole 17 of the Hawk course. It’s a disc for a stable shot right? Or is it a touch shot hole.

It’s shallower in the hand than my Rainmaker. It doesn’t have a stable finish to it unless I throw it softly like in that video or on a hyzer.

The Meteor would be my choice for any of those 1 disc round challenges. It’s very controllable in a way that I haven’t found any other disc to be on shorter distances.

Here’s the Meteor in all of its glory though, turnover shots.

Of course I included me hitting first available with my favorite disc. That hole always punishes the greedy people who want to ace it.

The drawbacks to this disc are pretty small.

It’s a bad choice with a crosswind or headwind. I mean it, don’t use it unless you want to see it picked up by the wind and rolling somewhere you had no intention of going.
If you don’t throw it hard enough to flip over, it’s got a lot of glide to hyzer out nose up.
It’s possible to overthrow it if you don’t give this disc height. So as you saw on my throws on hole 18, give it time to get over.

Those are drawbacks to every understable disc though. So I don’t think there’s anything in particular that makes the meteor less desirable.

I have been throwing the orange one for a long time. It's still functional a decade later. It's been really good to me in that regard, it's why I have no problem paying $20 for a premium plastic disc. 

I’m glad we have the Meteor back at trainzwholesale. It’s that midrange that you’ll see me throwing on all sorts of courses. I hope that you consider picking one up for your bag. It's a staple in my bag when I want something that bends around trees, floats in the air, or want to hit a short gap.

Here's a link to all of the Meteor's at trainzwholesale.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

1. You receive a high speed overstable distance driver from a friend who also struggles to throw that disc.
2. You lose a disc in the woods/thorns/water and are suddenly looking online at all of the discs you can possibly buy. (Or in our pro shop)
3. You realize that you don’t have a forehand shot and want a disc that flies the opposite of all your other discs.

So you might know a little bit about turn and fade and the 4 number flight rating system.

How can you be sure that the disc you want to throw goes to the right?
How far does it go to the right?
How far forward does it go?

These are all things that as you look online you might be wondering.

Great news, the blog this week is all about right handed backhand players and discs that will go to the right for them.
If you’re a left handed backhand player, all of these discs will go to the left.

I didn’t always have the 350 foot forehand that I do now, I spent 3 years throwing turnover shots with my starter pack Innova Shark and my Voodoo putters from Gateway. If you’re interested in learning how to throw forehand shots I have a blog for that.

If you want to know why you should learn when to throw forehand versus turnover shots, and what the difference between them is, here’s a blog for that.

Here are the 4 discs that I recommend to players who are looking to have turnover shots.
Innova Mirage
Axiom Paradox
Innova Archangel
TSA Mantra

These discs are going to handle most of your left to right needs.

Let’s start with the Mirage.

It’s a 3 speed putter/mid. I love this disc for beginner players, folks with slower arm speeds, and anyone who has a smaller hand size.

The Mirage doesn’t want to do anything other than turn when you throw it. If you throw it 50 feet it’s going to go straight. Once you start throwing further than that it just goes to the right. It has a small bead on it, some folks don’t like that but it’s never bothered me.
You can really reef on this disc if you want. I disagree with Innova’s glide rating on this disc and really think it’s much closer to 2.5 than a 4. The Mirage doesn’t want to stay in the air that long and I like it for getting up and down quickly. Discs start to fade as they slow down, and if you throw them nose up they might flex out on you. But that’s never been a problem with the Mirage for me. I find it really useful under 250 feet, anything more than that and I have to throw it really fast and risk throwing a cut roller.

You can get it cheaply as DX plastic because you’re not going to have to kill this disc to get it to flip. So even if you do hit a tree with it, it’s not at full power. If you’re someone who likes star blend plastic, we carry the Mirage in that plastic as well. Either way you’re going to be getting lots of flip with this disc right away.

Next up is the Paradox from MVP.

I can’t express how flippy this midrange is as a 5 speed. When I broke my arm in 2020 and learned to throw lefty in 2020/2021 this was my backhand turnover disc. It’s so flippy, you can turn it over with your non dominant arm.

The real benefit to this disc has to be the high glide. You can throw this out high like I did in the video and watch it keep gliding on that anhyzer. Giving discs time in the air to turn is a lot of fun and leads to lots of distance. It keeps turning and turning and turning and then it pans out at about 300 feet.
This is the disc I recommend to folks who have been playing for at least a season and want something that “goes the other way”. It really doesn’t take much to flip.

The only downside to the Paradox is that like any understable disc, it requires some practice so you don’t throw it too high and have it stall out or too low and have it cut roll. Finding your release height is important with this disc, so take it out into the field for a good 5-10 throws before you try to hit a turnover line on the course.

The Archangel was my first flippy driver. I found almost no use for the disc until I got to hole 12 of the Hawk course.
With a huge dogleg to the right for a fairway it’s one of the best possible discs for this shot. The Archangel as you saw in the video just likes to start turning and keep turning. This is the disc to flip over for you when you’re regularly pushing 250-275 feet with your backhand.

It’s not subtle. It’s not particularly accurate. But it bends the whole way and when you want distance and something that curves to the right this is going to be one of the best options in the game.

If you’re experiencing scoring separation from your buddies on holes where they throw a hard forehand and you have to lay up to the corner. Stop doing that and get the Archangel. Throw it high and rip it hard for that strong turn that you want.

The Mantra is a flippy distance driver that has a tendency to keep turning. While it’s officially listed as a -2 turn, I think it’s much more than that. Especially if you get it in a plastic like Aura or Ethereal which isn’t as stable as Ethos plastic.

This disc has been my go to for about 2 years on hyzer flips of 300 feet. It feels like a longer glidey midrange than a distance driver. I also use it for shots that drift hard to the right when my forehand can’t reach the landing zone. At first I thought the disc was too flippy to be useful, but now I know it’s just touch mixed with power that makes this disc awesome.

If you want something that drifts to the right pretty early in the flight this is a great choice for you. The Mantra has a lot of glide and when thrown for longer distances it can stable up at the end of the flight. Throw it flat and hard and you’re going to move from left to right and down the fairway at the same time.

If you’re in the market for discs that go to the right and you want something that matches your arm speed try out the

Mirage if you throw under 200 feet on your max drive.
Paradox if you throw 200-250 feet on your max drive.
Archangel if you want your disc to turn the whole way over 275 feet.
Mantra if you want your disc to glide and turn slightly less than the Archangel.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

1. The USA Olympic hockey team beat the Soviet Union in 1980. I think everyone has seen that movie by now. If you haven’t, go watch “Miracle” and feel an overwhelming sense of hockey induced patriotism.
2. Rulon Gardner versus Aleksandr Karelin in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (The announcers call it “akin to the 1980 win over the Soviets.” Karelin finished his career 887-2 and is the undisputed GOAT for wrestling.
3. 2015-2016 Leicester City won the Premier League as a squad that had only been promoted to the league that year and was expected to finish last.

There’s game winning plays that we talk about for ages. These could be considered the greatest moments in sports.

1. Auburn’s 2013 Iron Bowl field goal runback. This was one moment where I remember everyone in the room being speechless. “No flags, touchdown Auburn” was such a great call by the announcer.
2. Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals shot against the Jazz. I think this clip is shown at least once a week on ESPN. It’s iconic, everyone knew Jordan was going to get the ball and shoot it. And it was a perfect shot.
3. Joe Carter’s Game 6 Walk Off. This is that moment when you’re a kid with a wiffle ball and bat in hand. You tell yourself it’s the bottom of the 9th in the world series. You toss it up and smack a long shot to win it all for your hometown team. Joe Carter did that, but in real life in 1993. “Touch ‘em all Joe. You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life.”
4. Faker’s “What Was That?”. I’ll throw a little love to the gaming community for this one. In League of Legends, the GOAT is a player named Faker. His Zed play is so famous that it was said that his opponent “Ryu” died every 60 seconds because people watched the play so frequently.

Then there’s technically beautiful shots in sport. Those skills that anyone who has played the sport understands are pure skill. Golf seems to fit this the best. I’m not sure if it’s the camera work, the fact that anyone who has ever hit a golf ball knows how frustrating it can be, or if how long the ball is in the air leads to longer anticipation of results.

1. Nick Brett’s Bocce shot.
2. Tiger Woods “Better than most”.
3. Tiger Woods 2005 Masters Hole 16. *Side note, Tiger took 84 seconds there before making contact with the ball. That’s twice the time allotted by the PGA for hitting a shot and he probably should have received a penalty stroke. But that would have killed the moment, so I’m glad it didn’t.

All of the moments mentioned above were incredible, special, memorable. I tend to go with championship moments when creating the best sports moments of all time. They mean more, have more pressure surrounding them, they usually have higher levels of competition.

When speaking with my professor I compared Conrad’s shot to a ‘Hail Mary’ in football. Because it’s a play that everyone knows is coming and you have to execute it. That’s where that comparison should end though. Because that play is successful almost 1 in 10 times according to this ESPN article written by Kevin Seifert in 2019.
There was no way James was making that 10% of the time. So I decided to try to compare it to another sport with a lower success rate.

You could try to compare it to hitting a HR off of 1999 Cy Young Winner and 2nd in MVP voting Pedro Martinez. Because he gave up 9 homers in 835 batters. That’s a 1.7% chance for the best hitters in the sport.

But that’s still too high right?

What percent chance can I give James Conrad to hit that shot?

Does 1% sound good? I think it’s still too high.

We’ve seen plenty of videos of Simon Lizotte trying to ace for a long time. He’s known as a trick shot guy, and an ace run guy. I think this is probably the greatest promo video ever made in disc golf. If you’re looking for a Sky God IV I think we still have some left at Sabattus, and they’re on clearance.

You can see by the third hole how red in the face Simon is trying to throw these in. And that’s with practice with the same disc over and over again, and on holes that appear to be much shorter than the 247’ shot by Conrad. I wonder what his percentage of makes is when he shoots these videos.t

UDisc’s Win Probability calculator would have been so epic to see what percent chance it gave Conrad to win the event. But it came out a year ago in 2022, and it’s always something I check on the computer when a tournament is going on.

So let’s get back to Conrad’s throw in.

It was probably less than a 1% chance. Probably less than a 0.5% chance of going in.
It was to tie Paul McBeth, the greatest player of his generation and arguably the GOAT.
It was for the World Championship.

Jomboy did a great job breaking down the Holy Shot for non disc golfers. He captured a lot of the moment, that feeling of insane joy from an entire crowd of people. Even as a McBeth fan, I was home cheering for Conrad in that moment.

So is this the greatest sports moment of all time?
Does it beat “He under hands to first, and the Boston Red Sox Are World Champions” For Red Sox fans in 2004?

The more I think about sports as a whole, and watch professional and amateur play, the more I think that there might be no single greatest sports moment of all time. All of those moments mean different things to different people. And I’m sure I missed countless moments that have happened.

Unless the human race has to play basketball against aliens and Michael Jordan comes out of retirement to throw the ball in while being fouled by 2 Monstars, I don’t know that there will be a unifying single sports moment that is universally agreed as the greatest sports moment.

I guess I’ll just chalk the Holy Shot up as one of the greatest sports moments of all time, and for now the greatest in the history of disc golf.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

A 1x next to your signature would change the trajectory of your career forever. 

A 2x solidifies you as one of the most dominant players of your era. 

And 3x,4x,5x? That would put you into a top 4 conversation that folks all around the world who play disc golf will have for eternity. I don’t know how many times a season I hear a conversation about who is the GOAT?

I’m so pumped the World Championships are at Smugglers Notch. If I could pick where World’s are held every year it would be at Smuggs.
Vermont in September is almost as good as Maine. And I consider Smugglers Fox Run and Brewster Ridge to be the greatest courses in the world. Especially since they’re across the street from one another.

This week in the blog I’d like to look at who on the Disc Golf Pro Tour does well historically at Smugglers Notch. And combine that with some more recent scoring to see who I’m picking for my Grip6 Worlds Picks.

Arthur and I have a competition each week on our board with Grip 6 picks. While we play against thousands of other folks, we also play against each other for fun. Bragging rights and the ability to have our poorly cut out laminated faces slightly higher than the other in the pro shop are what we play for.

It’s high stakes here at Sabattus disc golf.

This blog is partly research to beat Arthur in a single tournament. But mostly to entertain you and get you excited for a tournament that’s still 1 month away.

I took the top 36 ranked players in the world (according to UDisc on March 26th 2023 update because that’s when I started this blog.) 

Don’t you just love when I make data charts? There’s something about numbers that just makes me miss math class.

Here’s every player in the top 36, how they finished in 2022, 2021, and 2020. I chose the last 3 years since so many players have played this event in the past and so many are relatively new. It felt like a good baseline of years.
I put their place finished as well as the number of strokes back from 1st place so you can see if they were in the hunt or there was a runaway.

How a player does at the world championships means a lot to me when I make these picks. While the courses change every year, the pressure does not. That’s why I often look to see where someone will have finished in previous world championships.

A green box means they finished in the top 5, black means they did not play, and there were two familiar players who finished in the top 5 each of the last 3 years at GMC. Ricky Wysocki and Paul McBeth.

So without further ado let’s get to my 8 players I think have a shot in MPO at getting the title. Of course, take these with a grain of salt. The last time I did this in 2021 I didn’t even have James Conrad on my list.

1. Paul McBeth.
   He’s been either #1 or #2 at the world championships since 2012. He’s finished top 5 each of the last 3 years in Vermont. In 2019 he won the event by 9 strokes. And I think that his playing in Europe on tighter wooded courses this last month or so has improved his already immaculate woods game. He’s probably the best all around disc golfer we’ve ever seen and Vermont demands all your shots with the long drives and OB of Fox Run mixed with the woods of Brewster. 
2. Ricky Wysocki.
   He’s due for a big win. He’s world #2 at the moment and he’s coming off a win at the Preserve and a top 5 at PCS Sula. Ricky hasn’t won a major since his 2017 world title. I think he put too much pressure on himself to win in Emporia in 2022. Since he had won the DDO that year with his Dynamic contract. Ricky won last year and finished second the year before. I’d love to see Rick dropping 40 foot putts in and raptor legging his way to the basket.
3. Gannon Buhr.
   He’s 18, ranked #5 in the world and he’s the reigning EURGC champion. With 10th and 6th place finishes at the last 2 GMC’s he’s been in the mix. I don’t know that this is a win for him but I expect a top 10 finish and wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the podium.
   His previous Worlds experiences have been 14th and 33rd. I don’t hold that against him as a minor. Half of me hopes he wins so that Alden Harris makes more ridiculous videos of him but as a champion. He feels like a player that will win a world title, I just don’t know how long the old guard can hold him off. He’s already won 2 silver series and 2 elite series events this year.
4. Chris Dickerson.
   He’s finished 2nd and 1st at GMC in the last 2 years. If he can keep it in bounds on 18 of Fox Run on the last day he’ll be just fine.
   Now at Worlds he’s finished 12th, 4th, 5th, 12th, 5th, and 17th. I think this is probably his best chance at a title. Dickerson is not on tour as hard as other pros, he’s only played 10 tournaments in 2023. And he has 2 podium finishes and lots of outside the top 15, it hasn’t been like his 2020 PDGA player of the year season. But I think he’s a solid pick with a history of success at GMC.
   I’d be pretty pumped to see whatever camouflage print and orange Discraft would whip out if he won.
5. Isaac Robinson.
   I think that Brewster Ridge and Fox Run suit his game very well. Isaac has great woods putter turnover shots and that’s what it’s going to take to win at Brewster. He’s proven at Portland he can handle distance shots. Isaac finished in 2nd place the only time he has played the GMC, which was last year. He’s a major winner in 2023 at the Champions Cup so he’s already proven that he can handle the pressure this year. I know most of the Prodigy hype goes to Gannon, don’t sleep on Isaac Robinson.
6. Calvin Heimburg.
   Currently number one in the world, but he’s not proven himself in the previous World Championships. Calvin has finished 6th, 11th, 20th, 16th, 12th, 14th and 34th at Worlds since he started competing in them in 2015.
   His best finish was 6th at GMC in 2021 and he was 14th last year. He hasn’t won a major in his career but he has won almost a dozen DGPT events. I don’t know what it’s going to take for Calvin to win, but I won’t be putting him in my Grip6 this year.
7. Eagle McMahon.
   It doesn’t feel like that long ago Eagle was dominating on the DGPT. When Eagle’s putt is dropping and he’s confident, he’s my #1 pick as best player on the planet. His insane distance backhand and forehand helps him just reach unreachable holes.
   He’s got top 10 finishes at GMC, he’s got back to back 8th finishes at worlds in 2019 and 2021. Injured in 2022 and no worlds in 2020.
   But it remains to be seen if Eagle can be healthy and put together a performance like the 2022 European Open.
8. Matthew Orum
   He has 10 top 10’s at World’s dating back to 2005 with 3 podium finishes. Matty O finished 2nd last year at GMC and he took 2nd at worlds as well. Smuggs rewards those who keep it in the fairway, and lately Matty O has been doing that 74% of the time. It’s his putting that’s been saving him this year. He’s another tour veteran without a signature win on the DGPT. Kind of like Barsby was in ‘18.

Time for my FPO picks!

I feel like you’ve got to have a solid mix of FPO and MPO players to win. Without further ado let’s hop into the 8 players I think stand a chance at winning.

1. Kristin Tattar
   As the reigning world champion and reigning GMC 2022 champion she’s the obvious pick. Arthur and I even refer to the first box on our DGPT picks board as the Tattar square. She’s worth picking every single week, because even if she doesn’t win she hasn’t finished out of the top 10 since July of 2022.
   
   
2. Hailey King
   She’s got the course record for FPO on Fox Run. She won the 2021 GMC (no Tattar). She finished 9th and 4th at the last two world championships, and I guess I’m a big fan of hers.
   Hailey has a USWDGC title and a DGPT title on wooded courses. I think Brewster fits her playstyle of ripping fairways and mids very well. And she’s got plenty of power for Fox Run. The only problem I foresee is her OB rate is .140, and that’s higher than most everyone on the DGPT. Those white stakes on Fox Run are tight in a lot of places too.
   
   
3. Catrina Allen
   She’s 38 and still on top of the disc golf world. Look out FPO 40 in 2 years.
   At GMC Cat finished 24th, 4th, and 3rd in the last few years. Not sure what happened in 2022 there, but that’s a departure from the norm for her. She’s won Vegas and the Preserve this year, so I know she still has that in her.

   Cat won worlds in 2021 and finished 11th last year. I think if she has a solid first round she can lead from the front.

4. Holyn Handley
   She’s been so close all year!
   Holyn has potential to break through on any course she’s on. Now with no history at Smuggs she’s definitely a dark horse pick. But she’s sitting at 10 DGPT Top 5 finishes this year. I think her chances come on Fox Run and if she’s having a good putting week.

5. Henna Blomroos
   She finished 2nd in 2022 at both Worlds and GMC. She’s got the distance to crush Fox Run for sure. The only thing holding Henna back is her C1 putting is at 50%. I know that people will make fun of her yips, but she’s still throwing so far and accurately on her drives she’s finishing top 10 plenty. She’s that player who thrives on confidence, if she sinks that first 20 footer on Hole 1 Day 1 she’ll be on lead card for the rest of the week.
   

6. Ohn Scoggins
   She’s the top FPO putter, she’s the 3x FPO 40 women’s champion, and she’s always floating around the top. The only problem I see for Ohn at worlds is the distance of Fox Run. She can’t flex forehand on every hole and that’s going to hurt her chances. She’ll be a force on Brewster though and her putting is always elite. I expect a top 5 finish from her.
   
7. Ella Hansen
   This may be a surprise pick for some. Ella has been hot and cold all 2023. She’s one of the few women to beat Tattar at any point this year, and she’s got all that distance for Fox Run. Ella’s problem will likely be her putting together 4 quality rounds in a row. She’ll do 2 in a row above her rating and then one below. But she’s got 6 1000+ rated rounds in 2023. If she can shoot 1000+ in 3 rounds and keep that 4th round close I think she’s got a great chance.
   
8. Valerie Mandujano
   She’s had a very quiet season since the ankle injury. With her 2 wins in 2022 and her top 10 finish at GMC and Worlds in 2022 I thought that she might be FPO player to give Tattar a run for her money at some tournaments.
   Valerie is putting well in 2023, she’s hitting the fairways 2nd best on tour. It’s the .123 OB rate that she’s going to have to deal with on a course that is punishing for those who have a higher OB rate.
   

Streeter’s Grip6 Worlds Picks.
Paul McBeth
Ricky Wysocki
Chris Dickerson
Isaac Robinson
Kristin Tattar
Hailey King

If you like statistics blogs like this please leave a like or a comment on it on social media and let me know. Or if you prefer more skills drills, thought pieces, or something else. SDG just got ranked #18 blog in disc golf according to Feedspot. And I’m pretty darn thankful for all of you who take the time to read these blogs that I write each week.

If you want to help out even more, my work is running a competition until August 5th 2023 (National Disc Golf Day). Whoever has the most discount code uses gets a free day off. So if you use the code “Streeter” at checkout at Sabattusdiscgolf.com I get a better chance at a day off, and you get 10% off your cart total. Which is a pretty decent discount I think.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397 

For the rest of us, it takes lots of work to develop a serviceable forehand shot. It can take a long time to develop, but I promise it’s worth putting the effort in. I know that many people try throwing forehand and end up with one of two problems. These problems are no fun, don’t go far, and turn folks off from throwing forehands.

1. They immediately throw the disc into the ground as a roller.
2. It wobbles out of the hand, goes up high and hyzers out. I call this a “banana” shot because that’s the shape it makes.

This week in the blog I’m hoping to help you avoid the turnover roller right out of your hand. So let’s examine 3 drills I think can help with that.

1. Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Drill.
You’ll need your phone (or an honest friend) and a disc for this drill.


Set up the phone so you can see your whole body. Now set your feet shoulder width apart and hold the disc upside down in your hands. You want to move your hand holding the disc all the way from back to front and keep it flat. You want to go as far back as you are comfortable holding the disc, and as far out as your release point.

You’re allowed to be a little off from level. As you can see in the video I’m not 100% flat and have a tendency to dip my wrist so I throw a little more nose up as I push the disc past my body. Practicing and getting closer to flat will help your release.

Don’t just rely on your arm! The forehand shot requires you to move your hips and feet as well. Try rocking from side to side on your feet as you rotate your arms and hips. Focus on keeping that disc level.

This is the #1 drill I work on when I do forehand lessons. I will stand with players for 5-10 minutes practicing the motion. It takes some folks a minute to get it, others take much longer. Remember your progress is your progress, if you look and see you're still dipping your disc a few weeks later you'll 

2. Cocking your wrist.
All you need for this drill is your arm.


Put your fingers out straight and keep your hand flat. This is a drill that I recommend you practice slowly and infrequently. Overuse injuries stink, and as someone who has had more than my fair share of them. I don’t endorse long practice of this.

This drill is important for keeping lots of rotation on your disc. Slow rotation leads to the banana shot. I believe this also helps you stop rolling your wrist because you should be getting used to the motion of keeping your palm up to the sky.

This drill can be done with any disc, but I prefer the feel of a driver in my hand when I'm doing this because it's what I throw most of my forehand shots with.

3. Heel to Toe.
All you need for this drill is your feet.


This is a footwork drill for you to stop over rotating your wrist. We’re going to work on weight transfer to give you the power you need to generate arm speed instead of you throwing really hard.

Forehands should be gentle and smooth. Especially when you're starting out. I don't usually teach a runup to players unless they're consistently throwing over 300 feet with their forehand.

So many folks run up and leave their arm way behind them. Then they try to sling all of their weight forward and end up over exerting themselves and rolling their wrists.

Point your lead foot where you want the disc travel, not where you want the disc to end up. My forehand discs end to the right, so I aim my foot the straight line I want the disc to travel before it fades. 
This is compensating for the hyzer or fade that your disc will have on the end of the flight.

Put all of your weight on that front leg. Feel how you’re distributing your weight across your foot evenly. If you lean forward you have to put all your weight onto your toes. If you lean back the weight gets transferred to your heel.

Rock back and forth so that your heel is always on the ground. This is where you get a lot of power from your lower body.

As you rock forward more quickly you’ll feel off balance and you’ll bring your trailing leg forward to stop you from eating the front of the teepad. This is the follow through and it’s important to learn on its own.

There are no worthwhile “quick fixes” in disc golf. You can go out and buy a Firebird or an XCaliber and keep force flexing a disc over and over, but you won’t gain the touch or the ability to weave through trees with your discs.

Developing a forehand that’s accurate at short distances and with all sorts of discs is important if you’re looking to improve your game. If you’re someone who rolls their wrists try these three drills that slow down your arm, speed up your legs, and flatten your wrist release. 

These are drills that will help you start developing your forehand game. I hope they help you out. And let me know which one works the best for you in the comments.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

This week I want to talk about some molds from Innova that may surprise you. 

MVP and Axiom rightly get the credit for having the first overmold discs and I believe the most overmold discs as well. Unless there’s some company I’m not familiar with.
MVP first got the Ion approved in 2009 so they’ve been making discs with that weighted outer rim for 14 years. And I think they’ve changed the sport with it.

They’re famous for having the 2 pieces of plastic together. That black rim is recognizable for most disc golfers even from a distance. Let’s look at Innova overmolds and how they’re different.

Innova has 3 overmold discs at the moment. The Nova, Atlas, and Avatar. Since at Sabattus we carry a lot of Innova products I thought I’d spend some time talking about discs that I don’t see people gravitate toward as much of but I think are still decent options for some players.

Here’s a video of Dave Dunipace talking about the Innova overmold discs back in 2014.

The Atlas was the first PDGA approved, so let’s start with that one.

It debuted in June 2013. I think that’s probably about the time my dad started throwing the disc. His is star plastic, we carry the XT plastic ones here at SDG. The main difference between those two is the heartbeat. The star ones are flatter and they tend to be a little more stable. But if you like something that you can depress the top and hear it “pop” you’ll love the XT ones. 

The XT Atlas is backhand stable and has a distinct late hyzer for advanced skill players who are able to get the disc up to speed. It’s not something you’re going to be able to forehand unless you have a lot of touch and low speed forehand control. Arthur, Danielle, and I spent some time trying to forehand these discs, but we weren’t very successful. I’ll try to shoot more video to compare these discs in the future. If you’re into content of seeing people throw more discs, let me know what discs you’d like to see compared in the comment section.

I think that one reason why the Atlas isn’t as popular as other discs is the technical skill required. It’s less forgiving than other discs like the Mako3 or the Jay which have similar numbers. And in my opinion requires slightly more speed to get going. The Atlas functions as a longer, faster Roc. I think it maybe the nubs on the bottom that deter people from picking up this disc and trying it out.

In my 4.5 years experience working in the pro shop there are 2 things that will make a disc golfer immediately put a disc back on the rack.
1. There is a bead on the disc.
2. There are nubs on the bottom.

There’s nothing wrong with putting a disc down if it doesn’t feel right in your hand. In fact, I encourage players to feel about 5 molds before they make a purchase to make sure it does feel good in their hands.

Back to the Atlas.

While the Jay and Atlas share the same flight numbers I think it’s important to look at both of them closely and see the differences between them.

The Jay is straighter, it’s like a torque resistant Mako3 and I’d say has more forward glide. It also has a little more glide. If you’re a very accurate backhand player I think the Atlas is more your speed.

Where the Atlas excels is on a slow hyzer shot. You can release it flat and expect it to curve. A mid that’s less stable you’d need to put it on hyzer yourself. Always buy a disc that does the work for you.

Let’s get to the Innova XT Nova, the most popular of the Innova overmolds. PDGA approved in September of 2013.

It’s a disc that was incredibly popular in 2015-2018 and then it fell off the face of the disc golf world when Paul McBeth left Innova to sign with Discraft.

I know he’s a Discraft guy for the next 10 years. I’ve been following the pro scene since 2010 so I think of him as Innova. In my head sometimes I forget he traded his Roc for a Buzzz. And I think of him as maybe the best to ever throw the Nova. He had the touch with it that was absolutely brilliant.

Here's Paul McBeth throwing a buttery upshot at the 2018 EURGC.
He's trusted this disc for his playoff winning upshot in the 2014 World Championships.

The Nova is straight at 10 feet, it's straight at 110 feet, it’s straight at 175 feet. This disc has a little flip up to it, but not much and then it holds that line and glides. Throwing it further than 200 and you’re going to start to overpower the disc and make it flippy.

I remember one random dubs partner throwing the Nova in for birdie from 100 feet. So I went and bought a Nova the next day. Fun story about that. Chris was my random dubs partner, then the guy who I bought the Nova from, and later I started working with him at Sabattus. I guess we’re Nova buddies?

The Nova has really fallen out of favor in the last couple of years. Paul McBeth making gorgeous shots aside, I think one reason has been the lack of durability between the plastics. People are throwing these 2 speed discs as hard as they can and the XT plastic and pro plastic rim don’t handle tree hits all that well. They can split if you throw hard and then gripping becomes slightly more difficult.

The Nova is meant for those short approach shots of 150 feet or less. It’s also not getting the hype machine that is Simon Lizotte making videos. Which is one of the reasons I think the Glitch has been so wildly popular in the last 6 months.

If you’re someone who doesn’t like the overstable approach disc slot, try approaching with the Nova. I think it’s a great forgotten disc in an era of high glide putters.

The Avatar is a stable to overstable mid that I honestly don’t have too much experience with. I won one a few years ago as a CTP and I ended up giving it away to a school. It’s not something we carry at SDG, because there’s not as much demand for it. I can’t think of anyone I know right now who bags one. But I’m sure someone will read this blog and show me their Innova Avatar in the next week.

The Lion shares the same numbers as the Avatar and the Lion has enjoyed lots of folks throwing it for the last couple of years. I see it made in Halo plastic, I see it in stock stamps in multiple plastics, it’s definitely the more popular 5-4-0-2 disc from Innova.

So where does this leave Innova as an overmold company?

I think the Nova was a success, and I’d like to see more people throwing this disc. It’s a really great straight thrower with tons of glide. I think the Atlas is fine as niche disc. My dad loves his and uses it for soft flex shots around 150 feet. He’s a real wizard in the trees with that disc. I think the Avatar is not as popular, and might be Innova’s last foray into the overmold plastic game.

Are you a fan of any of these discs? Is there something from Innova you’d like to see reviewed? I always love hearing from you guys about what you’d like to read in my blogs.
Let me know in the comments.

May your discs miss all the trees,

Andrew Streeter #70397

1. Purple Rain - Prince
2. November Rain - Guns N’ Roses
3. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head - B.J Thomas
4. No Rain - Blind Melon
5. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - C.C.R
6. Fool In The Rain - Led Zeppelin
7. Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain - Willie Nelson
8. Fire And Rain - James Taylor
9. Who’ll Stop The Rain - C.C.R
10. Set Fire To The Rain - Adele
11. It Never Rains in Southern California - Albert Hammond
12. Rain Is A Good Thing - Luke Bryan
13. It’s Raining Men - The Weather Girls
14. It’s Raining Tacos - Parry Gripp
15. Rain - Creed

Yeah, that’s definitely a tangent. But I love the rain, and who doesn’t love a good, highly specific playlist? Especially one where you can argue about the placement of a song in the comments.

So here’s my tips for the best ways to prepare for, play in, and get dry after the rain.

Preparing For A Wet Round

If there’s even a little rain you’re going to find 3 Innova Dewfly towels in my bag. If it’s going to rain the whole round you’ll find 6-9 in my bag. Once your discs and fingers get to a certain point of wetness you can’t do much about it. But you can keep them both dry-ish for a single round.
If you play in a tournament you have to be prepared for this. What I do is keep my dry towels in a plastic Ziploc bag on one side of my Grip bag and as they get wet I move them to the other pocket. A dry towel has that comforting feeling. If you pack a bunch of towels but they’re wet before you even get to them it feels bad. This is a trick I picked up after playing lots of soccer in the rain and I was sick of having all of my clothes wet for after the game, so I put them in a trash bag.

2. Wear your good socks to go play disc golf.
Those socks you wear hiking, shoveling, in your boots to go sledding, those wool socks are going to keep your feet warm. They’re designed to be good in wet conditions. If gripping your disc wasn’t so important, I think wearing good warm socks would be the best advice I could give. That’s also just great advice in general. There are no shoes out there that are always going to keep your feet dry and be comfortable to play in. Unless you like wearing muck boots when you play disc golf, then you’re in luck.

3. Put DX Plastic in your bag.
Get that baseline stuff out of the garage and into your bag. It grips extra well compared to other discs when it’s wet. And it’s a little flippier anyway so if you do throw a little slower you’ll get a longer flight. I love Champion blend plastic, but it gets slippery quickly on a rainy day. You won’t see my making a lot of big throws with it because I’ll throw it hard and not accurately. Put those DX Mids and maybe a fairway or two in the bag. I promise you’ll be glad you have that DX Roc for upshots when it rains.

4. What rain jacket inhibits movement the least?
This has been something I’ve struggled with for a long time. If it’s a warm rain I wear an athletic shirt and just commit to being soaked by the end of the round. As for rain jackets, I think you go with the lightest one you can find.
I got a baseball warmup jacket as a gift a year or two ago and it is my go to. I think maybe because players wear it and still throw baseballs it works? The downside is it’s not super warm against a cold rain, and you don’t have a hood so you get drips down the back of your neck when you putt. But it’s still the best thing I’ve found that allows me free movement while keeping my arms covered.

                                                                                             Playing In The Rain

1. Pick your course wisely.
If you’re playing at Sabattus here’s how I would pick what I’m playing in the rain.
Falcon, Owl, Hawk, Eagle.
The Falcon is the most wooded course we have, it’s short so if everyone isn’t having a good time it’s not too long to play, it’s not crowded, and you don’t need to rip any shots as hard as you can on that course.
The Owl is perfect for playing in the rain. You only need a couple discs. It’s easy to burn through. Since it’s bad weather most of the newer players probably won’t be there. You can get through it a bunch of times in a relatively short time.
The Hawk has 6 pretty wide open holes so you’re gonna get wet. But it’s still a chance to play the course without any backups.
The Eagle has mostly woods but a few open holes. It’s going to be the least crowded, always. But with the rain it’s definitely making an already difficult course harder.

2. Don’t use chalk bags.
They get wet and useless pretty quickly. I love them on dry days to get the sweat off my hands. But for wet days just a towel dry in between shots is often enough. They sell chalk bags in plastic bags to keep the moisture out, it really does a number on your chalk bag if you get it soaked.
If you want something like Max Wax that works well in the rain compared to chalk.

3. Having a hot drink in a thermos is clutch.
Whether you’re a tea person, coffee person, or hot chocolate person. I think having something that keeps you warm on the inside is wicked important. My big Stanley thermos is too big to carry in my Grip bag pockets, so I leave that at home. But I have a nice Yeti travel mug and an insulated canteen that work for me.

After the round.
1. Have a pair of dry socks and shoes in your car for going home.
As someone who hates wet socks, you’re always going to find a couple of spare pairs of socks in my car. I also have a pair of crocs to let my feet dry while I drive.
Disc golf in the rain can be challenging and fun, but we all know that post round letdown where you have to go back to mundane everyday life. Make that trip home in a semi dry state. If you want some good socks to keep your feet dry, check out our collection of wicked cool disc golf socks.

Some of my favorite rounds and memories in disc golf have come in inclement weather. My first 49 on a course was in heavy downpour. I hit an ace in the rain. And I still bring up when someone threw a drive 30 feet backwards in a driving rain.
Of course, we all have bad rounds in the rain too. But that’s disc golf.

Thank you very much to Natalie for suggesting this blog topic to me. As always, feel free to drop a comment on what you’d like to see me write about. I hope to see more of you out in the rain with me soon.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

1. Stats make me happy, but there’s no point in creating a new stat just so the person scoring on UDisc for a tour card has an extra swipe per player.
2. I think it will eventually help the building of future courses and add a way to judge technicality.
3. This isn’t the only stat I’d love to have. My first idea was far more impractical, proposing a statistic to measure the area of trees blocking a shot.
4. There’s already a flaw in holes that have multiple gaps. Or tunnel shots, which are essentially a series of gaps.
5. Would missing a gap and still getting the desired landing zone outcome matter?

Hole 9 of the Hawk

Hole 9 has a 13 foot gap at 281 feet. The hole itself is 551 feet, so it’s a little over halfway.

This is the hardest hole on any of our courses according to par. It’s a Maine par 5, true par 4, and it averages 5.11 according to UDisc. Since UDisc users tend to be more regular players, I’d bet that it averages even higher if you count everyone on the hole.
This is a gap I’d love to know the percentages of pros hitting. My only reference point is the 2016 USWDGC where no one hits it off the tee, but Zoey Andyke lines herself up perfectly for a second shot.

Hole 12 of the Hawk is a variable distance shot. This is a gap you set yourself up to hit after your teeshot.

I like that it looks like a house. This is a gap that’s 27 feet. I think the left side was 15 and the right side of the rock was 12 feet. There’s an arrow in the middle of the hole on a concrete pillar, that’s 356 feet away.
I find that I’m usually 245 feet away from the gap. It’s one that’s very satisfying to hit because missing guarantees you won’t make the putt. One thing I like about this gap that the others don’t have is that this is the only gap on the hole. The left side and the right side are pretty heavily covered in leaves and trees. You might be able to sneak through occasionally, but this is the gap you need to hit to get to the hole.

Now that I’ve covered the 5 main points and the 3 holes with tight gaps at Sabattus I’d like to look at an article on course design from John Houck. If you’re unfamiliar with John Houck, he’s widely regarded as the greatest course designer ever. According to his bio he has designed 24 courses used in PDGA World Championships, National Championships, DGPT and NT events. He’s been involved in the sport for a very long time, and you’ve probably seen one or more of his courses on YouTube.
I love anytime I get to hear him speak in a video or read any of his thoughts on courses. You can follow him on Twitter, I suggest it.

His article talks about a window that’s “3 feet square and 275 feet from the tee.” as an example of what’s unfair to even the top players. I’d like to see a way to talk about gaps where we kind of identify what’s fair for touring pros and for average players.

I think that creating a reasonable expected gap hit at certain distances would be a cool statistic to add. It could be something like 10 feet wide at 100 feet long, 15 feet wide at 200 feet long, and 20 feet wide at 300 feet long.

It would provide context for folks watching coverage, could help compare courses for folks when they’re deciding what to play, and I think also help with practicing hitting certain sized gaps.

When I work on a caddy book for our courses I will hope to add the size of gaps to the layout of the holes. And I hope that someday it becomes a standard thing to do so I can better increase my chances of scoring well on unfamiliar courses.
If I know that I hit a 15 foot gap at 225 on my home course regularly I could check a caddy book and see that I’m trying to hit a 12 foot gap at 240 and realize that it’s much tougher than I expected, so I could lay it up.

Would a gap size or gaps hit statistic be something that you care about? Or is it really superfluous and you don’t think it would help the sport all that much?
Let me know in the comments!

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

trainzwholesale is expanding our demo program to have all 120 molds we sell in the store!
I’m a huge advocate of try-before-you-buy. So that’s why I’m pumped to announce that all the discs we sell in the shop are available for folks to get a round in!

Buying a premium plastic, stock stamp disc is $16. Trying 1 disc a month for March-September is $112 dollars if you buy them.
Save that money until you know what disc is right for you. Come to SDG, check out a disc with the front desk, and get some throws with it so you know if it works for you.

Be sure to ask whoever is working the counter at Sabattus if we have a demo of a disc you’re interested in. If it’s there and you want to borrow one of our demo discs, we’ll hold onto your license until you’re done with your round for collateral.

Lost discs will cost $6.50 to replace. I get that a disc might end up in the water or in a tree. That’s disc golf, we just ask that if it does happen to you that you pay us back so we can get another of those for other people to try. 

The $6.50 charge made sense a few years ago when people lost our rental discs because that's what we paid for bulk DX plastic with our stamp on it. It doesn't even cover our cost of a disc anymore. But I hope we don't raise it, because I don't want to scare folks away from trying discs for fear of losing something like $16.

I selected all of these discs for folks to try. I went with bright colors, mid-lighter weights, and premium blends like Champion or Star when I was able to. I expect these discs to get lots of throws in the coming years.

Please, save money and take advantage of this program. 

Now onto the other part of the blog.

After I went around and counted each individual mold, I then realized I kind of wanted to see what we have the most of for stability.

I asked Arthur and Danielle (my coworkers) what they thought we carried the most of.

Both of them answered “Overstable.” in a pretty confident manner.

It seems like a reasonable expectation. Most of the discs I bag are OS, most higher speed drivers are OS, and while putters are mostly neutral. I think that the majority of discs are above a 5 speed, at least at SDG. So it would be a good guess.

Here’s a list of all of the molds we offer at SDG in the demo section. Broken down into Understable, Stable and Overstable.

I define the discs as Understable, Neutral, or Overstable for myself with this list. When I think of them I think of them in a premium blend like Star/Neutron plastic and in a weight of 170.

Understable.

1. Sonic
2. Mirage
3. Wolf
4. Stingray
5. Manta
6. Skeeter
7. Cheetah
8. Leopard
9. Leopard3
10. IT
11. Dragon
12. Archangel
13. Roadrunner
14. Sidewinder
15. Mamba
16. Wahoo
17. Katana
18. Daedalus
19. Shryke
20. Alter
21. Mana
22. Mantra
23. Proxy
24. Paradox
25. Crave
26. Virus
27. Insanity
28. Vanish
29. Uplink
30. Signal
31. Relay
32. Inertia
33. Impulse
34. Wave
35. Relativity

Neutral

1. Birdie
2. Polecat
3. Nova
4. Aviar
5. Classic Aviar
6. Bullfrog
7. Colt
8. Dart
9. Shark
10. Cobra
11. Atlas
12. Jay
13. Mako3
14. Wombat3
15. Hawkeye
16. TL
17. TL3
18. Valkyrie
19. Beast
20. Mystere
21. Tern
22. Muse
23. Praxis
24. Pathfinder
25. Envy
26. Hex
27. Tenacity
28. Glitch
29. Ion
30. Nomad
31. Atom
32. Matrix
33. Servo
34. Volt
35. Blowfly

Overstable.

1. Animal
2. Rhyno
3. Whale
4. Invader
5. Aviar3
6. AviarX3
7. Pig
8. Rat
9. Toro
10. Roc
11. Gator
12. Lion
13. Roc3
14. Caiman
15. Eagle
16. Teebird
17. Teebird3
18. Firebird
19. Thunderbird
20. Invictus
21. Orc
22. Wraith
23. XCaliber
24. Destroyer
25. Boss
26. Charger
27. Ape
28. Corvette
29. Firestorm
30. Colossus
31. Temple
32. Votum
33. Omen
34. Coalesce
35. Construct
36. Synapse
37. Animus
38. Fireball
39. Mayhem
40. Tantrum
41. Entropy
42. Deflector
43. Resistor
44. Terra
45. Photon
46. Nitro
47. Energy
48. Catalyst
49. Octane
50. Teleport

I’m actually pretty impressed with this list. We try to have a real smorgasbord of discs to offer folks. 35 understable, 35 neutral, and 50 overstable discs.

If you're interested in learning about any of the discs, search them in our top search bar. If I made a blog full of 120 hyperlinks it would take forever to load, and you'd get annoyed scrolling down and accidentally pressing one with your thumb. So I think just a list is good this time.

We’re always trying to keep up with new disc releases from companies and keep offering folks the same discs that they have become used to throwing. I expect as the years go on we’ll keep adding new discs for folks to try in our collection. A disc golf shop is an ever changing store. We phased Discraft out a year ago because they weren't letting anyone order specific molds. Now that Discraft has allowed that, we're bringing them back! Check back in a few months to see if we've added some of those molds for you to try.

If you read my blog about there being 1500 molds, that was a long time ago and more have been made. Buying each of these discs to try yourself would cost thousands of dollars. And I imagine we all have discs in our garage/attic/car that we don't love throwing. This should help keep costs down and let you find a disc that works for you.

This is a special passion project for me. I think of this as a disc library for folks to check out. While I write blogs about drills to practice, disc golf tips to shave a couple of strokes, and offer beginner form technique. I believe that this is a way  to help shave strokes off of many people's games. 

And helping you lower your scores is my favorite thing I do at SDG.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

If you’re unfamiliar with the wheel, it’s new and it’s a lot of fun to spin. It also encourages people to play courses other than the Hawk. It should also increase players on the Eagle and Falcon courses.

Not everyone spins the wheel, not everyone who spins the Eagle/Falcon chooses to play it, but some people do.

I’ll know after the season when the rounds are counted if the wheel works as intended. I predict that we’ll see increased play on the other courses. I ask folks which course they’re playing, if they tell me they don’t know I refer them to the wheel.
Many people just go with whatever they spin. Some folks hop onto the Eagle or Falcon if there’s a wait on the Hawk.

Hopefully this fun way to help people decide what to play encourages play on quieter courses.

We’re in the process of getting more accurate tee signs, with accurate par.

The old tee signs were made in house almost 10 years ago. The footage has changed on some holes, and some baskets have been moved. Some of the trees have been taken down by wind or by us at SDG.

Accurate signage should help players who are unfamiliar with the course to know where the hole is. This will lead to less walking down the fairway to find the basket and walking back to the teepad on blind holes.

Sabattus has always had “Maine Par”. I’m hoping that by lowering the par to a more accurate version we’ll be able to convince people that they should try other courses like the Falcon. Which may be easier to score on when you play true par.

Some folks never play anything but the Hawk course because they like shooting -3 to -5 but shoot over on other courses. I hope that folks consider playing other courses to get better and improve, and also learn that -12 is about even on the Hawk.

Allowing rental disc users to play the Falcon as well.

It’s always funny when people ask if the Falcon or the Hawk is a more difficult course. The Falcon is shorter and more technical, and the Hawk is longer but it’s much more open and the par has been more forgiving. So I guess it comes down to how far you throw.

Why didn’t we always allow rental discs on the Falcon?
People kept losing discs in the water on Hole 8. They often only rent a single disc, and they’re fairly far away from the pro shop. So they don’t come back.
We lose those discs and don’t have them for other people. And we still have to buy more discs for rentals. With the influx of new players we have a lot more people renting discs (and losing them) than ever before.

So we’re looking into getting different molds like the Dragon, so if a disc does go in the water they don’t lose it.

Adding a sign to allow for more space in between groups after hole 1.

This is probably the most counterintuitive one.

Starting further apart in time will allow better course flow.

While it might seem like the second the group in front of you clears the landing zone you’re aiming for, wait.

I can back this up using golf courses stats. They found that by adding distance between the starting times they were able to lower the amount of time it takes to play a golf round by 14 minutes.

Waiting for the group on Hole 2 to start driving is the way to ensure a better pace of play.

Hole 1 on the Hawk is easy to play. It’s 200ish feet, pretty wide open the whole way. Most folks can reach the basket in a single throw. Then it all comes down to who hit a tree on the drive and who can make a putt.

A group of 4 experienced players is going to take about 3 minutes to play Hole 1.

However, hole 2 is long and requires 2 shots to get to the pin before putting onto a sloped green.
Players take much longer on hole 2. So instead of driving on them the second they clear the basket, we ask that you wait until they’re teeing off on hole 2. That way they’ll be close to the end of their second shots by the time you get to teepad.

Waiting an extra minute for the players in front of you to get ahead is going to help everyone have a smoother round.

Then the group ahead of you is teeing off on 3 while you’re on your upshots on 2. So when you finish putting, they’re finishing putting and walking up the hill to hole 4.

Letting faster groups play through.
It’s always the way to go. It’s a courtesy in disc golf, and I’ve already written a blog about etiquette and when to let others play through. But it’s faster that way for everyone.

We even have a sign on the first hole.

I’ve been in slow groups where we let singles and duos through. And I’ve played through many times as well. It’s no indication of you or your disc golf skills, just the group you’re in that day.

The age old “Well there’s a group ahead of us” doesn’t matter that much to me. Letting a smaller group through is going to speed the whole course up. Larger groups might want to play the Eagle which is a much less busy course.

We’re considering employing Course Marshals during summer weekends.

One of the biggest issues we face is groups that are too large. I get that some folks want to play as a big family group, others want to hang out with all of their friends. Unfortunately that backs up the course significantly.

Groups of 5 are the largest allowed at Sabattus. If you’ve got 3 golfers and their 3 significant others not playing, that’s a group of 3. We don’t count non-players.

Now, if your group of 6 wants to play at 9am on a Tuesday morning. I’ll probably tell you it’s fine to go out on the Hawk. And to let smaller groups through.

If your group of 8 wants to play on a Saturday at 11am I’m going to ask you to split into two groups of 4. There’s no way a group of 8 will keep up with the pace of play, even if they let smaller groups through.

Course Marshals would be responsible for making sure that groups aren’t too big. If we institute marshals, who we hire, what the pay/perks are…etc. Those decisions are above me though. I just figured I would let you folks know about what we’re doing to make sure your playing is smoother here.

The problem of overcrowding has already been solved by other busy courses.

Ball Golf has been studied by countless people. You can even get a college degree in golf management.

They created tee times for that sport. It’s transferred over to disc golf as well.

Disc golf has some courses that use tee times to alleviate high volumes of people.

Maple Hill uses tee times
Pleasant Hill uses tee times
Smuggler’s Notch uses tee times.

I hope trainzwholesale never comes back to that. I always want disc golf to be spontaneous and to be available to everyone who wasn’t on their phones Thursday planning their weekend outing.

I guess in conclusion, I want to say that we hear you. We hear that the Hawk is crowded and becoming a slower play for folks.

We’re working on it diligently. We don’t want to make you rush your round on the Hawk in any way. That’s why we’re working to increase the attractiveness of our other courses, increase awareness of others on the Hawk, and to help alleviate the backups by suggesting waiting on your start and having more people watching for large groups.

Together we think that we can help smooth out the course flow.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

1. Begin by selecting your approach disc. If you have a few, grab all of them. 
2. Take about 20 steps away from your bag. You’re now about 50-60 feet away.
3. Hit your bag with your discs. (Probably should have added to remove valuable and fragile stuff)
4. When you hit it from 20 steps, switch to forehand/backhand. It’s important to get this locked in when you’re behind a tree.
5. Once you’ve done this, move back to 30 steps and hit it with both forehand and backhand.
6. Move back to 40 steps and repeat.

1. Put the bag about 100 feet away from you. The 3 throws you’ll be working on are Hyzer flip, Flip up to anhyzer, and holding anhyzer.
2. Start with Hyzer. Stand so that you’re on the left side of the bag 100 feet away. Work on throwing the disc out on a hyzer so that the disc passes on the right side of the bag in the air and finishes on the left side of the bag on the ground. This should be a normal throw and the easiest one for you.
3. Now you’re working on the hyzer flip to anhyzer. Staying on the left side of the bag, throw a shot that passes on the left side of the bag, and finishes on the ground on the right side of the bag. This may take a few attempts.
4. Holding Anhyzer the whole way. Now you’re going to move to the right side of the bag. Throw a shot that passes on the left side of the bag and finishes on the right.

1. Pick 2 of the same disc, this is important for consistency. So if you have two of the same driver in the same plastic, it helps.
2. Know about how far you throw with them and go to that distance. Example: I throw the Wraith 350 consistently, so I take my Wraith out and walk about 120 steps away.
3. Throw your normal drives but release directly at your bag. Let the disc do all of its own natural flipping and fading.
4. Watch as your disc (probably) drifts to the left and lands. Now use your pointer fingers, and point your right one at your bag, and your left one at where the disc game to rest.
5. Rotate your body so that your left index finger is now on your bag.
6. Look at where your right finger is, for your next throw release there.

This is a rudimentary way to find out how much fade your disc is capable of giving you at the end of a flight. Since so many people release at different heights and different angles, it’s impossible for me to say “aim 50 feet to the right with your Wraith” unless we’re in a lesson together and working on a repeatable release point.
Do this drill a few times and it will help you find an aiming point when you’re next on the teepad. This drill is a little hard to perfect because I believe we all go through growth during the disc golf season. The wind affects the disc a lot here. And if you have lots of glide on your driver you’re going to get a further fade with more variability.

These drills offer you challenges, a chance to spend more time with your discs, and they don’t require you to use any gear you don’t already have.
It’s a win win all the way around in my book. Spending a little time in an open field with your bag doing something other than max distance driving is a great way to start converting more tricky holes into pars and birdies.

If you have any questions about these drills please let me know. I may do a video series on drills in the future on the trainzwholesale YouTube page. Let me know if these drills work for you!

As always, please don't expect progress to be linear. If you and your friend do these together and suddenly they're getting better and you're stuck, your time will come. I believe in everyone who goes out there and practices.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

A few weeks back I intentionally seasoned a DX disc, then tried to bring it back to stable. All discs have a lifespan, even my favorite ones.
So I try to make sure when that day comes that I have something ready to go. I also throw Champion blend plastic most of the time, so I know that I have several years with a disc unless I lose it in the woods/water.

I hope that this blog helps you find a go to driver to help your game. If you’re having trouble finding something stable and that gets you distance, you can always reach out in the comments.

If you’re just excited that the I-Dye Wraith is back at trainzwholesale, then you’re not alone. I’ve been emailing Innova every few months for YEARS to see if they’d bring back my favorite plastic. I’m so excited to have some new discs to add to my bag. I hope you find the disc you’re looking for.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

1. How far is the hole?
2. Is there enough air space for me to throw my furthest shot?
3. What’s the most important part of the shot, forward or to the side?
4. Do I have the right discs to accomplish what I want to achieve?
5. What’s the ground play like?

#1. How Far is the hole?

With my best distance driver I’m able to throw a comfortable 300 foot forehand shot with my Wraith. I know about where it’s going to go and how it will finish. If I start stretching it out to 325 or 350 by powering up I lose lots of control and make mistakes.

The forehand shot is for accuracy and distance. But it should be a very accurate shot. Find your distance either by measuring with UDisc, or a Bushnell Rangefinder.

Turnover shots can go further for me with more accuracy at long distance. I can hit 350 feet with my backhand turnover with a Leopard3.

So if the hole is far away I’m more likely to use a turnover because that’s a longer shot for me.

#2 Is there enough air space for me to throw my furthest shot?

The great thing about the forehand is that it can go super low to the ground. In a sport that sometimes has limited airspace I find the forehand is my best shot in the woods because of the versatility of the throw.

I tend to make smaller mistakes with the forehand, so I prefer it when there’s lots of trees involved. I’m a conservative player in tournaments. So I often opt for the choice that leaves me the best miss.

If you’re in a situation where you have lots of room to move the disc from side to side (like hole 12 of the Hawk at Sabattus) I recommend you go with the turnover for distance. Get the most distance you can safely get.

#3 What’s the most important part of the shot, forward or to the side?

This is important when deciding my shot because my forehand goes forward, my turnover goes more to the side. So if it’s a real hard dogleg without much distance I’ll throw a turnover shot.

If I have to go forward for most of the flight and just end a little bit on the right side. I’m much better off throwing a forehand that goes straight for most of the flight.

#4 Do I have the right disc to accomplish what I want to achieve?

If I’m playing an unfamiliar course, do I have the right discs for the big turnover shot? I always carry a few forehand discs with me so I can usually throw that. But sometimes there are tight turnover shots that are very slow. I don’t always carry the midrange I might be most comfortable with for that shot.

#5 What’s the ground play like?

The way a forehand thrown disc spins is the opposite direction that a backhand thrown disc spins.

So when the disc hits the ground it’s going to move a different way.

A forehand disc tends to skip to the right when it hits the ground. I believe this is because the disc is naturally moving from left to right.

Backhand discs spin clockwise for the right hand backhand thrower. When they hit the ground they tend to either pop up or cut roll if they’re still coming in hot to the green.

If I’m trying to get further to the side with something like a skip shot, I throw a forehand. If I want something that may cut roll a big I throw a backhand.

Now that we have all of the points covered I want to look at 3 popular holes at Sabattus.

Hole 12 of the Hawk.
Hole 18 of the Hawk.
Hole 13 of the Eagle.

These are all holes where I think you can make a reasonable case for either the forehand or backhand shots.

Hole 12 Hawk.

It’s a long hole so I’m always more inclined to throw a long turnover shot.
The most important thing is to get to the right in my opinion. Straight just brings you further down the hill. You only need to carry past the corner trees, and that’s a hundred feet before it opens up.
There are no trees in the way on the left side of the tee, so you can swing it wide and miss the trees on the right.
The ground play is a field. So you’re not going to skip with a driver and the disc will come to rest pretty close to where it lands.

All of these factors lead me to think that a turnover shot is my best bet. I have the space and distance to get there for a better approach shot.

Check out the video of the hole if you'd like to see what I'm talking about.


Hole 13 Eagle.

This hole has a left to right fairway that ends on a hill. What really adds an element of difficulty to this shot is the hill.

It’s nearly impossible to get something to turn over the whole way and still reach the top of the hill since you’d be throwing up the hill.

The possibility of cut rolling all the way deep into the bushes is real if you land on the hill with some speed. But if you throw a forehand you’re going to check up into the hill and stop.

The most important part here isn’t distance, but accuracy. It’s a 2 shot hole no matter how you slice it. So this is why I tend to recommend the forehand play to folks.

Here's the video of me explaining and driving on the hole to demonstrate the shot.



Hole 18 Hawk

The first thing to look at on this hole is that it’s not just distance out from the tee pad or out to the right. It’s a real mix of both.

This hole is reachable with either a backhand turnover or a forehand shot. I’ve seen (and thrown) everything from a high speed driver to a putter on this shot.

Hole 18 has plenty of airspace on the left side of the fairway. You can swing something out straight or cut it inside. There’s nothing hampering you from hitting the gap other than your mind after 17 holes.

This hole is one of those where I don’t think there is a “best shot” forehand drive or backhand turnover. You can throw a turnover the whole way with some glide and get to the basket, or you can throw a forehand and either stall the shot out to have it dip to the right or skip towards the hole if you opt for a lower shot.

Here's the two ways I play the hole.



Finding a turnover disc for you.

If you’re looking for the right discs for turnovers I recommend something with high glide, and more turn than fade.

Think of your arm speed when choosing your disc!
You won’t be able to flip over a high speed disc to get the full flight if you’re not able to reach that arm speed. Going down in speed to get a big turnover shot is a great way to get your desired shot.

I have some suggestions for you based on your arm speed. I can throw 11 speeds, but you’ll often see me throwing my Leopard3 or Mantra for turnovers because I like the extra torque I can apply to slower discs without my shot stalling and hyzering out.

7 speed Leopard3
8 speed Archangel
9 speed Mantra
11 speed Mamba

If you’re looking for a forehand disc.

You can either go utility forehand with something like the Firebird/XCaliber for guaranteed fade, or you can go with something like the Eagle or Sidewinder for a smoother forehand shot that teaches you flat release.

I’ve got a great blog on starting your forehand shot journey if you’d like to read it here.

Hopefully the next time you come up to a hole that plays left to right you can consider some of my questions to help you determine how best to play the hole for you.


May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

1. Wash any dirt out of the cracks. I want it to look almost new. This should help get it all back together.
2. Heat a piece of metal (like a knife) with a lighter and heat the slight gouges. Push it together to get rid of the gouge if possible by fusing the plastic back to the original shape.
3. Use sandpaper to sand the disc back to smooth where I can. Going to get all around the disc. I believe I conform with PDGA rule 813.01B2 on sanding discs. Since I’m only restoring the natural disc shape.
4. Use heat from a window to warm the disc and try to morph it back to regular shape.

1. The weight is the same.
2. The flight path should be more in line with what I expect from a Firebird.

1. Now time to fix that plastic. I mean, it goes without saying but if you’re using a lighter and heating up metal, please be careful.
2. As it turns out, the gouge was not deep enough to warrant getting my knife blade hot. So instead, I cut it off. That was about the size of a grain of rice. It was easy and took about 3 seconds. I didn’t weigh the disc at this point because there was no way the little piece I took off could weigh even a gram.
3. Sanding.

I started at 120 grit. I had some leftover pieces of sandpaper from when I was drywalling. It’s pretty coarse and a good start at removing the plastic around the edges. It certainly took off the bigger pieces. But it did leave a rough surface that I didn’t enjoy holding all that much.

Step 4. 220 and 320 grit paper sanding.

The 3rd round of sanding and cutting finished. The Firebird looks like it’s still got some life left to it. Yes there are still uneven edges to it, yes there are scratches on it. But the disc fundamentally looks better.

My last step is heat from the window.

I’ve used this technique before with warped discs. Sometimes when I take a disc out of my bag and put it away it gets squished by something in the garage. I find that putting it on my dashboard or in a window for a day or two usually brings it back. The sun rejuvenates the plastic somehow (science, I guess?) and brings it back to what it was before.

Did sanding my disc affect the weight?

Not one bit. Throughout the time of this experiment I wanted to make sure I knew what I was dealing with at all times. So I weighed the disc before I did anything, after the tree hits, and after I restored the DX Firebird.

I kind of expected a gram or two of difference after the cleaning process. Since I’ve always thought that hitting trees would replace the weight of the plastic with dirt, I’ve never really cared all that much about a gram or two in weight fluctuation. But I figured the dirt filled the missing plastic.

Now what you really care about. Can I bring this disc back to life?
Let’s find out.

Compare that to last week. When the disc was significantly more understable.


There were some other throws with it off camera. The Firebird is still flippy enough to where I’d call it a flippy disc. I'd compare it to a Valkyrie or a slower Sidewinder at this point.
Glad I parked the 335 foot hole with it though. That’s probably further than I can get any other Firebird I own to fly by a long shot. 

Results:

After warping a disc, you can get some stability back to the disc. But you won't recapture that overstable flight path the disc started out with. So for seasoning a disc it's really similar to seasoning your food. If you add too much salt you can try to add an acid to your dish or use a potato to absorb the salt in a sauce. But it'll still be a little over seasoned.

To "fix" your disc you'll need to do the following steps.

1. You need to remove the rough edges.
2. Get rid of the gouges.
3. Sand with coarse paper.
4. Sand with finer paper.
5. Find a way to get it back to its original shape.

Hopefully this blog helps you save a disc that's lost a little bit of its life. Let me know if you have any other tips or tricks on how you might save a disc. It's worth the 10 minutes of work for me to save the $9 cost of a DX disc, and I hope it is for you too.

If you're interested in a DX Firebird, consider snagging one from us here.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

 

It’s a 175 gram overstable disc. After test throwing in a field it’s got no turn and plenty of fade, I can say that this disc flew exactly like I expected it to. I threw it both forehand and backhand to make sure.

I’m more of a Discraft Predator thrower in this slot for my bag. But those don’t come in baseline plastic (that I know of). So I’ll rely on the Firebird to be a good testing dummy because it has a somewhat similar flight.

Will it take a single throw to become flippy? I doubt it.

I polled my coworkers and their responses were 1, 5, and 10 throws before the firebird became flippy.

Then I asked the internet. If you're on Twitter, give @PlaySDG a follow and be a part of disc golf conversation. 


Here’s how I ran the experiment.

1. Throw the disc at a tree from 10 feet. After 5 tree hits, take a picture of the disc.
2. Throw the disc in the field twice to test stability. (Basically I throw it from a teepad, then back to that teepad).  Note if the flight changes in any way. 
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the disc becomes flippy.

I define “flippy” as a disc being so understable that it becomes unreliable. So when this Firebird no longer comes back when thrown hard and flat, it will be unusable.

After the first throw I took a sizable chunk there. So I threw the Firebird again in the field and it was still overstable. But that chunk had me worried that this test might be over quickly.

After 5 throws the disc had slightly warped. But the piece of plastic hanging off after the first throw had fallen off without me picking at it.
I threw the Firebird and it’s still just as beefy. There’s no glide, no turn, so I went back to it.

After 10 throws the disc seemed… fine? It was throwing the same, and even with the slight warping I was seeing it wasn’t affecting the flight. It was still going 250 feet straight and then dumping in a hyzer.

I was hitting the tree quite hard. I chose this tree because it’s thick, on a 210 foot par 3 so it doesn’t usually get hit with anything powerful, and there are a couple trees behind it in case I missed. But I started to feel bad for the tree and hitting the bark in the same general spot a bunch of times. And after 10 throws into a tree, the DX Firebird was completely normal in flight.

This disc was making me look like a jabroni. So If you SMELLLLLLL

For all non WWE fans, I threw this disc into a rock.

Rocks have sharper edges, are much less forgiving, and I won’t potentially hurt them. But it’s also much harder on the disc.

That probably looks familiar to some folks. The rock chewed up my Firebird like the tree could not. The disc bent itself back to flat, and I was throwing it with plenty of force into the rock. So we’re at 10 throws into a tree and 5 into a rock. The Firebird was still pretty much the same, maybe slightly glidier.

Nothing drastically changed until my 25th throw into a rock (35th throw overall)
The DX Firebird had a real bend in the crease where the flight plate meets the rim. I had started throwing overhand shots downwards onto the rock like a madman. Apologies to whoever saw me on the course looking like a crazy person.

The Firebird now had some turn to it. I threw it 4 times in the field and each time the disc would come out flat, turn, and then fade at the end.
We were finally making progress!
But the disc was still reliably hyzering at the end of the flight whether I threw it on forehand or backhand. So it didn’t fit my definition of flipping over quite yet.

I took a break for a day and let the disc rest as well. Because repeatedly throwing a bunch of overhangs into a rock isn’t the best thing for your elbow and I wanted to be able to throw the next day.

Here’s a video of the next 5 throws and the flight path of the Firebird afterwards.

It’s taken a lot of hard throws to get this disc to finally be flippy. If you ignore the fact that I made sound effects, you can see I'm throwing the disc fairly hard. I think the real moments when the Firebird started to change its flight paths were when I started to hit the rock, and then I bent the flight plate with the force.

Did the disc lose weight? Is that why it may be understable?

So this is something I was wondering about. As discs get those nicks and dings in the plastic, and as they shred on rocks, they would lose weight right?

Well my Firebird weighs exactly the same before and after. Could it be the dust/dirt on the disc and in the cracks? It's possible but unlikely that it amounts to the same exact 175g the disc did before. To lose significant weight I bet you'd have to sand the disc pretty thoroughly. Or take much larger gouges from it and clip them.

How has this blog changed my views on DX and baseline plastic?

It’s pretty similar to how I’ve felt before. I’m still always going to recommend putters in DX plastic and I think that mids in DX or baseline blends offer players lots of grip. It’s cheap, comes in a lot of different weights, and I don’t think you can beat the grip of a seasoned baseline blend putter in your hand.

As for drivers, I think DX has a place in the game that I didn’t fully understand before. Seasoning a flippy premium plastic driver takes a long time. I’ve got some discs that are 3 years in the bag that are still holding their flight paths. And I love to have at least 2 flippy high speed discs in my bag for when I run into a tailwind shot.

Sure, DX discs are going to beat in faster. They’re going to break occasionally when you smack a tree/rock at high speed. But they’re a lot more durable than some people, myself included, have given them credit for. If you don’t throw overhand shots into a rock directly in front of you, I imagine that DX discs could last a while. I was trying my best to abuse this disc, for science. And you folks probably hit the trees less frequently.

There was also a sweet spot around 15 throws into the rock where I got a full flex flight throwing the Firebird flat. I wish I had recorded that throw, because that’s the kind of flight that keeps you going if you’re having a tough round.

Give DX discs a shot.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

That quote has always been a source of motivation for me when I write. Whether it’s competing in NaNoWriMo, writing blogs, writing essays, it’s a quote I’ve always felt applied to me. At this point, I guess I’m not an amateur anymore because I do get paid to write. So I can't sit around and wait for inspiration, I have to go out and get to work.

So I can either sit around and wait, or I can get going. But what if there was a way to increase my motivation at the time? You don’t have to sit around and wait for inspiration, what if you can... force it a little bit?

This week in the blog I’m going to help you with some motivation. Some positive reinforcements are on their way to make sure that you get the motivation you need. The American Psychology Association defines “Motivation” as “The impetus that gives purpose or direction to behavior and operates in humans at a conscious or unconscious level.” and
“A person’s willingness to exert physical or mental effort in pursuit of a goal or outcome.”

I want to help you with disc golfing by giving you a purpose.

1. Getting better at a specific skill that you choose to practice.

I want to increase your willingness to exert physical effort.

1. By giving you motivational content.

I believe that this blog will meet both criteria for you.

I used to use a website called ifeelunmotivated.com to find random inspiring videos to motivate me. Now that website no longer exists. Some real estate companies bought the domain name. Sounds like they were motivated to sell that domain for money after working hard to get clicks.

So I’m making my own version of the website in this blog post, and I’m sharing it with all of you. Because every once in a while I need a little motivation to write a blog, go do a workout, whatever it is.

Some of the videos are speeches, some are movie moments, others are sports stories. And I've dedicated a section to poetry because if anything will make you feel ready to run through a brick wall, it's poetry.

I’m not going to tell you what it is you’re going to click on for a link, because I want you to take a risk.
Also that’s how the site used to work, you just click next and get a new video, poem, or poster to inspire you.

I’ll break them down into sections, and mark the ones with objectionable language NSFW for folks who don’t like that sort of thing. Or those of you who are looking for a little motivation while at work.

Sports Moments
Motivation #1
Motivation #2
Motivation #3

Speeches
Motivation #1 (NSFW)
Motivation #2
Motivation #3

Movie moments
Motivation #1 (NSFW)
Motivation #2
Motivation #3


Disc Golf
Motivation #1
Motivation #2
Motivation #3

Poetry
Motivation #1
Motivation #2
Motivation #3
Motivation #4

Now get out there and putt.
Practice your drives.
Do what it is that you have to do to achieve your disc golf dreams. I believe in you, you believe in yourself. So get going. Close this window, quit your browser, and go grab that practice basket and your stack of putters.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

Our mission is to give you the best disc golf online shopping experience possible. We have received many suggestions over the last year to improve and we listened. We have implemented many of these great ideas giving you the best shopping experience online for your disc golf needs. It has taken months and the features are here for YOU.

Here are a few of the features we have added.

These discs will remain somewhere flat and open. Not under a tree (because bird poop), and since I don’t have a forecast I’ll have to leave them there the whole time unattended. I’ll want to put a rock in them so they don’t blow away. That will lower the overall water retention, but I’d rather have some than none at all because a gust of wind took my putter.

I carry a Sky God II, aka a P2 but this has more functions because of the durability. I plan on making this one my bowl for carrying other small things. Maybe cool seashells to braid my hair with, small berries, who knows. If I’m in need of water this can be the third collection disc as well. 

The P2 will be the absolute lifesaver.

Mid Ranges

I bag the Caiman, Meteor, and MD3.

The Caiman is probably the least useful mid I bag for survival purposes. With a blunted edge that carries most of the weight I believe it will be my fish bludgeoning disc. A rock would function here as well. Since I’ll likely be spearfishing this disc is going to be kind of meh in a survival situation. It’s likely I’ll name the Caiman stamped on the front as a backup friend if I go insane.

The MD3 will be my night light. *Note* Mine is an Innova run MD3.  As one of my 2 glow in the dark discs that I bag this will be what I use to investigate caves on the island. I’ll leave it out in the sun and then explore the cool caves at noontime. It will be my companion at night, and probably the most life saving disc. Or if I venture down a cave and find pirate treasure that’s cursed it may be a life ending disc.

The Meteor and I have been together for 12 years so it’s nice and soft. That’s going to make this disc a perfect pillow for me. I’ll still have a little bit of support with it, but it will let my head sink in. Just because I’m on a deserted island doesn’t mean I don’t need some creature comforts. I don’t like sand in my hair so this is probably the best choice for the meteor.

Fairway Drivers

I bag the Leopard3, TL3, and the Sidewinder.

The 3 Leopard3's that I bag are both tour series. The Uriyah Kelley and the Ohn Scoggins of different years. I think that these are likely to be my hunting discs for small animals on the island. I’ll harness the inner hunter of the Leopard3 and use these to tag small game at 100 feet with accurate throws. At least I’ll try to do it. Of course no one will be around to confirm my amazing shots.

The TL3 is almost see through at this point, and in the champion plastic it has great durability. So I’ll dub this my "Wilson Disc". I’ll paint it and talk to it, maybe yell a little at it when things are going poorly. And I’ll bawl if I lose it, sinking away in the ocean. If I want a floating disc I’d need to add a Blizzard plastic disc that’s under 140 grams.

The Sidewinder is a fairway driver in my opinion. So I put it into this category. It’s bright pink and has a long glide with an S curve. I love it because it’s eye-catching. So I’m making it the dot at the bottom of the exclamation point for the word HELP! That Ellen Widboom Sidewinder 2021 is going to be the reason I’m found.

Distance Drivers.

Wraith (7), Excalibur, and Predator.

The Wraith has been my favorite flying disc for a decade. But the versatility on the island will be tough. They’re likely to be lashed together to create a paddle for my canoe. Which I’ll build out of a tree I cut down. The biggest decision for me will be do I put my 2x ace disc on top or bottom? Other uses for the paddle will be for my scorpion/snake slapper. I’m sure I’ll need to fend them off at some point. The Wraiths can slap to stun, then be turned sideways for a finishing blow.

The XCalibur is going to be my excavator disc. That wide rim with the big dome in the middle will be perfect as a shovel. I can dig myself a latrine, dig myself a little hole where I can bury a pig roast, there’s lots of reasons I’ll have to dig holes on this island.

The Predator is a little stiffer than my other discs. I expect that I'll use this disc for my digging in wet sand. Any time I want to go clamming around the island I’m trapped on, this will be the disc I use to dig with because even when it’s slippery it has that inner rim grip. I won’t lose it in the current.

Well that’s all the discs in my bag. And how I would use them if I ever was stranded on a deserted island. I’ve got fruit gummy snacks, unplantable sunflower seeds, and a Kwik-Stick. So I think I’d probably be all set to survive there for a number of years.

If you can think of any discs I should have for specific uses please let me know in the comments below.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

Here’s where the title Practice Putts That Matter To You comes into play. Instead of being 75-100 feet away on my drives I was 40 feet away. This happened on 7 of the holes from the week before. I was getting closer and 40 feet is an achievable putt for me.

By achievable I mean I can hit those, I’m putting from that distance not upshotting/turned sideways to throw.

But, I walked away with the same score as last week because I didn’t make enough of those putts. And because I ran one from about 50 feet, airballed, and missed my comebacker.

So while I put myself in a better position on my drives, I was still getting the same score. And that’s disheartening at first. At the end of the day what really matters is the “total” number on the scorecard (when you’re playing competitively either against yourself or others).

I’m pretty decent at getting up and down from 75-100 feet. That’s because I practice not making it from that distance. I know that it’s a low percentage shot with possible rollaways and misses. So I take away the stress by not running it. Unless it’s late in the round or for casual dubs or something.

So I snagged my Caiman for my forehand, set my feet so I’m only using my arm, swing my arm back and forth a couple of times to get the right angle feel, the right speed , then I pitch up close for a boring putt.

So that’s what I had been doing when I was seeing 75 foot looks.

I was faced with the new challenge of seeing consistent 40 foot looks. I don’t really practice those that often because it wasn’t something I was used to seeing. So this week what am I going to practice?

It’s going to be those 40 footers that I know I need to hit to improve my score!

Now I only have to hit one of them to improve my score. 2 would be great. Do I dream of 3? Do I get mad if I don’t make any of them like last week?

Let’s be realistic about circle 2 putting percentages. The best C2 putter on the DGPT was Cameron Messerschmidt. He made a jaw dropping 38.9% of his putts from 33 to 66 feet.

So if Cameron, the best player statistically, had 7 putts from that distance we could reasonably expect him to make 3 out of 7 of those putts (42%).

I’m not Messerschmidt. And I’m not 2017 Beaver State Fling Champion Ricky Wysocki. Which I still consider to be the greatest putting performance ever.
I’m going to feel good with 1 made putt, great with 2 made putts, and feel like I got away with something if I make 3. If I make 0 putts, that’s going to be on me.

So now it’s time to go out and find what looks you’re routinely getting and to practice them. If you’re consistently getting 18 foot chances and not converting most of the time it’s time to practice those putts. If you’re missing 8 footers on an elevated basket, practice those.

Make some notes about your last round and see if you can find where you can improve in the putting green. Don’t just try 10 footers, 20 footers, and 30 footers over and over again if you’re consistently seeing putts from one distance more frequently.

This advice helps if you’re playing the same course regularly. I get to play in a Tuesday night league where we usually play from the same tees each week. Putting practice should occur frequently, and if you do you'll lower those scores a couple strokes. Who doesn't love a 55 instead of a 57?

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

This recipe will make enough seasoning for 4 fairway drivers if you get them not max weight. If you’re seasoning max weight discs or distance drivers it’ll only make 3. 

You will need a smallish bowl. Don’t use that pie plate you’ve been dyeing discs in for two years. I use a bowl that’s big enough to hold 2 cans of Progresso Macaroni & Bean soup if you’re an expert in surface tension.

I also want you to know that I measured the ingredients for this for the first time in my life. Disc seasoning, like all seasonings, should be made from the heart.

(This is all you’re going to need. No, not the coffee or turnip, or pineapple.)

Now for all of the pictures of me adding the ingredients into a bowl. And wearing blue sneakers. Because there's a lot of rules to kitchen safety, and wearing close toed & slip resistant shoes is pretty high up on that list.

1 cup Dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp Dried Basil
2 Tbsp MSG (Can substitute salt)
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Smoked paprika
1 tsp White pepper
1 tsp Fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

If you want this to stick to your discs I recommend probably 2 egg yolks and a cup of bread crumbs. Mix those all together in your bowl and let them marinate overnight before throwing.

If you want sweet heat on your disc, a teaspoon of Cayenne pepper works well. But I was making this disc seasoning for a friend who is afraid of spicy shots.

If you made it all the way through to the end of the blog,
Happy April Fools Day

While they all come from the Teebird mold, they’re different (even if it’s .1 cm) and they fly differently because of that.

The Innova Teebird (1999) is famous in disc golf.
If you read my blog about the most used discs in world championships (where I really should make a better graph).
It was used in 60% of the bags of disc golf world champions between 2000 and 2021.

Why? Why was this disc used by so many champions? What makes the Teebird special?

Well not only has Innova been around a long time, and sponsored a lot of incredible players, but it’s been a disc that pro players continue to bag today.

The Teebird is stable to overstable and it handles both the backhand and forehand shot equally well. You can crush it out there around 350 if you’re a big arm. It doesn’t have that swing from side to side to give it big distance. It kind of goes out there, stables up and slows down, then it glides towards the ground. That’s what it does time after time. Overstable discs tend to have a more repeatable flight path.
As it beats in it loses a little of that overstability and becomes a straight shooter, and then finally it can be a slow turnover disc. That depends on how much you hit trees and rocks, it also depends on how hard you throw, and the angle of release.

That’s why the Teebird is so popular. It’s functional in a lot of ways, and for a long time. I tend to suggest folks try this disc when they’re complaining about discs flipping over on them. It’s available in DX, Star, Champion, GStar, and Color Glow right now. That’s another reason why it tends to be chosen by folks from all over. A Teebird is always available, and has been present in disc golf for almost 25 years.

The Teebird3 is the faster, less glide version of the Teebird. The 3 on the end means it’s a lower profile disc. Think of discs like the Roc3, Leopard3, Mako3, Aviar3 compared to their counterparts. You get those flatter tops that give the disc additional stability and slightly less glide.

What the Teebird3 offers is less glide, with slightly more speed. So it gets down to the ground a little quicker which is great if you have a big arm. Pros can throw discs that don’t glide and still get lots of distance out of them.
It’s why when Ricky Wysocki was sponsored by Innova a couple years back, he was throwing the Teebird3. He’s got 360’-420’ of power with a fairway driver that doesn't have much glide or turn to it. But the disc always got down and stable for him instead of getting away.
If you have big distance and are okay with sacrificing some for additional control, you’ll find the Teebird3 is a great choice over the Teebird.




The Innova TL was the first offshoot of the Teebird discs to be produced (2007). I don’t know what the TL stands for.
I’ve heard the following names
Teebird Lite
Tight Lines
Teebird + Leopard
(Now according to Innova’s page)
Less Overstable
Longer.

It doesn’t really matter what those letters stand for. What you need to know about the TL is that it’s a straighter flyer than the Teebird. You go further and end up more central than the Teebird.

What’s the catch? Why wouldn’t I just go further and more straight all the time?

You do get a little side to side movement. If you’ve read my blog about getting more distance, you’ll remember that for a disc to get a full flight it needs to move side to side and get that hang time. Look at any distance competition you’ll always see that moving from side to side is the optimal way to get more distance.

The TL has more dome than the Teebird. It’s going to swing a little bit (-1 turn) to the side and then go forward and slowly fade back at the end. If you’re someone who throws about 300 feet I think the TL is a great choice for you. It’s going to get you more of a straight finish and more distance. If you find that overstable discs are too much for you, try a little less stable.

This disc hasn’t received the same fanfare from pro players that the Teebird, Teebird3 or TL3 have gotten. I think that’s because it’s the least stable of the four discs I’m examining here today. But I’m not a touring pro, so I don’t mind the extra glide and turn the TL has.
As a 7 speed it feels average in speed. As a 5 glide it’s average for a driver. As a -1/1 turn and fade it’s not doing a whole lot.

That’s what we want our shots to be so often in this sport though. I see newer discs like the Hawkeye, FD, and Essence get a lot of hype from folks. But the TL doesn’t seem to get the love, I don’t have an answer why that is. Maybe it’s just because it’s an older mold?

The last disc we’re looking at today is the Innova TL3 (2017). If you’re wondering what the 3 is doing at the end of the TL it’s because they’re lower profiles of the same mold. They’re flatter, a little more overstable, and a little bit faster.
If you’re interested in a Dave Dunipace podcast interview about what makes the 3 the 3 you can read it here.

The TL3 has been hyped by plenty of pro players. It’s what I think is the straightest, longest disc in disc golf. I compare it to a longer Mako3.
There’s no glide though. As a glide rating of 4 I think it could even be a 3.5 with how little it wants to carry on the wind. It’s not as bad as a Firebird, but it’s not going to carry at all.

That’s the big thing about the TL3, it’s not going to give you that long extra distance finish that the TL does. As much disdain as I have for the phrase “point and shoot” that’s exactly what a TL3 is made to do.
If you have a big arm like Eveliina Salonen then you can get all the distance out of a disc you need. So you don’t need extra glide carrying you forward the same way the Teebird or TL do. If you do need a little extra carry from your disc, there are other options than the TL3.

What the TL3 offers is just a straight flight that gets down to the ground. I do think that it struggles after 325 feet and becomes slightly flippy. But for me it’s a great choice to throw when I don’t want my shot to glide and I have to hit a gap the whole way.

If you’re looking for an overstable disc that finishes with a hook, get a Teebird.
If you need an overstable disc that doesn't glide at the end, get a Teebird3.
If you’re looking for an S curve but straight glidey finish, add the TL to your bag.
If you want to point and shoot, no movement or glide, throw your TL3.

There’s a lot of options from a single mold that’s been modified slightly. It always amazes me how .1cm can change things in disc golf. If you are looking for any of these shot shapes in your bag be sure to check our selection. I linked the whole collection on our site so you can see the different plastics and stamps as well.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

Challenges can be fun, and quantitative and competitive if you want them to be. I remember spending hours in my college dorm room with my roommate Ryan playing a speed run challenge in Call of Duty Black Ops II. We’d constantly play the same minute-long challenge over and over again until we’d beaten our previous time. It got so that cutting 0.1 seconds off your time was worthy of a text to the other person with your new record.

That was practice for a video game that we played together. It made us more accurate and faster, but it was fun to do too.
Challenges are just fun drills that make you better at the sport you love. And if you played any sports in rec, or high school, and even college we used to do drills every single practice.

I notice from the dates these challenges were posted on YouTube that many of these were created in the early days of the 2020 pandemic when social distancing was heavily enforced. The folks playing disc golf on the pro tour are understandably competitive. With a pause in their tour they found a way to create lots of content for their social media channels and ways to compete with each other at the same time.

I want to make a few points before I list out all the cool challenges I’ve seen pros on YouTube complete.

1. Progress isn’t linear.
   You don’t magically get better just because you put in more time. Magically getting better takes something like a pact with a supernatural being and multiclassing into Warlock. 
   In real life, sometimes you get worse at a skill, then you get better at whatever it is you’re practicing. Maybe you will get better right away and then it disappears. “Embrace the suck” will always be my motto for practicing disc golf. It gets better, give yourself time, an honest effort and you’ll see consistent improvement.
2. Compare yourself to the pros for fun.
   Every time I take a lesson with a touring pro, watch them throw a round in person, or watch them play a course I’ve played, I remember that they’re the top 0.0002% of disc golfers. (Top 50 players in the 250,000 history of the PDGA. They’re statistically probably better than that because it’s unlikely someone was the greatest ever and never played competitively, so the denominator is definitely greater.) Don’t get hung up on their numbers if you can’t come close.
3. Warm up before these challenges.
   Some of these are quite strenuous in nature. Don’t decide to do the Parked challenge the day before a tournament. You may say “I’m good” at a certain point, and that’s fine too.

Let’s get on to the challenges.

Parked challenge.
Players have to land a disc within 11 feet of the basket from 200 feet, then move back 20 feet once you make it. You have 30 minutes. This challenge is best done with 2 people so you can have someone verify you made it in the circle.
Simon Lizotte

Ricky Wysocki

Moving Back Every Time I Make It Challenge.
This challenge involves making it into a basket. You have 1 hour and every time you make it, you move backwards 10 feet. Sure we all make 10 footers, 40 footers after a few tries, and even the occasional 70 footer. But how far back can you go in an hour?
Brodie Smith

Simon Lizotte

Paige Pierce

Paul McBeth & Nick Carl

DMP Challenge

Players have to throw a Driver, Mid, and Putter as far as they can and combine all three. This reminds me of the Punt, Pass, Kick that the NFL camps put on for kids.

Double G

Simon Lizotte and Casey White

Ezra Aderhold

Seppo Paju

Mile Challenge
This one was the most popular by… a mile. Sorry.
How many throws does it take to reach a mile in total distance? Some folks used UDisc’s distance measuring tool, others opted for the Bushnell Rangefinder. If you want to see raw power and great distance form, these videos are great to watch. Pick their brains for the discs.

Eagle McMahon

Eagle McMahon Sidearm

Simon Lizotte & Casey White

Drew Gibson

Brodie Smith 

Garett Gurthie

Albert Tamm

Thomas Gilbert

Ezra Aderhold

Oskari Vikström, Lauri Lehtinen, Samuel Hänninen

Dialed In With Bushnell Challenge
Can you pick a distance and hit it? If you’re not practicing something similar to this, you should give it a shot and see how accurate you are. It’s always great to know if your midrange is hitting 200 or 300 consistently.
This is an example of a great sponsorship tie in that I hope to see more of in disc golf (so touring pros can make a good living). It makes so much sense, and it’s why you see pros actually using these on tour. Some of these challenges have slightly different rules they play by, but they’re all in the same spirit.

FPO 

Simon Lizotte, Ricky Wysocki, Drew Gibson, Eric Oakley, Paul McBeth, Garrett Gurthie

Ezra Aderhold

These challenges hopefully inspire a new way for you to compete against yourself and your friends while building your disc golf skills towards a goal. I tried to find as many of these challenges with athletes that I could, apologies if I missed any pros who did a YouTube video. I enjoyed watching disc golfers push themselves to the limits, and I hope that you give some of these a shot.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

There have been a few disc golfers I know who have passed away. It is always devastating to the disc golfing community when we lose someone. This week I want to talk about options for folks about what to do with discs when they die. Loved ones are often excited to get discs back that belonged to their disc golf loving friend/family member who is no longer with us.

On Thursday afternoons I call all the lost and found discs that got turned in that week. Occasionally I call and someone picks up, then they inform me that the person whose disc I’m holding passed away.
The person on the other end lets me know that they want their family members disc back or if they want it donated like we do at the end of the year. I get choked up when those phone calls are made and I usually have to take a break calling lost discs for a few minutes to collect myself. It’s only happened a few times in the 4 years I’ve worked here, but it’s powerful.

Moments like that really got me thinking about myself and my disc golf discs, and what’s going to happen to them. Don’t worry, I’ve got another 70+ years to collect discs, write blogs, miss 15 footers, and smack first tree available in a wide open field. I can’t wait to play in MPO100 someday.

There’s just a lot to think about, and since disc golf is a huge part of my life I thought what happens if I go to the big wooded course in the sky?

Disc golf is a hobby for some, but I see plenty of people who consider disc golf a lifestyle. People who think about the course when they’re at work, text their friends about plans every weekend, play in 2-3 leagues per week on top of tournaments.
Maybe you’ve heard of ‘Steady’ Ed Headrick PDGA #1, the guy who invented disc golf? He was cremated and his ashes were turned into discs that were sold to help fund the International Disc Golf Center.

I’ve got a few bags, discs (maybe 300 something discs?), baskets, and plenty of other accessories. I started playing recreationally 13 years ago and in that time I’ve amassed a small collection of throwers. I would guess 98% of my discs have hit a tree, I’m in the sport for playing not for collecting or reselling.

I’ve joked before that just in case the ancient Egyptians were right, and you can take it with you. I want to be buried with my I-Dye Wraith that I hit my first ace with. Maybe a couple putters too.

But really, I don’t want my stuff to go to waste. I foresee 3 different outcomes for what could happen. I’d really love to hear other people’s thoughts on this one, and what you would choose to do with your discs.

1. Sell Them.
I mean they’re my property and funerals aren’t cheap. Even if someone sold my discs for $5 each and the baskets for $50 and the bags for $50, that would still fetch a nice chunk of change for folks. It would also give people a chance to get their hands on some inexpensive plastic. It’s an option for sure, definitely the most profitable of the three I’m going to suggest. This takes some time and effort, especially if you’re not sure where to go to do it. Play it Again Sports or maybe a local disc golf club/store would buy all your discs. Or you’d have to post on Facebook marketplace, or Uncle Henry’s, or Craigslist. It’s a bit of a burden for your loved ones.

2. Donate them
I love that Sabattus donates the lost and found section at the end of the year. I can’t tell you how happy these Physical Education teachers are when they show up here and leave with a box of discs for their students. But I already spend a lot of time coordinating getting these discs out to new homes. And many of you aren’t from Maine, which is where Sabattus is and where we donate those discs. So I searched online and there’s another organization that does take discs.
UPlay disc golf already has a way to donate discs. You pay the shipping, but someone will get your discs. UPlay is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that does great work introducing kids to the healthy aspects of disc golf. I’ve met Zoe Andyke a couple of times and can confirm she’s the real deal. She teaches folks about disc golf, how to teach others, and UPlay is a great organization who disc golfers might not know about.

This is from their website that I linked above in “donate discs”.

They teach folks all over the globe how to teach disc golf, donate discs, and teach students.

3. Into the Trash
This is the worst option, and I’m sure it unfortunately does happen.
Right now there’s not a great way to remove the dirt and crud from used discs. Disc golf companAnies that make discs from recycled plastic (other than Trash Panda) are reusing their plastic that didn’t work the first time through a mold. So those 50 used discs in your garage aren’t something that they could use.

I don’t have the right answer for you about what to do with your discs when you die. Everyone is different and everyone has different needs and wants. Maybe you ask your family and friends to keep some, donate some, and trash some, just so you hit all 3 of the points.

Whatever it is that you do with your discs, you should have a plan and let someone know about it. Maybe share this blog with them in a text or messenger app and say something like “Don’t you dare give away my discs to Cole.” Or “Donate everything except my yellow Buzzz that I got 4 aces with. I want that buried with me.”

No matter what your plans are, let ‘em be known to the ones who will take care of it.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397

It’s wide open and has a long teepad. If you have a Bushnell rangefinder you can go out to your disc and shoot the laser back at the teesign to find your distance.

If you’re not from around here, I recommend going to a football field to range your discs. If you’re throwing more than 300 feet, try going from corner to corner which should be 393 feet from endzone corner to endzone corner. If you’re ripping 400+ feet, it’s time to ask other disc golfers in your area where they practice their long distance drives.

To get an S curve look at the turn and fade of your disc. Let’s keep talking about the Firebird. It has a rating of 0 for turn. It never wants to turn, it’s a utility disc.

The Shryke has a turn of -2, it wants to flip over during the flight.

Now let’s look at the fade. The fade of a Firebird is 4, it’s always going to fade out hard.
The Shryke will fade at 2, it’s coming back, but not quite as hard.

It’s time to add those discs, turn and fade numbers together. The Firebird has a Turn/Fade combo of +4. That means it’s very overstable.
The Shryke has a Turn/Fade combo of 0. It turns just as much as it comes back and fades.

If you’re throwing a Shryke and the disc isn’t going from side to side, it’s because the disc speed is too high.

Everyone has an arm speed that they’re comfortable throwing at. For me it’s 11, I know that I get the most distance out of my 11 speeds. Many pro players throw 12 speeds for their big distance discs.

If you aren’t sure what speed your arm is, here’s one of my most popular blogs to help you determine your arm speed, and how to improve it. Or you can start with the rule of 35. It’s basically your max distance disc is going to be.

Your consistent distance throw/35 = Speed of max disc

If you are sure of what your arm speed is, here are some Innova discs in the 9-13 speeds that I recommend you try for an S curve.

9 - Valkyrie
10 - Beast
11 - Mystere
12 - Tern
13 - Katana

There are 2 different tips that I want to recommend as well. Pointers that will increase your distance on your distance driver throws.

1. Throw lower weights for more distance. You want that disc to get up to speed and one of the easiest ways to do that is to throw a lower weight than 175g.

2. Give the disc time to fly. Throwing understable discs takes some practice to get the height right. But you’ll want to give your drivers more time to turn and come back. If you throw too high it will stall out and lose distance. If you throw too low it will just turn the whole time and not be able to come back and fade.
Practicing getting the height right is something that pros spend plenty of time doing. It’s going to be different for you than it is for me, so take time in a field and you’ll find that height to aim for.

If you’re finding that all of your discs are maxing out at the same distance. Try examining the discs you’re throwing. Make sure that you’re not throwing something too fast, that is has enough glide, and that it’s able to turn for most of the flight before coming back.
I hope that you find a way to get some more distance out of those throws, and let me know in the comments if these tips helped you.

May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397