Just to be clear …
Not ALL midranges fly farther than drivers.
This isn’t a universal experience.
The headline is meant to be an issue-specific statement.
And it’s a common issue, at that – especially for newer players.
Let’s say you’re a new disc golfer. You’ve got the gear, but the know-how is somewhat lacking. Still, in spite of your ignorance, you know field work is important. But every time you empty your bag at one end of a vacant soccer pitch and throw towards the other, you start to notice something weird: In terms of distance, your mids rival your fairway and distance drivers …
Frequently passing ‘em, in fact.
Confused?
Here’s what’s up …
First, remember the demographic – greenie golfers.
Next, take a look at the flight numbers on a disc: Speed | Glide | Turn | Fade. To better pinpoint the problem, let’s focus on that first one – speed. On a scale from one to 14, in theory, this number refers to how fast a disc needs to be thrown to achieve its intended flight path.
For example, as a four-speed, a KC Pro Roc doesn’t take as much effort as a 12-speed Star Destroyer to “work” for a disc golfer. With a beginner-level arm speed, the KC Pro Roc should fly somewhat straight – and relatively far, too. And with a little seasoning, even more so.
Thrown with the SAME arm speed, however, that Star Destroyer is going to instantly hook, doing the complete opposite of what you’ve seen Calvin Heimburg do with his on the Disc Golf Network. It’s too fast and has too much low-speed stability to its name. This is the case with the Destroyer, but with other popular distance drivers, too: the Rive, Nuke, Falcor, Raider, etc.
There’s potentially another issue at play, though …
And it can affect even the most seasoned of amateur disc golfers, too.
Throwing the disc nose-up.
When a disc is released with the front (or nose) slightly elevated, it can’t fly far. Because, you know – physics and stuff. Designed to fly slowly, when thrown for distance, putters and midranges handle nose-up angles better. Wide-rimmed drivers are built to cut through the air, though. So when they can’t, it shows. The result is a shot that fluffs when flying …
It’s ugly.
Fixing a nose-up release is usually a matter of adjusting grip, wrist angle or reachback. If this sounds painfully familiar, click here for a detailed breakdown on how to fix the issue. Right from the get-go, know the good news: Throwing nose-up won’t take you a lifetime to fix.
So, do you throw your midranges farther than your high-speed stuff?
Louder for the peeps in the back:
- If you’re new, stick with slower frisbees – your form will improve.
- And if you’re not-so-new, focus on keeping the nose of the disc down.
Be patient: You’ll get it right.
Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.
Editor’s Suggestions:
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- Backhand 101: Stop leaning into your reachback
- Disc golf: How to (temporarily) turn your basket into a Marksman
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The biggest reason is glide, or with high speed drivers, lack thereof, and how criminally misled disc golfers are by flight numbers that are used more as a selling point for a product rather than a correct measurement of ANYTHING.
In general, the greater the volume of air that can fit under a disc’s flight plate, between the wings, the greater the glide it will have. NO distance driver in existence has glide on par with a good putter, and the flight numbers misrepresent this fact terribly, so much so that most players don’t understand glide at all.
The more a disc is shaped like a frisbee, the more it relies on glide to get where it’s going. The wider and sharper the rim, the less the disc acts like a frisbee at all – it adheres more to conventional projectile motion than to flying wing/disc physics, and is effectively a slave to inertia. There is less volume under the flight plate to cushion the descent of high speed discs and discourage axial tilt due to precession, which is what causes fade.
To understand it all better, manufacturers owe it to us to come up with an actually useful flight number system that tells us what we need to know about discs rather than telling us what we want to hear, and that should begin with relabeling speed as power level and correctly numbering glide, so that the numbers for glide get progressively lower relative to the power requirement going up. They are linked.
Thanks for the detailed explanation, William!
Half of our readers prefer the comments to actual articles …
This is great stuff 🙂
I’ve been playing for 8 months I’m 57 Male love the game but throw only lite disc the diamond. Playing a lot of tournaments two this weekend. Seems like they need to come out with these pro disc in the 150 es grams. Because lot of guys and ladies are never going to be strong enough to throw the 170 gram disc.They would sale more 🤔😯🏁tks Carl
Carl, my wife would certainly agree with you …
And that’s not a diss, by any means: She’s REALLY good at disc golf.
BTW, you should check out Dino Discs …
Infinite Discs sells ’em like crazy.
They’re light-weight discs – and nothing but ’em 🙂
Good grief!!! Many guys and ladies not being able to throw 170g discs!!! I’m barely 16 and can flip destroyers. (Kindof) And if a 16 year old can do it, it would seem to me like most people could. Plus, not every 170g disc is a Destroyer. But my 5 year old cousin can flip his new diamond!! All you have to do is watch some form videos, slo-mo your self, make adjustments, and go out and bomb!!