As you play disc golf and get better, you will want to try newer faster discs. A Twin Cities local pro disc golfer and course designer Timmy Gill says. “Don’t just reach for the latest and greatest disc. Just because your buddy throws a Surge 400 feet, doesn’t mean you automatically can. Start out throwing understable discs, then move up to the faster wider rim discs.” The driver is where most of the choices are, resist the temptation to go to the fastest, newest drivers until your ready. How you make those choices can greatly affect your progress.
I’m going to break this into 2 articles. There is a lot of information to cover here in choosing discs. First you need to understand some basic terms. A hyzer throw is when you release the disc with the outside edge of the disc lower than the edge of the disc that is in your hand. For more disc golf terms read this article. Depending on how much hyzer angle is on the disc, it will fly out a ways, and turn in the direction of the lower side of the disc. The more the angle, the faster the disc will turn. In a flat release, the golf disc will naturally hyzer at the end of the flight. An Anhyzer is when the outside edge of the disc is released at a higher angle than the edge in your hand. This flight will turn the opposite of a hyzer flight.
The term Understable means that if you get enough spin on the disc, it will turn the opposite way of a normal throw. If you don’t get enough spin on the golf disc, it will fly fairly flat and finish with a slight hyzer. If you throw an Overstable disc without enough spin, it will hyzer to the ground very quickly. This is why you want to stay away from overstable discs until you can throw them with enough spin.
Getting the disc to spin fast enough for proper flight is called snap. When you learn to throw an understable disc with enough snap, it will turn the opposite direction of normal flight, and anhyzer. This is called turning over. When you learn to throw an overstable disc with enough snap, you will be able to keep it from diving to the ground and keep it in the air for a longer flight.
In the next article we’ll cover how to select what is the next step in your disc progression as you work your way to the fastest, greatest discs. Subscribe at the top of the page so you will get an email when the next article comes out. Check out Disc golf news for daily updates on disc golf.
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