Well here we go. I am using the Kite for 200ft throws that need good accuracy. I have not used this disc for a solid year as I threw it out of bounds at the last tourny. I have only started using again. I am rather frustrated with the disc.
Well I hope that you have a good summer and a good season.
I have my first Lat 64 disc which is a Fuse and River. I love these discs and how well the react.
The fuse is very straight and holds a line like crazy. You can throw a quick and easy anny. This is one of the easiest anny discs that I have ever thrown. Likewise you can hyzer it perfectly.
The plastic is quite awesome. It is grippy and solid disc. While I never have had the good CE plastic, I have a feeling that the Opto plastic is similar to it. HAve not heard that but . . . who knows.
Still love these discs.
I recently discovered a new disc. The Innova Skeeter.
While this is just a simple midrange that is often over looked by people, including myself, it is a great throw. The mid range nature of it is good for your under 200ft throws that has virtually no fade when thrown flat. It also holds a hyzer really well.
On the negative side, when driving the disc, you can turn the disc over really easy.
I have just discovered the Skeeter disc from Innova. For me this disc is great. It runs straight and true. Then it fades out straight. Love this disc.
I would as always suggest that if you get this disc and let it fly and try it out. I really wish there was a to test out discs before buying. That is my best wish.
Well I hope that you have great throw.
I have been using 150 class discs starting at the top of this season (2010). One of the problems that I have seen is the lack of information on lighter discs using the 159.9 and under group. The 159.9 is found from the requirement from the Japan Open.
Should you use a 150g disc? My answer is yes. You can get better throws (longer) and better turnover shots. The caveat: if you are a ‘big arm’ guy . . . not really.
I am going to explore the 150 scense
A nice chap in 2005 wrote an article entitled “Is Disc Golf Still a Sport if you Carry a Chair? In it he laments how much the sport has changed. There are sponsors, pros, PDGA, a national tour, and the bane of all that is good: carts.
Let’s look at the other sports and see if there is something to be said:
NASCAR – Turn left and sit all day,
MLB – Work for 10 minutes, sit 10 minutes,
NFL – Work seven minutes sit seven minutes,
NBA – there is plenty of time to sit, as a matter of fact that is my best position,
MLS – okay they can sub out sort of. These guys start huffing wind late in the game,
NHL – Play, switch, sit. The penalty box gives much time to sit, and
PBA – Blowing they sit all the time.
These are all people at the top of their game and the top .01% and they sit.
How about the other sports:
Tennis – no sitting there and
Golf – guess no sitting there unless you are in a cart like 90% of weekend warriors.
The crux of Dave’s argument is that he bemoans the further specialization and professionalization of Disc Golf. Yet disc golf follows every other thing in America. Look at TVs. You can buy a home theater that rivals going to the movies to watch a movie. Look at doctors and lawyers and who could have imagined someone earning a living as a font designer a mere 20 years ago.
What about the pro argument, people making a living full-time on the tour.
I looked at the 2009 numbers:
Nikko make $42,926 and that was with the 15k for the PDGA Championships and that was 43 events. If you take the entry fee off of those event, let’s say $4,000. HE comes down to 39K. Now if you take off travel and such maybe he could live off the money.
Ken Climo won 15K in 09.
Avery Jenkins won 31K.
Nate Doss won 18K.
Now a lot of these guys have extra sponsors and other money. However, it is not like Tiger or Jeff Gordon or even it would seem to be bench warmer in baseball and other such people. You will also notice that many of the pros have day jobs in their profiles. A person I know locally has a day job and could not afford to live off his earnings. yet a few people can live off of what they earn. I do not ever begrudge any person earning as much money as they can.
All these things combine for a better sport that will garner more guys who wear polos when they play rather then smoking a doobie.
What a weekend in Atlanta at the Atlanta Open sponsored by ReMax. Nate Doss had a good lead by two throws after the first day. His third round, was encouraging to the Ams who do not do as well, as he moved down to 9th after the third round. In any case kudos to Doss and his 1064 rated first round, the best of the weekend.
Dave Feldberg came in first garnering a $1525 pool for the champ.
Ken Climo came in 2nd place only 3 throws behind Feldberg with a take home of $1015.
Phil Arthur took third followed by Cameron Todd in fifth. Nate Doss after his third round 60 (rated 983 worst in the top 10) took fifth. Sixth places was a three way tie between Jenkins, Koling and Hammock each earning $355.
Congrats go out to Donald Elisworth and Adam Hunt who are both sub 1000 rated and were the highest finishers in 9th place of that category.
In Kansas we saw the Dynamic Discs Glass Blown Open saw Eric McCabe of Team Discraft pulled off first place by four strokes. Nikko Locastro (aka
the hair) came in third place.
Lastly, in England, under the hazy skies of a volcano, Del Robins pulled off a win with his first two rounds being rated at 999 and 998.
Have a great week and see you in a few days.
One month after St pat’s day we find a very crowded field in Atlanta at the Atlanta Open presented by ReMax.
After two rounds of disc golf:
This will be a great finish with only 6 throws within the top 10 finishers and the top 20 are only separated by 13 throws. Going to be great day of disc golf in Atlanta. That lead card is going to be great with Doss, Feldberg, Koling and Jenkins.
Well this weekend seems pretty clear. The big boys are headed to Atlanta for the Atlanta Open. At the Atlanta open will be Jenkins, Feldberg, Doss, and Climo along with 120 other players. The Atlanta Open people have already announced that the AM side is full.
Nikko is headed to Kansas for the Dynamic Discs Glass Blown Open. I would remiss if I did not mention the two Boy Scout Events going on this weekend. There is also a Utopia Open in CT which wins the prize for the bet name of the week.
In Sweden there is the Malmo Open, which is sponsored by the Spinndisc Frisbeeklubb. In Colchester, UK (England for those of us in the US) will be having a C tier, called BDGA Tour 4 – Essex Open. Lastly in Belgium the Braine L’Alleud will take place.
Have a great weekend tossing plastic.
Buzzz and the Roc (a Redux)
This is a post from last year on another blog that I wrote.
First, let me say I have only been playing since last summer, so this is my second season, and I am sure I will miss some things that you would not. Second, my favorite disc is clearly my 2009 Star Roc for the USDGC. So needless to say this is a biased review as I love the Innova Roc. Third, I have a plastic addiction. Being a rookie I overbought discs, darn. Lastly, I am for the most an Innova person, mostly because my local store sells about 40 feet of shelf of Innova disc and three feet of Discraft discs.
Why would I want to try a Discraft Buzzz? The fans of the Buzzz seem to love the disc and have given many reasons why to buy the disc and compare it to the Roc. I bought the Photon Glo Buzzz on sale (50% off) at disc golf store. I liked the way it flew as compared to the Roc, therefore, I bought an ESP Buzzz at 172G and went out to throw.
My 180G 2009 USDGC Roc is my mainstay and is my go to disc and is of course most similar to the Buzzz and deserved to be tested out directly. Here are my results:
Round One: Was pretty much a draw. I throw the Roc and the Buzzz and it was hard to tell the difference. There were good throws and bad throws. However, nothing that was easy to tell. However, the Buzzz went straight as straight could and was just wonderful. I decided to buy the last Buzzz at the store which was the twin. One thing I noticed was that Roc would hit a tree and bounce like a ping pong ball. The Buzzz would buzz through a tree and not get to sidetracked. Nice advantage.
The disadvantage to the Buzzz was on putting. I missed a two putts that should have been made because I did
The Second Attempt
Round Two was a little more scientific. Round of best throw doubles ROC (Star and 12x KC R-Pro at 170) versus two twin 172G ESP Wasps.
There are two basic measurements:
Score of the round – best score wins
CTB – Easy to determine, I may need to walk off to basket if needed.
I went to Kiwansis Woodlot Park in Mitchell, SD which is a short 1989 foot 9 hole course course with lots of trees.
SCORE
Score was won by the Discraft Buzzz by a 2 throw advantage, I parked the Buzzz nicely a couple of times within three feet of the basket. I also hit a 45 foot putt with the Buzzz, which was really nice.
I also placed all my second shots when not in birdie range right near the pole, for mostly drop in pars.
CTB – Closest To Basket
This was really surprising area. The Buzzz won eight of the nine holes. The only loss was on the short hole one where the the Roc laid up against the pole.
Distance
The CTB also revealed another factor: I threw the Buzzz about 20 – 30 feet further, on a regular basis. The Buzzz was also straighter and ended more directly in front of the basket. I also had no false hyzers, where I accidently throw a hyzer or an anny.
Conclusions
I was really surprised by the performance of the Buzz. The closest to basket was most telling and hitting an extra 25 feet or so make it worth using the Buzzz even more. Since I am vacation, I will have to do more testing on Monday AM.
Will I dump my Rocs? No. It will take more work with the Buzzz disc to see how they go.
Some issues with the Buzzz:
I do not like the smell of the disc, I am sure it will be gone in no time, after all it has been sitting on the shelf for over two years.
I also do not like that Buzzz and Discraft data are on the inside rim. I do not like the raisedness of the touch. I have to rotate the disk.
Update: About a year later.
I use the Buzzz nearly full-time as my mid-range and for everything under 250 ft. The event will be the Mako against the Buzzz.
My Buzzzes now include: 2 Buzzz FLX, 1 ESP (lost one), 2 Z Buzzzes and 1 Crystal ZZZZ Buzzz. Three of these I bought locally that were used.
I aslo use 150g R-Pro ROC that is a Japan Open disc. I also have a 150g Sanny from the Japan open. I use the Champ Roc
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