There is a course ~3 miles from me and I thought it might be interesting to try. I was walking the area (nice riverside park*) and though disc golf would be a good addition to my exercise rotation (biking, hiking, kayaking).
How much for a decent set (nothing fancy needed)? any reccomendations?
thanks,
Brian
*One person threw a disc in the lagoon. tried to retrieve it with a stick but gave up.
I have played some myself. It’s a lot of fun. Bsaically to start off you can get by with a driver and some kind of putter/mid range deal. I see sets around here for $20 to $25 and they usually contain a putter, midrange, and a driver. I personally would probably by them separately though.
http://www.innovadiscs.com/discs/bulldog.html
That’s the midrange/putter that I have. I would recommend it. Then if you pick up some kind of driver you will be all set. Some of the more experienced players have drivers, mid range, putters, some good for forehands/backhands, some crappy ones to use around water, etc. But for just starting out a disk like this and a driver would suffice.
How are your throwing skills in general? “Real” golf discs are a bit harder to use than the 165 or 150-gram models that you used to get at the store. (Do they even sell those anymore?)
You don’t need anything fancy. Just get a couple of discs that you can throw with decent accuracy. Figure out how to throw different types of shots: straight being the most important, followed by banks and fades, rollers and upside down shots, just in case. The primary advantage to “golf discs” is distance, they don’t make you a better player.
As with “ball golf”, putting is very important. Playing on courses with baskets, you will want to develop a shot that will stick in the basket from 10-15 feet away. Like the guys in the other version of the sport say: Drive for show, putt for dough.
general throwing: poor to middling
flying disc tossing: at one time middlin to OK, but it’s been a few years
I definitely don’t need or want anything fancy, just something a step up from the free flying disc I got at a parade.
I’m basically looking for an excuse to do some walking.
Brian
For your needs, I’d suggest you just head over to a sporting goods store and pick up a long range driver and putter. I actually just picked up some new Innova discs last week for an outing with some friends from work (four of whom had never played before). The combination of one driver and one putter seemed to work very well and, in some cases, no putter was even needed because it’s not like they needed subtle changes in throws at this skill level.
The ones I bought were $9 each for a total of $18 per set. This was at a Sports Authority.
I saw some “Life is Good” ultimate discs (that is, the kind used to play the game of Ultimate) at REI today, but they were $15…yikes! Just out of curiosity, I checked Amazon. They have quite a selection for less than that. I don’t think you could go wrong by buying an Ultra Star 175G or maybe even a Discraft Sky Styler. I see they even have a Wham-o Ultimate w/DVD for only 10.99.
It’s worth noting that “golf discs” are not that great for playing catch. If you throw them hard, they’re dangerous. If you get an ultimate or freestyle disc, it’s more fun to take out in the park and just toss around. You can work your way up to golf discs as your proficiency grows. Oh, and avoid playing catch in the street or on concrete with your new discs. You’ll scratch the edge up and alter the flight characteristics.
Have fun!
Yeah, throwing into trees or onto concrete will alter the flight characteristics. One of the things that makes disc golf like ball golf is that you have to learn the idiosyncrasies of your personal collection. I live close to the La Mirada Regional Park in California, which has a fabulous course. One of its holes was on a collectors edition of discs that featured famous DG holes (hole 13, which was pointed at the lake at the time).
Don’t play golf with ultimate discs. But feel free to play Ultimate! 
And get an extra disc or two. That lagoon may have your name on it one of these days.
[shaking fists at the sky] Stupid unexpected gusts of wind![/sfats]
I played many rounds (a couple hundred?) with the old Wham-o World-Class 165G disc. It later became the “official” disc of Ultimate, before they started using the 175 gram disc. That’s what we had back then, along the 150G Pro, the 145G, the 133G, the 119G, and the 97G discs.
In our club tournaments, I used to play just an ultimate disc as a handicap when other players used golf discs, and I was usually very competitive.
I think ultimate disks are actually illegal due to the weight vs. diameter ratio. I used to like to carry one playing the UCSB on campus obstacle course “The Lagoon Links” because I was so used to its flight pattern.
I used to play a fair amount (I was the biggest donor for the Goleta Evergreen course), but haven’t played much in the last 10 years. I just played the new Golden Gate Park course and made one of the greatest shots of my career. On my approach, I was blocked by a bunch of 50 foot high trees with a blind shot. I threw a overhead hammer skip shot and sunk it for a birdie. For what it’s worth, I played Oak Grove back in 1975.
The one thing that you should look out for (as a novice) in a driver is a very stable disk. The anheiser shot is difficult to master, and it seems that all the super long drivers are really overstable (falls off to the left when thrown backhand with the right hand). I borrowed a new plastic Innova Cobra which is fairly different from the Cobras I was throwing in the 1980’s. It flies very flat and seems to be able to take a licking when you whack a tree (this happens all day long in Golden Gate Park). If you can throw a forehand, work on it because almost every disk is low speed overstable.
As blondebear said, putting is the key to the game. I played twice in 5 years, and should have beat everyone in my fivesome if I could just make a friggen’ putt. I couldn’t throw it far (about half as far as the longest throwers), but I could throw it straight, possess a decent forehand, didn’t lose any disks, stayed in bounds most of the time, and hardly hit any trees.
I’ve been playing for a few years and usually just go out with 3 or 4 discs; a driver i can throw straight, a mid range or two that I can throw predictably and a putter. I like the Leopard as my go-to disc. The key is find a few that you are comfortable with and can throw predictably. I have a bag full at home that I found on courses that I have tried and don’t use. It’s great for my friends who want to try the game out; I always have some to share and have no worry about their loss.
The sport has become more mainstream, and i do see a decent selection in most chain sporting goods stores during the summer months.