Terms you use.

For discs that turn hard like firebirds why the heck do people say stable instead of overstable. I think from now on a "Stable" disc should be known as a straight disc that flies straight all the way. A disc that turns right for a righty should be understable and a disc that turns left is overstable. Just bugs me when people call a hard turning disc stable.

Just wanted to get that out there.

[Barry M.]

what if a disc ...(for a righty) goes to the right then turns hard at the end and ends up being straight...what do you call that? you talking about high speed turn?

[Brandon Swanson]

You've opened a new can of worms, but it's a great question. I don't think there's a great universal way to decribe disc flight...innova's system probably makes the most sense with a high speed turn, low speed fade rating on flight because some discs turn hard right, but given enough air space come back left very hard as well more than other discs (like a roc). Discraft's system is too simplistic for advanced players, it doesn't describe the flight very well. It's basically the numerical representation of simply saying overstable, stable, understable. For practical purposes though (where the disc ends up on the fairway) this system is often sufficient. I've started to prefer it a bit, because it is an easier way to compare the discs. The Innova system's fatal flaw is that those flight patterns are based on a particular throw. If you can't throw with very good power, the boss is going to be much more overstable for you than a wraith...though they each have the same flight rating numbers. I would simply up their numbers for a disc like a boss...maybe have the same range of difference, but give it numbers like +2 +6 in...that doesn't mean that it turns left for everyone at the beginning, it simply means that it is more overstable relative to the wraith.... as an example.

[4U2NV]

You must also take into account people's personal strength. If I throw a crush I might find it understable whereas you may find it to be stable and my son finds it to be overstable.

for me a Force, TeeRex, and Xcaliber are all stable discs, Whippet-X overstable, Wraith understable. Just throwing that out there.

[Wholegrain]

I'm just talking about the term. Doesn't matter what the disc is I guess. But i just meant how you use the word. If you ever use the word overstable then I'm with you no matter how you describe it.

[4U2NV]

Too me anything that you cannot achieve a decent distance with proper form is overstable for you.

[mark ellis]

Stability exists not as a single point but along a continuum. On the continuum (or line graph) are discs as understable as a paper plate and as overstable as a Z Extreme. So the term "stable" may just be shorthand for "overstable" when used by some.

Or if we look at discs along the continuum then as we add stability to a disc it moves farther down the line toward overstability. So in this way stability is a characteristic that can be added or subtracted. Like you can make soup with more or less salt. If a disc did not fight headwind well enough we might hear a golfer say, "This disc isn't strong enough, can you give me a disc with more stability?"

As the disc flies straight in the direction of the tree, the golfer cries, " Get Stable!!" He really means he wants the disc to check up and start hyzering out so it avoids the tree. He wants the disc to fly as though it is more overstable. If the disc flew truly stable then it would continue straight and smack the tree. But we know what he means, unless he happens to be a masochist, which would never apply to any of us. :)

[Brandon Swanson]

I hear you. The one that bugs me though is when people say a disc is "more stable" than another disc when they really mean "more OVER-stable." They rarely mean that the disc is straighter.

[Donny Olow]

For a Right handed player , understable turns in towards the body , stable is straight flying and Overstable turns away from the body. You also have Hyzer Flip and Flex !!!

[A.I.]

I agree - when I first started playing, it also bugged me when players said stable and meant overstable. It's something that I've absorbed overtime, placing priority on individual impacts of flight path. Now this is my system among friends: stable, straight, not stable.

[kcbrez009]

I see what you mean. Stability is kind of like a mountain or bell curve, in which a very stable disc such as a TeeBird or a Buzzz is at the top in the middle, a very overstable disc like a Flick is on one side at the bottom, and a very understable disc like a Roadrunner is at the bottom on the other side. In that example, the TeeBird and the Buzzz are "more stable" than both the Roadrunner and the Flick, and both the Roadrunner and the Flick are "less stable" than the TeeBird and the Buzzz. Being "more stable" does not equal being "more overstable".

[Brandon Swanson]

I was thinking about it and really the best way to talk to another golfer about discs and describing them is to find out what they throw and find a point of connection and go from there. "That teerex flies like a longer teebird" or "the Rogue is like a flippier surge" for some examples or saying a disc is more overstable than this or that disc.

I do realize that this is NOT my idea and that people do this all the time. I just hadn't realized till this thread that it's the least confusing way to do it.

[The FORCE]

If its stable, its not flippy. If its flippy, its not stable. C'mon now...