Magic Discs

I don't know if this blog will be useful to anyone or not, but I need to get it off my chest. I have been carrying two high sixties original Star Destroyers in my bag for a long time. One is very worn and is used for long rollers side arm and backhand, and occasional high turnover shots. I still have that one and it's still going strong. What I no longer have, and haven't been able to replace satisfactory yet, is my 168g slow turning Star Destroyer. This was very useful for slow turning shots, even in windy conditions. Not only did it have a slow high speed turn, but a small return too.

About a month ago, I threw a horrible shot and deposited this disc into a lake. No big deal, I would just get another. I am still working on that, and that is the reason for the blog. This problem, is why many pros like Ken Climo carry discs in various states of wear. They don't want to lose one that they are used to and not have a ready replacement. It takes many months of wear to get a stable disc, to perform satisfactorily as a turning disc. This has been exacerbated by high tech plastics over DX. DX could be "tuned" by playing a couple of weeks on a rough course. Champion or Star takes much longer.

Beating a disc on a tree or scuffing it purposefully on asphalt doesn't seem to work the same. It is a poor substitute for natural wear. This is true for DX or high tech. Natural wear seems to produce the "magic" discs that will perform so reliably.

The moral of the blog, I guess, is to have backups ready for these special discs, so that you are not caught short like I have been. New discs are easy to replace, especially for me. Slow worn magic discs are very difficult to replace.

[Eirik]

or a dumb friend....................

[mark ellis]

So true but easier said than done. The benefit of candy discs is they last until you lose them. The down side of candy discs is they last until you lose them.

A fresh disc is easy to replace. Just pull out another new one. A moderately beat-in disc is tough to replace. The longer that beat-in disc gets used the more valuable it becomes until eventually it becomes invaluable and darn near irreplaceable.

Part of the magic imbued into the disc is the knowledge we gain about how to control the disc in different conditions and the confidence we feel when we pull it out for a shot.

The flippiest midrange disc in my bag is my most irreplaceable disc. It has been in the bag for a long time, I'm guessing five years. When eventually I lose it I will cry. The longer I use it the more often I use it and the better I know it. But it is now much less stable than it used to be. Since it is a candy plastic blend it can't be identically replaced. The closest back-ups get used in risky weather or seasonal conditions (snow, deep leaves) or risky holes (lakes, swamps, etc.). But the back-ups are years of use away from being where I want them to be.

Last weekend I left my entire disc golf bag at the course following a tournament. Yeah, I know, dumber than dumb. But the course is a privately owned course and the owner called me the next day to inform me of my folly. The course is on the opposite end of the state and it took me a few days to find time to get back and recover the bag. So in the meantime I played another tourney and a few practice rounds. The only discs I missed were the beat up mids, putters and drivers. Oh, I also missed the quad back straps, my only set.

Unfortunately a beat-in disc's job is to bend around the corner, out of sight. Anhyzer shots naturally bury under stuff while hyzers naturally skip on top. So as soon as a disc beats in enough to do it's job, it becomes the disc most likely to get lost. So I use spotters on certain shots and take the disc out of the bag in certain situations. After that it is a matter of fate.

I totally agree that a naturally broken-in disc works best. They glide so well. Short cut methods are risky. Once a disc is broken in too much there is no going back. Maybe we need a robot to throw drives in a field a few thousand times and properly season them.

[jerry ross]

I agree on the back up disc.... or I should say discs... I like to keep 3 - 5 ready to use (already broken in) at any time. Granted, everyone has a special disc that they hate to loose, but having a back up makes it easier.