Name 3 things every newbie should know.

[walteregeaux]

A friend of mine is a rookie. What does he need to know?

Thanks,
Walter

[Ron Pittman]

Great question, Walter.

Here is my first thoughts....

1. Learn the "power" grip. You are eventually going to change to it anyway. You will find out soon enough that the finger on the front doesn't really work for your drive. Go ahead and start out with the power grip.

2. The disc doesn't lie! If you don't have a LEVEL release -- the disc will tell on you!

If it screams LEFT on every shot (RHBH) it is because the wing (opposite your grip) was DOWN at the point of release. Or if it shoots UP, your nose was UP at the point of release. Level is good.

3. Don't attempt shots you don't know yet. For the first 8 or 10 rounds (maybe the first 20 rounds??) bring your disc BACK into the fairway and throw from there. It isn't "cheating" -- it is learning. Practice a basic backhand and forehand. Save the goofy shots for later.

Don't worry about your buddy the rules nazi, or your attempt to improve your score. Just have some fun and get some reps in. After you make 200-300 drives, approaches, and putts it will be time to learn some get-out-of-trouble shots. Patience young Jedi.

Ron

[msudog]

Start slow. A lot of new players think they are ready to throw 500 feet from the start, so they go out and by the biggest, fastest disc they can get their hands on(I did). Don't! It will seriously mess up your form in the long run.

I'd recommend starting with slower, more understable discs in the beginning. A good combo would be a Leopard, Stingray or Wolf, and an Aviar if you like Innova. If you want something Discraft, then try an Impact, Comet, and Magnet.

Pay attention to the weights of discs too. 162 grams isn't very different than 165, but it is very different from 175. Putters are usually fine for beginners in the heavier weights, but try to stick around 165 for drivers and midranges, for now.

Here are some excellent resources to read up on at discgolfreview.com . Helpful for anyone of any skill level looking to improve. There's also a forum section that has tons of information.

www.discgolfreview.com/resources/tips.shtml
www.discgolfreview.com/resources/discselection.shtml

James

[RD]

1) It's not a frisbee, its a disc. It takes more than your arm to fly it right. Pay attention to the form of seasoned players. Most use some form of a run up. (except Ron, hes got some sort of two step then fling sorta thing) The point is, you need your wrist for snap, your arm to keep it level, and your core combined with run-up for max power.

2)Don't get frustrated. some may think they can never throw a disc right when they first start out and come watch Becker throw 450 feet time and time again. Take your time, I like what Ron said about reseting in the fairways each shot for serveral rounds. James also had a great tip about correct weight and stability. Read up on them before you buy. the biggest spec to pay attention to is disc speed. Just because a disc is a speed 12 by no means can the average person can throw it correctly. Understable is best for begginers

3) HAVE FUN, and enjoy the outdoors!

[Dave the editer]

1. The thing I tell beginners is that a drive should never be more than about ten feet off the ground. Keep the disc flat and throw a line drive. Old folks like me who grew up throwing Frisbees need to unlearn old habits.

2. When you're putting, make believe you're playing catch with your friend the basket, and try to hit him in the chest. Relax. Have fun! Play catch.

3. When the hole goes downhill, angle your drive downhill. (Think of hole 14.) When the hole goes uphill, throw your drive so it just barely stays above the ground. (Think of hole 7.)

Dave the editer

[mikemyrick]

I tell most rookies I come across what I wish someone would have told me before I went to a store blindly and bought a firebird as my first disc back when it was the most over-stable disc made in that day... cause, you know... the graphic was cool and reminded me of the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit. J/K... or am I?

Don't be fooled by the term "Putter" in disc golf. it misleads people into thinking that it's only useful when you're close enough to throw a bag into the chains as if it's solely a finish-off disc. Even Putt & Approach is a misleading term. It should be considered a "Less long" driver that has more of a standard frisbee feel to it than the other types of discs. A putter is a great, reliable control disc (especially nice woods glide shots) that can be manipulated to do much more than they may realize before they're exposed to much of it. If a beginner player learns to expand their distance with a putter, I think it'll benefit their game initially (especially with woods controlled throws and landing location control in the ground trash) and also help with the step up to the harder-to-learn driving discs due to more easily learning to throw it level in the disc vs frisbee adaptation all new players deal with. Eventually, when they expand their skill set, they'll want to consider a putter throw/drive a major option for level or downhill shots that don't need any hyzer or turnover tricks of too high of a degree for about 325 and in. Building consistency with putter driving for all < 300 situations that don't tell you that you NEED the specific, unique flight/skip functions of a driver or a mid range is a major tool in a player's arsenal.

For example: a Putter from even the white tees can easily gimmie-park well over half of the holes at Liberty with little physical force due to it's ability to glide straight and/or easily hold a consistent, predictable turn of either direction through the entire flight of the disc.

[Ron Pittman]

Oooh, Oooh. In the category of putter talk. Given that the 5 putters I carry may not be enough -- I bought a Sonic. It is and old school lid like the Fastback. Ryan and Climo were playing catch with one after the MCO and it was so very very straight. While you could finesse a turn if you wanted -- if you threw it at the basket -- it went right at it with no turn. 150' up shots were deadly. It behaves in the backyard; I nailed all of the maple trees dead center. Can't wait to get it on the course.

Anybody else tried it?

Ron

[mikemyrick]

Haven't tried a Sonic yet. I'll keep my eye open and maybe check one out or watch you throw yours a bit. I've always loved a big bead Aviar of some type. I don't mind throwing an Omega or something like that too- maybe even a Challenger... but I always liked that nice bead on the "Aviar drivers" to keep a sneaky wind or slope from making it do something mid-flight. Love the JK Pros and the older "Pro" plastic (the very hardened rubber feel) ones similar or equal to the gold 20th anniversary makes from about 2003-2004 or so - same material they made the Super Rocs from in '05. I'm like you, I carry several putters in the bag.

Any new player looking to get started, grab a nice stable to straight-flight putter and throw it like Ron's referring to, and you'll be surprised how much you like it and how confident you will be with your control. If you like a harder plastic to feel more like what you'd assumed a disc to feel like, I'd recommend a KC Pro Aviar. Don't get the lightest because you don't want to have it blowing everywhere from each little breeze (even though the glide would be wicked - but the air pocket under a putter going slower is easy to throw off course) but don't get the max weight either... you don't want to feel like you're throwing a short range brick. Maybe a 167-172 or so.

Bring up another point I'll make because I'd only listed 1 initially, and that's totally not the theme for the thread...

Don't think that just because you're a big guy with a lot of muscular strength, that you need to be like "OH, I'm a titan. I know already that I'll need max weight of anything I touch because I'm from Krypton." A more heavy disc will require more torque on the disc... or if you wanna get fancy - more gyroscopic rotation needed to stabilize the larger mass in motion and keep it from falling out early in a flight-tail hyzer and more slung wind speed needed to keep it carrying by momentum as opposed to gliding. When the momentum ends, down you go. Even the big arm pros with thunder snaps often throw disc that don't always have to be 175-180s (depending on the legal limits and availability from model-to-model). If you want a disc to flip the S and stay airborne longer anyway, forcing yourself to only throw maxed weights will actually contradicts your intention. I carry a lot of 172-175 for reliability, but I've been playing long and developed the range to rely on power hyzers for reliability for a lot of shots, but as far as distance throwing goes when you have the luxury of opening up to clear mass openings, I've gotten my best snaps off of plenty of 167s and such drivers. With the post-2004 wide-edged speed drivers, about 167-168 will probably be minimum weight in high end plastic, because the lip is SO big that anything less, and they'd have to take away from the top, that'll, by that point, already be quite thin.

Bottom line, put the testosterone-charged vanity aside and try a mid spectrum weight disc first, then go from there when you actually know what to consider when selecting your later purchases through experience. I'll think you'll be glad you did.