What are the Different Types of Disc Golf Discs?

When you’re out on the course, you’re going to be involved in a ton of different situations including your drives, approaches, and putts. There will be a lot of different ways to play the game, so it’s Important that you know a little bit about every kind of disc you will be throwing in disc golf. It’s also crucial that you know what each disc does and when discs should and should not be used. In this post, we will briefly look at the four types of disc golf discs.

What are the (4) types of disc golf discs?

• Distance drivers
• Control/fairway drivers
• Mid-range discs
• Putters

Now for ease of learning purposes, we’re going to be sticking with just these four basic types of discs. There are a lot of discs that perform more than one function, are designed as hybrid or two-way discs, or that work well for multiple course scenarios. I get that. But for this post, we will just be talking about the four types listed above.

What are the different types of disc golf discs?

1. Distance drivers: those looking for max range and distance on the course should look toward the distance driver. Distance drivers are very thin, sharp-edged discs that require a lot of speed to be able throw. If you can get the required speed on your throw, some of these discs will fly an easy 400 to 500 feet or more.

2. Fairway/control drivers: your fairway driver is usually a long-range consistent and accurate disc. It’s also easier to throw and control than a long distance driver. If you’re looking for a balance between accuracy and distance, the fairway driver is your best bet.

3. Mid-range discs: your midrange is, and always will be, the multi-tool of your bag. These types of discs can be used in literally any situation on the course (and normally work pretty well). I personally use my midrange discs to practice with, which means I will use them for every shot in a round. These discs are a little bulkier than drivers, making them less aerodynamic and less able to fly long distances. Midrange discs are normally able to provide more consistency for you when you need more finesse than distance.

4. Putters: your putter is normally going to be you knight in shining armor. It’s the one disc that can really rescue you at the end of a bad couple of shots. Putters are normally a lot bulkier than other discs making them much less aerodynamic. They are not designed for long drives, but can be strategically used to help increase distance when practicing. Putters can also be used for a variety of shots including short and long putts, approach shots, and short drives.

Why do you need all of these discs?

Well, each type of disc performs a different function. You have discs for driving, approaching, and putting. You need different discs for these different parts of the game. Looking at this even closer, there are individual discs that are designed for different situations like performing the difficult shots you will soon read about and avoiding obstacles. And also, it’s just fun to have a lot of cool discs. So go out and get you a couple more discs.

The best distance driver: The Dynamic Discs Sheriff

We definitely don’t recommend buying a distance driver when you’re first starting out. But I will make my recommendation for a driver that I started using after I gained a little bit of speed on my drives. My favorite distance driver is the Dynamic Discs Fuzion Sheriff. It has a very fluid feel to it and holds the line very well. It’s definitely not an easy disc to throw, but doesn’t ask too much from the thrower. This is not a disc for the true beginner but once you improve a little bit, the Sheriff is not a difficult disc to throw. Make sure you grab a Sheriff for your bag (link to InfiniteDiscs.com).

The best fairway/control driver: The Latitude 64 River

I like the River a lot. It’s an absolutely fantastic beginner disc because it doesn’t have to be thrown very hard to fly well. It also has a lot of glide, a good amount of turn, and a low amount of fade, all of which can help the beginner player. This disc doesn’t feel like the typical driver, but more like a really fun mid-range disc. I’m completely okay with that, though. You can pick out your River here on InfiniteDiscs.com

The best mid-range disc: The Innova Wombat

The Innova Wombat is by far my favorite disc golf discs. And one of the reasons why it’s my favorite is because of how much it helped me improve my game in the first year that I played. I’m really happy that I just so happened to pick up this disc. So make sure that you grab one of these, too, on InfiniteDiscs.com. The Wombat is a very easy-to-throw disc with a high glide rating. You don’t have to throw it very hard either. Definitely check this disc out or the upgraded Wombat3 (here on Discgolfunited.com).

The best putter: The Dynamic Discs Judge

The Judge is just an all-around awesome disc for putting. I have the Prime Judge, which even though is in a cheaper plastic, tends to throw very well and doesn’t roll as much (as other Judge putters in better plastic). Both my buddy Hunter and I, as well as thousands of other disc golfers all around the world, use a Judge as a top butter in our bags. InfiniteDiscs.com has the judge as one of the most popular discs on their site and the top-selling Dynamic disc. I mean, it’s got 4.6 stars with amazing reviews to back it up. Why not just grab one to try out? They’re only like $10 bucks.

3 reasons why you need to understand each type of disc

1. Advanced players understand discs, disc physics, and can control their discs masterfully: you’ll notice out on the course that the more advanced players seem so freakin’ good with their discs. It’s tough sometimes as a beginner or amateur. It may seem that, with only the small amount of improvement this far in your disc golf career, you will never get that good. But if you really begin to understand how discs work in their entirety, you can get to this level of skill. It will happen if you keep working at the game.

2. Build a good disc golf bag: if you want to build a great disc golf bag with discs that can help you out in any scenario or situation, you have to know which discs are which.

3. So that can get better: a good understanding of the game is what you want if you are getting more serious about the game and improving yourself on the course. Check out a couple of other ways to improve in the next section below.

5 simple ways you can improve your game and get better with each disc

1. Practice: you won’t ever get any better if you don’t practice your game. You have to get out on the course and do work, yo. Check out this article on practice. I like how the writer shows the difference in “pretty good” and “expert,” as well as knowing how to do something well and actually being able to perform a certain skill well. It really relates to the disc golf course. You can know a ton of strategy and every disc golf term on the internet, but you won’t do well without practice.

2. Use the same disc for a couple of rounds: Bruce Lee once said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” I love that quote. If you applied this to disc golf, it would be like this: the person who has practiced with one disc 10,000 times will have mastered that one disc. The person who has practiced with 10,000 discs only once or twice will probably be good at disc golf, but not near as good as that first person. Get a couple of solid discs that you like – a driver, a mid range, and a putter and use only those discs for awhile. My bet is that you’ll get pretty dang good with those discs.

3. Make sure you are using the right discs for your skill level: I can’t stress this point enough on my blog. I’ve mentioned this tip in almost every improvement post on the site up to this point. You need to understand the different types of discs and also how flight ratings work so that you can throw the right discs. Check out our awesome guide for easily understanding flight ratings here.

4. Disc golf drills: you can try out a couple of easy drills to improve your game like the following below.

“field goals”: in this drill, you should strive to make all of your field goals. First, find a football field near you. Grab your discs and start on the 50 yard line (150 feet away from the field goal). The goal is to throw your discs from the middle of the field through the field goal posts. Once you can consistently do this, move back 10 yards (180 feet away). Continue moving back until you are on the complete opposite field goal post. This post is roughly about 360 feet from the post on the other end of the field. If you get good at nailing these throws, your game will improve tremendously.
“1v1 game”: the 1v1 game is one of my favorite drills to improve putting. It’s you versus your buddy. You guys both have a disc. Start from five feet out. If you make it, move back. If you miss, you lose. Continue moving back five feet until someone misses and loses the round. This is competitive and can show you how to putt under pressure.
“Towel drill”: the towel drill is a very common drill and is fairly well-known in the disc golf community. The towel drill helps to develop speed, power, and requires you to be able to “whip” the towel by using the same proper technique you would use to throw a disc golf disc. Check out the video below for how to do the towel drill.

“Net drill” or “target practice”: the net drill requires some creativity. You’re going to need a net and a hula hoop. You need to be able to hang the net up so that you can throw discs at it. But you also need to hang up the hula hoop right in the middle of the net. Once you do this, grab some drivers and mid-range discs to throw. The goal is to work on your accuracy by continuing to try and throw the disc through the hula hoop. This drill will help with your accuracy, form, and consistency. You can grab a 10 foot by 10 foot net here on Amazon. It’s the same one that I use in my garage. You can also grab a cheap hula hoop on Amazon as well. Any of them will work, but the smaller it is, the better for your accuracy.

5. disc the f*ck down: seriously, please take my advice on this. If you are new to disc golf, try to stay away from distance drivers at first. I still don’t want you to even use fairway drivers because you probably don’t have the arm speed yet. But whatever you do, disc down to a mid-range, putt and approach disc, or a putter. This is a very good way to learn about disc golf with low speed, easy to control discs. Normally the slower discs are, the easier they are to throw (or just generally more accurate, I should say). Try a couple of rounds like this and you should improve much quicker.

So what have we learned?

Well, you now know that there are some huge differences between the four types of disc golf discs. That’s the major point of this post. But hopefully, you’ve been able to see exactly how these discs are used and have gotten a good idea of a couple of good discs to check out for your bag. Those discs can really improve your game. Also, don’t take the tips above for granted. Because while they’re simple, they stand with those fundamental concepts at the core of every advanced disc golf player. If you want to become that player, keep learning, practicing, and doing everything you can to improve at disc golf. Thanks for reading disc golfers! Now get out there and go throw.

Don’t forget to check out the book!

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the best beginner disc golf book on the planet, “The Disc Golf Player’s Manual.” This ebook is packed with over 200+ pages of the best tips, tricks, and advice for new players. Im telling you, this book is epic. If you want to seriously improve in disc golf, you need this book. So don’t miss out!