Are Putter-Only Rounds Actually Making You Worse at Disc Golf? | Beginner Tips

What's up YouTube fam? Robbie C here.

Today we are at Lenora Park over in

Snellville, Georgia. And we're going to

sort of answer a question that I think

has been coming up more and more in the

beginner world as more content is being

produced. And that is, is putters only

still the way if you're trying to

improve? And if it's not the way, is

there another way? Before we dive in, we

have to ask sport question of the day.

How you doing today, Scott? You having a

good one?

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It is pretty tried and true classic

advice for beginners. If you're trying

to improve, if you want to get better,

one of the best ways that you should go

about that is by playing putter only

rounds. Putter only rounds have a lot of

benefits to them that we'll kind of

discuss throughout the video. But I've

also just myself been a huge proponent

of everybody should play putter only

rounds. However, as I have been trying

to push and increase my distance

thresholds myself and as I see other

players do this, I think that putter

only rounds present some inherent

problems that are going to come later on

in your disc golf game. And I feel like

it's worth addressing them early before

you find yourself like me hating

distance drivers and feeling so awful

when you put them in your hands.

So don't be like me. Let's talk about

it. Was I wrong? Our putter only round's

the way to go out here. Hole one 277 ft.

We're actually going to go pig pig. Two

off the first. Feel good about it. Put

the uh old precious child on some hiser.

Uh, it says 277 downhill.

That's going to be pretty good. Right

next to the basket. Wide pig.

Not that wide.

Much more inside. It's a good thing

Precious Child was good. So, if you're

throwing putter only rounds, let's talk

about what some of the benefits might be

to putter only rounds because I still do

think that they can be rather impactful.

I think one of the first and probably

one of the biggest benefits of putter

only rounds is you're going to learn how

little disc you actually need in order

to succeed or score on a course. I think

lots of times we step up with these full

bags and you have these big distance

discs and you're like, "Hey, I I almost

have this golf approach to the hole

where when I'm playing golf, I hit the

driver off the tea and then I hit the

irons in the fairway and then I use the

wedges for approaches and the putter on

the putting green." We like slot into

when I'm on certain positions on a hole.

That's when I should use certain clubs.

But as you start playing with better

golfers, you'll see that just because

you're on the tea doesn't mean you have

to hit a driver. And sometimes you play

short holes and you really don't feel

like you have to hit a driver. And I'll

be one of the first to admit that unlike

golf, the distance cap on how far you

can throw things is dramatically easier

to overcome inside of disc golf as

opposed to golf. Whereas like in golf, a

driver is the hardest club to hit. So,

it doesn't always go as far, or at least

it doesn't go as far accurately.

First putt of the day.

We did a bag swap this weekend. And uh I

can feel that it's about time for that

putter to retire cuz I actually this

putter has been in my bag since USDGC

last year. And at the time of filming

this, this video comes out, I think,

either during USDC or the week after.

So, a full year it's seen some things.

It's nice and worn and might be time to

move on to some new ones. So, take this

hole for example. This is uphill. It's

easier to get distance on the downhill

hole that we just played, but going

uphill could be a little difficult in

order to get there. But if we are

playing putter only rounds, like I said,

you don't need as much disc as you often

believe in order to score. And so I have

to ask myself, hey, if I go with the

distance driver, what variables do I

bring into play? Things like that. Or

can I just try and get a hold of a

putter

and see if it can get there. Okay, we're

pin high. We're pretty far out wide, but

pin high. Now, the second thing that I

think that playing putter only rounds

brings into play is simplification. It's

a lot harder to get into trouble with

putters because they when thrown

correctly, especially compared to

drivers, they don't go as far, but also

they are a little less punishing when

thrown incorrectly. And nose angle is

something we're going to talk a lot

about during this video because a putter

does not punish you for throwing

supernose up like a driver will. And

when you throw a driver supern nose up,

all these squirly things start happening

to you. And that's not ideal for us. If

you can get into less trouble, I think

you're going to find that you can

typically score better because you find

yourself in less trouble and you

surprise yourself with throwing these

putters. Okay, not as bad as we thought.

I think we're gonna go a little straddle

right side. We've pulled both of these

putts, right? So, that's good. There's

some mental like thing happening of

my putts. I'm like not committing and

popping.

And it gets really tricky mentally when

you miss two putts to the right because

at least for my putt when I give it the

pop and give it the beans.

The right miss comes more into play. But

that's if I like don't do the proper

form. It's just a little bit of a wild

time. Now, the third reason that I like

putter only rounds, and I think that

it's a solid reason on why several

people enjoy them as well, is that you

have a built-in excuse at all times.

What do I mean by this? Well, just like

I framed the first part of this shot to

high, when we walk in with our whole

bag, our expectations are high because

we have probably played disc golf to

some level of competency in the past. We

have succeeded. We've met goals. And

when we set those goals or we throw

really well, we sort of set that as the

barrier for or the bar even of

successful play. Well, you see, Mr.

YouTube man, one time I played this

course and I shot 13 down. So therefore,

if I shoot 12 down, I'm pretty much a

garbage human being and a garbage

player. Sign me up for Franklin Disc

Sports because uh that's the only

sponsor I deserve. First off, how dare

you, random commenter. The Albatross is

a fantastic disc. But second,

it sounds like a joke, but it really is

this feeling that lots of you watching

have when you play disc golf. I shot

this round once in my life and

everything else below that is

disappointment instead of just

appreciating. Well, maybe you just like

played really well that day and it's

okay for that to be just like a goal to

get to, but not an expectation. What we

mean by the built-in excuse of the

putter only rounds is that there's

really two options that are going to

happen when you play a putter only

round. The first result is that you are

going to play shockingly well. You're

going to get out there and you are just

going to ball out and play in a way that

blows your expectations out of the

water. You're just like, man, I didn't

think I could shoot six down on this

course with just putters, but I shot

eight down. Surprise, surprise.

Oh yeah, that needs to be an SSS.

Well, the good news is that I didn't

tell you where it was, I don't think.

So, it could be a really good shot

if the pin position's over there. Now,

if you shoot that really good round, you

get the dopamine hit of saying, "Wow, I

shot that well with a putter.

Am I Paul McBth?" But also, a likely

scenario is that you aren't going to

channel like your inner mc beast. you're

not going to get out there and shoot the

round of your life. And if you don't do

that, well, you have this thing of

saying, well, I was playing with putters

only. So, like, what did I expect to

happen? What did I think was going to

happen? That's difficult to score

because I'm just playing with the

slowest possible distance in my back.

So, we walk away with only positive

possibilities because if you play

poorly, you have a built-in reason that

you did. And if you play well, you

surprise yourself at how well you can

play because you were just playing with

butters. Also, uh spoiler alert, it was

not in the left pin position.

It was in the straight pin position. So,

uh or not close,

but it kind of almost didn't matter. We

kind of almost threw it in anyways. That

would have been cool.

So great having the pole cap back in the

back. So at this point you may be asking

yourself sort of two questions.

The first and most importantly what kind

of storm is rolling in and are we in

danger? This is like a wide open field.

Are we in danger? And the second

probably a little more prevalent to you

who are not possibly out here in this

wide open field. I mean heck you'd be

watching this video and you're out here

right now. What a cameo that would be.

Mr. YouTube man. You said that there are

drawbacks to putter only rounds and you

just keep giving a lot of positives on

putter only rounds. So, it doesn't sound

like you've actually convinced yourself

that you were wrong about them. Well,

that's cuz I haven't talked about the

negatives yet.

This is where we're going to talk about

nose angle. Hold up real fast. We got to

lace this drive through these trees and

get it down there. It's only like

casually

328 feet. So, like I can definitely get

that with a putter. I don't know if you

guys know this, but uh

I'm kind of huge.

Y

told you guys I was going to park the

basket. Fortunately, that's whole threes

basket, the one that we just just played

and also didn't throw it to. So nose

angle is the relation of the front of

the disc to the line of which you pull

the disc on. So a great example of this

can be that if I am taking the disc and

I am throwing it in this downward motion

like I'm pulling it in this downward

motion but the disc is relatively flat.

So then you can see that in relation to

this, the nose is actually up, which

means that it's going to create this

sort of pocket that slows the disc down.

It's like trying to throw a disc with a

kite or a parachute behind it. Whereas

if I am throwing the disc up and I have

it on that flat, you can see that the

launch angle is going this way, but the

nose, the front of the disc is down in

comparison to that.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Just like it just makes sense that this

is super short.

Holy moly, Batman.

Does this have tooling? It does.

Oh, that's bad, too. What? Who are you?

What are we doing, dude?

Cuz it was a bullcat shop. You silly

guy.

I think that's still also really short.

Fourth try.

Okay, I think the pig is a lot better.

So, why do we talk about nose angle in a

should you throw putter only video?

Well, putters have much more of a blunt

rim to them. And so while I would say

that a putter doesn't want to fly crazy

nose up, it is less punishing when a

putter flies nose up. Whereas a driver

has that bladed edge to it that is

designed to cut through the wind. But we

can think of that bladed edge serving as

more of a ramp so that when it is thrown

nose up, it flies in a much more

punishing and aggressive fashion. such

as here. I can take a Luna as well as a

time-lapse. A Luna is a three-speed

putter and a timelapse is a 12-speed

driver.

If I try to intentionally throw both of

these nose up downhill here, we'll go

with the Luna first.

You can see that the Luna held

relatively straight while still pushing

some pretty good distance because it's a

putter. So, it was less punished. Now,

if I take this time lapse, which is once

again a 12speed, so if we were to make

the assumption, which is incorrect,

that for every speed of the disc, it's

supposed to go farther, this should be

able to go four times as far as the

Luna, which is just not true, even if

this factor wasn't there. But here's

what happens when we throw the Luna or

the time lapse

nose up.

You can see the time lapse actually

didn't even go as far as the Luna

because nose angle is a real thing. And

now it's raining. So, we go to the

trees. Now, I know what you may be

thinking after you see a shot like that.

You may be thinking to yourself that,

hey, this is why I got to take the

distance drivers out of my bag because

if I throw my distance driver poorly, it

just doesn't go as far as my putters.

And I I think that if you're trying to

like score quickly and immediately, that

is certainly an approach that you can

take. We actually just saw this

discussion over on the Pro Tour and

someone mentioned they just took

everything that was faster than 10 speed

out of their bag and we're talking about

a Pro Tour player.

But that's going to be 100% honest sort

of what sparked the idea for this video

is that if you do this, I even remember

there was discussion by Trevor and

Hunter on Grip Lock talking about this

and they were like for Hunter if he took

that approach it probably would help him

score better because he throws fairway

drivers extremely well. But Trevor

prefers to have that distance driver rim

and he's very good at throwing flex

shots and like distance drivers just

really suit him. So, if Trevor just

decided to embrace this method and say,

"Oh, well, I got to play putters only

and I have to avoid distance drivers at

all times,

he would not have found the joy and the

beauty and the competence that he has

when it comes to throwing those distance

driver shots." Now, I will be the first

to tell you that if you take the I don't

want to throw fast discs approach

because I just want to be smooth with my

putters and things like that.

Eventually, there's going to come a time

in your game where you need to start

throwing these faster discs. And if you

haven't put the time in and you've

developed this somewhat nose up

personality, like throwing those two

shots there, it felt way more natural

than I wanted it to be to just turn the

brain off and throw super swoopy

nose up shots. So that's been part of my

game for a long time. And I remember

years ago at the Creators Cup over in

Charleston when we were playing and

there was this par4 that I really I saw

Molt had spent a lot of time in a field.

We were playing match play in the finals

or semi-finals I guess technically. And

Molt had spent a lot of time in a field.

He loved to try to learn how to throw

far and that just wasn't something I was

interested in. So I step up to a hole

and I was like I've got to throw a

distance driver here. And I remember my

frustration

with throwing a driver. Like I went to

put this distance driver in my hand

going backhand just being so

nervous putting it in my hand that it

instantly made me doubt the shot and I

shank it into the woods. It doesn't go

well. And I knew at that moment that

something had to change. And still for

several years I just didn't try to fix

it anyways. So, I don't want you to fear

an entire class of discs or be

frustrated before you even throw the

shot because you just decided to avoid

them for a certain amount of time. So,

be sure you're throwing your fairway

drivers. throw essentially bladed edge

discs because I think if you just go

putters only that fear is probably the

biggest negative because you could build

a very nose up habit of

yeah thinking you're throwing well when

you're just throwing discs that like

your nose up angle.

But there are two other aspects of

throwing just putters that I think need

to be discussed. This hole seems like

sneaky far. How far is this? Oh,

this is 393 ft.

Easy Luna shot.

Yeah, we're like super close there. I

think one of the skills that's a lot

harder to pick up, and we actually have

a video coming out next week about this,

is the forehand. Throwing putters on

forehand can be a very touchy endeavor

because yeah, like in order to get that

disc to go straight, I can't really put

a lot of pop or pizzazz into it because

it's a putter, so I don't want to

overpower it. Whereas, if you get

comfortable throwing not just putters,

you'll learn over time,

you can do a whole lot more with

drivers. And while I don't want you

learning like a chop forehand with the

driver, it gets a little less punishing

to experiment with the forehand if you

don't just have putters. Obviously, an

alternative here is you can go with

something like a pig. I guess piggies

love piggies life. Or you can go with a

zone overstable putting approach discs

are a pretty classic way to overcome the

the putter mentality and still have

something nice that you can work on

forehanding it with. We actually have a

video that a lot of folks have seen on a

forehand lesson with Abby, my neighbor,

and her one of her best forehand discs

that she has is she forehands a zone

pretty regularly and she does it

extremely well. It's been really fun

playing with her and watching how she

has this confidence that was certainly

not there before when it comes to

forehanding a

zone repeatedly. So

just going with the putters only I think

once again will limit those options. But

the biggest factor here that I want you

to consider and I really want to make

sure that it's constantly being brought

up in the discussions on this channel

because I understand that I've said

before that I struggle to find a hobby

that is more fun the worse you are at

it. But as noted by the guy that I met

before we uh started filming this video,

this is

this is a hobby for so many people in

life and will probably never be a job

for 99.9% of people that play disc golf.

When I say the guy who watched this

video before or I met as I was walking

up to the tea, a guy stopped me and was

like, "Oh, it's a nice camera. You're a

photographer." And I was like, "No, I uh

I have run a YouTube channel." And he

goes, "Oh, what do you do on your

YouTube channel?" and I said, "Oh, I

teach people how to play disc golf." And

he laughed and went, "Oh, I I thought

you were joking."

And then he told me that he also runs a

YouTube channel and that I should

subscribe. So,

we are his fourth subscriber.

That's nice. If the idea of playing

putters only sounds really not fun to

you, then I would suggest keeping some

drivers in there, keeping some fairways

in there, and don't do the putter only

rounds. Obviously, as we open the video

with, there are some benefits, and I

think those benefits are really strong,

but there are drawbacks, and I will be

the first to acknowledge them and know

that my disc golf therapy is overcoming

them. Still, you could see it in every

single distance video that I ever do.

There is definitely a fear inside all of

them. So, have fun with it. If you want

to throw the big shot, throw the big

shot. And even if the big disc that

you're throwing doesn't go as far as

maybe another disc does, but you have a

lot of fun throwing it, bag it.

Throw it.

Love it. Just like I love being here

with you in this moment right next to

the camera. Because sometimes stepping

up and grabbing that really cool

best friend cigara

just feels like a way better and more

fun way to approach playing the hole

and then walking up with a zone SS and

being like hope I can get it there.

cuz we threw this on SS far.

It's just not remotely close to the

basket. So hopefully this video didn't

take a 180 that caught you completely

off guard, but has some has some

thoughts that are intriguing to you cuz

I think there are certainly enough

videos out there of putter only advice.

I know I've got several on my channel

alone. I think to answer probably how

the thumbnail or title of the video is

going to be packaged. I don't think I

was entirely wrong by recommending

putters only.

But I think it needs an asterisk.

And that asterisk is pretty important

for the fun of disc golf, for the sake

of your mental, for at least some of you

mental, cuz I know that I'm not the only

one out there who is afraid of throwing

drivers. And hopefully it gives a fresh

perspective on some reasons that if

you've been afraid of trying drivers in

the past.

Holy moly. I mean, this was

it was past the basket. It just wasn't

all the way up the hill, which was like

the whole reason this was a hard hole to

get to.

So, we can throw putters far.

Although,

is this cheating? It is a four speed.

So, guess it is definitely a mid-range.

So, as always, lovely people, I want to

say thank you so much for watching. I

hope you have an amazing an amazing

rest of your day. Please make it

fantastic for someone else, too. But for

now, we're going to leave you with the

birdie.

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