Intuitive.
This is one of those adjectives you hear tossed around in disc golf on the regular.
Words are how I make my living, but for the longest time, the way I associated it with disc golf wasn’t entirely correct. The word “intuitive” makes me think of a smartphone app. An intuitive app is one that’s understood by people – using it is simple. It’d be the same thing for discs …
Right?
Kind of …
There’s more to it than that.
Right now, I’m working on a review of the Star AviarX3 – the one with Jeremy Koling’s signature on the flight plate. I use the disc for a month. I jot down my thoughts. Then, before writing, I read a few reviews online to see how my feelings align with those of other disc golfers.
It was during that last step I came across a review on a product page in which the user described the frisbee as intuitive, because “it’s easy to imagine the full flight before releasing” the disc.
I freaking love that.
So yes, it’s easy to use. Like well-built software, it’s natural. But more than that, when a disc becomes intuitive, you envision a line, and the disc does most of the work. So much so, in fact, your mind doesn’t consciously have to tell your body to do anything unique – it simply delivers.
It’s instinctive; the disc is an extension of your disc golf self.
Ideally, forehand and backhand, EVERY disc in your bag gets to this point. Watch Joel Freeman do an “In the Bag” video, and you’ll see what I’m talking about – he goes for 20-plus minutes.
I’m not nearly as familiar with my gear as Freeman is with his, but we do share a common love of the Champion Glow Gator – it’s the lone disc in my possession I’d give the “intuitive” label.
* Note: Full disclosure, Freeman is big on the Champion Glow Gator3 – mine’s a flat-top Gator.
I’m confident in EVERYTHING it does …
Forehand or backhand:
- I can toss it on a spike-hyzer line.
- I can baby-flex it down a tight fairway.
- I can put more air underneath it for distance.
- I can get it to hold a gradual anhyzer angle, too.
I can even putt (somewhat) well with it into a ripping headwind.
I see the line; I hit the line.
Regardless of the course, I look for excuses to use it. Because when I do, good things happen. Getting the other 14 discs in my bag to the same level of efficiency is work. And while I wish some magic, corner-cutting formula existed to get there, I know what’s required …
T–I–M–E
These kinds of relationships need it to mature.
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