I often tell new players they’re not disc golfers until they’ve hit their first tree, smacked a band from 6 feet, or lost a disc in the water. I guess that’s just me gatekeeping the sport a little bit, but I think for the most part every disc golfer can appreciate having done one or all of those things.
I’ve done all three.
This week I’d like to talk about floating disc golf discs and their uses and drawbacks. I get plenty of questions like…
“Do disc golf discs float?”
“How do they float?”
“How well do floating discs fly?”
“Is it necessary to have a floating disc?”
The reason for having floating discs is pretty simple. You’re not afraid you’re going to lose this disc if it lands in the water. If you’re someone who plays around water or plays a lot of new courses and wants a disc they can risk, keep reading.
Let’s talk about the disc golf discs that Sabattus has that float in the water.
1. Dragon (Understable fairway driver)
2. Wahoo (Understable distance driver)
3. Blizzard Champion Beast (Stable distance driver)
4. Blizzard Champion Wraith (Stable distance driver)
5. Blizzard Champion Katana (Stable distance driver)
6. Blizzard Champion Ape (Overstable distance driver)
7. Blizzard Champion Destroyer (Stable distance Driver)
8. Blizzard Champion Boss (Stable Distance Driver)
You’ll notice that they’re all drivers. And only the Dragon is a fairway driver we carry that floats in the water.
I think that’s because we kind of expect water carries to be longer shots. At Sabattus the longest water shot is about 100 feet across Hole 8 of the Eagle course. At some other courses there are much longer water carries.
If you’re faced with a 75 foot shot you don’t necessarily need a floating putter or mid. You could disc up and get the shot over that distance. That’s my reasoning on why discs don’t tend to be floating mids and putters.
The Dragon and Wahoo are both understable despite having -2/2 turn and fade for both. I say this as someone who purchased both of these discs very excitedly, they’re both much more -4/0.
Flippy as the day is long. I promise you these discs are highly understable and will flip over even at lower arm speeds.
If you’re not someone who enjoys throwing flippy discs you’ll be out of luck snagging either of these discs.
They’re both listed as different plastics. R Pro and DX. But they’re both fairly soft compared to most other R Pro and DX discs. They’re also glossy in a way that most baseline discs aren’t glossy looking.
Both the Wahoo and Dragon absolutely float in the water.
You can put them upside down in a 5 gallon bucket full of water and they’ll make their way to the top. They won’t pop out like a ball being dragged down into the water. But they will make their way to the surface.
The first thing I did when I went home (after writing my name on the disc) was to put them in a bowl of water and test if they really would float if they went in at a hard angle. Both the Dragon and Wahoo float.
The other 6 discs are all molds that are popular in the Innova family tree, but they’re made in Blizzard plastic. Blizzard plastic is noted for being similar to Champion blend in looks and feel, but with micro bubbles inside to reduce weight.
The lower weight in the discs makes them easier to get up to speed. For example, I throw a Champion blend Wraith on many of my distance drives. But if I were to throw the Blizzard version it gets very flippy on me.
So I would disc up to a Boss or an Ape for my floating disc. I want that extra stability when I throw something lighter that’s faster.
I highly recommend if you get a floating disc from us to get something that’s a speed or two higher.
Now you do need to pick discs that are 140 grams or fewer for the plastic to guarantee floating. And as a precaution, I would test it first in a 5 gallon bucket of water. Or your popcorn bowl if you don’t have a big bucket of water.
Now that you have one of the floating discs that we offer at Sabattus I’m going to tell you that you do need other things to get that disc.
1. You’ve got to possibly swim for your disc. At least you know where you have to go.
In this case I recommend the Innova Dewfly towel. I’ve never found anything better that gets rid of the water on my disc or my soaking wet body. I bag at least 4 of these per round.
2. Disc retrieval stick. Whether you want to go searching for a long stick. Bag the Kwik-Stik’s that we sell here, or get your own from somewhere else. This is pretty essential since your disc is going in the water.
Don’t forget to practice with that disc. Don’t just see water on the Hole sign and pull out your Blizzard Champion Boss. Take it out into the field with you and learn how much flip it’s going to have. I tend not to bag a water disc, but when I do go to courses with a lot of water I make double sure I have my Kwik Stik and towels.
Floating discs can be great when you’re not comfortable making a shot, or are worried about losing a disc. They still require you to retrieve them out of the water though, so make sure you have the right gear for that afterwards.
If you have any questions about some of these great discs leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you.
May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397
