I've been playing Disc Golf for about 4 - 6 months now, and have improved greatly. However, I am experiencing some problems now. When I first started playing, I played with only one disc: a 180 g Shark. At first I had trouble with left fade, but I was able to resolve it and began throwing straight. I now have six discs: Championship Beast 174 g, Championship Aviar 175 g, Thumtrac Birdie 172 g, JLS 174 g, the old Shark, and a new Championship Leopard 167 g on the way tomorrow. As I stated before, my game has improved immensley, especially after getting a putt and approach disc. The main problem I am having is with my drives. I am able to get good distance, but I have horrible fade. I was throwing my JLS at first and got to where I could throw it pretty straight. Then I got my Beast, which I am able to throw further, but I get a HORRIBLE fade with it. It's gotten to the point where I have to aim to the right so after the disc fades, it ends up back in the middle of the fairway. I still get good distance with this, but I can only think of how far I could throw if I could get this thing to go straight. I've thrown forehand and backhand. When I was throwing my JLS straight, I was snapping my wrist very hard during my release. I'm thinking it is a problem with my angle of release. I usually thow with 3 fingers under the lip now (used to use only 2). Any suggestions on what could be causing me to fade to the left so badly? The last five times I've played I've only use my Beast to drive with, trying to improve with it. Other problem is now that when I throw my shark, I will sometimes release it late and it will go WAY off to the right. I think my Beast throw is messing up my Shark throw. Any suggestion extremely appreciated. Here's so info on my game style:

Driving - Beast

Fairway- Shark

Straight approaches: Aviar

Fade approaches: Birdie

Putts: Aviar

Long fairway: soon to be using Leopard


Any help or suggestions appreciated.

I'm sure Blake will be able to help. I think you will like the Leopard as far as the 'left fade' problem. I had all the same problems at the same point (4 months or so) in my game. Everything went left. I didn't use mid-range discs at all though, and now wish I had, as you can learn the basics from a mid-range more easily than from the high speed drivers.
The Leopards, especially dx, are far more forgiving than Beasts. By that I mean the Beasts are a lot more overstable and will tend to hook left (RHBH).
Another thing I always recommend to beginners is lighter discs!
Try some 150-160g Leopards or Cheetahs, for example.
These discs tend to be understable and will level off and go straight with the right snap. Eventually you will start to turn them over and they'll actually go to the right before coming back left at the end of the flight (helix). Once they start to turn
over, you can go back to the Beasts and the heavier weights and see if you can turn them over.
When you can do that, you'll be adding lots of distance. :D

Lighter discs will help.
I also started with a shark, but mine was 156, as soon as I got some other discs my throws with my shark started to suck, so I went back to throwing my shark whenever possible and improved all my throws.

I used to haul around 10 differant discs(mainly drivers), but now only carry A stingray, viking, and three sharks in my bag.

I started on a 180 Shark and never had any problems.

It sounds like you're trying to throw your shark and your C. Beast the same way. They are completely different discs and therefore require slightly different throws. Everyone is different, and you are going to have to find out what works best for you.

It's really hard to tell what's going on without seeing your throw, but I can think of a few things. One is that your beast can handle alot of torque and will also mask technique problems, compared with your Shark. This happened to me too when I was starting out. I was torquing drivers way out there, but I couldn't throw anything else! I figured out that I was throwing the wrong way. When you throw, you need to get your whole body into it, not just your arm. Also, focus on whipping your arm around, rather than pulling the disc around.

You might also be suffering from grip lock. If that's the case, either change your grip or ease up on your grip. It's always good to experiment with different grips till you find one that gives you the results you want! I use a 4 finger birdie grip!

to correct my fade problems I will go out to a football or soccer feild and practice driving from goal to goal. if my discs are fading left i just put a right tilt on them when i release and continue to practice with the release angles untill i am able to get my optimum distance and accuracy......hopefully this will help you

how far do you throw on average?

the low speed fade you are talking about (especially when contrasted with your JLS) can be caused by two different factors. the first is not enough power, the second is nose angle.

if you are throwing ~220' or less, the beast's fade is probably going to be very strong as it is simply underpowered and doesn't reach/exceed its cruise speed.

if you are throwing ~300' or more, the culprit is probably nose angle. a lot of people call the beast flippy, but it is only flippy when it is thrown with sufficient nose down angle (5+ degrees below flat). the JLS is much less nose angle sensitive and also slower, so it can be powered to flat/slight nose down even when released slight nose up.

i'm going to guess it's more of a nose angle problem.

I'm not sure exactly how far I'm throwing, but I know I'm throwing over 220'. I am 6 ft tall and weigh 180 lbs. I work out daily and have a strong upper body, so I know I can get the power, but I must get the technique down first. As far as a driver is concerned: What do you guys reccommend for beginners? I have thrown the JLS well before, but I can throw the Beast farther. I was thinking of trying a Teebird. I mainly buy Championship series discs now as they are worth the investment (with the trees I hit!) Should I continue to practice with my Beast or try something different until I improve my technique? Thanks again for all the replies.

i never recommend learning with champion/z plastic as i just don't think the characteristics of the plastic are ideal for developing players.

as for the beast, i don't really recommend it for players who throw less than 325' as i believe (from my own experiences as well as coaching others) that is about the minimum power required to get the disc to flatten or turn slightly when released with a 5-10 degree hyzer and a clean release with no torque.

as for disc selection, i wrote an article on it (with driver classifications by power requirement) which can be found here:
http://www.discgolfreview.com/resources/articles/choosingadisc.shtml

while the beast is a longer disc than the JLS, developing good fundamentals and accuracy now will be more important for you in the long run. in the past 2 months i have worked with at least half a dozen people who had begun throwing with discs that were too fast/overstable for them and have had to work them through drills in order to correct torque issues. it's harder to unlearn and relearn than it is to learn the right way off the bat.

Thanks for the link Blake. This will be major help for me especially the grip section, and now that I have good understanding of what hyzer, anhyzer, Overstable, and Understable mean. I can't wait to get out to the course again and try this stuff out!