Last week I played a pretty dusty course where all the pins were basically surrounded by loose, soft dirt. If (er... when) I missed a putt, my disc would land in the dirt, get totally dusty, and try as I might, I couldn't get all the dust off. The overall effect was that my grip was less solid, and I had trouble getting decent spin, so I'd throw out a wobbler, and usually miss short.

What do you do in this situation? I was thinking if I scratched up a portion of the underside of my putter it would be "sticky" regardless of how dusty things are. But that might be illegal, and/or ineffective. Any ideas?

I dump some water from my water bottle on my towel and wipe off the dirt if it gets too bad.

Yeah I carry 2-3 towels. One for wet, one for dry, and one for dust. It helps if you get your dust rag damp. The dust just wipes off.

When it comes to putting, dust is your worst enemy!!

I bet your shooting with a hard putter. That Sh1tty, gritty dirt effect is minimized quite a bit with a soft putter. I wouldnt run around changing putter just cause o' some dirt just yet. When you putt, you should have a firm grip and a quick opening of the hand. Not white knuckles firm, or like a tee shot, but you gotta be firm with the boy. This firm grip also forces you to conciencly snap your hand open so you dont drag your chubby fingers on the disc as it takes off on your intended path. Also, it helps me feel the orientation/angle of the flight plate in space. I find myself sometimes having my grip get a little sloppy myself. Maybe I should visualize that MY putter has got bunches of dirt on it.

Good tip there. All your releases will be cleaner if you "pop" the disc out of your hand when you release. It took me a while to perfect it, but my putts have been much more solid since I have.

A soft putter may help, but when it's really dusty, it doesn't really make a difference. Just spit on your hand or towel and whipe the disc down.

ah, yes, it is a hard putter, but my fingers are real thin, and come to think of it--my old buzz fly wasn't nearly as susceptible to dust, but i like my new XD better. a damp rag it will be, then. my bag is getting heavier by the minute: discs, water (beer), rags, fold-up tent pole for retrieving discs up in trees, etc...

I breath on the disc to get some moisture where I grip.. Seems to help give me a good feel of the disc when things are slick...

I like that idea. Breath on my putter just like my dice. :D

that's a novel method!

Breathing on the putter should make it luckier right? Of course, who on these boards needs luck? We all throw 300' plus drives with pinpoint precision, and sink all puts under 50' nine out of ten times....Wait, you don't? That's what all the posts on here seem to be. I kid.

Anyway, dust, let's see...towel is a good idea. I also like to wipe them on my pants so I don't have to carry a towel all the time. If that doesn't work I "purposefully" throw my disc into the creek to wash off the dust. Of course, that usually happens with my driver not my putter.

Heh, yeah, sometimes it seems like everyone here can easily, and consistently throw 375+ with accuracy. I guess that's what happens when you hang out at a board for professionals ....

I "purposefully" dropped my driver in a little stream at Berkeley's Aquatic Park the other day, finding it surrounded by liquor bottles, condom wrappers and other garbage, I decided to leave it there. :(

i agree with roc steady's tips.

i have similar issues as i have extremely dry hands and the slightest bit of dust can make a disc slick. two tricks i have used although they are somewhat unpleasant are 1) wipe some sweat on your fingers and then settle in a little "grip zone" on the disc. it should get kind of pasty and grippy. 2) lick your fingers before every putt. this seems to work fine for say, holes 1-5... after that you may end up spitting a lot.

as for non-gross ones, baby wipes or moist towellettes should last 3-5 holes each even in very dusty conditions.

Get a decent towel. The course I play most often is all dust almost everywhere. Towel takes all of it off.

here's what i sent to the website and board monitor contact emails:

Not sure why conrad is ignoring PM's , but there needs to be an apology to hawk for the scurrilous way in which his avatar was deleted without so much as the courtesy of asking him to remove it. It's not like it was even offensive, in fact it was as tame as the article in DGWN featuring playboy bunnies. Being there is no clear policy on avatars, it is patently unfair to remove them without first creating guidelines as to what is allowed and what is not. At the very least a warning or Pm asking him to remove it would have been a better way to handle this. I am a board monitor for another site and a volunteer for the PDGA also, yet this does not make me, or any of us, from making mistakes. the best way to handle a mistake is to apologize and correct the situation so that there is a clear process to follow in the future to avoid such mistakes. Avoiding the issue will NOT make it go away, and the board members will not continue to be ignored. If you like we will go as far as calling for a vote for the board monitor and IT positions, so as to have some accountablility for the actions of the people running the message board.

Rich Myers
PDGA#19614
Patapsco Picnic and Rockburn Challenge TD

I might be wrong but i think this thread is about dust on your putters and not AVATARS :o

I carry like 3 towels in my bag at a time. 1 for my putters one for mud and water and one for final wiping before i throw and to dry off my hands. I would say carry a chamois and keep it kind of moist in your bag and youll be ALL SET :D

wow.. a chamois. that's fancy!

Actually i have a better idea. Everytime you take your putter out of your bag MAKE YOUR PUTT then you wont have to worry about the DUST. Thats what i try and do :o:D

I like the last post. But still the problem persists. I also like the shammy idea.......how was that spelled again?

Three towels seems like a lot. In rain conditions I'll carry two or three, one being a wash cloth in the rain-jacket pocket.

Pick up dirty discs with your off hand (left for rightys) to keep the crud off your action hand, and use the towel with the action hand too.

Actually i have a better idea. Everytime you take your putter out of your bag MAKE YOUR PUTT then you wont have to worry about the DUST. Thats what i try and do :eek: :D



hey, i tried that today, and with great success. but what do you do when you're putting from 40 feet away and your disc hits the chains straight on, and then bounces out?!? :mad: I swear it was a perfect putt, went straight forward, rising and then falling, and then bouncing out and rolling too! ah well.