I was wondering about the factors involved in turning over rollers given that wind and terrain are constant. I figure that the following factors are important:

1. disc stability;

2. angle disc hits ground; and

3. spin, which I assume is synonomous with speed upon contact with the ground.

However, I also assume that nose up/down attitude is an important factor in how quickly or how much a roller will turn. Is it? and if so, does a nose down attitude enhance turn or hinder turn?

If my assumptions are way off, please provide a coherent explanation of the factors that control roller turn. Thanks in advance for all useful answers. :)

I also assume that nose up/down attitude is an important factor in how quickly or how much a roller will turn. Is it? and if so, does a nose down attitude enhance turn or hinder turn?




not sure if you are referring to pre-roll or post-roll... as pre-roll all should be nose down...
during post-roll, the disc will naturally pull towards nose down as it follows the turnover towards the top of the disc (and may be exaggerated by wind pushing against the bottom of the flight plate).



1. disc stability;




can be broken down into 2 parts:
1) greater high speed turn resistance = greater power required and longer it takes for the disc to stand up to vertical
2) greater low speed fade = decreased tendency to turn towards the top of the disc.



3. spin, which I assume is synonomous with speed upon contact with the ground.




to be a hair more specific on this, it is speed after the disc has begun to truly roll, post-slip/bounce behavior which varies from disc to disc.

each of the 3 factors you listed will vary in their priority depending upon when it happens and with what type of disc. any one of them can be "the most important" factor at a given point. at the early part of the roll and with a very understable disc, angle is initially the most important factor but it shifts to speed once it nears vertical. for a stable to overstable disc, speed will be most important at the early part of the roll... and disc stability as the disc begins to slow and the angle once the disc begins to slow down a lot.

hope this makes sense heh.

Whoops! I thought this thread was about soft vs. hard putters and which ones stick better. Some peoples tend to roll out the back side..............

sorry james, carry on.