When I got my hands on a selection of Gateway Disc Sports it was a bit like Christmas, pawing through the selection of discs and feeling the excitement of trying them at Patrick Park Disc Golf Course in the city.
The first thing I noticed was that Gateway has a couple of package offers, and those are always a great option for beginners.
There are many great manufacturers out there, and literally hundreds of disc models, so starting out it's a bit daunting. What driver fits with what mid range, at least in terms of weight and basic concept, is at least dealt with for the novice with a 'starter set'.
Gateway put together an Apache long straight driver, with an Element mid-range and a Wizard putter.
To start with this is a lightweight collection. That is good news, and bad in my books.
On the positive side, this is an ideal set for younger players who tend to gravitate toward lighter discs for obvious reasons.
And these discs are great to have on hand as you mature as a player because as mentioned before there is growing interest in disc events using only 150 gram and lighter equipment.
On the flip-side, as a big guy I tend to generally prefer heavier discs. My favoured weight range seems to 170-plus, so the lightweight selection was of added interest.
So out on the course the results were to say the least interesting, although they have also been rather inconsistent.
Gateway calls the Apache "a very controllable long-range straight driver", crediting the disc's wing length at 2.0 cm, and its overall height is 1.3 cm, "making it a fast disc with an amazing amount of glide. It has a larger radius where the rim depth meets the flight plate than most drivers of its class, which helps grip comfort for all grip styles."
I found the disc not only flew straight, the first time out, actually hooked right, counter to the natural tendency of discs to fade left (as a right-handed thrower). This was a huge surprise.
The Apache gets some great distance though. On the killer long ninth hole at Patrick Park the Apache may have landed farther up the fairway than any disc I've thrown.
On hole-three though it hooked so far right I was nearly on the fourth fairway.
The Apache needs some practice to throw with the accuracy of most drivers out of the store, but the distance it will fly makes it one worth experimenting with to get the hang of.
The mid-range Element is another disc that you need to play with to get the hang of.
On a few shots I threw it like I would any other mid-range and the Element just kept flying. I was four trees past the basket on hole two, and I promise you, you don't want to be four trees past the basket on hole-two. This is a disc that needs a bit of finesse.
The Gateway website states the "Element is a fantastic all-around midrange disc. This disc will hold any angle you throw with unbelievable glide. If you throw it flat it will go extremely straight will very little fade at the end of its flight. Anhyzers will keep turning, and hard-thrown hyzers will flip up to flat."
Play with the Element and learn its techniques, and it can be useful.
And there is the Wizard putter, which Gateway notes is its most popular disc.
The lightweight version throws nice, although I would not rate it among the top putters I have tested.
That said, as a beginner option, the Wizard is a great putter.
All three discs come in two plastics; the Shur-Grip™ or "S"-series matted version of disc plastic, and pro-line polymer is the Evolution™ series or "E"-series.
They also come in a range of weights of course. The three discs in the set are on the lighter side of the spectrum although the exact weights are not marked on the discs, and I don't have a scale.
Check out these discs in more detail at www.gdstour.com
NEXT WEEK: A look at driver discs from Vibram Discs.
