CHURCHBRIDGE / BREDENBURY - One of the best things about Yorkton, at least if you are a disc golfer, is that the city is now the hub of an area with a lot of really nice courses.
Now no one would suggest these courses would challenge pros such as Simon Lizotte, or Kristin Tattar, but for local players we are so fortunate a number of communities and parks have seen their way to creating courses.
Within an easy hour’s drive of Yorkton there are 10 or so courses, and venture out another 30-minutes and you can add several more. Even with gas at $2/litre that is reasonable access to a lot of variety in courses for a sport that is by its nature low cost.
So when the opportunity to playtest a few discs from Latitude 64/Discmania came up, it was only natural to call disc buddy Trevor Lyons and head out to play a couple of the area courses much as we did visiting the fine course at Sandy Beach on Good Spirit Lake when tossing some new Clash Discs early this year.
This time we headed east to play the neat 12-basket course at the Churchbridge campground. The course really offers a bit of everything from hidden baskets, to mandatories to maneuvre around to tunnel shots – and full disclosure Trevor and I did have a bit of a hand in helping design the course.
On the way back we played the 12-tonal course at Bredenbury, another challenging course which is always well maintained. It is truly an under-appreciated gem within easy distance of Yorkton. In this case Trevor and I did much of the design work.
But, I digressed from the discs, so here we go.
To start there was the easy throwing Sapphire driver from Latitude 64. This is a speed 10 driver, so sort of in my sweet spot, but at only 161 grams it was about a dozen grams lighter than I usually throw that took a bit of getting used too.
If I try to throw it too hard it has tendency to go up rather than forward.
Being lighter it hasn’t worked for me in wind either – an issue in Saskatchewan where wind seems a constant.
On our day trip though it was calm and the Sapphire worked admirably. In particular, it performed well when I threw it forehand, which has always been my weakest shot. That the Sapphire performed in that capacity is enough to keep in my play bag.
“A distance driver that is at the top of the range for slower arm speeds,” detailed Trevor. With its ‘6’ glide speed you will see distances a bit longer as it will stay aloft longer. It is a fairly straight flyer for beginners and intermediate players.”
Next, from Latitude 64 was the five speed midrange Compass. To be fair midrange discs have a hard time impressing myself greatly as I love my Kaxe from Kastaplast as my ‘do everything’ disc.
That said the Compass was a nice straight throwing ‘middie’ that because of the desire to stay the course has its applications, especially with several tunnel shots on area courses -- #9 in Kamsack and #11 in Melville -- coming to mind.
“A straight flying midrange disc,” reiterated Trevor. “It’s good for beginners to intermediate who need to throw a straight shot.”
Moving to the Discmania offerings there was the nine speed understable fairway driver – Vandal. For those unfamiliar with the term ‘understable’ if you throw righthand backhand understable means a flight that turns right.
An understable disc thrown at slower speeds tend to stay straighter, which is important to remember for beginners, or old guys like myself.
The Vandal was ultimately a disc which didn’t leave an overly memorable impression on me. I threw steady rounds in Churchbridge and Bredenbury, using all four discs so there wasn’t one I wanted to lose in the bush, but whether the Vandal will remain in the bag is yet to be determined – think steady but no wow factor.
For leftie Trevor the Vandal left a better impression.
He noted as a control driver it is “easy for you to shape the shot you need. It holds the angle you put on it. This is a driver for slower arm speeds, but can be used by pros as well.”
The Evader is the final of the quartet. It is a seven speed overstable fairway driver. ‘Overstable’ means thrown righthand backhand it will turn left. This can be hugely important, as there are always times you want to go opposite to the norm. You can of course throw forehand, but mine is suspect more often than not, so the Evader is intriguing.
Typically, I find overstable discs more challenging to get working as prescribed so the Evader remains a project in process, but if I can master it, it will be a great addition to the bag.
“This driver has a predictable hard fade when it starts slowing down,” said Trevor. “It’s really for faster arm speeds as slower people will see the disc slow down and fade quicker than we would like.”
So consider this quartet of discs for how they might fit your bag and get out on one of the multitude of course in the province, and enjoy disc golf.
