The midrange disc selected by Latitude 64 for the 2014 Trilogy Challenge is the Latitude 64 Claymore and is now officially released in Opto plastic. Throughout the afternoon at the Trilogy Challenge when we’d ask participants what they thought of the discs, the amount of praise about the Claymore was certainly the loudest. There was love for the Claymore virtually across the board then and now that it is in the popular Opto plastic we expect the praise to continue.
When approved by the PDGA, Latitude 64 nearly foreshadows the love for this disc:
The Claymore disc will hit the ground running when it is released as the midrange for this year’s Trilogy Challenge. It has a small dome and comfortable grip combined with a neutral flight that will suit most players. Compared to existing Latitude molds it will be slightly more overstable than the very popular Fuse.
When you look at the midrange line up for Latitude 64, we believe the Claymore falls right in between the Core and Fuse. The Claymore actually has a similar feeling to the Fuse, but isn’t identical. Our thoughts below begin with our tests after the Trilogy Challenge with the Recycled Line Claymore before going into the details on the Opto Claymore.
Everyone at the Trilogy Challenge was commenting about how straight they could throw the Claymore and how controllable it was. When we finally got a chance to test it, we couldn’t agree more. The Claymore has just enough turn and just enough fade to produce a very straight flight. With a slightly blunt nose and slightly domed top the Claymore will easily fit into any sized hands. The fan grip we were using felt very natural.
With our first throws the straight flight was very apparent. We initially wanted to see how much power the Claymore could handle and we were a little surprised. It certainly isn’t the most stable midrange, but it can hold up to a little more power than we expected. The Fuse on the other hand is a little more of a finesse midrange and doesn’t like a lot of power behind it. If we gave it a little hyzer the Claymore would flip up, possibly turn a touch, and then settle in to a very soft fade. Off the tee, the Claymore showed a very tight s-curve that will give you a very straight flight.
We then turned to approach shots and found even more versatility in the Claymore. On a few shots we needed to use a slight hyzer shot and when thrown with the proper angle and when we took a little power off of it the Claymore would easily hold that slight sweeping shot. If we wanted to go right at it, the Claymore could easily hit that straight line you were wanting.
If you were a fan of the Claymore from the Trilogy Challenge, there is little doubt you will love the Claymore in Opto plastic. It has a slightly firmer feel to us which gave us some more confidence in giving it some power. There might be a touch less turn and a touch more glide which might just make the Claymore better than we initially thought.
We had some sneaky long throws with the Opto Claymore. We kept the disc on a low line and gave it a good firm throw straight ahead. It showed just a hint of turn, but plenty of glide. It held this low line the entire flight as it would hover down the fairway. Some of our longest throws with a midrange came with the Claymore because of the glide. Since it has such little fade at the end of the flight, the glide really helps it carry forward.
On some holes on a disc golf course you’re faced with the obvious line that might be the favorable route. Maybe this is the wider gap or the safer play. Often times these same holes maybe have the riskier route with a tighter window, but a bigger reward. We took the Claymore out on a hole exactly like this and opted for the tight route. We powered it down a little bit, trusted the glide, and went for it. With a very effortless throw the Claymore performed like a champ. It was hard to find anything bad about that flight.
If you’re going for control and pure distance, the Claymore will find its way into many disc golf bags. For those shorter midrange shots, it might actually be too much disc to throw. If you compare the Claymore to the Dynamic Discs Truth, the Truth doesn’t have quite as much glide, but is a little faster. The Claymore will be a little straighter, and with that glide, might be a touch longer.
Because it is very neutral, it is very easy to throw on a controllable turn over shot. It will hold the initial line in which you released it on and then finish on that line. The fade isn’t strong enough to break out of the turn, but it will finish flat.
After the Trilogy Challenge, we rated the Latitude 64 Claymore at 4, 4, -1.5, 1. Now in Opto plastic, we’d adjust those numbers to be 4, 5, -1, 1. The Claymore’s combination of speed, glide, turn, and fade produces a very straight disc that nearly every experience level would love.
During the Trilogy Challenge the Claymore was the most loved. We’ll go far enough to say the Claymore will become the crowd favorite midrange from Latitude 64. After just a few throws it is easy to fall in love with it. While it can’t answer all your prayers in the midrange game, it will likely answer most.
It can hold a little sweeping hyzer. Turnovers are a breeze. Dead straight shots are about as easy as they come. The Claymore is no joke.
