Speed, stability, and plastic. Those three numbers decide how a disc feels in your hand and where it ends up in the trees, and most first-time buyers pick the wrong ones because a fast driver looks like the fun choice.
Start slow. A brand-new arm doesn't have the snap to make a high-speed driver fly the way the flight chart promises — thrown by a beginner, that disc fades hard left and dives into the woods. A slower, understable fairway or midrange will fly straighter and further for you for a full season. Speed is not distance until your form catches up.
Then look at stability. Understable discs turn right (for a right-handed backhand) and are forgiving of a weak release; overstable discs fight back left and need power to fly straight. Beginners want understable-to-stable across the bag so the disc does the correcting, not you.
Last, the plastic. Grippy premium blends hold up to tree hits and feel secure in cold or sweaty hands. Cheaper base plastic is fine to lose in a pond, but if you're keeping it, spend the extra couple dollars on grip. Our Premium Plastic Starter Set is exactly this logic packed into three discs — putter, mid, driver — so you can skip the trial and error and just go throw.