2017-02-01 Three Disc Bags There is a discussion thread on DG Course Review, which is run- ning for over three years with over 500 replies. [0] The ques- tion is: If you are limited to take exactly three discs (putter, mid and (fairway) driver) to the course, which ones would that be? I found this question to be intesting, with respect to the start- ing lineup idea of MindBodyDisc. [1] Thus I wanted to know the most commonly chosen discs for these three in the thread. Of course, one must keep in mind that the popularity of a disc does not necessarily equal its worth, especially if a lot of newbies post their preferences. This definitely is the case for this source material, but nonetheless, there might be some insight from the general distribution of choices, because of the Delphi effect. I counted all discs mentioned in 2014 and 2016 (the thread re- ceived no posts in 2015). Here are the numbers, excluding the long tail: Putters 2014: 28 Aviar 28 Wizard 14 Judge 9 Pure 8 Magnet 6 Challenger 5 Anode Putters 2016: 40 Aviar 22 Wizard 9 Judge 5 Anode 4 Pure 4 Magnet 3 Challenger The Aviar is clearly the most popular putter. (Influenced by In- nova starter packs?) Unfortunately, I didn't track the type of Aviar, as they have quite different fade. The Wizard comes next, but could not keep up with the Aviar's popularity increase. Third is the Judge. The other putters that received a relevant amount of votes have such low numbers that Anode's jump forward cannot be seen as significant. They just provide names of likely not worst options. What one might take away from these numbers is that with an Aviar, Wizard or Judge you cannot go wrong. Next to the midranges: Midranges 2014: 39 Buzzz 23 Roc 18 Roc3 10 Comet 5 Truth 5 Mako3 Midranges 2016: 25 Buzzz 22 Roc 10 Roc3 8 Truth 4 Mako3 3 Comet 3 Compass 3 Mace 3 Tangent Here the Buzzz goes first, but loses distance to the Roc. The Comet lost popularity, whereas the Truth gained some, with the Mako3 staying stable. The problem with the Rocs is that I didn't track (and often couldn't even know, as the users didn't post that) in what state of wear they would be chosen for the three disc bag. (Sometimes I wasn't even sure if the posters differed between pieces and molds.) Compared to the other popular discs, the Rocs are the only discs with a lot of fade, thus that might suggest that seasoned Rocs could be prefered, as all other mentioned midranges are rather low fade discs. Last to the drivers: Drivers 2014: 30 Teebird 10 Leopard 10 Escape 8 Wraith 6 Valkyrie 5 Beast 4 Eagle 4 Saint Drivers 2016: 19 Teebird 9 Leopard 6 Wraith 6 Valkyrie 5 Eagle 5 Saint 5 PD 4 Escape 4 FD 4 Tern 4 Sidewinder Here the Teebird is clearly the most popular disc. It is followed by the understable Leopard. The Escape lost a lot of its popular- ity. Wraith, Valkyrie, Eagle and Saint are the next ones. The Discmania discs (PD and FD) seem to gain popularity. The driver list was the longest, with the most variety. The rea- sons might be the merging of fairway and distance drivers into one category, the largest availability of different discs on the market, or the larger preference changes caused by different course types (wooded, open, short, long) one usually plays on. But, on the other hand, no other category had such a clear single winner; the Teebird is clearly the number one choice for the driver. Trying to sum up the flight ratings in each category, the result for putters is a range of 2-3 / 3-5 / ~0 / 0-2 with an average of about 2.5/3.5/0/1. A putter with about these flight numbers ap- pears to be best suited if you carry only one. The midranges range in 4-5 / 4-5 / -2-0 / 0-3 with an average of about 4.5/4.5/-1/1.5. Averageing here wasn't as easy, as some of the discs had a more overstable character (at least when new) whereas some were rather understable, which didn't fit well to- gether when averageing. The drivers were most difficult, as they had the greatest variety (especially in speed), I omitted some outliers. The range is about 7-11 / 4-7 / -2-0 / 1-3, resulting in an average around 8.5/5.5/-1/2. Maybe not too surprising is that the most popular discs of each category are near to the average of the category. For sure, you won't go wrong with the Aviar/Buzzz/Teebird combination. But if taken broader, a putter out of Aviar, Wizard, Judge, plus a mi- drange out of Buzzz, Roc, Roc3, plus as the driver a Teebird or ... a Teebird ;-) will be a great three disc bag, for sure. My own discs match well to this pattern. Although the P2 is not part of the popular set (it might be too young), it has the same popular flight numbers pattern. Besides, I don't think that the choice of putter is that imporant in this scenario; it surely is more of a personal question than the driver. The mids I own are a Roc, a Buzzz and a Comet ... each of them is a good option, thus I can freely choose which one to put into my three disc bag. (My Roc might still be a bit too overstable, currently.) And the only driver I own, at the moment, is ... a Teebird -- how well chosen! :-) I cannot really decide between the three midranges I have, I could just roll a dice ... or take the Buzzz only because it's the most average of them. But concerning putters and drivers, I can imagine well working with only a single disc. Now, for the first time, I'm at the point where I can see such a starting lineup MindBodyDisc writes about. My three would be the P2, any of Roc/Buzzz/Comet and a Teebird. My five would be the same, just ``all'' instead of ``any'' ... or the Buzzz replaced by a Firebird (windfighter) or an FD (long Buzzz), but I don't have any experience with these discs yet. I just see the pattern, that everyone says one wants to have a Firebird/Predator/Felon (i.e. a windfighter) in the bag. The FD might be more of an per- sonal wish to have a yellow Simon Lizotte C-Line FD in my bag. But I should get rid of such emotional distractions. I should follow strictly the concept of working with my small set und only add discs to cover necessary flight lines otherwise impossible to throw. The time I spent counting the disc names in the thread was well invested, because I feel that it helped me to gain a better understanding of how my starting lineup could look like. I was very focussed during this analysis and went that path unto the result, without coming from the end like so many times before, i.e. ``Which discs would I like to throw?'' -- Zone, Pure, Jus- tice, Sidewinder, ... -- That just doesn't bring me forward; all it does is polluting any clear view on my bag. But now, for the first time, I feel being able to answer the question for my three or five disc bags with enough conviction. Btw, this notable story I found in the three disc set thread: At the 1992 PDGA Pro Worlds in Detroit, I watched Crazy John Brooks hand carry three discs; a DX Viper, DX Roc and a DX Aviar. He shot a course record! In the Pro Worlds, with three discs! [2] [0] http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98153 [1] http://mindbodydisc.com/your-starting-lineup/ [2] http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2296297&postcount=201 http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke