2017-03-06 90 Meters After one week of traveling, I've been to the field practicing again, today. There was a slight headwind and all shots were slightly uphill. I threw the five fairway drivers and my three midranges. As always, I needed a dozen shots to get into it. As usual, I threw the discs in order from short to long and from understable to overstable. I started throwing from a standstill but quickly switched to an X-step. The earlier throws were pretty smooth; later I got hooked by the wish for more distance and my throws became more powerful (and less smooth). Let's get through it disc by disc (in throwing order): - DX Roc: Needed quite some hyzer angle against the wind, often- times it still wasn't enough hyzer, or maybe it was but the disc though floated slightly rightwards. The Roc surprised me again with more distance than I thought it would deliver. This disc goes straight. - ESP Comet: Needed about the same amount of hyzer as the Roc. The throws against the wind were difficult to control: it turned. Well, ... too understable. In this windy condition the beat-in Roc felt better when thrown far than the Comet, but for shorter upshots the Comet flies so smooth ... and it wants to be thrown smooth. :-) - Z-FLX Buzzz: Not much hyzer necessary against the wind. Seems as if the Buzzz is not as affected by the wind as my other mi- dranges. Today, however, one thing became clear to me: The Buzzz does not want to fly straight. Whereas the Roc and Comet tend to fly straight, the Buzzz takes either the hyzer line or the anny line. Both lines fly dependable, but the middle -- the straight shot -- is so thin that I am hardly able to hit it. This disqual- ifies the Buzzz as a single midrange. All three midranges can hold hyzers and annies but only the Roc and Comet can hold the straight line as well. As a second midrange, the Buzzz could be a good choice, because it goes for the hyzer and anny lines so easily and dependably. - DX Leopard: Too understable for the headwind today. Needed even more hyzer than the Roc and Comet. Had no fun with it. Of course, it's the wrong disc for a headwind. - Quantum JLS (2x): The 5g weight difference between my two JLS is not really noticable. Both discs turned a couple of times when I released them flat or when the wind increased a bit. They went farther than my midranges. The JLS hold hyzers and annies well, as I already expected. - Star Teebird (158g): My max distance disc today. It went 90 me- ters, twice! Again a small step up in distance. There was no need to give it a hyzer angle; the wind was low enough to create a flex shot. I start to like this disc. :-) Let's see how it com- pares to the JLS the next calm day. - Champion Teebird (175g): My most overstable disc and thus seem- ingly the best choice for the headwind. As the lighter Teebird was overstable enough for the wind today, I could still play with a bit more wind if I pick the Champ Teebird. It flew similar to the other Teebird, just ended shorter because of the greater fade. Still it was my second farthest disc today. There's nothing I can say against this disc -- it is super dependable! Concerning my technique, my main focus today was: Nose down! That was quite successful. Headwind is a good test, as it lifts the disc greatly when thrown nose-up, resulting in a hard fade, even for such discs as a Buzzz or Comet. I threw a bunch of hyzers and annies. It was more difficult to control the height for them than for straight shots. Created some sky annies. That's not bad per se, but I wanted to throw them low ... From time to time I try to practice the X-step with a lay on the ground for correct foot position at throwing time. This puts a lot of pressure on me; my shots are worse then. I should prac- tice more X-step throwing with a lay on the ground! (On the course, however, I'll only use X-steps off the tee and throw all upshots from a standstill, hence it's not so critical.) It was a pleasure throwing again. :-) Next time I'll again focus on smoothness and nose-down. Then I'll try to decide between the Roc and the Comet, mainly by throwing hyzer and anny lines. I'll also try to become even more familiar with my new fairways. (I still don't know how the light Teebird reacts to annies.) There'll be a putt & approach tournament in about two weeks. I might not need fairways, so I'll probably only bag the Champ Tee- bird for forehands and overheads. Then maybe two midranges (Comet or Roc, and the Buzzz). Plus a putting and a throwing P2. Maybe I can give that bag a try before. http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke