2017-03-19 Putt and Approach I've been playing my first real tournament today. It was a P&A tournament, i.e. nine holes with about 50m each. I hoped to get some good putting practice, but we had a lot of wind to fight, thus the putting was more about controlling risks than about nice putts. Furthermore, I quickly gave up driving with the putter, as the P2 seemed to be heavily affected by the wind. Instead I used the Comet for most shots. On the course, I carried six discs with me: - 2 D-Line P2 for putting. I used them for almost all putts, only for one or two into a heavy headwind, I threw the Comet. Both putters are the same and I didn't care which one I grabbed. - S-Line P2 for throwing. I inteded to drive with it, but quickly gave up on it. I feared too much that the wind would grab it. My use of the disc decreased steadily throughout the day ... That's a sad result because I expected it to become the disc of the day. - ESP Comet. That did become the disc of the day. I used it for 80% of all shots. I used it for straight shots, fading shots and turning shots, in every wind direction ... it just worked out so well! I had always thought that the disc would be too under- stable, especially into a headwind, but I seldom needed to release it with hyzer and never with much hyzer. I'm really happy with the Comet! - Champ Teebird. I used it forehand for the dogleg right on hole one in each round, plus for a longer shot with leftwind where I wanted the fade. It was good to have this (my only) strong fading disc with me. (A Zone could have replaced it, I think.) - Z-Flx Buzzz. Used it for no more than two shots. Neither was really successful; should have used it on one other forehand throw, but all in all I could have well played without it. (It's just that I prefer to flick this one instead of the Comet. On a windstill day I would use it for long smooth hyzers and annies.) I left the Pure and the Roc in the car. I think the Pure could have been a choice on the tailwind hole 5, where I never managed to throw decently. But maybe I just should have thrown the Comet with anny. The Roc is much like the Comet, but I believe more af- fected by the wind. As I played so well with the Comet, that probably pushed the Roc out. One guy threw Anodes as putters. They appeared to be much more wind-resistent than my P2s. That encourages me to really give these MVP/Axiom putters a try. Had an Ion in my hand for the first time ... it was for sell, I nearly bought it. ;-) Another guy threw a Star Spider (5/3/0/1) on almost every drive. Had the disc in my hand as well; it's different to all of my oth- er discs, in a similar way as the Aero is. The Spider seems to be a good wind-resistent midrange. (But as I try to reduce my mi- dranges I shouldn't add another! Nonetheless, it seems to be a great choice for windy days.) Surprisingly I felt no wish to have a Zone today, but I felt a great wish for some MVP/Axiom putters. On the five nine-hole round, I scored 29, 28, 30, 27, 26, i.e. +2, +1, +3, E, -1. My worst were two fives, because of the wind. I also took my first OB. In the three rounds before noon, I only scored one Birdie, but in the afternoon I got five Birdies in two rounds. Unfortunately I had no round without a Bogey. All of my drives were from a standstill or with a single step. That provided enough distance. My drives had quite some control and I managed to throw low, which was important because of the wind. I had some problems with upshots in or just outside the jump putt range. I don't really jump putt and it was risky to throw high and I lacked accuracy when I threw these shots with the driving technique. I'll have to figure out how to best deal with this distance. And I'll have to practice putting, especially longer putts. Maybe I should do more spin putting. Currently it's a mixture of both (or is it rather push putting only?), but I have the impres- sion that the greater stability of the disc flight when it has more spin helps more than the ``throw a brick'' technique. Eventually, I'm ranked 23rd of 32, which is much better than I expected. (My goal was to leave two others behind me, not just one as the last time.) As well, I'm very happy to have scored one under par on the last round. The event was a good time spent and a great lesson for playing in the wind (not so much the putting training I thought it would be, though). I had a great first group with Max and Harry, and it was nice seeing some known faces again. Next weekend will be my first large tournament: 18 holes and long drives! (Eventually got me a mini marker today!) http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke