2018-08-25 Driving Practice Today, I have been to the field for driving practice. It's been long since my last time there. Now, that I got new discs, I want- ed to try them out ... and work on my form a bit. With me I had: D P3 (x4), ESP Zone, JB Zone, DX TB (x2), S TB, Ch TB, DX EG (x2), S EG, Ch EG, DX Leo, making it 16 discs, five of them new. I shot four rounds, in each one all discs onto the field, then collected them by flicking them back to practice my forehand a bit. The first round was for warmup. Second and third round, I threw with my normal 1-step, but focussed on a far reach-back with good follow-through. This got the nose down this time. I'm not really sure why, but today it worked really well. I pumped my P3s out; all landed between 70m and 80m! When I threw them on long hyzers in the fourth round, they landed at about 70m. I'm impressed and pleased with these results. The two new P3s felt completely natural to me. There wasn't even much differ- ence on the older P3, which has lost most of its fade. The ESP Zone was all ways what I had expected. It did it's job. The new Jawbreaker Zone, however, was of some surprise. I had no real expectations. Well, I thought it would be a bit less over- stable than the ESP one. That was the case. But man, does this disc fly nice! It had such a nice-to-watch flight! I wanted to throw it flat again and again. Seemed as if it would fly smoother than all the other discs. I could probably replace my D P3s with JB Zones, except for putting, I believe. I had no mids with me, as my game lacks the need for them. I step from putters directly to (fairway) drivers. Up to now I always had an ESP Comet in the bag. I might continue to do so, but I'm not sure if it is necessary. I've started to work more with the X Comet and try to throw it really smooth. That might be a tool to have in the bag in the future, still. My DX Teebirds did what I were expecting. The newer and lighter- weight (blue) one gives me some more distance, but tends to sail to the right every once in a while. I got those discs to 85, 85, 75, 92, 90 meters. The light (158g) Star Teebird did great on this calm day: 88, 92 meters. It's just no option when it's windy. My Echostar Teebird becomes better as it is a bit worked in: 80, 90, 82 meters. It has a good amount of fade, thus I have to thow it on flexlines. (Most of my drives today were on slight flex- lines. This feels more natural to me than hyzerflips.) The Champ Teebird (on a more pronounced flexline): 84 and 88 me- ters. Then on to my Eagles, which I haven't used much yet, but plan to use them more in the future. I might swap Teebirds for Eagles, or I might combine them. I'm not sure. Currently I'm just trying to get more practice with them. The older 171g DX Eagle went 77 and 88 meters. It seems to be not as reliable (anymore). Will have to investigate in this disc further. Maybe I just haven't reacted on its developed turn. The new PFN 175g white DX Eagle impressed me a whole lot. I thew it 92, 83, 92 meters. It was a reliable far flyer. Great disc. I'm glad I bought it. My Star Eagle (170g) came out rather short today: 82, 85, 75 me- ters. It does the nicest flexlines. I like the disc, but haven't been able to really use it for different shots. All it does by now is flexlines. I should take it with me on a two-disc round to force it on different lines. Then my new Champ Eagle. This one is flat and opaque. It really is beefy! It is much beefier than my Champ Teebird and probably as beefy or even beefier than my Lucid Felon. It came out short and left two times, but I also managed it to 88 meters on a flex- line. Currently I'd say that I don't need that much overstabili- ty. The Champ Teebird or even the ES Teebird are enough OS most times. Plus, I haven't developed the shots that need so much overstability, like skip shots round a corner. But I'll come back to these and thus to this disc. Besides, It's such a beautiful disc! :-) Last the DX Leo. I gave it another try. Also I wanted to have something that I can hyzerflip. Well, hyzerflipping does not feel natural to me. Neither do I get used to the Leo. If I want a disc to drift right, I'd rather use a DX Teebird. I can work much better with that. Maybe that's a cycle one mold thing ... I'm used to Teebirds, and the Leo is just different. (Still, I had some fun flicking it.) Concerning technique: The long reach-back was good for farther distance and, more importantly, for getting the nose down. I had only few stall-outs, but a lot of nose-down landings. This is great! I've thrown the drivers in the fourth round with an X-step. It decreased consistency. The longest flights were equally long as with my 1-step, but the shortest flights were shorter. Hence, I didn't gain anything from the X-step. What I should do, is working on my lower body. I am convinced that I am strong-arming. I've worked a bit on it already, but not with consequence. Seems, however, I need to invest several months of focussed practice to change something there. That will be beneficial. Nonetheless, I'm happy to have had the nose down most of the time. This is a good success! Next step would be pulling out such a 90m drive on the course (hole 1 and 9 at Wiley). Concerning the bag: The new discs are good ones. The P3s provide the additional discs I need when I drop the putting P2s from the bag and putt with P3s. Currently I'm not sure how to deal with all those P3s I have now. They are pretty similar. Okay, I have backups now, but how do I structure them for a tournament? I need to know which one to grab at any given time. Not sure which of them will become my putting putters. The ESP Zone remains a mainstay. The JB Zone will be left out at first. There's no room vacant between the P3s and the ESP Zone. I'll see how things develop, but first, this great disc will be out. For the mids maybe one Comet or maybe none. I'll pick drivers for each course and weather condition specifi- cally. It's good to have backups now. I can go with the classic Teebird selection (2 DX, 1 Champ) or with Eagles (2 DX, 1 Star) or with a lot of other combinations. Also, for windy weather I have enough overstability. ... looks fine, alright! Looking forward to play a larger tournament somewhen soon ... http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke