2018-09-28 Par in Soehnstetten Today I played my second round in Soehnstetten and shot par! This is a big success for me. I came with a big stack of discs. In the car, I built my bag. It is clear that I like to have a small bag. The putters were easy to pick: I went with three D-Line P3s. Although they have slight differences in dome and wear, I pretty much use them interchang- ingly. The reason I carried so many was convenience. Before the round, I practiced putting for some time, for which multiple putters are handy. During the round I made a second or third practice putt or approaches in those cases when my original throw didn't work at all. My forth putter was an ESP Zone. I hardly ever go without that disc. I went without midranges, as my putters cover midrange work well. For the drivers I was undecided between Teebirds and Eagles, then went for the traditional setup: Teebirds. I had with me: - DX Teebird 175g, nicely beat and straight - DX Teebird 171g, a bit newer but also pretty straight - Echostar Teebird, 175g, newish - Champ Teebird, 175g, slightly seasoned The heavy DX TB is one thing: straight. I seldom turn it over. The lighter DX TB is less reliable. It can travel right (like a Leo) but it also can fly straight and fade a bit. Most times it does these things not because *I* want them, but because *it* wants them. ;-) The ES TB was seldom used up to now. I thought that it would make sense to break it in a bit. It thus was my main driver today. The Ch TB is my old trusty. I have played a lot with it. It still has a good amount of fade. It has a bit more fade than the ES TB. I know this Ch TB very well. Furthermore, I had a Star Eagle-X in the bag. I like the feel of this disc a lot; I just don't where to find a slot for it. The Teebirds covered all the lines I need already, thus I didn't throw a single shot with it today. I don't know ... the straight to (more or less) fade of the Teebirds seems to be more simple than the turning and fading of the Eagles. But maybe that's only because I have played so much more with Teebirds than with Ea- gles. Overall, I carried 9 discs, and played with 8. 13 (72%) of the 18 drives were with the ES TB. Three times I used a DX Teebird (one of the two DX TBs would have been enough). On one shot I used the Ch TB, but the ES TB would have been equally good. Better would have been a disc with significantly more fade, like my Ch EX or Felon, but still not really necessary. I could have gone without it. I used the Zone for one drive and one approach. That was worth it. The three P3s were only for convenience. Hence, I could have stripped down my bag to four or five discs: P3 (maybe 2), Zone, ES TB, DX TB. The weather was great. The sun shone, it had 22 degrees Celsius, and a slight breeze from WNW. I played alone. Going through the holes: Hole 1: Drove the ES TB into the trees. Lucky fall back towards the basket. Missed putt. -> 3 Hole 2: Forehand ES TB worked great. Putt. My first Birdie in Soehnstetten. -> 2 Hole 3: Threw the ES TB a bit short and with a bad angle to the basket. Hit the top stair with my approach, resulting in a rolla- way. Had a second, longer approach, but with a better angle. Threw a thumber (P3) up the hill. Nailed the risky putt. -> 4 Hole 4: Shot a wonderful drive! 93m with the ES TB on a great line! Unbelievable. Had a look for birdie on a 100m-hole! I've never had that yet. I wanted to have it. Then missed the long putt high. Missed the comebacker. Thus wasted the great drive with a 3-putt. :-( -> 4 Hole 5: My ES TB faded down the hill. I should have thrown a DX TB. Approached up the hill a bit short, but made a good long putt. -> 3 Hole 6: 50m downhill hole. I really have problems with downhill drives. Threw the Zone. That was okay. -> 3 Hole 7: ES TB, approach, putt. -> 3 Hole 8: Feared a bit turning right, thus used the ES TB. (The practice shot with the DX TB afterwards was parked -- damn.) -> 3 Hole 9: This drive goes straight over the valley. It requires a slight right movement to the pin. I wasn't able to get that out of my discs. I've thrown three more practice drives, but couldn't place one for a Birdie. The counting drive was with a DX TB. I approached with a thumber over the scrubs. -> 3 Hole 10: Good DX TB drive. Then a bad approach into the threes. I had to chip out with a layup. -> 4 Hole 11: Short uphill hole. I went with an ES TB thumber. (The backhand practice throw with the P3 was better.) -> 3 Hole 12: Dogleg left with uphill basket. I used the Ch TB, but threw it a bit wide. (The practice throw with the ES TB was a bit closer to the trees and thus a bit better. A disc with a stronger fade would have been good.) -> 3 Hole 13: ES TB showed too much fade, however I was unsure with the DX TB because of the slight wind. My approach downhill with the Zone into the scrubs. Then a 5m Turbo putt into the basket! Great! :-) -> 3 Hole 14: ES TB drive, putt, Birdie! -> 2 Hole 15: ES TB drive, putt, Birdie! -> 2 Hole 16: ES TB drive ... bad approach and 2-putt. -> 4 Hole 17: A difficult long hole. Pretty good DX TB drive. Good ap- proach. -> 3 Hole 18: Fine ES TB drive, putt, Birdie! -> 2 Overall: four Bogies and four Birdies equals Par! (54) This is such a great score for me! The round had a lot of highlights: The forehand on hole 2. The increadible drive on hole 4. The Turbo putt on 13. And the Bir- dies on 14, 15 and 18. And I could have even played unter par, omiting the putting and approaching failures. Usually I'm too bad to think about playing under par. Main success factor were my good drives today. They surely were a result of the field work in the morning. Second success factor was going for almost all putts. Usually I'm a rather conservative player, laying up often. Today I went for them, consequently. It resulted bad only in the 3-putt on hole 4, but that was a wind problem. I shouldn't have spin-putted there but used a Nikko- style with strong nose-down. That's something I know now. The ES TB served me well. I discover that more important than seemingly better suited slightly different drivers is using one main driver on almost all drives, even if it seems to be not per- fectly suited. I am more successful if I decide for one main driver and try to use that one as often as I can than picking the one that should be the best one for the given hole. I.e.: (To an extend) I'm better when I use fewer discs. This is nice, because it favors minimalistic bags. :-) http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke