2019-02-10 Wind Golfing (and Comet love) I think it was the first time this year that I went out throwing discs. Now that the snow is mostly gone and the temperatures are above five deg. C again, I wanted to throw some discs. I went to the soccer field to practice driving. Actually, I read a forum post on weight shift. That reminded me on not strong-arming (which I believe to suffer from) but using the hip to make the arm a whip. As I thought about that I instantly wanted to experi- ment. So I took my discs and went out. Half of the field was covered with snow, the other half was green. The wind was blowing quite hard from about two o'clock. My goals were: - Just straight shots - Focus on sling shot mechanics - Keep the nose down I had 18 discs with me, which I all threw one after the other. Then I meassured distances, then I picked them up and started the next round. I played four rounds this way. Let's go through it disc by disc. - D P3 (2): My putting and short allround discs. They flew 50- 70m. Although they are worn-in, they still have a lot of HSS. That's a reason I like them so much. Only in the last round, the wind turned them over and they crashed at 50m. - Star Wedge: A pretty new disc. When I played it without wind and for approaches, there was not much difference to my P3s. To- day for drives into a headwind, it showed an amount of turn that can hardly be compensated with hyzer. Maybe if I give it much height for it to fade eventually ... but height in that wind means trouble. Clearly, this was not the right disc for the weather situation today. All four throws landed at 50m. - ESP Zone: I was impressed by its overstability today. It flew as if there would have been no wind. All throws went to 55m and to about the same spot, no matter of the exact release angle. - JB Zone: A fine disc for today's weather. Shots landed at 60- 65m, always with a fading finish, thus predictable. With that amount of wind, this disc would be my driving putter. - DX Leo: Got it all: 50m, 60m, 70m, 80m. Simply too unpredict- able how much hyzer and height you need in such a wind. But without wind, I'm liking the Leo more and more. - DX Teebird (beat-in): During the last months I've excluded it from the bag because it started to become beat beyond the perfect straight line and started to drift right (on flat releases, which I usually use). Today I had it with me to find out if it could replace the newish DX Leo if I beat the DX TB even more in. With this headwind it showed a bit of turn, but it'll be a long way still to the Leo flight. But the DX TB flew long ways: 80m, 90m, 75m -- always one of the farthest shots. Maybe I should add it back to the bag (it competes with the Valks for the slot). - DX Eagle-X: The second disc to be tested for Leo flight (right travelling) when beat-in. Well, like the DX TB, this DX EG flew long ways: 70m, 80m, 75m, 80m -- always one of the farthest shots. Maybe I should just use it as a main driver. Why use Valkyries when the DX Teebird and DX Eagle are equally good? Let's reevaluate on other days and different weather. - Star Eagle-X: 55m, 70m, 55m, 75m. I don't really find my way with this disc ... but I give it try after try. It has the big- gest and most natural S-line of all of my discs. I think it could add something new to my bag ... besides, it has great feel. - Champ/Echostar Teebird (2): These discs are so identical (the Champ is more beat-in, thus matches the ES). They are core discs in my bag. They flew 60-70m, but, like all overstable discs to- day, were hugely affected by the headwind from the right, during their fade. There's not more to say about them, they simply have their slot in the bag. I know them so well. - Star/Pro Valkyrie (2): My new-chosen straight drivers. The Star is a bit more on the overstable side of the Pro. With a leftish headwind the Star would have probably flown farther, but with today's rightish headwind the fewer fade Pro went farther. Of the three farthest shots, two were with the Pro Valk (85m, 90m). The Star Valk was one of the far flyers as well. It'll be a tough battle between the Valks, DX TB and DX EG for the bag slots. - Champ Roadrunner: 65m, 80m, 80m, 75m. Also a good distance disc, but, because of the possible turn, less predictable than the Valks, especially because release angles are more important for understable discs. The RR is both, a fast disc and an under- stable disc, which collides and thus makes it difficult to know the right release angle (the DX TB is much easier anglewise). - Lucid Felon: 65m, 65m, 70m, 70m. Always the same, despite the wind (which got its full underside during the fade). - Proline Hellfire: 70m, 80m, 75m, 70m. About the same as the Felon, but with more distance (maybe only this time). Feels not as good in the hand as the Felon, but we'll see how it works out. The disc is new. - BigZ/X Comet (2): Last but best, the Comets! Actually, I took them just for fun with me. It's been a long time since I really worked with them. My bag includes no midranges. I go from P3 directly to the TB. But during the last weeks, the Comet sneaked into my bag again, without being thrown (because I wan't disc golfing) it just wanted to sit there between the other important discs. ;-) Those Comets were the biggest surprise today. They flew so hugely perfect! No single bad throw in eight Comet throws. That's better than for every other disc today. And they went far: 60m, 70m, 60m, 70m, 70m, 70m, 70m, 70m. They flipped up and then rode along, making air-time! No other disc flew as slow and as unaffected by the wind ... just as if there would be none. No need for overstability on windy days, just take a Comet! To- day, the Comet found its place back into the bag. :-) In regard of the weather situation I am happy with the session today. It was good having been disc golfing again. My training worked out; I think that I was able to throw more slingshot-like instead of strong-arming. Nose-down is getting better, slowly. I chose the release angles pretty well, although I threw a lot of different discs right after each other. And I am hugely happy about this great discovery with the Comet! I love to bag it, now I know again why to do so. http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke