2019-04-23 Bag Statistics Had been to the Soehnstetten course this evening. It had nice 20 deg C but a noticable wind from the East. I played with the tour- nament bag setup, I have figured out through the last time. This time I noted all shots and which discs I used for them. So now is: statistics time! The bag: - D P3 (2) -- 34 shots - JB Zone -- 8 shots - ES Teebird -- 6 shots - Star Valk -- 9 shots - Pro Valk -- 2 shots - Lucid Felon -- 0 shots (I had the orange DX Eagel in the bag as well for some additional drives, but more on that later.) My 18 drives: - 9 Star Valkyrie (BH) - 5 ES Teebird (2 BH, 2 FH, 1 Th) - 2 Pro Valkyrie (BH) - 1 JB Zone (FH) - 1 D P3 (BH) The two Pro Valk drives both were bad. Actually no single shot (not even one of the additional drives) with the Pro Valk was good. This might be a problem caused by the wind, or caused by the course layout ... or caused by the lacking suitability of the disc. It might be the best disc for max distance shots on calm days and for field training, but on the course ... I don't know. (The DX Eagle might be the better backup disc for the Star Valk ...) All other drives were good or at least thrown with the right disc. Only on hole 5 into the wind, the Teebird (which faded down the slope) would have been the better choice than the Valkyrie (which turned into OB) ... or rather the Valk with more hyzer? Anyways. The Pro Valk was the only driver problem. Despite the wind, this course had no use for Felon drives. Or maybe on hole 7 the Felon would have crashed down earlier and had avoided overshooting the basket so much with the Teebird. But maybe a forehand for par would have been the better option alto- gether. The upshots: - P3: 4 layups, 1 FH, 2 Th - Zone: 4 BH, 2 FH, 2 Th - Teebird: 1 Th It were quite a lot thumber approaches. I do like throwing thumbers -- maybe too many. It's just that I seldom err too much with them. There were no longer approach shots BH with the P3. Actually, all those P3 approaches were rather layups from short distances, when there was no line to the basket or running the putt was too dangerous. (I ran the dangerous and not too short birdie putt on 14 and had to settle with bogey.) Putting: Actually, my putting was rather good. I did have 9 miss-putts, but all of them were long putts, which I don't expect to make. On the other side, I did make at least two long putts, which usually are out of my range. And those that I did not make landed for a drop-in. Hole 14 is the only missed putt that cost two strokes. Of the 18 putts, 10 were drop-ins (2 after good approaches, 8 after miss-putts or lay-ups). Those 8 I should work on! 6 were normal (but not easy) putts. These are the important ones! Two were long putts that I made. These are the great (and unexpected) ones! Summary: The straight-to-fade (ES Teebird) plus straight and all lines (Star Valkyrie) driver combination works so well! Though the Felon had no single flight this time, it has it's place in my bag, for once as a backup for the Teebird, but as well, because there are shots that only the Felon provides (skipshots, for instance, or into strong winds). No questioning the Felon! The Pro Valk, however, is under heavy discussion, currently. Yes, it is my longest flyer on the field, and yes, it could po- tentially provide the right-travelling (turnover) shot, it yet lacks the demonstration on the course. For sure, I need some backup for the Star Valk and the Pro Valk would theoretically be a good candidate, but I'm a bit disappointed after today's round. Maybe that was just a wind problem and I should not use such discs with much turn in the wind (not even a tailwind) ... they are simply not dependable enough. The DX Eagle, that I carried, might be the better option. I think I'd prefer it over the DX Teebird, because of the turn it has, which works much better for annies and everything which should travel a bit right. (Btw: I parked hole 9 with the DX Eagle! ... after having parked hole 8's basket from 9's tee with the DX Teebird. %-) The counting first shot with the Star Valk was too short, unfortunately.) The slower discs are settled already. The P3s do great. The JB Zone is more workable than the ESP Zone and thus gets more shots than if I bag the ESP. Thus I'll stay with the JB Zone in the summer. (Unless the gummy plastic gets too sticky in high tem- peratures.) The Zone is such a good discs for those shots I use it for. It's totally worth bagging. Even if I had putted better, the P3s have more shots than all other discs combined! That's not too surprising, actually. If you birdie each hole, it's a driver shot and then a putt, each time. If you par each hole, it's a drive, an approach and a putt. Half of my approaches are P3 shots (okay, many are missed putts and layups, but still). So, the structure of my bag is pretty much grinded down to the core now: Two kinds of drivers (straight and straight-to-fade), one OS utility driver, one approach utility disc, and a putter. That's 5 discs in my case. A 6th disc for the convenience second putter. Lacking now is only a backup for the main straight driver, making it 7 discs. I'm not sure if I only need to have a backup or if I gain something from having and using a disc that flies a bit more understable than my straight driver. I.e. do I want to drive with that disc on specific hole shapes or do I only want it in case I lose my straight driver or as a more US utility discs in cases of trouble. This question is much bigger than one might think. Actually, it rather is crucial for such a bag, ... for my playing style, my game plan. I'll leave it open for now ... http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke