2019-06-14 Two Disc Rounds After a long time, back on the course. I've been longing for this moment for weeks. The weather was great (28 C, slight wind from changing direc- tions). My goal was to play several two disc rounds on the Wiley course. Each time one faster disc for all drives and my usual P3 putter. (I don't think it makes sense to play one disc rounds without a putter, or more narrow: without your putting putter.) I started off with my (t)rusty old ESP Comet and the P3: Hole 1 into a slight headwind was a fine and long Comet shot. The fore- hand approach sucked, then I missed the long par-putt. On hole 2 the drive did not flip up fully, thus landing too far left, set- tled with par. On hole 3 I hit the small tree on the right side and took another bogey. Then a backhand turnover (which came out more straightish) on hole 4 for par. On the short hole 5 I drove with the P3, as usual. This round I threw it backhand and missed the long putt. Hole 6, backhand through the gap. Got through but was way low and thus short. A bad approach shot and a missed long par-putt. On hole 7 I tried to forehand the Comet, which immedi- ately resulted in OAT and the disc flying down the slope. Thum- bered up with the P3 and hit the long putt! This seemed to have started some momentum. On hole 8 I threw a beautiful big hyzer to perfectly park the hole! :-) On the long hole 9 I had a bit of a tailwind, thus the Comet did not flip up fully. Still it rode almost up to the bushes. From there I made the par (which is good for me on this hole). All in all this round was a 29 (+2), which is rather bad. I had one birdie and three bogeys. This was the worst round, but only because it was the first. Later in the best drive round, I made three Comet birdies. The second round, I played with the orange 171g DX Eagle and the P3. After a good drive on hole 1, I had a long layup and a drop- in for par. I parked hole 2 with the Eagle forehand: birdie. Then a nice big hyzer on hole 3 for a 5m putt: birdie. On hole 4 I gave not enough hyzer (into the slight headwind), shooting the disc straight instead of fading it right, even hit a tree but saved the par. Then on hole 5 driving with the P3, forehand this time, with a better result (4m putt) and another birdie. On hole 6 I took the thumber route but missed the 9m putt. The forehand drive on hole 7 was too high. After hitting metal on the 16m half-run, I settled with par. On hole 8 I took the big hyzer too tight, hit a tree, had a difficult approach round some trees, but sank the 6m putt for par. For the long drive on hole 9 I used the DFP grip and got the Eagle next to the bushes. Had a 20m layup for par. This round was a 24 (-3), tieing my personal best (for the first time without a bogey). Three birdies, no bogeys. It were 8 Eagle drives (4 BH, 3 FH, 1 Thumber) and 1 P3 drive (FH). For the third round I went with the Lucid Felon and the P3. For a longer time I wanted to play with only a very overstable driver and see how that goes. On the long and open hole 1, I should have thrown with more anny for a full flex. As I did not, I landed a bit short and left, but made the par. A forehand on hole 2, missed the long putt. On hole 3 I experimented a bit as the long big hyzer does not work with an overstable disc. It'll just dump too hard. Sure, I could play safe this way, but I wanted to ex- periment. Thus I tried the big high anny shot. (I'm looking for this shot on this hole for a long time. Seems I would need a disc with a lot of turn but also a healthy fade for this shot.) Any- ways, had a stall-out and landed short and left. Bad and much too short approach, missed the long par-putt. Then a forehand on hole 4, which was much too low, hitting ground at about half way to the basket, but, as the disc is so overstable, it kind of slith- ererd or hovered a long way. The putt was still too long. Missed it and settled with par. Forehand P3 on hole 5 came in a bit short but I sank the 8m putt: birdie. I threw my thumber on hole 6 a bit low. It hit the first branch and kicked down. From there I had a long approach (more a drive) around some trees. Was happy to have the Felon for this forehand skip-shot, which worked out well. Made the 6m par-putt. On the sharper right-turning hole 7 with the slope down straight ahead, I performed great with the Felon, which is much safer to avoid going straight and down the slope. Made the 6m putt for the second birdie of the round. On hole 8 the Felon again was too overstable for the long big hyzer. It just couldn't pan out far enough to the basket. I missed the 11m putt, but only because I was to timid. On the long last hole 9 I wanted to correct the mistake from hole 1 and throw that big anny flex line with more anny. Unfortunately, I threw it too wide and high, clipping the top branches of the near trees/bushes left, landing right after them in the flowers. From there I threw a beautiful thumber to the basket for an easy 4m par-putt. This made the score a 26 (-1). The overstability was much harder to work with, especially because you cannot throw long hyzers with it, which is crucial on this course. For straight shots, you have to power it up to get it to where it needs to go before the fade hits in. Those shots are nice if you hit your line but if not, these power shots go to hell in the woods. That's about as much contrast to a Comet you can have. Afterwards I played a best drive round, throwing a drive with the Comet, the Eagle and the Felon from each tee, then playing on from the best lay. On hole 1 I had three equally far drives, which only varied from left to right. I went with the most straight drive, which was the Comet. Made a par. The best drive on hole 2 was the Eagle forehand, about 4m from the basket. On hole 3 I decided to throw a flat forehand with the Felon. It flew straight until a very late fading finish, landing 3m from the basket! On hole 4 no drive was good. Felon and Eagle both landed 8m from the basket. I missed the putt. On hole 5 I backhanded the Comet with a slight nose-up flight to perfectly park the hole! On hole 6 I hit the first branch with both driver thumbers, but threw a nice straight backhand with the Comet for a 6m putt, which I made. On hole 7, both driver forehands landed a bit right, but the backhand Comet flew on a slightest anny to 3m from the basket. On hole 8 the Eagle landed 5m from the basket. I made the putt. On the final hole 9 all three discs flew about the same distance, only varying from left to right. I picked the Eagle be- cause it was a bit less obstructed. Unfortunately the thumber ap- proach was a bit long and I missed the putt. This made 6 birdies, 2 pars and 1 bogey. 4 times I picked the Comet drive, 3.5 times the Eagle drive and 1.5 times the Felon drive. This result matches the finding that the overstable Felon is less workable for such a variety of shots. The Comet's bad performance in the first round was only caused by it being the first round. This time it performed well. Now I want to pick out some notable shots: - Least spectacular but probably most characteristic were the two forehand drives with the Eagle on hole 2. One was parked, the other 4m from the basket. These shots were just right. - The most surprising shot on hole 3 was the forehand Felon shot. It flew dead straight for such a long time, with only a late hard fade, putting the disc 3m from the basket! - On hole 5 the forehand P3 shots were much better than the back- hand P3 shot, but even better was the backhand Comet shot, which landed under the basket. - It's most heart-jumping performance had the Comet on hole 7. The backhand drive started a bit too much left, only by a few centimeters missing the first tree. As the throw was with low power, I feared that the disc would then start to fade and thus hit the second tree, but instead, it started to turn slightly, thus missing the second tree by again only a couple of centime- ters. After turning ever so slightly or rather keep holding the neutral line the disc landed 3m from the basket. What a shot! - The most beautiful shot of the day was the Comet drive on hole 8. It's the usual big long hyzer. At the moment I saw the disc flying, I already uttered that it was a good shot and for sure it was. The flight was flawless -- it was nothing but one long per- fect arc from the tee to the basket! The disc came to rest right under the basket. :-) - Surprising was the long thumber approach with the Felon after the bad drive on hole 9. Usually I throw my thumbers with either the Teebird or the P3, but hardly ever with the Felon, thus I lack the experience with it. Nonetheless, I thumbered the Felon a long way to landing 4m from the basket, which saved the par after the bad drive. - Finally, the only additional shot I made the whole day: It was a second drive with the Eagle on hole 9. I wanted to try a fore- hand there ... and how it worked out! It flew a full flex lines to land 5m behind the first row of bushes. This is about as far as I ever drove on this hole, but with much lower risk than the usual wind attacked backhand there. For sure, my forehand con- tinues to show that it is better than I think it is. ;-) Some final words: It's great to watch the Comet fly through the air so slow! Playing with the Comet after a long time, was a good experience. The Felon, while not being the most workable driver, provides a bunch of different shots to facilitate. I'm glad I bought no Firebird but this Felon. I like it a lot. The DX Eagle was as good today as the ES TB + S VL driver combo usually is. More EG+P3 rounds? ;-) http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke