2020-08-06 Best Round Soehnstetten Today I've played my best round in Soehnstetten so far. Scorewise I've only tied my personal best at 54 (E), but the round had far more potential. With 25C and sunny weather only the east wind made the conditions suboptimal. I played with my tournament bag: - D P3 (2) - JB Zone - ES Teebird - Star Valk - Lucid Felon Having the Felon improved my bag today. It added more than the rare utility shot a round. Going through the holes: 1) Teebird backhand drive anny, floating towards the pin. It went a bit far, skipping, rolling or being blown a bit on landing. I found it at hole 3's teepad. Zone layup. Drop-in for par. 2) Took the Felon into the headwind, had too much nose-up, it rose and landed short right in the scrubs. Had to pitch out (lay- up). Drop-in for par. 3) Valkyrie backhand drive. The tailwind was more than I expect- ed. The Valk flew more overstable (or I had too much hyzer/not enough anny), thus I landed far left. The power and height were good, just not the release angle. Threw a Zone forehand hyzer around the tree. Then sank the 7m putt for par. 4) Valkyrie backhand drive, just fine. Only not close enough to the pin. 15m layup (not really a run); I should have done more. Drop-in for par. 5) Felon forehand full power ... into the wind. Again too much nose-up. It rose and drifted towards OB, where it hit, just at the OB line, and skipped out. That was an unnecessary mistake. (The Teebird forehand practice drive was fine.) Threw a great Zone forehand approach. 5m putt for bogey. :-( 6) Zone forehand drive downwards. It wasn't crushed down by the wind as much as I thought, thus it came in too high, landing right of the pin and sliding even more. 17m layup with the P3. I didn't really run it because of the risks. Drop-in for par. 7) Felon backhand, smooth downwards. It worked great! :-) Only a bit short. Had 25m down left to the pin. Went with the Zone, slighly on anny, half a run ... and hit the chains ... only it fell out. Wow! Drop-in for par. 8) Because of the headwind, I went with the Teebird. Even that drifted right quite a bit, landing pin-high but down the slope. Missed the 13m putt. Then made the 5m putt for par. 9) Valkyrie drive ... beautiful! It landed under the basket! :-) Dropped it in for the birdie! :-) 10) Another great Valkyrie drive, laser straight, on line and farther than I've thrown on this hole before, landing right on the path where you have good footing. Went for the 20m putt ... and hit center cage, just a few centimeters too low. It bounced back and rolled 10m! :-( Missed the 10m putt, then made the 4m comebacker for bogey. That was unfortunate. 11) This time I went backhand with the Zone. Landed a bit left but had a window through the bushes. Made the 5m putt for another birdie. :-) 12) As planned I went with the backhand hyzer, using the Valkyrie. (The Felon or more spike angle would have been better.) I went far and too straight, but at least putted from the lower side. Layed it up because of the long distance, didn't really run it. 4m putt for par. 13) Valkyrie backhand with good distance, only a bit left. Had a 9m death putt. It was clear I would lay that up. Dropped in the par. 14) Another Valkyrie backhand, going a bit left and long, but close. It was only a 5m putt, but downhill. I went to a knee and had some fear, it looks like. Putted too low, missing the chance for birdie. Dropped in for par. 15) Teebird forehand uphill (for a bit more straightness than with the Felon). Unfortunately it slipped out of my grip early, thus flying a bit too much to the right. Fortunately it turned enough and slid a bit for a not too bad position. Still the 15m distance was too long for a putt on the risky terrain. Layed up and dropped in for par. 16) Valkyrie backhand ... just a bit too flat or even with anny. Hence I landed way right. 20m layup with the P3. Then a drop-in for par. 17) This time no mistakes: Threw a full power Felon forehand, en- suring I get the nose down. That was a good shot. Had an open look to the pin for a Zone layup and a drop-in for par. 18) Last chance for birdie. Went with the Felon backhand. What should have been a low hyzer became a rather high hyzer, but not too bad, only it skipped beyond the pin to the left. (The pretty similar Teebird drive was better.) The drive left me with a 8m putt into headwind. I didn't think much about the wind as I was trying to keep the focus at all and putt naturally and strong. Well, I went for a normal line, got lifted and hit the band. At least made the following 5m putt for par. 2 birdies, 2 bogeys (one OB and one three-putt) and 14 pars made an even round. But there was a lot of potential for an even better score! All throws: - 29 P3: 6 layups, 5 missed putts, 7 made putts, 11 drop-ins - 8 Zone: 2 drives, 2 upshots, 4 layups - 8 Valkyrie: 8 drives - 5 Felon: 5 drives - 3 Teebird: 3 drives The drives: - 8 Valk (all BH) - 5 Felon (2 BH, 3 FH) - 3 Teebird (2 BH, 1 FH) - 2 Zone (1 BH, 1 FH) Several drives were as good as I can realistically expect them to be. Most times my disc choices and lines were good. Twice I should have used the Teebird instead of the Felon. And I had some nose-angle issues with the Felon forehand. But in general, throw- ing the Felon forehand full power is a good tool. Since I've adjusted my grip and thus get the nose more down, my backhand drives have gained in quality. More remarkable was my approach game today. There were several longer approaches, mainly forehands with the Zone, that resulted in drop-ins. This usually indicates good rounds: Many drop-ins. The putting: - had 11 drop-ins - made putts from: 7, 5, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5 meters - missed putts from: 25, 13, 20, 10, 5, 8 meters - made layups from: 15, 17, 20, 9, 15, 20, 18 meters These are very good numbers for me. There's only two putts that I should have made. Otherwise I hardly had putting to do. I don't expect to hit putts from 10m and out, thus the missed putts are okay (especially as the 25m and 20m ``putts'' nearly made it). I could have tried running the one or other layup, but I'm not un- satisfied with them. Overall it was a great round, that also felt good. (Being alone on the course with good weather favors my game.) It's a pleasure to see my advancement this year. My game has become better, con- cerning drives and putting. I think it's mainly a technique and routine of technique thing. It's like disc golf has settled a bit. It became more natural, more routine, more relaxed, a bit more confident. Surely it helped having played with this bag for a long time now. I know these discs really well now, and their combination has proven again and again. But most important: I had a fun time playing! :-) http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke