2020-08-26 Goettingen: Hole Analysis Let's have an analytic look at the holes of the Goettingen course. During the last days I've played twelve rounds there, more than the ten rounds over the last two years. All of my rounds ever on this course were one or two disc rounds! The first two rounds with a JB Zone as my putter, all the rest with a C- Line P3. For drivers I had a 158g Star Teebird, a Star Eagle and a Proline Hellfire, or none at all. My best scores were with the P3-Hellfire combination, with only the P3, or with only the JB Zone. Now let's look at the holes separately: 1) The best results were forehand drives with the light Teebird and Eagle. The birdie chance is clearly there. It's the easiest hole on the course. If favors a hyzer forehand. For the backhand anny line the low hanging twigs on the right come into play. If you catch them you're faced with a long low-ceiling putt. To avoid them you have to go wider, which tends to leave a longer putt than on a forehand line. The open side clearly is long left of the pin. With wide-rim drivers you need to land early left because skips can jump OB right. I think the best disc would be a Teebird, thrown on a bit higher forehand hyzer. 2) Don't go early left. That's what causes trouble. The 90m downhill are not quite reachable with the P3. Drivers should have some fade to come back towards the pin. Turning it over (on the downhill) is bad, but not as bad as early left. Landing pin-high right of the pin is best, because you have an open look with a backstop. Notice that the pin is a bit elevated compared to the green, because it sits on the slope, thus putt higher. I had a lot of solid drives with the Hellfire, only 70% power, forceover, a lot of room for error. Par should be no problem, but getting it closer than 7m seems to be difficult. I'm curious how a pure hyzer with the Valk would turn out. Generally however, it is a rather easy hole that profits from a driver with fade. I've had birdies but not as many as I should have had. Missed several 7m putts (despite the backstop). 3) A less easy hole. I've tried a lot of lines on this hole, nev- er got a birdie. That seems to be a problem of unsuitable discs. If you go forehand around the left side of the tree, you can only play for par. It's not the worst line, but birdie is out of play. If you go backhand, you can throw a putter for placement, with an open look but a too long putt and not enough room to make it. Or you can go with a driver backhand. The Hellfire is so overstable that it faded early left most times. It's pretty dense there. No easy three. Going straight is okay if you're low enough for the fence to stop you from going OB. Best however would be a straightish driver like a Valkyrie or maybe a Teebird on a low sweeping hyzer going all the way down, through the gap and to- wards the pin. I've never had such a shot, maybe because of not having the right disc. I should play this hole for par, thus avoiding early left, rather throwing a putter simply for place- ment to have an open look to the pin. 4) A tricky short hole. Still I'm wondering how to attack it for birdie. Going left OB with a backhand hyzer is the greatest risk. Most times I've thrown forehand anny lines from the leftest side of the tee. The par should be safe then if I don't choke on short obstucted putts. Important insight is that you don't have to land at the basket. You can fade or roll down the slope left of the basket without problem. There's an OB fence 4m from it, that'll stop the disc. Then you get 1m relief and have an easy (and open) putt. Remembering this is especially important for upshots: just throw it down there! For a birdie line, I only see the forehand anny flex line with an overstable disc, but it's so difficult to get the angles right; the line is so tight. With an understable putter you could try the straight gap, but only if it won't fade left into OB. Or maybe some strange overhand throw. I have bir- died the hole once, but I'm happy with a par. 5) 120m pure hyzer. A monster of a hole ... but then again, not so difficult. Clearly: It's impossible to birdie unless you can throw 120m on a hyzer -- it should be a par 4 --, but par is reachable. To avoid are the scrubs on the left. Throw into the field on the right. There's so much room, and better looks at the pin. Don't give yourself hard times by playing on the left. Best are shots landing between five and ten meters in the open. There you don't waste too much distance but still have room and looks. From the tee, don't think of hyzer, but think of a straight shot diagonally out right. With that direction in mind, you can throw almost any distance line you want. The goal is having a long throw out into the field. Don't let it trick you into throwing hyzers left into the bushes! Good throws for me go beyond the grey box, best throws reach the sandy spot. Straighter drivers could provide more distance here, but even with the P3 I got to the box. From there it seems best to throw a straight or hyzer P3 upshot. Important: stay out in the field again. There you have an open look. Fading into the scrubs could leave you with 5m putts without a look! No kidding. I had a 4m putt that was even still obstucted when I turbo putted (and thus missed). But if you're pin-high in the field, you've got an open look with a lot of bushes to catch airballs. I've par'ed the hole once after a long Hellfire drive and a P3 upshot. With two P3 throws I had a 7m putt as well (but missed that). The importance really is the placement, not so much the distance! 6) Another of the easy holes. Landing left of the pin is the more open side. Alternatively short right between the trees, although you might have limited ceiling there already. Short of the basket or on the right side pin-high, you're forced to lay up. As my forehand just reaches the pin, I'd go with a full-power forehand throw with an overstable driver, for the fade at the end. Back- hands on low lines are not the worst neither. Even if you are high, you usually hit the trees and drop for a 8-10m putt, with a low ceiling, however. It's the second easiest hole. 7) A strange little hole. It has the handrail right in front of the teepad. This blocks hyzers. Then it has the upsloped fairway with branches above, building a frame to throw through. Going too high drops your disc or lets it fade short left. Also not turning it over enough lets you go early left. This is the place to avoid. Anything right is okay, just avoid early left. From the edge of the scrubs your only line is a forehand roller, which is not the worst shot, but seldom positions for a short par-putt. If you are within the surprisingly thick scrubs, then good luck to have anny flick roller line! The usual landing spot is at the bottom of the slope right below the pin. This leaves a 8-10m steep uphill putt, with OB behind the basket. I.e. only a half- run layup. The chances to make it are low, but the chances for rollaways are high, thus be aware! My best drives were rather high forceover lines with the very overstable Hellfire. One time landing half up the hill, but then it rolled down. It's very difficult to get close to the pin. RHBH throws tend to hit the hill with much angle and roll. RHFH turnover drives are pretty much blocked by the handrail. Par is what I should play for. 8) My discs cry out in pain each time I approach this hole. ;-) Well, it has become better since I throw backhand annies. Fore- hands hit the steps very hard. This hurts the discs. Furthermore, such throws have a low tendency to stay where they hit, but tend to roll down. Coming to land on the platform seems to be unlike- ly with a forehand hyzer. Also, the risk of going (skipping) OB right is high, if you take a too tight or too high line. The backhand anny with the P3 is the much more tolerant line. Sure, turning it over risks going OB as well, and turning it not enough risks fading down left. Thus lower lines seems to be the better choice -- less risk in both directions. The problem with the hole: unless you're on the platform, putting distance has few relevance. Usually you don't have a line, even from 5m, because of all the handrails and the elevation. Rather focus on landing it on the platform. All too likely missed putts or approaches hit the wall and roll back down or airball and fade down. It is very difficult to birdie this hole. Practically it requires landing and resting on the platform. You ensure the par if you get your layup to land and rest on the platform. This is a question of touch and angles. Going for off-the-platform putts through the rails usually isn't worth it. Throw a safe drive, lay up, par. 9) Another easy hole ... if you've got a low long forehand hyzer. You'll be close then, either for a putt, a half-run, or a layup. Just beware of going OB if you miss a half-run. Backhand drives must be very touchy. But my forehand is good enough. If you land farther away from the pin, it doesn't matter where that is, in each direction you'll be faced with a low ceiling layup/half-run. Ensure your comebacker will be short, because it'll have a low ceiling as well. The par is routine. Birdies are well possible. 10) This hole bites! Downhill drive, through a gap, then a long OB-framed peninsula with the basket at the end. I've carded many multiple bogey on this hole. Don't try too hard, play it for par. Managing the gap is the first challenge. Don't try to get near the pin, just get behind the gap. There's a nice tomahawk line over the trees, which worked reliably for me with the Hellfire. Or you throw a straight discs (e.g. your putter) straight through the gap. Ensure you throw it low/downhill enough, and soft for a controlled direction. Don't force it! From down there you have an open look to the pin. Either you go straight with the putter, or with a forehand hyzer, possibly skipping off the aspalt field left. Most times I went long on my upshots. This is to avoid, be- cause there you have a low ceiling putt. Rather try to stay a bit short, for a more open look. Also, if you stay short, the upshot is not as far and thus has less room to err to the sides towards OB. No need to ``risk'' birdies, just play for par: behind the gap, simple upshot, putt. This hole is all about risk avoiding. Don't let it trick you into going for birdies. It's not worth it. But if you would go for it, a straight driver with some fade would be best. You have to take the right gap on a low line, hovering/gliding over the OB path to skip back in, for a long putt. Without the right disc, no way to birdie it (unless you throw it in from 30m). 11) It's difficult to birdie this hole regarding possible lines. The only really open way to the pin would be skipping off the far left corner of the asphalt area, where the path leaves, and penetrating even farther, up left. A difficult shot that requires the right disc, and still there's trees everywhere. Or going high and having luck to pierce through somewhere. In summer with all the leaves, this seems to be pretty impossible. Another route, which just is not possible for my distance, would be over every- thing and dropping down to the pin, i.e. a huge overhand or grenade throw. In my case, I try to get at least behind the outermost trees. Behind and left of the asphalt area is good. Straight ahead is not easy to save par from. Going early left usually means bogey. As birdie is unlikely for me, getting in po- sition for an easy layup for par is what I want to achieve. A Teebird or Valkyrie would be a good disc on this hole, because the best line would be low straight-to-fade or a long low hyzer. 12) Don't go early left, which is a common miss. The woods are quite thick there. Usually you only have a flick roller out, if at all. From some spots a pitch-out backwards is your only op- tion! The slope down right towards OB is dangerous near the basket. You should care for landing angles. Putter throws are good, but they need too much height to make it past the one tree in the fairway. Either it catches the disc, knocking it down, if you went too high, or you end up short, if you went low enough to pass it. You're left with some 20m layup from there. Faster discs can make it to the pin. Flexlines work, but the risk of going OB right is high, if not during flight, then after rollaways on landing. This is the reason you don't want to risk much on the putt. If it catches edge, it's gone. The putt from OB is still long and uphill. As it is the last hole, I usually lay up for a drop-in. I've had several solid and easy pars after straight putter drives. But Hellfire flexlines had worked as well some- times. If you're feeling lucky, you might as well try it. But at the end of a good or as really bad round, you rather play safe here with the putter. I'm looking forward to playing this course with one of my usual drivers, or maybe with a Comet. It's always fun to being forced or rather force myself to take only two discs with me when I visit Goettingen. As one is a putter (namely the C-Line P3), only one driver or midrange is left to be taken. A nice challenge. :-) http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke