2020-11-22 F7; New PB Again in Soehnstetten, sunny, cold (7C), slight west wind. The ground was a mixture of frozen, dry, wet, and muddy. Not the best conditions to play disc golf, but I do like wintertime disc golf. As winter approaches, I want to build a winter bag/hand, which is the least hazzle when playing in the wet and snow. As putter (D P3) and approach disc (JB Zone) are fix, it comes down to the one single driver I want to take with me. One driver has to be enough. It should be versatile, bright colored (orange or pink) and it's plastic as grippy as possible. In the best case I want to be able to throw it wet, without wiping it. I started a topic on the DGCR forums. [0] The best suitable disc I have is the orange DX Eagle-X. The most grippy driver, however is the 300 F7. I've hardly thrown that one, only some times for fieldwork. Today I went with that one, as an experiment. :-D I played two good rounds, one setting a new personal best! This is crazy! %-D Walkthrough: #1) F7 backhands both rounds. The turn of the disc comes in han- dy. First round landed short right. Missed the 11m putt. Made the 5m comebacker. Second round landed long left. Had to lay up (12m) because of the risk. Drop in. -> 3, 3 #2) Backhands are too risky. Flicking the F7 was too touchy for me for this delicate shot. Thus I flicked the Zone, with quite some power to get there. As it turned out, I can throw that just as far as the Teebird. :-) First round I landed pin-high. The 7m putt was obstructed and I missed it. 2m comebacker. Second round I landed a bit short. Had to lay up because of the risk. Drop in. -> 3, 3 #3) A hole that became easier with the understable driver. First round I threw my best drive on this hole ever: two thirds up the slope, right next to the steps. This is the perfect direction, just a few meters too short. The stance was difficult, but nonetheless, I canned the 10m putt for my first birdie on this hole! :-) Second round the drive had too much hyzer, fading left. I was right behind the trees. Threw a Zone tomahawk approach thru the twigs to land it on the flightplate. That worked out, but I did miss the 4m putt! :-( 2m comebacker. -> 2, 4 #4) Into a slight headwind, I was a bit scared of turing it too far and going down the cliff. But my drive in the first round was just perfect: flipped up, turned nicely, faded at the end. It landed around the usual spot. Threw a bad jumper from 30m. Maybe I was still angry about that one, that I missed the 5m putt. :-( Then made the 5m comebacker. Second round the drive was way too low, cutrolling nearly OB left before the trees. As I was pretty close to the trees, the hyzer route on the right was pretty much blocked. It would have been to throws to the pin. But there was a risk-reward shot on the left: Tunnel shot, all the time over the OB road, to have it fade right after the trees, towards the pin. I took the opportunity, flicked my JB Zone ... just perfectly! This was the approach throw of the day! The made the only (!) 4m putt. -> 4, 3 #5) I went with F7 backhands. The drives were worse than they should have been. First round too low and short. Had a lone Zone flick. Missed the 9m putt. Made the 3m comebacker. Second round the 30m Zone upshot backhand was better. Made the 5m putt downhill. -> 4, 3 #6) Zone forehands, as always. First round my drive came in a bit short. Had 9m left to the pin, with a downslope behind ... but I canned it! What a putt! Fearless! ;-D Second round I did not take the wind enough into account. I should have thrown lower. With the disc high in the air, the wind took it long right. It landed on the slope at the next teepad. From there I had a 17m putt that I ran and hit metal. :-) Then made the 3m putt. -> 2, 3 #7) Zone backhand, as always. First round I landed a bit right, but pin-high. I ran the (not as risky as usual) 20m putt, missed but made the 5m comebacker. Second round the drive was perfect (angles and speed). It landed on the ski lift track, pin-high. From there I had a 7m putt ... and made it! Another first birdie. :-D -> 3, 2 #8) F7 backhands. First round I might have been a bit irritated, by casual players, waiting on the right side of the pin, exactly where I like the drive to fade in (if I manage to throw that far, that is). My drive went high, thus left and short, with a roll down right. Hit metal from 16m. Then had a 2m putt. Second round the drive was much better. It leaked a bit right, but faded back well enough. From pin-high right, I made the 9m putt for birdie! Another great putt! My putting was so unbelievably good today! -> 3, 2 #9) This should have been a great hole for such a driver, but it wasn't. First round the drive probably was nose up, at least it didn't really turn and landed short. Missed the putt from 10m. Made it from 2m. Second round the drive was better but still had not enough turn (or I aimed not enough right), fading back into the scrubs. Only 7m away, my only option was a thumber chip-out. Then a 2m putt. -> 3, 3 #10) This as well should have been a good hole for the F7, but it wasn't. First round the F7 backand drive was way too high, thus landing short left on the hill. With a bad stance, I tried a flip-up F7 forehand. That didn't work out. :-/ 25m Zone approach. 5m putt. Second round on a good height but with no turn at all, hitting left on the hill, rolling down. 45m Zone backhand put under the pin! Drop-in! -> 4, 3 #11) Zone forehands. First round I missed the 6m putt. :-( Then dropped in. Second round the obstructions were no hinderance for the 4m putt to birdie. -> 3, 2 #12) I went with high F7 backhand stall-out shots. First round I landed short on the lower side. The 15m jump-putt was horrible. :-( Missed the 5m death-putt. Missed the 5m comebacker. Made the 5m comeback death-putt. This ruined the score. :-( Second round the drive worked out well. I ran the 7m death-putt with a lofty landing-flat style ... and canned it! :-D -> 5, 2 #13) F7 backhands. First round the drive was almost perfect, just a bit short, and it rolled ... towards the pin. :-) Now only 6m left for the putt ... and I made it! :-D This was yet another first birdie on a hole! Second round the drive turned over, land- ing right with the big tree between the disc and the basket. It was an awkward position. (In hindsight, I should have thrown a P3 thumber or Zone half-tomahawk.) I went with a Zone forehand spike hyzer ... which did not work at all. (Even a P3 high anny stal- lout would have worked better, although with much hyzer risk.) Missed from 10m. Then, with pressure to make the bogey-save, I made the 6m uphill putt. -> 2, 4 #14) F7 backhands. First round with too much hyzer, landing left. From 14m with death behind, I layed up. Made the 4m putt. Second round I overcorrected bigtime, throwing a pure anny over the lift track. :-S A great Zone forehand approach saved me. 5m putt. -> 3, 3 #15) F7 backhands. First round a bit right and short. Missed from 10m. Made it from 3m. Second round only a bit short. Missed from 8m (hit the band). Made it from 3m. -> 3, 3 #16) F7 backhands. First round another pure hyzer, not getting it to flip up, thus landing left (and short). Great 25m Zone fore- hand approach. Drop-in. Second round a decent drive. 20m jumper lay-up. 3m putt. -> 3, 3 #17) Controlling my fear of fading left into the gardens, I threw F7 turnover backhands (instead of taking the save Zone forehand option). First round it worked out great, landing just right in my usual landing zone. 30m Zone backhand hyzer approach. 4m putt. Second round the drive didn't turn as much as wished, but landing safe on the slope between the trees. With bad stance and trees in the line, I threw a Zone forehand anny to land it flat near the pin. That throw (which I don't usually use) worked out great. Made the 6m putt. -> 3, 3 #18) F7 backhands. First round on a good line but a bit high, catching the twigs. From 9m I missed the putt. Made the 4m come- backer. Second round I turned the disc over, landing right. 30m Zone forehand approach. 3m putt. -> 3, 3 First round I scored +2 (=56) with 3 birdies, 11 pars, 3 bogeys and 1 double-bogey. This still is a good score, expecially as I played with a driver that I've never played with before. Second round I scored -2 (=52) -- NEW PB! -- with 4 birdies, 12 pars and 2 bogeys. Which is just mindblowing! How can you take an unfamiliar driver and score a new PB?! It wasn't just short game work. At least two birdies were after F7 drives ... okay, with 7m and 9m putts. ;-) But the second drive with the F7 (#3) was my best drive yet on that hole. And other drives were on the level with my usual driving quality. Horrible drives were rare, despite playing the first time with an under- stable driver. My bag usually does not include *any* understable disc! The experiences of today were noteworthy! One additional look on the short game, as this was outstanding today. (I used the red-rimmed P3, not the rainbow-stamped as usu- al, but I cannot believe that this made the difference.) Made putts (both rounds): - 5 drop-ins - 5 from 2m - 6 from 3m - 5 from 4m - 6 from 5m - 4 from 6m - 2 from 7m - 2 from 9m - 1 from 10m Missed putts (both rounds): - 1 from 4m - 3 from 5m - 1 from 6m - 1 from 7m - 1 from 8m - 2 from 9m - 3 from 10m - 1 from 11m - 1 from 17m - 1 from 16m - 1 from 20m In summary: - 0-5m: 27 made, 4 missed (these are must-makes) - 6-10m: 9 made, 8 missed (these are 50:50 makes) - >10m: 0 made, 4 missed (these are bonus) Great percentages, I'd say! :-) I've had 7 death-putt situations. 3 times I layed up. 4 times I ran the putt, making 3 out of them! :-) Maybe the right way to take today's outcome is: On basis of my broad throwing technique set and with good understanding the phy- sics of flight, I was able to quickly get used to throwing the unfamiliar driver on various lines. But today, no driver could have ruined the success of my short game! :-) [0] https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3692412 http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke