2020-12-08 First Birdie on #9 Today I played two quick rounds at the Wiley course. It had around 5C, slightest wind from north-east. The snow was pretty much gone. At some places it was a bit muddy. I went without a towel. Concerning wetness, this was no problem. Just my hands got pretty dirty. I played parallel DX Banshee + D P3 against single disc DX Roc3. Two rounds with two sets of discs, makes four rounds played. I scored E, +2, +1, +1, which are all scores around my average. Overall, I had birdies, that wasn't the problem. The problem were too many bogeys. They were caused partly by my really bad fore- hand form today, and partly by the new discs. For the Banshee and for the Roc3 it was the first time on the course. Let's run through the holes quickly: #1: Pretty good drives. One Banshee landed next to the tree, which is about as good as it can get. Unfortunately I then missed the 10m putt. One bogey on this hole after a missed 8m putt, the rest pars. That's okay. #2: The straight drives, aimed at the big tree on the right were better than the hyzers. My best drive was with the Roc3 for a 6m putt. But I also canned another 15m putt for birdie! Later I missed two 8m putts and had to settle for pars. #3: Neither of my discs and also not the wind was suited for this hole. The wind and the fade cut the big hyzer with the Banshee short, resulting in long missed putts and thus pars. With the Roc3 I did not even attempt the hyzer. First I tried a backhand anny flex, but threw too high, catching an early branch, result- ing in a double bogey 5, eventually. Later I went with a fore- hand, turned that over with flutter, and after more mediocre shots took a bogey. #4: The second struggle hole. My forehand was so bad today. Both discs should have been well suited for this hole, but nothing worked: tree hits, flutter, overturned hyzers. At least one par, the other three were bogeys. That's really bad! #5: First round a Banshee thumber, skipping way right, and a Roc3 forehand, turning over and landing short. Both pars after long missed putts. Second round high stall-out shots with the Roc3 and the P3, resulting in 3m putts for birdies! It can be so easy! #6: Not the best hole. It kinda worked. One good Banshee drive for a 12m birdie look. Three pars and one bogey after a 6m chain-out missed putt. #7: Two pars in round one. Second round I tried a two-finger forehand grip for the Roc3 and that worked much better, parking the hole for an easy 4m putt. Birdie! The Banshee drive did not work as well. Only barely it hit the slope but rolled all the way down. I had no line from down there. A Banshee thumber got me only half up the slope. Then a half-blind 15m P3 thumber almost made the basket! Drop-in for bogey. #8: Four pars. The Roc3 drives were pretty good, just a bit short. Each time I missed the 10m putt. The Banshee drives were not as good. One was high and short. The other wide, caught twigs and got pushed down the slope. But I threw a wonderful 30m fully blind Banshee thumber through the trees for a 6m par putt! What a shot! This was a scramble highlight! #9: The last Roc3 drive on this hole was bad. After a missputt I got a bogey, but ...! The other Roc3 drive got onto the first row of bushes! This is far for a midrange. Both Banshee drives flew to the second row of bushes! That's as far as I had gotten on my best one or two throws. Okay, the left-tailwind helped, but my lines were perfect as well. I released it on a slightest anny, which it held and rode (aided by the wind) for a long time, fad- ing back in at the very end. The second round I had only 12m left, but was tucked so badly against a bush that I could not make anything happen. I went with a lean-back spike hyzer, miss- ing. But in the first round I had a 12m open look. When I saw that situation I said to myself that I would make the birdie this time ... and thus I did! I hit the 12m putt so easy. Everything just fell into place. Yes! Finally the birdie on #9! Now only hole 1 is left to birdie ... where I missed the 10m putt right after hitting the birdie on #9. Would that have been a pair! Nonetheless, this birdie on #9 was worth any failures to- day. :-) The Roc3 proved to be a great disc for single disc rounds. I think it is more workable than, say a Comet, because of the sta- bility and fade. Also it putts more like a putter. Actually, it putts pretty well! There's not much difference to my P3s. The Banshee has shown that it is this DX plastic disc that flies much like a premium Teebird. For those long open drives the results were almost better than Valkyrie and OLF drives. Of course, a single day does not say much, but I'm impressed by the distance I got with it. (It's only speed 7! Feels more like speed 9.) As both, the Roc3 as well as the Banshee, are in bright neonish colors and grippy DX plastic, they are well suited to be my winter discs. I'm looking forward to playing more in the coming weeks. http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke