2021-02-05 State of My Game This is a look on my current state in disc golf. The previous months were kind of a breakthrough. In November I improved my Soehnstetten PB twice, one week apart. These were the first times I played under par there. In December, on the Wiley course, I finally birdied holes 9 and 1 for the first time, one week apart. After two month of winter break, on my first day back on the disc golf course, I improved my Wiley PB by a stroke. The highlights are coming in right now! What will happen next week?! The -1 at Soehnstetten was played with ES Teebird, JB Zone, and D P3. The -2 at Soehnstetten was played with 300 F7, JB Zone, and D P3. The -4 at Wiley was played with DX Banshee, DX Roc3, and D P3. Each one was a three-disc-round! The birdie on Wiley #9 was after a 90m Banshee drive and a 12m putt. The birdie on Wiley #1 was after a 95m Valkyrie drive and a 4m putt. The ES Teebird and the DX Banshee are about the same. The Banshee seems to be a bit faster and fly farther (although the flight numbers say same speed and less glide ... That much about flight numbers). In wet conditions the DX Banshee has much better grip than the ES Teebird, thus this can be a great replacement for such weather conditions. From my current experiences, they fly about the same in almost all ways. However, I should try dif- ferent shots (big annies, thumbers) to compare them more closely. My Star Valkyrie is still unmatched by any other disc. It's an important disc and I don't have a backup. Well, the MOLF can re- place it in many cases, the main difference being the more pro- nounced fade of the MOLF. (It flies true to its numbers, whereas my Valk flies like -1/1.) I do have another Star Valk, but that is noticably more understable (probably more like Valks usually are). The last driver I bag is the Lucid Felon. There's not much to say about it. It's more overstable than all of the previous discs. It's very flat and thus works well for forehands. I can use it for skip shots. The 300 F7, with which I played the PB round at Soehnstetten, is a strange outlier. I don't really like understable discs, which this one is, but still it has some stability at the end. Also it has a robust rim. It's a surprisingly good disc, but still none I'd like to bag. It doesn't really fit. Midranges are a new thing for my bag. The Comet came back into my bag after I went deep into the scrubs so often at the Safari Dou- bles. A low-power straight flying disc -- like a Comet -- would have saved a lot of strokes, because it would have allowed for a smooth style of play: just down the fairway, no problem, par's fine. I don't have another disc to really provide that. The fol- lowing tournament, the Comet already had served me well. The Roc3 convinced me at once on the Wiley course. It provided exactly the space between the Teebird and the Zone that fits well for this course. There are four holes I throw it on (2 FH, 2 BH), and these typically are birdie holes ... even more so since I throw the Roc3 on them! I don't know about other courses. I don't like the overlap between Zone, Roc3, and Teebird, and what it does to the decision making. In Soehnstetten, it could be the right disc on #2, #12, and #18. Maybe I just need to get used to having three speed classes instead of two. The putter section is all the same: JB Zone for approaches and putter drives. D P3s for putting and neutral putter drives. The Zone has no backup. I do have an ESP Zone, which is much more overstable. However, most throws I could cover with the Roc3 or P3 if I would lose the Zone in a tournament. Some day I need to get a new one anyways. Besides: it's such a good disc! The P3s are losing more of their stability, it seems. Not so much the old (rainbow-stamped) 3-fade one, but noticably the red-lined one, which is my throwing P3. Recently I've played some rounds with the black-lined one. That one seemed to be a bit more stable, despite the big chunk its rim misses. For putting there's no real difference, but for throwing it shows. I do have another fresh one of these latter two siblings. Plus I do have another of the old 3-fade ones. (The two newly molded P3s I have are crap! They have much stiffer plastic, have lower HSS, and can be iden- tified by the ``D-Line P3'' encraving on the bottom. They only fit as practice putters.) What do I miss, concerning discs? Nothing really. Well, my bag misses the simplicity it had. ;'-) For tournaments I'll bag more discs now, it seems. However, most of the rounds I play are three-disc-rounds. In these I can make a lot out of almost any disc combination. Give me a P3 and two discs, one with some fade and one with few or none and I'll play well. Or give me P3 and Zone plus any driver of choice, and I'll play well. Or give me a JB Zone and nothing else, and I'll play well ... http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke