2021-02-19 Seven Birdies This year's first round in Soehnstetten. Nice weather: 10C, no wind, almost sunny, only slightly muddy. Last year's last round was a -2 (new PB). This year's first round was a -2 as well. :-) But even more, it was the round with the most potential so far, and also the round that shows how much I have improved (during winter when I did not play and not even putt %-) ). I played with my new full bag: - D P3 (2) - JB Zone - DX Roc3 - DX Banshee - S Valkyrie - Lucid Felon - (ESP Comet) - (ES Teebird) - (M OLF) I used the Banshee (my winter disc) for all of the Teebird shots. The MOLF was for backup only. No Comet throws (despite the calm day). The holes: #1: Straight away the worst performance of the day. Roc3 backhand slight anny. Usually I throw a Teebird here. This time I went long with the Roc3! Then a worst (!) upshot with the P3, overshooting the basket the double distance, luckily stopped by a tree. Without a window, I made it only halfway back to the pin. Then missed the long putt. What a horrible first hole! The prob- lem clearly was the second shot. The rest were only consequences. -> 5 #2: Roc3 forehand ... just as good as the Teebird usually. Missed the long putt just a bit low. -> 3 #3: Valkyrie backhand. Not brave enough to throw more to the right. This time I was on a bad spot, having no line to the pin ... or so I thought. I threw the Zone forehand with more power to hope to get through the branches. But somehow the disc went right through and was long in consequence. Missed the long putt. -> 4 #4: Valkyrie backhand ... the perfect drive! Made the 6m putt for my first birdie on the hole! :-) -> 2 #5: Felon forehand, too much nose-up, rising high, at least land- ing in bounds on the right. Then a good Zone forehand from an awkward stance. And to end the hole I sank the 14m putt! :-) -> 3 #6: Zone forehand, like always. Came in perfect. 5m putt for bir- die. -> 2 #7: Zone backhand, a bit too straight, going long, behind the big tree. Tried to thumber the P3 over the side of the tree, but got caught in it. :-( Then from within the tree a P3 scoober ... that hit the cage! Drop-in for bogey. -> 4 #8: Valkyrie backhand on a great line, parked! 2m putt. (As a practice throw the MOLF, on a different but as well perfect line, landing 3m from the pin!) -> 2 #9: Valkyrie backhand, just enough turn to land right of the scrubs. Hit the 7m putt! Yay! -> 2 #10: Valkyrie backhand, going left, resting on the hillside and short. (All practice drives were bad as well.) Good P3 approach. 5m putt. -> 3 #11: Zone forehand, a bit right, but that doesn't matter if you make the 6m putt. -> 2 #12: The Roc3 backhand was worse that it's outcome. I landed short and left. No chance for birdie. (The Banshee drive was better.) I'm glad I re-thought my layup. Instead of a jump-putt I threw a P3 thumber, which landed flat on the flightplate, next to the pin. -> 3 #13: Valkyrie backhand, too left. I really need to force it more right on this hole (like on #3). From the upper left side, the layup is so dangerous! The P3 layup, caught edge and rolled down behind the big tree. (A practice scoober layup did not roll but slided half as far down as well.) Zone thumber back up the hill and round the side of the tree. Then made the 4m putt. (The prac- tice drive with the MOLF landed straight 7m from the pin.) -> 4 #14: Banshee backhand, a bit left but nonetheless good. Went for the 6m half-death putt ... and made it! :-) -> 2 #15: Banshee backhand, short. Missed the long putt. -> 3 #16: Valkyrie backhand, good throw. Made the 8m putt! -> 2 #17: Felon forehand for placement. (I cannot reach this hole any- ways, thus I try to get to the plateau and there on the right side.) From there a smooth Zone backhand to the pin. 5m putt. -> 3 #18: Roc3 backhand with too much hyzer. Fortunately it stayed on the fairway. (The Zone drive was the best. The Comet drive was good as well. The Roc3 drive would have been good if I would have thrown it flat.) Missed the 15m putt but made the 5m comebacker. -> 3 Overall these were: 1 double-bogey, 3 bogeys ... but despite them: I tied my personal best of -2 (=52). This was made possi- ble by SEVEN (!) birdies! That's more than 1/3 of the holes. Un- believable! (Once I had 5 birdies and three times 4.) One birdie was a gimme (2m putt). The others were after putts from: 5m, 6m, 6m, 6m, 7m, 8m. I did putt well today. Probably be- cause I was focussed and because I putted pretty relaxed from the hip with much spin-putt style ... just right at the pin -- no worries. :-D I pretty much made all putts I wanted and expected me to make. I had a lot of good drives, some (#4, #8, #16 -- all with the Valk) were about as good as I can expect them to be. The Zone forehands on #6 and #11 resulted in birdies as well. The drives: - 7 Valkyrie (7 BH) - 4 Roc3 (3 BH, 1 FH) - 3 Zone (2 FH, 1 BH) - 2 Banshee (2 BH) - 2 Felon (2 FH) Possible improvements: One Felon and one Valkyrie drive replaced with MOLF drives. But that might be luck as well or corrections, as both of the MOLF drives were after the mediocre Felon/Valk drives. I depend a lot on the Valkyrie. The MOLF could cover much of it, but it does not fly the same lines. If I want to distill the bag for the Soehnstetten course (or maybe generally as well), I could drop the Felon and the Banshee. The Roc3 could cover most of them. Thus it would be: Valkyrie, Roc3, Zone, P3. On the other hand, a Teebird (or Banshee) could cover most of the Valkyrie and Roc3. But the Valkyrie provides something that no other of my discs can in the same way. Overall there's not much that could have been better today (ex- cept for the upshot on #1, of course). http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke