2021-10-25 Soehnstetten Lately I want to recap my last three rounds of disc golf at Soehnstet- ten. September 28: In an attempt to experiment with more understable drivers, I went with my Plasma Insanity, which is much like my Star Valkyrie, but a bit more understable. Also in my hand: D P3 and JB Zone. On hole #3, the Insanity showed its usefulness: For the first time I managed to throw the drive up on the platform! The Valkyrie would have faded left, the the Insanity kept straight. Wow! ... and then, from 4m only I missed the putt for the rare birdie! :-( Generally the Insanity drives were not as dialed. Some turned over right, some went left. My putting was all over the place. Missed putts from 3m and 4m! But also made putts from 8m uphill with a low ceiling on #11 to save par after going OB. Or 10m downhill death putt on #12 for birdie! 3 birdies, but 6 bogeys (caused by bad drives, back approaches and bad putts), for a +3 (= 57) I don't know what to think of slightly understable drivers. October 5: I went discgolfing in a lot of anger and emotion. In my hand: D P3, JB Zone and the newish yellow 170g Star Teebird, which has a bit of high-speed turn to it. The first three holes went okay, then on #4 the Teebird turned and went all down the hill. I had to rethrow. Approach, still short. Missed from 10m, then missed from 4m. :-( This made a 7 on the scorecard. The following holes were pars or bogeys. At least on #11 I could park it with the Zone backhand (I used to go forehand). Also the following hole #12 I could birdie. #13 was a double bogey, but #14 again a birdie. What a rollercoaster! Then on #14 I had this uphill drive and still was fuming with anger. I threw full power (without enough follow-through) and nearly popped out my shoulder joint. It hurt a lot and I couldn't throw for the next holes. Thankfully it got better over time. (But today still it isn't fully back to normal. The flexibility in stretching is still lacking a bit.) I finished the round with some more bogeys, scoring #11 (=65) overall, which is tieing my personal worst. At least I've learned (hopefully!) that throwing with anger does not do any good. Smooth form is what actually brings distance and is much better for the body. October 24 (yesterday): After three weeks of break to rest the shoulder, I wanted to start again lightly. Thus I went with my putter and only one disc that can and must be thrown very smooth: the Comet. I.e. only a midrange and my putter. Clearly, that would keep me from reaching some holes, also I would have to play backhand only, but I wanted to focus on smooth form and keep it easy. It started well with three pars. On #3 the Comet drive went to the lower end of the steps, which is a bit shorter but much better positioned than most of my usual drives there. Then came a stretch of five bogeys! Several 15m putts, that I (as pretty much expected) missed. The two downhill drives (#6 and #7) were horri- ble. With the SE wind my P3 backhand drives lifted and flipped up and went faaaar down. (The Zone would not have flipped up and floated like that.) I should have thrown a P3 forehand I think, or maybe a very steep hyzer. Actually, however, none of my two discs was stable enough for this kind of wind and downhill drive (and none is a good forehand option for this long of a throw). After a better stretch with a made 10m putt on #10 and a 12m putt on #11, which came to rest on the top of the pin, I returned to the bogeys once more. On #13: Bad drive, short left, P3 apprach okay, but rolled. 12m putt hit chaines but not more. Then chained-out form 2m! ... 2m ...! Or on #14: Comet drive again short and left. The P3 approach too long, hitting the rocks behind the lift track. From down in the lift track I hit the cage from 8m and it rolled even behind me. The made made the putt from 12m! How? Why? Then further bad Comet drives. On #17, I had a layup from 12m, slightly around a tree ... I only got it 8m far, still leaving 4m to putt. On #18, however, I again hit the cage from 13m, which was a good run, leaving a drop-in. The round scored +10 (=64), which is bad. Much too many bogeys. Some because of lack of distance with the Comet. Some because of wind and not stable or forehand disc. Sometimes the Comet flew just perfect, like on: #3, #4, #8, #9, but then again I had so many short and early left Comet drives that were just awful: #10, #13, #14, #16. I don't really know what the problem had been. I had tried to smooth my form, use less power, whatever ... Maybe my state of mind slipped during that time in the round ... Maybe I thought too much, instead of just playing. Unfortunately I don't have a good slow, slightly understable driver. The Comet is no driver. The Insanity and the other Valkyries are too fast. The Leopard that I have is only 168g and DX plastic, thus very understable. The DX Eagles are pretty good, but they have so much fade. The 300 F7 is pretty much the only disc I have that fits the flight I search for currently. Maybe I can play with that more in the next weeks or the orange DX Eagle. http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke