2020-02-01 Playing for Par Out of my six rounds I've played so far in Soehnstetten, only one was below 60, actually 54, which is par. The other five rounds were between +6 and +10. Looking at these numbers, the situation is rather bad. I shouldn't score so bad in Soehnstetten. But tak- ing a closer look: Two of the rounds were single disc rounds, one with the C P3, the other with the JB Zone. One was with only two discs (S EG + D P3). And one was with only Eagles as drivers, in- stead of my then usual Teebirds. Only one round was with my usual bag at the time. The one good round was with P3s and Teebirds, which is almost what my bag was at that time. Bad rounds were mainly caused by bad putting, rollaways (which is the common risk at Soehnstetten) and OBs. Hence, the goal was clear: Score better at Soehnstetten, play with the usual discs, avoid mistakes! Below 60 should be no problem. Today I scored below 60. *Phew* I shot a 57 (+3), in a most re- laxing round. It was all flowing today ... I just cruised along. Nothing special, no highlights, just getting par after par after par. Two kids were playing before me, thus I had to wait a bit every now and then. It seems this helped to relax myself. The weather was fine in the beginning, about 12 C, but with a strong wind blowing over the elevated parts of the course. Towards the end of the round, it began to drizzle increasingly. I had my normal normal bag with me: - D P3 (2) - JB Zone - ES TB - S VL - Lucid Felon - DX Eagle (as backup only) The drives: - 7 VL (all BH) - 6 TB (5 BH, 1 FH) - 3 Zone (1 BH, 2 FH) - 2 Felon (1 BH, 1 FH) Two TB drives would have been better thrown with the Valk. One Valk drive would have better be thrown with the Teebird. One Felon drive would have better be thrown with the Teebird. And one Zone drive as well better with the Teebird. All in all nothing terribly wrong, especially all the right discs in the bag, just the wrong ones selected occasionally (which is more likely on a windy day). My drives were not good enough for birdies. This clearly was a problem today, but on the other hand, they were good enough for my short game to get up and down for par. The three bogeys were all caused by a bad drive. The upshots: No other shots with a driver. Except an occasional upshot with the P3 to avoid the fade for a flatter landing or such, all upshots were thrown with the Zone. Not long ago, I wrote that I could leave the Zone out of the bag. That clearly would be a mistake. I use it all the time! Un- believable how much I use it. It even replaced the Teebird on the Wiley course. As for some time I bag the Zone in JB plastic no longer the much more overstable ESP one, and since the P3s have lost some stability, the Zone now is *the* driving putter of my bag. The P3s are not so dependable anymore. On the other hand, the JB Zone is not as overstable anymore, which makes it more versatile. It has much more shots than it used to have. My short game was fine as usual. It is the strong part of my game. Only one upshot was actually bad. All the rest were better than expected. ;-) The putts: Except for a occacionally Zone putt (into the wind or so) I made all putts with the P3. I feel comfortable with it. Today, putting was better than usual. I was very focussed, despite not being alone. I had single chain links targetted with the eye; this is not always the case. I felt confident; I didn't worry, despite the wind. I just felt it ... and I hit one putt after the other. I didn't run crazy putts, simply layed them up, but this I did sensibly as well: on low lines, because of the wind, to the good side of the basket, with respect to wind, slope, rollaway potential. Only one miss, after a bad approach. All the rest of the putts were in when I ran them, or were good enough tries without risk when the chances to make them were low. I clearly run more putts than I did a year ago, and as well land closer if I miss, and make more of the comebackers. In summary: I was good today, because I: - did not go OB. - putted well. - was focussed. - was relaxed. - approached wonderfully. - handled the wind. I was not better, because I: - did not drive good enough. Things to mention: - Hole 3 is difficult. I went way too left (with the Felon, be- cause I feared turning it over into the headwind). From there I had no line to the basket. I decided to throw a really steep and high forehand hyzer over the trees. It went high, but not far enough. I crashed down still at the bottom of the stairs, but at least I had a look. Went up and then I went in. In retrospective, a grenade with the Felon could have been an option as well. Sure, I don't practice it much, and it would have been risky if going long, but it might have been an option ... that did not occur to my mind to consider. - Hole 7 saw my best drive on that hole yet. I stood there and wondered for a long time what to do: forehand, backhand, high, low, roller, thumber, ... Eventually I threw a low Zone backhand ... and slid in wonderfully, right under the basket ... only then it hit something and rolled four meters into the bushes. I had almost no putt. At least I could wrist-flick it towards the basket with a bush between my body and the hand. It actually had a chance to go it, but unfortunately touched a branch and dropped down. But anyways, this is the right drive for hole 7. - On holes 8 and 9 I should have used the Valkyrie instead of the Teebird. They are longer than they seem and both can be ap- proached straight. - Hole 11 is more uphill than I think. I threw the Zone forhand, but both, P3 backhand and Teebird forehand (as additional prac- tice shots) landed closer to the pin. - Hole 12 is one of the two easiest holes on the course, but I bogeyed it. :-( It's a blind shot, but I knew what to do. I should have thrown a disc with more fade, only because of the wind. Normally a neutral disc high enough is the better option, but the Valkyrie slowly turned on the way up, losing the hyzer angle, thus dropping down not left. The following forehand ap- proach was the only horrible shot of the day. It went barely half way. I flicked the Zone because of the wind direction. But a jump putt approach would still have been the better option. A jump putt is generally more reliable than a short flick. - Holes 13 and 14 saw much too high drives. They were into headwinds. This might be a sign of me throwing nose-up. - Holes 15 and 16 were more uphill, thus my throwing angle was more appropriate ;-) but I landed both of them pin-high right. They could have been birdies ... - Hole 17 had a lot of headwind. I threw the Felon forehand for a safe shot, but much too high. It rose up ... and crashed onto the asphalt. Fortunately (!) it rolled just onto the grass. So much luck! With all the wind, the bogey was to be expected. Recently I felt good playing. The good score at Koenigsgolfen and now this (at least emotionally) good round at Soehnstetten. Hard- ly any bad shots, good approaches and good putting. Especially the new confidence in the putting feels so good! I long to play more in the upcoming weeks and months! :-) http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke