adriens95 Bag Thread

[adriens95]

Played a ho-hum but enjoyable round at doubles yesterday at OP. I threw my Jackalope and TP Comet a ton, worked the Mantis back in, and got some nice throws with my straighter Firebird.

I threw:

Wizards (Glow, Soft, Fossil)
Scale
400 A3
Plasma Envy (might make a reappearance)
Comets (TP, Flippy ESP)
Jackalope
Big Z Mantis
Ti Swirl Undertaker
ESP Vulture
Champion FB (Beat)

My biggest takeaways were mental and about approach. I noticed a huge tension in my game between seeing forehand lines and not feeling like I had the ability to get the disc there at my power level, so I’m going to try and make that a point of focus in my practice rounds. My flick was always my strongest ultimate throw, so the potential is there.

For the amount I beat myself up about lacking in distance and inconsistently in form, I need to either commit to doing the field work and practice to push my ceiling, or I need to be easier in myself and try to play within myself more. It’s very easy to get caught up with the “right” way to do things when at the end of the day, it’s all about throwing the fewest strokes possible.

I have my first tournament in years this November at the Etowah Fall Salute, so I’m excited to get myself physically and mentally ready for that. If anyone has any good tournament prep advice, it would be much appreciated.

[adriens95]

Picked an Upper Parks Shift as a belated birthday present to myself and not only is it a fantastic bag, but it’s also been a huge help in streamlining my bag.

Right now, the core bag is looking something like

Wizards x 2
Plasma Envy
300 A3
400 A3

1-2 Comets
ESP Buzzz

Color Glow Firebird
Ti Swirl Undertaker
Big Z Mantis

Fission Photon
Bio Trespass (Straight)
Flippy Trespass

With ~3 flex spots:
Flippy 300 A3
Apex Freetail
Sublime Jackalope
Vulture/Z Glo Undertaker for wind

I also just picked up a board flat 400 A3 with a Kevin Jones bottom stamp and I’m pumped to try and work it into the bag. Hopefully the flat top will make it a little more comfortable on touch forehands.

I play my first tournament in a while next weekend, so I’m getting some practice in this weekend to nail down the flex spots in my bag.

[adriens95]

Played MA2 in the Etowah Fall Salute this weekend and was pretty happy with how I played for my first tournament since 2018.

The first course of the day (Deerfield) was one I’ve only practiced once, and my putter was ice cold. I made out with a +3 but was driving pretty well. Shot and putted much better at Etowah and finished -1. My previous rating was somewhere in the 850-860 range, so solidly beating that in both rounds (879 and 903) felt like a big win for me.

My bag for both rounds in my Shift was

Wizards (Glow, Flippy Soft)
Plasma Envy
A3s (Flat 400, Fresher 300, Beat 300)

ESP Buzzz
ESP Comet

ESP Vulture
Ti Swirl Undertaker
Sublime Jackalope
Big Z Mantis

Firebirds (Color Glow, Beefy Champ Glow)

EK Fission Photon
Trespasses (Freah Bio, Flippy Lucid)

I am happy to say I threw every disc in my bag at least once, and almost never felt like there was a shot I couldn’t make with what I had. This thread and the feedback I’ve gotten has been huge in helping me simplify my game. In the off-season I’m looking forward to getting even more comfortable with my bag.

I can’t help but tinker, so I did pick up a pair of Wraiths to work back into the bag in place of stable Trespasses, as well as a Z Buzzz because my ESP is a brown and gray supercolor monstrosity from the 2015 Memorial.

[adriens95]

This thread has been really helpful as I try to simplify my bag, and the streamlined decision making has been really great.

So far, my 2022 goals are to play two tournaments, get into a consistent putting practice schedule, and add consistency to my forehands as well as adding more angles. I started to really trust my forehands last year with a lot of success, but now I’m interested in trying to round out the bag with molds I feel comfortable throwing both ways.

My bag to start the year:

Glow Wizard
S Wizard
300 A3 x 2 (One straight, one flippy)
400 A3
Plasma Envy
Fossil Scale

ESP Comet
Z Buzzz - home wrecker but I can’t stop throwing it

Champion Color Glow Firebird
Apex Alpha
Z Undertaker
Sublime Jackalope - more reliable right now than my more flippy Mantis
Apex Freetail - working to dial this in

EK Fission Photon - beefy “Wraith”
PFN Star Wraith - Picked up a pair of Wraiths and oh how I’ve missed them; going to use them as workhorses forehand and backhand this year
Fuzion Trespass - flippy “Wraith”

Discs on the chopping block: flippy A3, Scale, and Jackalope/Freetail

My putters are kinda cluttered but the different discs perform better on different style courses so they’ll start in and I’ll track how they’re used.

I could get away with just a Mantis instead of the Jackalope-Freetail combo, but I like having the extra stability of the Jackalope for now. The Freetail is long and reliably flippy, but squirrelly; I’m going to try to dial it in this year or else sub in the Mantis.

Discs I want to try this year: Meteor, Pyro

By far the scariest conflict is that the Buzzz keeps stealing shots from my Comet. As I throw more forehands, I appreciate the flexibility of the Buzzz as I really struggle to throw the Comet forehand, and the Buzzz is taking the straight shots I would use a Comet on. As much as it pains me, I may pick up a Meteor to try out. Otherwise, the two will have to learn to play nice.

It would probably be the 17th out of 17 disc in the bag, but an OS mid faster than an A3 would be nice for shots that need more beef than a Buzzz but not the dump of a Firebird. I may also test a Rival to fill that role.

[adriens95]

I was feeling risky, so I used an Amazon gift card to get a Z Meteor, and played a short and cold practice round to give it a spin.

Pros: it came in dayglo yellow (colorblind gamble worked out) and feels very comfortable backhand and forehand

Con: at 177+ g it’s basically a Buzzz right now

In a cruel twist of irony, I abandoned an attempted Roc cycle a few years ago because of lost discs and a desire to be able to order off the shelf replacements. I have 5 Comets on the bench to see if a Meteor would have more separation from the Buzzz that snuck into my bag last year.

I’m not planning to abandon the Buzzz Meteor pairing because in the long run I think it’ll be exactly what I want, but it’s pretty funny to think that I gave up trying to beat up Rocs and then Comets only to need to give this new Meteor the backyard thrashing anyway.

(Although maybe I’ll play some Roc-Comet rounds throughout the year to keep the old soldiers battle ready…)

Bag pick for fun- the Shift has been a revelation and it’s going to take really specific course conditions to make me haul out my BP1 V2.

[konza_kid]

Originally Posted by adriens95

Bag pick for fun- the Shift has been a revelation and it’s going to take really specific course conditions to make me haul out my BP1 V2.

I love my shift, I carry it %70 of the time, if there is water I'll carry my voodoo bag that can haul a bit more. I also have a rebel in the basement I may break out if it requires lots of discs, and rougher terrain.

[adriens95]

Originally Posted by konza_kid

I love my shift, I carry it %70 of the time, if there is water I'll carry my voodoo bag that can haul a bit more. I also have a rebel in the basement I may break out if it requires lots of discs, and rougher terrain.

I was worried it might be too small, but it’s been perfect for everything except practice rounds where I want to carry a lot of extra discs. I’m often pushing my daughter in a jogging stroller when I play, so that extra weight I save is very appreciated.

Also, I frequently lurk your thread and really appreciate the simplicity of your setup.

[adriens95]

Originally Posted by adriens95

Discs I want to try this year: Meteor, Pyro

…It would probably be the 17th out of 17 disc in the bag, but an OS mid faster than an A3 would be nice for shots that need more beef than a Buzzz but not the dump of a Firebird. I may also test a Rival to fill that role.

So I was at Play it Again with a buddy helping him pick out his first discs and a brand new Lucid Sparkle Verdict was in the used bin and I snagged it. I had a Verdict years ago and never really gave it a fair shot at the bag, but I’m excited to revisit it. It feels more Wasp-ish than I remembered which I’m actually very happy with.

[adriens95]

Today I played the longs at my home course and threw:

Wizard X 2
Envy
A3 X 2
Meteor
Buzzz
FB
Alpha
MOLF
Jackalope
Freetail
Wraith

Bagged a Verdict but didn’t throw it

I picked up a beat up MOLF based on all of the love I see in these ITB threads, and you people might be on to something. It’s a very nice hyzer flipper so I’ll be giving it more air time to beat out my Undertaker.

I also picked up a domey third run Apex Alpha and it flew great. Both Alphas I have are pretty beefy for my arm speed but they fly great.

The Meteor is picking up some turn from getting thrown into the tree in my yard which is great to see. The Freetail was surprisingly a standout in the wind today for tailwind shots- it’s really starting to click for me.

[adriens95]

I played a practice doubles round at Etowah with my buddy yesterday and we both had Jekyll and Hyde rounds that balanced out into a decent showing.

I leaned on my new MOLF a lot and it’s clicking in a way that I had been hoping my Undertakers would. I’m getting an amazing mini distance driver S flight out of it. Now to decide whether I want to invest in a cycle when I have multiple Undertakers, Alphas, Vultures, and H3 V2s laying around.

I ended up throwing

Wizard x2
Envy
A3 x 2
Meteor
Buzzz
MOLF
Z Undy - one throw
Firebird
Alpha (3rd run domey Apex)
Freetail - really starting to get good control of it
Wraith
Trespass