Bag existential crisis (newish player)

[Tomphoolery]

https://mydiscbag.com/bag?share=5905040682254336

^That's my bag as of now. I almost exclusively throw RHFH, for the record. I just can't get the power I need with RHBH. I'm working on developing my backhand throw.

I first played about five years ago, but I bought my own discs at the beginning of this summer, and since then I have gotten obsessed with DG. Some weeks there I was going five days a week. I've also been stricken with DAS (disc acquisition syndrome).

I started with a Wraith, a Beast, a Teebird, and a Wizard. The Wraith was my favorite driver, but I lost it a couple of weeks ago and replaced with with a Gateway Illusion. The Beast and Teebird have moved to the shelf.

I'm kind of all over the place with my bag. I mainly want to figure out my driver situation. I am very happy with my Wizards, and I have my Wedge for longer and more squirrely putts. I'd also like to add a little diversity to my midrange selection.

My drivers: as it stands, my Illusion is my default go-to driver. I use my Vulcan for long distances, my Firebird for shorter gaps and windy situations, and my MVPs when I want an understable hook shot. I just got the Sorcerer and haven't gotten to play with it yet, but I imagine it serving a role similar to my Illusion, but when I need a little more speed. I've taken quite a liking to my MVPs, too. When I throw it right, the Wave lands pretty straight on, or I can manipulate it to curve a little more. Moving forward I want to get deeper into the MVP system.

As for my fairways, my JLS is a straight shooter, and the Essence gets a good S-curve. I've hit some long birdies and even eagles with these. I know I could stand to find something overstable in this category.

And my midranges, The Rift is a pretty straight shot, and the Crossbow is a bit overstable for windier conditions.

My putters, as I said, are mainly Wizards, and a Wedge for certain situations. I'm happy with these putters and don't really feel the need to get anything else. The Wedge can also be used as a short-midrange disc.

I want to keep my bag to about 12 discs total, for now. I haven't gotten into organized play yet, but I want to enter my first tournament soon. I'd like to have my standard disc bag locked down before I start.

What should I add? What should I remove? I'm mainly trying to streamline my distance drivers and maybe add a fairway and/or midrange.

EDIT: Just to add a written out list of my current bag (by speed):
Innova Vulcan
Westside Sorcerer
Gateway Illusion
MVP Wave
MVP Impulse
Innova Firebird
Discmania Essence
Millennium JLS
DGA Rift
Yikun Crossbow
Innova Wedge
Gateway Wizard (x2, two different plastics)

 

[VictorB]

I may be mistaken, but it looks like you have 5 molds that are speed 10 or faster? Unless you are Dave Feldberg, that's very likely a big mistake. Most players that throw under 450' don't need more than maybe 1 driver above speed 10 for max distance (or maybe to fight stronger winds) Since you don't mention any distance numbers, I'd assume you're in the sub 400' range max.

At your arm speed, pick 1 stable distance driver, but you're going to get a lot more consistency out of speed 10 or lower. Anecdotal example, but I throw 425 somewhat consistently, and my stable fairway is the most thrown driver in my bag (undertaker) and gets me basically everything I would need on all but the longest holes I play locally.

So my advice TLDR: Pick 1 max D driver - above speed 10 - and refine your overstable/stable/understable fairway/control drivers to 2-3 molds. I think you'd be fine with just the Illusion in different plastics plus one of the less stable MVP drivers. Especially if you have like a fresh essence and a beat up one - those would slot next to the firebird perfectly. I think the rest of your bag is pretty decent

 

[Meillo]

There are ways to get your bag organized. For example, remove 3-4 of your 8 drivers and play with the rest. If you miss something, exchange one disc. Don't add, but swap. Then play again. Iterate. Later maybe add one, see if that helps. Then swap again. And so on. You have to see this as a process. The goal is to discover the underlying structure of your driver game. You want to become able to explain your driver slots to someone else, why you have each of them and which discs can fill which slot. Don't explain from bagged discs to usual lines, but from necessary lines to matching discs. Also, you want to be able to tell which the essential workhorse driver slots are, and which the auxilliary slots are. (This distinction is important IMO.) You should be able to reduce the discs in your bag arbitrary. If you can reconstruct a bag with 8 discs or with 5 discs or with 12 discs, then you know you've understood how your bag works.

Maybe start taking notes on the course, to check if the thought-of reality matches the real reality. Etc.

Sure, all this is doing it the hard way, but it'll yield a solid understanding of and structure in your bag.


If you prefer the easier way, here you have it: As VictorB wrote, the five fast discs are the problem area, IMO. The rest looks good. Keep only one or two of the fast drivers, leave the rest as it is.

 

[HyooMac]

Take your 10+ speed discs out to the filed for a good evaluation and shootout. Try different lines. Try different directions in wind. Which are more "reliable?' Which are more versatile? Which are the longest? And which do you feel most confident/comfortable throwing?

You might eliminate 1, or several of them. Put the ones that don't make it away for a while. Play a bunch of rounds - and see if there are any genuine gaps in your bag.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Tomphoolery]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Clearly I'm a noob both to the sport and the website. I'm gonna reformat this to be in line with the standard post format.

But yeah, I guess I went too hard on the high speed discs. I've been getting a really good feel for the Wave, and at this point, that's my default driver. Probably gonna prune the Vulcan and either the Sorcerer or Illusion (and keep the other).

I think I need to expand my selection in the 6-8 speed range. Bump a couple of those high speed discs and pick up at least one more control driver.