Bardu's Bag 2018

[Bardu]

2017 was a good year. I played in a couple two day tournaments. I ended my ace drought with two aces in one day, adding a third a month later. I shot some personal bests. Here's how my bag looks to begin 2018:

167 4x Star Destroyer

175 Sexton Firebird
167 12x Champ Firebird
167 GStar Sidewinder

167 EchoStar TeeBird
167 GStar TeeBird

169 Z Buzzz
176 2x Champ Roc3
176 12x KC Pro Roc

173 Soft Wizard
175 Organic Wizard (2)

In and Out
171 Star Firebird
171 Champ Sidewinder
167 Star Sidewinder
167 X-Out Champ TeeBird
171 Star TeeBird
??? DX Roc
171 Soft Ion
165 Medium Wizard
175 Glow Wizard (2)

I just bought the Destroyer, it is embossed. With the weight, I'm hoping it will be flippy for a Destroyer as it beats in. I intend to use it for distance FH and wind fighting distance BH. It's alot of disc for me (my max distance is no better than 350 on flat ground), but I've wanted to beat one for a long time.

Threads from previous years:
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013 Redux
2013
2012
2011

 

[Streets]

Looks good my friend! :thmbup:

I might start working with a "faster driver" this year. Maybe something like a Wraith.

 

[Bardu]

I did a little shopping and found a couple diamonds in the rough:

• 170 Pro Destroyer
• 171 Z Wasp
• 177 Z Buzzz

Imgur

All three are beat to perfection but should have plenty of life left in them. I'm not sure all of them are going to even make the bag, but I'm going to audition the Wasp and the Destroyer at least. The Wasp feels the best out of all of them. I was able to contact the owners of the Wasp and the Buzzz and they didn't want them back. They were $6 apiece.

I've actually gotten to play a little bit since my last post. I threw the Star Destroyer for the first time. it is a complete meathook for me, no surprise there, but even now it has just the hint of more glide than the last 4x I tried. It will mainly get used FH. The GStar plastic was the big winner for me, I have a feeling the GStar TeeBird and the GStar Sidewinder are going to be the workhorses for me this year.

 

[Quinum]

I like your setup a lot. Nice finds from the used bin!

 

[Bardu]

Same bag just wanted to explain a little bit more.

167 GStar Sidewinder- This one is pretty new, it takes the place of my beat in PFN Star that I lost last year. PLH is the exact same. It is my main distance driver. I can use it on shots that need to go right.
175 Sexton Firebird- I think it has more fade than my champ because of the max weight, but at the same time the plastic is easier to throw so I can throw slower, more finessed shots. It has more skip. About half my sidearm shots are with this disc. One ace on it.
167 12x Champ Firebird- I think this one is faster and slightly more stable than the Sexton, but maybe slightly less fade because of how beat it is. This is my main FH disc. I gets all the OS BH hand work. I also use it for all kind of utility shots like thumbers, tomahawks and sliding it upside down along the ground.

167 X-Out Champ TeeBird- This one is quite beat and is missing some fade at this point. Its the closest thing that I've got to replace the Champ TeeBird I lost a couple years ago.
167 GStar TeeBird- New, I'm hoping this beats into a less stable TeeBird.

169 Z Buzzz- Beat and no longer flat, this is my understable to straight midrange. Two aces.
176 2x Champ Roc3- Most stable midrange. Probably sees the least work of any disc in my bag.
176 12x KC Pro Roc- Stable midrange. Lots of hyzers. Kind of like a faster Wizard. One ace.

173 Soft Wizard- Very beat, no longer flat. All approaches and driving with a putter. One ace.
175 Organic Wizard (2) Stiff, but beat at this point. As soon as I made these two my starting putters I saw an immediate improvement in my putting.

Pictures

 

[Quinum]

Nice pics. I love beat-up discs like those. That's when you know they are in their sweet spot.

 

[Bardu]

I got to throw a bit and made sure to use the newbies. The Pro Destroyer is surprisingly flippy, and this coming from someone who used to throw a Starlite Wraith. I'm not sure that it's going to make the bag. The Wasp is amazing, it immediately takes over the Roc3 spot. The Roc3 can come in on windy days, but the Wasp is much closer to the sweet spot. There will be alot of overlap with my KC Pro Roc, but it will be a good kind of overlap, kinda like my 12x Firebird has with my Sexton.

 

[Baseballadp]

Want anything for the roc3? Got some stuff to trade with.

 

[Bardu]

I threw a round in the snow the other day. My bag basically looked like this:

S Wizard
GStar TeeBird
GStar Sidewinder
2018 Sexton Firebird
Star Destroyer

It was about 30 degrees, I like to stay away from champ plastic in the winter because of the grip. I also don't want to crack any of my go-to's. I had been using the Soft Ion for putting I switched because of grip again. I put a backup Soft Wizard in. Would be a good time of year for a SS or SSS Wizard.

I was throwing a lot of FH. Hopefully it takes a step forward this year. The Destroyer got a lot of work FH and BH. Not for distance really, but using it for OS utility with more speed and glide than a Firebird. As one of the first big rimmed drivers I've worked with, I'll say it has a lot more skip than I'm used to. I was able to utilize it on some routes I'd never attempted before. Very encouraging!

It kinda sucked seeing the 2017 and USDGC Sextons go by, so I decided to grab one this time when they were released. I got to pick from 3 and I chose the flattest of the bunch. I wasn't planning on throwing it right away, but I did. Initial impressions were really good, it was plenty OS although I would guess it will end up being less so than my 2015.

I used the GStar Sidewinder and TeeBird for all my straight and distance backhand work and they mopped up. The Sidewinder is the best replacement I've found since I lost my PFN. It is gonna be a good year!

 

[Casey 1988]

I threw a round in the snow the other day. My bag basically looked like this:

S Wizard
GStar TeeBird
GStar Sidewinder
2018 Sexton Firebird
Star Destroyer

It was about 30 degrees, I like to stay away from champ plastic in the winter because of the grip. I also don't want to crack any of my go-to's. I had been using the Soft Ion for putting I switched because of grip again. I put a backup Soft Wizard in. Would be a good time of year for a SS or SSS Wizard.

I was throwing a lot of FH. Hopefully it takes a step forward this year. The Destroyer got a lot of work FH and BH. Not for distance really, but using it for OS utility with more speed and glide than a Firebird. As one of the first big rimmed drivers I've worked with, I'll say it has a lot more skip than I'm used to. I was able to utilize it on some routes I'd never attempted before. Very encouraging!

It kinda sucked seeing the 2017 and USDGC Sextons go by, so I decided to grab one this time when they were released. I got to pick from 3 and I chose the flattest of the bunch. I wasn't planning on throwing it right away, but I did. Initial impressions were really good, it was plenty OS although I would guess it will end up being less so than my 2015.

I used the GStar Sidewinder and TeeBird for all my straight and distance backhand work and they mopped up. The Sidewinder is the best replacement I've found since I lost my PFN. It is gonna be a good year!

Most Champion discs are fine for winter, yet to break mine I used a old Champion JK Valkyrie for a few years in winter. I have had a Z plastic well Elite Z XL it says, and the disc has hit trees and I used it in the winter for a year or two before I got my ESP XL. I have yet to break that plastic. I have seen the stiff KC pro beak as I have most brands baseline plastic, exception is if that brands that baseline is like a Innova Pro plastic then no. Lighting had a Pro like base plastic when DuPont was added to the discs, so they never really broke after that in winter. My dad hit a tree with a disc in this newer Lighting plastic and it was fine his Rubber Putter, his approach putter disc.

 

[Casey 1988]

Most Champion discs are fine for winter, yet to break mine I used a old Champion JK Valkyrie for a few years in winter. I have had a Z plastic well Elite Z XL it says, and the disc has hit trees and I used it in the winter for a year or two before I got my ESP XL. I have yet to break that plastic. I have seen the stiff KC pro beak as I have most brands baseline plastic, exception is if that brands that baseline is like a Innova Pro plastic then no. Lighting had a Pro like base plastic when DuPont was added to the discs, so they never really broke after that in winter. My dad hit a tree with a disc in this newer Lighting plastic and it was fine his Rubber Putter, his approach putter disc.

I do think that Star and G-Star are best from Innova for winter if you have snow on the ground, R-Pro too but the flex is so varied in some of the molds, Pro is better then R-Pro.

 

[Bardu]

I got to play a little more the other day. Those first rounds of the year are just so much fun. It was 50 degrees this time so I had fine grip on my discs. It was really wet, so that made footing difficult, but I had alot of things go well again. The Destroyer continues to shine, although it has been much more consistent BH than FH so far. The 2018 Sexton Firebird is absolute money. The GStar TeeBird and Sidewinder were workhorses again. Here's what I threw:

167 4x Star Destroyer

167 GStar Sidewinder
175 2018 Sexton Firebird
167 GStar TeeBird

176 2x Champ Roc3
176 12x KC Pro Roc

172 Soft Wizard
175 Organic Wizard (2)

 

[Bardu]

The weather is really coming around. It was 39 yesterday and today will be even nicer. Yesterday I got to play a round of doubles. My sidewinder is in absolutely dominant form. I was throwing hyzer flips that were just spot on for where I aimed them. Basically, my new GStar is flying about like my old PFN Star used to. I had some nice shots with the Soft Wizard. The Sexton Firebird continues doing well, having a sidearm came in very handy on several holes. I threw a slimmed down bag like I listed in the previous post.

 

[Bardu]

I've been able to play a lot lately. I lost the Star Destroyer and honestly my bag wasn't the same without it. I ordered another one and it's already hit chains off the tee, so I think it will be a good replacement. Surprisingly, I've liked it more for BH than FH so far. I will need to break it in/dial it in but it's already as long as my Sidewinder is in a open field and having a large rimmed driver gives me a more versatile bag. The bag is shaping up nicely.

168 4x Star Destroyer
167 GStar Sidewinder
175 2018 Sexton Firebird
175 2015 Sexton Firebird
167 12x Champ Firebird
168 GStar TeeBird

176 2x Champ Roc3
176 12x KC Pro Roc

172 Soft Wizard
175 Organic Wizard (2)

 

[Bardu]

Weather has been a bit tricky around here. It seemed like spring a few weeks ago, but now we are back to winter. I have a tournament on Saturday and another one next week as well. My bag will look the same as it has all spring.

 

[Bardu]

I finished as the first person outside of the money in my division (intermediate). This is the second straight tournament I've finished in that spot so hopefully I'm on the cusp of something. I am still kicking myself for a few mental errors which will be discussed later.

The day of the tournament never made it above 35 but the sun was shining and it could not have been more perfect. As I write this we have been blanketed with another cover of snow.

Almost all of my bag got used. The GStar Sidewinder was perfect all day. Sidewinders can be temperamental- sometimes they pop up on me, other times they'll drift much further right than I want, and in general they aren't dependable in wind. But yesterday it was in good form. It was pretty much hyzer flipping on command. I've got good chemistry with this disc, just the like the PFN Star before it. With the GStar already beat into a pretty good spot, I may add a Star to the rotation again.

I made some adjustments mid round. There were a number of holes in the 250-75 range that require a hyzer. The wind was negligible and my KC Pro Roc was flying just dead straight (on a flat release) and I decided to change to using the Roc3 on these holes. It ended up getting a lot of work and seemed to take power alot better than the KC Pro. Thrown on a hyzer it would hold the hyzer and I was able to park alot of holes with it. I've had it since last year, but it has been more of a utility disc to this point so it was pretty exciting to see that disc carve out its role in my bag.

And now I will discuss my mistake. I was +2 and in 6th place after the first round. I was even through the first nine of the second round. I had been messing with a Z Flick since I have good memories of the one I threw for a time last year. I was hoping it would be a longer FH disc for me that would still be safely overstable. I had a shot over a creek which needed to finish right and in the moment I decided the Flick would provide more distance opportunity than the disc that I had been using all year for this shot (Firebird). Instead the Flick proved flippy into the headwind and ended up on the far bank. Sure, this is my own fault, not the disc's, but at the same time, I learned a valuable lesson- stick to the discs you know and don't try something new during tournament. Either way, I don't think the Flick has much to offer that I can't accomplish with a Firebird, so I'm going to give it a rest.

 

[Bardu]

Today was the best day ever. It was windy and I almost didn't play but I decided to play Tomar, which is more wooded. While I was there I revisited the swamp where I'd lost my Star Sidewinder last fall. The banks were swelled compared to the last time I'd been there, but the water was much clearer. I spotted something amongst the leaves and threw my Golden Retriever at it a few times but it wouldn't take with all the leaves. I took off my shoes and socks and went in. Sure enough there it was, about where I'd imagined the whole time. What a great feeling.

 

[Bardu]

167 4x Star Destroyer

167 Star Sidewinder
167 GStar Sidewinder
175 '18 Sexton Firebird
175 '15 Sexton Firebird
167 12x Champ Firebird
167 GStar TeeBird

176 2x Champ Roc3
176 12x KC Pro Roc

172 Soft Wizard
175 Organic Wizard (2)
175 Glow Wizard (2) - I need a backup thrower and something that has a little more stability than the Soft so I'm going to start to season this pair as throwers and putters

I played 45+ holes in Mitchell yesterday. I'd never played the courses before so it was a pretty good snapshot of my game. It was a bit windy at times and the Destroyer was probably my most consistent disc. I sank the Soft Wizard from 40+ three times as well. I used all my discs and I do not see any holes in the bag at this time. I never felt lacking for a disc or shot. So nice to have two Sidewinders.

 

[Baseballadp]

That seems like a great bag, maybe too many firebirds?

 

[Bardu]

That seems like a great bag, maybe too many firebirds?

I tend to use my Champ for BH shots and the '15 Sexton for FH ones. I could easily play with just those two, but they are both extremely beat and it is kinda nice to let another disc get some seasoning. I picked up the new Sexton and it is has thrown well from the start. It doesn't offer much that the other two don't have but it is the most OS in my cycle at the moment.