My 2015 bag

[eric40817]

A month shy of my first tournament, I've made good progress on the course and in my bag. My putters are putters, my mids are pretty much set I think. My fairways and drivers are where I need work. Distance is my weakness, so I try not to bag many distance drivers that won't be useful. I throw nothing over 10 speed, and even then not very often. The mids are my strength so I bag more in the mid-fairway area. Heres what I'm working with as of today.

testing

Putters:

• N Ion 174g - putting
• SSS Wizard - 175g - throwing putter

Mids:

• TP Tursas - 171g - flippy, turnovers, hyzer flips. If it needs to finish right, this is going right. Can also get some pretty good distance with this
• Opto Claymore - 175g? - straight as an arrow. very little fade at the end
• Champ Roc3 - fresh - 180g - straight when I crank on it. more fade than the claymore. powered down itll hyzer more.
• Champ Shark3 - 175g - similar to the roc3 but havent thrown it enough to accurately describe its use for me
• Champ Gator - I'm considering getting one for my more OS mid

Fairway Drivers: a finicky area for me

• Special Edition Leopard - 166g - broken in - thrown flat it'll track right gradually all the way to the ground. Doesnt really hyzer flip all that much, but a little.
• G* Leopard - 171g - fresh - straight with a bit of turn. A bit more fade than I expected, but I expect it to quickly lose some fade after the bit of flashing is gone and it wacks a few trees
• F5 - 170g - testing this against the g* leopard and I dont think it'll be making the bag.
• G* Teebird - 169g? - used for shorter fairway hyzers, straight shots that need to go left, FH shots, FH flex shots
• PFN Star Teebird - 170g - i dont throw it much because its dyed and hard to see on the ground, but looks cool spinning. I'll use this instead of the G* when Im out of the woods
• Opto XXX, N Resistor, N Volt, PFN opaque squeaky champ Banshees to name a few These I'm auditioning for that OS roll of a FW, whether it be wind, little glide big hyzer lines, etc. So far the XXX is more beef that I think I'll ever need. The resistor really doesnt fly anyway except flat and left. The Volt I have mixed feelings about and my Banshees I love. My hesitation is whether or not I NEED to fill this spot, and if I do, can I achieve what I must without an extra disc, ie: my OS driver slot

Drivers (Control/Distance): I'm as decisive about drivers as a woman is about where she wants to go for dinner.
Currently...

• N Amp - 168-171g Im guessing - a little broken in. have a nice turn to it and comes back finish straight up the middle.
• Plasma Amp - 168g - new - a bit more stable than the N currently. Im bagging it to see what happens to the stability of the Plasma with some use.
• Fission Volt - 161g - everything I wanted a volt to be - long and straight and a light forward left fade.
• GL River - 166g - shot shaper - holds a sweeping anny all the way down, tight S curves, very slip flip up to flat to fly straight a way before fading out. I guess this is more of a FwD but with its immense amount of glide and how well it holds the line, its gets a control drive nod from me.
• Star Valk - 167g - used to be my go-to, has seen less air time, might pull it
• Escape, Saint, Hatchet, CD2 Im interested in trying these out to see if theres a reason to bag them. The reason I stopped throwing the valkyrie is because as it lost some stability, its starting to step on the Plasma Amps toes. I like the stiff S lines it carves as well as straight lines with a little fade. Im not sure if these discs would overlap too much with the fission volt and the others though.
• Saint Pro - 168g - great disc I've come to use a lot, hyzers some light wind tackling, flex shots although it doesnt come out of an anny all that well. I can rely on this disc to finish left and skips great
• G*Thunderbird, Fireball, G* PD, Pro/G* Orc this would be a disc used strictly for some FH shots, and headwind shots that need to stick to their course and fade. Thus far, its a close call, Im tempted to stick with a fireball or thunderbird to stay true to not throwing a disc thats too much disc for me right now.

Utility discs: theres are seperate because they only get used for specialty shots

• FLX Zone - OS BH approach shots, FH approach, thumber/tommy rollers in smaller areas
• Champ Eagle - seasoned - tommies and thumbers in the woods and over blockades of short trees. I would like to try the XXX in this role and see what kind of crazy shenanigans it does.
  
  
  Overlap? Yea, but I feel like for me some overlap is fine because each disc has its purpose that might do something better than its overlapping disc. Unnecessarily overlap? Theres probably some of that too.

 

[eric40817]

Some changes have been made here. Some good, some bad.

testing

Putters:

• N Ion 174g - putting in the circle
• SSS Voodo - 175g - putting outside the circle

Mids:

• TP Tursas - 171g - flippy, turnovers, hyzer flips. If it needs to finish right, this is going right. Can also get some pretty good distance with this
• Opto Claymore - 175g? - straight as an arrow. very little fade at the end
• Champ Roc3 - fresh - 180g - straight when I crank on it. more fade than the claymore. powered down itll hyzer more.
• Champ Shark3 - 175g - similar to the roc3 but havent thrown it enough to accurately describe its use for me
• Champ Gator - I'm considering getting one for my more OS mid

I had a first run proton Axis in the bag that wasnt listed. great disc, used for long narrow fairways. more distance than the claymore with less fade than the roc3. I lost this this past weekend.

Fairway Drivers: a finicky area for me

• TP Underworld - 168 - fresh. I put this in the bag the other day over the SE Leopard. It has plenty of turn but still comes back. Going to continue working this in to a turnover slot. It gets the nod over the leopard because its bright colored and easier to find than my leopard thats hard to find replacements for.
• G* Leopard - 171g - fresh - straight with a bit of turn. A bit more fade than I expected, but I expect it to quickly lose some fade after the bit of flashing is gone and it wacks a few trees
• G* Teebird - 169g? - used for shorter fairway hyzers, straight shots that need to go left, FH shots, FH flex shots
• PFN Star Teebird - 170g - i dont throw it much because its dyed and hard to see on the ground, but looks cool spinning. I'll use this instead of the G* when Im out of the woods
• Opto XXX, N Volt, PFN opaque squeaky champ Banshees to name a few These I'm auditioning for that OS roll of a FW, whether it be wind, little glide big hyzer lines, etc. So far the XXX is more beef that I think I'll ever need. The resistor really doesnt fly anyway except flat and left. The Volt I have mixed feelings about and my Banshees I love. My hesitation is whether or not I NEED to fill this spot, and if I do, can I achieve what I must without an extra disc, ie: my OS driver slot

F5 got yanked. I havent touched it since I made this list so that was easy to eliminate. The OS stable slot I havent had a use for. But we've had a week of moderate to high wind and thats no excuse to not play. I may toss a fresh max weight champ eagle or star eagle in the bag so as not to add another mold and overlap too much with a banshee.

Drivers (Control/Distance): I'm as decisive about drivers as a woman is about where she wants to go for dinner.
Currently...

• N Amp - 168-171g Im guessing - a little broken in. have a nice turn to it and comes back to finish straight up the middle.
• Plasma Amp - 168g - new - a bit more stable than the N currently. Im bagging it to see what happens to the stability of the Plasma with some use.
• GL River - 166g - shot shaper - holds a sweeping anny all the way down, very slip flip up to flat to fly straight a way before fading out. I guess this is more of a FwD but with its immense amount of glide and how well it holds the line, its gets a control drive nod from me.
• Star Valk - 167g - used to be my go-to, has seen less air time, might pull it
• Escape, Saint, Hatchet, CD2 Im interested in trying these as Im hoping to find one mold for the control/distance slot and have a couple different ones for different shots. If these dont get use I'll add a new star valkyrie or a champ.
• Saint Pro - 168g - great disc I've come to use a lot, hyzers some light wind tackling, flex shots although it doesnt come out of an anny all that well. I can rely on this disc to finish left and skips great, although it gets squirrely in the wind.
• G-PD - 167 - has been great in the wind on for FH drives. It skips like crazy which on some holes is a godsend. Still bagging a Fireball as it doesnt get nearly the distance but is a freakin meathook. Just trying to work it in some and see what it becomes. I would like to put these up against a couple different options and see what works best for me/feels better in the hand. Historically I havent thrown too much OS stuff so Im learning these discs now.

Utility discs: theres are seperate because they only get used for specialty shots

• FLX Zone - OS BH approach shots, FH approach, thumber/tommy rollers in smaller areas
• Champ Eagle - seasoned - tommies and thumbers in the woods and over blockades of short trees. I would like to try the XXX in this role and see what kind of crazy shenanigans it does.

Still some slimming to be done I think, but I've been thinking about what disc to use much less and just going with what I know works. The more I learn each disc, the more I get away from rarely using certain ones. Theyve all been getting used.

I like the XXX but the 173 Opto is like throwing a rock in the water. Its way too OS for what I need, just fun to throw and watch it go further left than it does forward. I'm wondering if the GL would be a better option or if thats no different. Or if a firebird would be better and it can cover the FW shots as well as some driving work. Been eyeing a Shock as well but I have never thrown one.

 

[SD86]

You're throwing an Amp. Have you considered an MVP Inertia or it's more understable cousin, the Impulse? They're faster than the advertised "10" and are great drivers for me.
As to the Valkyrie becoming less stable, I'd just get a new one (I love Valks; that might bias my thinking in that one can never have enough Valks ... )

 

[eric40817]

You're throwing an Amp. Have you considered an MVP Inertia or it's more understable cousin, the Impulse? They're faster than the advertised "10" and are great drivers for me.
As to the Valkyrie becoming less stable, I'd just get a new one (I love Valks; that might bias my thinking in that one can never have enough Valks ... )

I have considered both. Never thrown the inertia but it's on my list of discs to audition. The impulse sounded like a great max distance disc but it's fast than what I through. I only throw a couple "10 speeds" for certain scenarios. Like G-PDs or Orc for long hyzers that I want a good skip

 

[eric40817]

First tournament under my belt

First tournament for me this weekend. I played the rec division as I've never played a tournament before, and I have some things to work on that I'm aware of. Shot a +12 on the day which I was ok with since the tournament environment was very new to me - I usually play by myself or with one or two other buddies. It was 92 degrees and 88% humidity. Everyone was absolutely shot in the second round - no one did as well as they could have. Dehydration or heat exhaustion were starting to hit a couple people there. I know I can shoot much better at that course averaging 0 to +3 so I was a little frustrated with myself but I didnt let it get to me. It was a blast win or lose.
No one hit the ace pot so there was an ace pot (or ctp if no ace). There were 48 people signed up for the ace pot. They set up a couple flags marking the tee off, it was a 275ft shot, flat ground, basket straight ahead with tall grass, trees and hill directly behind it. I threw a 175g fresh Champ Roc3 out to the right on a big hyzer line. It hit 3 feet from the center pole and did a little roll up to and against the pole to win the CTP. The CTP pot was $144 for Sunday, because they ace wasn't hit in the rounds, they took $80 out for the throw off payout and gave the other $64 back to the course. I took my $50 and gave some back to the course as well.
Players pack wasn't bad, I'm not really sure what they typically consist of but we had our choice of 1 disc, 1 mini. Disc choices were CFR Glow Champ Terns, CFR Glow Champ Thunderbirds, Glow Champ Firebirds, and Champ flat top Gators. I grabbed a 168g Thunderbird. In all, I had an awesome time, met some good people, had fun on the course despite being brutally hot and humid and playing kind of crappy. I hit some really nice puts and had some sweet drives. Aside from the weather taxing everyone, I know what I need to work on for next time. My bag was pretty much dialed in to where a I need it. I wasn't exactly where I wanted it but it worked well.

Putters:
174g firm MVP Atom - putting only
175g Neutron Ion - throwing putter, down hill puts
174g BT Soft Shield - upshots, FH approach shots, really long jump putts. This has too much carry to be a putting putter for me but carries well when I need to really reach out.

Mids:
ESP Zone - OS FH shots, flex FH shots, OS short game work, some different get out of trouble rollers. I used this twice in the tourny for roller shots that were perfect
173 TP Tursas - flippy, hyzer flips that go straight or turnover. Dont use much I like having a disc that can do that
175 Opto Claymore laser straight with just a bit of fade
180g Proton Axis longer mid in the bunch, nothing but straightness, sometimes its get a sudden late turn after going straight for 200ish feet. Havent figured that out yet.
173g Champ Roc3 seasoned and scuffed. doesnt turn at all, some of the new fade has been knocked out of it. Between this and the Axis, they're my main driving mids
173g? Champ Roc3 fresh, still plenty stable, holds a hyzer line. used when I need more fade or wind resistence.
175g metal flake Champ Roc3 beefiness. beefier than the new roc3 above, but not by a lot that I couldn't pick one. I may drop this for a gator... or try a Justice.

Fairways:
168g TP Underworld - uphill drives, S lines, turnovers, couple holes I threw this RHBH flat and let it ride out and turn right around the corner and land for a clear shot at the basket
169g GL River - straight tunnel shots, great glide, still trying to knock a LITTLE stability off this. Itll hold an anny but tends to fight out of it.
171g Champ TL Straight, wont turn at all, holds its line and then starts to go left in the last 20' of its flight. This is my go-to for those long tight fairways where the baskets on the left. Between this and the river, they could both do it, but i know this one will finish left where as the River finishes more straight.
167g 12x Champ Eagle beat up, used just for overhand shots - tommies and thumbers.
168 Star Eagle new, OS, hyzers, flick shots, windy disc

Drivers:

Neutron Amp - US, hyzer flips, annys, long turns that still come back a little at the end. This was my sidewinder replacement.
168g TP Hatchet - Main distance driver. still pretty new, not really any turn yet but this thing just goes!
Neutron Virus flippy. thrown flat this thing goes right which on my course, theres a couple holes where thats key off the tee.
168g G-PD - PD things, skips, hyzers, etc etc


I could still do more slimming of the bag too but I've at least got it to a point where everything in the bag I'm comfortable throwing and know what it will do.

 

[eric40817]

Vitals:
Years playing/experience: 5 years. casual until this year
Right/left-handed/ambidextrous: right-handed
Throwing Style: RHBH, RHFH, some OH
Golf Distance (avg/max*) for putter/mid/driver: KC Aviar: 200/225'; Axis: 225/280'; Pro Valkyrie, Hatchet: 325/350'

* Max distance is the greatest distance you can throw your top 2-3 drivers with any regularity


Optional:
Age: 26
Sex: m
Injuries/handicaps?: none
Other sport proficiencies?: Baseball
What do you like/dislike about your current bag?: Large variety of discs to choose from at home causes inconsistency in my bag
Specific areas of desired feedback: I want to know if there's something I'm not seeing that I need to fill, or areas where I could reduce overlap or molds.
Immediate and long-term goals: Short term I want consistency in my bag, especially with putters and drivers. Long term I want to add distance to my throws and maybe begin to cycle drivers over time. To me, the consistent feel in the hand of a driver is more important than mids, and equally as important as putters. I also need to improve my putting accuracy but thats a sake of practicing. Currently I max out around 350-355' on my best days but I know I need to work on my form. Once that improves I know I can add some D.


Putters:
174g firm MVP Atom - longer spin putts. putting only
171g Kc Aviar - push putts, straddle putts.
175g Kc Aviar - off the tee and approach - this is a slot that has changed a lot. The Ion is often brought in.
175g BT Hard Shield - upshots, FH approach shots, really long jump putts.

Mids:
ESP Zone - OS FH shots, flex FH shots, OS short game work, some different get out of trouble rollers.
175 Opto Claymore laser straight with just a bit of fade
180g Proton Axis longer mid in the bunch, nothing but straightness, no turn or fade, sometimes its get a sudden late turn after going straight for 200ish feet. Havent figured that out yet.
173g Champ Roc3 seasoned and scuffed. doesnt turn at all, some of the new fade has been knocked out of it. Between this and the Axis, they're my main driving mids
173g? Champ Roc3 fresh, still plenty stable, holds a hyzer line. used when I need more fade or wind resistence.
175g metal flake Champ Roc3 beefiness. beefier than the new roc3 above, but not by a lot that I couldn't pick one. I may drop this for a gator but would consider other OS mid recommendations

Fairways:
168g TP Underworld - S lines, turnovers, couple holes I threw this RHBH flat and let it ride out and turn right around the corner and land flat
169g GL River - straight tunnel shots, great glide, still trying to knock a LITTLE stability off this. Itll hold an anny but tends to fight out of it. *i want to try different plastics in this one* **this is temp. out of the bag for the time being**
171g Champ TL Straight, wont turn at all, holds straight and then starts to go left in the last 20' of its flight. This is my go-to for those long tight fairways where the baskets on the left, or the fairways that are lined with trees on the right. Between this and the river, they could both do it, but i know this one will finish left where as the River finishes more straight, and shows a touch of turn
170g PFN Star TB Put this one back in because its still in great condition. It a stiffer star plastic which feels better for FH shots for me. This one still have some good OS fade to it.
Champ JL? TB - GHDGO stamp - new, not quite as OS as the PFN. Its as long as the TL with a bunch more fade.
167g 12x Champ Eagle beat up, used just for overhand shots - tommies and thumbers. *no idea why but I pulled this out. I think because my bag was full and I got a new TB I wanted to carry*
168 Star Eagle new, OS, hyzers, flick shots, windy disc -- I havent tried this one OH yet but if it doesnt do what the champ does, something will have to go. I may just reserve this for the more windy days when I'll just sub this in for a TB.

Drivers:

Neutron Amp - US, hyzer flips, annys, long turns that still come back a little at the end. This was my sidewinder replacement. *this one is out but not for good, its just taking a rest so I can beat the Valkyrie in quicker
160 something Pro Valkyrie - Worn in, Big S Curves, just about the same US as the Amp, maybe a tick more US. Same distance as the Hatchet. I'm trying to beat this one in more to a flippy disc. At that time I fear I may fall back to the Valkyrie cycle... I just dont think I can bring myself to retire the Hatchet or Amp.
168g TP Hatchet - Main distance driver. still pretty new, not really any turn yet but this thing just goes!
167g Champ Thunderbird - everything you know a Thunderbird to do. FH shots, OS drives and that need to finish left in to a wind. Basically if I want a Teebird flight but need to reach a bit further I'll throw this.
Neutron Virus flippy. thrown flat this thing goes right which on my course, theres a couple holes where thats key off the tee. *I've pulled this one just to see if I really miss having it or not. Couple more weeks and I'll know for sure.
168g G-PD - PD things, skips, hyzers, etc etc *this is still in bag but the Pro Orc is also giving the PD dirty looks. I may swap the G line for an S or P line. Im not really digging the G line softness. For some reason the plastic seems thinner and softer than Innova G Star.


Everything I have I'm comfortable throwing, not always confident though. I'm starting think about what disc to throw on some holes due to having tried or are bagging new discs. This is all due to my addiction to plastic and I want to try everything! Hence me having three bag: main bag, trilogy bag, gyro bag. The main bag is obviously this one, and I need to get its shyt together.

 

[eric40817]

Well... I through the Justice twice tonight and... Hoooly Moses this thing is a god damn brick. I too laughed when I threw it. Its flight was as if it was a F1 car taking a hairpin left turn! Both times I threw it, it was to get out of trouble where I had to get back to the fairway and get left asap. Thrown low and hard it was a savior. Its in the bag for more testing for now.

I threw the Trident twice. I need more time with this one to figure it out. Threw it off the tee on an uphill drive where the pin is just left. It stayed straight and seemed to float some more than I expected. Didnt fade as much as I expected. My only other chance to use it was a thumber and it may be kept around for that. I could see the Trident being used as a utility disc, and possibliy filling the roll or a mid and a fairway, maybe two. I definitely think itll be one of those tweener discs that can wear many hats