Had a good field session today. Felt good on my pull through timing. And fixed a low elbow issue that was causing a bit of nose up and bad follow through.
Actually got all the way up to distance drivers, and felt like they were in control. Mostly Traces, but I mixed in a seasoned GStar Wraith and a seasoned Lucid Trespass. I feel like when you get up above a 2cm rim there's a lot of disc-to-disc variation, so it didn't feel too weird swapping between Trace/Wraith/Trespass (they're all right at a 2.1cm rim). I have a slight preference for the Trace (I like the flight a bit better, and I feel the between disc variation is lower). I was pretty much clearing 350' on every throw, and clearing 375' on more than half. I even clipped over 400' with a slight tail wind. These were max weight discs on golf lines (e.g. only ~10 feet in the air with a touch of natural turn). Honestly the first time I've thrown over 400' on a golf line; it felt good. (I don't consider a hyzer-flipped Shryke a "golf line" personally, and that was most of my prior >400' throws.)
Not sure I'd bag them on a course yet. Was definitely wilder left-to-right. And it was a full power rip. I'm trying to be better about throwing under control while on the course. But maybe with a few more weeks of practice I can smooth things out. (Or if I travel to an open bomber course that would benefit from such things.)
I also decided that I really only like my Color Glow Champ Leopard3s... and that's not great since you can't really replace them. I also like my Z Stalkers... and those are much more replaceable at the moment. I find I can consistently get -2 turn out of the Stalkers if I want/need that, and it flies slower/more controllable than a Leopard3. I can finesse a Leopard3 into a headwind better... but I'm not really gonna throw either a Stalker or a Leopard into a headwind on a course.
So I think my full driver line-up at the moment would be:
Z Stalkers - Big S-turns or hyzerflips. Carving lines in the woods. Shorter tailwind shots. Distances up to ~325'.
Teebird3s (variety of champ and star) - Placement shots. Headwind shots with firm champ. Distances up to ~325' (350' for the gummy champs that fly -1/3 lines).
Z Undertaker - Straight drives out to ~350'. Tailwind placement shots (tailwinds take out all my turn on these).
Traces (variety of neutron and proton) - Max distance on controlled lines. Headwind shots with firm proton. Tailwind shots with flippy neutron. Distances up to ~380'.
I almost feel like Stalker/Teebird3/Undertaker might be too much. But when I carry them all, I do feel comfortable shaping different shots with each of them. I like how consistent the Z Stalkers and Z Undertakers are from disc to disc. I work with how inconsistent the Teebird3s are (even across just champ and star).
Also was just not impressed with my Thunderbirds today (or any this last couple weeks really). I brought a wide variety to the field... but just didn't really have the form/speed to separate them from my Teebirds. I guess I need to be able to put 11 speeds 450' before I can squeeze enough extra distance out of a Thunderbird (over a Teebird). I also have MF and Luster champ teebirds that fly fine into a stiff headwind (and Thunderbirds only did okay into a really stiff headwind). I also suspect if I paid the dough for some older Thunderbirds I might find some mellower ones (I hear the PM 3x in particular have a touch of turn). But I think the Undertakers serve that purpose well enough (and are easy to replace right now). Also, my GStar Thunderbirds do show turn, but they don't even have as consistent fade as my Undertakers (i.e. they're a bit fickle about how much fade they show from throw-to-throw for me). I know it's operator error, but I just don't want that uncertainty weighing on me when I pick them up. So I'm tossing them further back on the shelf to age and gather dust for a bit while I see if I can improve enough to get enough out of them.
I want to practice some tomahawks and grenades with some of these discs soon. There are a couple courses near me that I feel would likely benefit from being able to execute those shots on ~200' holes. I feel adequate throwing tomahawks on scramble shots, but I seldom reach for it off the tee like I suppose I should. I also need to better understand the distances I can get with the various drivers (throwing controlled enough I don't hurt myself).
I'll go back and make an updated copy of the first post now.