Blobfish 2020...hopefully

[Blobfish]

I realize this is long, and it's really more for me to review next year than anything else, but I welcome your comments and pointers!

Last year I was at this point:

Putting putter:
175g ProD Rattler

Low speed (Putters and Approach):
173g Jawbreaker Challenger
170g Ace Race (ESP?) Sol
170g Z-FLX Zone


Midrange:
170g Elite-Z Buzzz beat-in
170g Elite-Z Buzzz newer
169g Star Mako3
168g Lucid Verdict (I have been back and forth on this disc and a heavier beat-in Drone)

Fairway:
172g Ace Race Titanium Mantis
165g Neutron Tesla
168g Elite-Z beat-in Heat
173g Big-Z Heat
173g Z-Flx Heat

Distance:
173g Big-Z Thrasher
168g Z-Flx Machete
168g Epic
144g Z-Lite Nuke

I hadn't yet played in any event and was very hit or miss with almost all of my shots. The only constant was how much fun I had whenever I played.
Then I broke my non-throwing shoulder over Labor Day weekend and that made me hit the brakes until January. Now with COVID-19 keeping us all away from each other, I am lucky to have a huge deserted parking lot near my house where I can throw and I think I've made a lot of form improvements over the past few weeks. I'm at the point where I think I really have a complete setup:

Putter: 173g Jawbreaker Discraft Challenger
Putter/Regular Approach: 172g Elastic Performance Daredevil Woodchuck~ I can't say enough good things about this disc. As long as I have a clear view of the basket, within 150 feet, the woodchuck is coming out. If I have room to nose it up, I can push it dead straight to 170 or so standing still, and it floats and dies on impact.

Low Speed Understable: 170g ESP FLX? Discraft Ace Race Sol~ The sol holds an anny line unlike anything else I own and it's so easy to throw or flick
Brick: 175g DX Innova Rhyno~ It's not my favorite disc, but it's easy to throw both forehand and backhand and it doesn't glide, which does have its perks from time to time
Overstable Approach: 170g ZFLX Discraft Zone~ This didn't change

Midrange 1: Elite-X 165g Discraft Buzzz
Midrange 2: ZFLX 168g Discraft Buzzz (I ditched the Z's and now I have a grippy but more stable disc in this ZFLX edition, while the X is a less stable low speed laser which replaces my "need" for the mako3)
Overstable "Midrange": 172g Daredevil Elastic Performance Ogopogo (yes, it's technically a fairway driver, but you can't crush it and expect good results, and it skips less than a midrange)

Fairway Drivers:
173g Discraft Big Z Heat~This is my hyzerflipping turnover disc
173g Discraft ZFLX Heat~I get my best 320ish S shots with this disc
166g Daredevil Flex Performance Timberwolf~ 300ish dead straight minimal fade
170g Discraft ESP Undertaker~My breezy driver
OS Fairway: 168g Daredevil Flex Performance Mammoth~The mammoth turns a tad but it would take a severe headwind to turn it over

Forehand Fairway Drivers: This is where things get a tad "extra" so sayeth the kids these days. There's clearly overlap, but I don't like the Undertaker for FH and I don't like the Tesla for BH.
156g MVP Neutron Tesla~Forehands hurt the most after shoulder surgery, but I loved throwing the tesla forehand last summer, so I got a lighter one which I like a lot.
165g Discraft ESP Flick~Not as OS(!!!) as my zflx machete was, I get slightly better results with this massively overstable utility disc. These two discs are so thin, it's like they don't take up any bag space.

Distance Drivers:
Primary Distance Driver: 165g Discraft Big-Z Thrasher~Tailwinds, no wind, even a slight headwind, this is coming out
Moderate Headwind Distance Driver: 148g Discraft Pro-D Nuke~I don't think my arm will ever get to a point where a fresh nuke is not stable enough for me--and the sharp rim of a pro-D nuke will be gouged to crap before it actually beats in-- and at this superlight weight, I get my longest headwind drives with this disc
Windy Day Distance Driver: 165g Discraft Pro-D Nuke~When the wind is all over the place but I still have a wide open space, this heavier nuke is coming out

 

[Casey 1988]

One question on the Jawbreaker plastic: Do you find it gets too much grip at temps over 90-92 F?

 

[Blobfish]

blah blah blah... I'm at the point where I think I really have a complete setup:

Putter: 173g Jawbreaker Discraft Challenger
Putter/Regular Approach: 172g Elastic Performance Daredevil Woodchuck~ I can't say enough good things about this disc. As long as I have a clear view of the basket, within 150 feet, the woodchuck is coming out. If I have room to nose it up, I can push it dead straight to 170 or so standing still, and it floats and dies on impact.

Low Speed Understable: 170g ESP FLX? Discraft Ace Race Sol~ The sol holds an anny line unlike anything else I own and it's so easy to throw or flick
Brick: 175g DX Innova Rhyno~ It's not my favorite disc, but it's easy to throw both forehand and backhand and it doesn't glide, which does have its perks from time to time
Overstable Approach: 170g ZFLX Discraft Zone~ This didn't change

Midrange 1: Elite-X 165g Discraft Buzzz
Midrange 2: ZFLX 168g Discraft Buzzz (I ditched the Z's and now I have a grippy but more stable disc in this ZFLX edition, while the X is a less stable low speed laser which replaces my "need" for the mako3)
Overstable "Midrange": 172g Daredevil Elastic Performance Ogopogo (yes, it's technically a fairway driver, but you can't crush it and expect good results, and it skips less than a midrange)

Fairway Drivers:
173g Discraft Big Z Heat~This is my hyzerflipping turnover disc
173g Discraft ZFLX Heat~I get my best 320ish S shots with this disc
166g Daredevil Flex Performance Timberwolf~ 300ish dead straight minimal fade
170g Discraft ESP Undertaker~My breezy driver
OS Fairway: 168g Daredevil Flex Performance Mammoth~The mammoth turns a tad but it would take a severe headwind to turn it over

Forehand Fairway Drivers: This is where things get a tad "extra" so sayeth the kids these days. There's clearly overlap, but I don't like the Undertaker for FH and I don't like the Tesla for BH.
156g MVP Neutron Tesla~Forehands hurt the most after shoulder surgery, but I loved throwing the tesla forehand last summer, so I got a lighter one which I like a lot.
165g Discraft ESP Flick~Not as OS(!!!) as my zflx machete was, I get slightly better results with this massively overstable utility disc. These two discs are so thin, it's like they don't take up any bag space.

Distance Drivers:
Primary Distance Driver: 165g Discraft Big-Z Thrasher~Tailwinds, no wind, even a slight headwind, this is coming out
Moderate Headwind Distance Driver: 148g Discraft Pro-D Nuke~I don't think my arm will ever get to a point where a fresh nuke is not stable enough for me--and the sharp rim of a pro-D nuke will be gouged to crap before it actually beats in-- and at this superlight weight, I get my longest headwind drives with this disc
Windy Day Distance Driver: 165g Discraft Pro-D Nuke~When the wind is all over the place but I still have a wide open space, this heavier nuke is coming out

It turns out I am such a flake. And I of course had to buy many more discs over the past few months, and am of course totally satisfied with my decisions and can't possibly change things up again. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Let's look at the overhaul that has happened since I posted this:

Putters:
Buh-bye challenger and woodchuck, hello ringer-GT in zflx and either x-soft or jawbreaker depending on my mood that day. My putting and approaches with the ringer-GT has vastly improved my overall game and confidence inside 150'

OS Approach:
I got rid of the zone (wha??????) and the understable approach slot (sol). These were big shockers as I used to swear by the sol, and even after giving up the zone once, I came back to it. Now I realize just how money the Ogopogo is at short range. Short distance flex shot that needs to die? Seems like almost ever woods hole, and once I got used to the idea of flicking a fairway driver from 80 feet out around trees, my approach game improved a lot.

The Mids:
My buzzz suite hasn't changed much. My X-buzzz is close enough to a buzzz SS that I just kept it, the zflx buzzz is my go-to buzzz, and I added a buzzz OS for those times that I really feel like I made a mistake in getting rid of my zone.

The Fairway Drivers: helloooo MVP
Things really got shaken up recently in this department. Out went the heats, the undertaker, and the mammoth. The flick was the disc du jour for a few weeks and is now benched again. I added an ultralight thrasher to replace the heat for hyzerflips and long range turnovers. I kept the timberwolf predominantly for the glorious anny line it holds on a flick. I added a backup tesla since that's my backhand workhorse fairway driver and occasional flick disc. I added the MVP Motion to take the slot of the flick and mammoth as well as the raptor (which has come and gone out of my bag several times). The Motion is such a joy to throw both forehand and backhand.

The Distance Drivers: The nuke experiment failed. I really really really wanted to be a nuke thrower, but apparently, that isn't my disc. What surprised me a couple months ago is that an old friend resurfaced and has been my go-to driver all summer: the ESP Crank. Tailwind or neutral, I love my crank. I added the Daredevil Merlin which is just a touch more stable than the crank for those breezier days even though I could add a little more hyzer on my crank release and it would be fine. The merlin is totally the most superfluous disc in my bag, but I like it because it always goes far. Finally, after giving up on nukes, I was using a force as my OS distance driver, but a few throws with an MVP Phase changed my tune there. A superlight phase gets me a significant distance improvement over the force into a headwind. Only my zflx machete is more overstable than the phase, but for all but the most extreme flicks, I throw the phase better than the machete. I still bag the machete for that very reason, but it's purely there as a utility disc.


I'm sure I'll change this in a major way again next week, since I'm so sure that this is "the" bag for the rest of my season this year