Practice D compared to Course D

[swellerdiscgolf]

I've been wondering recently. When my buddy and I practice in the field, he is hitting somewhere near 350' pretty acurately, myself 280' not so straight and acurate...but when we go to the course, my drives are a lot more acurate than in the field, and on the longer holes (400' +), my drives are right there with his, if not longer. I feel that on the course my driving is up to around 320', and his down to about 320'.

Why the +40' for me, and the -30' for him?

[tamahawk]

I notice some variance too, a little. Don't really have any good reasoning for it. As far as accuracy, on the course you may be more focused on trying to hit a certain line, throw though a gap, go around this mando, etc. With added distance, part of it could be adrenaline rush, and the excitement of being on the course vs just throwing in a field. ???

[solomon.trenton]

you have something to aim at (i have the same problem) and your friend isnt just swinging for the fences (my buddy)

[innova]

My theory...

Out in a field you are not under the gun.

When you are on a fairway-- pretty and nice as they can be-- there is a defined flight path you must attempt. There is more "pressure" on you to make the shot count. It is a more defined scenario. There are trees that can be smacked.

Out in a field you are gripping and ripping.

What I do is attempt to have tight landing patterns of all my field thrown practice shots.
Make every disc land near the first... regardless of what kind of flight charachteristics that disc happens to have. (roller, huge spike hyzer, annie, etc... make them all land on top of each other)

[Neophyte]

That sounds about right Innova. I think this is especially apparent when you are playing a course you know very well. You have developed muscle memory for certain shots. So when you come up to the tee you subconsciously know what you need to do and your body does it. While a person who is new to the course (unless they are very experienced) might be more cautious with their throw, playing it safe.

[srm_520]

I've been wondering recently. When my buddy and I practice in the field, he is hitting somewhere near 350' pretty acurately, myself 280' not so straight and acurate...but when we go to the course, my drives are a lot more acurate than in the field, and on the longer holes (400' +), my drives are right there with his, if not longer. I feel that on the course my driving is up to around 320', and his down to about 320'.

Why the +40' for me, and the -30' for him?

It's all mental. Easy as that. :rolleyes:

[scarpfish]

I've never really found throwing in an open field to be beneficial as far as distance measurement as its not a situation that you're going to see on a course very often. On an actual course there's going to be a tree, a hill, or some other obstacle that's going to knock that big rip shot down.

If the land at the course isn't available, I actually prefer to practice in a sporadically wooded non-DG park and try to hit lines between trees to see how far I can get the disc without hitting anything.

[A.Mutt]

IMO its because you are "playing up"
From a psychological standpoint, when you feel you must do everything you can just to compete with somebody we all tend to do better than normal. Conversely when you don't feel much competitive pressure you're likely to just coast and under-perform. competitive pressure applies to course v. field too. When you have a mark to stretch for as opposed to an empty space its easier to hit that distance.

[swellerdiscgolf]

All these posts are great, but let me elaborate a little. My buddy and I play the same course(s). In the field, we mark off a point about 300' out (football goal post, tree), and when I do out distance him on the course, it is on those long open holes with nothing in to hit except for the basket 400' away.

On another note, I remeber in other sports in the past, I seemed to "play down" to my competition a little. for instance...I used to bowl duckpins at least twice a week. During this time, I carried a 130 average (100 is good), when ever I bowled against my wife (85 average) I would shoot around 120, but when I bowled against a bettet bowler I would shoot around 150.

I don't know what point I'm trying to make here.......other than I hate practice!

[mashnut]

I notice a pretty big jump in distance on the course, and I've always felt like it was because I was concentrating on the line and accuracy on the course, and not trying so hard for the distance. All my longest shots were ones that felt really easy and smooth, and I'm trying to figure out how to do that consistently.

[kpc2004]

this relates to a problem i have noticed with my game, and that is my performance when i am playing a round by myself VS. my performance when playing a round where i am competing. i always play a better round when there is someone for me to try and beat, and i play a waaay better round if i have to earn the win. sometimes i catch myself playing to the level of the people im playing with. when i play casual rounds with some buddies i shoot good but not great, but when i am playing with my DG friends who are all around the same caliber player i am, i shoot a way better round. it is possible that the same thing is happening to you, in the field who cares which is longer but on the course it actually matters how well you throw....just my 2 cents :)

[Lewis]

I play better when I'm playing a casual round with friends, and I play best when I'm alone. Being watched, especially by people I don't know, makes me tense and gives me the yips. I suppose everyone responds differently to pressure, and I'm the type that tends to buckle and fold under it. On the other hand, I don't get this in other sports that I've played for longer. I guess entering more tournaments would help me get over this.

As for the variation in distance, I can probably speak for the friend's position in this example, who is the one who throws farther in an open field. Even when you're throwing towards a basket in an open field, you're still trying to hit a line that ends at the basket. That adds enough challenge that I tend to take a little off my power to get a little more accuracy. When you're just hucking it in the open field, going for pure distance alone, it hardly matters if you're 50 feet off your ideal line. That attitude, good or bad, lets me open up my body a little more and feel a little looser. I throw much better when I'm loose.

[sidewinding]

Could just be the tee pads.

[Lewis]

Could be the pads, but most of the courses I play on have natural (dirt) pads, so they're not really a factor.

[bayouace]

This applies to athletics in general. Did you practice well in other sports? Or, did you play the games better than you practiced? The stimulation of the game just gets some people going who are bored in practice. Call 'em money, Saturday night players, whatever. Of course those who play great and practice the same have an edge, but that isn't many folks. Team coaches often succeed or fail by figuring out who they really should be playing when it is on the line.

[Lewis]

This applies to athletics in general. Did you practice well in other sports? Or, did you play the games better than you practiced? The stimulation of the game just gets some people going who are bored in practice. Call 'em money, Saturday night players, whatever. Of course those who play great and practice the same have an edge, but that isn't many folks. Team coaches often succeed or fail by figuring out who they really should be playing when it is on the line.

For me it depends on the sport, and how much practice I've had. I'm a gamer at Table Tennis, perhaps at tennis too, though I'm not as good. Football, basketball, fielding in baseball, I practice about how I play. Hitting in baseball gives me the yips unless I've had tons of batting practice. Same with ball golf. In my case it's the practice that builds the confidence that's needed to perform under pressure.

[amcarlson83]

I've been wondering recently. When my buddy and I practice in the field, he is hitting somewhere near 350' pretty acurately, myself 280' not so straight and acurate...but when we go to the course, my drives are a lot more acurate than in the field, and on the longer holes (400' +), my drives are right there with his, if not longer. I feel that on the course my driving is up to around 320', and his down to about 320'.

Why the +40' for me, and the -30' for him?

Could be the "drool effect" (why you don't throw as far when you practice). You see nothing in your way so you get all testosterony (?) and just try to bomb it. But your form sucks because all you can think about is "****, I'm going to throw this so far" and you muscle it. Probably release with the nose angle up a bit?

When I practice in a field, I put too much muscle into it and not enough brain and don't throw as far. When I practice on an actual course, its a different story. I see a line, an obstacle, a serious target, and I can haul it. But it's not usually significantly longer than my usual drives though.

Also, when you are practicing, it is easier to throw farther on your second, third, fourth, etc throws. Just like you throw much better on a mulligan, because you know what you did wrong, if anything, on the first throw and correct it 30 seconds later rather than minutes later.

[bjreagh]

Part of the difference for me is the frequency of drives when playing vs practicing. On the course you throw a full out drive maybe once per hole with minutes and other shots in between. But when I practice driving I grab a stack of 10-20 drivers and throw them one right after the other and my arm gets tired. I could see this difference affecting different people in different ways when you compare the two, but I tend to be longer on the course because I am fresher and more focused for each drive.

[swellerdiscgolf]

This applies to athletics in general. Did you practice well in other sports? Or, did you play the games better than you practiced? The stimulation of the game just gets some people going who are bored in practice. Call 'em money, Saturday night players, whatever. Of course those who play great and practice the same have an edge, but that isn't many folks. Team coaches often succeed or fail by figuring out who they really should be playing when it is on the line.

I think this is the category I fall into. I just can't get myself motivated (almost said "up" there) enough in practice, but when I'm at the course, my mind and body say okay lets do this, and my form and technique and power all combine to throw a great drive. Now if only I could put together 18 holes of drives, mids, and putts....