Winter Project: learn to throw with off-hand.

[Dan Ensor]

I'll be throwing lefty for a few weeks. If I have any success, I'll probably continue to try it.

[Redshirt]

I've been throwing lefty after I messed up my right arm. I've actually been surprised at how well I've been doing. Distance is still short but accuracy is way better than I expected.

[Gennataos]

I thought I'd revive this thread, since a bout of tennis elbow has me now playing with my off hand (right) until my left elbow heals. I figure this shouldn't be too hard of a transition, since I'm naturally right-handed and the only thing I do lefty is throw a frisbee backhand.

My bag for this consists of two 173g Banger GTs, two 171 GL Fuses and one 168g Champ Leopard. I have two 168g Pro Leopards on the way to replace the one champ, plus I'll be adding a 168g Champ Teebird for headwinds, for a total of 7 discs. I don't think I could put together a better beginner bag, which is essentially what I am right now. My plan is, whenever practical and possible, I'll be making two throws per shot for more practice per round, thus why I'll carry doubles of everything aside from the Teebird.

I've played three rounds so far. I've done a lot better than I'd have thought. I'm not really keeping score for rounds, but I have been throwing par for about half of the holes played, even a few birdies for short ones. I haven't bothered to measure distance, but I would guess I'm throwing in the 150-180ft range with the Fuses.

I've been struck by a couple things so far. First, making pars is not hard. It's really not. I've been throwing pars on holes which I've traditionally struggled with and it has nothing to do with different lines offered from the right side. It's all about not trying to do too much. How many times have we all gotten ourselves in trouble with bogeys and worse when trying for that perfect shot to set up a birdie putt, when a safe play would net us an easy par? Sure, you want to practice that tough shot so you can reliably make it some day, but sometimes you just need to pay smart golf.

The other thing I've learned is that I think there's a lot I can gain from this to incorporate into my LHBH. I'm now sure that I overthrow plenty of shots from the left side. I've always stuck with the notion to throw the slowest disc to reach a given distance. I'm now learning that sometimes a powered down shot with a faster disc is a better option, particularly I wooded holes.

I'm not sure if I could be much happier with the results thus far. I'm going to do my best to just keep doing what I'm doing and not try to push it. The biggest trap most of us fall into when we start playing is to worry too much about distance. All I doing here, really, is finding a way to keep playing while my elbow heals...I'd have a hard time staying away from the game for months. Now, I think it's reasonable to expect to keep learning about the game plus, hopefully, have a whole new bag of tricks when I'm back to 100%.

[Dan Ensor]

I came to a realization yesterday the made me incredibly happy. My right arm is tasked with supplying fun. My left is NOT similarly impeded! I can do left pec drills for the rest of my life if I want to!