Discovered short game but lost long distance

[daxfas26]

I don't know where to start..... I have been playing for over 3 years. I play when I can and when I can't.... I would putt practice and throw my putters around my house. I must admit my putters are flying much better after I discovered the "Hit" about a month ago. Putters up to 300 feet with control is no problem at all now. What bugs me the most.... I have lost my long distance with the drivers. I have to admit i have bad driving form but i made it work at a cost. The driving part of my game usually was my best area. I could hit 400 feet 7 out of 10 times with 5 out of 10 for accuracy. Now I notice with the new form I found for the hit with putters it has affected my driving game. I played in a tournament couple weeks ago.... Driving sucked, upshots and putting was much improved. Something else I also noticed with my new form... I am able to throw Teebird, leopard, and stalker pretty decent. Any discs faster speed than 7 I can't throw worth crap with the new form. I am 35 and am not wanting to rediscover my bad driving form because it hurts my shoulder and back. Anybody ever go through something like this? What advice do you give to be able to throw drivers well enough again?

[Brodysseus]

I think that what happened is that before you cleaned your form up, you had OAT that allowed you to push distance drivers out far. Now, your form is cleaned up and you're doing well with putters, mids, and fairways. But you probably just don't have the snap for distance drivers yet. Just keep trying to push fairway drivers out farther and be happy that you have consistent, accurate distance. Over time, you should develop enough snap to effectively use faster discs. Maybe check out the technique sticky and use the Hammer Drill and Right Pec Drill to work on developing snap.

Also, what distance drivers are you using? Maybe some more understable plastic would be farther and more controllable for you.

[aces_in_illinois]

Originally Posted by daxfas26

I don't know where to start..... I have been playing for over 3 years. I play when I can and when I can't.... I would putt practice and throw my putters around my house. I must admit my putters are flying much better after I discovered the "Hit" about a month ago. Putters up to 300 feet with control is no problem at all now. What bugs me the most.... I have lost my long distance with the drivers. I have to admit i have bad driving form but i made it work at a cost. The driving part of my game usually was my best area. I could hit 400 feet 7 out of 10 times with 5 out of 10 for accuracy. Now I notice with the new form I found for the hit with putters it has affected my driving game. I played in a tournament couple weeks ago.... Driving sucked, upshots and putting was much improved. Something else I also noticed with my new form... I am able to throw Teebird, leopard, and stalker pretty decent. Any discs faster speed than 7 I can't throw worth crap with the new form. I am 35 and am not wanting to rediscover my bad driving form because it hurts my shoulder and back. Anybody ever go through something like this? What advice do you give to be able to throw drivers well enough again?

I've been struggling with this exact same problem. My distance has gone straight to the crapper since discing down. I've been struggling ever since.

[sidewinder22]

It boils down to either grip/energy transfer, nose angle, shot line, power/torque, or any/all combination is likely.

[Efan08]

Originally Posted by Brodysseus

I think that what happened is that before you cleaned your form up, you had OAT that allowed you to push distance drivers out far. Now, your form is cleaned up and you're doing well with putters, mids, and fairways. But you probably just don't have the snap for distance drivers yet. Just keep trying to push fairway drivers out farther and be happy that you have consistent, accurate distance. Over time, you should develop enough snap to effectively use faster discs. Maybe check out the technique sticky and use the Hammer Drill and Right Pec Drill to work on developing snap.

Also, what distance drivers are you using? Maybe some more understable plastic would be farther and more controllable for you.

^^This.

I had the same issue. I lost about 50-75 of distance just because I was more focused on my short game. Just get back out in the field and keep practicing. Make sure to keep good form when driving though.

[alcstradamus]

If you can throw a putter 300 ft. and can't throw a distance driver 400 ft., the only possible explanation I can come up with is you are throwing the disc nose up. Putters can handle this, wide rimmed drivers can not.

Even with nose up issues though, I still don't see how it is possible to throw a putter 300 ft. and not be able to crush a driver 400 ft. even with major form issues. Are you positive on that putter number, or are you using poor measuring techniques? (downhill, inaccurate course signage, etc.)

[whentherainscome]

Same issues, only hitting 310-330 with my 9 speeds. BUT, I'm much better and recovering from bad drives with the improved short game, and I'm finally starting to see improvements on the score card since discing down in the spring. I had played all winter and I lost a LOT of distance when I disced down (was getting 350-370), and it seems my form is improving and I can do great things with my Opto Pure (where it used to just wobble and flip) but I've only lost distance over the last 3 or 4 months.

But the variations in my scores at my home course has gone way down and my rating is going slowly up so I can't say it's not an overall improvement.

[alcstradamus]

Originally Posted by whentherainscome

Same issues, only hitting 310-330 with my 9 speeds. BUT, I'm much better and recovering from bad drives with the improved short game, and I'm finally starting to see improvements on the score card since discing down in the spring. I had played all winter and I lost a LOT of distance when I disced down (was getting 350-370), and it seems my form is improving and I can do great things with my Opto Pure (where it used to just wobble and flip) but I've only lost distance over the last 3 or 4 months.

But the variations in my scores at my home course has gone way down and my rating is going slowly up so I can't say it's not an overall improvement.

Your issue is not the same as the OP's, you would require a different set of advice.

You seem to definitely be describing OAT issues prior to discing down, which I don't think is the same as the oiriginal poster is experiencing. Your discing down helped your form, but since you are no longer torquing the crap out of your high speed drivers you will need to develop better timiing and snap to throw them far.

Since the original poster is throwing putters 300 ft allegedly, it is almost definitely not an OAT issue unless he has found the most overstable putter on the planet that no one knows about.

I'm sticking to my nose-up theory until I read something better. I fear that this thread may confuse people into thinking that discing down will hurt their distance, when really it is just cleaning up severe form flaws that were probably producing an unnatural and tough to control S-curve which was giving long distance numbers with poor accuracy.

I'm just making assumptions with all of this, without more specific details or video it is tough to say for sure.

[KenTyburski]

Personally, I'll take "controlled line to inside 10m placement at 300 feet" over "booming distance but unsure if I can hit the broad side of a barn" any day. Control game + solid putting = lower scores, IMO. Consider why AJ hated Worlds (I can throw for miles in the open where I can have some leeway, but I don't like a skinny gap) and MJ succeeded there (I throw a Comet on 90% of the holes, 300-350 feet with pinpoint accuracy). I think if you are playing courses that demand length, you might be upset not to be able to throw really long. But even playing a longer course like Winthrop Gold for Am Doubles, looking back, I would have been better served trying to play the 300-330 midrange accurately than trying to drive a green; I daresay my partner and I would have saved 5-6 throws. That, and if I was a better putter.

[whentherainscome]

Originally Posted by alcstradamus

Your issue is not the same as the OP's, you would require a different set of advice.

You seem to definitely be describing OAT issues prior to discing down, which I don't think is the same as the oiriginal poster is experiencing. Your discing down helped your form, but since you are no longer torquing the crap out of your high speed drivers you will need to develop better timiing and snap to throw them far.

Since the original poster is throwing putters 300 ft allegedly, it is almost definitely not an OAT issue unless he has found the most overstable putter on the planet that no one knows about.

I'm sticking to my nose-up theory until I read something better. I fear that this thread may confuse people into thinking that discing down will hurt their distance, when really it is just cleaning up severe form flaws that were probably producing an unnatural and tough to control S-curve which was giving long distance numbers with poor accuracy.

I'm just making assumptions with all of this, without more specific details or video it is tough to say for sure.

For what it's worth, I can put my Pure at least 280, and my Rhyno a bit farther. Nose angle issues are certainly part of my problems, but I'm not gonna hijack daxfas26's post - just saying I can relate to losing distance after improving my putter drives and short game.

I would think that discing down will hurt one's distance, at least at first.