Beginner form thread! RHBH

[casmith175]

Hi all!

I'm fairly new to disc golf, been playing about four months and love it. With that being said, my RHBH doesn't feel great. I max at about 300 ft with fairway drivers. Been working on making various changes on my own, but nothing so far has helped much.

I figured it was time to turn to the forums. My guess is there are at least a couple things I'm doing drastically wrong to slow the disc down. Every now and then a throw will feel snappy, but usually they do not.

Thanks in advance!

https://youtu.be/5qqjHzxNoxY

 

[sidewinder22]

You are shrinking on your rear leg in the x-step and then rising upward off it, should be the opposite getting taller on x-step/hop and falling lower into the plant/throw. Extending the rear leg and then squatting in the backswing should help you turn further back. You are planting with everything way too open to target. Door Frame Drills should help a lot and then go down the list:

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119328

 

[lostDoughnut]

+1 on door frame drill. It will also help show/feel what the right arm does during the throw.

 

[casmith175]

Thank you both! I'll give the drills a try and report back later

 

[casmith175]

Hi all! I've been working on planting closed and getting into the door frame position. Max distance has gone from 300 to 360 or so. I'd like to get to 400+ this Winter so would love to hear more critiques and drills that you think will help based on form. As always, any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[sidewinder22]

X-step looks too deep/long putting your balance leaning too far behind your left foot and you get stuck flat footed on both feet.

 

[txmxer]

Nose up on several throws--but, kind of interesting, 1 and 3 are pretty flat. You do one of two things when you plant. You lift your hand slightly and your pull through is fairly level giving you a flatter throw. Alternatively, you plant and draw your throw in a straight line that's angled up at ~5-10 degrees or so which I'm betting results in early fade. Might try to raise your arm a bit on your reach back to get that flatter throw more consistently.

I can see you are throwing really hard. Lot of potential. You've got a ton of power. Keep tuning it and you'll be a bomber. But, you might back down a touch--do the "Danny": slow is smooth, smooth is far.

 

[casmith175]

Thanks both! txmxer, yeah I do remember one or two of those had a bad nose angle, it happens haha. I'm also throwing slightly uphill so that isn't helping. Interesting thoughts on the reach back, I'll play around with the height and see what changes. I was just watching a Danny video, so I definitely think you're right on the slow is smooth part.

Sidewinder, thanks for the tips per usual. I think you're spot on. I'll get working on the drills in the video and report back when I think I've made some progress!

 

[casmith175]

Hi friends. I'm back at it. Been trying to tidy up reachback and shorten the x step, but something still isn't quite clicking. The throw still looks clunky and I'm not sure which issue to address at the moment.

I guess the one positive is my reach-back and pull-through do feel a bit better than a couple months ago.

 

[sidewinder22]

X-step is not helping you learn the fundamentals, it's just adding extra moving parts into the equation.

You are leaning back away from target and reaching/opening front foot into plant and ending up in an immoveable horsestance like I talk about in Power of Posture.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133319
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118948

 

[casmith175]

Excellent! This is making more sense now, thank you. Now it's just a matter of teaching myself the correct movement... Sounds like a good excuse to throw some actual hammers.

 

[casmith175]

@sidewinder22 I believe I'm made some progress. After finally understanding the hershyzer drill, I'm attempting to adopt falling forward onto my plant foot. It's easy to see how I've been throwing incorrectly, because just this simple change feels so incredibly different. Apologies for the dark videos, I'm in Maryland where it's already dark by the time I'm leaving work...

 

[casmith175]

Also it's probably worth noting that my plant foot still wants to naturally land with my toes somewhat forward. I don't know why, but it takes a conscious effort to land closed.

 

[sidewinder22]

You are way too eager to try and look forward at the target. You need to have more patience and trust yourself to keep looking back away from target while you shift into the plant turning further back. Keep your eyes on your thumb/disc during the forward swing, pay attention to how you swing the arm/disc. Do not care about the result of where the disc goes - trust your body to aim.

Your stride is going too leftward, too closed and not creating any internal torque or inward kick before going out.

 

[casmith175]

I see what you mean about being too eager to face the target. I'm wondering if it doesn't have something to do with my early head turn. It seems like those with good form "look back" as a result of their natural reach-back, but i seem to turn my head pre-emptively before the disc is extended.

See photos attached. Maybe Paul is a bad example, he seems to turn his head less than most.

 

[lostDoughnut]

its very minimal but there. your left foots toe lifts off the ground coming out of the xstep. i believe you should be on your toes. possibly your spine is upright and need more chest over toes? possibly too much weight behind your feet



it also looks like your left leg gets fully extended when your plant leg lands. where as we want to keep a slight bend when falling into the plant

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137173

 

[casmith175]

Doughnut, these are really good points. Athletically falling onto a closed plant feels so difficult for me. Possibly because of stiff or untrained hips (Golf and baseball swing have always had power from playing sports growing up, but that's in the other direction entirely :thmbup: )

I really like that gif of paige pierce in the forum post you linked. Looks so effortless and athletic, which is what I'm lacking right now.

 

[sidewinder22]

You need to mirror your baseball stance and motion, but turn the whole stance further back to release the lead arm wide from the chest.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133759

 

[casmith175]

You need to mirror your baseball stance and motion

Thanks Sidewinder! Makes sense to me. Since I bat right handed and throw RHBH it's been tricky to teach myself to go the other direction. I'll watch all the vids and do a bit of work and report back once I notice some change

 

[casmith175]

Alright, progress report! I've made no progress

Every change I try to make seems to result in the same form issues over and over again. At this point I think it's a good idea to have you look at the standstill throw, see if we can identify and fix the issues here, and then introduce footwork back in slowly.