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Calling All Ambidextrous Players/RHBH LHFH throwers

Joined
Jul 18, 2016
Messages
8
Hi there, I'm looking for a solution that has been plaguing my driving strategy for years now. I throw a RHBH but I am left-hand dominant and can only comfortably throw a lefty forehand. Are there any ambidextrous players out there? I am thinking of teaching myself to throw lefty. I cannot ever imagine throwing a RHFH. Every time I practice a RHFH I end up throwing my disc about 20 feet.

Alternatively, do I even need to have a reliable alternative to my RHBH or is there an-ultra reliable under stable disc that'll give me the left to right motion I've been dreaming of?
 
You are me 3 years ago haha I started out playing ultimate and was comfortable with a lefty flick and righty backhand, i am also left hand dominant. I would almost guarantee you can throw 50-75% as far as your rhbh with a lhbh within a week or two. The footwork and weight transfer will be tricky at first but once you get those going you will be fine. If you have done any amount of work on your rhbh form it will be very easy to apply the principles you have worked on to your completely raw lhbh form. Also, prepare for the hate/jealousy. Being ambi is powerful on the course but I swear its disproportionately more powerful in the head of anyone you play against, drives people crazy. Good luck!
 
Thank you so much for the advice UCF_Knight. I played tennis for years and years so having my right foot point forward feels more natural. I'm actually surprised this isn't more of a problem than it is for players. There are a few holes at my favorite local course that I know I could handle with a LHBH.Looks like I'll just need to practice some more!
 
Thats why so many people have such big problems with running up smooth and transferring weight, its opposite of how they've been doing it in every other sport, ball golf, baseball, hockey, even throwing a ball are all opposite foot from from your dominant hand goes forward. I have met tons of people who have hurt their dominant hand/arm and were surprised how quickly the were able to pick up disc golf with their opposite hand. Us naturally/partially ambi people have an even bigger advantage.
 
I am LHBH and RHFH, so I know the frustration.
Two things:
First, getting a reliable anny disc is essential. I use a beat-up *Wedge, a beat-up ESP Comet and a VIP Tursas. Haven't found a turnover driver that I'm comfortable with at the moment.
Second, when I worked on cleaning up my form, throwing annys got a lot more comfortable and reliable.

I have some goals to reach on my primary throw, the LHBH, but I am already working on my RHBH and LHFH.

Good Luck!!
 
Just meditate and train. Meditation will allow the brain to rewire itself quicker and just train. I've taught myself to be ambidextrous for a lot of things in life as it's a huge advantage. I will say that playing ambi discgolf has been a challenge tho but this year I got pretty sick with my left arm where before I just gave up. You just gotta stick with it.
 
I've been throwing a low weight Valkarye for a while and can manage a decent turn on it. But with annny turn I feel like the best line I can get is a sort of straight line for 250 feet that then cuts right. This gets me through most courses but it would be SO much easier if I had a drive that gives me a true left-to-right flight.
 
Exactly UCF! The LHBH weight transfer feels so strange to me. The one thing that is making learning LHBH easier for me is that I very rarely have a run-up with my RHBH. I'm not yet to the point in my game where I am confident enough to run up unless I am playing a long distance hole with no obstacles in the way.
 
Couldn't agree with you more demon102. Meditation is also big for me. It helps me bring a calmer demeanor to the course. I also run 3 miles every day. It's like "mobile meditation". It gets my extra energy out and keeps my mind from wandering all over the place.
 
Glad I'm not alone :)

I am LHBH and RHFH - I love when courses make shots hard for right hand backhand throwers ;)

I have been working on my stationary RHBH upshots for the last year and have it dialed in around 150-175' accurate - for driving I have three discs beaten in for anhys/FH anhy flex shots that wont fade hard back. I do find myself in trouble on dog leg lefts in the woods, ,more often I anhy or fade into the thick stuff. Toget around this I have changes my approach on those holes, I opt for a shorter, straight, placement shot (or slight anhy) and then go to save par with a solid approach. Not ideal, but controlling anhyzers is the weakest part of my game.

Get a mid, fairway and driver that you can anhy well with. Focus on your angle of release and let the disc work once you put it on that line. Focus on a smooth release and don't torque it! Don't be afraid to get creative on different holes (i.e. forehand anhy's that wont fade back or placement shots). Slowly work on stationary backhand shots with the opposite hand - you will be surprised how fast it click after a few hours!

Oh and learn a forehand roller/cut roller :) that is a nice way to avoid throwing anhys at times!
 
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If I were just starting out -- not just is disc golf, but in sports in general, I'd learn to be ambi. When my youngest son, who's now 26, was just a toddler, I noticed that he'd pick things up and throw things with either hand, so I would conscientiously be sure he developed both as he played sports. It turns out that he writes left-handed (so technically a lefty) but does so many things right-handed it would help him in sports. Imagine in little league basketball the 6- or 7-yr-old kid who dribbled and handled the ball lefty dominate but used both, and then shoots righty.

In my area, we have a highly-rated grandmaster who drives both righty and lefty backhand. He actually told me the story of some 15-20 years ago when he was much younger he hurt his right arm and couldn't use it at all -- but wanted to play dg, so he taught himself to throw LHBH. UCF is correct that it drives people crazy, but getting to know him after playing on his card often over several years I've learned that he really uses his LHBH drive for long holes where it is open on the left and the hole turns right. He still has a solid RHBH anHyzer game for touch shots and wooded shots, as well as BH rollers which he only throws RHBH.

I am going to assume that when you played tennis you played lefty with a two-handed backhand. I am assuming that only for the purposes of a partial explanation and maybe something that might help. The tennis shot and the disc throw is called "backhand" because in the early days (before all the increases in technologies of both discs and racquets), if you did it correctly you would see the back of your hand on the follow-through. Recall that before overstable discs and back when all racquets were made of wood and had smaller faces, form was much more important than today. It is likely that you are comfortable with the LHFH because it's very similar to your tennis stroke. And the RHBH is very similar to a the swing of a left-handed hitter in baseball -- so still geared toward natural lefties. If you're left hand dominate these make sense and are not necessarily that unusual. I have 3 or 4 lefty friends who play and they also have some "quirk" like that. They're all predominately LHBH players. But one throws all of his overhand shots right handed and also throws RHFH; the others will throw forehands both righty and lefty depending on the touch or situation.

To throw a disc LHBH, is similar a similar arm motion to a one-handed backhand in tennis, but different footwork. Obviously in tennis you don't turn your body to hit a backhand, so here's where it gets tricky. The footwork is actually more similar to a right-handed batter's swing in baseball. So combine that footwork with the arm motion from tennis and that might get you to the point of ,"Ok I've got the sequence down, now I need to just clean up the disc golf form." Good luck.
 
There's a dude in the Billings area who is pretty good at driving LHBH and RHFH. I always wonder how he chooses between the two, since they should fly similar lines. He is also pretty awesome at rolling putters LHBH...it's definitely a sight to see.
 
There's really no substitute for a spike hyzer you can emulate with an understable disc. They want to take off when they hit the ground.
 
Yeah D.Thunder, I kept looking for advice online for players in my situation and nothing was coming up. I just thought that was super odd. I was used to throwing a ball, swinging a stick/racket with a specific body motion so When I started discing I had a very awkward phase where I had NO CLUE which hand to even throw with. Thanks for all the advice!!
 
aratyx, thank you so much for the tips. They are truly thought provoking. I never really put much thought into the names "forehand" and "backhand" but it makes so much sense now. When I started playing disc golf I, for one reason or another, told myself that I ought to decide if I was going to throw RHBH or LHBH. So now my body mechanics are very inclined to throw a RHBH. I'm thinking that it might behoove anybody in a similar situation as mine to start off ambidextrous and go from there.

Also, you were dead on about my two-handed tennis backhand. I was actully that rare backhand-dominant tennis player. Which I'm sure says something about my disc golf throwing enigma.
 
Exactly Dan E! I need to be able to send a spike from left to right one way or another. I don't have a crazy amount of arm strength so even an understable driver sometimes end up going a little left on me.
 

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