David Feldberg putting clinic

[Monocacy]

Rather than fighting the snow, I decided to set up an outdoor practice target and work on my putting. I was hitting a pretty decent percentage out to 27' with 168 SS Magics, and even my misses were close out to 36'. With a bit more work, I have reasonable hopes of becoming a solidly mediocre putter by spring. :wink:

Here is the practice target. Anything between the plastic bag and top of the shovel handle counted as good. I hope that working with a target like this will make a real basket look huge.

 

[j_mardis1]

Looks like the vid was taken off the site.

J

 

[FierceTable]

Looks like the vid was taken off the site.

J

read the rest of the thread...it was reposted on page 5

http://www.svdgc.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=138&st=0&gopid=232&#entry232

and now on page 6

 

[Timko]

Sweet find! I'll be taking a look at this whole thing soon.

 

[Aubin1]

true story:

I watched this whole thing twice, and took in every little piece of information and tried it all out. I broke my putting down to each motion, tore it down and started over. Mind you, I was a pretty decent putter before this video, 10 for 10 from about 20-22ft no problem.

Watching this video made me miss everything, even 10 footers. I dunno why... it just completely ruined my putting stroke and confidence. I know it works, and pitch putting is tough to learn and switch to, but gawdammit did this screw up my putting. I gave it a LOT of patience and effort, but it just wasn't for me. i had to throw THOUSANDS of putts in the basement over the past two weeks to get back to 'normal.'

My putt stroke is sorta like a pitch putt anyway, so i think i was just over-analyzing it and basically noonan'd myself on every putt. one cool thing I did take away was hyper-extending the front knee, that added a few more feet to my normal putt and should help getting me out to 40' without jumping.

 

[Parks]

I've actually been working on this, and it seems to be helping me. My main putt was a pitch putt before, but it lacked some of the things that Dave showed that dramatically increase accuracy.

I may be just lucky though, because I think I've got a good feel for the finger spring/palm ejection thing that Blake talks about. I just need to practice it.

I still can't spin putt for crap, though. I need a video on that

 

[bbwrenn]

I've read many stories about the kind of person Feldberg is on the course or during a tourney, and quite frankly, I could care less. He is one of 3 people (Ellis and Blake being the other 2) that excel at explaining what is going on in discgolf motions.

This.

Feldberg can definitely teach and this video has started to help improve my putting already, having just watched it last week.

 

[j_mardis1]

Fierce, from what I can tell it has been taken off of the SVDCG site too. If you have the link or I am doing something wrong please let me know.

Jordan

 

[tumpsi]

true story:

I watched this whole thing twice, and took in every little piece of information and tried it all out. I broke my putting down to each motion, tore it down and started over. Mind you, I was a pretty decent putter before this video, 10 for 10 from about 20-22ft no problem.

Watching this video made me miss everything, even 10 footers. I dunno why... it just completely ruined my putting stroke and confidence. I know it works, and pitch putting is tough to learn and switch to, but gawdammit did this screw up my putting. I gave it a LOT of patience and effort, but it just wasn't for me. i had to throw THOUSANDS of putts in the basement over the past two weeks to get back to 'normal.'

My putt stroke is sorta like a pitch putt anyway, so i think i was just over-analyzing it and basically noonan'd myself on every putt. one cool thing I did take away was hyper-extending the front knee, that added a few more feet to my normal putt and should help getting me out to 40' without jumping.

OH NOES LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

 

[FierceTable]

Fierce, from what I can tell it has been taken off of the SVDCG site too. If you have the link or I am doing something wrong please let me know.

Jordan

I don't know what to tell you. When I go to the link I provided the video works fine for me. It can't possibly be in my cache, so I have to assume it's still on that site. Is anyone else having problems viewing it at this point?

As a tip for the future, if you ever find a video you like on the internet you should download it. I used to have a folder of nothing but links to videos I liked...now so many of those links are broken or the videos have been removed my links are useless. I realize this doesn't help you in this case, but just an easy thing to keep in mind for the future.

 

[emiller3]

I've never been able to download it, says I don't have permissions to view it. I saw it initially, so I didn't complain.

 

[what'shisname]

still works fine for me at this link:

http://www.svdgc.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=138&st=0&gopid=232&#entry232

 

[emiller3]

And I'm still getting a big fat "This is a private video" message. Oh well.

 

[FierceTable]

And I'm still getting a big fat "This is a private video" message. Oh well.

I get that message when I try to view it on the Vimeo site, but when it's embeded in that post I have no problem viewing it. Wish I had a practical resolution for you.

 

[peppermack]

I have been practicing this technique now for a week or so, only about 3 solid practice sessions. It is really interesting the things that seem to make the most difference for me. One, the thumb pressure needs to be strong and the pinky grip too, nose up (I have to exaggerate it or I don't get enough when I release), and like Dave mentions a good fast hit. Man, when it comes out right it is pretty, laser beam into the basket. I can see why it is so much more consistent than spin putting.

 

[Monocacy]

I was having trouble getting enough juice on 30-35' putts using the Feldberg method, so I made a few changes that worked well today:

- Opening the stance slightly allows me to swing the putting arm inside the right knee rather than in front of the knee. A longer swing gives the putt more power and reduces the number of high putts.
- Starting the putt with my arm veeeery slightly bent at the elbow, and then straightening the arm at the release adds a good bit of power without causing inconsistency (so far, anyway).
- Finishing the putt with my fingers pointing directly at the target. This helps avoid missing the release point and putting too high or too low.

I would characterize the end results as moderately magical. Keep in mind that for me, throwing consistent 30-35' putts is akin to magic. I was able to putt consistently during practice, but need to work on having this consistency carry over during a round. I suspect this is where repetition, repetition, and more repetition pay off.

 

[emiller3]

Anybody had success working on push putting for the last month?

I briefly tried it, but gave up almost immediately. I went back to the short arm technique and shortened up my release. I've been accidentally long-arming my release for a couple months now without realizing it, and trying out push putting helped me realize it.

So now my short arm technique is better than ever. I've been hitting 90% or more from 22' and in during practice, and the basket looks huge. My 25' and in range is up over 50% now and feels like it's improving daily. It's a big step from where I was a couple months ago, and a year ago I was choking on 15 footers consistently . Many of you guys probably putt a lot better than that, but it's a lot better than I was a couple months ago and I've improved rapidly without much practice. I think I'll be sticking with the short arm technique.

 

[MotoDj]

i had no luck, but i'm not the greatest at putting anyways
i couldn't get nose up for nothin, it was hard to push straight and not lob it

i did have success throwing really high, nose down and diving it at the basket, but i dont think thats wise
for me i have the most consistant success just throwing it in, treating it like a ball
but i dont think anyone would benefit from my style

 

[EKG]

I briefly tried it, but gave up almost immediately.

I don't understand why people think they're going to pick this up right off the bat. Its going to completely fix their putting flaws with little effort, and hardly any practice. You have to put an hour or two per day into learning this or you'll never get good at it. It's really not at all easy to learn this no matter how great the teacher. This stroke isn't something that just comes natural to people like throwing a ball. It's an awkward motion and it takes a long time to build up enough strength in the wrist to execute this properly. Like everything else in this game, the muscle memory takes a while to develop.

Challenge yourself and learn to do it. Stick with it and you'll be glad you did.

I went back to the short arm technique and shortened up my release. I've been accidentally long-arming my release for a couple months now without realizing it, and trying out push putting helped me realize it.

The push putt and short arm technique are one in the same. But I do understand what you mean about correcting flaws by trying other techniques. I went through the same thing you're going through. It's a process that will ultimately lead you to wanting to learn the push putt.

The funny thing is, the first time I picked up a putter I immediately tried to make the shot by push putting. Granted, the shot had so much hyzer angle on it I wouldn't have called it a push putt. I then learned to spin putt, and I was pretty good at that for a while but realized it had many flaws, specifically what Feldberg describes in this video (the crosshair thing). I've now made it all the way back to square one with a much better overall technique and a much better understanding of the technique.

I think this all boils down to how good you want to be. I'd say that probably 90% of the good to great putters I've seen use this technique. The other 10% (spin putters) have burned those muscle memories into their brains so much so that they can hit their crosshair with really good consistency. The problem with that stroke is you're not directing the entire stroke towards your target. You're using a hinge/rip point and hoping you're timing the hinge properly which creates a very small window for error. The great thing about push putting is that throughout the entire stroke the disc does not deviate from the target line.

When a spin putter is having a bad day, they're having a really bad day. Aiiiiir ballllll!!! When a pitch/short-arm/push putter is having a bad day they're barely missing.

 

[emiller3]

If push putting and short arm are the same thing, then I must have misunderstood what Feldberg was teaching, and who knows what I was trying out. I'm a short arm putter, which according to you means I'm a push putter. I don't think we're disagreeing if that's the case.

I only got to watch the video once, unfortunately. I can't seem to view it anymore.