Desafinado's drives

[bneely]

Finally got a new camera and was able to shoot a little bit of footage. It's not the ideal angles/slowmo for analyzing technique, but I would appreciate any observations/critique folks have to offer.

I am RHBH dominant, max golf D 320-340' on flat ground. These drives are all first teeshots in a practice round out in San Francisco. I listed the disc being thrown as an annotation on the youtube clip.

There are five drives in the clip- distances traveled for each in order are 310' (slightly uphill), 220' (downhill), 375' (slightly downhill with a nice 20' bonus skip), 300' (slightly uphill), 280' (downhill).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN-_4GQgYfs&fmt=18

Thanks in advance. I am going to try to hit the field with a tripod and get some better side angles and I'll make sure to slow some of them down and post a new video soon.

 

[malinkie]

Man i love hole 12 in GGP The course in general is awesome. especially the back 9.

You have nice form. I would add a reach back to add another 20'-30'

 

[bneely]

Thanks for the feedback- a more pronounced reachback is something I've been toying with on field days lately but I'm still not comfortable with it when playing rounds. That's also tied into a more pronounced hip and shoulder turn, which is also something I've just started trying to incorporate more of. I think that's definitely where I need to go next as I improve.

Other things I notice when I watch my form, I'd be curious if folks would back these up- I'm at best weight neutral and never truly weight forward on release, which contributes to a bit of nose up on all these drives and is easy to see at the finish of the downhill SOLS drive.

Also I never really noticed before how I tend to let the edge of the disc opposing my grip flop downwards during my reachback, although it does return to the proper level by the time it gets to the hit. That's probably not helping my accuracy.

And yeah, GGP is awesome all around, but the back 9 is my favorite too.

 

[JR]

Youtube didn't get a high quality vid going so I had to watch low quality vid and I wouldn't make comments based on that. However; trying to be somewhat helpful in the future the vids should show legwork too and you were breaking plane on some throws. At least two had a lowering follow through despite a mild hyzer arm pull in to the hit. That spells OAT and flipping the disc more than it's specs suggest. Fixing that will allow you to use straighter discs with lesser chance of flipping them over. It semed that you didn't move herky jerky and were slow in the motions early on. Good job on that.

 

[cmlasley]

You're doing a good job utilizing late acceleration - your form is basically a "left-pec drill" (as opposed to the right pec drill). Don't think of the reach back as a reach back. You can keep your elbow bent, just turn your shoulders a little more away from the target. If you do it gradually enough (a few more degrees per week for a few weeks), I think you'll find that your drive distance will go up a little without any meaningful loss in accuracy.

I'd like to see your footwork for my benefit. I'm working on the feet and hips myself.

 

[malinkie]

We should maybe meet up for a session at GGP sometime

 

[Autiger1291]

Well the good news is that you are throwing a good solid distance with very little movement. Your form is very compact and you don't come off the front of the pad at all. As stated already you can very gradually add a reachback, which will really just a be a larger turn of the shoulders. It's kind of hard to make any comments about footwork/hips without being able to see. Looks good though.

 

[Blake_T1]

clean, minimalistic form with no wasted motion.

throws 1, 2, 4, and 5 i would consider in the "pull over" variety.

decent bit of pop but you aren't really HITTING it. your acceleration peaks as you enter the power zone and then pretty much flatlines on speed. seems like you hit the first one best as that's the only one that had noticeable wrist extension at the hit.

you are not really harnessing leg power. digging your pivot harder might help you achieve the body positions needed for a late hit.

i don't think adding more reach back will help you improve timing, but it might add 20-30'.

to hit it harder a few things in terms of footwork and timing would have to shift a bit. something you could try would be to pause the pull as you reach the right side of your body and see if you can get more "feel" for it from there forward. i'm having trouble diagnosing it exactly, but seems like your shoulders are just rotating at a constant speed and not aiding to power focus.

 

[SkaBob]

Your discs are at an anhyzer angle at your reachback, when you're throwing hyzers. That's going to mess with power and aim.

 

[black udder]

You throw an awful flat shot. To me that implies that you're not weight forward and they're mostly "control" shots. At those distances and shots, it looks like they are. All depends on what you want to do with your form. Looks like you're pretty accurate and if you start messing with your form, all that accuracy will go away. Is it worth it? I'd start there and answer that question first. If you can throw an accurate 340' or so that might be all you need for where you play.