Form Analysis - HELP!!

[AidanCaron]

Hey everyone!
So I'm absolutely hooked on disc golf and I'm confident that it's the sport I want to play for life. I'm looking forward to tons of practicing and playing this summer. In my pursuit towards improvement, I've hit some roadblocks and decided to head here for some second opinions on where some major issues might lie with my form. I'll be attaching a short 20 second slowmo YouTube videos of two of my RHBH drives. Some context, I'm 19 and I've been playing heavily for about 6 months.

Here are some of the problems I've been having:
1. Inconsistent left to right accuracy and trouble hitting gaps (I don't feel like I'm rounding but perhaps I am?)
2. Sometimes I'm unintentionally turning the disc over or pulling it to the right
3. Big distance (barely hitting 300 feet on full power some of the time)

Where I think some of the problems might lie that I'm having trouble correcting:
1. Pulling my head to my right shoulder while pulling through
2. Follow through with left hand
3. Consistent release point

Here is a link to the YouTube video with my form. Apologies for not having multiple angles -- this was the best I could manage by myself. Any suggestions and feedback would be incredibly appreciated:https://youtu.be/W_SsPtt9cV0

THANK YOU!!!!

 

[sidewinder22]

You need to slow way down, so that we can work on maintaining posture, center, balance, angles. You are putting all your speed and gas into it, but losing a ton of efficiency in transfer and breaking down/collapsing on the front side and getting stuck on the backside. So you have maxed out your running speed and current swing.

To make a new swing you can't start it by running. The fastest way to work on efficiency is to start with as little movement as possible, so start standing like a golfer or batter. Keep your eyes on your thumb/disc and pay attention to how you are swinging it. Pay no attention to the target. Video doing some standstill throws and drills.

Pretty much everything should help, I would start with the 3 embedded vids and then go down the links:
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2899399#post2899399
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118948
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133319
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134167
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124523

 

[AidanCaron]

You're a legend, thanks a bunch sidewinder22. Looking forward to starting fresh and showing some progress in coming months.

 

[AidanCaron]

Hi again! I've been working hard in the field and on the course on a LOT and I genuinely feel like it's paying off. By watching lots of videos, doing lots of reading, and comparing my form to my favorite pros, I'm getting snap and maxing at about 360ft compared to maxing at 290-300 before... I have about another week or so of fieldwork to do until I'll be at a point to take some more footage to show, but I thought of some questions while I was practicing today that I think are important for me to hear feedback on. I've been working on both standstill and x-step, both going slowly.

Questions:
1. One of my biggest problems when incorporating the x step is that on the actual x-step, my left foot (I'm RHBH) ends up facing backwards instead of perpendicular to the teebox, causing a couple of problems... (for example, shoulders are already pointing away from the front of the teebox before the reachback causing a bit of lag). I notice that my x-step foot is flat on the ground, while some pros are on their toes during the x-step. What is the best way to correct this issue, and would performing the x-step on my toes help fix it?

2.When should I be setting the angle of the disc? My other biggest problem is angle control (more so nose up vs down), so I have trouble figuring out if I should set the disc angle before I start the run up or if I should set it at the peak of the reachback.

3. Sometimes I'm turning even stable discs over which I think might be because I'm turning my head towards the target as soon as I reachback. I believe this is rooted in my very little confidence to hit gaps, but in return, it might be opening up my form and causing me to turn the disc over. I've seen the videos (including yours, sidewinder22) which say not to force the head to stay still or down, but I'm just struggling to figure out what to do with it, because not much feels natural!

4. Last but not least, some folks (Scott Stokely) teach to reach back on the line you're throwing on, while others teach to reach back at approximately an 8 o'clock position everytime as to not turn the hips too much and cause rounding. What do you suggest, and how do you release on your line everytime from an 8 o'clock position?

Thank you so much! Looking forward to continuing to work on my form and share some footage soon!

 

[sidewinder22]

1. This is often caused by starting the backswing too early. I don't want my backswing to start until my rear/left foot touches down, then I turn/swing/coil back inside or forward of rear foot. This is often easier to learn how to do in a standstill because you can't turn back behind your rear foot, unless you lean back behind it. The x-step just makes your swing longer, stretches it out more due to your forward speed vs the inertia of leaving the disc behind or pendulum.

Doing a full forward pump like Feldberg really helped me fix this issue in the x-step.

2. Technically the only matters is the angle at the moment of release. I kind of set it at the top of the forward pump and top of backswing - the middle doesn't matter and is more a loop than a straight back and forth path.

3. You have to not care about where it goes for a bit and learn to trust your feet and body to setup most of the aiming. Just pay attention to how you swing the disc while it's in your hand. Your thumb controls the aim and angle and pressure for distance. Weird is often a good feeling, maybe unnatural as long as it doesn't hurt.

4. On drives the thumb is pointed straight back inline with the elbow and back of shoulder. If I'm pointed back at 8 then I'm throwing to 2 on a hyzer like KJ below. If I'm throwing a big anhyzer I'm pointed back to 4 and throwing to 10. Trying to throw straight and flat is myth, it's got to be either hyzer and flipping flat, or anhyzer and flexing flat.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134415

 

[AidanCaron]

Thanks for the feedback! I got around to doing some filming today and threw together a little video with narration that outlines where I think some of my faults might be. Perhaps you could confirm if the advice you gave still applies to what you're seeing?

Thanks!

Link: https://youtu.be/q8PcvOAV1qQ

 

[sidewinder22]

Keep working on standstill with a more compact shift and more dynamic setup and preswing and backswing. Keep moving/flowing and swinging back and forth more get some rhythm before the backswing. Be more like a lumberjack and loose, instead of a surgeon and rigid setting up.

You are setup very static and kind of squatted with knees too bent out instead of more underneath pelvis, and elbow/disc too low and looking at disc instead of addressing the target. Since you never look at the target or swing to the target before the throw at address/setup, then during the throw you are really eager to look ahead to the target and can't trust your body to aim, and not paying attention to your swing or disc. Note how my head is doing the opposite of yours, I'm looking at target at address and then paying attention to my swing/disc during the throw and trusting my body to aim and able to shift forward more backward/from behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxnhM5amro0#t=23s
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118948