Help with Standing Backhand Driving Technique

[MIgolfer]

Hello All,

I finally had the chance to slo-mo film myself throwing a few standing drives. Watching myself on film for the first time was an interesting experience. It's tough to know how much you're doing wrong without seeing yourself in third person.

Anyway, even as a beginner, I noticed a bunch of things I need to work on and hoped to get some more ideas from you on how to fix and/or improve my current woefully awful technique .

Here's what I noticed...

1. My left arm, what the crap? I had no idea I was swinging it with my right arm and I have no idea where that ridiculous habit came from. Must be because I want to grab the disc with both hands or something.
2. I'm not shifting my weight forward through my throw.
3. My right arm drops slightly mid swing. So that causes me to pull back up which then causes the nose to point up on every throw.
4. I think I'm letting go too early in my throw so the disc doesn't finish accelerating.

Any other ideas for me or tips for overcoming these? I generally get about 220' out of my drivers (Champion Valkyrie, Star Roadrunner). Rarely do I get better than 250' lately. I know I can do better than that because in late Summer I was getting 250'ish on a regular basis with the occasional 280'-300' drive. I seem to have settled into some bad habits over the past few months that're screwing me over.

Thanks y'all.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

[*]My left arm, what the crap? I had no idea I was swinging it with my right arm and I have no idea where that ridiculous habit came from. Must be because I want to grab the disc with both hands or something.

Looks like you're doing magic ala David Copperfield!

Good self critique: you're throwing very nose up as well. The disc should be flying out flat not immediately trajecting upwards. Cock that wrist down.

Get loose, shift the hips, accelerate late.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

try to let the other arm mirror what your throwing arm does. Imagine there is a long pole attached to your shoulders into the hands. It will get you pointed away from the target better in the reachback and keep the disc out away from the off throwing shoulder when pulling through.

Should help with your finish to not look like this:

 

[sidewinder22]

Yeah, good self-assesment. No weight shift and decelerating through impact/finish. Work on more snap with putters and mids, you want to up your efficiency with those before drivers. It looks like you bring the disc/arm too far back around your body in the backswing and also around in the forward swing. In general you want more linear motion on the disc both back and forward compared your rounding motion.

1. Your left forearm arm is in an awkward looking position, but the good thing is that your elbow is tucked into your body for the most part so it's not completely dragging behind you, but still not ideal.

2. Absolutely correct, your weight/balance remains centered and doesn't shift. You are doing the opposite of the power sequence drill below with your front foot moving to the right as you plant. In the finish you want your rear foot to come up to or behind your front foot. You finish your rear foot still on the ground and back to keep your balance which means your weight isn't balance on the front leg through the finish like it should be.
http://betterdg.com/topic/14-video-on-hip-bump-by-dave-feldberg/

3. You could think of it as your body is standing too upright to match your arm swing instead of the arm dropping. You need to tilt your chest slightly forward toward your knees so your chin is balanced right over your toes.

4. You are correct it's early release or not getting full extension of your arm. Are you letting go of the disc? You shouldn't be. You should be putting enough momentum on the disc at the end of your swing it will rip out and cause you to follow through.

 

[ColonelDracula]

MI, have you ever tried throwing like Avery Jenkins does?
You look taller, which means you might benefit from holding your shoulder girdle
up much higher, like Avery does.

It might force your body into a better position that way as well.

 

[Mike C]

Here's a video I made that might give you some ideas

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

Mike, do you have a hard time with pivoting on your heel? for some reason it is hard for me to pivot all the way open and it wears on my ankle sometimes.

 

[RFrance]

Ah, another piece of the puzzle solved for me. My full speed = Mike C's 1/2 speed. Back to the field...

 

[Mike C]

Sometimes it really comes doen to just throwing faster.

 

[MIgolfer]

Should help with your finish to not look like this:

This made me laugh...a lot. My name's Ken, too. All I need now is a red Karate Gi.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to try out some of these suggestions soon. Never know with the weather getting colder in Michigan and the Christmas season upon us. Thanks so much for your help guys. Keep the suggestions coming if anybody has any more.

To respond to some of the questions asked. I used to think the disc was ripping out, but seeing the footage makes me question that, too. Next time I'm out, I'll try to evaluate.

I've not tried Avery Jenkins' method, but I'll check it out. I'm 6'2", not sure how it compares to Avery but probably worth a look.

I've never noticed any issues pivoting my heel.

 

[Mike C]

Mike, do you have a hard time with pivoting on your heel? for some reason it is hard for me to pivot all the way open and it wears on my ankle sometimes.

Never had an issue with it. I tend to rotate on my heel during power drives, and more on the balls of my feet on a powered down shot. Not something I consciously decide, it just happens that way.

I tried rotating on the balls of my feet for max D throws after someone suggested it but it always felt a little off to me.

 

[zeerobb]

Yeah, good self-assesment. No weight shift and decelerating through impact/finish. Work on more snap with putters and mids, you want to up your efficiency with those before drivers. It looks like you bring the disc/arm too far back around your body in the backswing and also around in the forward swing. In general you want more linear motion on the disc both back and forward compared your rounding motion.

1. Your left forearm arm is in an awkward looking position, but the good thing is that your elbow is tucked into your body for the most part so it's not completely dragging behind you, but still not ideal.

2. Absolutely correct, your weight/balance remains centered and doesn't shift. You are doing the opposite of the power sequence drill below with your front foot moving to the right as you plant. In the finish you want your rear foot to come up to or behind your front foot. You finish your rear foot still on the ground and back to keep your balance which means your weight isn't balance on the front leg through the finish like it should be.
http://betterdg.com/topic/14-video-on-hip-bump-by-dave-feldberg/

3. You could think of it as your body is standing too upright to match your arm swing instead of the arm dropping. You need to tilt your chest slightly forward toward your knees so your chin is balanced right over your toes.

4. You are correct it's early release or not getting full extension of your arm. Are you letting go of the disc? You shouldn't be. You should be putting enough momentum on the disc at the end of your swing it will rip out and cause you to follow through.

Great advice.. Just got my aha moment..took this to field practice and was killing it!

 

[_dj_]

i'm not an expert but the thing that jumped out for me was that you short armed the follow through.

 

[zj1002]

Mike, do you have a hard time with pivoting on your heel? for some reason it is hard for me to pivot all the way open and it wears on my ankle sometimes.

The key to how the foot pivots(heel or toe) is to start on your toes and keep your knees bent. If you stay athletic with the entire throw, you don't have to ever think about how your heel is spinning. I find myself saying that a lot on here so hopefully someone starts to pick up on it. Technique is really just about setting your body up to be athletic. By keeping the knees bent you are able to shift weight naturally/passively. If your weight is moving forward the toe/heel will rotate on its own to allow your body to open forward.

Due to way too many sprained ankles in my youth I almost never twist my brace foot from all the way closed to open. If its a golf line I'm usually landing partially open anyways. You can reach 450+ without minimal heal/toe pivot. This is essentially what MikeC was saying. He has great natural weight shift because of how he sets up his legs/core with basic athletic positions. His body takes care of the rest as he finishes the drive.

 

[Star Shark]

Here's something that may help a bit