Hello everyone!
Long time lurker, first time poster. Let me introduce myself: My name is Janne, but Finnish names are a little tough for some folks, so I go by Markus (my middle name) in some casual settings. Disc golf is one of them.
I was introduced to Disc Golf for 3 years ago, but have been taking it pretty seriously for about 2 years now. Just got my first PDGA rating at 899. I consider approach shots to be the strongest part of my game, since I've never really had more than 330ft of consistent distance, and my putting is still pretty unreliable.
Up until a couple of weeks ago I was happy with my short drives. My drives were accurate and consistent. I had decent angle control, and could place the disc where I wanted it to go.
The antagonist in this story is my local course; There are a number of holes that I will simply never birdie (barring a throw-in) unless I increase my distance. Some examples: Hole 3 is a 404ft Par 3 over a flat field to a low ceiling basket, and Hole 7 is only 359ft, but requires you to either hyzer or anhyzer around a row of trees. I estimate that I need around 400ft of power to be able to reach the pin on that one.
The desire to birdie these holes has finally overgrown my desire to shoot consistent golf. I am ready for the growing pains in return for growth as a player. And that's what brings me here today.
So without further ado, let's talk form:
Before making any changes, I recorded a benchmark at my relatively accurate, but low distance state. July 10, 2023.
I did one release for Hyzer, Flat, and Anhyzer. Though I'm throwing a Shryke, a Beast, and an Anax, none of these went father than 320ft.
I spent days reading through a bunch of the old forums posts and concluded that I am still strong arming the disc despite trying to fix that in the past. Ah well.
I read a bunch more and concluded that the first changes that I NEED to make are:
I began practicing. I installed a net in my garage, and started recording myself doing the hammer drills, and all that to get the feel and visual for what actually spinning the disc and pivoting out of the power pocket was like. A few improvement points naturally came into scope and I sort of slid them into my work while working on the other stuff (that probably isn't helping).
Hundreds of throws for a few days, rest day, more throws, more rest. It's been 12 days now. From the few rounds I've played, I know for a fact that I can already throw about 25 to 30 feet farther than before. I'm having to approach baskets from places I've never been before. My issue now is consistency and accuracy. I feel like I'm all over the place! Sometimes I early release, sometimes I "grip lock" and send the disc 30 degrees from the intended line. Ah, it feels like being a noob all over again.
I'm okay with the process. I know it takes time, and I'm happy to grind it out. That being said, I am also acutely aware that I don't know what I'm doing, and that there are folks in here that have a bit more of a clue, or have been through the process themselves, so I'm hoping to gain some insight from you all.
I recorded another benchmark video today. After warming up, I just pressed record on the first 6 throws (2 putters, 2 mids, 2 fairways. 60fps, then 8x slow motion). I didn't cherry pick results, I want all the issues to be visible in here, and maybe the variance can help diagnose issues.
Through my eyes, here's what I think I'm doing better than before:
I'm aware that some issues stem from deeper root issues, so I'd like some help identifying and prioritizing the most important things that I should be working on. I can do minor tweaks on things later, but I really want to nail the fundamentals before I move on.
Long time lurker, first time poster. Let me introduce myself: My name is Janne, but Finnish names are a little tough for some folks, so I go by Markus (my middle name) in some casual settings. Disc golf is one of them.
I was introduced to Disc Golf for 3 years ago, but have been taking it pretty seriously for about 2 years now. Just got my first PDGA rating at 899. I consider approach shots to be the strongest part of my game, since I've never really had more than 330ft of consistent distance, and my putting is still pretty unreliable.
Up until a couple of weeks ago I was happy with my short drives. My drives were accurate and consistent. I had decent angle control, and could place the disc where I wanted it to go.
The antagonist in this story is my local course; There are a number of holes that I will simply never birdie (barring a throw-in) unless I increase my distance. Some examples: Hole 3 is a 404ft Par 3 over a flat field to a low ceiling basket, and Hole 7 is only 359ft, but requires you to either hyzer or anhyzer around a row of trees. I estimate that I need around 400ft of power to be able to reach the pin on that one.
The desire to birdie these holes has finally overgrown my desire to shoot consistent golf. I am ready for the growing pains in return for growth as a player. And that's what brings me here today.
So without further ado, let's talk form:
Before making any changes, I recorded a benchmark at my relatively accurate, but low distance state. July 10, 2023.
I did one release for Hyzer, Flat, and Anhyzer. Though I'm throwing a Shryke, a Beast, and an Anax, none of these went father than 320ft.
I spent days reading through a bunch of the old forums posts and concluded that I am still strong arming the disc despite trying to fix that in the past. Ah well.
I read a bunch more and concluded that the first changes that I NEED to make are:
- Change grip from 2-finger power grip to 4-finger power grip.
- Learn how to actively explode out of the power pocket
- Stop throwing higher than fairway drivers for practice.
I began practicing. I installed a net in my garage, and started recording myself doing the hammer drills, and all that to get the feel and visual for what actually spinning the disc and pivoting out of the power pocket was like. A few improvement points naturally came into scope and I sort of slid them into my work while working on the other stuff (that probably isn't helping).
Hundreds of throws for a few days, rest day, more throws, more rest. It's been 12 days now. From the few rounds I've played, I know for a fact that I can already throw about 25 to 30 feet farther than before. I'm having to approach baskets from places I've never been before. My issue now is consistency and accuracy. I feel like I'm all over the place! Sometimes I early release, sometimes I "grip lock" and send the disc 30 degrees from the intended line. Ah, it feels like being a noob all over again.
I'm okay with the process. I know it takes time, and I'm happy to grind it out. That being said, I am also acutely aware that I don't know what I'm doing, and that there are folks in here that have a bit more of a clue, or have been through the process themselves, so I'm hoping to gain some insight from you all.
I recorded another benchmark video today. After warming up, I just pressed record on the first 6 throws (2 putters, 2 mids, 2 fairways. 60fps, then 8x slow motion). I didn't cherry pick results, I want all the issues to be visible in here, and maybe the variance can help diagnose issues.
Through my eyes, here's what I think I'm doing better than before:
- Upper-arm/shoulder angle is getting to >90 degrees (right pec) before forearm extension begins.
- I am using a 4-finger power grip, and can feel the disc ripping out of each lock finger before the disc pivots around the index to release at the "4 o'clock" position.
- I am fully extending my right shoulder during the reach back.
- I am actively pushing back on the ground with my drive leg "skateboard trick" and I feel this turning my hips to bring the core around.
- I think my upper body timing is 1 phase too early. This causes me to get to peak reach back before my plant leg has even crossed the x-step. This causes me to want to pull through with the upper body too soon.
- For some reason my plant foot is opening up juuust before touching the ground. I believe this might be allowing my body to rotate too far too soon and can be a cause of late releases.
- I am rounding again on some throws. This can cause early release or late release and all kinds of other issues.
- The disc comes out of my hand with some crazy OAT. It smooths itself out within the first 50 feet of the flight, but I can see that pros have little to no wobbles at all. So this might be a grip issue, or just a lack of alignment through the power pocket.
I'm aware that some issues stem from deeper root issues, so I'd like some help identifying and prioritizing the most important things that I should be working on. I can do minor tweaks on things later, but I really want to nail the fundamentals before I move on.
