Need forehand help!

[Riser45]

Hello everyone, I've recently gotten more serious about disc golf and have been trying to develop a functional sidearm. I was a fairly decent baseball player in my earlier years and in my sidearm throw; I try to envision myself on the mound; exploding with my back leg, landing on left heel, getting chest to target and following through low. Its not working out so well. After recording my throws and seeing the truth behind the theory; I've encounter some major problems. Standing sideways at address is leading my arm across my body, constraining any momentum or power built and not allowing me a proper finish (also feels like an easy way to get injured). The concept of holding a disc and throwing a baseball just feels incredibly awkward and unnatural - As demonstrated in these videos:

- not a bad result but only went about 200, feels strange

- trying to come more direct/ forward at target and generate more power by reaching back but terrible results

- Backhand form for reference.

Best regards to anyone who see's this post, any information is appreciated.

 

[gwsmallwood]

Your videos are all private, so we can't see them. I highly recommend Overthrow Disc golf's playlist on Forming the Forehand. Excellent resource. I played baseball for 10 years in my younger days, and I'm currently forehand dominant after about 2.5 years of playing. I've found that the forehand is very similar to a long-toss drill in baseball, just done sidearm instead. Keeping everything a bit loose is key. If you're finishing with your hand across your body then you likely aren't squaring up to the target before release. I start side-on, then hips lead shoulders, shoulders lead elbow, elbow leads wrist. It needs to happen in progression, not just turning from sideways to front in one big motion. Don't force the elbow forward or pin it to your side like many recommend. That's a recipe for low power and hurting yourself. If you want to save the shoulder, learn to throw mostly flat and hyzer.

 

[Riser45]

Thanks, I changed the videos to public so they should be viewable now. Your spot on about not squaring up to the target before release. My left shoulder is staying closed and that's preventing forward extension. Additionally, everyone online says to hold the disc tight as possible but I think that's creating tension in my arm and preventing a loose, natural throw. Appreciate the tips, ill try to implement these components and hopefully get some better footage.

 

[Brychanus]

Kind of an overall kinetics comment:

You're crimping your posture/arm in far too much. You do look worried about hurting yourself/committing the action, possibly because you haven't felt how to leverage the object. Let it swing out wide through the release point. If you're not used to the motion you can use a stick or club to get used to the action. You should focus on getting loose and long in the move like GM said above. Seabas22/sidewinder22 was also a sidearm pitcher. In my own case, with zero baseball background to build from, this was the best single technique/advice to get me off the ground, FWIW. The little bit of ball throwing I did while young didn't transfer well because the leverage on the disc is so different and more like leveraging the golf club as he shows at the timestamp here.



Swinging heavier clubs in rhythmic motions has also helped me. I have a former labrum tear and will never be a power FH player but I can give one a decent heave now without killing my joints. I developed a decent overhand throwing style "accidentally" after doing this for a couple months and it was alarming how much it freed up my scramble + upshot game lol



I started throwing more on hyzer & with understable discs which made the connection to the club moves right away, whereas before I was just kind of fishing around aimlessly among throwing tips and putting mileage on my joints with awful throws.

I found some of Robbie C's tips here helpful, also talking about using the hyzer plane throwing drills.


LMK if any of this helps!

 

[Kennets]

(sorry for the Picasso lines, I'm on my phone lol).

Quick one: the first video - I'm not sure about biomechanics in general, but that stiff, no reach back, elbow glued to the side - that's a recipe for injuries and I actually hurt my elbow just looking at that.. please don't do that lol.

Only one of your throws had a somewhere decent line compared to how your body is aligned. The blue arrow is where most of them went and the red is how I would position myself to hit a line.

It looks like your grip is some sort of pinch grip? (A modified pinch power grip, like a fast ball throw?).

Grip:

I used to throw with a power grip when I went for max distance and it produced more flat to slight anhyzer out of the hand. I would switch to a classic stacked grip for now - I find it easier to get a hyzer release.

Throwing arm: sidewinder might disagree and this is just a guess. There's definitely some issues with your chain, weight shift, brace etc, but I firmly believe that if you fix your swing "thought" (and your grip) you'll improve quickly. How would you throw a fast ball directly at the "batter"/target? How would you skip a rock on a lake? 45 degrees to your left or on a line pretty much straight (as the red line on the picture)? I know it isn't the same, but it's the same principle. I've had a mental cue of getting the throwing arm to go at the targeted line as long as possible.

Weight shift/brace/timing/chain: it looks like you got the basic down and it looks pretty good! I would work from a standstill, just flick/fling putters, mid and neutral/under stable fairway drivers. Rock back and forth with the arm loose and get a feeling for it all.

Looks like your arm speed is pretty good, so just "flicking" zones/harps etc to around 200 from a standstill should be possible.

 

[Riser45]

These are the updated results after implementing the community feedback provided. Keeping the arm loose, changing grips, and just thinking about hitting the target was massive! Not putting a lot of effort behind these but they were going were I wanted them and didn't have a lot of wobble; couple may have gone 250ish! Not painful either. Thanks everyone for all the helpful advise. Only point of contention is in my follow through still being across my body and kind of still pinning elbow but ill try and work on that. Thanks again

 

[Kennets]

I would love a side view when/if you get the chance! It seems like there's some issues with putting "power" into the disc. It might be because of your short reach back, arm slot or something getting broken in the chain.

That pre shot routine, where you let the disc wander a little in the hand and letting the wrist bend and flex is GOOD.. it really helps ME get the feeling of how the disc feels in the hand along with the timing. If you wanna take it to the "next level" let all of your arm dingle by your side and do the exact same, but just with some more arm involved. That helps me a lot.

I've attached 2 pictures. One of you at peak reach back and one of me (a non flexible 34 year old at the time) at peak reach back. We are both a split second away from throwing.

I know yours weren't necessarily a full power throw and we are all different in how we throw, I just don't like that short reach back. Even on upshots I feel it if my sequence is slightly off and reach back is too short/wrongly aligned.