Recent Scott Stokely Video Finally Gave Me a Forehand

Brian Earhardt just did a good video talking about how there's no such thing as a universal release for forehand throws. How you throw a forehand varies quite a bit based on what disc you're throwing. After about 6 months of going forehand dominant, I completely agree with him, and it's something I've never seen anyone else talk about.

https://youtu.be/yyZkcQT4oL4

I'm going waaay slower developing my FH than BH due to an old injury so I'm still trying to learn all of this and had some thoughts.

That late "wrist activation"/"pop" to me looks like he's at risk of putting stress on the elbow late in the swing (at least the way he illustrates it). Maybe that matters less at shorter the distances where he's recommending it and can be done safely, but I thought I'd raise it for discussion.

I'm not sure it totally makes sense to me that he's distinguishing the overstable/understable fast/slow throws according to speed versus spin. You can still generate a lot of spin on a high-speed throw with wrist cock - more lever action at the end of the whip exactly the way he's showing for his "understable" lesson. Maybe he's just trying to split them out for emphasis, but I thought I'd mention it.

I do think it's interesting and opportune to talk about & develop techniques to regulate speed vs. spin independently. I think about developing the BH as "ripping the nose of the disc around" and letting those RPMs occur proportionally to the overall swing without too much focus on it independently from ejection speed. But for downtempo shots I already have developed a little more control over the late arm action just by "accident" of getting more body control overall, so I imagine that's helpful for upshots (I probably already do it unconsciously) & maybe later in "late stage" form development.
 
Thx to Bryantlikes for this link which I thought was relevant.

Yet a different style. Holyn throwing anny flicks with understable putters. Notice that at the longer range at the beginning she does load her shoulder back then later talks about not loading the shoulder while doing ~30' flicks to set up her putter practice.

I initially have tended to think that when I get serious about FH development I'd start like the BH development - learning the "fully loaded" mechanics and then "scaling" them in various ways for shorter distances.
 
I'm going waaay slower developing my FH than BH due to an old injury so I'm still trying to learn all of this and had some thoughts.

That late "wrist activation"/"pop" to me looks like he's at risk of putting stress on the elbow late in the swing (at least the way he illustrates it). Maybe that matters less at shorter the distances where he's recommending it and can be done safely, but I thought I'd raise it for discussion.

I'm not sure it totally makes sense to me that he's distinguishing the overstable/understable fast/slow throws according to speed versus spin. You can still generate a lot of spin on a high-speed throw with wrist cock - more lever action at the end of the whip exactly the way he's showing for his "understable" lesson. Maybe he's just trying to split them out for emphasis, but I thought I'd mention it.

I do think it's interesting and opportune to talk about & develop techniques to regulate speed vs. spin independently. I think about developing the BH as "ripping the nose of the disc around" and letting those RPMs occur proportionally to the overall swing without too much focus on it independently from ejection speed. But for downtempo shots I already have developed a little more control over the late arm action just by "accident" of getting more body control overall, so I imagine that's helpful for upshots (I probably already do it unconsciously) & maybe later in "late stage" form development.

The slow disc technique he's teaching is the "ultimate" throw ... to me anyways.

And we have a great example to work from on the pro tour here.

Brodie definitely knows ultimate.
And he had to learn to NOT throw like Brian is talking about in the video.

However, he still does that throw, but for very specific shots.

And from my experience, this style of shot is fine for "upshots." I call them "pop" shots, and its generally how I teach people to forehand when tehy are serious about learning it.
Essentially all upshots with a putter, with a pop wrist forehand, no arm, just a wrist pop.

This in turn translates into longer throws as you become more confident, and you'll naturally use your arm a bit more as you learn to pop your wrist at the right time.


But this comes back into which school you're in for forehands.
Because stokley, for instance, teaches forhands way differently than a lot of top players throw forehands.

I live in Nashville where we got Logan Bowers and Ryan Bretel, Who .. are good enough that Paul shouted them out on twitter. (#fingerpop) They are both known for insane forehand technique.
And Ryan is known for forehanding pigs over 400 feet. He's not doing this little wrist pop thing as demonstrated in the video.

If you listen to Ryan on how to forehand, his idea is very sound. Stop trying to "throw" the disc, and start trying to "fly" the disc.
This little tidbit on a forehand makes a HUGE difference in the perception of what you want to do, but its a different school of thought.


I think this is one of those particular conversations that if we really wanted to bury it hard.
It would be 2 or 3 people getting together demonstrating to each other some different forehand techniques and then coming to some conclusions.
And that conclusion would be "throw like this for this type of shot" and "throw like this for that type of shot"

While pro's do provide us with some valuable information, the thing they dont also understand is... Their way isn't the only way.
And they have absolutely NO idea how to teach outside of what they do themselves.
 
Thx to Bryantlikes for this link which I thought was relevant.

Yet a different style. Holyn throwing anny flicks with understable putters. Notice that at the longer range at the beginning she does load her shoulder back then later talks about not loading the shoulder while doing ~30' flicks to set up her putter practice.

I initially have tended to think that when I get serious about FH development I'd start like the BH development - learning the "fully loaded" mechanics and then "scaling" them in various ways for shorter distances.

I've been getting pretty good at that shot. I have about 80' of room to work with in my backyard, so I practice both anny and hyzer flicks quite a bit. I've used that anny understable putter flick a few times in the past week. Turned what looked like a very ugly line into a parked approach shot. It's a handy tool.
 
I don't like that motion with only the arm moving. Even when I practice 30' FH putts I still shift my weight just like BH putts.
 
The slow disc technique he's teaching is the "ultimate" throw ... to me anyways.

And we have a great example to work from on the pro tour here.

Brodie definitely knows ultimate.
And he had to learn to NOT throw like Brian is talking about in the video.

However, he still does that throw, but for very specific shots.

And from my experience, this style of shot is fine for "upshots." I call them "pop" shots, and its generally how I teach people to forehand when tehy are serious about learning it.
Essentially all upshots with a putter, with a pop wrist forehand, no arm, just a wrist pop.

Is that wrist pop upshot basically the same as the hammer pound drill?
 
Is that wrist pop upshot basically the same as the hammer pound drill?

I have no idea what that drill is.
There are so many drills out there its hard to keep up with all of them.

And now we have content creators making video's and not doing any research prior to making it, or ignoring the person who originated the video and idea and not giving them credit.
 
Reading the description, it sounds like he's describing the 90's players throws.

I think he was just trying to help people not have absolutely, insanely bad swings, which is a goal that I can definitely understand.

There are several major things that it takes, but I think building your concept of a swing around a reasonably understood, and actually felt 'hit' does help a lot.
 
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