RHBH 300 Ft Max

[DWhitt]

Hi all! I stopped playing disc golf in 2017 but want to get back into tournaments soon. I would like to increase my drives to at least 400 ft to have more birdie opportunities. I have an athletics background in soccer, basketball, and bodybuilding.
I've been trying for a couple of weeks to fix the form I engrained 5 years ago, but I need help prioritizing. Youtube and these forums have been very helpful supplying me with drills and insight, but I'm afraid I need outside eyes to help me uncover what's holding me back the most.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zZIJDVIuG08
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Hq24U8YQtQ8
Thank you!

 

[Brychanus]

Welcome!

Always remember

Go horizontal & avoid YT shorts for ease of critiquing.

Notice how everything is spinning around your front leg/following through together without much lag. In general, you need to break the flat swing plane/body piroutte and work on posture.

1. Posture is too horse-stanced overall. Your front shoulder collapses/rounds when you swing through.
2. Walking up backwards rather than x-stepping "sideways" with booty toward target.
3. (related to 1 & 2) Leaning away from the target in x-step to keep balance rather than leveraging forward in aggressive posture.
4. (related to 1, 2 & 3) throwing arm is backswinging and swinging through too flat without allowing the right leverage & brace off the front leg (can't do it right without good rear side transition)
5. (Doesn't help the rest) rear arm is dragging behind you like an anchor rather than elbow coming in toward the hip to help get your weight planted and swimming & swinging your throwing arm.

Compare you to Drew. He gets his body swinging on a tilted axis and body balanced between his feet:

Depending on how much time you want to put in I think I'd start with these, maybe in this order.

 

[DWhitt]

I watched all these videos a couple times through and went through the drills a good bit. I did some field work as well, and ended up giving myself an uncomfortable blood blister. I'll be refraining from right hand power shots for a couple of days to let that heal up.
It feels and looks like I'm closing my right foot, even closing it too much, but it doesn't seem like it when I watch the footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOVjxD2cTbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHEndwlQDoQ

I am having a lot of trouble with the swing plane and the disc coming out/in/out. Do I just need to keep going through it slowly over and over until it's worked into my full speed throw?

 

[Brychanus]

I watched all these videos a couple times through and went through the drills a good bit. I did some field work as well, and ended up giving myself an uncomfortable blood blister. I'll be refraining from right hand power shots for a couple of days to let that heal up.
It feels and looks like I'm closing my right foot, even closing it too much, but it doesn't seem like it when I watch the footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOVjxD2cTbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHEndwlQDoQ

I am having a lot of trouble with the swing plane and the disc coming out/in/out. Do I just need to keep going through it slowly over and over until it's worked into my full speed throw?

I tend to think of the out-in-out pattern as an effect of your sequence and posture rather than something to focus on too much (there are exceptions to this but I think yours is not). It also appear to end up being a little different for everyone based on their form and body. I'd focus on the way you move into the release or "hit" overall instead.

Your swing there looks fundamentally the same to me. No crush in the plant, same flat swing mechanically speaking. I would try working on crush the can and throwing on the front leg like reciprocating dingle arm/one leg drill. If the body knows how the last part of the swing should work it makes everything else easier. Some people get it quicker than others.

I usually get blisters now if I throw too often, or if I'm getting some of the leverage on the disc wrong. Form problems can also put stress in weird places in general. BUT you might want to check your grip.

 

[bryantlikes]

I watched all these videos a couple times through and went through the drills a good bit. I did some field work as well, and ended up giving myself an uncomfortable blood blister.

I'd suggest posting the videos of you doing the drills. You will be able to fix issues much quicker by focusing on getting the drills right and the changes will be easier to make.

 

[DWhitt]

Your swing there looks fundamentally the same to me. No crush in the plant, same flat swing mechanically speaking. I would try working on crush the can and throwing on the front leg like reciprocating dingle arm/one leg drill.

I am having some trouble conceptualizing crushing the can under my heel without x stepping backwards.

 

[Brychanus]

I am having some trouble conceptualizing crushing the can under my heel without x stepping backwards.

Agree w/ bryant that you should post drills rather than try to solve them in your head. I am a resident overthinker and can attest to this ;-)

But this is a common issue and I will try to answer.

Here he puts his feet in neutral position and shows how to backswing into the braced rear foot, which turns the front foot away, allowing you to "shift from behind" into the crush without stepping or running up backwards. This is fundamentally how it should work whether your feet are in standstill or x-stepping.

Swivel stairs is showing the same concept with both feet in motion.


Shawn Clement is showing the same "shift from behind" in the golf context. Notice that his feet appear to be "externally rotation dominant" (duck footed) so your neutral might be different than his.

Most developing players appear to rotate everything forward and back together, which in X-step usually means the only way you can crush the can under the heel is by running up literally backwards. These drills can help you learn the preferred way.

 

[DWhitt]

Sorry these are all youtube shorts; it refused to allow any other upload type. I suppose because I filmed vertically, but it seemed to frame the drill motions better.

One leg - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4DlvMfMseaQ
Crush the can - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qR2gHrU-IK0
Wipe drill - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YmK8lrEpyS8

Crush the can felt the most awkward. I don't think I've got a good feel for that one yet.

 

[sidewinder22]

OLD -

1. Note how much further my shoulder swings back with arm pulled back taut away from target. Your arm appears to have a bunch of slack left in it or tense.

2. Note how my legs/body is square/neutral at release with the arm pulled taut to target. Note how your legs are squished/collapsed and your arm again appears to have slack left in it.

CtC -

1. Note how much more vertical motion I have to get my front heel up over can without having to bend the front leg to get the heel over it. Your vertical motion is very flat throughout or even backwards and you have to bend your front leg to get it over the can.

2. You over-turn back.

3. Your elbow drops because your body didn't.

Buttwipe -

1. Your stance is inline instead of staggered closed front heel to rear toes.

2. Your rear foot spins out. The rear heel should not move further away from target.

 

[DWhitt]

Comparing my video to the original, I've been wiping all the way from left hip to right hip instead of cheek to cheek. I think this may be causing that rear foot to spin out like you mentioned and my chest to open up early.
The crush the can drill is causing me significant pain on the top right of my foot. I think I must be forcefully rotating my hips while all the weight is on it.
I'll work on getting these drills more polished over the next couple of days with your corrections.

 

[Brychanus]

The crush the can drill is causing me significant pain on the top right of my foot. I think I must be forcefully rotating my hips while all the weight is on it.

This will hopefully improve on its own as you apply some of the changes SW mentioned.

Keep in mind that the "shift from behind" is more of a drop of all your mass onto the can.

I think the trouble for many people early on is they're not used to this action. It's one of the main reasons that people evolve the flat & straight swing pattern - they haven't gotten their body to fall/drop and leverage the ground. It's hard enough without the feet moving to break old habits so I nudged you toward the OLD/standstill direction

Like an MLB pitcher, the rotational part of the throw off the front leg is caused by your posture when you land and your leg reacting to the ground to prevent you collapsing into the ground. Your leg will (and is "designed" to) handle up to several times your body weight - think of a pitcher landing/planting hard into their plant.

I think this is "Nasty Nestor" of the Yankees. Here, he's exaggerating his upper body rotation/front leg pulling away from the target into the windup (for us, "backswing"). When he shifts to plant, his butt is facing the target as long as possible - only moving targetward due to the way his rear leg pushes into his pelvis - until he lands abruptly on that front leg which quickly clears the pelvis out. He's never "trying" to rotate the hips. You want to learn to do the same thing, except your upper body remains more closed to the target due to swinging in the BH direction.

 

[DWhitt]

I keep watching all these videos and slow mo throws over and over again. It seems like my biggest issue might be rotating/opening the hips as soon as my right toe hits instead of waiting until after the weight shifts onto my heel. Does this line of thinking check-out?

 

[DWhitt]

Keep in mind that the "shift from behind" is more of a drop of all your mass onto the can.

I think the trouble for many people early on is they're not used to this action. It's one of the main reasons that people evolve the flat & straight swing pattern - they haven't gotten their body to fall/drop and leverage the ground. It's hard enough without the feet moving to break old habits so I nudged you toward the OLD/standstill direction

Absolutely. I am mostly ambidextrous with feet and somewhat with hands, so I have a lot of experience planting on either foot in soccer. However, it's definitely not translating 1 to 1 for me. The weight shift doesn't seem similar at all.

 

[sidewinder22]

Absolutely. I am mostly ambidextrous with feet and somewhat with hands, so I have a lot of experience planting on either foot in soccer. However, it's definitely not translating 1 to 1 for me. The weight shift doesn't seem similar at all.

I used to kick both ways in soccer.

 

[DWhitt]

I tried putting all the drills together with some slightly slower practice swings. It definitely feels less violent than how I used to swing. Am I making headway here? Which area/drill needs the most focus?
https://youtu.be/wUOzjC0pi1E

 

[sidewinder22]

Posture 101.

Looks like you setup in Funky Chicken Posture/anterior pelvic tilt/spine extended/butt out/shoulders and elbows back/quad dominant position bending knees too much.

Setup in more Cobra Posture bending at the hips first, not the knees, the knees will bend just a little. Should feel the quads relaxed and more stretch in the hammy/glute. Relax the spine into slight flexion so your shoulders hang more forward over knees/toes/disc.

Video some actual kicking the ball/can and door frame drills.

 

[DWhitt]

Ok, I'll keep in mind to take the anterior tilt out of my throw. It's a habit from weightlifting.
As requested, I videoed the door frame drill and kick the can front and back leg.
https://youtu.be/I3mXPsy4tJQ
https://youtu.be/DeDEWkuDpW4
https://youtu.be/wYlk3NEe_ss

 

[Mocheez]

Ok, I'll keep in mind to take the anterior tilt out of my throw. It's a habit from weightlifting.
As requested, I videoed the door frame drill and kick the can front and back leg.

I don't think it's good when weightlifting either, especially squats.

 

[sidewinder22]

1. Rear foot needs to move diagonal closer to target/north and door frame/west. Note how your pelvis is more over your rear toes while mine sits back deeper behind the heel.

2. Relax the rear arm, let it hang. Relax the whole upper body so that you hang your pelvis/weight from the door frame the spine gets pulled back into flexion.

1. Swing the leg back, instead of starting with it back/static.

2. Lead the kicks more with your butt/center of mass/gravity.

 

[DWhitt]

I got out for a bit of field work for the first time in a while; it's been very rainy here recently.
I was able to hit a little over 340 feet several times, and all my distance drivers were moving at least 315!
https://youtu.be/QjgZMZJtrsE
One thing I noticed is that looks like I've got my right foot in more of a closed position, but I'm still running up backwards with my left.