DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible if you break anything, yourself or in your house, by trying this exercise. If you break yourself somehow, please see a doctor
Over the roughly 20 years I've been playing disc golf, I've had an issue with losing the feel for the shot then subsequently trying to overcome it with jacked up mechanics (lower body leads the upper body, arm lags, you know the drill). After such a round yesterday, and much lingering frustration, I stewed on what was happening in the throw. Something prompted me to pick up a coaster from our dining room table and toss it across the room. Don't worry, I didn't break anything, these are thin, pleather coasters similar in size and shape to the card stock coasters you might see at bar.
Interestingly, I was able to hone in on the specific motions and rhythm very quickly since I could dial back the effort level to near zero. Well, what does that mean? I started by simply flinging the coaster across the room and could really focus on the small movements of the wrist and where the coaster pivots in my grip - most importantly it was very evident where the rhythm is in the throw and what the "whip" feels like. It takes a good amount of feel to leverage a coaster, and if you miss, the feedback is far more extreme than with a heavier disc. We talk a lot about throwing heavy things - hammers, axes, balls, etc. This is great for cuing the body to move as a unit, but what about the finer aspects of rhythm and the smaller movements that make up the throw?
Here's how this progression works:
Find a coaster, coffee can/nut can lid, or even a mini. Minis might be a bit dangerous to fling around the house, and flatter is better for this - bar coasters are PERFECT.
Start by grabbing your coaster with the pinch point you'd typically use on a disc to establish a pivot point. For me this is the tip of the index finger and the first knuckle of the thumb. Then find a comfortable place to rest your fingers. If your coaster is big enough (and, like me, your fingers short enough) you can roughly hold it like a disc.
Once you've found a comfortable grip, using mostly wrist, try flinging/slinging the coaster across the room. Obviously, you don't need to put a lot of effort into the throw to get coaster coming out hot, BUT you should notice that you might need to put some unexpected focus into throwing something this light. The first time I tried this, I had a couple of false starts where I needed to override my muscle memory to fling it properly. I had a little bit of a brain-breaking experience doing this, and I swear I could feel the new neural pathways opening up (the "ah-ha" moment). Feel free to miss the hit a few times and watch the coaster wildly spray around OR not fly at all if you round. Missing really helps understand what's happening when you leverage the coaster and get the pivot in the right spot - more on this is a bit!
Once you get comfortable throwing the coaster, start adding in some athleticism. Work in a little "figure 8" hip/shoulder motion, for example, or a windmill. You'll notice that you'll have to focus on that rhythm and finesse of the movement to control the coaster.
Try some hyzers, anhyzers, flat shots, spikes, etc.
Really focus on the hit point and "popping" the coaster - this is the tip of the whip!
What I found was helpful was working through the right pec drill progression:
Time for a PIVOT!
There's a fun variation in this exercise to see what's happening with disc pivot. Since we're not throwing very hard, we can easily stop at points in the throw as sort of a "real life snapshot." Try a standstill fling, let the coaster pivot, but pinch and don't let it fly.
Is your arm stopped at roughly the 10:00 position?
Is the disc pivoted in front of your hand?
Does your arm and the coaster similar to this?
If you're struggling to find the rhythm and the hit point, give this a shot and let me know what you think
Over the roughly 20 years I've been playing disc golf, I've had an issue with losing the feel for the shot then subsequently trying to overcome it with jacked up mechanics (lower body leads the upper body, arm lags, you know the drill). After such a round yesterday, and much lingering frustration, I stewed on what was happening in the throw. Something prompted me to pick up a coaster from our dining room table and toss it across the room. Don't worry, I didn't break anything, these are thin, pleather coasters similar in size and shape to the card stock coasters you might see at bar.
Interestingly, I was able to hone in on the specific motions and rhythm very quickly since I could dial back the effort level to near zero. Well, what does that mean? I started by simply flinging the coaster across the room and could really focus on the small movements of the wrist and where the coaster pivots in my grip - most importantly it was very evident where the rhythm is in the throw and what the "whip" feels like. It takes a good amount of feel to leverage a coaster, and if you miss, the feedback is far more extreme than with a heavier disc. We talk a lot about throwing heavy things - hammers, axes, balls, etc. This is great for cuing the body to move as a unit, but what about the finer aspects of rhythm and the smaller movements that make up the throw?
Here's how this progression works:
Find a coaster, coffee can/nut can lid, or even a mini. Minis might be a bit dangerous to fling around the house, and flatter is better for this - bar coasters are PERFECT.
Start by grabbing your coaster with the pinch point you'd typically use on a disc to establish a pivot point. For me this is the tip of the index finger and the first knuckle of the thumb. Then find a comfortable place to rest your fingers. If your coaster is big enough (and, like me, your fingers short enough) you can roughly hold it like a disc.
Once you've found a comfortable grip, using mostly wrist, try flinging/slinging the coaster across the room. Obviously, you don't need to put a lot of effort into the throw to get coaster coming out hot, BUT you should notice that you might need to put some unexpected focus into throwing something this light. The first time I tried this, I had a couple of false starts where I needed to override my muscle memory to fling it properly. I had a little bit of a brain-breaking experience doing this, and I swear I could feel the new neural pathways opening up (the "ah-ha" moment). Feel free to miss the hit a few times and watch the coaster wildly spray around OR not fly at all if you round. Missing really helps understand what's happening when you leverage the coaster and get the pivot in the right spot - more on this is a bit!
Once you get comfortable throwing the coaster, start adding in some athleticism. Work in a little "figure 8" hip/shoulder motion, for example, or a windmill. You'll notice that you'll have to focus on that rhythm and finesse of the movement to control the coaster.
Try some hyzers, anhyzers, flat shots, spikes, etc.
Really focus on the hit point and "popping" the coaster - this is the tip of the whip!
What I found was helpful was working through the right pec drill progression:
Time for a PIVOT!
There's a fun variation in this exercise to see what's happening with disc pivot. Since we're not throwing very hard, we can easily stop at points in the throw as sort of a "real life snapshot." Try a standstill fling, let the coaster pivot, but pinch and don't let it fly.
Is your arm stopped at roughly the 10:00 position?
Is the disc pivoted in front of your hand?
Does your arm and the coaster similar to this?

If you're struggling to find the rhythm and the hit point, give this a shot and let me know what you think
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