Throw Help

[amyandpeteb]

Background: I started playing about a year ago. I've played about 10 rounds but have practiced on the soccer field a lot. I throw about once a week.

Discs: I use mostly Champion Plastic discs from Inova. I picked them because of the durability. I've since learned that they might not be the right choice due to my newness to the hobby. The discs that I have are Champion: Leopard, Vulcan, Katana, Mamba and Roc3. I also have the Star Skeeter.

Problem: I can throw the mid-range discs okay. They go about 240' on a non-windy day. They stay flat and mostly go straight (as they are expected to) with the right to left motion on my RHBH throw. However, when I throw my Speed 13 / 10 discs. they just dive off to the left. If I throw with the wind or against the wind, they just dive to the left unless I throw with a real anhyzer.

Request: Can you look at my throw and see what I am doing wrong? I'm 6'5" so I should be able to throw well, but I just can't seem to get over 280' (on a good throw).

Link: http://youtu.be/Xz8zCJh8OWo

I have other videos I can upload if that would help.

 

[koogs]

Others will soon chime in who will be more helpful, but the most obvious thing is you're leaning way back on your release. You need to shift your weight to your front leg and lean forward. This should give you a flatter release and more distance before the disc fades out.

 

[DBarb]

Also, start with slower discs. The fast discs are diving to the left because you aren't getting them up to speed before the release. That's why your mids go just as far as your drivers right now, so stick with mids and fairways until you develop your form more.
Pull in a straight line across the chest, not around your body.

 

[Halcón]

One of my favorite videos that Sidewinder always posts:

 

[amyandpeteb]

Thank you guys a lot. You know you think you are doing it all right until you video yourself.

I have the toughest time shifting my weight forward and pulling across my chest. I just can't figure out how to do it.

 

[sidewinder22]

Holy hugging yourself in a horse stance! You need to turn your whole body almost 180 degrees backward at the plant, instead of reaching back across your chest and hugging yourself. Get into an athletic throwing stance, more like you would be playing tug of war or starting the lawn mower at your max reach/plant stance.

Watch the vids in this:
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95332

Just get your butt to lead into the wall from this drill(not your knee) and push from plantar flexion:

 

[amyandpeteb]

Adjusted throw after above advice

Thank you all sooooo much for the feedback!!!

So, I think I made some adjustments to my thrown and it improved a bit. I'm still getting there.

The adjustments that I made:
-I gripped the disc so that the front of it was more toward my index finger rather than my thumb. This resulted in the disc being pointed down further.
-I reached straight back rather than "hugging myself" (at least I tried-let me know how I did).
-I shifted my weight forward when I threw it a bit more than before (again, at least I tried to)
-I lined up by looking at the disc first and concentrated on bending my wrist down like I wanted it when I threw. I think that it helped.

I think all of this helped, but let me know what you think!

http://youtu.be/Yg-WkEIz30Q

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Several others will probably post (with quite good intentions) about several things they think you should do. It's hard to take in a bunch of info about what to change all at the same time.

So rather than critique your technique, I'll tell you to just focus on a the few things posted above, get what you can out of those. If you try to change too many things all at the same time, it's hard to isolate which of the things you've done has/hasn't helped, quite possibly because you tried so many things that there's a good chance you won't be getting much of it right.

Take your time and once you feel you've got whatever it is your working on down pretty well, then work on the next item. Added benefit is you'll really be able to see what each thing your working on does (or doesn't) do for you and develop a better under standing of how each variable affects your throw.

 

[natedg1976]

Also, start with slower discs. The fast discs are diving to the left because you aren't getting them up to speed before the release. That's why your mids go just as far as your drivers right now, so stick with mids and fairways until you develop your form more.
Pull in a straight line across the chest, not around your body.

This. I did the same thing. Started with a destroyer and nuke ss as my first drivers. now my bag is comprised of a tbird a tl, 3 valkyries of different wear and a beat champ beast. the valks are 2 champ and a pro. I concentrated on just the tbird and tl then slowly worked up to the valks, then the beast. I like these discs so much i honestly may never go above speed 10. These are my drivers of course, i do have mids and putters as well lol.

 

[Dan Ensor]

Several others will probably post (with quite good intentions) about several things they think you should do. It's hard to take in a bunch of info about what to change all at the same time.

So rather than critique your technique, I'll tell you to just focus on a the few things posted above, get what you can out of those. If you try to change too many things all at the same time, it's hard to isolate which of the things you've done has/hasn't helped, quite possibly because you tried so many things that there's a good chance you won't be getting much of it right.

Take your time and once you feel you've got whatever it is your working on down pretty well, then work on the next item. Added benefit is you'll really be able to see what each thing your working on does (or doesn't) do for you and develop a better under standing of how each variable affects your throw.

This. Try to get 1 thing down. That's a huge achievement. I've been trying to fix the same thing for the past 2 years. There were other improvements that I made in a month, but I made them all one at a time. With the possible exception of grip; you may be able to tweak your grip while you're working on something else.

I think a lot of people just tell everyone to use slower discs without telling them why. There are several reasons, but the most important to me is that slower discs (putters especially) are easier to "hit" because they're easier to grip.

 

[sidewinder22]

Looks a little better, still need to turn your feet/hips further back and look away from the target. Your aiming will need to change as well, you line up with your chest facing the target, it should be closer to 90 degrees away. Also don't let your rear heel touch the ground so your balance stays more over the disc.

Swing the arm under the shoulder:
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88599

 

[amyandpeteb]

Thanks again!

 

[teemkey]

You might start learning the weight shift and pull by emulating a shoestring <g> He's tall & thin ... just sayin'

Will Schusterick