Throwing Techniques

[petecarp]

This is a continuation of the throwing technique discussion from the thread titled "my buddies new bag" in an effort not the derail the threads original topic.

 

[Three Putt]

The first thing I'd suggest is that if you really want to dive into technique, check out https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/ We could spend years on this thread and not build up the information Blake Takkunen has on his site. Thats really the specialty of Disc Golf Review, and I'd recommend everyone read the articles listed under "Resources." If you are not afraid of people who will tell it to you straight if you are doing something stupid, join the forum on that site. There are a lot of guys who will give you constructive criticism to help you improve.

OK after that initial plug...where do we want to start?

 

[garublador]

The first thing I'd suggest is that if you really want to dive into technique, check out https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/ We could spend years on this thread and not build up the information Blake Takkunen has on his site. Thats really the specialty of Disc Golf Review, and I'd recommend everyone read the articles listed under "Resources." If you are not afraid of people who will tell it to you straight if you are doing something stupid, join the forum on that site. There are a lot of guys who will give you constructive criticism to help you improve.

OK after that initial plug...where do we want to start?

Pretty much everything I'll say is lifted directly out of that site.

petecarp, were there other questions you had?

 

[petecarp]

well in the other thread there was talk about high speed drivers causing bad habits in new hurlers and i realized my first driver was an Star SL and then a Star Wraith (very high speed). i wanted to make sure, even though i play close to 100 holes a week and get pretty good distance (350'-400' forehand & backhand), that i am minimizing my distance and longevity as a player due to "bad habits" (ive been playing close to everyday since last september but have always dabbled in the sport). i was brought up throwing 175g ultrastars so my foundation for throwing a disc comes from playing ultimate for close to 8 years and some of my technique stems from throwing ultrastars, even though i have tweaked it (in hopefully the right ways) to conform to the differences in ultrastars and disc golf discs. so i guess my question is, what are these bad habits and what are some signs that i may be practicing these bad habits.

 

[garublador]

Well, here's my last response:

First, that's a very impressive forehand. I'm jealous.

How far can you throw fairway drivers, mids and putters?

There are two ways to get a disc go flatten from a hyzer or turn over: a combination of speed and nose down or off-axis torque. High speed drivers require more speed and more nose down to turn. Unless you are lucky enough to happen to naturally use really good technique (in which case you'll be throwing fairway drivers >400'), you'll proabaly end up compensating for a lack of nose down with your high speed drivers by adding off-axis torque via wrist roll over or by not utalizing plane preservation with your follow through (following through on a different plane than the one on which you threw). This will cause these drivers to fly alright at lower speeds, but cause lower speed discs to flip uncontrollably. You'll get to a point where you won't be able to improve at all without starting from scratch and you'll be limited as to what types of shots you can perform.

On a side note, being able to control wrist roll and plane preservation is how you are able to shape different lines. Learning to do this intentionally with fairway drivers will open up a whole new world of controlling disc flights.

This is why I'd recommend both a slower, fairway driver and a faster driver. As long as they (and your mids and putters) are flying right, you'll learn line shaping and develop a clean throw from your putters, mids and fairway drivers and you'll learn to throw nose down from your faster drivers.

350'-400' with an SL is good. If you're able to throw stable putters at least 250' and stable mids 300' without them flipping uncnotrollably then you're probably fine. We can talk more either via PM or a new thread (so everyone can follow along) if you don't want to derail this thread too much.

I'm really only qualified to talk about backhand throwing. I'd be coming to you for advice on forehand.

Whether or not you've adopted some of these bad habits depends on how other discs fly for you and how far and on what lines you're getting those distances (350'-400' is a farily large spread) with the SL.

 

[disc-o maniac]

im 15 and ive only been playing for a month but since im a varsity pitcher, forehand comes very easy to me and i can easily reach 275-300 feet with my dga rogue and when i had my star wraith i get get it up to 325ft. im not much of a backhand thrower but i putt and use my mid-range backhand my max distance backhand is like 100ft. tops

 

[Rbuzz9]

disc - O sounds like you have a good forehand - for the backhand - i'd suggest watching a driving video from the discraft site or something else on youtube to get an idea of what the pro's look like throwing a disc backhand to give you an idea of what it takes to throw a disc for distance. Its way different than i ever imagined with i started out disc golf - every backhand i threw was like throwing a regular frisbee - all arms / no xstep / no snap (same with all of my beginner friends) I'd then suggest getting an understable disc like a Stratus and giving the X step approach a shot - once you start throwing a hyzer that goes straight you should be able to get at least 225' out of that - the stratus is now like a standing still disc for me now and i seem to turn it over unless i throw with xtreme hyzer. your forehand may still be the shot of choice for driving for a while - but at least some extra distance on the backhand gives you more options -i was FH predominant due to baseball background- but since i've been trying the Xstep and seeing pros do it - its helped me see what needs to be done to generate BH power. and my bh is now in the 300 range

 

[wilkes]

I've only been playing since June, but almost everyday I stumbled on these videos last week. It has helped me more than anything else thus far. I'm only throwing around 280', but my accuracy and consistency went up dramatically after these videos and a little practice.

Climo's grip tip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAV8kKURKaw

Climo's backhand tip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv76JEe1qUo

 

[disc-o maniac]

I've only been playing since June, but almost everyday I stumbled on these videos last week. It has helped me more than anything else thus far. I'm only throwing around 280', but my accuracy and consistency went up dramatically after these videos and a little practice.

Climo's grip tip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAV8kKURKaw

Climo's backhand tip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv76JEe1qUo

thanks very much i will definatly look into those videos

 

[disc-o maniac]

disc - O sounds like you have a good forehand - for the backhand - i'd suggest watching a driving video from the discraft site or something else on youtube to get an idea of what the pro's look like throwing a disc backhand to give you an idea of what it takes to throw a disc for distance. Its way different than i ever imagined with i started out disc golf - every backhand i threw was like throwing a regular frisbee - all arms / no xstep / no snap (same with all of my beginner friends) I'd then suggest getting an understable disc like a Stratus and giving the X step approach a shot - once you start throwing a hyzer that goes straight you should be able to get at least 225' out of that - the stratus is now like a standing still disc for me now and i seem to turn it over unless i throw with xtreme hyzer. your forehand may still be the shot of choice for driving for a while - but at least some extra distance on the backhand gives you more options -i was FH predominant due to baseball background- but since i've been trying the Xstep and seeing pros do it - its helped me see what needs to be done to generate BH power. and my bh is now in the 300 range

thank you for the advice. your totally right farther backhand will give me more options. who knows maybe if i practice i might throw BH farther than FH.