Visualize: Tee-Ball -> Backhand

[HyzerUniBomber]

I got a PM about understanding "resisting forward momentum" and have been meaning to open up a conversation about learning and teaching this concept, as it seems to be a regular issue (if not the most regular issue).

If you have to actively try to resist, then you're probably not setup correctly. If I hand you a baseball bat, and tell you to swing it - (assuming you have played baseball a little) you should be swinging at the ball - from the front foot:

The idea that a baseball player would fall past the brace is so weird to us, because our brains just accept a standard baseball or golf or hockey swing as automatically working that way.

If I then asked you, "are you resisting the forward momentum?" you'd probably shrug and say something like, "dunno, think I was just swinging the bat!"

The mental trick that gets lost between swinging something heavy and something light is important, and I try to bang that mental imagery home when I'm setting up for a shot.

Down shift is just a short hand for going tall in the back swing to compressed in the extension. It helps to align your body to throw hyzer while learning all this - it tends to feel much more natural.

So I have been working with a habitual "frame breaker" - who struggles greatly with the lefty swing. I suffered the same fortune, so I know all too well how frustrating it is to resolve. One thing that seemed to click almost instantaneously for this player, was using the mental trick of me standing just off the front left corner of the tee pad and holding a disc, as if it was sitting on a tee-ball stand. Instead of saying, "throw the disc" in his hand, I said "hit the disc I'm holding off this invisible tee-ball stand". (He just swung through above the disc by about 6")

Hind-sight, being what it is, I should not stand there. Luckily I didn't take a disc to the head - but the mental trickery worked and he setup on the front-side to leverage the disc through the pocket. I lowered the tee-ball-disc to about 2' off the ground and put it on a hyzer angle and had him come through on a hyzer - and it worked. Raised the tee-ball-disc higher and put it on an anhyzer angle and it worked (although the natural rotation on the swing plane brings the backside through).

It worked so well, that he was able to get more distance from a 1-step swing as he was getting from old-form's full power drive - and with much less exertion.

Just thought I'd share this mental trick - as it seems to resonate well with people who have a background that aligns with this idea. Plus, it's easy to show how a "happy gilmore" x-step still ends with you taking your cut at the tee-ball stand, and all of the finishing positions are the same.

 

[BHock87]

I Always wondered if taking lefty batting swings would help teach this. I'll be giving this a shot.

 

[sidewinder22]

I Always wondered if taking lefty batting swings would help teach this. I'll be giving this a shot.

Swing one-handed through the ball, or toss the bat or golf club or hammer to center field. You will see me doing these things in many of my drills. Note that to release the bat to the ball one-handed you will need to close up your stance to hit the ball with the full release of the arm/bat unit. Two-handed swings are closer to FH because the rear arm has to be allowed to swing thru, and if you try to swing one-handed BH like a two-handed swing you will be hugging yourself big time and your full release will be way out the right field dugout foul.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

I almost started a thread and a few times started and deleted responses in other people's form threads asking if I were to use the disc as a bat to hit a wiffle ball off a tee during my throw where exactly relative to my plant foot would I want the tee?

I think I'm getting there. Initially I was having a very hard time staying accurate and was losing my nose down grip trying to hit the imaginary ball but it's coming together and the biggest improvement for me has been adding power to my anny/ flex shots I used to struggle with.
I think my imaginary tee is in the right place but would love to get confirmation. I'm actually not even sure where it is in my mind when I throw but seems like 30-45 degrees left and forward of my plant foot maybe 1 foot out?

 

[sidewinder22]

I almost started a thread and a few times started and deleted responses in other people's form threads asking if I were to use the disc as a bat to hit a wiffle ball off a tee during my throw where exactly relative to my plant foot would I want the tee?

I think I'm getting there. Initially I was having a very hard time staying accurate and was losing my nose down grip trying to hit the imaginary ball but it's coming together and the biggest improvement for me has been adding power to my anny/ flex shots I used to struggle with.
I think my imaginary tee is in the right place but would love to get confirmation. I'm actually not even sure where it is in my mind when I throw but seems like 30-45 degrees left and forward of my plant foot maybe 1 foot out?

I think it will vary some depending on the person/body differences, and posture and balance and line. You need to setup your stance for the biggest release thru the ball which would take some practice swings to figure out where that ideal spot is for you.

 

[riltim]

This is some interesting advice. I have this mister at home that I use next to the pool, roughly the same height as a tee-ball tee. I took some practice swings with disc in hand, and soft run up, but tried to power over the object like I was cracking a wiffle ball off the post. I could feel the bracing and I finished standing straight up instead of falling forward. I could feel the power from the legs to the hit.

Disc never left my hand so I was probably rounding a bit and getting full power. I fixed my rounding issue before but was falling off the pad so it shouldn't be too hard to combine the two.

Excited about this and hopefully I can test it out at the course tomorrow after work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[Jet57]

if you try to swing one-handed BH like a two-handed swing you will be hugging yourself big time and your full release will be way out the right field dugout

Me

 

[rhatton1]

to stop the risk of getting brained I use a slalom pole with a piece of plumbing insulation tubing over the top for this. you can slide that up or down the pole to give yourself the spot you want to hit and protect your hand from pain.

Works well and as a bonus the slalom poles are excellent visibility markers for designing wooded holes.