What were your big lightbulb moments?

[itsRudy]

Yesterday I broke my first 300' after 5 years :/, three in one practice round of 12 discs. My normal shooting average was 240-260' and I don't think I ever got more than 265' on honest flat ground. I heard to use the elbow many times, from the Beto drill to countless other advice like feel like you starting a lawn mower (cord, not key lol) to "elbowing someone" but it never got through my skull what that really meant.

After I felt the blood rush to my hand in a throw, which happened haphazardly before, I realized I was always concentrating leading the throw with my hand instead of my elbow until the levers ought to open. My way was great for layups and touch shots but simply not for distance. I also just realized why proper drives probably aren't accurate as I never had that problem. I feel dumb.

It seems explanations on physical movements never click until they actually happen. Why do things have be like that?

 

[drk_evns]

See signature.

You do the hips and the arm right, you're well on your way.

Rocking the hips fixed so many problems I had (tipping/balance).

Whipping the arm forward gave me a big picture view of the whole throw.

 

[ru4por]

Discraft Elite X XL........made me suddenly understand that stability was a variable. It was the beginning of choosing a disc to fit my throw. Revolutionary for me and my game.

 

[MattS]

"Elbow Out"

I had always had a bad habit of dropping the elbow of my throwing arm down toward my hip, which results in a weak T-Rex throw. The common que of "Elbow UP" hadn't clicked for me. I was exaggerating the "up" during the reach back, which caused me to naturally drop it during the forward swing. That resulted in either nasty nose-up air-bounces or immediate throw-llers.

What finally clicked was envisioning keeping my elbow as far away from my body as possible. This que worked better for me, because it's always aligned with the axis of rotation and is more directly related to the actual goal (make the upper arm the longest lever possible). This instantly improved my nose angle as a side-benefit.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

1) When I finally started throwing fast enough to consistently get Leopards and Sidewinders to turn. Once I was no longer throwing them straight, that's when I realized how the heck those speed & turn #'s really worked.

Until then, every driver I threw had the same noob hyzer flight. Suddenly, the flight lines on charts made sense.

2) Realizing how to adjust throw angles when throwing approach shots to sloped greens. It wasn't until I figured out how to contour approaches so the disc lands flat that I began to appreciate sloped greens as a design element.

Until then, I thought rollaways were some sort of random element (which they kind of are if you always throw the same shot), and actually thought they were a poor design feature. :doh:

 

[Jukeshoe]

Seeing SW22's pic of Federer's backhand follow-through was a major AHA! moment, since I play tennis.

Lateral vs. linear movement was a big part of that.

Still working on the rest. :| :| :\

 

[seedlings]

Aha moments come daily in this forum.

But my #1 aha moment is the realization that the arm does almost nothing until the disc is ahead my sternum, toward the target. For me this instantly fixed nose-up problem, relieved shoulder irritation, and added 20% distance with less effort.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

I used to flex everything in the beginning. As my course count grew I began to understand importance of hyzer flips and nose angles, especially on technical courses. I started with putter drives and slowly worked my way up to faster discs. Course bagging would have been unbearable had I not learned and applied these concepts to my game.

 

[auzcar]

As I'm quite new I've had a lot of light bulbs this year, this is some of them:

- Realizing that playing smart and not going for everything in every situation is actually just that; smart
- Realizing I can actually FH slow and/or understable discs with great results. This improved my scrambling a lot.
- Improving my putting is more important than throwing 10 feet farther
- It's more fun to throw 10 feet farther than improving my putting...
- You don't have to throw 100% power with a 13-speed on every tee just because it's a par 4, plan for the next shot and play for that
- On the same note, putting 100% power into your throw will many times make you strong arm and throw shorter
- Mids go very far, and take a lot less room to work than even a slow fairway driver
- I don't need more discs to fix my game, I need to practice
- Disc golf is really helping me recover from my burnout
- Disc golf is awesome
- The disc golf community is awesome

There are many more, especially technique related, but I let more experienced players cover that part.

 

[wolfhaley]

I used to flex everything in the beginning. As my course count grew I began to understand importance of hyzer flips and nose angles, especially on technical courses. I started with putter drives and slowly worked my way up to faster discs. Course bagging would have been unbearable had I not learned and applied these concepts to my game.

I still flex everything. I also don't listen very well. My courses played has accumulated, my game in general? plateaued in 2011 or so :doh:

 

[autocrosscrx]

It is still a process, but learning to account for wind in both disc and shot selection.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

My courses played has accumulated, my game in general? plateaued in 2011 or so :doh:

You're not alone. My game plateaued (but not necessarily at a high level ) about 4-5 years ago... but I've hit a lot of courses since then.

 

[Jukeshoe]

As I'm quite new I've had a lot of light bulbs this year, this is some of them:

- Realizing that playing smart and not going for everything in every situation is actually just that; smart
- Realizing I can actually FH slow and/or understable discs with great results. This improved my scrambling a lot.
- Improving my putting is more important than throwing 10 feet farther
- It's more fun to throw 10 feet farther than improving my putting...
- You don't have to throw 100% power with a 13-speed on every tee just because it's a par 4, plan for the next shot and play for that
- On the same note, putting 100% power into your throw will many times make you strong arm and throw shorter
- Mids go very far, and take a lot less room to work than even a slow fairway driver
- I don't need more discs to fix my game, I need to practice
- Disc golf is really helping me recover from my burnout
- Disc golf is awesome
- The disc golf community is awesome

There are many more, especially technique related, but I let more experienced players cover that part.

Don't sleep on putter rollers!!!

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Don't sleep on putter rollers!!!

Yeah, you wake up feeling exhausted.

 

[JuanA]

Focusing on getting my weight off my back leg was my biggest lightbulb moment.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Yeah, you wake up feeling exhausted.

 

[auzcar]

Don't sleep on putter rollers!!!

I haven't started throwing rollers at all yet, that's one of my missions this season

 

[ray1970]

No big lightbulb moments but I've had an overwhelming number of tiny little lightbulb moments that have progressively been helping my game.

 

[txmxer]

I haven't started throwing rollers at all yet, that's one of my missions this season

It's harder than it looks IMO. I've tried a little bit. Danny has a video on it. There are a lot of "don't throw a roller" in these conditions that people should listen to.

 

[lee76007]

When I realized that a disc golf swing had the same principles as a ball golf swing, which was about 3 months after I started playing disc golf. I played 20 plus years of ball golf including tournaments, so it has made it easier for me to understand what I should be doing with my disc golf swing. But it doesn't mean its physically easier. Still gotta get those memory muscles working, and that takes patience and time. Feels good during those moments when it happens.