Am I the only one who can't throw a disc 200 ft.?

[blackcatsmith]

We've all been there. Enjoy this period you're in and stay away from expectations. Just enjoy practice. I know I look back fondly on my first year playing.

 

[Vance in AK]

I'm 54 yrs old, new at this too (2.5 months) & throwing just a little further. my average drive is probably around 200' & best a little over 225. I am playing with friends that are also new to the sport, & just watching them I would give you one bit of advice (Not that I have enough skills to earn the right!) & say as others have "forget the run up" for now. I don't do a run up, just make sure I get good weight transfer. Most of my friends throw just as far or further without run up as they do with & have more accuracy without the run up.
The Beast & Valkyrie are my go to distance drivers, but honestly I can throw my Leopard almost as far, & a couple nights ago threw my Dart just shy of 180 & straight as an arrow so I should probably be sticking with the fairway drivers for now.

 

[banknwank]

I am 41 , but have a horribly bad back with degenerative and hurniated discs. So flexabillity is not my strong point. I remember my first trip to play dg was almost my last. Mostly due to 150 ft hyzer so from hell. I didn't feel like even par was possible till around 250 ft of driver distance. Two accurate 250 ft throws and a putt can make a par on most courses/ baskets. The one thing that helped me the most in the beginning was throwing lighter weights. I still carry light weight and under stable drivers.
I have best luck putting a light weight stingray in the hand of most first timers. My wife loves her 137 leopard and sees 200+ regularly. 250 foot drives are becoming more common . She also loves her 150 maximizer. For mids, she likes 140 ish kite, buzz,stingray and skeeter. We used to give her 1 handicap throw on holes over 200. now she only gets free throws on stuff over 300 , as three and under have become easier pars for her .......
Any way, try some lighter , slower, understable stuff for now and keed on hucking. Like discfifty said, you will randomly start hitting longer throws and the longer throws will eventually become more like the average.... Gook luck and have fun.

 

[Boneman]

I am 41 , but have a horribly bad back with degenerative and hurniated discs. So flexabillity is not my strong point. I remember my first trip to play dg was almost my last. Mostly due to 150 ft hyzer so from hell. I didn't feel like even par was possible till around 250 ft of driver distance. Two accurate 250 ft throws and a putt can make a par on most courses/ baskets. The one thing that helped me the most in the beginning was throwing lighter weights. I still carry light weight and under stable drivers.
I have best luck putting a light weight stingray in the hand of most first timers. My wife loves her 137 leopard and sees 200+ regularly. 250 foot drives are becoming more common . She also loves her 150 maximizer. For mids, she likes 140 ish kite, buzz,stingray and skeeter. We used to give her 1 handicap throw on holes over 200. now she only gets free throws on stuff over 300 , as three and under have become easier pars for her .......
Any way, try some lighter , slower, understable stuff for now and keed on hucking. Like discfifty said, you will randomly start hitting longer throws and the longer throws will eventually become more like the average.... Gook luck and have fun.

Now that's interesting, because all my discs are in the 165-170 range, except my Stingray which is 171. I'm not hyzering as much as I used to, which is a positive, but boy, do the discs ever feel dead coming out of my hand.

I'll try something lighter. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Fissiksman]

I'm 50 and I've been playing consistently for about 6 months now, and 180 has turned into 280+... I noticed my discs wobbled a bit on takeoff and what helped me was throwing in a soccer field each evening until my wobble disappeared as my body figured out how to release more consistently. I'd take 6 beginner friendly understable discs and throw them one way, then go collect and throw the other way. Helped me to figure out the wind too, as it's always blowing here. If you're in south Texas I can show you what I've learned...

 

[Fissiksman]

I have much less body pain throwing forehand. Backhand gets my shoulders and back hurting, but forehand doesn't bother me at all... Something to try

 

[Boneman]

I'm 50 and I've been playing consistently for about 6 months now, and 180 has turned into 280+... I noticed my discs wobbled a bit on takeoff and what helped me was throwing in a soccer field each evening until my wobble disappeared as my body figured out how to release more consistently. I'd take 6 beginner friendly understable discs and throw them one way, then go collect and throw the other way. Helped me to figure out the wind too, as it's always blowing here. If you're in south Texas I can show you what I've learned...

Thanks for that offer, but the miles separate us I'm afraid. Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada!

 

[Fissiksman]

Thanks for that offer, but the miles separate us I'm afraid. Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada!

Just around the corner, baby!

 

[Old Dog]

It definitely seems to take us older farts a little longer to put it all together. I'm over 50 myself and playing just shy of 1 year. My average drives are in the 200'-225' range. But for most of the courses I play that's good enough for a shot at par. Remember the old ball golf caveat "You drive for show but you putt for dough." is true in DG as well. I've played with guys that could way out drive me but their drives often landed off the fairway or they couldn't knock down their putts and I would be right with them at the end of the round. Keep working on improving your form and distance will eventually come. In the mean time just keep in mind distance isn't everything.

 

[sillybizz]

Start throwing only a SuperClass disc (Zephyr, Te Moko, Hero 235, etc.) for a while, this will teach you form and when you finally go back to 'sharp discs' you will be amazed how far you are throwing and with ease.

#Smooth is far

 

[Boneman]

#Smooth is far

I've noticed that from watching other players, how smooth and effortless the motion is when you have a style that works. That's what I'm working on really hard right now. I have some weird hitches and jerks that I know are affecting my throws, and I'm hoping that if I just keep at it they'll eventually work themselves out.

 

[KDFrosty]

If you're getting the same distance from a fairway driver (Leopard) that you get from a mid then disc down and hit the field.
Take your putters and mids to a park and practice throwing at a target (tree trunk, sign, trashcan, etc) from 150'.

 

[lbond]

I also tend to fart during my cross step run up. I've tried to use that to generate more power but so far no luck.

What? hahahaha

 

[ru4por]

While encouraging you to continue practicing and working on your drive. I would not be so quick to dismiss the approach and putt part of your game. I find I spend more time on these aspects as an experienced player. With a 180 ft drive, you can play with big arms by having a solid 140 ft approach and knocking down a bunch of 30 ft putts. That has you looking at a three on a 350 ft hole. Johnny big arm sends one into the schule 300 ft down the fairway, sails his approach 50 ft past the basket and misses the comeback for a four. See....happens all the time. Good luck and keep throwing, Boneman.

 

[Old Dog]

While encouraging you to continue practicing and working on your drive. I would not be so quick to dismiss the approach and putt part of your game. I find I spend more time on these aspects as an experienced player. With a 180 ft drive, you can play with big arms by having a solid 140 ft approach and knocking down a bunch of 30 ft putts. That has you looking at a three on a 350 ft hole. Johnny big arm sends one into the schule 300 ft down the fairway, sails his approach 50 ft past the basket and misses the comeback for a four. See....happens all the time. Good luck and keep throwing, Boneman.

Yup, big arms don't scare me that much. Especially on typical tight, wooded NC courses. I'm sure you've heard the old adage "Slow & steady wins the race." Well in DG it's often short & accurate wins the hole.

 

[Boneman]

While encouraging you to continue practicing and working on your drive. I would not be so quick to dismiss the approach and putt part of your game. I find I spend more time on these aspects as an experienced player. With a 180 ft drive, you can play with big arms by having a solid 140 ft approach and knocking down a bunch of 30 ft putts. That has you looking at a three on a 350 ft hole. Johnny big arm sends one into the schule 300 ft down the fairway, sails his approach 50 ft past the basket and misses the comeback for a four. See....happens all the time. Good luck and keep throwing, Boneman.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice !

Totally agree, and I have indeed been working on my short game. My putting has improved and my approaches are getting there. Those are the little victories that motivate me, and at least when those aren't going well I get the sense that I know what's wrong and that it's correctable.

The distance part of the game is where I'm trying to incorporate all the good advice that I see here, along with YouTube, but without much in the way of results. If I could ever get a drive to 250 feet, you wouldn't be able to wipe the grin off my face. But for now the mystery remains.

Thank goodness for these boards and you people. Great therapy

 

[BrotherDave]

I've noticed that from watching other players, how smooth and effortless the motion is when you have a style that works. That's what I'm working on really hard right now. I have some weird hitches and jerks that I know are affecting my throws, and I'm hoping that if I just keep at it they'll eventually work themselves out.

Sounds like you've got more than a few broken links in your kinetic chain.

 

[The Mad Cow]

i can tell you from experience, holding a Bic lighter in your left hand ... and trying to flick it at just the right moment during your X-step... isn't gonna get you the added hip turn you are looking for.
j/k. i'm no spring chicken, so some things have taken longer....but practicing what is discussed on here to improve your form WILL show up in your game. hang in there.

 

[Nazanne]

I could have written the OP a couple weeks ago. I'm just an occasional rec player, but I've been playing a bit more this year and I got fed up with my anemic drives. So I started reading everything I could dig up and watching lots of videos. I took all that onto the course and it didn't help one iota. I got worse. My accuracy went down and my distance didn't go up. So I read some more and watched the videos again and started throwing in a field. No progress the first time around, but when I read the instructions and watched the videos again things started to make more sense. So I hit the field my throws slowly started to get longer. It wasn't long before I was hitting over 200'. Back to the videos again and then back to the field. Some improvement each time. I went back out and threw this morning and found that I was much smoother, more relaxed, and throwing much better. My mids were dropping right around 200' plus and minus and I was getting my fairway drivers out to 240' without the huge effort I had been expending.

I still struggle to throw fast drivers. They typically tear out of my hands early, but my grip strength is increasing and I'm starting to get a feel for throwing them even though I really don't have enough power.

Keep working at it. If I can get over 200' I know you can too. One of these days I'll see how it goes on the course when I have to aim.

 

[slowplastic]

I still struggle to throw fast drivers. They typically tear out of my hands early, but my grip strength is increasing and I'm starting to get a feel for throwing them even though I really don't have enough power.

This probably means that you are strong-arming. This means that you are starting to pull/throw with your arm all the way from the reach back. What happens is your arm is moving so fast by the time the disc gets to your chest, that once you start to rotate to throw, you can't physically hold on to the disc anymore...and it pops out early.

Watch more videos and really concentrate on hip rotation...rotating the hips rotates the shoulders, and should bring your throwing elbow out front and your disc to your chest, without using any muscle in your arm actively. From here, use your elbow.

If you do that, the disc should get to your chest and a slower speed and you shouldn't have as many grip-slip issues. Plus you'll be using muscles in your legs/core and your throws should be easier and longer!