Can’t pass 150 feet

[WackoWarlock]

Can't pass 150 feet with any disc, putter going same distance as driver and mid. I was doing a run up but it just made things worse and inconsistent. I can get nice curves, throw flat and have it go straight, just not going far at all. Don't know what to do been playing for a year and a half and not progressing

Video link

 

[Brychanus]

Gotta get your weight moving around foot to foot, and need your arm to feel heavy and swing/pull the disc out with leverage.

I think your knees look pretty locked out. Try to get just a little more natural bend in them (but don't "squat").

 

[BillFleming]

I'm not the greatest (not even close), but it seems that you just kind of (forgive my wording, but it's the best way I can explain it) lazily bring the disc back a little bit and then tossing it forward. There really seems to be very little to no arm or body work.

Stand still with your legs slightly spread apart and weight in the middle.
Hold your disc out in front of you with your elbow slightly bent.
Without bending your elbow any further, slowly swing your arm around 180 degrees, so it now points behind you. Notice how your shoulders turn and 'square up'. Notice how your hips are slightly turned.
That is the position you need to be in for your throw.

Now, hold the disc in front of you, and instead of 'swinging the disc and arm wide', move the disc in a straight line back along your body until your shoulders, hips, arm and disc are in the same position as before. Then pull the disc back along that line for the throw.

That is how I was taught the basic positions to get me started. Yes, you don't pull the disc....you turn your hips and shoulders to start the disc coming forward.....

 

[BillFleming]

What disc are you throwing in the video? Putter, mid, fairway?

Also, your first and third throws look good for aiming as they go straight. It's just they aren't getting the spin and speed needed. I still think the issue is with not getting your hand/disc back far enough in the 'reachback' and coming through the throw too slowly. You don't need to have the disc in a drag race to get from the reachback to the release.....but your disc is in a peddle car. <grin>

If you get the disc further back in your reachback, start the pull through at the speed you are doing now, then when the disc is at mid chest, speed it up. Like the racer who lets the competition get a head start and then stomps on the gas.

 

[Kennets]

Hey bud!

If you can, I would look up seabass22 hammer drills, that'll get the sensation of how and why.

 

[Icarus]

Not mentioned by others: Fix your grip. Your index finger is curled out weirdly. The video resolution isn't enough to tell exactly what you are doing. Look up power grip on YT.

 

[jmaher]

It looks like your swing is making your body turn, rather than actually engaging your hips. You should not be "throwing" the disc. You should be placing the disc in the reach-back position, and then by shifting your weight from your back leg to your front leg, start turning your hips toward the front, FAST, and as long as you're keeping your elbow and wrist relaxed, your whole arm should coil up and then launch forward, and the disc will rip out of your hands. It looks like you're using your shoulder muscles to throw the disc, rather than turning your hips and letting your arm just move with your body.

 

[ChrisinFL]

I am pretty new, so others definitely know more than I do, but countless hours spent studying and working on this stuff. After 3-4 months, I have gone from 150 to maxing best throws at 245 feet. Still not good, but will share some of what helped me gain so far… Others - if I am wrong, please help me (and WW). This is as much for me as it is for you - going through how I can get better. I agree with what others said. On your reach back, you are only turning a little - you want to get turned back so you are facing completely backwards from your target. Stance very stiff - loosen up, get athletic feel/movement. Then, you seem to be turning everything all at once. Should start with your hips, and let that pull your torso, shoulders, arm, elbow, wrist, in that order (something I struggle with!). You seem to have same speed throughout your throw. I am still working on this, too - I think you want to start with slow hip turn, and gain speed gradually throughout the throw, until you accelerate the most and hardest at the end, with the arm/wrist. You need to impart maximum speed to the disc to get it to go further. You want to create a whip effect, where bigger body parts moving slow and first pull smaller body parts, adding power and speed to them, and finally at the end the arm and hand are like the tip of the whip. I recently made progress from 200' max to 245' max, and two Scott Stokely videos about getting snap on your throw helped a lot (easy to find on any search). Keep in mind, making changes, you will struggle with erratic throws while getting used to it, get worse first to get better. Video of yourself a great help - watch you, watch pros teach what to do - what do you need to do to get closer to their throws? Video - I was shocked how much different my form was from what I thought I was doing - aka worse! Being new, I find for me, I do slow motion video - easier for me to evaluate myself. Last, what weight are your discs? With slower arm speed, light weight under-stable discs tend to work best. I love my 158g Lat 64 Diamond (a great beginner distance disc), but now I am maxing my distance with under 150g Tern, Mamba, and Beast (which are very erratic for me so far, and Mambas require a hyzer throw and letting that high turn number flip them up to flat). Us slow arm throwers will struggle to get distance with the 175g discs used by pros. Good luck!

 

[ChrisinFL]

When I get a bit more comfortable with my recent form changes, I intend to take a few hammers and a sledge hammer to my throwing field. See if throwing hammers helps me find power. I think the idea is that I try to find the form/technique/body positions needed to throw with more power??! Kind of search for where I get the most throwing power?

 

[ChrisinFL]

This is about backhand technique and getting snap. It is long, but good. I cut and pasted it from another thread on this site. I am going to paste it somewhere to keep for my own future reference next, as I can not digest and implement all of it at once - I could probably revisit it regularly for a year and not get it all. Many say about form changes, only change one thing at a time - I get why. I tried changing several things at once - got so bad I was tempted to just quit! So, I went back to my old, sucky, bad form, and worked on changing my one worst thing (initially, for me, rounding). Fixed that, then went to the next thing. And the next. Even changing one thing, expect to usually get worse before you get better.

Time line to snap generation and prior:
1. Shot planning and disc selection.
2. X or shuffle step with or without run up or standing still.
3. Right hand backhand throw the third step of the x steps with the right foot plants.
4. Only now does the arm start moving and intentionally slowly trying to maintain a fairly straight line from back to front. How perfect the straightness is depends on the technique one uses. All the usually used efficient techniques share one component that is the disc moves in a straight line from the elbow straightening forward except the forearm straightening will shift the disc to the left during the elbow straightening. The end does move in a straight line and that's when it counts.
5.Most of the movement of the disc and arm forward comes from a slow mellow muscled motion of the legs reducing in speed to where the chest and hips faces a quarter turn left of the target.
6. Once the shoulders, chest and the hips reach 90 degrees left of the target the arm is moved with slowish speed and with as loose muscles as possible until the front of the disc is as close to the target as the right side. The optimum position varies depending on arm speed of the individual it also varies during career. You need to find out the best place now for yourself.
7. If the arm pull height is lower than the arm pit try to move a part of the disc under the shoulder for maximum elbow bend angle before straightening it. This requires a reach back position that is closer to the left side of the tee pad than with a straight arm pull. The elbow is very quickly moved as far as it will go toward the target minus an inch to avoid muscle damage in the shoulder area from full motion range, abrupt stop and locking up the elbow.
8. The legs and minimal amount of time later the hips use a lot of power to explosively quickly turn the torso toward the target while the elbow starts to straighten at first quickly.
9. Then as fast as you can once the knuckles are 8-10" short of the arm being straightened toward the target. Beginning with the elbow being stopped almost in place to move the previously generated motion into straightening the forearm. Here the muscles will tension up a lot and the wrist bending back from the acceleration should be fought against to get a great spring like loading of the wrist area tendons. As long as the wrist doesn't become totally motionless which few can achieve at pro power level. You don't want to squeeze the muscles to bulge like lifting weights but move the forearm forward as quickly as you can. Think moving fast with loose muscles and let nature take it's course. The muscles tense up automatically so you don't need to add muscle effort in any other way than trying to move the forearm fast and slightly tensioning the so far totally loose grip on the disc. Or the disc will slip early once you gain enough acceleration. That comes from muscle power and quickness training. Field practice will give speed in time and lifting weights and other gym work gives the power to move and accelerate fast.
10. The magic part. Once the arm is almost straight the actively farther to the right than chest turning shoulders add to the work of the legs and hips. If you managed to keep the elbow almost in place the body starts to pull the arm backward while the arm starts to move to the right and back away from the target from the shoulder socket. The spring like tension built up in the wrist area starts to unload by moving the wrist forward toward hand shaking position. This is incidental motion from the arm changing the motion direction. When you add fuel to the fire by consciously turning the wrist right of the hand shaking position the disc accelerates forward abruptly.
11. Magic part deux. Just like elbow stopping transfers created energy to straightening the elbow forward faster than possible with arm muscles alone stopping the wrist with as hard braking as you can will add another leap in acceleration to the disc. This time the spin on the disc increases dramatically as well. Pro players have been measured to increase spin rate by 40 % from wrist straightening and the disc pivoting between the now hard clenching thumb and the index finger. Think of it like this: When the fingers are stationary the energy can only move to the disc. This maximizes spin and sacrifices speed and hurts you in the short run. Safe maximized spin/speed combination comes from an abrupt retarding, not full stopping, of the wrist opening 10-20 degrees to the right of hand shaking position for hyper spin and accelerating the arm to move faster after the disc separation from fingers allowing a full follow through. Regular snap stops the wrist at hand shaking position. When you retard the wrist motion to the right the wrist should be pushed down or be already down so that the disc is inline but lower than the line between the wrist and the elbow. This helps in keeping the nose of the disc down. It isn't easy to keep on holding on to the disc so that it will not slip out prior to the disc pivoting between the index finger and the thumb. Many don't have enough finger strength to accomplish that without training. Squeezing almost as hard with the middle finger as the index finger helps. When the wrist slows down the disc leaves the vicinity of the palm during the pivot. The disc moves with so much force that the index finger can't stay crooked and if you pinch hard enough the disc will pull the index finger straight pointed at the target. By this time the disc has pivoted so that only the finger print of the index finger and the thumb touch the disc at the rear of the disc. That, a straighter flight and added distance are indicators of a great snap. If you manage to turn the shoulders so that the arm is straight as the disc rips out and the shoulder line points to 11.30-11.45 o'clock with the target being at 12 o'clock you can't achieve more from power from body positions. After that only more acceleration and stronger retarding of the elbow and wrist during proper times adds more power along with a more powerful run up.