Differential Command Discs

[Melonhusk]

I'm reading The MVP Machine by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik, which covers the recent data-driven revolution to player development in pro baseball. It's got a lot of great nuggets applicable to disc golf, but this passage stuck out to me particularly. "Bauer" is pitcher Trevor Bauer, and "Driveline" is pitching development/training facility Driveline Baseball.

In 2013 at the Texas Baseball Ranch, Dutch Athletic trainer Frans Bosch delivered a guest lecture in which he referred to University of Georgia kinesioogy professor Karl Newell's theory of constraint training in motor learning. Bosch told the audience that altering one of three variables during practice improves the pace of progress. Bauer was listening closely.

"It turns out the quickest way to acquire a new skill is to force yourself to do that skill with a constantly changing environment, implement, or activity," Bauer says. "If you can vary one of those [elements] every single time, with the same goal, then your body acquires that skill a lot more quickly."

Weighted balls - and differential weighted balls that are of slightly different size and weight
- are an example of an implement constraint. "You throw thirty-two bullpens a year, not including spring training, and practically all of them are wastes of time because you are not forcing your mind to be active the entire time," Bauer says. "Your mind goes, OK, yeah, I'm throwing a bullpen. You tune out after the second or third throw, especially because most guys throw five fastballs here, three curveballs etc. There is no skill acquisition."

A more effective way to learn, Bauer says, is to change the task by throwing a series of different-sized or weighted balls. Each throw feels a little different, which forces the player's mind to be active and his body to adapt. If he struggles with command or the feel of a pitch, his next bullpen session will often include work with those nonstandard balls. The value of what Driveline calls differential command balls goes beyond velocity training. "All of a sudden, in the next outing, that pitch is back," Bauer says. In the off-season he will further randomize practice by shooting a basketball, swinging a bat, or kicking a soccer ball in between throws.

In disc golf of course there is no standard "implement". But I've often wondered when throwing in a field if I should throw all the same mold, so that any changes in my throw are more obvious, or if I should throw a mix of drivers/mids/putters so that I don't develop any issues that might be exposed by a particular kind of disc - like throwing drivers nose down, or putters without OAT, etc. It turns out the best answer might be the latter, but for a different reason. Just thought this was interesting!

 

[sidewinder22]

I threw nothing but putters for 2 months. Stack of Bangers and Wizards, very similar discs.

Then I added stack of Comets/Rocs and Gazelle/Teebird/Eagle. Then added higher speed later.

Clean power first. I don't think throwing high speed discs really help teach nose down, and nose down is often misunderstood. It's all relative to its trajectory.

 

[azplaya25]

One my favorite players to watch is Josh Anthon, and he's an example of someone who has absolutely dialed in his putter. Flick, backhand, roller, he can do more with an Aviar that most people can do with their entire bag. Nice thing with learning putters and mids is those are discs you will never "outgrow."

 

[Melonhusk]

I threw nothing but putters for 2 months. Stack of Bangers and Wizards, very similar discs.

Then I added stack of Comets/Rocs and Gazelle/Teebird/Eagle. Then added higher speed later.

Clean power first. I don't think throwing high speed discs really help teach nose down, and nose down is often misunderstood. It's all relative to its trajectory.

Yeah definitely, those are just thoughts that have gone through my head, and I'm not sure if it is actually necessary to throw drivers to learn nose down or not. The text seemed to suggest to me at least that really just mixing up the implement or the environment in any way could lead to faster learning. Could be putters with different feel, putters of different weight, a mix of disc speeds, throwing different angles rather than one stock shot, these are just my interpretations but it seems to track with the quotation.


Actually, it kind of reminds me of this Heimburg putting video:



At 1:18 he talks about the importance of resetting his feet between practice putts, in order to keep his mind actively involved on alignment.

 

[Ryan P.]

It turns out the quickest way to acquire a new skill is to force yourself to do that skill with a constantly changing environment, implement, or activity

From the section of the book you quoted, it seems like the goal of changing one of these three variables is to trick your mind into not losing focus during practice. Practice can often become repetitive, and staying as focused during practice as you are during a round is what I took from it.

If I'm right, then there are many variables I'd change before the ones you mentioned. Distance would be an easy one to change. If you're on a football field, stand in one end zone and throw to the 50 yard line, then the 20, then the 40, then 50, then 10, etc. you could also vary between FH and BH, grip, hyzer/anhyzer, etc. These would all trick your mind into changing focus (and emulate shotmaking on a real course, where you rarely throw the same shot twice in a row).

 

[Melonhusk]

Sure, all great points. I focused initially on the implement because the book is about baseball, a sport in which the implement (supposedly) remains the same, and that made me think of disc golf, which is unusual in that the implements vary so wildly. Maybe one could say using different golf clubs is as different, but even then it seems like the grips are made to be consistent across clubs.

In pitching, implement variation has certainly become a pretty huge focus, over and underweight balls and all that, but you could definitely make an argument that that has more tangible benefits than throwing discs with slightly different hand feels.