Help get me to 300 from a standstill

[Putt_putt_goose]

Hello DGCR,

I'm in the middle of a form overhaul because I realized that I have been strong arming all of my shots since learning the game. I'm ready to fix that issue and work at addressing some of the low-hanging fruit regarding my form -- now I just need your help to make that happen!


Can I please get some more eyes on the following YT videos to help point me in the right direction of where to start reworking my form? I'm working at a standstill to remove any issues introduced by a walkup and plan to stick with a standstill throw until I can't mess it up.

Additionally, my discs are all flying around 250ft which tells me I'm missing a ton of power from my lower body -- so how do I get that? Any drills, tips, advice for what you think can help me would be much appreciated!


Back View:
Throw 1: https://youtu.be/zTotXfNVRow
Throw 2: https://youtu.be/guwOkWYZYPg
Throw 3: https://youtu.be/3rCc--ezIBY?t=18

Side View:
Throw 1: https://youtu.be/nVquaXQlnL0?t=19
Throw 2: https://youtu.be/7BqBcMygohE?t=20


Thank you!

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

I guess what I'm mostly looking for is a response that will help point me to a few videos/drills that will be my most immediate and important issues to work on correcting. It can be kind of overwhelming to try and by my own coach and student when there is so much DG content out there. So if anyone can help me figure out what I should mainly be focusing on, it would be very much appreciated!

 

[sidewinder22]

Side views are private.

Start here and throw more to the left - extend outward. Your swing is sawing off inward to the right. You want your right shoulder/CoG to drop going forward, you are pulling/raising your shoulder up.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139973
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132910
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134415

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

Thanks, I updated the settings. Should be viewable now

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

3 field sessions later and my form has already befitted. Here's an updated side and back view of my swing.


Still working my way through the threads SW22 provided, but already the "Figure 8" motion has been a great cue for me. Will update again once I have made my way through more of the videos.

 

[NoseDownKing]

You're not turning back enough. You're landing open with the front foot and you're shoulders are not turned back.

You really need to turn the shoulders so you're throwing arm doesn't collapse against the chest.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[lostDoughnut]

1.i feel like your shoulder is shrugging too much



2. when you go into the backswing you can really extend the right leg and bend the left knee to really get a deep 'butt wipe'. i dont see much knee flexion during your figure 8

 

[lostDoughnut]

3. you rotate on your plant foots toe. i think your center of gravity is not centered between your legs during the downswing causing you to tip over your plant.



i think the elephant drill will help with the timing of during the downswing keeping your center of gravity in the center and then feeling of when to extend the right leg's knee

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136487

4. because your center of gravity is so far in one direction your left leg doesnt kick behind you. ( i know the leg kicking behind you is an issue, i think the cog is the cause). basically your left leg during the downswing gets extended too much

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

All great points! Thanks for the feedback. Time to put in some practice sessions!

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

Feeling stuck and thinking that I might have gone back to old habits. Have I actually changed anything about my swing? Here's an updated view of the current swing -- any advice appreciated!

Back: https://youtu.be/BG85NhvlI9k
Back 2: https://youtu.be/VgrdLQnvkpM
Side: https://youtu.be/mQGRnxbThbU
Side 2: https://youtu.be/yQo7Uiufb2A

 

[Brychanus]

Feeling stuck and thinking that I might have gone back to old habits. Have I actually changed anything about my swing? Here's an updated view of the current swing -- any advice appreciated!

Everything looks too linear & you open the hip early & rise rather than fall into the plant. I can tell you have some arm habits that you've put together from sources out there, but I think they have trained your body to engrain some habits that will block your progress.

Rather than fight those habits, I'm inclined to recommend a "brand new swing" rebuild starting with the front side of the swing. Let's say "goodbye" to the old one and approach this like learning something brand new for the first time. I promise that you (a) should expect your throws to suck at first but (b) will be much better off in the long run afterward. This is going to look and feel completely different.

1. Learn to "shift from behind" into the plant to lead the swing. Watch & do what Clement does here:


This is one of the most frequently missing pieces in players' form. It is impossible to do when opening the hip early, and it's necessary to get your weight to properly lead the swing.

Then, you need to get used to letting the weight lead the swing. Leading me to...

2. Watch the drills at this timestamp of Reciprocating Dingle Arm. Then watch the whole thing, and focus on getting your weight to lead a loose arm in wide circles like SW22/seabas22 does.

See also me doing it here with a few weighted objects:
Reciprocating objects

Notice that SW22 & I are dropping down to lead the swing in either direction (I share mine exaggerating it more because it was hard for me to learn & see the dynamic at first - don't compress the plant knee quite like mine does there), and then pumping up from the plant leg to accelerate it up. Doing the swings in both directions develops better muscle programs over time. Putting (1) and (2) together is the basis for how people can learn to throw very far throwing from one leg.

3. You're likely going to still have arm tendencies to fix after you work on (1) and (2). You need to learn to swing your arm with your shoulder away from and toward the target. Swing your shoulder back and forth over the knees, keeping your arm nice and loose (Dingle Arm). I also suggest that you immediately scrap your old practice swing and do practice swings like these:

This will prevent you from trying to form an "artificial pocket" and "artifical swing path" (lots of people do this, and it took me forever to replace mine too). Instead, you need to get used to whipping your arm with your body+shoulder as wide as possible. Notice that most pros do similar swings in their warmups - you rarely ever see them try to make a "pocket" in their swing.

There is another reason you don't need to worry about the "pocket"- when you posture is correct, your arm will swing in on a better path on its own, and your shoulder/tricep will learn to resist the pocket collapsing/discs bouncing off your chest:

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

Wow thanks so much for your reply. I've seen the dingle arm video before, but never caught the nuance of your body weight (and gravity) as being what leads the motion downward. Total game changer. Same with the Clement video, the shift from behind is unlike anything else I have been doing. Like you said, my swing is very linear, and the weight shift from behind seems to add a small drop that helps engage the hips in a way I haven't done before. All of that is to say that I went out into the field and practiced the weight shift a bit along with a looser arm and had some good results. But then I played my worst rated round the next day, lol. Excited to try it out again in the field tomorrow

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

From the field today:

Side: https://youtu.be/mbWZyuAzpKo

Back: https://youtu.be/r4pMp1KvljY


Really just tried to pick one thing to focus on from the previous comment's advice. For these videos I was trying to focus on shifting the weight from behind. This pulls from the Clement video as well as the dingle arm one. During this fieldwork session I was really focused on the weight shift into the front/plant leg. Don't know if I am doing it right, but it's definitely different than what I normally do

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

From the field today:

Side: https://youtu.be/mbWZyuAzpKo

Back: https://youtu.be/r4pMp1KvljY


Really just tried to pick one thing to focus on from the previous comment's advice. For these videos I was trying to focus on shifting the weight from behind. This pulls from the Clement video as well as the dingle arm one. During this fieldwork session I was really focused on the weight shift into the front/plant leg. Don't know if I am doing it right, but it's definitely different than what I normally do

 

[sidewinder22]

Need to change your tilted spiral.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137985

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

Thanks, SW22! The picture you posted of my form really brought some awareness to how much I tend to lean my upper body during the weight shift but not in a way that looks correct. Rather than being a pendulum, it looks like I'm shifting my weight over the top of my lead leg. It's a subtle difference and I'm not sure I have the disc golf vocabulary to describe it, but I can see it clearly in the picture provided.

Do you think the door frame drill is something I should implement to help bring together these concepts of weight shift and tilted spirals? I only ask because I tried playing around with the door frame drill (stationary, not moving around the door frame) and noticed a few things 1) my "power" spot of where to grab the door frame was about 6-8 inches LOWER than where I normally place the disc on my reach back. In other words, the door frame drill made it so that I had to squat a little more into my stance to feel the most power. 2) Upon release of the door frame, the swing through felt like I was being pulled toward my target by a rope attached to my hip.

Both sensations were new and felt a little weird, but I'm inclined to keep pursuing them because I know that changes like this aren't easy or comfortable. Any thoughts? Otherwise, thanks for your feedback and can't wait to keep improving!

 

[sidewinder22]

Thanks, SW22! The picture you posted of my form really brought some awareness to how much I tend to lean my upper body during the weight shift but not in a way that looks correct. Rather than being a pendulum, it looks like I'm shifting my weight over the top of my lead leg. It's a subtle difference and I'm not sure I have the disc golf vocabulary to describe it, but I can see it clearly in the picture provided.

I have my center of mass further forward in One Leg Drill(left), but I'm still braced and posted up on the front leg, while your leg is collapsed.

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

Thanks again, your last comment helped make something click. Here are a couple of throws from today:

https://youtu.be/haDdwpw-oec
https://youtu.be/j37dNZPTpPE


I felt the brace a bit more in these throws and tried to focus on "settling" the weight into the heel of my plant (right) foot at the start of the downswing. I think that the settling cue helped me create the brace in my plant leg. Another big thing was from the Clements video and that was about leaning slightly forward to create "suction cups" with the arches in your feet along the ground. It's a weird cue, but it was enough for me to shift my bodyweight slightly forward and onto my heels which helped me keep my weight low to the ground and engage the hips a bit more (similar body positioning to the door frame drill). Another thing I noticed was that the weight of the disc seemed to be moving more laterally, or I guess directly along the line between me and the target. Really started to feel the weight of the disc and lean into the pendulum concept a bit more by actually feeling the pendulum in motion.

 

[Putt_putt_goose]

Another big thing was from the Clements video and that was about leaning slightly forward to create "suction cups" with the arches in your feet along the ground. It's a weird cue, but it was enough for me to shift my bodyweight slightly forward and onto my heels which helped me keep my weight low to the ground and engage the hips a bit more (similar body positioning to the door frame drill).

What I meant here was that the suction cup action helped me shift weight forward and onto my TOES, NOT HEELS. Being stuck on my heels is I think what's limited my connection to the brace. Always learning new things

 

[sidewinder22]

Front leg looks better. Rear leg looks pigeon toed and spinning out.

You are trying to rotate too much, dragging the rear arm and squishing your lead arm into your body instead of releasing the arm away from it. Note how your lead shoulder rises up and open, instead of swinging forward closed.

Flare the rear foot out and swing your shoulder(s) over your knee(s) like using a battering ram or shoveling dirt/snow.