Making the most of field practice

[Tyler_McGinnis]

Just wondering how guys that routinely practice in a field go about it. I typically have no problem getting up the motivation to go throw in the field, and have the time too, but I've had trouble making productive use of this practice time. I've used the line shaping drill from DGR before, and I like it a lot (except for when my form breaks down), but I'm just wondering how I could better use my time. Would it be wiser to pick one thing to focus on for an entire practice, or split up the time and work on multiple things (e.g. touching up form, line shaping, forehands, approaches). I practice putting often and separately so that's not something I have to worry about using field practice time on. Just wondering how everyone else goes about it. Feel free to share your routines or philosophies for field practice.

 

[wire5]

I mostly use field practice to experiment. I guess I'd classifyit as line shapping. I figure if I can get the lines I want than my form must not be too bad.

 

[Lithicon]

Just set a goal, if it's multiple goals then fine. Just go there with atleast one goal. Once it's accomplished move to another or make another goal. You need some sort of direction to establish your routine. The best thing is to listen to yourself. If you feel you rushed it, next time slow down and focus on a certain aspect more. If you feel you havn't grasped a concept, just focus more on it before you move on. Just don't walk in the field with no real purpose. You might get one while you're there, but you'll usually end up focusing on the wrong things if you go out there and start "working" on the problems that arise while you're there.

 

[GLong]

i usually throw discs around the same speed for the sake of consistency. and i have found that throwing less discs improves my focus. i used to take out my bag plus a few extras of each and throw 15-20 discs per set. after a few rounds i can feel my focus starting to slip. by throwing 4-6 at a time, it's easier for me to focus on each throw. you get less throws per practice sesh but i feel like the time spent is more productive.

 

[Guru10]

i take my fab four molds (gazelle, whippet, roc, magic) and throw each mold, first standstill, the one step, the x-step: magics, hyzer, anhyzer, straight. rest. rocs, hyzer, anhyzer, straight. rest. so on and so forth, focusing not so much on distance but achieving a smooth release, no wrist roll, using my core/legs to accelerate my arm etc. also i bring lots and lots of water, as my sessions can be a few hours long. wont play a round after or practice putting either.

 

[Midnightbiker]

The main thing I do is field practice is get to know my discs well. I throw the whole bag, and I watch the flights and also see where they land. I have distance markers on the ground, and I check to see if two discs fly the same. If so, I usually take one out of the bag. I also watch the flight patterns, and memorize (or write on the back of the disc) what kind of shot and distances this disc would be good for.

I also bring my basket and do a lot of work on approach shots, and putting. I usually spend 1 /12 to 3 hours at the practice field. I bring my headphones, and that helps a lot,

 

[Mind Expansi0n]

Forget a field - find a hole on your local course where you can see traffic coming from the holes behind you. (This isn't a problem on most courses in my area - low traffic). Drive off an actual pad, towards an actual basket - work on different lines, work on distance, take your mids with you and throw them from your crappiest drives, bring your putters and see if you can get birdies on your best drives. If anyone comes along, let them play through - if you've got a couple of discs out on the fairway - let them know, so they don't think they 'found' something when they see your disc. I even play the hole with some people that come along - most people don't mind. Talk to folks, make friends, etc. That's about 10 goals, pick one.

 

[dodgeball]

Do u have any parks close to u that have room to throw discs? If so, then go and play some object golf, using trees or trash cans (my preference) as goals. I generally don't go to a field and just throw as that bores me to tears. But if u haven't tried it, go play some object golf and design your own personal course!

 

[chickenonabun]

eh, I usually just throw for max D with all my discs... but that isn't that productive. At least I can throw fairly far though. If I'm having OAT issues, I work on throwing hyzers without writs roll over, and slowing down and throwing smoother. I think one of the biggest advantages to feild work for me is learning to deal with the wind, and how to use every type of wind to my advantage.

 

[Guru10]

i think the most important aspect is to set some goals to achieve, that way you DONT get bored to death. your goal during a round is to get lower your score right? well make field practice like a game too, like seeing you can throw 10 pure hyzers or throw farther with good form, if working on distance. i sometimes bring my practice basket out and practice the big 3: drive, upshot, putt. to keep from just throwing lines or for d. gotta male yourself an all around player, i believe, not just a master putter or distance jock. personally i love upshots, whatever makes my bad drive look good and my putts that much easier.

 

[Smigles]

Forget a field - find a hole on your local course

NOT the idea of field practice. And not good advice. The man actualy wants to put effort into improving, let him do so.

Fields are great and fields are where you will make most progres for most of your DG career.

That said. a few things about field practice :

- Take multibles of all discs you wanna practice. Throw them back to back to compare.
- Mix it up, dont do the same drill for hours, you need to stay concentrated.
- Mix in 10-15 minutes putting sessions.
- Drink enugh, specialy when driving alot.
- For driving : look what you need to work on most. Is it precision ? Distance ? Lineshaping ?
- Warm up before driving practice, treat it like proper sport, do warmups and stretching and stuff.
- Throw batches of drives. Throw all your discs once on a hyzer, once anhyzer, once max D line, once low, once high. Keep throwing 20 at a time before you walk and collect em all.
- Open fields are great for going wild and experimenting

Eventualy, go back to a course and enjoy all your newly learned techniques.

 

[speedy83racing]

As a fellow Pittsburgher who practices alot, I have a few recommendations:

1. Don't be afraid to change your form. I didn't get it right the first time I decided on a form, and even after 3 years in the field, it still changes.
2. Put 2 discs in front of you to simulate a gap, and try to throw through it. This made my gap-hitting considerably better. I also set up 2 for a tee-box, but don't know how much this adds.
3. Just do it. Becoming a good golfer is a marathon, not a sprint. Be patient and it will come.

-Ben Smith

 

[Violets caddy]

I try to get out every morning after work and field practice when I get outta work at 7 am.
Personally I find it helps to be able to visualize an actual shot so what I do is go to a basketball court that's... Idk somewhere between 400-450 away from the basket on hole 2 across a wide open field.
Then I grab whatever 3-4 discs I want to work on and throw whatever throws they're for.
Example, my star wraith I'll make low line drive shots at the basket. My star valk I'll throw by rollers, my nuke big hyzers, and my SS surge I'll use for long annys. I'll repeat this for an hour or so. Working every disc for its intended purpose.
Idk if that's the best use of my practice time or not but it works for me.

 

[Discwrangler]

I usually work on 1) shots I will have in the next tourney and 2) shots I screwed up the previous weekend.

I find trick to field practice is allowing time between throws. It's really easy to go out and throw 8-10 throws in a row…but this is counterproductive IMO. Max 3 throws in a row without a rest. I usually set my watch timer at 90 seconds so I get at least a minute of rest between throws. This gives you some time to think about the next throw and recover from the previous. You have to make each throw important and watch the pitch count…don't over do it.

 

[jrawk]

Some repeat suggestions, some new:

1) minimize the molds you're practicing with, but utilize multiples of each mold. (i.e. take a stack of buzzes, a stack of teebirds, etc.)

2) Throw only 3-6 discs per set. This will allow your muscles to reset during your walk to retrieve and you're practice will be more productive.

3) practice on grass not the paved teepad/surface. it will reduce impact on your joints and muscles during practice. There is reason why football players prefer natural grass over the old astro-turf. After practicing on grass enough, you will notice the increased power/leverage you get on paved survaces.

4) be honest to yourself about your own form. If you think your previous throw sucked, tell yourself that. Stop and think about what you just did. Concentrate your next throw to correct one of those bads.

 

[patdb23]

Set a goal for what you want to practice on.

Learning drivers
I'll throw 15-20 drivers throwing understable to most stable to a certain target while marking out distances. I'll first throw all straight, then hyzer, then anhyzer. I also throw them in headwinds, tailwinds, crosswinds, while I also throwing uphill, downhill, and flat.

This exercise allows me to get to know my drivers and what they do in various conditions.

midrange practice
I'll take about 10-15 midranges and do the same as above. I work with shorter distances 150-300ft and throw at the base of trees for approach shots. I'll also try to find areas in parks where I can practice around trees, throwing low ceiling, tight straight shots, swooping hyzers, or flex anhyzers.

These two exercises will get me in tune with my discs and how they fly in various conditions. Once I have a good idea about my discs, then I'll try to replicate their intended use for ojbect golf, and work around a park. It sure does beat throwing 1-2 shots per hole on a course, and I learn quicker this way.

 

[Tyler_McGinnis]

Just wanted to come back and say that the suggestions in this thread have already helped me a lot. Spent 2.5 hours in the field today and only threw about 180 throws in that whole time (and only KC Aviars, Rocs, and Teebirds), whereas with my previous efforts I'd probably throw over 200 throws (of 6-7 different molds) in an hour less time and feel like I accomplished very little except for possibly getting a little bit more inconsistent.

I kept it to two throws per set and then a rest while I walked to pick them up (throwing both ways). Really liked this for a couple reasons. As others have said, you actually get some time to think about each throw and what worked and what didn't. Much easier to remember and identify solutions when its a smaller number of throws, and you're not just rapid firing discs trying to think of what to fix as you're doing your run-up. The next reason I haven't thought about a lot yet, but I think it would be reasonable to think that with a small number of throws and the time to focus and actually make corrections there's probably a higher rate of successful (good) throws (this was the case for me at least). Similar to gaining confidence in putting by teaching yourself to make putts (i.e. practice putts that you can make a la the Putting Confidence program), this can act as a confidence booster for throwing. With everything I did I worked my way up from putters to drivers.

Repetitions (which ingrain habits) get sacrificed by practicing with less discs, but I don't think that's so bad when you're still learning to throw. Obviously if I found one thing I could do every single time that let me throw the disc 400' I would drill it to hell and back till it was a habit, but with less discs/reps there's more room to learn and not worry about ingraining bad habits. Once I fully understand what the good habits are, then I'll worry about ingraining them.

Anyway, I made a plan before I went out to work on three different aspects of my game, but decided that I wouldn't stay out for more than 2.5 hours. I only got through the first two drills I had planned, but I did however get the most focused practice I've ever had for those aspects of my game (driving form and approach shots). So to reiterate, thanks to everybody for all the helpful advice as I now understand how to keep things a little less complicated and infinitely more productive.

 

[jrawk]

2.5 hours of steady throwing might be a bit too long. Time goes fast when you're trying to better yourself. But know when your body is telling you to rest.

I find my first 15 minutes driving are usually poor... then peak about 45 minutes in before declining/regressing... i switch to stand still approach shots for 20-30 minutes... then a final 15 minutes of driving.. then ending by playing a few impromptu target holes.

 

[wolito]

I don't have any really specific goals other then trying to throw for distance. I do a lot throws and try to tweek my driving form to get better. Usually throwing the same speed or close to each other as not to introduce variables in disc speed. Again I focus more on quality rather then quality. Throw 10 discs or so, really think about my form and what might help in getting more distance, change it up and repeat. Most of the time I leave the field with new knowledge and excitement that I figured out something slight that will help me the next time. I have been trying new techniques as far as grip and reachback and am getting more snap. It is the excitement of learning new things that keeps things exciting.