Noodle Arms, Need Your Input

[dodgeball]

OMT, even though I'm not much of a disc golfer right now, I could school ya'll in some bottle-cap golf! It hasn't caught on yet, but it will I guess I need to make a youtube vid to show how u play..

 

[Mike C]

I think I watched one of those videos. All I know is that MikeC is the guy known for throwing his putters very far and that's cool. He's somebody who probably comes by distance naturally, so he probably doesn't even have to focus on it too much. I was initially responding to somebody else who said they were ONLY throwing 350' and was looking for more D. IF I get to throw that far consistently, and the rest of my game keeps improving, I will be a force to be reckoned with

It took hundreds of rounds and hours of field practice. I used to top out at under 300' with Valkyries and Firebirds and turned-over most my discs because it took me lots of OAT to get 300'. I did some intense discing down and studied the concepts on DGR extensively. I posted videos of myself on DGR and listened to the criticisms. I asked good players at my local course what I could do to improve. And I worked.

I remember a good player telling me last summer, that I had good potential, and that he wasn't looking forward to playing tournaments against me. I laughed that off and thought, no way I'll ever be able to throw like you dude. I asked him what the "secret" was, and his response? "Throw about a million throws, then you'll be there." I took that seriously. I am an athletically inclined person, and have been my whole life, but I also work.

 

[dodgeball]

It took hundreds of rounds and hours of field practice. I used to top out at under 300' with Valkyries and Firebirds and turned-over most my discs because it took me lots of OAT to get 300'. I did some intense discing down and studied the concepts on DGR extensively. I posted videos of myself on DGR and listened to the criticisms. I asked good players at my local course what I could do to improve. And I worked.

I remember a good player telling me last summer, that I had good potential, and that he wasn't looking forward to playing tournaments against me. I laughed that off and thought, no way I'll ever be able to throw like you dude. I asked him what the "secret" was, and his response? "Throw about a million throws, then you'll be there." I took that seriously. I am an athletically inclined person, and have been my whole life, but I also work.

I appreciate that Mike and this does give me hope! I'm also realistic though. I weigh about a buck twenty and I accept that I probably will never have the distance that some guys will have. On the other hand, I'm a guy who is interested in good technique (like you) and will keep working at it.

btw, I've been working on those forehand rollers! Can't wait to try em out on the course!

 

[rocthecourse]

What I would like to see is a video of someone throwing a Teebird 400+ feet, but with the camera overhead.opcorn: I think it might be interesting to see.

 

[JHern]

It kinda drives me crazy when I hear people say they can ONLY throw 350'! In all honesty, do u often find it necessary to throw farther than that out on the course? And when u do throw it that far, r u doing it without hitting stuff? In my case, I do good to throw > 200' backhand. So as for distance goes, don't be greedy

This is the human spirit, what keeps us going. We always want more. If anyone has the chance to check out a NT event, do it! Watch the touring pros, who were themselves never satisfied throwing 350'.

Anyways, its all relative. I was out playing this weekend in the mountains and ran into a DG club, and was surprised to find out that I was the "big arm" (unfortunately, I couldn't putt well enough to take the best score). But back on my home course, I'm one of the smaller arms, and many players there can huck 450' uphill. I think the reason is that the holes are typically shorter where this club was from, whereas the holes are longer and the arms are much bigger where I have been playing.

The best thing to do in order to learn to throw farther is to play with big arms at big courses. Then you can go back to courses with majority 300' holes and you'll find you can park them with much less effort. I already view every 300' hole as a potential ace run...

...so, I'm moving to Santa Cruz next week, and looking forward to playing with some of the amazing throwers around that region. I think I will learn even more, and I look forward to getting up to 450' controlled distance. If I do, then I'll be content, I think. If I improve my putting dramatically, then I might even become competitive in tournaments, and be able to take top 3 in divisions of ever increasing difficulty. (In another few years, I'll be old enough to play Masters, but that is a very tough division!)

 

[MooTaters]

^Many pros also started at a very young age, take the Jenkins for example...
Either way good advice I've taken lately and seen a little improvement from is thumb pressure and taking it slow, not putting 100% power on things. Even without 100% power my accuracy isn't perfect, but I think it actually does more for my distance...probably partly because of what is said in the fundamentals dvd, starting at 100% power and ending with 90% or 80% instead of slowly increasing the power through the throw.

 

[drickanderson]

I appreciate that Mike and this does give me hope! I'm also realistic though. I weigh about a buck twenty and I accept that I probably will never have the distance that some guys will have. On the other hand, I'm a guy who is interested in good technique (like you) and will keep working at it.

btw, I've been working on those forehand rollers! Can't wait to try em out on the course!

I stated this in another thread, but I played with gcr_russell at the ace race, and he can drive 400+ from a dead stand-still. No run-up at all. That has me convinced that it's MUCH more about proper technique, than physique and that your 'buck twenty' shouldn't make a difference at all. Let the disc do the work.

For me, I'm in a transitional stage where I'm learning to 'fall' into the snap, if that makes sense. Instead of steadily muscling the disc through the throw, I'm learning to swing into it, then snap out at the last second, and focus on my follow-through. It's not consistent yet, but it's yielded my furthest throws yet, and I'm excited. I can feel when I've done it right, and they just soar. Saturday, on hole 6 of Red Ridge (480'), my drive put me within 100' of the basket, for an easy upshot and par (eagle by course par). I flipped out. I'm never within reach on that hole.

 

[Mike C]

I think I mentioned it before but there's a guy named Dan Davis that plays where I do, and he's shorter and not as built than me, but will out-drive me 10/10 times.

 

[craftsman]

The biggest arm I've shot multiple rounds with is about 5'6", maybe shorter (I'm 5'6"). Over 500 controlled cyclone d, can flick flicks straight as arrows......
There's another top player here that's even smaller build but I've never shot with him.


Oh, and what they do with that power is throw over/around EVERYTHING

 

[dodgeball]

I stated this in another thread, but I played with gcr_russell at the ace race, and he can drive 400+ from a dead stand-still. No run-up at all. That has me convinced that it's MUCH more about proper technique, than physique and that your 'buck twenty' shouldn't make a difference at all. Let the disc do the work.

For me, I'm in a transitional stage where I'm learning to 'fall' into the snap, if that makes sense. Instead of steadily muscling the disc through the throw, I'm learning to swing into it, then snap out at the last second, and focus on my follow-through. It's not consistent yet, but it's yielded my furthest throws yet, and I'm excited. I can feel when I've done it right, and they just soar. Saturday, on hole 6 of Red Ridge (480'), my drive put me within 100' of the basket, for an easy upshot and par (eagle by course par). I flipped out. I'm never within reach on that hole.

Yes, I would agree that good technique matters, but I would say that strength matters too. Imagine u had two players with comparable technique, but one had more pure physical strength...who do u think would throw farther? I am still pretty new to the game though, and I can still make good gains in distance from just working on technique. I just find it a little boring to just work on distance all the time. There's so much more to the game than that! By not focusing on distance so much, it frees me up to develop other things and also find where my strengths are. I've found that I have a good imagination for seeing different shots and that I"m not afraid to try them out. Distance, hopefully, will come on it's own.

 

[craftsman]

In the situation you mentioned, the upperhand would go to whoever was better at wind or line shaping.
Muscles have little to do with it. Seriously.

 

[drickanderson]

Yes, I would agree that good technique matters, but I would say that strength matters too. Imagine u had two players with comparable technique, but one had more pure physical strength...who do u think would throw farther?

A wise man once said (I think it was even on this site somewhere), that most men will max out at 300-325' using muscle, and that to break that barrier, they have to learn to 'whip' their arm around using the rotation of their upper body. The force created by that can move the arm MUCH faster than your muscles ever could.

 

[Mike C]

Yup. You'll look like a moron, but do a full speed x-step with your arms hanging limp at your sides. Your arms will be whipped up and around your body by hip rotation alone.

 

[Jrogan92]

I throw about 250 right now and I can't seem to get anything extra on it. I watched some of the snap videos but they haven't seemed to help me much. I just can't tap into any extra power. Anyone in a similar situation???

 

[Overpar]

What helped me get from the 230' range out to 350+, was slowing down.

I would do a running x-step on all my tee-offs and it was resulting in poor form and poor snap. I was going so fast that I could not focus on my form and using my wrist, and I would just ended up strong arming the disc. I finally stopped doing this when I popped my shoulder, luckily it reset and there was no damage, but it was sore as hell and it forced me to go slow.

I would still x-step, but with no run. Just step, grip, and rip. My motion was much slower and I had a lot more control and I saw immediate results.

Now I am working on getting my grip more consistent and getting a feel for what each of my discs can do when I throw them in different ways and I am adding feet to my throws each time I go out.

 

[MooTaters]

Just curious, the other day I threw my drive decently farther than I usually do on hole 1 hiestand park. I've hit around that distance in the past, but not so much recently. My question is, does the temperature lowering tend to add distance? Or make discs act more understable? Just curious, since I don't think I did too much differently that should have made that happen...also was turning over my valk a bit which is usually very strait for me.

 

[great white buffalo]

I believe when you throw them at under thirty degrees all bets are off on what they normally do

 

[Lewis]

Just curious, the other day I threw my drive decently farther than I usually do on hole 1 hiestand park. I've hit around that distance in the past, but not so much recently. My question is, does the temperature lowering tend to add distance? Or make discs act more understable? Just curious, since I don't think I did too much differently that should have made that happen...also was turning over my valk a bit which is usually very strait for me.

I think the common wisdom is the opposite: that warmer weather yields longer throws. My guess is that people tend to stiffen up in cold weather and loosen up in hot weather. And you can throw farther when you're loose.

 

[Lewis]

Yes, I would agree that good technique matters, but I would say that strength matters too. Imagine u had two players with comparable technique, but one had more pure physical strength...who do u think would throw farther?

I don't think weightlifting ability matters, but muscle quickness does. You want arms like Bruce Lee, not arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And I'm not saying Bruce Lee couldn't lift some weights. The difference in this context is that he could hit you before you could blink. Imagine the "hit" he could put on a disc!

 

[MooTaters]

I think the common wisdom is the opposite: that warmer weather yields longer throws. My guess is that people tend to stiffen up in cold weather and loosen up in hot weather. And you can throw farther when you're loose.

Would that include humidity? As a friend of mine said a golf ball will go farther in very dry weather compared to humid weather(might have that backwards, but not sure). Just not sure how it effects a disc.