RHBH with a bad knee

[gcr_russell]

I have a real bad right knee that I've had surgery on a couple of times and constantly is causing me problems, and Im only 23. because of that I only drive forehand, which isnt a problem too much at my only local course, 9 hole, with all open shots and the longest pin being 350 feet which I have no problem hitting forehand. However I would really like to diversify my game and I can only RHBH safely up to 200ish feet.
I also have a lot of work to do on driving with midranges forehand. I cant ever seem to do what I want with my ESP buzzz or my pro roc unless its in the 150 range RHBH. after playing 8-10 rounds today I still seemed to not be able to hit any of those shots. Any advice for a newly readdicted disc golfer?

 

[discinator]

Learning to throw mids forehand is not too hard. I had to really learn to slow my arm speed down and give them a really good flick with the wrist. From about 200 and in I prefer forearm, it just seems more accurate to me. Just keep practicing with the mids and putters. When you can throw the putters sidearm you can throw anything.

 

[gcr_russell]

When I get to the course after work tomorrow Ill try that out. Maybe Ill go my first round solely using my KC pro Roc and Buzz of the Tee Pad and focus on technique and finesse. I naturally go higher speed thinking that I need to throw it that much harder to get a mid range to go the distance I want and they turnover and roll on me all the time. My RHBH game though is my biggest concern right now, but being only a month or two back into the game Ive got a laundry list of things to work on, and have been making incredibly fast progress in nearly all areas, possibly because I eat sleep and breathe disc golf now. I even use the laundry basket in the back dock at the restaurant where Im a manager to practice my putting several times a night at work

 

[Lewis]

By all means, avoid overstressing your knees. If you end up with chronic injuries or chronic pain because you tried too hard to learn a backhand drive, you'll end up unable to walk the course at all. I tore up my left ACL when I was 22, and my orthopedist told me at the time that he could get it back to 90% with surgery, but that it would never again be as good as new. My experience confirms this, as I soon learned it feels gimpy when I try to play basketball on it, even though it feels normal in day-to-day life. I've since given up basketball, and found other sports to fill the gap. Maybe you'll have to sacrifice learning the backhand drive for similar reasons.

Take care of you knees, and you should be mobile the rest of your life. Abuse them, and you'll be on a walker or worse by 50. Have you tried any therapy? May I suggest yoga?

 

[landon77]

I would think your on the right track, Drive with your forehand, approach easy with your backhand. I generate alot of power on my rhbh throws and it involves twisting my body and knees. I can attest to limiting the amount of power throws because I do get sore. I would concentrate on your approaches as back hands with basic arm motion--- this might help extend your career.

 

[gcr_russell]

thats pretty much what Ive been doing. Im just concentrating on form when it comes to backhand and limiting myself to throwing it under 200 feet, seems like my roc and buzzz fill that gap pretty well. Im also working on all my different shots now forehand just modifying my power. As of today finally I can get my buzzz or roc a comfortable 250 forehand and anything around 300 goes to my teebird. I settle on a flick, destroyer, or boss past that range.
As far as the knee goes after my most recent surgery in february the doctor said I should never play basketball or anything else again, which used to be a big thing of mine, fortunately disc golf has replaced all other sports as my all time favorite. Yoga may be doable.. Id sure have to take it easy but it may be a good idea to alleviate some of the potential problems.

 

[Lewis]

Oh for sure if you try yoga, work into it slowly, and don't attempt anything that hurts your knees. I've heard a yoga teacher more than once say, "You can mess with the gods, but you can't mess with your knees: the gods are more forgiving."

 

[Woodpecker]

Yeah, I have the same problem. Two broken drumsticks for knees from playing tourney raquetball well into my 30's.

When I started playing, I was throwing RHBH but was afraid to twist hard out of my X step due to my knees. All I got was about 200-225 on my drives.

One night, I was rooting through Youtube looking at DG videos and came across the Discraft video on forehand drives. The guy in the video said something about being an ex-raquetball player and how a forehand raquetball stroke is basically the same as a disc forehand.

And he was right.

Overnight, my drives went out over 300' and now I average 375 to 400 without much strain on my knees.

My only problem was long dog leg left holes that since the discs tend to tail off to the right at the end.

This last week, I discovered if I release the disc at about a 30 degree up angle and really pop it with firm grip, I can anny my DC Force, Boss or Destroyer on a dog leg left hole and still get it out there between 300-350'.

In close, I use RHBH on flick shots with no stress to my knees.

Hey, it works for me occassionally. Try it!

Woodpecker

 

[garublador]

I can't give many useful technique tips for forhand, just to keep your palm perpendicular to the flight plate, not parallel, but if you're forced to throw mainly forehand I'd recommend following all the drills and disc selection advice you see for backhand. Many times people recommend more overstable discs for forehand, but those people are generally only using forhand as a complement to their backhand throw. You'll want to have much more flight shaping abilities.

Work with stable putters, stable mids (the Roc and Buzzz are perfect) and stable to understable drivers. Get them all to hold all sorts of lines (hyzer, anhyzer, straight, 'S'). Just like being a lefty, having a good turnover shot will be really useful.

 

[solomon.trenton]

http://www.innovadiscs.com/tips/davestips.html

try Dave's driving tips and look at the drive charts (in pdf) they really helped me.