My contention is that the current best disc golfers in the world aren't in that position because of their physical gifts, and athleticism, but because there is not a significant talent pool to offer them any real competition. Therefore, them being able to devote extra time to practice, puts them in a position to continuously win tournaments, and perform well against the level of talent around them. Performance is a product of time devoted to practice, and athleticism, where both are inversely proportional to one another. I.E. Somebody with not much athleticism, given enough time, will be at the same level as somebody with more athleticism, and little time.
I believe that were somebody with a more pronounced athletic background, say a college baseball player from a division 2 school, to devote the same amount of time to training disc golf, they would surpass the top players in a short amount of time. Not only in scores, but in distance, putting range, etc. I say this for several reasons, but mainly from the watching guys with even modest sports backgrounds find instant success at disc golf.
If I recall correctly, there was a gentleman on here(or possibly DGR) who plays semi-professional football, and decided to try to learn to throw for distance. He had only 2 discs to practice with, and was able to break 500' on a consistent basis with minimal practice after 2 weeks. I'm not saying distance translates to instant success, but it's something that a lot of top pros had to train years to achieve, and many still can't do. Another example is a gentleman by the name of Glenn P. He's a pretty big guy, and was able to push discs out past 500' primarily using only upper body strength. The sound the discs make when they leave his hand, and the flight characteristics are like nothing I've seen on video from any of the top pros, let alone in person. He's not throwing huge anhyzers, or hyzer flips, he's throwing flat, straight shots that get out to 400' in a few seconds before even starting to have any action.
Now, think about somebody like a college baseball pitcher. They're capable of propelling a fast ball to 85-90mph from 60' away, into a strike zone of about 3 square feet. To do that consistently requires a firm understanding of weight transfer, body mechanics, and all the skills that would translate into a disc golf throw. Not to mention the similarities between a baseball swing, and a backhand throw. I find it hard to believe that somebody capable of learning to do that, would be unable to grasp something as simple as a disc golf backhand, forehand, overhand, or putt in a short period of time. Not only learn it, but excel at it.
If people with sports backgrounds that don't translate to disc golf pick it up so quickly, guys who have trained their whole life in a sport, and had success doing so at high levels, would excel. What are others' opinions?
