Tech disc test driven development

[Sewer bill]

I think it's interesting how much you are trying to incorporate this data into your game and I'm curious to see how it works out.

For me personally I don't need to know what speed and angle and launch and such to throw a shot shape when I step up to a tee. So far as 1. and 2. I don't think it would hurt or help my game but it would be fun to reference occasionally.

I do find all of this interesting and I think putting might be a useful application of the tech disc too. I think you could end up getting swamped with being too analytical on something you could just nail the muscle memory for and execute off the tee. But maybe you blend better knowing the micro adjustments and what they reference to.

It's a cool experiment either way and I hope you keep posting your findings.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

I think it's interesting how much you are trying to incorporate this data into your game and I'm curious to see how it works out.

For me personally I don't need to know what speed and angle and launch and such to throw a shot shape when I step up to a tee. So far as 1. and 2. I don't think it would hurt or help my game but it would be fun to reference occasionally.

I do find all of this interesting and I think putting might be a useful application of the tech disc too. I think you could end up getting swamped with being too analytical on something you could just nail the muscle memory for and execute off the tee. But maybe you blend better knowing the micro adjustments and what they reference to.

It's a cool experiment either way and I hope you keep posting your findings.

Yeah, of course no one needs to know the speed to throw well and play well because pretty much no one has that data while playing, so of course you're going to learn to throw fine without it.

I can play fine without ever looking at a distance either on a T sign or the distance I threw or to the pin on UDisc and you probably could too. Just gauging visual distance as it relates to effort level required for certain discs. But, if you always had the distances at every moment, you wouldn't be able to help it, that info would get synthesized and inform you and your intuition. And we see this with lots of pros playing games like guessing distances before they range it, they are constantly calibrating their visual distance recognition because once they start taking the distances into account more regularly they become more deeply attuned with that info in relation to their throw feeling and intuition.

 

[RowingBoats]

Yeah, of course no one needs to know the speed to throw well and play well because pretty much no one has that data while playing, so of course you're going to learn to throw fine without it.

I can play fine without ever looking at a distance either on a T sign or the distance I threw or to the pin on UDisc and you probably could too. Just gauging visual distance as it relates to effort level required for certain discs. But, if you always had the distances at every moment, you wouldn't be able to help it, that info would get synthesized and inform you and your intuition. And we see this with lots of pros playing games like guessing distances before they range it, they are constantly calibrating their visual distance recognition because once they start taking the distances into account more regularly they become more deeply attuned with that info in relation to their throw feeling and intuition.

This all makes me kind of curious now. How many pros actually use range finders in tournament play? My experience watching a ton of disc golf would say almost none of them.

 

[itlnstln]

This all makes me kind of curious now. How many pros actually use range finders in tournament play? My experience watching a ton of disc golf would say almost none of them.

I would disagree with that. Kristin Tattar and Missy Gannon use theirs frequently on coverage. Big Jerm and Uli are always using theirs on practice rounds. Gannon Buhr was using his on a recent skins, IIRC. I think they use them quite a bit. In a lot of cases it's their caddies using them if you're looking for it

 

[Nick Carroll]

I have to confess that I use my rangefinder all the time, and it's been a great training tool for me to get distances right on my own without it. It actually gives me more leeway to not use it as much because I've managed to dial in guessing distances very well if the shot is 250' feet or in. I'm usually off no more than 1-5% now because of it. I think they can be overused, but players seem to be using them as briefly as possible, and as little as possible, when I'm watching these livestreams and practice rounds.

 

[Brychanus]

I have a rangefinder and when I was using it regularly I didn't slice things into very small increments. But it did help me get much more sensitive to maybe 30' differences in longer shots, which is often the difference between being in C1 or not (because that's about its radius).

Now that I'm thinking about it, after I did it with the rangefinder for a few rounds I never had to think about it again and am rarely off by more than 30' in judgment within the ranges I throw. Probably would get more sensitive if I did more, which would be interesting if my shot distance and precision increase enough to exploit it.

Training brains is cool!

 

[itlnstln]

I don't use my range finder often. I do find it helpful converted ball golf courses, though. There's usually enough… stuff in the landscape to get perspective. On open, converted courses, 325' seems to look like 225' to me

Playing in a tourney today on a wooded course, probably not going to break it out

 

[HyzerRoc]

I dont have any gadgets but I think measuring throws in the field and reading the distances on tee signs (assuming those are accurate) is really helpful.

Knowing how far you can reach with certain shapes and discs lets me make judgements not just off of intuition but off of some data. Intuition would tell me how much further the distance drivers would reach or being nervous would make me reach for them for safety. But when measuring your shots out in a field you can rely on the knowledge that you can reach a hole with a mid instead of a fairway. As Brychanus pointed out it is also not necessary to measure every throw all the time. Some data is enough to extrapolate from that for a given situation and it gives some confidence to pull off a shot.

I don't use my range finder often. I do find it helpful converted ball golf courses, though. There's usually enough… stuff in the landscape to get perspective. On open, converted courses, 325' seems to look like 225' to me

Playing in a tourney today on a wooded course, probably not going to break it out

Yeah depth perception can be weird. Eyeballing distances in different environments is really difficult. A hole might seem far on a wooded course which would lead me to reach for a distance drives that will inevitably fade into the bushes on the left when a mid might be enough and it was just the bunch of trees making it seem further than it actually is. Opposite is true on wide open courses. On a golf style course there is not much to go off of when judging distance as it is just flat and perfectly maintained grass. Stuff seems like it is close when it actually isn't just because everything is wide open. A rangefinder is a good tool in those situations even if it is just to practice your depth perception against the data of the rangefinder.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

This all makes me kind of curious now. How many pros actually use range finders in tournament play? My experience watching a ton of disc golf would say almost none of them.

How do you think they've all come to largely agree on distances visually? They aren't all perfect but they are largely close in their approximations to each other. They had to repeatedly, over time, validate their sense of distance to something concrete that they are calibrating closer to. They didn't get better at visually recognizing distances by never checking the actual distance, whether it's with a range finder, tee sign, UDisc, whiskers, or other markers, or word of mouth from someone who has checked the distance through some means.

Edit: how much they currently use a range finder isn't even the point. The point is, they've used some data to increase their accuracy over time, they rely on the data less, precisely because they used the data enough to achieve accurate calibration. The same way, the tech disc data can help you calibrate and the more accurately you are calibrated the less you need to reference the data except to recalibrate.

 

[HyzerRoc]

Calvin seems to be on the side opposing range finders

 

[disc-golf-neil]

Calvin seems to be on the side opposing range finders

That's an interesting take, but it's kind of a separate but related topic. I initially thought he was going to be against it flat out but he said it's part of practice. Maybe he doesn't even use it much in practice, but if his visual distance apprehension magically got 2x worse, you bet your ass he's going to start practicing with it more to improve since he's a competitor.

I wouldn't be upset at at a rule against using it during the tournament.

 

[Nick Carroll]

I'm against rules preventing the use of range finders. We have rules in place already that could be enforced if there's a problem taking too much time. I've played several tournaments and a lot of unsanctioned minis and league rounds and it's just not been a common problem in my admittedly limited experience. Practically everyone I've seen use it, or myself, tries to make it as brief as possible, and even if you have a full card where everyone has one, I just don't see it causing a backup. People tend to self-regulate usage well from what I've seen.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

I'm against rules preventing the use of range finders. We have rules in place already that could be enforced if there's a problem taking too much time. I've played several tournaments and a lot of unsanctioned minis and league rounds and it's just not been a common problem in my admittedly limited experience. Practically everyone I've seen use it, or myself, tries to make it as brief as possible, and even if you have a full card where everyone has one, I just don't see it causing a backup. People tend to self-regulate usage well from what I've seen.

One downside is if you happened to not have a chance to practice the course and are playing it blind. A rule against rangefinders would punish players that had to play blind due to outside circumstances.

 

[sidewinder22]

Yesterday before dubs my friend Brett got the mph record. He missed the net a couple throws later and hit someone's car, luckily it hit the window and was only 54mph. He also threw a record FH 67mph but wobble was 20.

I hit my BH mph record with a windmill backswing 63mph.

 

[disc-golf-neil]

Yesterday before dubs my friend Brett got the mph record. He missed the net a couple throws later and hit someone's car, luckily it hit the window and was only 54mph. He also threw a record FH 67mph but wobble was 20.

I hit my BH mph record with a windmill backswing 63mph.
View attachment 339001

What the heck? Was the 99 from the car hit?

Do a pre windmill to wind up for a more powerful windmill for the next PR, lol.

When going for my max speed, I have to keep reminding myself to try harder otherwise I just slip into a more comfortable and repeatable high speed mode.

 

[Nick Carroll]

What the heck? Was the 99 from the car hit?

I, too, would like to know what happened here. That said, I got this answer to my question "how long or far the Tech Disc gathers data before stopping" from Michael Sizemore, from Tech Disc:

"The TechDisc measures data for about 20 ms after release. That comes out to less than 2 feet for most people and less than 3 feet for the fastest throwers. We typically recommend 3 feet of free flight to be safe."

So it must have been some wind-up or 360 type deal to produce a 99 mph throw.

 

[Sewer bill]

I, too, would like to know what happened here. That said, I got this answer to my question "how long or far the Tech Disc gathers data before stopping" from Michael Sizemore, from Tech Disc:

"The TechDisc measures data for about 20 ms after release. That comes out to less than 2 feet for most people and less than 3 feet for the fastest throwers. We typically recommend 3 feet of free flight to be safe."

So it must have been some wind-up or 360 type deal to produce a 99 mph throw.

I watched him do the 99mph throw. It was a regular ol backhand but he grip locked it into the dirt. He said it hung on his finger.

 

[BenjiHeywood]

Michael from techdisc explained some of the weird numbers to me. The disc needs to be stationary at some point in the 6 seconds before release, as it calibrates itself when it can only feel gravity. If you windmill or shadow swing for longer than that without a pause, you'll get some funky stuff.

 

[RowingBoats]

Michael from techdisc explained some of the weird numbers to me. The disc needs to be stationary at some point in the 6 seconds before release, as it calibrates itself when it can only feel gravity. If you windmill or shadow swing for longer than that without a pause, you'll get some funky stuff.

Calibrates itself at a moment of motionlessness? This seems bizarre. I don't think many people have a similar point in their swing where the disc is only "feeling gravity". Not with the disc in an identical position at least

 

[BenjiHeywood]

Calibrates itself at a moment of motionlessness? This seems bizarre. I don't think many people have a similar point in their swing where the disc is only "feeling gravity". Not with the disc in an identical position at least

It's just working out where zero speed is, so it can calculate the motion from there. Nearly everyone will have a stationary point before they start the walk up, or the pendulum backswing, or whatever their initial movement is. It's a rare person that takes a disc out of their bag and just walks on to the tee and into a throw without ever stopping and setting themselves.

The disc records data all the time, but constantly overwrites it if it's not needed, and only uploads the 6 seconds prior to release. Six seconds is usually enough to include that stopped part of someone's routine, but something like the elephant walk drill etc could confuse it.