Here's another item to add to the "Things You See The Pros Do A Lot & The Amateurs Do Rarely" (in regards to aiming) list: they aim from a much more "open" position.
There's probably a better way to say that, but what I mean is, when they aim, generally, their throwing arm is extended out in front of them along the target line with the disc-holding hand in the neighborhood of 2/3 o'clock if the disc were a clock face. In other words, they aim from the actual release point/ finish position upon disc release. Seems pretty obvious, right. But how many amateurs do you see set up to throw like this?
Check out the Paul McBeth/ Heather Young/ Gavin Rathbun pre-shot routine GIFs already posted in this thread - practice swing followed by that "open", extended toward the target arm/ hand aim position. It's pretty pronounced in Eagle McMahon's pre-shot routine, and Chris Dickerson's, too. You can check it out in the GIFs of Eagle already posted in this thread, and here's a quick example of Dickerson (Round 1 Hole 2 Idlewild 2021 Jomez Productions):
Matthew Orum, the crown jewel of pronounced wrist curl golf disc throwing, finishes his pre-shot routine by aiming like this with a (relatively) straight wrist. Here's a quick example from Round 2 Hole 3 Delaware 2021 Jomez Productions:
Calvin Heimburg seems to have a pretty minimalist pre-shot routine (I've never seen him play in person, though). No practice swing - he just goes to the front/sometimes only halfway down the tee pad and aims like this (Round 1 Hole 1 MVP Open 2021 Jomez Productions):
Calvin is so quick that I could only find pre-shot routine coverage on Hole #1s for him. This is Round 3 Hole 1 Ledgestone 2021 Jomez Productions:
The point with Calvin being: it's an important enough pre-shot routine element to make the cut even with his quick play.
Again, aiming like this seems like a really obvious thing to do & almost not worth discussing, but I almost never see amateur players set up with the disc like this. I might be biased in this observation, though, because it is something that I did not do until recently. When I "aimed" my throw in my pre-shot routine, I did so with a closed hand/ wrist holding the disc at about 12 o'clock. Anecdotally, switching to a more open, arm extended down the target line, hand at about 2/3 o'clock aiming point in my pre-shot routine has helped me clean up some missing-to-the-right-of-intended-line issues.
What do y'all think? In your experience, is this actually a significant difference between professional and amateur pre-shot routines, similar to going-to-the-front-of-the-tee-pad? Or is it a very obvious thing that I did not see?
Obligatory, Simpsons did it first:
From:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu4CzVnITlo
