Towel Drill, What am I missing?

[Crosseyed0811]

So I don't get the towel drill. The first time I saw it was in the Climo and Feldberg DVD, and honestly Feldberg didn't explain it well there. I've read up here and watched videos and have realized now what the actual result I'm looking for is. However I cannot achieve it. I finally saw someone here (take your credit if you want because I don't remember who it was) explain that if you just started trying to snap a towel with your golf throw you were way off. Start by snapping a towel like you would in a locker room, then work it into a more disc golf throw, and then keep working it back till you're doing a full run up.

My problem is this. When I snap a towel "locker room style" the snap is actually caused by me pulling my hand BACK at the end of the snap. I punch my hand towards my target and then abruptly pull it back and get a nice crisp snap. Now this does not work well for a disc golf throw, and I cannot figure out how to get that same type of snap when incorporating a follow through the way you would in a disc golf throw. I feel like trying to throw a disc with the same concepts that I use to snap a towel would 1) throw the disc off to the side or better yet back towards me or 2) break my arm...

Any input here? What am I missing?

 

[garublador1]

You're missing correct timing. You can either mess around with your timing until you get the towel to snap or, and this is what I'd recommend, you can do the hammer pound drills and then go back to the towel drill to see if they help. IMO, the hammer pound drills do a lot better job of teaching what correct timing feels like than the towel drill. It's a few incremental steps rather than trying to "get" all of it at once just by experimentation.

 

[Crosseyed0811]

Where is the best description of those hammer pound drills? I've never fully understood what I was trying to accomplish with them from the write ups I've seen...

 

[emiller3]

Hammer Pound

Yeah, you'll never be able to snap a towel in your throw by trying to snap it like you would in a locker room, although the two are a fairly similar feeling in the wrist when you get it right. If you're not getting it, it's likely due to timing, which you'll probably only be able to fix with experimentation. Start with the hammer pound and try and integrate it into your throw. Try experimenting with some of these things:

Note: to me, the pull is from reach back to right pec, even though you aren't actively pulling with your arm.
Pull close and into the chest, don't even worry about the rest of your throw, just pull straight into your self and see what happens.
Use hip and shoulder turn to pull the disc through, let your arm just be a guide into your chest.
Get your weight forward during the pull.
Delay your elbow extension until your bent elbow is so far forward that your wrist starts to coil inward (the "right pec" position.)
Transition from the right pec position to the hammer pound to throw the disc.

If you get the right combination, you will feel resistance on the back of your wrist as you extend your forearm and try and pound the hammer with your wrist. When your wrist finally extends, the towel will snap forward, and you'll know it. It will feel like what you do with a towel in a locker room.

You can also experiment with reaching away from your body instead of straight back, sometimes this makes it easier for you to feel the wrist start to coil inward, especially if you tend to not get your elbow far enough forward after reaching straight back. If you still aren't feeling it, try pulling lower, sometimes you can get better leverage this way.

 

[ReDisculous]

My problem is this. When I snap a towel "locker room style" the snap is actually caused by me pulling my hand BACK at the end of the snap.

Snapping the towel with a throwing motion is still triggered by pulling back at the snap, it's just back in an OUTWARD motion instead of an inward one.

Throw the towel forward, shoulders pull the arm to the RIGHT and AROUND, which pulls the towel "BACK" and snaps it.

Instead of thinking "pull back" think, "direction change".

But yeah hammer drill>towel drill.

 

[Justinthrowsfar]

I had asked Blake a simliar question about the towel drill, and I got a different explanation. He told me that there is a good snap, and a bad snap you can get with the towel. The good snap is when the towel rides along itself during the pull through, and snaps at the end. The bad snap is when there is a delay and the towel makes a U shape, snapping just the tip, as opposed to it being one continuous motion. I could be wrong in my explanation of what was explained to me, so if I am feel free to correct me Blake, or anybody else who spoke with him about it.

 

[Crosseyed0811]

That sounds like what I was thinking too Archimedesjs

 

[Blake_T1]

I drew a graphic of this somewhere illustrating it. if your disc golf throw gets "bad" snap, it means your throw is pretty much f'd up on its timing/focus pretty royally don't feel bad if you fall into that category as roughly 98% of players are in the same boat.

found it:

and i did a new updated one with my drawing pad i bought last year showing the 2 key positions. ignore the shoulder orientation (it's off) and focus on the direction of the towel at those points.

 

[Blake_T1]

it's pretty easy to see the direction of the towel when you are doing it yourself. if it goes way off to the right you are probably "twirling" your shoulders and never really focusing your power into the power zone or the hit.

 

[Star Shark]

At least you know where your towel is.

 

[Crosseyed0811]

At least you know where your towel is.

+1

Thanks Blake! Btw, have you ever thought of having a DGR giveaway where people on here can enter to win some Autographed peices of your artwork?

 

[Blake_T1]

DGR donators receive a hand-drawn certificate of authenticity


I'm still ever so fond of this one. It took me like 4 hours back in 2002.

 

[garublador1]

DGR donators receive a hand-drawn certificate of authenticity


I'm still ever so fond of this one. It took me like 4 hours back in 2002.

Is the guy excited and running towards the basket because he made the putt or is he frantic, scared and running away from the giant letters that are chasing him?

 

[Crosseyed0811]

Lol, that's actually a VERY good question garublador...

 

[Blake_T1]

so did anyone actually go and do the towel drill and see if they were doing it right or not?

 

[Justinthrowsfar]

so did anyone actually go and do the towel drill and see if they were doing it right or not?

I actually had to record myself doing it because I couldn't tell whether or not it was shooting straight out at the end, or flairing into the U shape. Apparently I was doing it correctly. The purpose of the towel drill was just to practice timing, correct?

 

[Crosseyed0811]

so did anyone actually go and do the towel drill and see if they were doing it right or not?

Sorry, I forgot to respond here. I did, but its still hit or miss for me... Still working on things, I'm getting snap in my throws now and getting much better "action" off the discs. A little more distance starting to show up as well. Thanks for all the help you give us Blake

 

[itlnstln]

If you are having trouble with the towel drill ("U-shape"), I would highly suggest watching Brad's latest video. While I wasn't having problems with "connecting the dots" as he is specifically addressing, I did have a problem "twirling" my shoulders. Doing Brad's drill reinforced the timing/positions I was losing with poor shoulder rotation. After doing Brad's drill, my towel drill was "fixed" and discs were coming out a lot straighter and faster. Now, I have re-learn how to aim. Again.

 

[jhilton]

Who is Brad and where is his latest video?

 

[JR]

he used to be a moderator here and all his Youtube vids are on channel citysmasher1. He has updated his thinking from the snap videos of old, but they are usable still.