What were your big lightbulb moments?

[RowingBoats]

I, by default, define lay up, as a soft bid. Terrain, wind....can occsionally change it to a really soft bid, but I don't intentionally throw short of the basket, on purpose, very often. I might throw a lofty putt, to minimize the comeback. I might throw an anhyzer or nose up putt to do the same. I guess I just define layup differently?

I'm not trying to be the pedant police, but this seems to stretch words a bit too much haha.

The word lay-up, to have meaning, can't also mean soft bid. Laying up is a deliberate strategical decision to not give it a bid. I have never seen it defined as anything else.

 

[Flyzerhip]

I have been using a lot of the resources on this site to learn better technique and can reference several drills. Some of the lightbulb moments for backhand driving have been:

- Closed shoulder snap drill: putters and mids out to 75 meters fairly consistently

- Nose down: Pro Leopard to 90m almost consistently

- Better grip through experimenting with two and three finger power grip: increased consistency (I now mostly use fan grip but comfortable also with 3-4 finger power grips)

- Learning better weight shift timing through elephant walk drill: same or better results with way less effort, increased distance

- Shifting from internal focus ("this part of the body goes here while this part goes there") to external focus ("now I'm going to throw this disc far"): Thrasher to 120m but not consistently

Posted in the form critique section on here and learned the following (many thanks to Sidewinder and others):

- Slinging instead of pulling and firm wrist: way better consistency. So called "griplocks" 30 degrees to the right eliminated.

- Leading better with the butt/CoG through load the bow/doorframe drill: less effort. No worrying sensations of pain, strain or stress on the body even after playing several days in a row.

I keep trying to iron out bad habits (turning head back too early for example). I play mostly in the woods where hitting gaps, lines and tunnels is more important than more distance. A big problem when it comes to actually scoring well on a course seems to be unpredictable day to day form and disc selection. A disc that flies straight for me one day might turn over or fade out early the next! If anyone has any tips on how to deal with that, it would surely be another "lightbulb moment" and much appreciated.

 

[Brychanus]

I guess now that I think about it I've started to learn to do all of the above.

My pure layups are those where I'm using a disc like a Pig where I want minimal ground play and am trying to settle as close to the basket as possible. I tend to do that only when bounces or rolls are really likely.

If I have a decent backstop I'll often take a soft ace run/throw in line since the comeback putt is short.

If I can, I almost always take a spike-ish hyzer line or stall-to-hyzer that will either land close to parked or have a chance to go in which I think qualifies as a "soft bid".

Not sure if this is the highest-odds strategy.

 

[thecandydan]

I, by default, define lay up, as a soft bid. Terrain, wind....can occsionally change it to a really soft bid, but I don't intentionally throw short of the basket, on purpose, very often. I might throw a lofty putt, to minimize the comeback. I might throw an anhyzer or nose up putt to do the same. I guess I just define layup differently?

Forget the pedantics and semantics, this is how it works . . .

Heart: OK guys, these putts have given us a lot of trouble in the past, uh… do we need this putt or can we just lay it up?

Brain: Uhh, I think we might need this one. We could still be in position to cash.

Heart: OK, uhh well here's what we'll do, let's read that wind and re-check that slope behind the basket . . . we'll give it a soft bid . . . Arm, pull out the Nova so it'll stick if we miss. What kind of basket is that guys? Mach V? Mach III? Also check for distractions and double check the footing. I mean, we'll be in trouble if we hit cage and roll. Uhh, I think this is a pretty good plan, we should be able to pull it off this time. Uhh, what do you think Brain? Can you give me a number crunch real quick?

Brain: Uhhh . . . yeah, gimme a sec . . . I'm coming up with thirty-two point three three uh, repeating of course, percentage, of making the putt.

Heart: Uh…that's a lot better than we usually do. Uhh, alright, you think we're ready guys?

Arm: Alright chums, let's do this… LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIINS!

Brain & Heart: Oh my God he just ran it.

 

[Kennets]

Forget the pedantics and semantics, this is how it works . . .

Heart: OK guys, these putts have given us a lot of trouble in the past, uh… do we need this putt or can we just lay it up?

Brain: Uhh, I think we might need this one. We could still be in position to cash.

Heart: OK, uhh well here's what we'll do, let's read that wind and re-check that slope behind the basket . . . we'll give it a soft bid . . . Arm, pull out the Nova so it'll stick if we miss. What kind of basket is that guys? Mach V? Mach III? Also check for distractions and double check the footing. I mean, we'll be in trouble if we hit cage and roll. Uhh, I think this is a pretty good plan, we should be able to pull it off this time. Uhh, what do you think Brain? Can you give me a number crunch real quick?

Brain: Uhhh . . . yeah, gimme a sec . . . I'm coming up with thirty-two point three three uh, repeating of course, percentage, of making the putt.

Heart: Uh…that's a lot better than we usually do. Uhh, alright, you think we're ready guys?

Arm: Alright chums, let's do this… LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIINS!

Brain & Heart: Oh my God he just ran it.

The second i read "I'm coming up with thirty-two..." I knew i was in for a treat. Thanks for the laugh!

 

[Nick Pacific]

A lay up to the front of the basket has zero chance of going in....a layup TO the basket has a greater than zero chance. :thmbup:

Big brain, I like it. And any decent stick golfer knows you try and hole everything that isn't on the green

 

[BillFleming]

A big 'aha' for me was slowing down my run-up. Everything needs to be in synch and there's a fine line where I am going too fast for all the parts to work together and even too slow the same thing can happen. Your foot work, body, and arms need to be able to work together at the same speed. Finding that 'sweet spot' takes practice.

 

[txmxer]

I, by default, define lay up, as a soft bid. Terrain, wind....can occsionally change it to a really soft bid, but I don't intentionally throw short of the basket, on purpose, very often. I might throw a lofty putt, to minimize the comeback. I might throw an anhyzer or nose up putt to do the same. I guess I just define layup differently?

I think it is BGC contrarianism.

For soft bids, I prefer a nose up anhyzer throw.

On one of my local courses, there are several elevated baskets and some on mounds. If I'm 60' out on a basket like that, I'm likely to be laying up short and hoping to park it. I've lost more than a few strokes "going for it" with the resultant roll away or just long miss since it is elevated.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

The lightbulb moments didn't really happen for me for the first 7 years I played. I'm from a small town area lucky enough to get a course in 1989 but I hardly encountered anybody who knew what they were doing. Fast-forward to 1996 and moving to an area with a good and active club (the CCR folks in Lansing, MI), and I discovered how hard and crisp you have to throw these things to get them to do good stuff. They ain't like Frisbees. In two years I went from flicking a Stingray 200' and thinking I was decent to RHFH'ing Whippets and X-Clones over 300'. Mark Ellis helped me figure that out. I was fortunate having another soul nearby who also preferred forehands. Not many of us around back then.

It would be many, many more years before I'd figure out putting. I sucked until I bought my own basket in about 2000 and it would take another few years after that. That's key, always having a basket, and a stack of your preferred putter, and convincing yourself that it's fun to putt. I'd putt in my garage for years while grilling dinner, finally figuring out the whatever-it-is, a motion that's both fluid but involves a good "pop" at the end (my style is mostly a spin style), and using the lower body more too so less energy has to come from the arm. There's no shortcut there, though. Thousands and thousands of putts.

Now putting and upshots are the only thing I do well.

 

[Nick Pacific]

It would be many, many more years before I'd figure out putting. I sucked until I bought my own basket in about 2000 and it would take another few years after that. That's key, always having a basket, and a stack of your preferred putter, and convincing yourself that it's fun to putt.

This was exactly my experience as well. I got a basket sometime around 2014 or so and I just found myself in the yard everyday throwing putts, sometimes twice a day. It's one thing to pack all your stuff and drive down to the course. That's a hassle and hard to keep up with. It's a whole different thing when you can just walk right outside.

All the extra putts that come from reasons like "I got 30 minutes to kill" or "I have 5000 more steps to go" and often "I'm grilling and/or drinking and/or smoking outside" and you grab your putters because why not and 30 minutes just fly by and you've done hundreds of putts just accumulate over the years and before you know it you get good at putting.

 

[RowingBoats]

 

[RowingBoats]

This was exactly my experience as well. I got a basket sometime around 2014 or so and I just found myself in the yard everyday throwing putts, sometimes twice a day. It's one thing to pack all your stuff and drive down to the course. That's a hassle and hard to keep up with. It's a whole different thing when you can just walk right outside.

All the extra putts that come from reasons like "I got 30 minutes to kill" or "I have 5000 more steps to go" and often "I'm grilling and/or drinking and/or smoking outside" and you grab your putters because why not and 30 minutes just fly by and you've done hundreds of putts just accumulate over the years and before you know it you get good at putting.

You are both totally right though. These are my backyard putting vibes tonight:

 

[TiltedFlipCurves]

When I finally realized red tees exist for players like me

 

[lee76007]

Recently, a few weeks ago there was a x-step thread rear view featuring Tattar, Pierce, and McBeth. I'm 5 months into x-step throwing only, and I've been working on more whip and follow thru for distance the past month, before moving onto 3-step with putters. There's a difference how far out the plant foot is away from the body for all three Pro's. Mine was closer to Tattar, narrow, McBeth more than I would want way out there, but Pierce in between and decided to try it on field work. I like the results with more distance, and I can feel the whip and follow thru, so its staying in my form.

 

[txmxer]

Recently, a few weeks ago there was a x-step thread rear view featuring Tattar, Pierce, and McBeth. I'm 5 months into x-step throwing only, and I've been working on more whip and follow thru for distance the past month, before moving onto 3-step with putters. There's a difference how far out the plant foot is away from the body for all three Pro's. Mine was closer to Tattar, narrow, McBeth more than I would want way out there, but Pierce in between and decided to try it on field work. I like the results with more distance, and I can feel the whip and follow thru, so its staying in my form.

Watch Calvin.

 

[hisdudeness47]

Recently, a few weeks ago there was a x-step thread rear view featuring Tattar, Pierce, and McBeth. I'm 5 months into x-step throwing only, and I've been working on more whip and follow thru for distance the past month, before moving onto 3-step with putters. There's a difference how far out the plant foot is away from the body for all three Pro's. Mine was closer to Tattar, narrow, McBeth more than I would want way out there, but Pierce in between and decided to try it on field work. I like the results with more distance, and I can feel the whip and follow thru, so its staying in my form.

If you were like Corey Ellis and I, you'd 3 step everything like a bawss. Sideways gang woop woop.

 

[mojorooks]

I'm not trying to be the pedant police, but this seems to stretch words a bit too much haha.

The word lay-up, to have meaning, can't also mean soft bid. Laying up is a deliberate strategical decision to not give it a bid. I have never seen it defined as anything else.

Ah yes but how about a putt that you know you have little chance of making but still run it but do so in a manner that specifically leaves you not more than 20' from the basket? This is a lay-up AND putt. The term 'soft bid' fits here.

I have been using this strategy lately and its worked quite well for me. 70ft elevated basket?
Run it, plop! right next to the basket! Maybe its just a Rhyno/Pig thing...

 

[txmxer]

Ah yes but how about a putt that you know you have little chance of making but still run it but do so in a manner that specifically leaves you not more than 20' from the basket? This is a lay-up AND putt. The term 'soft bid' fits here.

I have been using this strategy lately and its worked quite well for me. 70ft elevated basket?
Run it, plop! right next to the basket! Maybe its just a Rhyno/Pig thing...

That's the point, it is a soft bid and not a layup.

If you watch this years World championships, you will see countless times when players truly layup, They aren't throwing a Barsby floater in hopes of getting lucky.

 

[hisdudeness47]

Ah yes but how about a putt that you know you have little chance of making but still run it but do so in a manner that specifically leaves you not more than 20' from the basket? This is a lay-up AND putt. The term 'soft bid' fits here.

I have been using this strategy lately and its worked quite well for me. 70ft elevated basket?
Run it, plop! right next to the basket! Maybe its just a Rhyno/Pig thing...

I've been nails with my 1/2 bid 1/2 lay up Berg flops lately. I practice them (I putt with a PA3). Used to do it with my floppy Rhyno but I switched. I think this is one of the most important shots in the game. You always get up and down and sometimes they go in. It's my favorite shot. I think it's more useful than a jump/step putt, especially since I play courses with lots of elevation changes/sloped greens/rollaway potential.

 

[ru4por]

That's the point, it is a soft bid and not a layup.

If you watch this years World championships, you will see countless times when players truly layup, They aren't throwing a Barsby floater in hopes of getting lucky.

I do concede that there is a difference, for many, between a lay up and soft bid. I guess I rarely lay up, when I do it is a shot to land behind the basket, lol.

I am rarely motivated to watch pro disc golf to help with my game. Their play and mine differ so vastly, it is not often a basis of comparison.