Corey's Form Improvement

[Coreymill]

I first played disc golf bit under a year ago. However, I quickly got pretty into it and have recently been throwing in a nearby field almost every day for fun and 'hopefully' improvement.

I'm about 6' 3", have really long/lanky arms, and have always been pretty athletic. However, I have not been able to throw as far as I 'think' I should be capable of. I tend to max out around 340'-350'.

When I first started throwing I read some old threads on here and tried teaching myself as best I could. I have since been following others' Form Critique threads looking for advice that I thought applied to me too. I am now feeling a bit lost and like I'm trying anything and everything without really 'knowing' what I should be working on to improve. I am finally biting the bullet and asking for guidance.

Thanks for any help in advance.


Here are a couple videos of me throwing this evening.

https://youtu.be/hUHE3s454OQ
https://youtu.be/LWGw2IdEXHQ

 

[sidewinder22]

Looks rough on your front leg, hyper extending knee. You are opening up into the plant instead of staying turned back and leading everything forward with your weightshift in dynamic balance and then swinging on the front leg.

 

[Coreymill]

I got the chance to throw a bit today and focused solely on planting with my front foot closed.

Although the angle of my front foot at plant is better, I seem to have lost some balance after release/spin out more than normal. I also think I am probably starting my throw too early (before planting). I must admit that I am unsure what is causing the hyper-extension of my knee so I'm not sure how to go about fixing that issue. I have run into knee pain after a round of throwing a few times before.

I will try and video a few One Leg Drill throws the next time I'm in the field.

https://youtu.be/7uNa3bRu7JA

 

[sidewinder22]

Yeah, you are swinging early or pulling/bending the elbow early. You also "reachback" too early. You should be starting the swing by shifting all your weight forward and the elbow should bend from lag(weight of the door frame/disc being pulled through the whole arm) as the shoulder goes forward.

 

[Coreymill]

It's been a couple weeks since I last posted a video, but I have been working on improving things and incorporating the suggested drills into my practice.

There are things that I think I'm doing better, which is good, but changing things up/getting rid of habits is a slower process than I'd hoped. Anyway, there are things that I see here that I think are problems ... but I think I will keep them to myself this time and listen to/see what issues other people see in my form.

Thanks for the help so far.

https://youtu.be/my9lb7ZPVt0

 

[sidewinder22]

No balance, center, forward leverage or lateral move from the left leg. Still landing on your front leg really rough, you aren't able land in dynamic upright balance on it because you are so far off balance on the rear leg. Your rear arm is way out away and behind you creating havoc - keep your elbow near your hip and use your legs to turn your body into the backswing instead of the arm. See how Dave's backswing is centered laterally on the rear leg, and the shoulder is leveraged forward of the foot, pendulum/disc hangs straight down as foot strides over so everything is upright and compact right over the foot. You on the over hand are very tipped over and spread out over your rear foot with front foot leading stride majorly and head hanging back majorly and peddling the bicycle backwards.

Do some Open to Closed Drill toward the end of Crush the Can like Lizotte.

 

[Coreymill]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

The following videos have a few clips of me attempting a drill, followed by me throwing with a short x-step immediately after the previous drill. Apologies that my feet are cut out some of the time, will make sure not to do that in the future.

Open to Closed Drill: https://youtu.be/9E09XGqzG-o

Open to Closed+Kick the Can: https://youtu.be/YkQVX3Xi6pY

 

[sidewinder22]

Your eyes are closed, and you are still turning your front foot and whole front side open before plant.
You are hugging yourself.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2899399#post2899399

 

[slowplastic]

Yeah the biggest thing I see is that your torso and front side is thinking "open" or "throw" as you are landing...your arm is getting pulled forward before your weight and body are telling it to be there. Got to move laterally, land closed, use the weight and balance on the front leg to THEN turn your body.

You're essentially getting early releases with a short arm length because of how the arm and disc are getting pulled to your chest, because of the torso opening too early.

 

[Coreymill]

Been focusing on not opening up early the last few times I've thrown. However, focusing on something new seems to have brought back some other habits I had been trying to fix before.

Anyway, definitely not there yet, but posting a video of throws from today regardless.

https://youtu.be/iosDQ1fB4DI

 

[sidewinder22]

I would scrap the x-step and work from standstill and One Leg Drill. You need to rethink how you throw and slow down. You are going to hurt yourself if you continue hyperextending your knee like that. You aren't landing in athletic stacked balance on your front leg, your head is behind your front heel toward right tee side looking from behind the tee. Your stance is too staggered closed. You would never have your head behind your heels in a squat. Your head should be more over your toes in athletic ready position. This is much easier to see in camera view behind the tee.

If you were doing the Door Frame Drill, you would be leaning back behind your rear leg with your arm fully extended, and dragging the door frame forward striding into the plant several feet. In Hershyzer Drills your head is going the wall behind your rear foot and you are kicking the front wall way before your butt hits.

 

[Coreymill]

Thanks. Definitely agree about needing to re-think how to throw.

I'll only throw standstill moving forward. Will post video as soon as I have the chance and go from there.

 

[slowplastic]

Yeah, and focus on balance and leverage...not pure power/speed/distance while adjusting. You have lots of efficiency to gain, and you'll have way less strain on the body. But don't try to smash standstills, try to get the balance to work for you.

 

[Coreymill]

Here's how things are looking after my first day of starting over with my throw.

I tried setting up on my front leg before and throwing.

 

[sidewinder22]

Setup and Address to the target...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IFO7J3AV5Y#t=5m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-KVWfUkQ3s#t=3m14s

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

Here's how things are looking after my first day of starting over with my throw.

I tried setting up on my front leg before and throwing.

Try thinking "golf swing" or "baseball swing" not disc golf throw. Right now you're spinning in place, not resisting with your braced front leg.

 

[sidewinder22]

Try thinking "golf swing" or "baseball swing" not disc golf throw. Right now you're spinning in place, not resisting with your braced front leg.

Also looks like somebody trying to throw via keeping their head down or chin tucked. Keep your head or chin UP! or rather neutral to spine for upright posture.

 

[Coreymill]

Today was the first day the weather's been nice enough to go throw.

I tried to slow down more(less power/effort), and focused on brace/resistance.

 

[slowplastic]

I'm not 100% on this, but I think your right hip and right shoulder are balanced over your right leg during the throw, rather than your spine being balanced over the leg as in your setup. So I think this is really stopping your right side as well as not really leveraging the right shoulder. I'm interested to see what SW has to say, your throw is kind of tricky for me to assess.

 

[sidewinder22]

Camera view from behind the tee will give you a much better perspective of this. You are too staggered in your stance and landing the front foot really flat footed with your body behind your heel/right teepad side too much, your front knee is bent but your shin appears vertical so you are in a seated position, rather than an athletic forward squat position with the knee more over the toes and shin angled. Your knee is snapping back behind your ankle. Your shoulder is coming through behind/right teepad side of your front knee, instead of shoulder coming through over knee toward left teepad side. You need to land on the front foot with it more underneath you athletically going from toes to heel.

Backswing looks really weak, not turning back enough. The front knee should kick more inward/back away from target in the backswing as the front hip turns back pulling the knee back and heel up above toes. Your heel barely rises, it stays flat with your toes. Door Frame Drill should help get you into better tug of war position leading more with your butt/weight.

Looks like you are hugging yourself and letting the upper arm/elbow lag back too far.

Also looks like you are throwing with your eyes closed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMC6OYzb3oY&t=3m10s