Form help greatly appreciated

[powerofhope]

Hello, I've been playing for several years off and on and only recently decided to try to fix many of the problems with my form. I'm throwing 275-325 give or take. I think playing for so long, I've ingrained some bad habits into my form that I'd like to try to iron out.

I've tried to figure a lot of it out on my own, but after a few frustrating field sessions, I think it's time I try to get some outside feedback. I'm sure there's some glaring things that I'm missing.

I think I'm rounding a bit. And I believe I might be pulling through a bit too high. Other than that, I'm quite clueless.

Here's the video: https://youtu.be/Bqmw1uurozY

Any and all is feedback is genuinely and greatly appreciated. If you notice something that's explained well in an instructional video or resource, please let me know I'll check it out. Thank you!

 

[sidewinder22]

Yep. Need to stop x-stepping and relax and work on fundamental balance and posture and centrifugal swing with left arm in front of body.

 

[powerofhope]

Thank you greatly for the advice and the resources. I look forward to working my way through them and trying to establish a good base. Here's to it! Thanks again.

 

[powerofhope]

After some recommendations I got in this thread and from some other I've asked, I spent some time outside working on my drive without an x-step. I tried to focus on balance and getting the basics down before I started incorporating an x-step back into my throw.

Any more feedback on my throw would be greatly appreciated. I'm throwing at about 60 percent power with putters, just trying to get a fluid motion, though some things still feel a bit off. I feel like I might not be pulling through correctly, still maybe rounding a bit but I'm not sure.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HU0F84ds-Q

Thank you!

 

[sidewinder22]

You are starting your backswing with a lean/tip over rear leg away from target, so your head is moving away instead of your shoulder swinging back behind your head.

So when you lean/tip back, you end up planting too staggered closed and stomping flat footed.

Step forward and swing out. Don't lean back and stomp and pull in or straight.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132910

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxnhM5amro0#t=23s

 

[powerofhope]

I've never noticed how much weight I put on my rear leg until you pointed that out, going through all my old form videos I'm seeing the same thing. Thanks so much for shedding some light on this and all that you do for the DG community. I'm going to dive into those resources and drills and try to correct my issues. Thanks again.

 

[CalHon]

Wow there are some really great teachers in here!

 

[Cowabungapizzabomb]

Powerofhope in addition to your teeter tottering that SW pointed out, your left side is late to engage and left arm is swinging out. I know from experience with both of these that the left side dragging and swinging exacerbates the tipping. Don't want to throw too much at you at once but at some point you'll want to get the left arm going down/kinda targetward and in tight to your body right as your plant foot hits.

 

[powerofhope]

Sorry this is a little late, but thank you so much. After your response I watched a lot of footage to see what the left arm of the best throwers is doing, and your point made a ton of sense. Tucking it in tight. That's something I'll definitely be adding to my throw at some point. Thank you again.

 

[powerofhope]

I've spent the last few times out throwing focusing on stepping into my shot. As Sidewinder pointed out, I was tipping back a lot. I still am some, I think, though my muscle memory has gotten more used to stepping into the shot. The hershyzer drill also has been really effective in showing me a glimpse of how the weight transfer might begin to feel when executed correctly.

Here's an updated look at my form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Q24SUssoU

I've really not gained any distance since I began honing in on form, but this just goes to show I have a lot to improve on fundamentally. Thanks again for all the responses so far and for any in the future. I've learned a lot of valuable information, though putting into practice is an entirely separate beast. Thank you!

 

[sidewinder22]

Looking better. Looks like you are trying to do too much with your x-step. Keep your legs straighter and flow thru.

 

[powerofhope]

Thanks as always for the feedback!

Yeah my x-step needs some work for sure. I'll try keeping my legs straight. I think with how I'm doing it now, it's forcing my hips to awkward angles and making things more inefficient on my body. I'm excited for the wind to calm down a bit on the southern plains so I can get to work

 

[powerofhope]

I'm back with another update! I've had quite a few epiphanies lately from watching pro's form videos about how to get the lower body involved. In my previous video I noticed my lower body playing such a minimal role in my drive and that's obviously something I need to fix.

Here's where I'm at right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXObSsQc6QI

My goal is to take things slow and really make sure I'm getting my hips involved in the throw, though I think my timing is definitely off, I'm just not sure what is early and what is late. I think my x-step is still a little weird, though I've tried to reign it in thanks the advice I received in this thread.

Any advice would mean a great deal. I've really fallen in love with this game again and seeing the disc fly an extra 20-30 feet is such an amazing feeling, though I have so much more work to do. Thanks again.

 

[sidewinder22]

Looking a little better, still kind of funky footwork/balance. Camera from behind tee might help more.

Turn your head back and pay attention to your disc. Get your chin up above your shoulder, so your shoulder can swing back underneath further.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134415

 

[powerofhope]

I've also wondered why Ricky keeps his chin so high in his reach back. Makes total sense. Thanks again! I'm always left with a ton to think about and try to work into my throw.

 

[powerofhope]

Hi everyone, been a bit. I've been able to consistently add another 20-30 feet of distance to my throw but in taping myself again I'm seeing that there's some things fundamentally wrong, still.

Video: https://youtu.be/lS4Rxy4eC58

It seems like my upper body is sort of 'spinning', rather than getting that nice snap of the whip. Is there something with my timing that is causing it?

My reachback is also very high, it seems.

Thank you for any response, it means a ton.

 

[sidewinder22]

The ground is throwing you back up off it, instead of pivoting thru. Looks like injury about to happen. All your steps are off from the start of the x-step and you get stuck on your rear foot going into the plant. It should feel very different changing your footwork to the correct direction. Should be more like dancing, getting taller in the x-step like ballerina and then falling lower into the plant like pushing a boat off the dock or going down the stairs.

 

[powerofhope]

Thank you so much for the response SW, you're insight is always worth a ton to me. I'm really going to make an effort to reconstruct my footwork altogether.

Aside from footwork, do you know why specifically my plant foot is popping up? I know footwork plays the biggest role, but I'm just trying to wrap my mind around how it's happening. If there's something with my timing? Maybe I'm taking too wide of a final step. My energy must getting diverted improperly or something. Is this a problem you've seen in the past? Watching my old videos, my plant foot pops up in every one. I definitely want to understand this better and avoid an injury.

Thank you a million times over, as always.

 

[lostDoughnut]

Whenever i popped up on my plant leg a few things were happening for myself.

1. i was doing to powerful of a knee flexion (elephant walk drill helped me fix this) . also my knee flexion was coming on too late. my knee flexion was occuring when my plant leg was already vertical. that cause me to hop. vs if i did the knee flexion when my plant foot lands then my plant foot is angled to where the baseball term 'staying back' comes into play
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fasgjSMVxus
2. the timing of my drive leg with my plant leg knee flexion was off (elephant walk drill helped me fix this)
3. the rear drive leg (left leg) was pushing me up not forward (simply i put my rear foot in different locations, im still working on this part)

 

[lostDoughnut]

looking at your plant knee, it possibly stays too stiff during the plant causing this super bouncy pop up motion.

vs

plant leg lands, does a more compressed motion (knee flexion), and then pushes harder (knee extension) into the ground.

possibly you are not getting set onto the plant leg. notice in the elephant walk drill (in my previous post) golf video how when the person goes from backswing to downswing his left knee bends and then extends. i believe our plant knee needs to mimic that movement in that when our plant leg lands we need to bend our knee more and then once the weight settles to then extend. the way in the golf video might be an over exaggeration of how the knee bends as yours might bend a little less.