Reid's Journey to Backhand Mastery

[slowplastic]

Truthfully, the only thing I can glean from that article is how we're squashing a pendulum... that part I think I can grasp. Then I get confused again, and that's okay. I think it's saying the same thing I'm saying but with smarter words.

What I got from it was an explanation of that colorful arc picture, which I didn't understand initially just looking at it.

You have to start rising/extending on the downswing after your weight is caught...while the club or arm is just getting into the power pocket or in club case, loaded back stage. You rise up at this early point until the bottom of the arc will line up with the ball in a golf swing case.

The point is, you start too low and you pump up until you strike the ball where you want. This rising up effect gives you more acceleration on the arc you initially started too wide or low. It feels like extra leverage from the ground through your arm.

I'm sure you feel this, I was just pumping too late and the diagram shows how early you have to start, while just on the way to the power zone. So many people see the front leg/hip extension at the end of the throw and don't realize how early and smoothly it seems to start.

What kind of puppy is that? Looks real small and tired so far...

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

She's a pound pup, probably some terrier and a hodge-podge of other stuff. 11 weeks old, either partying her face off or passed out cold.

 

[UhhNegative]

Some good discussion in here. I feel like I understand the swing decently well from a conceptual point of view, but actually doing it is just a different beast. It's really hard to make changes and feel changes. Here's me trying to be a little more loose, but ultimately making the same mistakes. I did have a couple of shots off camera that felt really loose and effortless. I think I had some anhyzer release roc shots going over 300' but wildly out of control. I think I'm tensing the arm too much too early and obviously need to work on balance.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tdvU4MvGUtQjEPLP8\

In other news, my buddy I used to play with back home missed lead card in MPO at SF Open by one or two strokes. Kind of frustrating as I have beaten him in a few tournaments back in the day but now he's shooting 1000 rated rounds. But he was a D1 starting receiver in college. But get this, dude plants completely open, like foot facing the target and still crushes 400+, probably more these days. Blows my mind. Shows how far natural talent can take you, I've always had to choose the hard work route when it comes to athletics.

 

[slowplastic]

I like the balance more through follow through.

Have you tried the windmill drill throws lately? Might help to get you to feel planting a little more down and closer to your body rather than farther forward, so it's easier to end up on top of the lead hip.

 

[UhhNegative]

I also realized I'm not firing my left butt cheek, at all. Is that supposed to happen? That would help with actually shifting toward the left and not targetward.

 

[slowplastic]

I also realized I'm not firing my left butt cheek, at all. Is that supposed to happen? That would help with actually shifting toward the left and not targetward.

For me...I used to fire it actively in front of the brace when I was shifting completely incorrectly. Trying to figure out how Paige Pierce, for example, gets that really fast hip "snap".

But I'm getting much better hip rotation from moving my weight directly toward my plant leg, so on "diagonal" from my aim line, to end up in balance on top of the hip. Doing so seems to allow me to get completely off my rear foot and rotate much quicker on my brace leg/hip, since I'm in tighter balance.

So that's why I was recommending the downswing/windmill drill to try to make it easier to get onto the plant hip, as that drill emphasizes not having a long plant stride and you can really think about just getting over to that leg.

 

[sidewinder22]

In other news, my buddy I used to play with back home missed lead card in MPO at SF Open by one or two strokes. Kind of frustrating as I have beaten him in a few tournaments back in the day but now he's shooting 1000 rated rounds. But he was a D1 starting receiver in college. But get this, dude plants completely open, like foot facing the target and still crushes 400+, probably more these days. Blows my mind. Shows how far natural talent can take you, I've always had to choose the hard work route when it comes to athletics.

Yeah, I know Shawn too. I offered to help him last year with his form, but he didn't take me up on it. I also told him to read Golf is Not a Game of Perfect because his mental game sucked, not sure if he read it or not. Imagine if he actually transferred all that momentum into the disc instead of flying off the teepad and wasting all that energy.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

The 1-leg drill, windmill, battering ram, throwing a hammer or brick or 2 handed underhand basketball, and if you forced yourself to do the perpetual motion drill... they'd all be pushing you towards fixing this issue. You're still on your back foot.

I do on occasion give lessons to players who are stuck with this problem, end it takes each person hearing about it a different way or trying to drill to really feel what it supposed to feel like to get off the Back foot, prior to getting the disk to the start of the power pocket.

That said, if I do my very best Garrett Guthrie Impersonation, my back foot Has to be up on the absolute tippy toes. I've probably watched the first minute of the power of posture video that sw22 Has 100 times. He has taken my power level up a full notch, just by seeing what a maxed out lower body shift looks like. Not only is he laterally moving on to the front side, but he is downshifting simultaneously and you can see his center of gravity Press up against the breeze. It's impossible to see in the video of GG, But I guarantee you that what he's feeling you can feel if you do the windmill drill and you really do get up on your tippy toes of your back foot.

I've never been an Olympic hammer thrower, I know that's hard to believe, but I have to imagine that it's the same sensation. When I throw like this the disc does have weight, it's feels like it has weight from the beginning of the backswing forward, but all the wait is funneling towards the ejection point and increasing as it goes.

Also I dictated this through my phone, so I'm sure it's loaded with craziness, Hey did you get what you pay for.

 

[UhhNegative]

Yeah, I know Shawn too. I offered to help him last year with his form, but he didn't take me up on it. I also told him to read Golf is Not a Game of Perfect because his mental game sucked, not sure if he read it or not. Imagine if he actually transferred all that momentum into the disc instead of flying off the teepad and wasting all that energy.

What a small world if we are both talking about Sean T.

I've suggested it to him a couple times as well, and he has been working on his mental game from what he's told me. He's a funny guy and a really hard worker as well, I hope my post didn't imply otherwise. But he's not the type of player to really get into the details of the throw. He just.... does it. Which there is certainly something to be said for that type of approach. I suppose at the end of the day if you have the requisite distance to play in MPO, as long as you can be consistent it's all you really need to play well.

 

[sidewinder22]

What a small world if we are both talking about Sean T.

I've suggested it to him a couple times as well, and he has been working on his mental game from what he's told me. He's a funny guy and a really hard worker as well, I hope my post didn't imply otherwise. I suppose at the end of the day if you have the requisite distance to play in MPO, as long as you can be consistent it's all you really need to play well.

Yeah misspelled. I know he works hard too and has lots of passion for the game, but he's just ingraining those bad habits and making it harder to break them. I just hope he doesn't hurt himself, because it's not good for the body, it's actually how I fractured my tibia.

 

[UhhNegative]

It's a miracle in October! I finally figured out how to push off my rear toes on a RHBH shot! Consistently!

That first throw was somewhere between 305-320' based on Google maps, with a 177g DX Roc3, probably my best throw yet. I was really inconsistent on my release angles and heights but I was putting a lot of Rocs out to 290' sometimes up to 300' and it felt easier than ever. In fact the more I "tried" the worse the shot was. I'm finally feeling my arm more like a whip, like dead weight instead of tensing it and just focusing on feeling the weight of the swing. I think I'm planting a little open still and not turning back enough. Hips are barely turning back it looks like.

Here's the videos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sQY3gGKa7VcrTP2r7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jqb8BvLKVU8kabiZ7

As you can see in the videos I tried the windmill/perpetual motion a little bit, but I just did not feel like I could throw that way. With the windmill I'd either throw into the ground or sky it. But I think that just doing the motion gave me the feeling I needed to feel in my regular hop throw.

 

[slowplastic]

That looks way better to me.

I think you can even go a bit more directly to your plant leg as I think a bit of your momentum is still carrying targetward behind your brace angle, from the behind view. But it's likely a fine tuning rather than complete different feel there.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

Yes, much better. Let that arm rotate under so you can slap yourself on the backside.

 

[UhhNegative]

Yes, much better. Let that arm rotate under so you can slap yourself on the backside.

You mean my right arm on the follow through?

 

[slowplastic]

You mean my right arm on the follow through?

Yes. Does your right pec ever get sore the next day from the follow through pulling on it to slow down?

 

[UhhNegative]

Nah it's never been sore. Looks more painful on film than it feels. But I could be leaving some speed on the table by not allowing it to fully follow through. If anything, it's my right hip that's taking a beating sometimes.

 

[sidewinder22]

Yeah you are getting off the rear side, although it looks like your rear knee is too far over the toes, so you drift more leftward instead of driving more forward from a more stacked/leveraged rear leg.

You are shifting from "in front of you" into an open front leg, instead of shifting "from behind you". That is where your front hip jams and stops your arm from following through completely. If you haven't thrown in a while or done pec workout, then your right pec may feel sore like from bench pressing the next day when you get the full followthrough extension. I get that feeling the next day when I haven't thrown in a while and do a practice or lot of throwing.

Watch how my front foot/whole front side is turned further back and how my feet don't slide in the windmill drill, heels pivot up and down right back to where they came from. Your front foot/side is turned open and your feet are sliding around too much. Find a width of stance and foot angle where only your heels pivot up/down like mine.

 

[UhhNegative]

Yeah you are getting off the rear side, although it looks like your rear knee is too far over the toes, so you drift more leftward instead of driving more forward from a more stacked/leveraged rear leg.

You are shifting from "in front of you" into an open front leg, instead of shifting "from behind you". That is where your front hip jams and stops your arm from following through completely. If you haven't thrown in a while or done pec workout, then your right pec may feel sore like from bench pressing the next day when you get the full followthrough extension. I get that feeling the next day when I haven't thrown in a while and do a practice or lot of throwing.

Watch how my front foot/whole front side is turned further back and how my feet don't slide in the windmill drill, heels pivot up and down right back to where they came from. Your front foot/side is turned open and your feet are sliding around too much. Find a width of stance and foot angle where only your heels pivot up/down like mine.

Yeah I see how I'm opening into the plant and not getting turned back enough to start too. That'll be what I work on next.

 

[UhhNegative]

I got to watch rounds 3 and 4 at USDGC this past weekend in person. And if you haven't seen it, the last round was a really exciting watch. The energy in person was palpable. Pretty impressive seeing how consistent these guys throw. The fairways look way tighter in person than on video. Also got to watch the distance showcase at the end where they throw over the pond. It was Simon, Eagle, Drew, Anthony Barela, and Seppo that were throwing. I think Eagle and AB were throwing the furthest. It was quite impressive. Simon wasn't even trying to throw in one of the baskets, he was just trying to go as far as possible with really high anhyzer shots, but I think they were all throwing brand new Destroyers and it was interesting how different they flew in stability. Some held turn the entire way and some just wouldn't turn as much. Makes me wonder how far they could throw with discs they knew the stability of. Some almost hit the road which is, I think, about 650'. Either way it was incredibly impressive.

 

[UhhNegative]

Haven't had a chance to do much throwing recently, but when I have played a couple rounds, I have been throwing just as far or further than usual but it feels like I'm barely trying. I'm not using any arm muscles anymore, which makes the distance stupid easy, but accuracy a lot harder for me because I'm not used to it. It almost feels that instead of throwing the disc towards the target, I'm kind of just holding onto it or even pulling it towards my body (towards the right of teepad) at the last second. I know that's not actually happening but it helps me to think about using the weight of the disc and my grip instead of "arm speed" to throw. All my usual discs are getting too flippy!