Reid's Journey to Backhand Mastery

[UhhNegative]

I'm still over opening shoulders a little in the video lol, but you can still see the trajectory is more straight down the line than yanked right. Kind of scared to put the disc through the wall if I accidentally do a real swing.

 

[sidewinder22]

Try swinging your front shoulder forward on a slight diagonal to the left/closed from like inline to front heel at top of backswing to over the front toes at hit. Inside-out swing, don't be afraid to loop 8 the swing in transition(helps smooth/slow the transition), you shouldn't match the line going back and forth(tends to jerk transition too quick). Should feel kind of like walking parallel to target, step back in backswing toward right teepad side and step forward to left teepad side. The transition should deepen/loop the hips so the rear knee moves or oscillates like sevam1 talks about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Zrf5GbvdE#t=1m50s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-KVWfUkQ3s#t=1m15s

 

[UhhNegative]

Ok more pieces coming together. Today I was able to apply the reachback timing from backhand to my putting and my putts were feeling effortless. Instead of pulling the door frame like in backhand, it's basically like swinging a kettlebell between my legs except with more forward and back motion. A dynamic kettle bell swing. As my arm is coming back, with a couple of inches to go until the end of range of motion, my hips and torso shift forward onto the front leg and that pulls my arm taut like a rubber band and from there its just keeping that tautness and controlling that weight and slinging it forward. I was even able to spin putt semi-successfully which I've never really understood.

I get that same tautness in the backhand but sometimes I am struggling to maintain the tautness throughout the transition.

 

[UhhNegative]

Meh, not sure things look too much better on film. The lower body I haven't really worked on but I'm at least feeling more confident in the swing.

 

[UhhNegative]

These were ~200' uphill hyzers. Still feel like I'm opening the shoulder early a lot too. It just looks weird on film too.

 

[sidewinder22]

Weird or super stiff, looks like you are trying to keep your head back or still or something unnatural with the "reverse C finish position". Your practice swings at 1:50 are all weight back and spinning out feet and you finish with your torso behind your front foot/hip instead of twirling forward balanced upright on front leg.

Shoulder opening is from basically landing in the splits or wide immoveable horsestance and spinning out of leverage from the ground. Your rear knee is extended/locked out when you plant and your rear foot is dorsiflexed with heel still on ground. You should be in plantar flexion with heel off ground and knee flexion to allow the pelvis to swing freely.

Need to shift forward balanced on front leg.
Keep your eyes on the disc.
Would advise throwing from elephant walk drill parallel to target instead of x-step inline to target.
Would also advise taking video of Hershyzer/Door Frame/One Leg Drill setup.

 

[UhhNegative]

Murdered. Ok, back to the drawing board and need to film drills to get the feel of things. I notice that reverse C position too and it looks really weird but I'm not sure why I'm doing it. Maybe to keep from falling over if my balance is too far to the left.

 

[UhhNegative]

"knee flexion"

Should I be actually using a little bit of muscle to make this happen? Or at least resisting my extension?

 

[sidewinder22]

It's just like walking, what makes your trailing knee flex to allow the leg/pelvis to swing forward? They say it takes 200 muscles to walk. I think it's the subconscious brain focused on a task, moving targetward to final destination. Your knees extend and flex walking down the steps.

Rear knee extension should happen in the backswing(initiates backswing), this rotates pelvis counter clockwise with the front knee flexing. Then to start transition forward your rear knee has to flex to allow the pelvis to swing forward clockwise while front knee extends.

 

[UhhNegative]

Alright, this is a lot better. Was accidentally throwing too far which means something actually changed. Rear leg looks better, I think I could still come off it even sooner, but that might come with being more comfortable with the change.

 

[Parbequeue]

I think your weight is too far over your heels, you seem pretty upright and not allowing the shoulder to swing low and pendulum/whip/leverage the connection throughout backswing and forward swing. This could just be a different swing style though, but it's the main thing I see.

Are you thinking about spinning/rotating your plant heel? Or just letting it happen from heavy momentum from bracing on the instep of the plant leg?

 

[Parbequeue]

Another thing that might make a difference is how much you backswing, it looks like you stop a little short of fully rotating the hips back. And it messes the sequence up a little bit. I know you said these were just lil approach shots though. I think turning back more, and as you are doing that, make the move to the front leg (which looks better IMO) you should feel a nice bit of connection and lag in the forward swing then.

 

[UhhNegative]

Yeah I'm definitely not turning back enough, and yeah some of it is subconcious because I would put it through someone's window if I accidentally threw 300' or so. I was 100% just concentrating on the rear heel not coming down. There's like 15 things to do right and I can only do like 5 at a time right now lol. I don't think about planting/spinning my plant foot ever, it just does what it needs to do based on what my hip is doing I think. The one thing that has been natural for me.

 

[Parbequeue]

There's like 15 things to do right and I can only do like 5 at a time right now lol.

Oh I hear ya bud

 

[sidewinder22]

Much better leg action in general. Still looks stiff and like you are sticking your butt out or something funky with your posture/balance. I don't think you are getting your front femur/knee/hip stacked enough on foot.

At the end of putter hyzers vid you do some practice swings... Note below how your posture is collapsed/folded over on the front leg, and your stance is quite wide and staggered and both feet turned too backwards for a practice swing. You might be ok dynamically with a lot of momentum. You actually shift forward bit a ways(too much/wide stance), I think your front hip may have went forward past your front foot and knee. Hard to brace the front hip on front knee with front foot turned back so far.

When you start your forward swing your front shoulder appears to be already at it's lowest point and then it rises throughout, so there's no lowering of the pendulum happening there in the swing. I don't think you are swinging your front shoulder from the rear shoulder as the center. I think both your shoulders are rotating more around your spine as center. Just do some slow/heavy long swings, feel like your left shoulder barely moves back and forth(can move right/left instead), so that your right shoulder makes a much bigger swing back and forth to and away from target. From address on front leg you can even take a step back into hershyzer/crossover to make your backswing even much longer from left shoulder as center.

Note in my practice swings(except one leg drills) how my front foot is pointed like 45 degrees away from target and my posture/body is much more stacked upright on both feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxnhM5amro0&t=2m20s

 

[UhhNegative]

I did a little throwing today and what I learned today is that whenever I go out to do "field work" and throw without a target in mind, everything goes to ****. So I was throwing in a big open field and looking at the video I was rushing into the shot, "trying" too hard even though I know that's not how you throw far. Then I went back and threw 200' shots with putters in a space that is more confined and I have to aim well. It was like completely different form. Effortless and hitting my lines. So, my takeaway for next time is start practice by throwing short shots and then slowly aim for further and further targets.

 

[UhhNegative]

Off-topic kind of, but Sean Tapley is a guy I used to play with quite a bit here in Virginia before he moved to Cali. He was just featured on Local Route for the 2020 Lake Chabot New Years Classic.

He wasn't really a notably long thrower when I was playing with him. He actually won his first rec tournament at the same tournament I won my first intermediate tournament. But he improved super quickly, has a hard work ethic, and now he's 980 rated and playing in pro and doing pretty well. Anyway, check out his form here and let me know what you think. To me, I really like the hop in the transition and how well he flows through it. Gets the nice up and down motion like Steve Brinster. Gets great lag on the disc and keeps the elbow out wide. Only problem to me is that he doesn't get his hips turned back very far. Either way he still crushes and this a shot worth watching.

 

[Mocheez]

Didn't he play WR for UNC? I agree, he doesn't turn his hips and shoulders back very far. Also, too much loft on his putts.

 

[UhhNegative]

I'm stepping back from disc golf again for a while.

After a couple of recent events, I realized I am not nearly as mentally or physically where I need to be to be able to compete. I wish I wasn't so competitive or hard on myself, but that's just how I am. I am not naturally good at disc golf nor is my practice very fruitful.

When I sit back and think about it, I truly can't remember the last time I enjoyed playing disc golf in a competitive setting, probably years ago. It ends up with me pissed off almost every single time, sometimes manageable, but sometimes I go off the rails and do things I regret then I spend the next day or two mentally recovering back to a functioning human being. I am one of the most "chill" and easiest people to hang out with 99.99% of the time. It's only disc golf that has the power to evoke this uncontrollable rage out of me. I'm just consistently one of the worst players out there and honestly nowhere near one of the worst people athletically and definitely practice a lot more than most. I know it's not about other people, but I am not mentally capable of continuing to try to improve and put forth effort, but not getting anywhere while unathletic, unintelligent people play better than me with ease. For my own sanity and health, I cannot justify it. It sucks, but when I thought about never playing any competitive disc golf event in my life, all I feel is relief.

I might still hang around here some as analyzing form and helping people out is fun, but for now, I just have to stop. I know this is like my second time quitting, and who knows what the future will be, but for now I will just be happy throwing discs for my dog and watching the tournaments on Youtube.

Thanks to all who have tried to help me.

 

[NoseDownKing]

Quit thinking about technique. That helped me. Too much self-critique is never healthy

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