Reid's Journey to Backhand Mastery

[Lumberjack504]

I hear ya man. I've been there. Losing by several strokes at league to cats who I'm pretty sure don't put nearly the time or effort in as I (we) do.

It's really about managing expectations and choosing who you play with. Sometimes it's helpful to just play casual rounds. Sometimes it's better to just take a break. I wish you the best either way.


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[UhhNegative]

I hear ya man. I've been there. Losing by several strokes at league to cats who I'm pretty sure don't put nearly the time or effort in as I (we) do.

It's really about managing expectations and choosing who you play with. Sometimes it's helpful to just play casual rounds. Sometimes it's better to just take a break. I wish you the best either way.


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You're right and that's part of the problem, I really only have one "disc golf friend" in the area now. The rest are elsewhere in the country or no longer playing. And I'm not a big fan of my current disc golf community, it's kind of dying out and not many are the types I want to hang out with. So it's kind of just me anyway. I used to enjoy a casual round by myself, but not as much anymore.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

...when I thought about never playing any competitive disc golf event in my life, all I feel is relief.

Bud, welcome to the club. I enjoy every round I play - and you have nothing to prove to anybody. I'm not sure why disc gets lumped into this category of "you have to play tournaments" to measure yourself against others.

All the sports I've enjoyed as an adult: mountaineering and free-skiing, skateboarding, rock climbing. Nobody would even raise the expectation that you'd have to take it to the level of organized competitions to have a completely fulfilling experience. Competition in those arenas are saved for the ESPN kids.

That's the way I feel about disc pdga play. I'm glad to watch it from my couch, but I love playing for me and my buds that are enjoying playing outside and that's it. If it wasn't fun, I'd go find something fun to do.

 

[UhhNegative]

Bud, welcome to the club. I enjoy every round I play - and you have nothing to prove to anybody. I'm not sure why disc gets lumped into this category of "you have to play tournaments" to measure yourself against others.

All the sports I've enjoyed as an adult: mountaineering and free-skiing, skateboarding, rock climbing. Nobody would even raise the expectation that you'd have to take it to the level of organized competitions to have a completely fulfilling experience. Competition in those arenas are saved for the ESPN kids.

That's the way I feel about disc pdga play. I'm glad to watch it from my couch, but I love playing for me and my buds that are enjoying playing outside and that's it. If it wasn't fun, I'd go find something fun to do.

In that case, my favorite sport is throwing discs in a field. Putting is a necessary evil involved with disc golf and is 0% fun even when I make them.

I have started mountain biking and that's been taking more of my time and has been way more fun for me. No competition, just adrenaline and joy (and sometimes pain).

 

[Parbequeue]

Coming from a professional level bmx background (going on 17 years now) I found it hard to play/see people with wonky form (often painful looking in a literal sense) crush the course on a casual round and in a tournament setting. I thought "hey I'm putting in all this time and this is only where I'm
At?!" I was setting expectations for myself instead of remembering why I played disc golf in the first place.

I think most of us here have that inner demon/angel that pushes us to want to improve and excel in whatever that may be in life, and it's definitely real to get sucked in and start losing the fun aspect.

I'm stepping away from tournaments this year and going to volunteer instead to help out. I'm running all my Upshots and trying to turbo putt stupid distances instead of fretting a circle 2 Putt on a casual round. Honestly it feels good. I know I'll figure the form stuff out eventually, and if I quit I'd just feel even worse.

I hope you stick around and find the love again my friend! You've been a huge huge help in my obsession on this long and winding road.

 

[Parbequeue]

Also regarding mountain biking; I built trails (as in the jump type ones) for many many years, it's a great feeling building a jump by hand and then riding it! Then you build more, and eventually you're flying through the trees without a care in world.

 

[UhhNegative]

I've changed my forward pump to include the off hand motion that Jacky Chen and Paul Mcbeth do:

It really helps feel how the balance should be on the final plant. Been getting better at keeping a closed shoulder.

 

[UhhNegative]

Somehow my throw has continued to improve while not really trying. I don't really throw in fields bigger than 350' (with cars lined around the outside) typically so I'm not throwing full power or anything, and maybe that's the key. It's just a bunch of small fixes that help: turning back further, delaying swing a little bit, staying light/quick on the feet, keeping elbow wide, leading with the hips. Probably the biggest effect on distance is when I initiate the forward swing with the rear arm but the timing is still difficult for me to aim without opening too early. I rarely do them all right at once, but its getting better. Makes throwing 300' feel casual and.... fun. Dropping expectations is like figuring out a Chinese finger trap.

 

[UhhNegative]

Been forever since I took some video. A lot of the same-ole me trying too hard stuff. I feel like I'm staying turned back better into the plant, but getting to max reachback far too early. I'm getting weight off the rear leg quick enough I think, just still extending and not getting it closer in to my center. I think my weight is also too far leftward and I'm kind of folding over to stay balanced. Definitely not the best feeling throwing I've had.

Weirdest thing is my front shoulder/release. The disc plane looks really funky. Anyone have idea what's going on with that? Looks like its releasing when my elbow is still too bent.

 

[sidewinder22]

Glad I turned the audio on, lol. Not sure what you mean by weight too far left. To me it looks like your weight(CoG) is too centered between your feet - stance too staggered left/right.

You need to leave the rear foot via plantar flexion instead of pushing off the heel/knee extension.

Looks like you pull your elbow inward/down into body, instead of staying pulled out/up taut.

 

[UhhNegative]

Oh I see. Yeah I wasn't getting balanced over the rear leg? Like I was just blowing through the rear leg on the way to the plant instead of being more on top of it for longer with my weight then shifting more suddenly? Like I had no acceleration. I've done it before, definitely wasn't doing that today.

Guy walking his baby in the background has played some "street" disc golf with me in the neighborhood before.

 

[sidewinder22]

mmm, I think I would say not leveraged, rather than not balanced there. Your rear knee locks out going into the plant and so yeah you don't accelerate much going into the plant and drag.

 

[UhhNegative]

How does someone like Brian Earhart get away with that sort of rear leg action but still throws far? I guess just doing all the other things correctly. And he is definitely leveraging off the rear foot better.

 

[Jet57]

UN. I apologize if you've mentioned this in your thread, but I am curious why you switched your swing to your non dominate arm/hand?

Reason I ask is I am set for a TKR (total knee replacement) this fall. I'm giving some strong consideration to switching to a LHBH. I plan to continue playing DG, but switching to a lefty swing may preserve many more years on a surgically replaced knee.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

Weirdest thing is my front shoulder/release. The disc plane looks really funky. Anyone have idea what's going on with that? Looks like its releasing when my elbow is still too bent.

Man I think this is hugely related to pushing off the rear heel. Your COG and pulling the elbow in close as SW mentioned relate to this, weight on the rear heel is literally an anchor and you have enough athleticism to push through it the flaws seen are compensation.

Get a bit of standstill work and remind your body how to get the hips involved and get the power off the rear instep/ball and get that rear knee under you and the COG will re-align, and you will be able to swing out.

Its all a kinetic chain and weight all on the rear heel is very early on. You can't get extension from focusing on it, you need the previous steps to be correct.

 

[UhhNegative]

UN. I apologize if you've mentioned this in your thread, but I am curious why you switched your swing to your non dominate arm/hand?

Reason I ask is I am set for a TKR (total knee replacement) this fall. I'm giving some strong consideration to switching to a LHBH. I plan to continue playing DG, but switching to a lefty swing may preserve many more years on a surgically replaced knee.

I switched basically because of an elbow injury I had a long time ago as a kid that limits my pronation/supination in my wrist almost completely. My left wrist is basically always in a neutral state. If I make a "thumbs up" and bend my elbow in towards my shoulder completely, my thumb points right at my shoulder. I can't touch my left shoulder with my fingers, only my thumb. This basically means to have the disc leave my hand on a reasonable flight plane, I had rotate my shoulder completely open to make up for the lack of rotation in my elbow/wrist at the very end of the throw. Not good for shoulder health to have it at the extreme of its limits with that much force on it. TBH, I have no idea how I was even throwing the disc reasonably well like this. Now I can actually control the nose angle a lot better right handed.

I think most people who have done it would say that switching hands really isn't as daunting as it may seem. It just comes down to developing some muscle memory which takes some months, but will develop. The good thing about switching sides too is that you don't have bad engrained habits to beat, you can start more fresh.

From 2017

 

[Jet57]

the good thing about switching sides too is that you don't have bad engrained habits to beat, you can start more fresh.

I thought about adding this to my post/question as a potential secondary benefit to switching sides, just didn't want to jinx it

Good stuff to hear UN, seriously thank you for sharing.

 

[UhhNegative]

Well it only took years but I finally figured out the release point of the disc and why its more of a "push" than a "pull". It's a fundamental difference in how I throw now and it fundamentally changed how I see pros throw the disc now. It just... makes sense now. I was always confused why pros would line up the shot with their shoulders almost facing target. Now it makes total sense. Combining this with keeping my toes more pointed out like this has helped get turn on the hips as well.

I have thrown putters maybe 30 minutes a week for the past few months, just for fun, not even practice. I just randomly had an epiphany it seems. I need to go test it out on some bigger distances and get some video, but this is almost satisfying enough on its own.

 

[UhhNegative]

This video makes so much more sense now. It's hard to put into words.

 

[UhhNegative]

Shot my best round ever at my home course a couple weeks back. Hadn't played an actual round of disc golf in months, but my accuracy and power on my backhand is at an all-time best. I'm throwing further than I ever did left handed and with less effort. Still not quite 400' I think, but getting very close. I think if I fix my rear foot action I'll be at a comfortable 400'. But for now just enjoying disc golf on the rarer occasions that I play.