Reid's Journey to Backhand Mastery

[UhhNegative]

I see what you mean with the shoulder angle. I think I'm more or less just letting the off shoulder hang and that's why it looks like that. Sounds like its just acting like a dead anchor instead of moving in line with the shot.

 

[UhhNegative]

In rewatching the video I think those couple frames you pull are a bit misleading. My finish isn't really telegraphing hyzer although that still frame certainly looks like it. I think it's more likely my off shoulder is swooping through the motion instead of staying in line with the shot.

 

[sidewinder22]

.... https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/resources/articles/telegraphing.shtml

 

[UhhNegative]

Well, I'm done. It was fun trying to learn how to get better at disc golf, but I've reached the end of the road for me. I just don't "get it" and frankly even if I did understand how to do things right, my elbow doesn't allow me to keep the disc on a flat plane no matter what I do. I guess I could try to switch to right-handed but I just don't feel like it's worth it.

Disc golf has been fun and has gotten me through some of the worst times in my life, but now it's causing more bad times than it is fun. The last 3-4 organized events or tournaments I've played in I've played horribly. Just last weekend shot a 840 and 860 at my home course. I could have done that or better two years ago. It's just incredibly frustrating that I cannot improve and frankly I don't enjoy the game anymore. I've always loved throwing discs in an open field, but I don't enjoy putting or really enjoy the game of disc golf anymore. I've always been too competitive for my own good and now I can see it's taking a toll on my already fragile mental health. So I'm liquidating most of my disc stock and keeping 5-10 for playing casual rounds every now and again or play new courses when I visit a new city. It's really difficult for me to not take something seriously and just enjoy things, but I'm going to try and not completely quit the game.

So thanks to everyone who has tried to help me, but I need to spend my energy and efforts in something that is more healthy for me right now.

 

[sidewinder22]

 

[UhhNegative]

Ok, ok. I'm not quitting. I really wanted to. But the discs keep calling me back. I played EVEN WORSE in my latest tournament, with a round where I did not sink a single putt outside 10 feet and missed a couple inside that. I went +19, +13, then +10 over a 3 day tournament. It was laughable. But I actually had fun. Even though my putting game was just an absolute, total disaster, it was still fun. So I think I need to learn some patience. I tend to approach things with an all-or-nothing thinking and I need to get past that. It's one of my biggest character flaws. I'm learning that this is not a sport that lends itself well to that type of thinking, so hopefully it will help me become a better person as well.

Anyway, I have moved and now have access to throw <200 feet shots in my back yard which is already giving me more confidence in my short game. I've also had some success in improving my distance shots as well, focusing on starting my reachback later and shifting from behind. It's still a work in progress but I do feel more confident in my drives now. My next enemy will be my tendency to round. Until then, I'm not confident enough in my putting to enter any more tournaments and I plan on playing more-or-less just casual rounds and practicing in my backyard.

 

[PureAngus]

*I'm going to quit post*

I know 100% what you mean about having a competitive mindset with everything and the frustration of not improving. Personally, as soon as I get tilted my entire day is off. I'll overthink my mistakes, focus too hard and screw up parts of my throw that are never an issue, and things just keep going downhill from there. It sucks knowing exactly what to do but your body just won't listen sometimes. Frankly I'm a bit hesitant to do any tournament play since I know that I'll be in 100% play to win mode and any mistake will get in my head and gnaw away at me.

On the contrary, some of my worst scoring games have been the most fun. When I'm casually playing with a friend and having a few brews I feel like a different person on the course. The times I'm able to laugh at myself for missing a 15' putt or hitting trees 3 throws in a row are when I remember why I started playing disc golf...it's fun!

I know its easier said than done but try not to be too critical and get in your own head. We're all our own hardest critic so on your good days try to find out what it is that feels "right" and try to replicate it and on the bad days maybe just try focusing on something completely different than what feels off. If my drives go to crap one day I'll just do a short lob onto the fairway and work on funky approaches or try a 90' putt just for kicks.

 

[UhhNegative]

Got a couple videos yesterday. Finally got a phone tripod with a remote which should make it much easier to take video. The video from behind looks like the least amount of rounding I've seen myself do.... and felt very strange. Holding the disc more out feels weird with my balance, especially when I bring my shoulders through too early. The video from the side looks better in terms of getting my elbow extended a little more. It was a CD2 into a decent headwind and got a good 370' out of it. I was getting better throws by focusing on holding the disc through extension a little longer and trying to delay my shoulders coming through. I could still get my hips turned back more and feel more of that torsion in the back leg loading up. I think I'm getting too eager to move forward so I lose that tension. I also notice that my elbow is too low again. I always have better throws when I keep it higher. I have seen conflicting information on elbow height though. Some people say keep it higher, and then there's throwers like Will who almost always has his elbow lower. I've already got a weird ass elbow though so who knows what is best for me.

 

[UhhNegative]

So it looks like to me I still need to get further turned back at the plant. When I compare my hips to Simon Lizotte (we totally have the same build.... not) he is turning his front hip in a lot more during the plant. I think my weight is too forward during the throw.

Of course I know my off-arm isn't great but I'll fix that after I fix the big issues.

 

[UhhNegative]

You'll also notice that I plant more than 90 degrees away from target looking at my foot, but my knee/hip doesn't turn nearly that much. Kind of strange. I can do some internal hip rotation stretches, is this a common issue for people?

 

[UhhNegative]

Sorry for multi-post just trying to put out some ideas. Basically my tibia is in a state of constant internal rotation, meaning if I am standing up straight and relaxed my foot is always facing like 15-20 degrees more inward than my knee. This means I'm either going to have to rotate my foot further in than I am already am, or somewhat work on that flexibility.

 

[slowplastic]

Maybe look at the Hershyzer drill? It looks to me that you aren't turning into the rear hip enough as you are striding forward with the plant leg.

 

[UhhNegative]

Maybe look at the Hershyzer drill? It looks to me that you aren't turning into the rear hip enough as you are striding forward with the plant leg.

Definitely and that's what it feels like too. I think I'm trying to stride too far and then I lose all tension on my back leg as my body moves forward. I'm just really good at making it look like I'm somewhat balanced but my weight isn't stayed that centered.

 

[sidewinder22]

You have no Butt Wipe pressure, or Inside Swing. Your front shoulder needs to rotate lower/under your chin to turn further back and be leveraged as a pendulum. Let the shoulder and arm hang loose and Dingle Arm the disc back and forth!

 

[UhhNegative]

Is butt wipe pressure maintained through the back leg? You mean I'm not pushing my rear butt targetward enough?

 

[sidewinder22]

Right, looks like your rear hip is not stacking up over your rear foot, it's over past your toes, so there is no squat or sit down move into it. You are planting with hips open. You are turning your shoulders back, but not your hips, so you have a fake X factor in the backswing. You don't want to feel restricted in the backswing. Watch Hogan Power Move above and throw a punch away from the target in the backswing and note where he talks about feeling very squatty.

 

[UhhNegative]

Right, looks like your rear hip is not stacking up over your rear foot, it's over past your toes, so there is no squat or sit down move into it. You are planting with hips open. You are turning your shoulders back, but not your hips, so you have a fake X factor in the backswing. You don't want to feel restricted in the backswing. Watch Hogan Power Move above and throw a punch away from the target in the backswing and note where he talks about feeling very squatty.

When you say over past my toes, you mean towards the target or laterally over my toes like my butt needs to stick out further? I'm guessing it's the second one (like in Jason's one step drill video).

 

[sidewinder22]

When you say over past my toes, you mean towards the target or laterally over my toes like my butt needs to stick out further? I'm guessing it's the second one (like in Jason's one step drill video).

Butt out / butt wipe / squat.

 

[UhhNegative]

I noticed Will really throws his off elbow back to help with turning his hips/shoulders, then pushes him off arm down and in. Just threw a few shots in my (and my neighbor's, oops!) backyard focusing on turning back further by throwing my elbow back and actually turning my hips back and I was getting some really effortless putter shots, one Judge going an accidental 300' on a hyzer flip. The combination of holding on to the disc longer and turning back further reals makes my swing feel a lot "longer" and easier to generate power.

 

[UhhNegative]

Testing a new format of posting videos from Google photos. You can still use "," and "." to go frame-by-frame in google photos, just like Youtube. Let me know if this link works and what you think of my standstill form. These were all judges thrown on hyzer. Most went about 260' with one getting about 290'! I wasn't even really trying to power them. It is downhill but I've never ever thrown standstill as far as these shots. One thing I'm still seeing though: I round like nothing else. It's so ingrained at this point so that's going to be fun to fix.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8NEqTMEAdyQJ7KzB3