Reid's Journey to Backhand Mastery

[UhhNegative]

I've been too all-over-the-place when it comes to form, so it's time to really hunker down and attack things piece by piece with a focused plan.

 

[UhhNegative]

Weather has been nice out so I got to play a couple rounds. Had one of the best rounds of my life so far yesterday and then almost even better today. Tied my record at my home course. Biggest thing I changed was keeping my shoulder closed longer and my reachback is more like a Geisinger shortened reachback. I think it has helped me not round because my accuracy has been on point.

 

[UhhNegative]

I'm having trouble translating concepts from stick golf to disc golf. When it comes to "abandon the swing to gravity" this works well with ball golf as the swing is more-or-less parallel with gravity. But in disc golf, on a flat shot, gravity is perpendicular to the swing. So I don't see how you could apply that to disc golf. What am I missing?

 

[sidewinder22]

Hyzer form = one arm golf swing.

 

[UhhNegative]

Captured a couple one leg drill swings. My feet aren't in the shot, sorry!

 

[billyjacko]

I'm not 100% sure without the feet, but it looks like you should be rotating further in the 'fallow through'. I've been thinking of the rear shoulder going directly over the foot. This allows me to stay balance while the rear foot supinates and the laces face the target (I really struggled getting this concept).

Another thing that helped me with the one leg drill is thinking of the hit point being a few inches behind the foot. I picked this up from SC in his most recent one leg drill where he talks about the set up for the one leg drill https://youtu.be/V1-fZ9zwN4g#t=03m10s It makes sense too from the standpoint of there 'not being rounding' in the one leg drill. Your center of gravity is back, so the disc will naturally have to travel more to your chest. That thought process really helps me feel the pressure on the instep rather than the bottom of the foot.

 

[UhhNegative]

I'm not 100% sure without the feet, but it looks like you should be rotating further in the 'fallow through'. I've been thinking of the rear shoulder going directly over the foot. This allows me to stay balance while the rear foot supinates and the laces face the target (I really struggled getting this concept).

Another thing that helped me with the one leg drill is thinking of the hit point being a few inches behind the foot. I picked this up from SC in his most recent one leg drill where he talks about the set up for the one leg drill https://youtu.be/V1-fZ9zwN4g#t=03m10s It makes sense too from the standpoint of there 'not being rounding' in the one leg drill. Your center of gravity is back, so the disc will naturally have to travel more to your chest. That thought process really helps me feel the pressure on the instep rather than the bottom of the foot.

Yeah I think on a normal throw I would be following through much more. I usually don't struggle too much with that, but I think you are right, I am definitely feeling the pressure on the bottom more than the instep. I think overall my swing is just too open/tipped over the front. I had a few days recently where I was reaching back a lot shorter and keeping a slight bend in my elbow and I tied a PR that day because I felt so balanced and powerful in my shot. But alas, the feeling did not last. Beating this muscle memory is tough though.

 

[billyjacko]

Yeah I think on a normal throw I would be following through much more. I usually don't struggle too much with that

I don't think the point is as much to work on the fallow through as to force you to stay balance in it. I can't stay balanced unless I have the rear shoulder braced against the instep. Maybe what I'm talking about isn't quite what you are trying to do, but I started to grasp the one leg drill better once I started doing a fallow through with the sledge (really only been doing it for a week now.)

 

[sidewinder22]

Slow it down some more and loosen up, also try the perpetual walk. Let your elbow hinge/bend at the tops and arm/hammer turnover to follow through/release from the hit(this is for safety - you should never fully extend your elbow with a hammer or disc or golf club in your hand). Allow the weight of the hammer to release you... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UqQZylULio&t=4m40s

You are also turning the hammer head down and smacking the head of the nail with the side of the hammer. Keep the head of the hammer on plane coming through the bottom/impact as if hitting the head of a nail. Your thumb should be on the back of the handle leveraging the head of the hammer.

 

[UhhNegative]

Slow it down some more and loosen up, also try the perpetual walk. Let your elbow hinge/bend at the tops and arm/hammer turnover to follow through/release from the hit(this is for safety - you should never fully extend your elbow with a hammer or disc or golf club in your hand). Allow the weight of the hammer to release you... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UqQZylULio&t=4m40s

You are also turning the hammer head down and smacking the head of the nail with the side of the hammer. Keep the head of the hammer on plane coming through the bottom/impact as if hitting the head of a nail. Your thumb should be on the back of the handle leveraging the head of the hammer.

Yeah there's just no physical way for me to keep a disc on a plane with my throw. My wrist/elbow just has no rotation so I compensate by rotating my shoulder at the very end of the throw (I think). This causes all sorts of nose angle issues for me. Honestly I don't even know how it's possible that I have any sort of consistent throw left handed. I've seriously considered trying to switch to right handed, but I'm not so sure yet.

 

[UhhNegative]

See how I can't supinate my wrist to keep it on plane? But.... I have had times where I can throw 375' consistently so I know I have the ability to throw decently. All I want is consistent 400' on golf lines and I think I can still achieve that left handed once I fix my core issues and just work around my disc plane issue.

I like what you said about let the hammer release you, because I have had the feeling in the field before but have a lot of trouble recreating it.

 

[sidewinder22]

Without a disc and flat open hand, can you swing through with your palm down the entire time, like a sideways karate chop?

 

[UhhNegative]

Without a disc and flat open hand, can you swing through with your palm down the entire time, like a sideways karate chop?

Yep no problem doing that. I have experimented a little with gripping the disc with basically pinching with my thumb "muscle" and my fingers but that doesn't feel too good either.

 

[sidewinder22]

Can you swing with the palm vertical facing away from target / pimp slap?

 

[UhhNegative]

Can you swing with the palm vertical facing away from target / pimp slap?

Not really. To rotate from karate chop to pimp slap I have to rotate my shoulder joint instead of my forearm. My radius and ulna are basically locked in the same position. I think technically my radial head is displaced. I injured it as a kid and basically there is no way to fix it without major surgery and a lot of recovery time with no guarantee it would work. Miraculously, it doesn't affect my day to day life at all and I never even think about it except when it comes to disc golf, lol. So it's not ideal but obviously it works in some fashion otherwise I wouldn't be able to throw at all. Just need to find a way to work around it. I think when I figure out my weight shift, balance, bracing, etc. that I'll be able to make it work just by repetition and practice. Heck it already works pretty decently! I do sometimes end up straining my shoulder a little bit, but on good, smooth throwing days it doesn't affect my shoulder at all.

 

[UhhNegative]

So I've decided to start working exclusively on throwing right handed. I just couldn't figure out a way to make throwing left handed consistent or "comfortable" so I'm switching to the arm that's not all ****ed up haha. All I've had time to do is throw some standstill shots in my backyard. I'm honestly already amazed about how much better the release feels. Obviously it feels really, really strange but I can already tell hyzer shots in particular feel much easier on my shoulder and arm. I also have now experienced fan grip for the first time. Feels really strange but I can see how it would be useful. I'm already getting 200' putter shots which is a good sign I suppose. Anyway, it's going to take a ton of work as I'm basically starting from 0, but it's a good opportunity to learn things the right way and build my muscle memory with correct movements. Probably won't be posting too many videos as I really just need to put in the hours right now.

 

[UhhNegative]

By the way, how would you advise someone starting out from the absolute beginning to practice? Mostly drills starting off? Mostly field throwing? I am constructing a disc golf practice routine, so to speak, to keep me structured and not just throwing for the pure fun of it, even though I'll still do that too.

 

[billyjacko]

By the way, how would you advise someone starting out from the absolute beginning to practice? Mostly drills starting off? Mostly field throwing? I am constructing a disc golf practice routine, so to speak, to keep me structured and not just throwing for the pure fun of it, even though I'll still do that too.

If I was starting over, I'd do a lot of door frame and reciprocating dingle arm with a sledge hammer. I'd also do 75% standstill 25% x-step (just to make sure you're working it in a bit). I highly recomend throwing into a net. You can focus on form and feel, it's super easy to film and get instant feedback, and you can get more throws in. Something about not worrying about watching the disc fly helps me focus on actually working on form. Then when you get in the field some of that muscle memory will go into effect.

 

[billyjacko]

How could I forget, a butt load of one leg drill too.

 

[UhhNegative]

Actually got a little throwing in today. It's funny, I'm definitely rolling my wrist over on a lot of shots. I've never struggled with that because I literally can't do it left handed. Anyway, I was mostly mixing in Jason's (HUB) perpetual motion drill with stand still throwing. I can't even X-step yet. I'm wayyy too uncoordinated for that yet, which is probably good for me to force me to do standstill for a while. The swing is definitely still pretty wild but I actually had some 250' shots with mids and fairways which was surprising considering its the first real time doing field work right handed. Drivers fly so beautifully now and on plane, but obviously the power is lacking. Even a CD2 at 250' stayed flat for most of its flight. Left handed I would have to put a little bit of anny to get that flight due to nose angle usually.