Ok, sorry about the delay. Was busy and didn't have any good days lately to go throw, but went out last night and made some progress! Also, I have no way to post video as of yet, so anyone telling me to do so is barking up the wrong tree. I'll post a video if or when I can get someone to come film me. I have NO way to get a decent video as of right now. So that's not an option right now.
First of all, it makes a NIGHT and DAY difference using that hard Champ plastic and the softer Star or similar plastic! Just like you or some others told me, the discs were easier to turn over, glide better, and just in general easier to throw straighter. I got a Lat64 Maul and Fuse in Gold Line plastic (basically like Star), a Star Mako3, and an MVP Tangent Neutron. All of them are so much easier to throw, and easier to throw straighter. Plus they glide better. So that was fun. And I didn't even throw a single disc over speed 7. I threw my Champ TL, Champ Leopard3, Buzzz, and Tui putter along with the 4 above.
Then I was working on ONLY throwing from a stand still. No hops or x steps. And I really worked on that feeling of "trying" to slowly build up the movement. Feet move, then my hips/ass shift forward and start to turn open. The upper body is behind me and dragging. The arm is lose and relaxed, same with the grip. Then pull the disc in towards my chest (which feels super weird) and then at the end try to accelerate and whip the disc out of my hand from my elbow extension. I threw a lot more decent to acceptable throws last night compared to the other 3 times I've been out. Much straighter throws in general, and all the discs going out to about 160-220' depending on how well I did everything. And it was a little easier to get to that distance than the times before. A few even sort of snapped out of my fingers. But confusingly, the discs still only go 160-220'.
I got about 10-15 throws that had a slight snap or whip like feeling in my arm and yet, all the discs still continue to only go in that 160-220 range
I spent a good hour and a half out in the football field, and was very meticulous with my throws. I'd say about 50% of the throws were not good but also not horrific, 5 % were horrible, 5% were good, and 40% were better than last time, and decent improvement, but still not great. Still not sure how people can just casually toss a disc 300-350 with little to no effort or athletic ability and I'm barely throwing it 200 on a good throw with tons of speed and athletic ability in my body. It's SO frustrating. But I'll keep at it. Need to figure out the KEY to this and keep pushing until I feel it and do it. Once I get that one throw where it just sails 300-350' and fairly straight, I'll know what I need to do in order to continue doing it over and over again. And then adding distance to that won't be that hard.
As far as my grip goes, that is another place I made some more progress and I finally just started messing around with all sorts of grips to see what they produced.
So I ditched the power grip almost the entire evening. I went to a fan like grip for the first 5-10 mins and wasn't making much progress over my power grip. So then I just decided, what the hell, and gripped the disc with basically just two fingers and my thumb. And low and behold... I started throwing better!!! The discs started to feel a little more whippy in my hand and snapping more through the hitting zone. Like it was pinching out of my hand. And they started flying out a little lower and flatter with slightly less fade. Still not flat or straight, but just flatter and straighter than I've been throwing. So that was good. I've included photos of my two main grips at the bottom. My most comfortable version of a power grip and then the two finger grip I started using last night. It actually started getting so whippy that I was yanking some discs hard right or on a few occasions. With a few of the discs that turn over actually just went slightly right and then just kept turning more and more right. Like an anhyzer shot that started out straight or a little right. It was weird. And then a few of the throws were really weird. On about 5 throws total, I got a decent snap or pull through, and the disc started out straight or about 5' right of straight. It kept going right for a long time, and then right near the end sort of softly faded back left. Those ended up being my longest throws, but all of them ended up about 20-40' right of my intended target. It was like a soft S curve I read about or have seen, but nowhere near as far. Those are the throws that went about 200-220'. And the disc didn't matter! I threw all the discs once or twice this way. So it's not like one disc alone was doing this interesting S curve shot. And I couldn't do it on demand. It just accidentally happened on certain throws.
But, at least trying a new grip gave me a new sensation and feeling of some whip. And then on the very last field "pass" (I throw from the FG post in the end zone to the middle of the field and then back), I tried the power grip again, and it too felt more lose and floppy in my hand and had a slight spring in the throw. Not quite as good as the 2 finger, but better than it had been before. I had a couple pretty good throws on the last pass with the power grip! So that was good I guess. But I definitely feel like less fingers is better for the mid range discs. Just because of the shape of the rim. It's so awkward and thin and deep and not conducive to a power grip. I think only my speed 9 and above discs have a rim shape that is conducive to a power grip, which I prefer actually to any other grip. Although the fan grip feels comfortable and like I can control it, it actually isn't any better than the power grip for me, at this point. Looks like this weird 2 finger grip thing is working the best for now.
Obviously the grip alone is not enough to help me throw far and straight, and a few major things are still going wrong obviously, as I keep only getting around 150-200 foot throws even when it's a "good" throw. But I was sort of happy to see some sort of progress and just get outside to work on stuff. I feel like it's going to take forever to get this down right and have this feeling of heavy weight in my arm. With a bat, racquet or golf club, it's so easy to feel the head weight and build up the swing until you unleash the whip at the end and effortlessly crush the ball. With a disc, it feels close to impossible.
And still don't have a disc flight that EVER looks anything like the videos of members here or pros. It comes out on a higher initial trajectory every time, I can see the top of the flight plate a little or a lot (depending on how good or bad the throw was), and even on the best throws, it still fades at the end at least 10' if not more. It NEVER goes out dead straight, about 10-15' high, flat and with a nice soft landing that just barely fades. It never does that!
But progress is good, even though it's not even close to what I want. I just read this article on UniHyzerbomb's site HeavyDisc, and it was about this ex college hockey player who is 6'3" 225lbs and is now playing pro disc golf! He went from never playing to being a pro in like a year! He said it only took him about 3 months of field practice on his own to get over 300'. And now in about a year or less, he can throw over 700' on flat ground!!! He can out throw Simon by almost a 100'!!! Why the hell can't I even throw it 300, haha? This sport is SO frustrating.
2 Finger Grip
