aDave
Bogey Member
Watched the distance championships in Charlotte today.
Apologies for the following noodly armed astonishment dissertation.
I sat at the front left for about 5 hours and saw so many folks huck >500ft drives with so many different styles my head is spinning.
Nearly everyone in that range were throwing huge annys. All of the innova guys and most of the ams were tossing blizzard plastic.
The big standouts:
1. First guy to break 500 hit 585 with a backhanded 360 using an Aerobie Epic that he claimed to have just bought. He was wearing turf cleats and his lopey run up was like watching an olympic high jumper. 3 of his 5, including his max, landed within 15-20 feet of each other.
2. 10-12 year old kid maxed out @ 510.
3. Older kid throwing 450 deadnuts straight. His release sounded exactly like he was snapping his fingers. Never heard anything like it.
4. Guy whose discs sounded like someone cooking bacon on a SR-71 as they flew over Soviet Russia during the cold war. He rolled almost everything he threw though.
5. Older (masters) black dude with the ugliest form I have ever seen. It looked like he was fighting rats in a sack but he was accurately hitting over 500 on golf lines.
6. Middle age brosephus with a laconic and sullen 360. It looked like he was sitting on a merry go round and sort of lazily extending his arm. I'm guessing that's what snap dominant throwing looks like. I 'get' what he was doing on a physics level but emotionally I think he sold his soul to the devil at a Dave Matthews show in exchange for effortless D.
7. Petite blond girl hitting high 400s without breaking a sweat. She reached back toward the ground and leveled the disc out during hip rotation to hit nearly frozen rope line drives.
I think that I'm about twice as tall as her and I know that I weigh three times what she does and could probably bench press her.
8. Big Jerm was the first to break 600 though. And with him I began to see exactly what in the bleeding fuck everyone on the forums is talking about. Having never seen that sort of thing in person, I was totally gobsmacked. I almost couldn't believe the speed and the flight path. It was almost inhuman.
9. Garret Motherfucking Gerthie. I don't know his final distance but I think he beat Jerm. Weirdly his form looked less efficient than most of the 500 guys but he's obviously doing something right.
He has a stuttering run up that I can't believe works and he seemed to scoop his pull a bit, but who cares when you can hit 600+ almost on demand.
[edit] Just found out that Jerm won with 693 holy shit [/edit]
What they all had in common was from the right pec on. It didn't seem to matter much how they got there.
Once they were there it was all the Hammer Pound and maxing out at 300 thread. Fucking unbelievable.
So heres what I think I finally 'got' :
1. Watching the big d guys and girls, I could 'feel' the weight shift and late acceleration.
2. Their acceleration into, and final arm speed at the rip was so, so much faster than I imagined.
3. What a 600 foot flight path looks like. It's a thing of terrible beauty and beastly awe.
4. I finally have real world examples of what it looks like to be nose down through a 50(?) foot apex.
5. I saw guys older than me (40) hitting 450-500. Gives me hope.
The point of all this is that you can read all you want online and hit the field 8 hours a day, but actually seeing it live (at least for me) will be a real revelation if you are paying attention.
That being said, I would never have had the concepts in mind if it weren't for you guys.
I went out to the field when I got back and all the sudden I had so much more body awareness of what a 'good' distance shot looks and feels like. Sure enough I was feeling the weight of the disc grow, I hit nose down on a high apex turnover and recognized it for what it was (with a Monarch, sure but I'm an old fat noodle arm, cut me some slack).
I even got my Wraith to turn into a 20 or so foot apex from a flat release. But that was due to the guy running the event hearing me bitch about nose down with wide rimmed drivers and showing me how to adjust my grip to fix it.
I don't know the distances I was tossing, but it sure felt right. Much less effort and a more solid feeling than I've ever had. I'm so pissed that I have to work all next week.
anyway.
If you haven't yet, GO SEE IT DONE FOR REAL. IT WILL CHANGE HOW YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DO. but you all know that all ready.
Thanks again.
Apologies for the following noodly armed astonishment dissertation.
I sat at the front left for about 5 hours and saw so many folks huck >500ft drives with so many different styles my head is spinning.
Nearly everyone in that range were throwing huge annys. All of the innova guys and most of the ams were tossing blizzard plastic.
The big standouts:
1. First guy to break 500 hit 585 with a backhanded 360 using an Aerobie Epic that he claimed to have just bought. He was wearing turf cleats and his lopey run up was like watching an olympic high jumper. 3 of his 5, including his max, landed within 15-20 feet of each other.
2. 10-12 year old kid maxed out @ 510.
3. Older kid throwing 450 deadnuts straight. His release sounded exactly like he was snapping his fingers. Never heard anything like it.
4. Guy whose discs sounded like someone cooking bacon on a SR-71 as they flew over Soviet Russia during the cold war. He rolled almost everything he threw though.
5. Older (masters) black dude with the ugliest form I have ever seen. It looked like he was fighting rats in a sack but he was accurately hitting over 500 on golf lines.
6. Middle age brosephus with a laconic and sullen 360. It looked like he was sitting on a merry go round and sort of lazily extending his arm. I'm guessing that's what snap dominant throwing looks like. I 'get' what he was doing on a physics level but emotionally I think he sold his soul to the devil at a Dave Matthews show in exchange for effortless D.
7. Petite blond girl hitting high 400s without breaking a sweat. She reached back toward the ground and leveled the disc out during hip rotation to hit nearly frozen rope line drives.
I think that I'm about twice as tall as her and I know that I weigh three times what she does and could probably bench press her.
8. Big Jerm was the first to break 600 though. And with him I began to see exactly what in the bleeding fuck everyone on the forums is talking about. Having never seen that sort of thing in person, I was totally gobsmacked. I almost couldn't believe the speed and the flight path. It was almost inhuman.
9. Garret Motherfucking Gerthie. I don't know his final distance but I think he beat Jerm. Weirdly his form looked less efficient than most of the 500 guys but he's obviously doing something right.
He has a stuttering run up that I can't believe works and he seemed to scoop his pull a bit, but who cares when you can hit 600+ almost on demand.
[edit] Just found out that Jerm won with 693 holy shit [/edit]
What they all had in common was from the right pec on. It didn't seem to matter much how they got there.
Once they were there it was all the Hammer Pound and maxing out at 300 thread. Fucking unbelievable.
So heres what I think I finally 'got' :
1. Watching the big d guys and girls, I could 'feel' the weight shift and late acceleration.
2. Their acceleration into, and final arm speed at the rip was so, so much faster than I imagined.
3. What a 600 foot flight path looks like. It's a thing of terrible beauty and beastly awe.
4. I finally have real world examples of what it looks like to be nose down through a 50(?) foot apex.
5. I saw guys older than me (40) hitting 450-500. Gives me hope.
The point of all this is that you can read all you want online and hit the field 8 hours a day, but actually seeing it live (at least for me) will be a real revelation if you are paying attention.
That being said, I would never have had the concepts in mind if it weren't for you guys.
I went out to the field when I got back and all the sudden I had so much more body awareness of what a 'good' distance shot looks and feels like. Sure enough I was feeling the weight of the disc grow, I hit nose down on a high apex turnover and recognized it for what it was (with a Monarch, sure but I'm an old fat noodle arm, cut me some slack).
I even got my Wraith to turn into a 20 or so foot apex from a flat release. But that was due to the guy running the event hearing me bitch about nose down with wide rimmed drivers and showing me how to adjust my grip to fix it.
I don't know the distances I was tossing, but it sure felt right. Much less effort and a more solid feeling than I've ever had. I'm so pissed that I have to work all next week.
anyway.
If you haven't yet, GO SEE IT DONE FOR REAL. IT WILL CHANGE HOW YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DO. but you all know that all ready.
Thanks again.
