Training approaches

[Dale1]

I feel my backhand practice sessions aren't yielding the best results. It seems accidental at times when I throw good throws.

The most frustrating thing about learning backhand has been when I've thrown a really good one but cannot figure out why the disc flew so much better. It seems only now and then when everything comes together and I get a good toss.

My problem is that the throws are so fast, too fast for me to mentally keep up with it and concentrate on all the aspects of my form. Because of the speed of throws I lose my focus and control over weight forward, wrist down, etc.

Because of this problem, the next thing I'm going to try is an approach that worked to improve my forehand. I slowed my throw waaaaaaaaay down and only exerted a good bit of force just before and at the wrist flick. This allowed me to mentally follow most of the throwing motion without it going so fast I couldn't keep up with it - or control it.

I'm hoping this will also help me to get my weight forward and to feel the snap of backhand throwing.

Anyone have this problem and tried this solution? Any other suggestions?

How about working on only one form aspect at a time? I know that sometimes I can get several good throws if I only concentrate on one part of my throw, such as weight forward. Has anyone tried rotating through different aspects of your form, one at a time, throwing several times with each aspect in mind before moving on to another?

I would love to hear about your training approaches that have worked.

 

[Beetard]

Blake tells people to learn good form at a low speed, as you are talking about doing.

I'm finding that grip strength equals instant distance gratifiction. There is no quicker way to get more D.

Even trying to hold on to the disc as tight as possible, it still feels like it is slipping out early for me, but the harder I do try to grip it, the farther it can go if I did the rest of my throw halfway alright.

I know last year I was saying not to grip it hard, but last year I was a disc golf dee-duh-dee.

 

[rehder]

If you dont have someone knowledgeable about throwing watching you, or videotape yourself, then it is extremely difficult to improve, because what the throw feels like and looks like, can be different things. So it is usually easier to see what goes wrong when watching yourself on video.

And incidentally I think it is different for most people what helps, because they are at different stages in the throw. For example is Grip for me nothing I focus on, and I dont put much thought into it, these days. As long as you have a solid grip for drives, you wont gain much by clamping down harder for the rec player. Instead its time to look at other factors of the throw.


I was just thinkning about how to go about teaching beginning players. There are many concepts that go into a golfthrow, and many of them are advanced.

Nose-down
Acceleration
Rotation/Timing
Grip
others?

 

[IowaDiscGolf]

I use sets of identical discs for practice. Same weight, color and stamp, so that from one throw to another the only variables are human ones. My driver set is only three (3) because throwing a driver is more taxing and I want to concentrate on form rather than exercise at that moment.

This makes fixing one thing at a time a lot easier.

Also, I start small. I mean REAL small. With approaches, for example, I'm talking about throwing 40' backhands or even smaller. Well within putting range, just to develop an extremely high comfort level anywhere near the target.

One other thing - I don't try to throw hard or fast anymore, I just try to throw smooth or even slow, but FINISH hard. I know what you mean about trying to mentally keep up with it and concentrate, and if you've practice throwing slow/smooth but finishing with a nice snap/flourish, it's a world of difference. You talk about this with your forehand. I'm learning forehand and it translates here even more, since that throw has such a small margin for error.

Anyway those are some things that help me.

 

[black udder]

I agree with the last post. Start small. I'd grab a bunch of the same putters you like (because you can always use them for driving, practice, replacement, etc.) and take them out to the field. Throw 50'-100' throws just trying to keep the nose down, learn what snap feels like, etc. All from a stand still. Throwing from a stand still will reduce your movement and allow you to focus on fewer things.

In a field, you should be able to get a putter out to 300' by the time you're "accomplished", so it's not like those discs won't go the distance. Once you're getting putters up over the 220' mark, then perhaps you could look at another disc and see if you are improving.

I also agree that video is great. You look nothing like you feel you do!

Once you understand what your throwing goal is - the mechanics you are trying to achieve - it makes it much simpler to diagnose just from how the throw feels and what the disc does.

 

[Dale1]

Hey, thanks for the great replies! :mrgreen:

I have already slowed down my throwing motion quite a lot and am trying to save the burst of energy for the hit.

I have 10 XDs (my favorite putter) which will work great for practicing until I get the feel for the backhand. I must admit practicing with a bunch of different discs can get confusing.

I have been practicing throwing from a standstill. There is just too much going on in a backhand throw to do any sort of run-up or X-step! I like the pec drill approach of putting the feet together and then taking one step with the right foot to get the weight forward.

I have taken video of myself throwing but it looks pretty awful at this point, and every throw looks different. Perhaps when I get a little more consistent I'll post some video. (I still haven't found a video editing program that I like.)

I have noticed that I seem to throw better when I keep the disc about 4-6" away from my body rather than closer to it. Keeping it closer makes me feel my shoulder is in an awkward twisted position, it seems to rob me of my shoulder strength, and it hurts.

Oh, one approach I have taken to learning something new in my throw is to practice it without a disc in my hand, several times, to get the overall motion down before I try it with a disc.

 

[banzai7]

XDs are probably great for this kind of thing because they have a shallow rim. One sticky transition is making the switch to mids and drivers because the rims are so different from deeper putters (Wiz, Aviar, etc) -- harder to get that index/thumb pivot. If you learn with XDs, the transition shouldn't really be much of a problem.