What were your big lightbulb moments?

[foxdawg10]

When I realized that I don't need to spend two hours a day at the practice basket to be a better putter.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

Recognizing how to control shot shape with arm height.

 

[scooby snack]

Realizing I will never play at a level close to MPO, or even FPO.

 

[Parbequeue]

As far as form stuff goes;

1. Learning how to throw the disc properly. Aka not manipulating the disc.

I mean this in the sense of not throwing like a frisbee throw (more wrist flexion) but more like throwing a hammer/heavy thing. If you let the arm/disc just do it's thing, the disc kind of tugs at your fingers at the end. I feel like this alone could bag you 300' with a little work. (See flat swing plane thread.) I put this as no.1 because once you understand this, a lot of the other bits make WAY more sense.

2. The throw being lateral not rotational.

Yeah, despite the plethora of information out there I somehow got stuck on this for years. It's a lateral motion. I saw a video of a fellow form student swinging a kettle bell, instant light bulb. How can you throw a kettlebell targetward by rotating? It's hard!

Which goes with....

3. DRK's rocking the hips thread

This also took me a very long time, but once the idea of a lateral throw makes sense, applying the rocking the hips motion (in particular feldberg form and his hip to sky video helped greatly), this swing thought has improved my balance so much! Hip to sky paired with door frame drill is a solid feeling of how the hips power the throw.

4. Door frame drill

This drill is so solid. Not only do you get a feel for how to backswing properly (and unload that), but also several other parts of the swing. Very helpful for the "working around the disc feeling" which is SUCH an important part of the swing and too overlooked, if this isn't right you're gonna be rounding til the end of time.

5. Shifting from behind

This is a misinterpretation rabbit hole on a silver platter. I think I tried every single way, especially when thinking the throw was hip rotation based. SW has lots of great drills to feel it, but ultimately throwing something heavy forward/targetward (softly at first!) and trying to stay balanced whilst doing so is the best teacher. Monkey brain will do it's thing.

6. (This should be no.1?!)

OVERCOMPLICATING

In my case, this has been my kryptonite. My biggest lightbulb moments came when I stopped over complicating things. I don't know wether my knowledge just got to a point where I did it so many wrong ways I understood the right way, or i just stopped complicating things. It's really all there in SW and HUB's vids, clear as day.


Finally - be the understable guy of your buddies, throw softer, go further, less effort, more gainz

 

[DawgsOnTop12]

"Elbow Out"

I had always had a bad habit of dropping the elbow of my throwing arm down toward my hip, which results in a weak T-Rex throw. The common que of "Elbow UP" hadn't clicked for me. I was exaggerating the "up" during the reach back, which caused me to naturally drop it during the forward swing. That resulted in either nasty nose-up air-bounces or immediate throw-llers.

What finally clicked was envisioning keeping my elbow as far away from my body as possible. This que worked better for me, because it's always aligned with the axis of rotation and is more directly related to the actual goal (make the upper arm the longest lever possible). This instantly improved my nose angle as a side-benefit.

That makes so much sense

 

[Rastnav]

I realized that pros almost always approach the disc with a run-up/walk-up that is at angle from their intended line of play. So much so that they frequently start off of the right side of the tee pad. For me, just thinking about my walk-up being at an angle made it 100% easier to stop planting my lead leg in line with my back leg, and so many good things come from that. Thinking of the walk-up as angled also encourages me to put my back to the target at plant, avoiding the dreaded toe point.

I say "thinking" because I'm still starting my four step walk-up with a left-foot baby step directly at the target, and on the tee pad, but the line from my starting point to where I plant my right-foot is angled compared to the target line, and that first right foot crossover step is already moving over towards that line, encouraging the hips to fully rotate away from the target.

This is a brand new realization for me, and today I dropped 7 strokes off of what I had been recently averaging at the local rec course.

The other big ah-ha was seeing a video from Eric and Tina Oakley mentioning that they tended to use fan grips when throwing putters, and that has made a big difference as well.

Together those two things has me hitting my line off the tee much more consistently.

 

[soothsayer]

Aha moments come daily in this forum.

But my #1 aha moment is the realization that the arm does almost nothing until the disc is ahead my sternum, toward the target. For me this instantly fixed nose-up problem, relieved shoulder irritation, and added 20% distance with less effort.

Same. I had replicated that feeling many times without a disc in my hand, and thought it COULDNT be right. That couldnt be what everyone is referring to. Then I was able to do it with a disc in my hand and it was mind blowing. I felt so dumb.

 

[Thr33putt]

In HUB's "backhand form 101" episode 1 when he talks about pushing the front hip back. Still working on it but instant gains were had.

 

[Dingus]

I had a lightbulb moment yesterday. I never fixed my strong arming. I just made it so my strong arming was in line with the flight path so I didn't have OAT. For years I have thought that no OAT = no strong-arm. I think I was wrong.

 

[autocrosscrx]

At my home course, there is one wide open hole where I measure distance and then I play 4 more holes where I throw a long distance placement shot. I had understood that I need to put my front heel down to start my pull, but it had never clicked that it was supposed to be an aggressive movement. I went out and played Tuesday with that idea and had my longest throw ever on 3 of 5 of those holes.

 

[BillFleming]

When I took my 5 and 6 speeds to a field to find out which would work best for me and found my 6 speeds were going as far as my 9 speed. The "lightbulb" moment was that my form wasn't working for my higher speed discs and I'm sticking with 6 speed and lower for now.

 

[burtron3000]

A distance one was at the collegiate championship years ago. Garrett Gurthie did a little demo of distance throwing showing keep the nose way down while lifting the disc up through the pull. Had always been a pretty natural thrower but this got me from ~380 to up to ~450 feet.

Another was way before then seeing Ken Climo at my local course throw a turnover roc 370 feet with ease on a slow turnover backhand. I stopped using understable stuff like sidewinders and learned to change the angle of release to where it's just natural now.

Sadly I've tried all the pro's putting styles and made plenty of my own and have the conclusion I'll always suck at it.

 

[navel]

A distance one was at the collegiate championship years ago. Garrett Gurthie did a little demo of distance throwing showing keep the nose way down while lifting the disc up through the pull. Had always been a pretty natural thrower but this got me from ~380 to up to ~450 feet.

Could you elaborate a bit on Gurthie's demo and tips? What changes did you make to get the nose down? "Lifting the disc up through the pull", what does that mean to him and you?

 

[Waddball]

Could you elaborate a bit on Gurthie's demo and tips? What changes did you make to get the nose down? "Lifting the disc up through the pull", what does that mean to him and you?

I'm curious, too.

I suspect it's something like sidewinder22 posted recently: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137985

 

[seedlings]

Most recent big lightbulb moment is putting with my fingers. Arm, wrist, yes, but I just started flicking it a bit with my fingers and wow - I can make putts. I used to just open my hand with arm swinging toward the target... but adding the finger 'flick' (I don't know if it has a name) is great.

 

[timothy42b]

Most recent big lightbulb moment is putting with my fingers. Arm, wrist, yes, but I just started flicking it a bit with my fingers and wow - I can make putts. I used to just open my hand with arm swinging toward the target... but adding the finger 'flick' (I don't know if it has a name) is great.

Might be Eagle's spush?

 

[seedlings]

Might be Eagle's spush?

Aah, is that what they mean? I've watched lots of form videos, but none about putting. It seems like no two players putt the same.

 

[azplaya25]

Most recent big lightbulb moment is putting with my fingers. Arm, wrist, yes, but I just started flicking it a bit with my fingers and wow - I can make putts. I used to just open my hand with arm swinging toward the target... but adding the finger 'flick' (I don't know if it has a name) is great.

It's finger spring , important for putting but also the way people get so much distance with the fan grip. You can get a feel for it by just grabbing a heavy book and tossing it on your couch. Then do the exact some thing with a disc. So much of this sport is just tricking your mind to believe the disc is a heavier object. That's probably my lightbulb moment, except that I haven't figured out how to trick my mind while out on the course lol

 

[jakebake91]

I still flex everything. I also don't listen very well. My courses played has accumulated, my game in general? plateaued in 2011 or so :doh:

So your saying wolfhaley has......peaked???

 

[wolfhaley]

So your saying wolfhaley has......peaked???

I'm about to peak all over some MN courses this weekend