biscgolf said:
have any of you sanctimonious bastards who are so willing to tell others what they should do ever won anything????
I have been entertained with this topic and the almost blanket refusal of the respondents to take it seriously.
There is a grain of logic behind it, of course. Why should we consider the advice of folks of unknown identity and unknown skills and unknown experience and unknown knowledge? Even if someone were of a known commodity or reputation, why would we believe that they have an answer which works for any one of us individually? If we had a panel of the greatest players of all time we would expect there to be disagreement among them and they might have limited personal insight into developing skills for players without their genetic gifts.
Of course the question seems to assume that the player who can do a skill best (the winner) is in the best position to teach it. But many good athletes do not make good coaches or teachers.
On this forum and in other venues I have freely given my advice. Yet I have never taken the time to give a disclaimer, so here it is:
The advice I give is based on what has worked for me and what I have seen which works for others. It may not work for you but it may be worth trying out. My advice is not based on knowledge of science. I have never studied physics or flight or physiology but I have studied the game and some of its best players and have benefited from generous teachers. I think the best training is hands on, face to face. Next comes video. Last comes the written word.
My style is joking and good-natured. It is sometimes hard to read that in the written word. So if I appear to insult someone it is not meant to be belittling and should not be read that way. Most of you have seen me in videos which gives you some insight into my style. Every good teacher I have had was hard on me and I don't hesitate to dish it out. I can take it, too, and am fine if others don't agree with me or don't like me or see evil motivations behind my efforts.
I think most players who come on this site and offer advice take a similar philosophy. We should all be open minded enough to try someone else's ideas and skeptical enough to realize that even well intended advice may not be effective. But all who offer advice do so accepting the danger of being called out or attacked and for this they deserve some credit. The internet is not a gentle world which explains why there are a lot more lurkers than publishers.
Oh, I have competed in somewhere around 500 disc golf tournaments and won somewhere around 100 of them. This doesn't make my advice worthy and doesn't make it irrelevant. I may be wrong about my opinions but I have spent a lot of time and effort developing them.
Edit: Dammit Frank beat me in writing speed. I was referring to Sir Ellis. I just read in a newspaper that that is not the proper etiquette in the UK to address a knighted person with a Sir and just the family name. So my way of writing suits an American just fine 
