I am a mediocre putter and it is more often than not due to #1.
the entire foundation of the short arm putt is meant to reduce #1 down to as low as humanly possible. for me #1 is about 10-20% of my misses, with 80-90% being mis-aiming or improperly compensating for wind.
Thanks Blake. I took this advice from you a while ago and have been trying to mimic and learn different styles. I have definitely picked some things up here and there from the different styles. I think I am currently doing the equivalent of half-hitting it with my finger spring, which makes me very inconsistent.
once you get a feeling for the magic release it becomes incredibly easy to mimic other putters. as i said, there's only 2 ways to release the disc. everything that happens before the release is simply the means of powering. each means of powering has its own set of relative strengths and weaknesses. e.g. incredibly long range but lots of technique failure misses vs. range limited but very consistent and wind neutral.
the release in itself can be evaluated but honestly, when it comes to "great putters" i've only seen a handful of slide putters that i would call great. most great putters are spring/push putters. i peaked in the ~72-74% range from 30' with a slide release during my summer of 100k putts. my spring/push putting style peaked in the 90-93% range.
Having coached a few very good batters the interesting differences you see in swings are mainly in the early part of the swing and have almost everything to do with timing. Follow through is mostly comfort. Almost every great hitter hits the same points during the swing. I'd expect that disc golf driving styles isn't much differnt. It probably boils down to a few key spots in the throw that the vast majority of great drivers hit. I am anxiously awaiting working on your new methods.
very very very true. my "final" swing (when i had the best power of my baseball career) was almost silly and pitchers would think i was showing them up. i basically held the handle of the bat on my right hip with the bat barrel pointing mostly up and slightly back and stood almost straight up and down. no step, no big wind back (although i had a slight cocking of the handle as the pitch was coming in). i knew a few guys that had nearly identical swings to me but they often had super bent knees, the bat barrel way behind their head, huge step and lunge, etc. if you broke down the point of contact and power zone for driving the ball we were pretty much identical but hardly anyone could see that since our stances and timing mechanisms were VERY different.
the biggest similarity with disc golf and batting happens during the follow through imo. i was mainly a line drive hitter but when i wanted to uncork a moonball (either going for a short fence or a long sac fly) i would adjust the weight of my swing and my style of follow through to add some backspin, lean a little if i wanted to pull the ball, etc. disc has the same implications. with very good players you can see what they were trying to do with the shot based upon their body behavior AFTER the release. a roller is a key example of this. if you ever watch a distance contest you can tell which discs will flip and ride turned beyond the apex and which ones will stall based upon the post release body mechanics.
the whole meat of it is is that each of the 3 styles have slightly different body positions at the key points. swedish styled throwers tend to have low pull lines without a lot of elbow bend. carolina style throwers are very "elbow forward". lagged arm have a lagged arm. the same principles in timing and flow apply to all. that is the one major truth. acceleration > lack of acceleration. strong grip > slip grip. etc.
