Learning the bent elbow tech.

[teamdominion25]

Hello everyone.
I have been playing disc golf for all of last summer and I have just started playing again since the weather has gotten nice. Unfortunatly, my drives have lacked all power and distance since ive started playing as i have never been able to keep them consistent or straight in any way. All of last summer i worked on the straight arm drive, but was unable to get any distance on my thows. Just recently i deceided to try and learn the bent elbow tech. with the help of several articles on discgolfreview.com. Within 10 minutes of my first throw i was able to drive my discs just as far standing still using the bent elbow tech. as i was while using an xstep with teh straight arm tech.

The question that i have is what is the best way to step into the bent elbow drive as i am only able to do it stationary. also, i am needing to keep my drives lower to the ground as they continue to rise, stall, and then fall to the ground, so any advice there would be helpful. Finally, i am actually able to drive my putter (magnet) farther than i can drive any other disc while using the bent elbow tech. which doesnt make any sense. It stays flat and low unlike all my other throws. so any comment on that would also be appreciated.

Thanks for everything

[garublador]

It sounds like you're getting the nose up on your drives. Putters are much less nose angle sensitve than other discs which is why they're going farther for you. They're flying like they're supposed to and the other discs are "stalling out."

To fix the nose angle problem, I'd read over the grip article on this site. The "Technique Repair" section is good, too.

The x-step should be the same for both bent elbow and straight arm techniques. My understanding is that the only difference is whether or not you bend your elbow at the farthest point of the reach back.

[Blake_T]

i've found the hard part of adding the x-step to the bent elbow is the tendency to start early. my advice is to start with a very slow x-step and make sure that your foot hits the ground before the start of the pull.

as for the putter/driver behavior, it sounds like you are swooping (dipping down and then back up) abruptly during the pull, which will often put the nose up. garu was right about the putters going farther. if you focus on finishing stronger (rather than carrying too much velocity through the pull), it should eliminate negative effects of the dip, but it's probably better to pick a pull line that eliminates the dip altogether.

[Hadoken]

Sounds like exactly my problem, I went out to the local course and tried using my newly learned bent elbow, and my discs went nose up right out of my hand, flew out about 200 feet, than came back like a boomerang... I didn't even finish the round because with driving like that, I didn't want to go swimming for my discs.

Leaving was a bad idea though, I need more practice I suppose.

[Blake_T]

it's easier to start your pull from lower (~around your waist or higher) and focus on finishing on a straight line/plane.

most bent elbow players start high, but have much better timing than people who are learning it.