Distance Drives

[fanter]

Here is my driving form. I max at a little over 400' with a Wraith. I've been playing for about a year and a half and up until mid-fall my driving form was different every week. This is where I've settled for a couple months, but I know there are some things I'm not doing properly.

First of all, I release at a hyzer for just about every throw, even when I try to throw flat. I notice in these videos that I do lean a bit over my disc. I'm not sure how to break this habit. I know I could get better distance with some flatter releases.

I also think I could try turning my back more towards my target. I don't really load that second step of the X like I see some people do.

I notice that my pull line starts high and ends low. I think this could be because I'm not actually "pulling" much (that is, applying force with my left tricep and actually PULLING through.) I could be letting my arm "swing" through. My pull also comes in close to my RIGHT pec, but, being a lefty, I ought to be focused on pulling it more in to my left pec, yes?

All comments are appreciated- I've never had anyone offer me advice on disc golf before. Sorry I couldn't get some slow-motion involved :/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LG2oWGggD8

[Aaron_D]

Your throw looks solid. I think you are right on with your own critiques. Its going to be small things like slight adjustments to your timing, more wrist extension, D lines etc. that gets you to 450+ Try really focusing on acceleration. Start even slower, end even faster. I also think you could do more with your legs. Your x-step is like Climos, you could experiment with a more Feldbergian hop. But yeah. After 400...its slow going.

[fanter]

I'm going to try some pec drills since it's something I've never worked on. I think it might help me clean up the rest of my throw, or at least clean up points 1 & 3 of my critique. Turning my back seems more like something to deal with in the footwork category, which I'll work on after pec drills.

[fanter]

Also, thanks Aaron

Acceleration does look to be something I lack. I kind of start fast and end fast, so I'll see what I can do about that.

[Jeronimo]

I feel like I'm seeing a lot of nose up in some of those throws.

[fanter]

I don't have any issues with discs rising high and stalling, so I'm not sure. A lot of those drives turned over, too, except for maybe the clear QOLF. Granted, I know a person can still throw nose up with some turnover. I'll have to get these in slow mo somehow in order to look into that.

[Sean40474]

I'm right around the same distance as yourself and seem to suffer from some of the same issues. After looking at some of my vids I see similarities between our form. I need to reach back further myself, it seems when I do this, I pull my disc more to the right (rhbh)...this drives me crazy! I also suffer from some issues in my x-step as I'm either too quick or I'm not loading with my legs somehow. I'd go out and work on it more, but I'm not lucky like you to have pavement on any of my courses. It'll be another 5 or 6 weeks before I can get it the swing of things and have proper footing.

Do you feel the weight of the disc on your pull or feel the disc pivot off your grip upon release? I'm trying to ascertain this feeling myself, but again I can't practice as I'm too worried about slipping so my focus is elsewhere.

[fanter]

When I drive a Challenger I get a very satisfying sound upon release, and an equally satisfying pull on my index finger. With an Eagle I can sometimes get the same result, but it's not consistent. When I drive a Wraith I'm convinced that the speed and glide of the disc itself are what allow me the 400' of distance. I don't practice much with wide rims yet, but I carry one because it does give me a noticeable amount of distance beyond my other drivers. I'm quite sure I could generate the feeling of "the weight of the disc" more if I actually pulled my arm through and across my chest.

Also, one of the best bits I picked up about driving from this forum was to get my arm relaxed going into the throw. I used to be very tense and tried to keep my wrist jammed downward. It was horribly uncomfortable, caused elbow pain, and made my throws pretty wild.

[Sean40474]

Do you practice with any particular disc to help with OAT or nose down problems? I played a lot with a Comet and a Gazelle to clean up my form and have gotten my Gazelles to 400', but usually in the 380' range. The Gazelle is a 6 speed and the Wraith is a 11, so you might benefit from practicing with something slower.

[fanter]

Honestly, I'm not too convinced that OAT or nose angle issues are my biggest faults right now. As I mentioned earlier, I don't experience high, stalling flight paths or uncharacteristically hard hyzers at the end of my flights, which are usually indicative of serious nose-up issues. As for the OAT,I know that I'm at least not torquing things over. If anything I'm too accustomed to releasing hyzer. I've had success leveling out my release in the past couple days in the field and I'm working on making that consistent.

I don't regularly throw Wraiths in field practice. Eagles are my primary field worker (right now) because they are also my primary driver. They aren't much faster than a Gaz and I would imagine there's little difference in nose sensitivity between the two. I can get Eagles out into the 360 range on level ground.

[JR]

See what pushing back to front with the right leg does and try to turn faster toward the target and twisting more from the hips. Now you mostly raise the right leg up which doesn't do much than help you run forward in the follow through. How about more tension in the left leg during the pivot so that you'd turn instead of run forward?

[fanter]

See what pushing back to front with the right leg does and try to turn faster toward the target and twisting more from the hips. Now you mostly raise the right leg up which doesn't do much than help you run forward in the follow through.

That's interesting...and I like it! So do you think pushing forward will LEAD to both turning faster and twisting more with the hips?

[JR]

It's not guaranteed and for even more rotation you can push forward and rotate at the same time with the rear leg. Hips should be pretty well removed from what the legs are doing. So that the kinetic chain happens and you generate more power at the center turning the lever faster. One of the levers that is. That would be from spine through shoulder to elbow. Elbow to wrist is another lever and wrist to finger tip another with the disc completing the chain by pivoting which can be seen to be another lever. The more times you multiply leg and hip power which are the strongest muscle groups doing the work the more potential for a long throw there is. The requirement being needing to have proper timing with proper mechanics and holding on to the disc long enough.

[fanter]

Does anyone have advice on flattening out my throw? This perpetual hyzer release that I seem to have adopted isn't the worst thing in the world, but I'd like to fix it. I'm killing Valkyries and SL's right now but I can't flatten out my Wraiths/OLF's.

[JR]

Your arm swing plane conservation has issues. You run in the correct direction and plant well for flat throw in your video. Your arm has another thing going. A flat throw has the least variation in arm height from reach back to rip. Your video shows the hyzer plane your arm moves on has a swoop down in the middle. That is not as critical with a hyzer as it is with flat throws. One way to train to not go hyzer is to tie a horizontal rubber band just above the height of a flat arm pull height. It will tell instantly if you hyzer when the arm and the disc goes beyond the band.