Training/Drill suggestions for newbie

[dabstar]

Hi all,

I am a total newbie in disc golf. I have been playing 10 rounds (3 rounds last fall and 7 rounds so far this spring season) at a very recreational level and wants to get serious with my game. I am 31 years old, 5'11" and slightly overweight. Apart from the 10 rounds I have had a total of none (0, zero, zip, nothing, nada) practice sessions. I want to change this! My longest drives are currently only about 175ft. with the majority of drives around 150ft. I seem to get the same distance throwing any of my discs (maybe apart from putters), distance driver or midrange doesn't seem to matter.

I've been browsing this forum for a couple of weeks, reading long technique threads and watching videos on youtube. A lot of the drills make sense to me (on a theoretical level, as I have not tried any of these in real life) but I'm not sure where to start.

Any suggestions for a training/drill program? I thinking 2 times pr. week for 1 hour or so. I'm looking for something along the line of:

50 right pec drills (25 no step, 25 one step for first 4 weeks) (link: xxx)
35 wrist extension drills (link: xxx)
15 pivot drills (link: xxx)
etc.

Anything like this out there?

In the period I have played I have accumulated 10 discs (ranging from putters, to midrange over low speed to high speed drivers). I'm taking from e.g. the right pec drill that I can simply throw all of them? Or would it be better for me to buy e.g. 5 Teebirds of same weight to get identical throws from the drills?

Thanks in advance,
David

[JR]

With so few rounds under your belt what you need is a lot of repetition. But only of the good stuff so that you don't pick up bad habits that you have to break later. Can you get anyone to instruct you in person? Are there local clubs that you could join and get help from? Many clubs teach classes for new players. I'm not so sure that you should throw with drills alone. The longer you can devote to field practice of one specific goal per training the faster your skills and distance and accuracy will improve. At such an early stage i would not yet break down the form to components that much but would try to find the most fluid natural easy feeling form for you. Chances are that it will be the best form for you throughout your career. At your current distance i would rill only with putters. And play with putters and mids not drivers at all. Leopards need about 200' minimum to fly anywhere close to as they are intended to fly. You do need to learn how drivers fly differently eventually but at this point there is no rush.

[Mark Ellis]

dabstar,

You need a basic lesson from a good teacher. If you live in an area with lots of courses this should be relatively easy to get (Attend a local league and seek it out. Most good players are happy to help).

If you asked the 10 best players in the world how many had started with Pec drills and Wrist extension drills probably the answer would be none. If you asked the 1000 best players in the world how many had started with Pec Drills and Wrist extension drills the answer probably would be none. It might be hard to find any accomplished Pros who began their disc golf careers with those particular drills. But lots of good and great players started out with basic lessons from good players.

So long as you desire to improve and play with good players regularly and commit to practicing you will make adjustments to your form and develop new shots over the years. To start with perfect form is an admirable goal but this is only possible if you work with a great coach on a consistent basis to directly monitor exactly what you are doing.

Players who are self taught and play only with a small group of non-tournament playing buddies tend to lock into poor form and limit their own potential. But even those players, once they start playing competitively, slowly adjust their form and reclaim their potential.

So try the drills and try the throwing of endless shots in the field and try different grips and shots and discs as they all will give you experience and reveal what works best for you. But if you seek out a basic lesson and seek out better players to play with and seek out competitive situations (leagues/tournaments) you are on the right road.

If you have the connections and the income to hire a Professional coach who will spend hours and days and weeks on your form then go for it. But since you cannot watch yourself throw it is difficult, if not impossible, to develop perfect form as a starting player.

Since the game we play is golf their are no style points on the scorecard so having perfect form and getting your butt kicked by someone with flawed form is still getting your butt kicked.

[garublador]

If you asked the 10 best players in the world how many had started with Pec drills and Wrist extension drills probably the answer would be none. If you asked the 1000 best players in the world how many had started with Pec Drills and Wrist extension drills the answer probably would be none. It might be hard to find any accomplished Pros who began their disc golf careers with those particular drills.

The right pec drill has been popular since what, 2008 and the hammer pound drill is less than a year old. All that proves is that none of the 10 best players in the world have been playing for less than 3 years. And it's true, too, I looked it up. They've all been throwing at least 1000 rated disc golf since those drills have shown up here. They didn't have the option to do those drills when they started playing. They didn't even have the option to do those drills before they became pros.

I agree with all of the rest of the advice, but that paragraph there isn't relevant. All it does is suggest that drills that are known to be useful aren't worth while based on irrelevant data.

[JR]

You can see yourself throw standing in front of a large enough mirror. The other way is to film yourself on video so that you can see every detail you did. That takes many reviews usually.