Success Stories

[archimedesjs]

I think my problem has been that I don't want to let go of what I have right now. I think I'm going to wait for the off season and just retrain my muscles. I'm going to duplicate what MB did and just go balls to the wall with right pec drills to ingrain in me when to accelerate, as opposed to trying to tweak what I have right now to get the big D. When I was doing right pec drills I was expecting an "aha!" moment, with some incredible distance and it wasn't coming. I would do 3-4 hours of right pec drills, then play a round trying to incorporate it into my current throw and it didn't work out. I was re-reading the MB thread last night and realised that he did those drills to ingrain in his muscle memory where he's supposed to accelerate. If you do enough of those drills, that is what is going to feel natural. So when you add a reach back, footwork, etc. the timing will come easier because you're just making additions, not tweaks. I never throw forehand, but I worked through the hammer drills and in a matter of a day I had a pretty accurate 250-300' flick. That's because there wasn't any bad muscle memory I had to correct. I learned correctly from the beginning, and it was easy. I've spent 100's if not 1000's of hours driving the wrong way backhand, and to try to tweak what's already set is more trouble than it's worth.

I parked a 425' hole during handicap leagues today with a nuke in the rain, and have been pretty accurate as of late. Until the season is over I think I'm going to concentrate on my short game and putting, and then just completely revamp my throw during the winter. Seems like a fresh slate is the easiest way to learn. If I somehow have some miraculous breakthrough in the meantime, I'll post up about it, but I'm not expecting much.

[InvaderMirO]

something you might try that i noticed really helped me with the other day is trying to shorten your reach back on the throw and focus on using midrange/putter discs.

i noticed that while before i was able to get my putter out to about 200-250 it was always a very "risky" shot because i would over torque the disc sometimes and end up with a completely garbage upshot.
slowing down/removing the large reach back and focusing on a hyzer'd right pec throw would get me GREATER distance on my rocs/ion and also made them MUCH less flippy, i think over extending the arm was either putting the 2nd half(right pec acceleration) in the wrong position or off axis.

while i still haven't been seeing much better distance off my drives, my midrange and putter throws have gained at least 50 feet of distance and i feel FAR more confident with them now.
it was such a joy yesterday to go stomp grandview with just putter/midrange and feel like on all but a few holes it was the disc i "wanted" to pull from my bag.

[archimedesjs]

The only time I don't utilize a full reach back is when throwing a finesse or upshot that I don't want to go very far(under 200'). I discovered a while ago that a super long reach back for me just destroys my timing, and I usually throw nose-up with zero accuracy. If I throw 80% with a normal reach back(arm completely straightens out with hips turned about 150-165 degrees I get my best tosses. What's frustrating is that I throw my buzzz almost as far as my fairway drives(teebirds, leopards). It's my primary disc for almost every hole on all the courses I play, unless they're over 350'. So that means over 75% of the time I'm throwing a buzzz or a wizard. The only discs I throw farther by a large margin(large being relative) are my nukes, wraiths, and beasts which on their best shots go maybe 50-80' farther.

Honestly, at this point I want to play a round and see somebody crush a 500' drive. I've yet to see it done in person. I've only seen one other person besides myself throw over 400' that I play with. I've played in 2 tournaments thus far, and sadly I was throwing as far as the biggest arms there. I'm playing another tournament this weekend, so maybe I'll get lucky and run into one of these guys that can crush it out to 450-550'. Wish I lived in minnesota, or some other region where the big arms are more common. I think if I saw somebody do it in person, it would seem more possible and something might click for me.

[InvaderMirO]

yea, i would love to meet some of these people that throw that far. you can read all you want and watch hours of masterbeato obliterating drives. but i find the easiest way to learn is to watch someone and then attempt to replicate or imitate. most everyone around here that plays league seem to also throw in the 350-375ish range which is great, but it seems like at that distance a number of different styles are all viable. where as im starting to think that if you want to get into the 400 or 450+ range your drive will start to look very similar to that of other people who throw a similar distance.

im taking a break today to rest my arm a bit, i noticed ive been getting much better snap lately but i don't want to stress my wrist. will hopefully have a good day at wednesday league. the course we plan to play is fairly short on almost all the holes and excited to be rolling out nothing but mids for anything under 325.

once again i can't thank blake and the other on these forums for all the great advice. its hard to explain the feeling when a group lets you play thru, you park a strait shot dead under the basket, and then the look on their faces when you tell em that 275 line drive was with a putter. hard to imagine i started this season still thinking that putters were only for shots of like 50 feet or less...

[DsmDisc]

If any of you DSM guys want to play a round i'd be glad to join you. Most of my discing buddies have been going back to college or have been busy with other stuff so we could always use more people. I can't guarantee you'll witness a 500' drive, and you'll probably see some awful approach shots, but you should see some pretty nice 450'+ drives depending on the course we play.

[InvaderMirO]

If any of you DSM guys want to play a round i'd be glad to join you. Most of my discing buddies have been going back to college or have been busy with other stuff so we could always use more people. I can't guarantee you'll witness a 500' drive, and you'll probably see some awful approach shots, but you should see some pretty nice 450'+ drives depending on the course we play.

im game, just hit me with a PM.
one of the other dsm guys BLURRR messaged me about a tourney this weekend going on down at ewing i will most likely be playing.

but yea, i would be way interested to see someone crush drives.
you show me how to drive i think i can possibly share some advice on what works for me with upshots since they seem to be all im good at right now.
my putting and driving are meh... but i always manage to save par with stupid nice upshots.

i told myself i wasn't going to play today, and then it rained... which helps... but now im wanting to throw.
might need to finish a dye or two tonight to get the disc monkey off my back.

check the dye threads later tonight, im going to put up the images of what ive done thus far. i dont see a lot of people in desmoines that have dyed plastic.

[BLURR]

From there, the improvement has been very rapid. In a matter of a month, a hole that used to be just reachable in two is now within inches of being aced, even overthrown by 60' (for those of you familiar with it, hole 10 at Ewing in Des Moines.)

Not to call you out on a public forum, but I am calling this MBD. There were a significant amount of pro's through DSM recently for the Challenge, and I do believe Double G was the only one to card a 2 on this one(And even come close to parking this hole).

If you think you are legit, there is a guy I will introduce you to here in DSM that has a wager for you.

[GDL5000]

In a matter of a month, a hole that used to be just reachable in two is now within inches of being aced, even overthrown by 60' (for those of you familiar with it, hole 10 at Ewing in Des Moines.) The most recent development? Putting all those aforementioned things together. Every time I tried something new, it killed my timing on the rest of my throw. So now that I have some GOOD habits, and most of my BAD habits are gone, I've been working with a competent throw, and the timing is coming together. Downhill i've easily thrown 600', flat holes I get 450'-500'.

Bring your D to Ewing Saturday then. It's pretty traditional that those that think they throw far show off their skillz between and after the rounds. You don't even have to play the tournament. I think there's about, oh, everybody with all their chips in the middle on this outrageous claim.

[archimedesjs]

I was just discussing this kind of situation today during doubles. I hear and read about so many people claiming to be able to crush 450'+ drives, but when I watch their videos from less than a month prior they're not even hitting 300'. Then there's no follow up videos after this big change. I'm not saying it's impossible, or that everybody is full of crap, but I think people either embelish or just outright lie sometimes. I don't consider myself a big arm, I've just recently(past week) been able to hit 425' with a Nuke SEMI-consistently(after a phone call with Blake), but people I play with who have played in tourneys with guys like Steve Brinster, Mike Moser, and Dylan Horst say that I am. That's not an ego boost for me, because I know where I fall in the scheme of things in terms of distance plateaus(and i'm still at the bottom), but it makes me skeptical of all these other people who claim to be able to crush 500'+ drives after a few weeks of forum reads. There definitely are exceptions, but I think people shouldn't BS about improvements if they're not real. The second I can start pumping out 500'+ drives I'm going to have youtube working overtime converting my uploaded videos and I couldn't understand how anybody who's been seeking big D wouldn't be doing the same.

[DsmDisc]

Holy sh*t. This is a case of me being incredibly retarded and not proofreading my posts NOR paying close enough attention to those quoting me. I absolutely did not overthrow 10 at Ewing by 60'. I overthrew 10 at Grandview by 60'. Being within inches acing 10 at Ewing would be one of the most amazing things I could ever witness, and I assure you I have not done anything nearly that awesome.

I have, however, thrown 600' downhill as I stated in that same post. That's not to say that those throws have anything I would consider excellent accuracy, but it's not incredibly difficult to add 100' to your flat ground driving distance if you have an open fairway, downhill hole like 10 at Ewing. The 600'er I threw was indeed on that hole, but it ended up to the right short of the teepad for 11.

So just to clear the air: Holy crap I'm a retard and need to learn how to proofread and comprehend my own posts. I will however stand by my statements that I can comfortably huck drives 450' regularly, as long as I have not been drinking copiously during the round. In the interest of not sounding like a lying bastard trying to backtrack on my claims, I will get some video during the next round or field work I do.

And to you Iowa folks, you need to talk to someone about getting tourney's scheduled for Sundays! I've been working Saturday's my entire disc golf career, and nearly every tourney we have here is either on Saturday, or a two day-er that starts on Saturday!

[JR]

I'm effed by working on Saturdays as well.

[SouthernGolf]

I was JUST like u. Obsessed with reading these forums and trying to figure out how to throw far. Well the only thing these forums and masterbeato vids did was give me the knowledge of how to throw properly.

The whole time I was playing with local pro's and other skilled people alike, they all at one point or another told me the exact same damn thing that I would ALWAYS let in one ear and out the other.

Don't try so hard. Just have fun.

Eventually it got to the point where i had exhausted ALL efforts and resources to find a solution and was left with one option. FUCK it. I decided to stop caring because I knew I had all the knowledge of how to make the throw I wanted. The moment I did I three it 350 on a beautiful line, effortlessly. I had been maxing out at 300 but not very consistenly. Now I'm hitting 400 all within 2 weeks

As it seems I was overthinking and that was holding me back
If you feel that you've put in the required practice and research to be where you ought to be then just relax and know you have what it takes. It took me a lot of wasted effort to realize it.
Don't let that happen to you…

[InvaderMirO]

well figured i would drop a post before i head out to the ewing tourney.
which i will be wearing tan shorts, plain grey shirt, and as always my green castro hat.

ive been hitting the field every day at lunch lately and i think yesterday it finally paid off...
yesterday at grandview i was not only crushing drives much further than normal. but i was hitting all my lines, and parking EVERYTHING.
my putting was the worst i have ever done, but im aware i suck at putting and that is the next step for me anyways, no big deal, gotta get in range before good putting helps anyways:D
i think i was within 20 feet putting range on 3/4 of the holes yesterday. excluding the obvious ones like hole 12 and hole 6 where you would have to be hercules's bigger stronger brother to get to the basket in 1.

also on an interesting note! i love des moines
i had a waitress at mickeys downtown recognize me last night when i went out to drink. she saw me playing grandview that day i was killin it, and recognized not only the castro hat. but she remembered my putter having the darth vader dyed on it... small world...
and she was really pretty. gotta love the hot chicks who disc...

[InvaderMirO]

dont think any forum users were in my group for first round today but im pretty confident i hit a 450 shot.
short tee of hole 10 at ewing says 458 and i hit a ~10 foot putt for birdie.
im considering it a success story.
first round i shot 64 but should have had 60-58 if i could learn to putt... i gotta get off all the line drive threads and start reading up on the putting ones.

[keltik]

I'll call myself a success story but only for distance increases. When I first came onto the board I could throw ~300 once in a blue moon with a Valkyrie. Now I can throw over 420 on command with a speed 9 disc (usually Avenger) I can throw a putter 300. However I still don't have the best control/accuracy. I tend to over throw shots. I can't range very well and I'm a bad putter. My rating is 850 on a good day. but I'm still the guy that hears "I've never seen anyone throw a putter that far" all the time. but my scores are not good. I worked really hard to throw far. I just forgot to work hard to play good golf.