Measure Skills, Not Scores Question

[jenb]

I found this article by Blake on the Funkytown Flyers site.

http://funkytowndiscgolf.com/2010/08/me ... ot-scores/

I presume it is also somewhere on this forum, but I'm not sure where. Will someone please link it so I can read the discussions?

My question is about the part of the article that says "once a certain level of consistency has been reached ..."

With my limited time to practice and play, I feel like my game will be much better served by focusing on short game, and especially learning to putt and approach well. And I really wonder if anyone who doesn't play and practice as much and often as the touring pros play and practice can become so consistent in their basic skills that it's time to branch out.

So what is the "certain level of consistency?" Is it a point reached after going full time pro? If less, is there a minimum rating that a person, taking age and etc., into account, should be able to reach with this certain level, before branching out as recommended?

[Frank Delicious]

A certain level of consistency in that case would be the person being able to the basic shots that are involved in disc golf ie a hyzer, a straight shot, an anhyzer.

While the first part of the learning curve in disc golf generally involves developing technique and focusing on lowering your scores, once a certain level of consistency has been reached, players often neglect developing the full array of shots that will help them become the best players they can be

Reading the whole sentence, Blake is saying that once you have developed some technique and lowered your score to an acceptable level, you need to get away from throwing the basic shots and work on new shots you don't have. While being able to throw 3-5 different shots is ok, it is much better to have a much larger array of shots in the bag for any situation. Go out to the field and practice rollers of all sorts or to your course and resolve to throw as many holes as you can with just rollers. Play a whole round with just a couple of overstable discs and see how well you can manipulate their flight.

You also don't need to be a certain rating before doing things like this during practice rounds. A big thing I have noticed when playing practice rounds with lower skill level players is they treat practice rounds like casually competitive rounds (as Blake also notes). They play to beat me in the score, whereas I am out there to practice. That means I'm probably throwing shots I normally wouldn't and working on things that have been neglected or underdeveloped.

You don't need to be a touring pro or even a great golfer to start doing this. This is the stuff that will make you a great golfer.

[veganray]

I tend to set a practice criterion (or criteria) before a practice round, such as, "I'm gonna 100% run every putt," or, "I'm gonna forehand roll every drive," or, "I'm gonna use Ridges only," or whatever, then try to minimize my score within the bounds of the criterion (or criteria) that I have established.

[Pwingles]

When my attention span allows i like to work on the 3 shots i am the worst at and do a forced rotation with them.
For example, bh rollers, rhfh, tomahawk. 1st hole i shoot shots in that order unless inside of a reasonable range where attempting thos would be dumb. Like if on my roller attempt 15 feet away ill just putt and throw a roller on my next shot from the tee, and so on.

[colombo117]

I have also noticed that when playing with other "players" they tend to take casual rounds seriously and I like to practice new shots or under used shots. Sometimes I lose or score worse because of this, but recently my tournament and league rounds have been much better.

[Mark Ellis]

I found this article by Blake on the Funkytown Flyers site.

http://funkytowndiscgolf.com/2010/08/me ... ot-scores/

I presume it is also somewhere on this forum, but I'm not sure where. Will someone please link it so I can read the discussions?

My question is about the part of the article that says "once a certain level of consistency has been reached ..."

With my limited time to practice and play, I feel like my game will be much better served by focusing on short game, and especially learning to putt and approach well. And I really wonder if anyone who doesn't play and practice as much and often as the touring pros play and practice can become so consistent in their basic skills that it's time to branch out.

So what is the "certain level of consistency?" Is it a point reached after going full time pro? If less, is there a minimum rating that a person, taking age and etc., into account, should be able to reach with this certain level, before branching out as recommended?

It is never too early to start messing with multiple shots. I took an old guy (mid 60's) out for a 1st lesson. He was a raw beginner with limited power and snap. After a session on backhands I switched to forehands, then to forehand rollers. His forehand at the time showed little promise and he wondered why were taking the time to learn rollers. I told him that rollers were a staple for old guys at the higher skill levels and he needed to start on them now.

Now a year later his forehand drive is better than his backhand in both power and control and his roller is a get-out-of-trouble option he is not afraid to use.

Everyone has natural inclinations. You simply don't know if forehands or overheads or turbo putts will come easily for you unless you try them. The Pros I learned from all threw backhand drives so I did too for the first few years. What a shock it was to me to learn I was forehand dominant. I jumped from Am2 to Pro and from marginal power in Ams to better than average power in Pros, adding about 100 feet in distance.

For players who don't have the time to play a lot, the answer is to practice more and play fewer rounds if improvement is the primary goal. If maximum fun is the goal then do the opposite and develop a tolerance for mediocrity (from my observations drinking heavily seems to help this). When practicing, there is a time limit to your concentration on any given shot. Spend 20 minutes on a skill/shot then switch to something else, even if the shot seems whimsical.

As for what Blake meant, there is one person at this site most qualified to answer the question. Maybe we will hear from him.

[hegemony]

If I had to summarize what I think the article is saying:

Spend time in practice honing multiple types of shots in an effort to gain confidence with them. You're awareness will naturally increase with your confidence in your growing array of shot types, and your course management skills will develop as a result.

[Jeronimo]

I sincerely do not see any form of roller as a useful technique for getting from A to B. Perhaps its just the terrain I play on but they are 10x more susceptible to outside influences such as grass, wind, rocks, sticks, etc... I've no use for a roller and I don't practice it (often). Am I crazy?

[hegemony]

I'm no expert. I use FH rollers to get out of jail and have recently started working on my distance FH rollers. There are definitely situations where they have merit. For example, there are certain situations where penetrating a line of trees on the ground is a higher percentage play than going through, around or over them. Intro the roller.

Another analogy that applies to the article: If all you have is a hammer (BH,) everything looks like a nail. On the other hand if you had a full tool box, you'd recognize the difference between a phillips head and flat head screw.

[steward00]

And I really wonder if anyone who doesn't play and practice as much and often as the touring pros play and practice can become so consistent in their basic skills that it's time to branch out.

[turso]

I sincerely do not see any form of roller as a useful technique for getting from A to B. Perhaps its just the terrain I play on but they are 10x more susceptible to outside influences such as grass, wind, rocks, sticks, etc... I've no use for a roller and I don't practice it (often). Am I crazy?

Aye, I also suspect it's a terrain thing. I've played maybe on one or two HOLES in finland that might've been able to roll to the basket, but both of those didn't need it. I find it hard to imagine any distance rollers in the forests or open fields we have here, either the grass will bog it down fast and it'll be way shorter than the flying path, or the terrain is just too bumpy for any other roller than short saving shot back to fairway.