I found this out by trolling the forum at discgolfreview.com (DGR). They recommended working out OAT by learning to make your flippiest disc hyzer while throwing it flat. A few days prior, I had wrapped a paper plate in duct tape and thrown it across the room for awhile. It was so unstable, I could whip it across the room spiraling out a counter-clockwise corkscrew. Eventually, my girlfriend got ahold of it and aimed for a plant. Her throw gently hyzered into the pot. This is what I needed to figure out how to do.
Since then, I have graduated to using a large coffee can lid to practice this skill. Besides learning how to refrain from twisting your wrist, a major thing to learn with this exercise is how to reduce wobble, as doing so increases glide, the straightest part of the flight, tremendously. I remember watching my younger sister playing with a toy top as a kid, and she finessed the handle with her little fingers and got the thing to effortlessly spin for a long time. When it finally petered out, I said, “Oh yeah- watch this!” and torqued the top as hard as I could. It flopped around wildly for a few moments and then crashed onto its side.
I had several high speed drivers that all went around the same distance, maxing out at 300 feet. The opinion on the forum was that this was due to reliance on arm strength rather than leg, hip and shoulder whip. This was also extremely familiar. This exact premise is central to a method of drumming called the Moeller technique, which I spent years studying, practicing and teaching. To increase drum speed, you have to learn to relax and whip your limbs instead of counter-productively tensing muscles.
Some of the movements involved in throwing a disc are simply intended to get things in the correct position and alignment to enable maximum efficiency in generating power to the disc, reducing wobble and getting the nose down. As an example- if you pull the disc level across your chest, pointing your elbow at the target, you will not only have the disc aligned to propel it forward instead of up, but also arrive at a position near your right pec where it is actually impossible to use your arm muscles to throw it. This requires you to generate force using your hips, which are much more powerful. The crux of this task is to seamlessly weave these separate tasks into one fluid motion.
I started playing rounds while incorporating various theories and tips found on the “techniques” portion of the disc golf review forum. After about five rounds of this, I had increased my accuracy but my distance was the same. By ten rounds, my distance had potentially increased except the only times I managed to get the nose down were on throws that flew wildly to the right. Halfway through about 15 rounds, after several holes where every throw sailed wildly to the right, I was pretty much relegated to running up and down the concrete pad trying to remember how to let go of the disc.
Back to the drawing board, or in this case, forum. Like most things on the internet, there is more misinformation than anything else on the site. Members give all manner of analogies intended to help visualize the throw of the disc. Some equate it to throwing a hammer or snapping a towel, but I really didn’t find these concepts accurate or helpful. While watching one video, a comparison to dropping the bat head in baseball was made. As an avid baseball fan, I am very familiar with this term.
The plight of former first baseman for the San Francisco Giants J.T. Snow came to mind. He is probably the best fielding first baseman I’ve ever seen, and early in his career he was a decent hitter, too. Then, he lost his hitting mechanics, and the harder he worked at trying to get them back, the worse his hitting became. The Giants used to have a brilliant and knowledgeable hitting coach named Dusty Baker. Unfortunately, he wasn’t their hitting coach but their manager, and he wasn’t as good of a manager. After he left, taking Gene Clines, the Giants’ actual hitting coach, with him, the hitting mechanics of pretty much the entire team fell apart.
While I can’t hit a baseball worth a darn, I have watched enough baseball to knowledgeably critique a swing. It suddenly occurred to me a RHBH disc golf throw is very much like batting lefty. J.T. Snow is a lefty. If a lefty is fouling everything to right, what’s he doing wrong? Either he’s getting out on his front foot or he’s not keeping his hands back. Voila; problem solved.
Another baseball adage that applies to disc golf is to accelerate through the throw. I miss watching that fluid, easy swing of Barry Bonds culminating in the ball appearing to jump off the bat like it had a propulsion system. His swing looked like that television effect created by going from slow-motion to real time. On a drive, the disc should be traveling at its fastest upon release. Rushing the wind-up into the throw is counter-productive.
Much of the time at DGR is spent learning to recognize useless information. One of the few people who reliably knows what he’s talking about is named Blake Takkunen, and one of his helpful articles on the main page of DGR explains the role of the grip on the disc. The first time I skimmed it, I was thrown off by the nuances of two things: the line on the hand to keep the disc edge on and keeping the thumb in front of the forefinger.
This is Blake's illustration, showing to put the disc edge against a line running from between the index and middle finger and the terminus of the wrinkle at the base of the thumb pad. He cryptically remarks that the disc can be above this line. Looking at my grip, I was satisfied that the back edge was on his line and the front edge above it, as that seemed to satisfy his criteria. Also, it seemed impossible to place the disc on the part of the palm between those two fingers while having the forefinger gripped beneath it. I had neglected to consider the elasticity of skin. I now realize he was intending to allow for a higher but parallel line. Simply taking his advice and placing the disc exactly where he says to has been immeasurably useful.
Any discussion of disc grip notes to place the thumb in front of the knuckle of the forefinger. I was putting my thumb as far forward as I could, which was pulling the disc nose up- the exact opposite of what you want to do. All they’re trying to say is put the thumb flat on the disc pointing forward and the forefinger tight around the rim. This should naturally cause the tip of the thumb to be in front of the forefinger knuckle by a few centimeters. I put my thumb’s right side very close to the outside edge of the disc.
For maximum distance, it is crucial to clamp tight to the disc just prior to the release, but not earlier. If you tightly squeeze a fist, you can feel your finger muscles fatigue after barely a second. After that, your arm muscles begin to detrimentally stiffen instead.
As a memory exercise, I compiled a list of reminders to act as a sort of mental checklist, breaking down the major aspects and motions to consider during a drive:
Drive:
1. Grip:
a. palm/pad placement
b. fingers curled
c. thumb
2. Wrist down and cocked
3. On balls of feet, knees bent, spine aligned
4. Set height, nose, hyzer
5. Controlled X-Step through disc location
6. Start lawn mower into right pec
7. Shift hip weight
8. Tighten grip (SNAP)
9. Step through
(Please Note: “Throw as hard as you can” intentionally absent!)
It is excruciatingly difficult to remember all of these things in the second it takes to perform them.
Putting requires less body movement, making it seem simpler to figure out, but perhaps that perception is precisely what makes it difficult. It is tempting to get frustrated over missed putts, with the basket mocking before you, but losing confidence is a death knell. I have found a 5 minute video clinic on YouTube with Cameron Todd and David Feldberg to be most helpful. One day on the course, some random guy, after watching me putt, remarked, “Grab the pole.” This advice has helped reduce popping the disc up as if throwing a free-throw. I made a similar putting reminder list:
Putt:
1. Grip:
a. palm/pad placement
b. fingers fanned
c. thumb
2. Wrist down and cocked
3. On balls of feet, knees bent, spine aligned
4. Target pole
5. Arm straight (elbow not quite locked)
6. Push with legs
7. SNAP from waist
8. Back leg push according to distance
I suppose I may as well make a mid-range list as well:
Mid-Range:
1. Grip:
a. palm/pad placement
b. fingers birdie grip
c. thumb
2. Wrist down and cocked
3. On balls of feet, knees bent, spine aligned
4. Set height, nose, hyzer
5. Step front foot back, pull disc back
6. Step front foot forward, start lawn mower into right pec
7. Shift hip weight
8. Tighten grip (SNAP)
9. Step through
These lists might be too aimed at my strategies and struggles to be of much use for others. In the end, the only way to figure out how to throw a disc is by developing productive habits through repetition and practice, practice, practice.
Check back for Disc Golf Review, Part 3: Disc Dyeing.
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