I have been playing for about 4 years now and have always thrown with the same old power grip. That was how I naturally gripped the disc and I didn't even know the term 'power grip' existed until I started reading stuff online.

Anyways, I'll get to the point. Just last week, my grip all of a sudden changed. Now when I release, my ring finger and pinky are coming off before I release and I am releasing with just the index and middle finger. This produces no snap whatsoever, but a ton of spin.

This grip problem has cost me accuracy big time (especially with drivers) and seems to have taken away 20 feet away from my average drive. Now I am struggling to hit the 370-380 mark consistantly. I find myself having to throw less stable discs for distance to compensate for the lack of snap.

I have tried everything to get my release back to the power grip like I have thrown for the past 4 years, but it seems like my natural throw has changed to the 2 finger release.

This really makes me mad because I was throwing my drives great and accurate the whole year before this happened.

Has anyone that throws with the power grip experienced this? If so, why is it happening? I just can't seem to release it the way I used too. :confused:

Try Keeping the third knuckle(closest to the fingertip) on your ring and pinky, bent. That will give more resistance to the disc ripping out of your hand.

from the sound of it, you are getting snap, just weaker rip/snap. technically, you should only feel rip on 1 contact point with the power grip (generally the pad of the index finger), but i find very few people that differentiate between lock release and disc rip.

i'm not sure exactly what you are describing, but it is most likely one of two things.

1) your pinkey/ring fingers are leaving while the disc is still close to your body turning your grip into a 2-finger grip for the final part of the throw.

2) your pinkey/ring fingers are leaving just before the rip (post elbow extension) and you can consciously feel it.

i'm going to guess it is #1 since it has affected your game negatively. without seeing your throw i can't say exactly what is causing it, but it is probably 1 of 4 things, i will list the three "fixes" as they are things that should be going on anyways.
a) keep the disc close to your body. if the disc swings out wide early, it will force the lock release early but the timing is not there for the rip.
b) don't let your left shoulder come through too early when your upper body rotates. if your left shoulder pulls through prematurely it will try to push the disc out of your hand if your arm has any lag time between the start of the throwing shoulder and your arm (since you are from the midwest i will assume you don't lead with the elbow, and this is one possible fix). other possible causes of this may be the axis of your body rotation or starting your upper body rotation before your hips. this doesn't mean to fight to keep the left shoulder back (as it has to come through).
c) tighten your grip and wrist. while i throw with a loose wrist up until the rip (although this will have to change since last fall's major wrist injury and reinjuring it last week), this may have worked its way into your throw after you used to keep it rigid. a looser wrist during the pull through will force the lock release but can cause spray if your timing is off.
d) you may have changed the orientation of your wrist during your reach back. this is just a check mechanism, but having your wrist more open or closed will affect the timing of your throw. in your case, you may be cuffing the disc more than you used to.

c and d are the ones that will often yield more spin but with a change in accuracy.

if it's #2, this is a good feeling as this is what has to/does happen, but if you are down on distance and accuracy, im guessing it's not the case.

overall, it sounds like a case of off-season rust where something has changed but you are so far removed from throwing a lot that you are unable to determine what.

I had almost this same thing happen with me, I was throwing about my personal best and then my pinky dropped off from the grip and it took me about a year to finally get back to decent D, but now I have a problem of turning over a lot of discs (poor mechanics)

Thanks for all the tips Blake!

It's a lot to take in, but I'll do my best. Hopefully this is one of those things with a simple fix, but it doesn't seem like it to me. Its like my natural release has totally changed.

The loss of accuracy really showed last Sunday after I finished 20th out of 37 people in Advanced at the Fox Valley Open and 11 strokes off the lead. It was at a course I know well and was tearing up all spring. Now with this stupid grip problem, my driving was all over the place.

it's most likely something simple or you probably would have noticed. i would wager it's c or d i listed above which are really simple fixes and are really only a factor of refining muscle memory.

i would probably experiment with d first, just head out and throw some and pay attention to how curled/open your wrist is at the back of your reach and compare it to what you can remember... if it's different, you have something to focus on :)

as for c, just try to keep your wrist tighter and see what happens.

i wouldn't worry about a or b until you have tried the quick fixes.