I am a beginner to intermediate player who has been working lately primarily on power and distance. I play at a normal length course about 25 minutes away but just recently a real short nine hole course (120 to 190 feet) was put in about 5 minutes away from me. how much does throwing max power rocs and putters help in improving my distance with drivers? would I be better off if I teed off from different locations so I can actually use my drivers? Any help would be great. Thanks

I would say practice that little 9 hole course as much as you can to improve your upshots(100ft and in) , creativity with shots around the green and around and over trees. And of course your Putting.

And also practicing your form and distance with Rocs will benefit your technique and ultimately your distance in Driving.

Anything like shooting at trees in your front yard or practicing "air shots" with your wrist flipping back and forth will add benefit in getting better in DG !!

Most people can't get on a DG Course everyday. But they can do things right at home to get better at DG !!

Throwing midranges and putters off the tee will help with keeping your tempo smooth. (overstable drivers hide flutter and wrist roll).
However to increase all out distance I'd reccomend going to an open field once or twice a week with about ten drivers and throw all out end to end experimenting with tempo, elbow bend, x-step etc. Field practice, I've found to be more productive in achieving distance gains than course practice. That short nine holer should help with accuracy and practicing specialty shots such as sidearms, rollers and tomahawks.
Good luck!

it is actually very helpful on these types of courses to experiment a lot. while a 190' putter toss is about 40% power for me, i do find it helps my accuracy and timing, and the difference between more approach type throws vs. drives. those holes are also a great length to work on overhand throws and sidearm, without much risk of tiring out your arm.

also conducive to using a very overstable driver and messing around with skip shots, touch annie/flex shots, controlled stall outs (over-throwing and letting it dive backwards), and knife hyzers.

while i can play most pitch & putt courses with just a putter or roc + putter, i often find it much more entertaining to say, take a z predator on a 150' hole, throw it with 80 degrees of hyzer angle and 70' high and try to park it. a lot of that kind of throwing really helps build knowledge of how to use angles/height/trajectory to control your distance.

I concur with Blake, we have a short course in Durham, NC Cornwallis (very woody not much in the way of fairways, many of the Pro�s don�t like to play it, but we have a lot of fun and it has really helped my creativity with approach shots as well as learning form, which in turn has really helped my driving. On different rounds we will play with only a putter, then a mid range, then a driver (great fun putting), or we will play only one kind of shot off the tee, forehand, thumber, roller etc (either hand OK). One thing I can say about playing on a shorter course is that when my drives start to go awry, I will go to the short course and play with only putters. Throwing a putter gives me the feedback on what is happening with my form. Cheers, enjoy having that close course!

I highly recommend driving with putters and mids whenever possible.
I'll usually throw a mid on anything under 350 and a putter under 300.

Throwing putters on your drive may seem impossible at first, but that's becuase you will see your lack of fluid motion and technique. LIke others have said throwind drivers, and especially overstable ones, will not allow you to see your flaws as well as a putter.

At my home course we have shorter Blue tees where everything is probably around 150-250 and I only bring a JK aviar and Classic(i only put with classics). Most of those shots are standstills, but on a few i run up.

My suggestion for learning to drive with a putter is to first try throwing it as lightly as possible. You want to stay completely relaxed and try not to be fast about anything. YOu can also add some hyzer on it too. I find a nice slow fluid throw on a slight hyzer is perfect for maxing out a putter(over 300 for me)..

Just have fun and remmeber to try not to rip the hell out of it.

-Scott Lewis

I highly recommend driving with putters and mids whenever possible.
I'll usually throw a mid on anything under 350 and a putter under 300.

Throwing putters on your drive may seem impossible at first, but that's becuase you will see your lack of fluid motion and technique. LIke others have said throwind drivers, and especially overstable ones, will not allow you to see your flaws as well as a putter.

At my home course we have shorter Blue tees where everything is probably around 150-250 and I only bring a JK aviar and Classic(i only put with classics). Most of those shots are standstills, but on a few i run up.

My suggestion for learning to drive with a putter is to first try throwing it as lightly as possible. You want to stay completely relaxed and try not to be fast about anything. YOu can also add some hyzer on it too. I find a nice slow fluid throw on a slight hyzer is perfect for maxing out a putter(over 300 for me)..

Just have fun and remmeber to try not to rip the hell out of it.

-Scott Lewis



When you drive w/ a putter, do you use the same grip as on your drivers?

yes.. i use the same grip with all my throws except putting(modified fan grip there)...

you just have to watch your wrist roll and watch how quick your movements are... a nice slow and fluid motion seems to work best for throwing putters as well as a slight hyzer.

-Scott Lewis

I have found there to be a proficiency gap in my accuracy at distances between 250 and 300ft. I can pretty much hit the 30ft circle on holes between 300 and 425ft, but the ones between 250 and 300, just get me off. And a lot of times I cannot get the expected two that an advanced player should get. Thankfully we have a course about 70 miles from here that is short, I think the holes average 250ft.

At this course I learned what my problem was. Off the teebox I throw the exact same way, adjusting for wind with release angles and distance with different discs. I threw just as hard for a 300ft hole as I did for a 425ft hole. I could/can not get my putter accurately past 250ft. So I kept throwing my midranges and out driving the holes, or having them fade over the top. There I learned how to back down on my arm speed and power while still retaining the control I had at higher speeds.

I still throw my drivers at full speed, but with my midranges I have learned how to back them down accurately.

While Blake's advice is dead on and good. I do not follow that line of thinking. While I do know who to throw my Predator on a spike hyzer line, or release it with anhyzer and get it to pan out and come back. I prefer mostly line drive shots. Line drive shots, either approach or drives work for me on about 90% of the holes and shots I play. Of course there are some holes that do not allow line drive shots where I do have to deviate and that is where knowing many shots at different speeds really helps.

So you can play that short course with a lot of spike hyzers, or floating anhyzers. Or you can learn control at slow speed with your midranges and develop some accuracy there.

Thankfully we have a course about 70 miles from here that is short, I think the holes average 250ft. At this course I learned what my problem was.



Just out of curiousity... are you talking about Brahan Springs Park in Huntsville??? My favorite home course. (we got 4 here)

No, I was actually talking about AUM in Montgomery. It is pretty much wide open. I refered to that course because you could actually pick a target (the basket) and practice throwing at it for 18 holes. The longest hole is 408ft and is down hill.

As for Brahan Springs, I feel that this is more of a luck course, then anything else. It is where "It hit the second tree" got started. I know it is the most popular course in Huntsville because even if you make a mistake you can still save par. Which is why I prefer Mastin Lake over Brahan Springs. At Mastin Lake, if you get into trouble, saving par is a tremendous feat. My favortie course up there is the new UAH and then Redstone. A buddy of mine works on the base so I can get on when ever I come up. In fact I will be in Huntsville this weekend. Saturday afternoon I will be at UAH.

One of MY favorite courses is Elliott Park in Elkhart,IN. Longest hole is 224 feet :) (shortest is like 95 feet, par 2 but erratic shots go in the river)

Great for short game practice & learning to avoid trees. Also it only takes 30 minutes to play a round (only 9 holes) so I'll go through 3-4 times while I'm there.
Excellent course & I'm glad there is something like this available.
Support your small local courses. Let them know people are playing there.

One of my favorite short courses is Lake Walcott in Idaho. The longest hole on the back nine is 280, most of them are in the 185-240 range.There are some longer holes on the front nine, but I find that alot of Advance guys can not play the course very well. I think that it doesn't matter what disc you use, just that you know what to do to make it work. For example, I like to use a viking, and an orc for most of these holes, even though I can easily outdrive all but one. I can get my roc that far most of the time, but I find when I throw it on these, I tend to force it.... My advice, as a girl :o. would be to know your throw and don't listen to what others tell you. It's amazing (read frustrating) how many times I pick out a driver for a hole like this and the guys I'm with say" I can't believe you are using a driver on this" FYI- I took the CTP at the tournament there throwing an orc when most of the guys were throwing aviars.

We just got a new short course put in here in Carbondale, CO, about four weeks ago. Playing it with a putter and Coyote has inproved my game on the big course a lot.
Best thing is, it's only a few minutes from my office. I can hit it at lunch, do two rounds in less than 45 min, 4-5 times a week.

Not intentionally trying to jack a thread, but....

Sure, playing short courses helps you on your long courses by getting approach shots down. But I noticed that really long courses also help on your short game. I am talking about monster long holes, that are terribly difficult, like John Houcks Ranch in San Saba TX. Even though the hole is 900ft long, you are forced to hit a landing zone 300ft away, and then another landing zone 300ft from that, then you have to hit the green 300ft away again. In one hole you have just now played 3 pitch and putt holes.

So when you play three pitch and putt holes, you just played one long hole.

Placement, accuracy and control are always more important then distance. I have yet to see a hole where you were forced to throw over 300ft. The worst (longest) I had seen was #9 at Strawbale Fields in San Saba "The Ravine Hole" You had to fly 300ft off the teepad to get to the fairway over a heavily wooded ravine. The ravine if you did not make it was OB, there was a drop zone for no double jeopardy.

It also helps to play courses outside your element. If your home course is long, travel on a weekend to a short course, and visa versa.

There are two courses that are closest to where I live that complement each other really well. One of them is a shorter course where I only throw a driver twice and the rest is all midranges and putters and the other is longer, but not super long so I only throw a midrange once or twice and the rest is all drivers and putters. It's too bad they can't combine them into one course.