I'm new to disc golfing and I am wondering, how can I improve my game? It takes me usually 4-6 throws from tee to basket. How can I improve my distance?

i'm a newbe too but everyone told me to pratice throwing in a field and try and find a local pro and see if they can help you
thats the best i can offer

Both of those are great suggestions and should be followed.

Additionally, you can find some of the best articles I have seen from Blake T at Disc Golf Review (http://www.discgolfreview.com) . I have never met him, but I do appreciate all the hard work he has done on his site and for the sport.

When you practice your distance, make sure to throw with your body and not just your arm. Make sure your shoulders are turned so that your back is pointing to your target, then start your swing from the ground up. Open your hips and concentrate on rotating your shoulders, using your back, toward the target. The result should cause you to have enough momentum to pivot around on the ball of your right foot so that your left shoulder is now pointing at the target, or has rotated beyond the target. (this is assuming you are a right handed back hand thrower).

These are a couple things I'm working on to gain distance the past few weeks. Before I was throwing pretty much with just my arm and was getting about 350'-400' feet. Now I'm using my whole body, and feeling much more power. Next summer I should be able to get at least an extra 50' by using my body. Not only am I getting more power, I'm gaining more accuracy, as I'm using my larger muscle groups to control my shot.
I'm fairly new to the sport, but I played a ton of Ball golf all my life. I'm trying to incorperate the same power ideas from the golf swing into my disc golf throw.

got any tips for someone who can't use their entire body to chunk for distance? anything that actually involves using my back is a no go for me. Any tips would be grand. My putting is on,,,it's the distance that is eating my lunch!!!

The standards for distance and accuracy are defined by Blake T and Dave D. Go to Blake's site and read the material there and you will start to get a feel for the mechanics.

http://www.discgolfreview.com/resources/articles/distancesecrets.shtml. BTW - read, then practice, then read again. Repeat as often as necessary. Also, go to Theo Pozzy's site and look at the videos of proper techniques.

http://home.comcast.net/~tpozzy/prodrives.htm

These videos are amazing.

Good luck.

Thats awesome!!! Thanks. The pictures help a lot!!!

got any tips for someone who can't use their entire body to chunk for distance? anything that actually involves using my back is a no go for me. Any tips would be grand. My putting is on,,,it's the distance that is eating my lunch!!!



I have played with a guy that has a similar problem. He uses forehand rollers on just about every drive. You can actually get some considerable distance without a lot of movement.

As for the articles suggested above, I would suggest asking a local pro for help before reading the articles written by an intermediate player. They will help you if your just starting off, but you will be better off if you talk to your local pro.

Having a pro to help critique your throw is defintely good idea and possibly the best way to improve your throw. Next best way is to practice in a very analytical way, don't just go out and throw over and over, throw and figure out how your throw is lacking and improve on that. Best way to know how your throw is lacking without your own personal pro standing right beside you is reading the articles at discgolfreview. You can learn basics at it, which I'm sure a pro would appreciate not having to teach you. There is also a step by step improvement article designed for self improvement. I don't see why you'd want to go around with a pro first, or look at the articles first. Just do your best to do both... not playing pro has next to nothing to do with the knowledge Blake has and the ability in which he presents his knowledge. Reading the articles won't be counter productive to anything a pro has to say.

My own advice to beginners who don't really feel like they understand the use of throwing with your body instead of your arm is: stay loose, and slow down to focus on getting a smooth fluid x-step down.

I've found the "Technique Repair" section of discgolfreview to be very useful. The articles are very good and will teach you the basic form, but once you get out on the field it's very useful to know how to fix problems with your throw.

Besides that, just be paitent and have fun.

Blake's website is a goldmine...as is having a helpful & communicative pro to critique your evolving technique in person.
Blake's posts on this board are quite thorough and free of egotistical jargon... He's a true ambassador of the game.

Wow! Thanks everyone for the great tips (and the informative websites to check out)! I think I have an idea of what I need to start doing differently - I've just been throwing with my arm. I need to get to the point of being able to throw using my whole body (back, arms, hips, legs). Is the way to do that, just practice, practice, practice?

To get the feel of throwing like that I mean.

the discgolfreview site has some great video clips of drives from various players. The first thing I noticed that was vastly different from me was not only the length of the throw is a mile further, but the reach back and follow thru on my drives were way butttastic. Making myself throw on a low, shoulder-to-shoulder plane was/is very hard for me to make happen. Walking thru your drive without throwing might help devolop a little more comfortable and familiar feeling approach, which is allways a big bonus... and keep your plastic simple and familiar. Using everything that everybody else uses is no good. Get used to a few discs, and get a few beat up ones as well, and learn em.

Newbie, all good info above.

My 2 cents is DON'T THROW HARD. Throwing hard with bad technique can ruin your disc golf career. Especially evil is how bad technique can slowly tear apart the ligaments in your fingers/wrist/elbow/shoulder/back/hips/knees/ankles. By the time it's bad enough to clearly hurt, you could be in for some long-time rehab. Getting your rocks off in the hope of one great throw a round is a bad start to golf, no matter how it hooks you into the game.

Be careful and concentrate on good technique and avoiding stress/injury to your body. Find the best local pro in your area and ask him to throw a drive with 30% effort and watch how far it goes. That's what you want to do.

Your newbie goals should be:
1. practice putting until you get 90% of 15 foot putts. Plus uphill, headwind, etc.
2. practice short game until 90% of <150-foot shots land in 15-foot circle. Uphill, headwind, behind trees etc.
3. practice driving technique until local pros think your technique is at least not painful to watch.

Have fun

For people who need to take it easy on the back, forehand throwing is the way to go. With this shot you can generate great distance (with even better accuracy) and it uses mainly the shoulder and arm with very little of the twisting action from head-to-toe of the backhand.

kurtbayne,
Thats another thing I've been doing wrong - throwing too hard. So I have to learn how to get it 300 (or more) feet without throwing it hard nessicarly - just relying on my technique? Wow that sounds difficult. Ok, but I can do it. The guy that introduced me to disc golf is really good - I'll ask him to throw a drive at 30% effort for me. Thanks for the goals - I wrote them down and put them with my discs.
Thank you everyone else for posting and helping out a newbie!! You guys are great. I've been reading posts anonomously for a while and finally decided to register! I'm sure glad I did :DThanks again everyone

anyone got some answers about the tomahawk? ie...should the lip face in or out and what is the differance. :confused:

One is a pancake and one is a tomahawk. Right handed, underside of disc facing thumb = Toma. The reverse is a pancake. My suggestion to you is not to throw it seeing how it realy screws with your back.

how can I get out of trees if I can't throw a toma? I know,,,,,don't throw into the trees,,,,,right!!! /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Let me show you how to throw high to dog leg around any obsticle.

I have seen people drive using a tomahawk or a thumber, but it seems like too much work on your arm and shoulder. I just use those throws get out of woods or over large bushes. I have yet to master the thumber and get it to fade left. Both tomahawk and thumbers for me fall down to the right.

Me too. I always aim 40' to the left of the basket.!!! :D

Change the angles that you release disc at and you'll start to get them to corkscrew the opposite directions. I would start with the Thumb at 1:00, Tommy at 11:00 and adjust from there.

chunk the disc at an 11 angle? or is that the pos of your thumb? :confused:

just throw it flat and high and it will fade hard when it runs outa momentum traveling forward. It will spend the rest of the flight fading hard to your right for chickenwing. Do the reverse for backhand. I think your light 150 valk should fade hard enough. Just dont put to much heat on it and turn it over or you will be in an even worse spot then when you started.

hey this thread is tips FOR beginners, not FROM beginners Mike!

:D:D

****!!!!!! Thats gotta hurt!!! Nice one Josh!! Keeps him in his place. HAHAHAHAHA :D

One is a pancake and one is a tomahawk. Right handed, underside of disc facing thumb = Toma. The reverse is a pancake. My suggestion to you is not to throw it seeing how it realy screws with your back



Actually that is not right at all :o:p. If you are throwing with your fingerso on the rim and the top of the disc is facing IN toward your body THEN its a Tomahawk. If the top of the disc is facing AWAY from your body THEN its a THUMBER. Thumbers end to the RIGHT and Tomahawks end to the LEFT. Thats only if you throw them correctly though. If you dont throw them hard enough for them to corkscrew your not giong to get those results.

ok,,,,this is getting complicated!! I'm reading about using your legs and hips and torso and to keep your hand and wrist loose until the rip point and ****,,,,,,I thought this was gonna be easy!!! **** pros,,,,,,always make it look so easy! It's a matter of time now! /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

when you throw a toma,,,how many fingers do you use? what about the thumber? Do you curl your fingers into a fist? Thanks for the clarification :cool:

You can cause more damage trying to think about all of these factors when learning...Sure there is a science to it, and nothing beats great technique, but at the same time it has to be somewhat natural feeling...Try to focus on one tip at a time, perfect it, and move on...

ya,,,no kidding!! I just found out that I was gripping my disc way to early and now that I have played with that new sort of let your arm and hand relax it makes sense and I have noticed a more fluid motion across my body!! This board rocks!! You know,,,,it's a matter of time before I beat my teacher,,,,hehehehehe come get some grunion :D

That is the ultimate goal is'nt it? Drop as many stokes off your game as possible. I would stick to the am tees right now to. This way your chances of staying in the fairway are better and you will get more outa your game than being ****** off in the bushes. Once the game goes south its hard to mentally get it back.

yup,,,being ****** off in the bushes is not a good thing,,,,thankfully you"ve only seen me ****** off in the bushes a few hundred times!!! drive,park,putt. Fairway! /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

I've only been playing for a few months now (about 3-5 times a week) and the 3 biggest areas where my game has improved went like this. (I throw Right hand back handed)

!. An seasoned player noted that I was pulling the disk from my waste rather than through my chest, more often than not, causing me to release slightly hyzer. Correcting this was a milestone.

2. To correct this I found an open field and just threw and threw and threw, concetrating on my form and technique and taking obstacles, spectators, and everything else out of the equasion. I can't tell you how much this helped, both with developing muscle memory and form, but also with learning the chararcteristics of my disks under various realeases .

My form while driving now consists of me holding the disk with both hands and rotating at the cross step so my back is to the target and both hands are holding the disk up at my shoulders during the reachback. I saw a big increase in distance and accuracy over the next week as it became more fluid.

3. Is just relaxing my entire upper body as much as possible and as long as possible through the motions. Every drive the last thing on my mind once I have picked out the imaginary window I want to punch my disk through (something my teacher taught me, but anyway) is to take a few breaths, relax my arm and shoulder and go. I have found that by relaxing my grip on the disk, while keeping my fingers positions correctly , until the end of the reach back and my pull through begins really helps.

Keep in mind I'm new and only sharing what really worked for me in hopes that it will help.

Thats awesome,,thanks. I have been hitting this board more lately and I have already learned so many things that I have been doing wrong with my form and grip! Hopefully I can stay outta the shrubery and stay in the fairway. What is this about punching thru an imaginary window? Do you look at the target and then turn your back with the disc shoulder level? Tell me more! Thanks for the tips :D

I would not hold the disc with both hands prior to your release. I have had various players tell me this will only cause inconstant flow with your arms.- But whatever works for you.

Find your window, line, whatever you want to call it. When you are getting ready to throw, you envision your discs flight path to where you want it to end up. Then you work from the finishing point backwards, until you find the point closes to you where you need to 'hit' your line or window. As long as you make your window, the disc will follow your envisioned flight path to where you want it to finish...

That seems to be the overall opinion of using both hands when throwing. I think I will work on my 2 new things: keeping the death grip down until the end of the pull back, and releasing the disc at shoulder level. Gonna practice this weekend at Moffitt,,,,we'll see how that works out!! :D

look up form troubleshooting, and snap on discreview.com