No, I’m not saying for you to tee off at the basket and try to land your putt on the cement tee pad. I’m talking about a strategy that legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus employed. Nicklaus often talked about starting his thoughts at the perfect location on the green to hole a putt. From there, he would determine what spot in the fairway gives an opportunity to easily find the selected location on the green. His strategy moves backwards all the way to the tee. This is a simple concept, but how does it apply to disc golf?
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Disc Golf Analysis – Throw Average Stability
A few weeks back I wrote a disc golf analysis article on the Bag Average Stability (BAS) metric. That was a measure of the average stability of all the discs in your bag intended to help you determine if throwing more stable discs overall may increase the consistency of your game. Near the end of the article I made a strong point that calculating your BAS is pointless if you include discs that you never throw. So as a follow up to that article I’m introducing the disc golf metric of Throw Average Stability (TAS).
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Finding Lost Disc Golf Discs
A beautifully long flying anhyzer suddenly hit by a rogue gust of wind, your foot sliding off the edge of an elevated tee pad in mid rotation, or just a strong grip-lock from excitedly trying to crush your drive. If you haven’t spent time looking for a lost disc golf disc after one of these occurrences then you’re probably not a disc golfer, but if you’re reading this then you most likely know that dreadful feeling of estimating which pile of brush you’ll be trekking through.
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Disc Golf Analysis – Bag Average Stability
It’s a widely accepted theory that throwing stable to over stable discs typically improves the consistency of your throws. Certainly there are exceptions and some large trade-offs, but hyzer throws (all other things being equal) are statistically more forgiving of errors than anhyzer throws, as described by www.heavydisc.com.
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Disc Golf Analysis – Distance Tiers
I’ve played disc golf for 13 years and like most tenured disc golfers I’ve evolved my game over time. While it’s much more common to analyze individual throwing techniques like power grips or putting styles, I find it helpful to occasionally assess my overall disc golf style to ensure that I’m continually making progress.
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Building Your Throwing Technique
I’ve been disc golfing for only two years but I’ve been able to exceed my expectations by far. I’ve also improved faster than my other friends that started at around the same time (Chris will attest to this). When I pair up and play a round with new people, none of them believe that I’ve only played a few years. My early success is a result of solid disc golf technique. I know I have a long way to go but I’m certain I have started on the right track and I owe a lot of credit to Dan Beto and his disc golf technique video.
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Push Putting Technique
When I first started playing disc golf, I was terrible at putting. I used the typical wristy motion that almost all beginners attempt. I would miss way right of the basket, or way left if I forgot the natural path of the disc, or really long if I threw with decent enough form to create glide. As a result, my first several rounds involved laying up from 20′ and out. I was so scared to miss badly that I just went for a toss near the basket. Then, I came across a video of a great clinic put on by Dave Feldberg.
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ACE your way around the course
The mental side of athletics is often overlooked. We look at professionals and see their amazing abilities but we often forget that their decisions and ability to focus might give them the largest advantage. Disc golf is no different. Two players with similar physical ability can play entirely different based on these invisible factors originating in the mind. I’ve come up with a simple way to remember the three basic mental steps that should be part of every throw: ACE! After all, why not think of an ace on every shot. The acronym stands for Analyze, Commit, and Execute.
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Do you know all your discs?
Quick, can you think of all the discs in your bag? By name and color? Maybe this exercise was easy for you. I normally try to keep a very consistent bag but I’ve been testing so many new discs recently that keeps my bag in a constant state of flux.
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Putting Fatigue
During lunch today I practiced putting in the heat by playing The Range disc golf putting game with a coworker. I made it through nearly 200 putts before my putters started floating errant. The sun and 85 degree heat had finally caused putting fatigue to set in and this was a prime putting practice opportunity. I was determined to keep up my putting form and focus during practice so it would come much easier while on the course.
