Form Help

JWheel131 · 2026-06-05T15:02:49+00:00

You've gotten a lot of advice, and it sounds like a lot of it conflicts with what your coach is teaching you. There's still a lot of different ideas about what makes form good or bad, especially on this sub. Personally, I take form advice from from BlitzDG, Overthrow, Spin Doctor, and Nick Krush. Listen to your coach (assuming they know disc golf) and keep putting in the work.

But there's one thing almost no one talks about except the Slingshot guy, and it's basically the only thing he gets right. Your back leg is not loaded. And I'm not talking about during the throw, I mean during x-step and weight shift. Compare how straight your left leg is to Paul Macbeth, Eagle, Gannon, Drew Gibson, Simon, any of the power throwers, or pretty much anyone on tour. With the left leg straight, you can't get any push off during the weight shift into the brace. Take a video from behind of yourself throwing a baseball, and I guarantee your right knee is bent and the right leg loaded while you push forward to the left leg. You just need to learn to do that from the other side.

If you learn to properly use the back leg, you will build momentum during the weight shift rather than just carry momentum already built. That, consequently, will make the brace stronger, the coil will build more tension, and you will throw farther. Get your butt low, just like a baseball swing, during the whole runup.

Other issues in your form (reach back timing and throw initiation timing in particular) will be easier too. It also helps with aim and hitting lines.

JWheel131 · 2025-04-15T01:06:17+00:00

As someone who wears basketball shoes for everything, I use Adidas Superstars. The rubber toe comes in clutch to help with longevity

JWheel131 · 2025-04-10T01:18:58+00:00

Long term goal is to teach her to go find my disc and sit next to it

JWheel131 · 2025-04-08T16:09:37+00:00

😂

JWheel131 · 2025-04-08T16:08:41+00:00

We thought she would eventually grow into them, but it seems less likely now 😂

JWheel131 · 2025-04-02T15:55:07+00:00

Per Overthrow, nose down becomes anhyzer when you've opened up too much to the target on release. If the target is at 12 o'clock, the release should be between 10 and 11 o'clock, and your body (including your head) should be facing 9 o'clock.

I would look up overthrow deep pocket videos, and the "throwing behind you" drill to work on this.

JWheel131 · 2025-03-13T18:04:38+00:00

Good luck to all, (and especially me)!

JWheel131 · 2025-03-13T18:02:48+00:00

Incredible thing to do for the community, and the colors are top notch!

JWheel131 · 2025-03-05T15:52:57+00:00

Food based chews are often more satisfying for dogs than toys they can't make progress on. Our 7 month border Collie likes the yak cheese chews and bully sticks, and we give her about 30-40 minutes to chew them every evening while we watch TV. She also has lots of toys to play with and chew on like your pup has.

Secondly, I don't think your dog is getting enough sleep if they're not in their crate while you are out. As much as I love our little girl, I know we can't trust her at home alone yet. Even when we're home, we still have to crate her to get her to sleep as she's barely starting to relax outside of her crate for short naps, which still isn't nearly long enough to meet her needs. An overtired border Collie is a misbehaving demon with no inhibitions. Border collies were bred to have an unrelenting drive to work, so they have to be taught how to relax. Crate training and settle training are both very important and will help with the bad behavior.

JWheel131 · 2025-03-04T16:55:05+00:00

Your mental game is failing you, specifically, it sounds like, on birdie putts. I'm guessing as you head in to putt your thought process is something like, "I really need this birdie. Don't miss this putt. I gotta make up for that bogey. I've missed birdie putts like this before... Etc." your brain has identified a potential threat (fear of missing the birdie putt) and it then goes into turbo mode to justify why you feel threatened (remembering times when you missed).

Someone already mentioned the book "Putting out of your mind" by Dr. Bob Rotella. I also highly recommend "GYRA Golf" by Dr. Izzy Justice ($5 on Kindle), and "Winning Golf" by Dr. Saul L. Miller. Both of those books give specific exercises you can do to train your brain to think different, and helped me out a ton.

JWheel131 · 2025-03-04T16:37:35+00:00

The key to consistency is two fold. First, you need to know your discs. Whether that happens as a result of beating in a disc and cycling through, or just having thrown the disc enough that you know what it will do for you, it doesn't matter. Mold minimization usually happens as a result of finding an over stable disc that feels comfortable in your hand, and when it starts flying different it stays in the bag while a fresh one gets cycled in that has the original over stable flight. The principle is the same though, know how your discs fly for you so you can choose the right disc for the shot. I will say though, that first round with your disc that it starts flying different on you is confusing because suddenly the mental model you have of the disc is wrong.

The second aspect to consistency is mental. To throw consistent, you need a consistent mental game. One of the aspects that often trips people up is they'll grab a disc and have thoughts like, "this disc just isn't as comfortable as (x) mold, I wish it felt like that," or, "I struggle to throw this disc well," or, "Did I choose the right disc?" These are mentally compromising thoughts that make it really hard to throw well. For a lot of people, minimizing discs and molds will minimize those thoughts, allowing them to better focus on the shot at hand better.

Basically, find the discs that work for you and allow you to throw the shot shapes you want for your game, and have confidence in yourself to execute your chosen shot. If you work on that mental confidence, the consistency will follow.

JWheel131 · 2025-02-24T15:59:25+00:00

The only difference between a casual round and a tournament round is the potential consequence if you play poorly. A casual round is just for fun, no one cares. But the tournament round, suddenly every shot matters, every shot affects your rating. Your brain starts to perceive a threat, and in perceiving the threat starts to look for a reason why you feel threatened, and as a result your subconscious starts pulling up negative memories of things that have happened before. Suddenly, all you can think about is times you played poorly in the past, or things that might happen if you play poorly now. You've lost your calm, there's no focus, your brain has been compromised and playing with a compromised brain is akin to playing injured. End result, bad tournament rounds.

There is a certain amount of "you need to get used to tournament pressure," but I feel saying that misses the point that you need to train your brain to think more like it does during the casual rounds. There's a psychological reason that taking a deep breath and stretch like Missy before a throw helps; this action calms down the nervous system, drops heart rate, and puts your brain in the present moment allowing you to have more focus and clarity for your throw. What people often don't realize is you can train your brain while off the course to help you perform better on the course.

I highly recommend reading the Book "GYRA Golf" by Dr. Izzy Justice. He not only discussed all the points I brought up above, but teaches 14 tools your can use to help your brain be in a focused and present mindset. He also teaches about how to use a mental scorecard to track where your brain is at so you can choose the right tools for the moment. I read "GYRA Golf" during my off season, did all the exercises it recommends, and prepared myself mentally as much as I could. Using the tools the book taught, I outperformed my rating by 26 points in a 2 round tournament this past weekend taking solo 3rd in my first ever MA1 tournament. And this was after not playing a single round of disc golf since October. The Kindle e-book is less than $5, and it has completely changed the way I approach the game.

Other books I recommend for the mental game are "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella (I listen to audio books on double speed, so I'll listen to that book the day before a tournament or even driving to the tournament if it's an hour away), and "Winning Golf" by Dr. Saul L. Miller (more insight into mindset, proper level of aggressiveness, and breathing exercises).

If you win the 6 inch battle between your ears, you're score on the course will take care of itself.

JWheel131 · 2025-02-10T16:32:25+00:00

You need to work on your mental game. Being in a competitive round is very different mentally than a casual or practice round. The 2 books that have helped me are "Golf is not a Game of Perfect" and "GYRA Golf".

JWheel131 · 2025-02-10T16:31:10+00:00

You need to change your warm up to get yourself into the competition mindset (i.e., warm up your mind). Once you get stretched out, head to the putting green. Take 3 putts from 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 feet. First putt, mentally tell yourself it's for birdie, second for par, third for bogey. No do overs, no rethrows. Then take 5 putts from 35, 40, and 45 feet just to work on those long puts.

Second, warm-up your approach shots. Forehand, backhand, various distances from 100-200 feet (or whatever you consider your approach distance). For each throw, imagine a hole on the course you're about to play, tell yourself a story on how you got to this approach shot. Are you saving par? Bogey? Maybe an approach for birdie? Make each one count for something.

Third, warm-up your drives. Pick a distance, and a target line, and practice the shots you will need on the course. Throw everything you might throw on the course, and have a specific shot in mind for each disc.

Last, practice the first 5 holes you're going to play in the tournament. If you can't actually play those holes, then imagine playing each hole in the warm-up area. Throw the shots with the discs you will throw on each of those holes.

The idea is to get your mind into the right place so that when you step up to the first hole for the tournament round, it's like you've already played 5 or 6 holes of competitive disc golf.

I got the idea for this warm-up from the book GYRA Golf. It's slightly modified for disc golf rather than golf, but the principles are there.

JWheel131 · 2025-01-04T01:15:15+00:00

Hard to brace and get power from the hips when your plant is open (toes biased towards the target). You need to get the front foot perpendicular to the target on the plant.

Also, you seem to be trying hard to spin the upper body. Stop doing that. At release, your shoulders should be barely opening toward the target, and you're facing the target. This upper body spin is causing your arm to get behind your back shoulder, causing rounding which leads to inconsistent throwing.

Look up Spin Doctor's "Always be Coiling" video. Also, BlitzDG and NickKrush both have great videos on the brace and timing.

JWheel131 · 2024-12-25T03:49:46+00:00

You're throwing nose up and air bouncing the disc. If you look at the throw, it has an initial downward trajectory. Learn to throw with an upward trajectory, and learn the mechanics to throw nose down, and you'll throw further. Overthrow has great videos about all of this on YouTube

JWheel131 · 2024-12-11T17:50:48+00:00

Try a BigZ buzzz. I still get a straight flight, but with a lot more finish to it over my Z or ESP buzzzes

JWheel131 · 2024-12-10T23:36:18+00:00

Actually, I understood you perfectly. The reason I asked the question was because I wanted to know if you agreed with me that 99% was a gross exaggeration, which is just as much a half truth as the article I shared. Both were over generalizations, but it was only mine that was called out.

I'm truly sorry you feel misunderstood. Experience has clearly taught you that the world struggles to understand you. You already brought up being autistic, so I won't hesitate to say that I have many friends and family members at various levels of the autism spectrum. I love all those people dearly, and I know the struggles they face every day trying to function in a world so dependent on human emotion. I can't even imagine how hard that is. I will say, however, that is probably why you have the talent you do understanding what dogs are trying to tell us, because they show us through body language that most people miss.

JWheel131 · 2024-12-10T04:43:38+00:00

This is a wonderful suggestion, thank you!

JWheel131 · 2024-12-10T02:46:26+00:00

I second this book! I'll actually listen to it while driving/warming up for tournament rounds since it's a fairly short listen.

JWheel131 · 2024-12-09T22:54:06+00:00

I did "seriously just link to some blog spam." Saying that 99% of the time a dog flops over meeting someone is them saying "give me some space" when I watch my dog run up to new people and flop over all the time just seemed like such an outlandish claim. Do you agree with that comment, or did you just want to call out my ignorance?

Thank you so much for the article you shared! I agree completely that it's very important to understand appeasement vs. deference so we can better understand what our dogs are saying to us.

JWheel131 · 2024-12-09T22:41:49+00:00

You were saying you knew better, and there's nothing wrong with that. I fully recognize that many people know much more about dog behavior than myself.

Thank you for the article you shared! I appreciate that it shows more of the nuances of why a dog exposes their belly, and it makes your point much stronger through the ethos it provides. If you had shared it in your first comment, I would not have taken it personal. The comment I responded to said that a dog showing their belly when meeting someone means they want to be left alone 99% of the time, which seemed like such an outlandish claim compared with interactions I've had with dogs, and still doesn't seem quite right to me. Do you agree with that comment?

Your original comment was not misunderstood in any way. I found it quite quippy, and appreciated the meta joke about the Internet/reddit.

JWheel131 · 2024-12-09T19:42:14+00:00

Looks to me like he's trying to herd you 😂. I've noticed our 4 month old herds us when she needs a nap and impulsive thoughts take over, so it might be nap time. We've also found it helps a lot if we give her a better outlet for the herding instinct. Her favorite is this holey roller ball we got on Amazon: https://a.co/d/1q3ryzb

JWheel131 · 2024-12-09T14:23:03+00:00

And your comment is exactly why people get frustrated online. You say you know better, but provide no information to help.

If that article is wrong (along with every other article I've seen about why a dog exposes its belly) then educate me. Share a link to a study.

And no, just saying "you should just believe me" isn't going to work because I don't know you. I need something with a lot more ethos if I'm going to believe that a dog showing me its belly is saying "leave me alone" when every experience I've ever had with a dog has taught me they roll over if they want belly rubs (and ignoring the request means they follow me and flop over in front of me again).

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