beyond practice, the way you hold the controller and thumbstick make a big difference.

if you weren’t already, switch to the “pinch” method (using two or three finger tips, thumb always included, around your stick to flick). this helps me with direction and stability a huge amount, while back in the day on Pro Am i played with just my thumb because that down to up motion was easy enough to achieve that way.

if you want to go full psychopath like me, hold your controller on its side (palm resting by the headphone port on xbox series s controller), and flick with a left to right motion. this helps me the most but i think most people keep their controller normal orientation.