I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Tips from NEFA players, new and old.
Anthony Dembinski
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I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Anthony Dembinski »

I refuse to go forehand yet and am determined to learn to drive for distance with backhand.

My drives always tend to rise and hook to the left way more then I intend. I try to keep my drives level but I can't do it.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Dave Hickson »

Jay Southwick used to tell me to take 20% off and focus on following through more. He was right. Thanks Jay!
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Kevin Gardner »

What are you using for drivers?
If you are newer to the game, or your drives seem to cut left on you, I would recommend something like a Leopard. Just throw it smooth and flat and it will go for you.

Hickson's right too, when things are going bad, it's best to just slow everything down and just focus on technique and being smooth!
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Karl Molitoris
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Karl Molitoris »

Anthony,

Without seeing you throw, I'll take a stab at being Nostradomus and predict that you're - what I call - "being snooty"; i.e. getting your disc's nose in the air too much (and that's why they're rising and tailing off to the left sooner than you'd like). Get your nose out of the air! OK, now that I yelled at you I'll tell you a pretty easy way to do so that you can "monitor" yourself (you won't need someone else practicing with you) during field practice.

Set up for a bh throw. Pretend that you have an arm-pit high flat table on your right side (assuming you're right-handed). "Lay the disc on the table" (hold the disc parellel to the ground), "reach under the disc and grab it" (now you're holding it 'ready to pull through'), and "drag your knuckles and the disc along the table" (pull through). Magically the invisible table ends, the disc leaves your hand, and you follow through with your throwing hand STILL at arm-pit level.

If you sense your hand is higher than your arm-pit at the end of your follow through, look up and I bet your disc is "going high and left" (this is my guess as to why you're presently doing what you're doing); too low and the disc is "low and right".

In summary, for a normal level throw your throwing hand starts, continues through, and finishes at the same level level. If it isn't something crappy just happened.

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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Mike Dussault »

10 and 2! Keep both hands on the wheel. Don't speed and use your turn signal.

:|
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Drew Smith »

Elbow up.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Kenji Cline »

Learn to stand and deliver before you try to throw with a run up. Learn the arm/body motion before you get the footwork involved. Make sure you start your throw shoulder high. Don't "pull the disc out of your pocket" ie start your throw with the disc waist high.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by George Economos »

Pretend you have a snowblower on a shelf behind you, waist high,(or a little higher) and pull that mother till it starts.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Kenji Cline »

This site has a ton of useful info. http://www.discgolfreview.com/resources/tips.shtml
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Anthony Dembinski
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Anthony Dembinski »

Kenji Cline wrote:Learn to stand and deliver before you try to throw with a run up. Learn the arm/body motion before you get the footwork involved. Make sure you start your throw shoulder high. Don't "pull the disc out of your pocket" ie start your throw with the disc waist high.



Good tips. i had been trying to learn with the x step but im thinking of starting over without the walk up.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Abel Rodrigues »

GET A COMET




YOUR WELCOME
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Matt Aubin »

Abel Rodrigues wrote:GET A COMET



... pretty much.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Mark Sherwood »

And a roadrunner.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Marvino Manalo »

Abel Rodrigues wrote:GET A COMET




YOUR WELCOME
:lol: :lol: :lol:, Anthony learn the X-step get use to it, which is pretty much a 2 step and then do what Mike D said.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Sjur Soleng »

[quote="Mike Dussault"]10 and 2! Keep both hands on the wheel. Don't speed and use your turn signal.

:|[/quote]

NICE!!!
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Kenji Cline »

Abel Rodrigues wrote:GET A COMET




YOUR WELCOME



I'm an ok driver. I can hit over 300 but I've kinda plateaued at max 325ish sometimes a little father. I had some tournament winnings to spend and i picked up a comet. What am I trying to learn with this disc? I heard they are great at revealing form flaws. I just was tossing some up shots with it in my yard yesterday. It's in the bag to go to the course with me today. What should I be trying to do with this disc? I had it on a tight rope line 100-150 ft pretty easy last night as that's about all the room I have in my yard. Abel what's your pointers for this disc as a learning tool?
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Todd Lapham
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Todd Lapham »

Once you can throw this disc hard and get it out to 300+ on a straight line, you know you have clean form. Then watch how that clean form increases your distance with every other disc you throw.

Out of curiosity, what are you throwing for the 300-325ft drives now?
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Kenji Cline »

Todd Lapham wrote:Once you can throw this disc hard and get it out to 300+ on a straight line, you know you have clean form. Then watch how that clean form increases your distance with every other disc you throw.

Out of curiosity, what are you throwing for the 300-325ft drives now?


Star valk 167 is my go to driver. Close 2nd is flx avenger ss 166. I have been messing around with a 170 Nuke SS I got at worlds got that out to 350 once till i lost it. :( was practicing and forgot to pick it up 2 weeks ago at leagues. Did get a replacement 170 Z nuke ss last night.
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Matt Aubin
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Matt Aubin »

First, what comet is it? ESP, Z, X?

second, Lapham is right... the X's get flippy pretty quick but you should be able to get 250-300 or more out of a Z or ESP comet, dead straight backhand with little to no fade. if they turn right, it's your form (most likely off axis torque). If they fade too much, you're not imparting enough spin or snap on it. You can, of course, throw them hyzer or anhyzer and work angles... Master the Comet and you may not use anything else unless it's windy.

Before league, I play a quick nine with just a comet and putter to make sure i'm 'throwing clean' before we start. If you want a great neutral/stable putter that is similar to a comet, try out an APX.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by M.P. Morse III »

pretty much the same advice as the table top/motor pull analogy, but... simplified: Start higher, finish lower.....

start with the disc higher.... like shoulder level.... your follow through should be lower.... your hand should not come higher than your shoulder...

this should help get rid of the "nose up, hyzer" bomb....

another thing i catch newer players doing all the time, is they will keep looking straight ahead, at the basket or their target area.... keeping your head straight limits your upper body movement.... dont be afraid to look away or even a little down.... this will allow your hips/shoulders to turn....

hope to see you out there one of theses days.... i bring my camera with me whenever i play, and ill take some videos of your drives, so you can see what it looks like, and compare it to Pros with good technique.... its a huge tool when your looking to improve, it makes it easy to pick out little things that may be having a big effect on your throws.....
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Adam Dodge »

Hucking only Discraft since the beginning...
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Kenji Cline »

The comet I got is 177g elite x. A little heavy compared to my other discs. I need to get out and do some field practice with it.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Josh Connor »

Reach back, turn your hips, pull it off the shelf, and just have confidence in your release point without having to look that direction during your run up. The biggest mistake I see is a newer player will reach back, but they start their hand way to low and swing it through and up (needs to be off the "shelf") which is where the high and left issue comes from.

Obviously there is a ton more to consider whether grip, disc selection, and timing of connecting all aspects of your body so really the key is going to be practice on your own, but getting involved in leagues or tournaments is also a great idea where you can get some real time feedback from some good players and even just watching others and connecting the dots does a ton. Just one other thing to remember is a fast and aggressive run up doesnt translate into distance and power, if you are going to do a run/x step always think slow to fast where the fast is just right at the end when you wip your hand through across your chest and pivot on your front foot. You should be running up like a ballerina on your toes/balls of your feet and dont worry the gayer (no offense to, just the way it was explained to me) looking the better.

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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Titan Bariloni »

gained 25-50 feet on my back hand with some recent Nick E techniques..puts me around 200ft..lol another 200 to go
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Karl Molitoris »

definition:
Nick E technique

1. Be 9' 11" tall
2. Have arms that an albatross would be jealous of
3. Reach back to Topeka, KS and start your pull through from there
4. Get your hair to obscure your vision as it flops around your face on your follow through (of course you have to be able to GROW hair that long - which some of us can't do; if not, incur a 50' penalty).
5. Grunt (optional)
6. Eat a ham & cheese sandwich (or 7) waiting for the disc to come back to earth
7. Are happy that you chose to eat all 7 - because you now have to go FIND the discs (and it'll be a LONG and varied walk)

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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Josh Connor »

Karl Molitoris wrote:definition:
Nick E technique

1. Be 9' 11" tall
2. Have arms that an albatross would be jealous of
3. Reach back to Topeka, KS and start your pull through from there
4. Get your hair to obscure your vision as it flops around your face on your follow through (of course you have to be able to GROW hair that long - which some of us can't do; if not, incur a 50' penalty).
5. Grunt (optional)
6. Eat a ham & cheese sandwich (or 7) waiting for the disc to come back to earth
7. Are happy that you chose to eat all 7 - because you now have to go FIND the discs (and it'll be a LONG and varied walk)

Karl


This is awesome! :P
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by John DeBois »

Anthony Dembinski wrote:I refuse to go forehand yet and am determined to learn to drive for distance with backhand.

My drives always tend to rise and hook to the left way more then I intend. I try to keep my drives level but I can't do it.


posting a video of your drive might help people give you focused advice.

if you cant get a video, the advice given so far is a good starting point. it's going to come down to nose angle and snap most of the time.
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Keith Hughes »

My advice watch and learn and practice practice practice
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Nicholas Ailes »

throw till your arm falls off
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Re: I suck at Driving. Give me some tips lol

Post by Todd Lapham »

Nicholas Ailes wrote:throw till your arm falls off


Not great advice. Practicing bad form all day isn't going to help you learn anything. Like most things, you have to learn how to do something correctly first then practice a lot. People say that about poker all the time, and while great for business, it's really not the best advice!

First advice is check out these:

http://youtu.be/nED7gcXobEo
http://www.discgolfreview.com/forums/vi ... f=2&t=9959
http://www.discgolfreview.com/forums/vi ... =2&t=19220

Like JDB said, you really have to get a video up for us to help you, but in general it's usually nose angle and lack of snap that most people struggling with driving need the most help with.

I'd suggest slowing down in your run up and reach back. Most people reach back as fast as they can, and slow down when they are at the last part of the throw, when in reality it should be the opposite. Accelerate through the "hit" at the last part of the throw.

Also, what discs are you throwing? Like Abel and Aubin said, grab a comet and once you learn how to throw that thing hard and it stays straight you'll know you're getting a clean release with no off axis torque. You shouldn't be throwing anything faster than a Teebird.

Good luck man.
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