When I was taught to throw anything other than a backhand, I was taught a bunch of bad things:
If I could go back, I might slap the guys who taught me this crap. Admittedly, I wouldn't call myself the best thrower I know, but I am an effective thrower. My lack of experience as a thrower in high-level games hurts me. That is improving with time, and I will get better.
Back to the point, all of these things are crap. I can think of ~ 2 good throwers who use the split finger (definitely the exception). There are occasions to throw your flick low, but for every throw? That's dumb. Pointless pivoting should be a violation. Throwing in the wind is way more complex than the above.
For each of these topics, you'll do much better if you ask questions of better players, and honestly spend some time adjusting the grips and release points to suit your own body mechanics and strengths. It took me until I made Pike to have the time to correct my grip and take the time to think through release points and the implications of having a static release point. Then I just went out with 20 discs (with or without a partner) and threw a minimum of 200 flicks every day for a couple of months. I would usually follow that up with a couple rounds of disc golf using ultimate discs. This did more for my throwing than anything else possibly could have.
They key to it wasn't the time I put in (there are a ton of mediocre throwers who put in the time), it was that I was constantly dissecting everything about what I was doing until I found a "stroke" so to speak that was not only comfortable for me, but from which I could quickly generate power. Each time I neared that, I would stop and reassess to determine if I would be able to vary my release point without drastically changing the arm/wrist motion. This is where something that Idris wrote about years ago (and I heard through Geoff Buhl) of throwing while standing on just your pivot leg. This was a revelation to my throwing motion. I discovered that with a good snap and a quick change of balance, I could throw nearly as far as I could with that ridiculous windup I used previously.
Now, I'm working to perfect that big step-out low release flick. When you combine it with a variable release point, the mark can do just about nothing save for "get lucky" from time to time.
Anyway, I'm definitely rambling, but in the words of Space Ghost on the first Danger doom album: "It's my show."
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Workout Total:
2 Core Workouts
Upper body Strength
Stretching
Monday, April 30
Release Points
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7 comments:
My short-to-medium flick is very effective, and I'm progressing nicely with my flick huck.
My backhand, however, is another story. My goal this year is to throw a frikkin' million of them to get to some level of competence. I absolutely cannot find a way to throw a high release, and the rest of my throws come from much too close to my body and with too much windup.
I'm probably better throwing IO flick over a backhand if I'm marked; it's sad.
Also, first danger doom album: 3/5; it came out around the same time as madvillainy, which is much better.
(I should mention that, fortunately, I'm a D player and deep cutter on the turn, so one should not take this advice into any matchup with my other teammates)
Really? You like Madvillainy better? I mean, I like that one too, but I find that The Mouse and the Mask is infinitely more addictive. I find that the goofy Adult Swim theme evens out some of the complete weirdness found in Madvillainy.
Then again, I'm a sucker for Adult Swim. I find it almost impossible to turn off.
As for backhands, well, since college I've found the high release backhand to be mostly useless. Unless you include shoulder-height releases as "high release" because I find that to be the natural release-point for me.
Backhand windup: Forget it (unless you're hucking). Just a flick of the wrist should serve you just fine.
I'm a sucker for Madlib's beats; I love DM too, but I think he got out-produced on this one. I really like the ghostface cameo, and both discs have a few weak tracks, but I think Madvillainy is just solider. "America's most blunted", despite the stupid title, is so damn good that I think it sways me a bit.
I could listen to Doom all day though, every listen you pick up something you missed before.
Anyway, yeah, I consider shoulder height to be high release. My release point is waist to knees; I really have awful form. Removing the windup is my goal this year, but I have trouble getting enough spin when I do.
how does anyone feel about above ankle to below knee as a release point for both backhands and forehands? (note: both throws released low will be accommodated by a slight upward angle to allow disc to rise to receiver's chest).
I thought that I already posted this:
To summarize: It is a fine release point, but it shouldn't be the only one in your arsenal.
I can't wait to give this a try.
My favorite line from Idris' post came as a 'throw-away' in the ps ...
"just throwing is waste of time."
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