awesome video! one thing i'm struggling with understanding is to how to find the pivot point with a power grip? i can find it fine with a fan grip but not with a power grip, any tips?
I agree and the pivot point makes a lot of sense in physics terms but if I don't hold it tight and firm I get early release since I try to pull through as quick as I literally can and disc would just slip out of my hand
Quick question: what direction is you index finger facing? Your actual fingerprint, is it pressed against the inside of rim or against the bottom of the flight plate? Are you pinching your thumb against the side of your finger or the fingerprint? Thanks
Interesting. Though, they guy that really makes the best driving clinic instructions is Will Schusterick, and the fun thing is that he does not even use the index finger as a pivot point, or using wrist to snap the disc out. The majority of your throw does NOT come from exaggerated wrist movement. And I think this basic video also should talk about the differences of holding the disc in the palm - because that affects both thumb position and how to hold the disc. I followed another youtuber for 2 years ago, about the placement of the disc in the palm of the hand. And that made me a better disc golfer at that time. But now I have to correct myself to how Will Schusterick holds the disc. I hope Josh can have the strength to re-analyze his old videos, and correct them. Because he is mainly experimenting - and I am sure he found other "truths".. well I know.. since he makes so many new videos about this ;)
I just started playing disc golf about 2 weeks ago and I've only been able to consistently throw 160-180 feet on average. Can't wait to try this tip out next weekend!
This is the first I've heard of the "pinch pivot point." Very well explained so that it makes a lot of sense. I'm in my seventies hopefully I'll get to 300' before I die.
Im with you buddy. Im 60 and just started playing a year ago. Ive watched a boatload of videos to learn how to throw correctly and get more distance. This is the first time Ive heard this pointer too. I cant wait to try this in my field practice. I think I've been killing my distance by over gripping the disk. Best of luck to both of us!
This might be a stupid question, but are you focusing more pressure on the flight plate, or the rim of the disc? Does this change with the pinch grip compared to the four fingered grip?
Just tried this out today and for the first time, I wasn't able to stop the disc from leaving my hand. Don't try inside, or you too could punch a hole in your drywall!
Dave Dunipace been teaching this for decades. Blake_t from DGR Hammer Pound Drills go back a decade, the 2 finger switch back drill is in my Grip & Alignment video.
So I pinch with the index finger an the thumb. Then tuck the other three against the rim like a power grip. It feels super comfortable to me, just not sure if that’s ok or not to be doing
So i have always had that power grip and hold on extremely hard. im trying this is idk if its cause my small hands but the disc is so uncomfortable it just slips out of my hands...
-Throws with a tight grip no wobble 320ft -Throws with a loose grip tons of wobble 320ft - Getting mad and throwing as hard as I can ripping my shoulder out 250ft lol
Am I crazy or does this not feel good at all? It feels super floppy and hard to control. plus with each disc varying in rim size the "pinch point" feels different with each disc. I am having a hard time figuring this out...
Also, are we just ignoring placing the fingers on the inside of the rim altogether? Meaning we are pinching the pad of our fingertip to the pad of our thumb on the flat portion of the disc instead of placing the pads of the fingers on the inside of the rim?
I am obviously missing something here. I just spent an hour in a field working on this. Whenever I relax my grip pressure, the disc flings out of my hand before I even get it through the power pocket. It shoots off left and way short. I wonder if it has to do with my relatively stumpy fingers. Unless I have a finger hooked under the rim, it seems to just fall out of my hand.
@@OverthrowDiscGolf Thanks for the reply! I'm sure you are right. I have been playing for 6 months, and practice a lot, but I know I have form issues. I am not even sniffing 300 feet off the tee, but I will keep at it. Love your channel.
The pinch point instantly changed my throw. I probably gained 50-80 feet if not more. I had to disc down because I was over throwing baskets I never was before. What an incredible lesson.
Spin helps distance greatly. A more defined pivot point (the pinch area) allows the disk to rotate out of the hand more efficiently compared to the power grip, so it makes sense that the pinch grip would help you get more distance. The fact that you aren't stiffening your whole arm with a death grip also contributes to longer shots.
Why is the power grip (4 or 3 fingers placed pointing to the inside of the rim rather than the flight plate) so widely taught then for distance/drives? I struggle a lot with distance and I'm gonna try some of the exercies mentioned in the video, but I assume that you can probably manage a pretty good pivot point with the power grips as well.
I was trying out pinch today, and was constantly struggling because my fingers are too long, and i thought it had to be at the rim. Will try again tomorrow.
Holy moly! I've been gripping the rim all this time. No wonder my throws have been sucking! I'll be joining patreon 1st of the month. I've been bouncing between all kinds of instructions on RU-vid in the 10 months I've been playing, but I'm starting to realize you're the one that really knows how to do this thing. Just following tips from a couple of your vids have already made a world of difference, and it's usually on the first day. I'll see you on discord in a couple of days
I'm blow away, this channel is incredible. I cant believe I'm just discovering this information! Thank you a thousand times for taking the time to make these videos.
This is great. I was wondering how you get a pinch point when most people tell you to wrap your fingers around rim. I dropped pinky off rim a couple of years ago after a bad break and don't feel it's made any difference.
I used to drop it also... But put it back and add a bit of pressure, you may feel the disc tighten a bit further into your palm, this adds spin... At least my experience 🤞🏼
@@ianirvingthorsonc I'll try it, but my pinky is permanently bent from above middle knuckle and it almost curls itself. I wish my pinky was my only problem....
Thanks for this, I was gripping the disc as though I was hanging onto a ledge. I was trying to squeeze the life out of it. Your tennis analysis helped me as an ex tennis player. I never gripped a raquet like I wanted to strangle it but gripped the disc as though my life depended on it. I can't wait to get out on Saturday to see what a looser grip does. Even low power putter throws have a lot more spin so hoping that getting to the field on Saturday is going to be rewarding with more distance with more accuracy and less effort. Thanks again
As a noob one month into Disc Golf, I watched the vids on grip and tried em all. None seemed to be comfortable in my hand. Everyone said "Grip it tight" or "Grip it really firm", but that kept my wrist from staying relaxed, and also caused some release and swing issues. By week two I had started messing around finding what worked for ME and my hand/fingers. I'd sit watching a movie, or some RU-vid vids, or while reading, and just mess around with gripping different ways with each disc til I found a solution to where I could grip the disc securely, but still maintain a loose wrist motion. Funny you started doing that front to back flick motion to find and feel the pinch point, because that is almost exactly how I found what worked for me. Only difference is that I do it vertically. With my wrist hinging as close to vertical as possible, I flick/lightly swing the disc up and down on my pivot point and where the disc comes into contact with my palm, naturally, during this process is where it feels most comfortable for me to grip it in place. So I flick it up and down a few times til I feel it contact that same spot in my palm a few times, and then catch it with the rest of my fingers. That is my throwing grip now. It's usually right in the crease of my palm near the wrist, but not lined up between my pointer and middle finger on the other end like so many say to do. It's not a forced position in my hand based on what other people with different sized, shaped, and length fingers and hands say it should be. It fits MY hand this way. I've adopted a 3 finger grip, so my pinky gets tucked out of the way. I feel like I get smoother release and better spin with 3 as opposed to 4. My next time out throwing, after figuring this out, my wrist stayed much more relaxed, and my accuracy and release got way better. Still working things out. As I said, I'm only a month into this. But, I found something that was comfortable to me and that instantly helped my throwing both comfort wise and accuracy wise. Depending on the disc I fan either the middle or ring finger out a little to help stabilize the disc. Putters and Mids, I'll use one fingered fanned out, and 2 fingers under the rim, but drivers all 3 fingers are on the rim cuz the wider winged discs are easier to keep stable in a loose to mildly medium grip with a loose wrist. My fingers like to wrap around the rim with tips sort of facing back towards my wrist. Depending on rim depth one some discs I find myself splaying them out more. Like there's some space between the pointer finger and the other two(middle and ring). Now that I've figured that part out, I can focus more on the rest of the motions. Before this my entire throwing arm would tense up just because I had too tight of a grip and the disc not sitting where it was natural for my hand to hold and be comfortable doing so. Now on to working out how to make it feel like I'm not pitching left handed, and getting timing a lot more sorted out. It's gonna take some time, but I'm up for a good challenge. All this is my experience. Not saying anyone should find their natural comfortable grip this way but, for me, it seems to have worked for now. Keep spittin the great vids dude.
This might be the most valuable disc golf video on the internet; it completely changed my game. Allowing the disc to flick out of your hand makes so much sense. This technique, combined with a little bit of wrist engagement has allowed me to use what feels like half the effort to reach my max distance of 320 feet. I was starting to get concerned about injuries because I kept trying to throw harder and harder, but wasn't getting any results. Thank you OT Disc Golf!!!
this channel......i have been casually playing since 2012, im 29 now, and i wish this content had existed when i first got into the sport. I have learned so much more from watching these videos and putting them into practice at the course and in field work and it has revolutionized my game. The amount of time i spent searching youtube for old clinic videos recorded on someones phone.......i have been following OT since they were around 2K subs and i love seeing how much attention they have been getting and so excited to see where they go because they are going places. Thank you
I'm about confused by the "pivot point" maybe I have long fingers but there is no way for me to "pinch" any finger and my thumb while griping a disc without my thumb being in a very jacked up position to pull it off. For me its more like the last knuckle of my thumb and pointer finger pinch. But then the "webbing" of my thumb stops the disc from rotating all the way around.
I wouldn’t necessarily worry about the exact position of your hand as long as you can pivot it somewhere. Further up, like towards that lead knuckle, is not bad.
Great video. Game changer. Never considered the effect that grip had on the disc pivot and how important that is. After setting my pinch/pivot point I just let the other fingers fall in behind on the rim. On my very first throw with a driver I could see an immediate difference. Way more snap and spin and more distance. The only problem now is that i will need to recalibrate my disc stability and distance. Discs that once seemed over stable now turn over and everything flies farther. This should be one of the first videos a beginner watches.
How have you gone about recalibrating your bag? I just practiced with a new grip and also noticed a lot of my discs were now turning over and acting understable. I think it might be a grip issue (something with the finger alignment), but haven't tested more variations of the grip described in the video. All of this to say that I also need to recalibrate my bag if the discs are going to continue to be flippy with this new grip
Yeah. Transverse palmar crease (single hand line) is associated with Down syndrome! (But can also be a normal variant 😜) Great video guys! I don't think I'm currently doing this at all so eager to try it out.
This reminded me of Dion Arlyn's video on distance throwing where he describes that Robbie Bratten throws really far with a two finger grip. And that he cautions against it.
Like so many other comments already this is MASSIVE for me! Countless other videos on grip have taught me that the disc rips from your hand if your form is correct, no matter how hard you grip it. Pivot point and pressure point is what I'll be working on next trip to the field. Thanks again, you have helped me get over plenty of brick walls.
What about the concept of the pointer finger hooking deep into the rim, particularly a power grip. I think Dave Dunipace talked about it, like the hook is the pivot vs pinching?
I’ve been told everywhere by everyone that I want a super tight grip and the disc should rip out of my hand on its own and that never made any sense. Glad I decided to watch this video on a whim!
video taking a player and do in person critiquing and teaching them these instructions with a before and after lesson comparison of form and maybe distance??
I can’t believe the weight Josh has lost since last year. Something tells me he’s doing a lot of field work. Since I got active with field work I’ve went from 189 to 173 so far.
So many videos claim to add 50-100 feet to your backhand throws. None worked. Except this tip. First time using a two finger pinch grip added 50 ft to my distance without feeling fully comfortable with it. Thank you so much!
You might not be comedy guys but you're both funny. 😁 Great tips. I think I was gripping too much with all my fingers. Time to practice the pivot point.
LMAO... the part at 8:43 where you said "doing something insane" is exactly how I tried holding my discs the other day. The sad part is it gave me better control than what I was doing before. Of all the videos I've watched literally nobody has mentioned pressure or letting the disc pivot, so thanks for that.
Quick Question: When gripping the disc for the pinch point your fingers don't have to be all the way against the rim's edge? Looking at how you were gripping your disc in the video I see that your fingers are not entirely flush along the inside rim.
@@OverthrowDiscGolf So for throwing a backhand shot, having your fingers in a similar position as you did in your video is perfectly fine? Just trying to clarify for myself. If so I definitely need to practice this style. Seems like a game changer.
Quickly scanned the comments and didn't see this asked, sorry if it was: so you're pinching your index finger onto the bottom of the flight plate for all throws? Or for more distance do you tuck the index finger in more so that it is putting pressure more on the rim of the disc?
@@OverthrowDiscGolf Thanks! And I can speak firsthand about making sure to not grip super tight, especially at the pinch point. When I first started playing around with this I ended up with a swollen index finger that was impossible to bend and then dealt with trigger finger symptoms as it healed :( So definitely keep it loose!
Thank you!!! The focusing on the pivot point and keeping the rest of my grip relatively loose allowed me to hit my lines better and smashing distance felt easy!!
I think you just revolutionized my game, sir. I've been one of those deathgrip people and I think you've just explained why my release point is so inconsistent.
Same. Not only did I death grip but I also gripped with my middle, ring and pinky fingers and just kind of rested my pointer on the front edge. Went and did some field work concentrating on this grip and my distance and control was waaaay better. Im turning over discs that area supposed to turn and my more stable discs are flying way straihgter and farther.
Agreed - the disc exits the hand at the pivot. It’s the tail end of the whip. A wonderful and surprisingly undiscussed aspect of the disc golf throw. Five stars!
This video was massively helpful! All the “power grip” videos I’ve watched have all been very generically talking about getting your fingertips on the rim, but this pinch point concept is so much more specific! Thank you guys for all the content you put out!!
I’m a 4 finger power gripper, and this pinch point explanation makes so much damn sense. I definitely don’t allow for that disc to spin out easy with my power grip. I’m holding on for dear life! I can’t wait to try this out in the morning lol
I have been messing around with a 3 finger power grip. When I try to get the pinky in it slips off half the time anyway. So dropping the pinky has gotten me more consistent release points. Going back through old videos to rebuild my terrible form.
Tried this out today and was impressed! Got more spin and more consistent turn in my untestable discs. I feel like this helped my nose up problems, BUT! This is so awkward to try with putters. The deep rim and pinching close to the rim feels super weird. Any tips?
My high school baseball coach use to come up behind people and see if he could twist the bat in their hands to make sure they weren’t gripping too tight
I think it depends partly on the shot, but for max distance pros have it straight. I struggle with this in my own form. They push that lead hip back causing the leg to extend. probably one of the more advanced moves and tough to learn.
I came back to this video. I don’t think I was ready for it in my throw when this video first came out. Thanks for the quality content. Grateful for resources like this available at our fingertips at all times!
Agreed, I was not ready to be able to understand it. I had outruled this concept, because no one else talks about the pivot. I thought, oh he doesn't mean what I was thinking. Actually, last year when my son started picking disc golf. I told him that I like the idea of flicking by pivoting the disk using my middle finger, but m no one teaches that so we shouldn't do it, that must have been an old concept from the early 90's. Well, my concept was correct. Just had not been explained in a way to relate it. I used this pivot on my middle finger in the field today and is so much further and straighter. Now time to go back and try a picot using my index finger, also keeping my index finger above the disk was key to me also. Glad I found this to support what works for me.
The grip feels too loose when i try to pinch with the tip of my thumb and index in the same spot. Thumb naturally wants to stretch out which puts the pinch point at the base of the thumb. Is that bad?
