I've had this question more times than I can count... how to learn to brace. It's a foreign feeling and for many, it's the first time they've had to use an athletic motion like this. This drill should help find the motion!
Thanks for the broken-down explanation. Your videos, along with Masterbeato, have increased my distance from 350 to over 450. I have been throwing for about 8 months now, and am 56 years old. The only problem I have had is while performing the "Sit and squeeze" for the first time, in my garage, as I got to the part where I put some STANK on it, the disc released from my hand and broke one of the small windows on the garage door. A small price to pay for the added distance. Thank you for sharing this skill drill.
the leading with the backside part at 2:54 is a huge ahah moment for me. i just realized ive been sliding my hips not rotating in. cant wait to pair this with the bracing ive been working on thanks to your videos!
I've been stuck at 300ish for years and years. I collapse my brace and throw nose up. I've spent time in the field trying this now and it's really helping. Threw a teebird 275ish low and flat from the standing position here. Once I try to add the step I slide my hips and come over the brace instead of leading with the backside and bracing. That's what I'm working on now. Really want to get it figured out this year. Tired of being an accurate 300' and putt player for 5 years. Thank you for this video, it's the most helpful one that I've seen for finding the brace.
As I sit here with my sore tricep, I’m seeing that I have not been using my legs or hips at all. I’m trying to hit my goal of 300’. I hit 260’ with my arm, I can’t wait for my tricep to feel better so I can try these drills. I’ve learned so much of what my technique has been lacking. Thank you!
I have just taken up disc golf recently and genuinely love almost everything about it. My sincere thanks for the endless work and research you have put in on behalf of people like me. The time you have probably saved me in trial and error experimenting is incredible. The fact that the audio commentary and especially the type add some comic relief definitely doesn't suck either. You are a true ambassador of a great sport.
All the videos I've watched over time and just now I found this one. Great stuff! I've been struggling mightily with plant/brace/balance as I come through my throw. Focus on reachback, mess up the plant and brace. Focus on plant and brace, mess up reachback, and so on!! Can't wait to get out and try this drill soon
I'm happy i stumbled upon your channel..this is the most detailed & in depth stuff that is the foundation i missed. Iv'e been playing for 2 months now & love it & your videos are giving me the tools to lead me in the right direction! Thanks for sharing!!
Without a doubt, every season i come into the game and start trying too hard. My throw falls apart. I lose a bunch of distance. But then I always remember to come back to this video, and somehow things go back to normal after I watch it again.
This video finally answered the question I had about where my feet should be in relationship to the direction of my throw. Now to relearn my stance. AGH. Thanks for sharing what you know. It does help us out here. :-)
I’ve probably put in 40 hours of field work this month, watched about 10 hours of video, done about 3 hours of just form practice in my living room and I can’t get the disc consistently past 280’. That’s just this week, I’ve been playing off and on for a couple of years but really decided to try and take it serious and enter. Few tournaments. I’ve watched pros, I’ve watched this guy, I’ve watched Danny from DD. I just can’t get it together. I’m at the point now where I just want to give up.
Have you walked through the drill from my form 101 week 1 video? I know it’s a very counterintuitive thing, that’s why I’m putting the form 101 class together. If you can start with a swing motion to practice, that’s the one I’d suggest. Also, if it’s not fun... take a break. I have taken many breaks to let the fire build again.
After 15 years on and off, this finally taught me how to brace and spin on my heel. I’m still only getting 270 with a driver doing this standstill, but it feels so much easier! If I send you a video of this standstill, would you mind critiquing it? Thank you so much for this video!
Yeah - the more I look at this exercise, the more convinced I am that using it with my line pulling machine, is an almost perfect a way to not only demonstrate the movements, but to get students to FEEL the movements CORRECTLY. Until you actually pull down down a real line, you don't know what it feels like. And unless you engage the hips early, by forcing the back knee inwards and downwards to initiate the pull, you don't know what that feels like either! This exercise you have developed here, in conjunction with Dan Beto's outstanding X-step tutorial, and with the addition of a definitive power grip video (Mike Cook's videos are all offline again, at time of writing) and my line-pulling machine, can potentially revolutionise the speed at which new players are able to develop powerful and accurate throws early on. Man, I wish I was starting to play disc golf now, and was 24 years old, instead of 51 and knackered. The first 20 years of my disc golf career were spent simply stumbling in the dark. Only in the last 7 years have resources been created on the 'net, which make learning so much easier.
Agreed. The tools today, the drills and the ability to get feedback so easily are making it much faster to develop a sound fundamental throw. Even the big throwers of 10 years ago like Avery/Doss are now considered standard distances (500'). We've been able to pick apart the best and find the reasons why it works!
Congrats on your first 1,000 subscribers. I'm making a prediction here - in 6 years from now, this will be one of the most famous disc golf training videos - right up there alongside Driving With Dan Beto. This short series of exercises demonstrates the key aspects of developing power in disc golf, and leads players by small steps, into the right body positions *and at the right time*. This is Disc Golf Gold, right here folks.
Just today, I used this video, and the exercises in it, with a 59 year old friend who is madly keen on disc golf, but has vertigo and big balance issues. Making less than 50 throws into my net, in less than 20 minutes, today we totally transformed his disc golf drive and upshot, in terms of increased power, better timing, and greatly improved accuracy and consistency. He was very cognizant of the new body movements, which cause the left hip to initiate the throw, and hence inform the timing. He understands that getting his butt out, and squeezing those knees is the key to effective balance in his shot, and now that he has a way to throw from a total standstill (i.e. no foot planting) with power, he has a pathway to develop a full X-step down the track. Thanks again for the fantastic video.
@@loopghost 7-years later - and my 6-year prediction has proved correct. I wonder how many of the 69K views of this video has been me linking people to it? Still THE definitive video on the subject in 2023. Will check in again in a decade from now. Best wishes! :)
Sweet stuff, I'm really green, been throwing for almost 2 weeks now. From the tests inside my bedroom it looks good, gonna go out into a soccer field and throw some tomorrow for practice! :)
Superb content. Piece of constructive criticism, suggest you invest in second camera and edit for front and side simultaneous demo of future technique.
Thanks so much for videos and blog. Hope you could please answer a couple questions if you get a chance. 1). Is the balanced setup you demonstrate in this video good for flat, hyzer and anhyzer shots? 2). Do you have any thoughts on when you recommend this drill vs. the one leg drill you posted afterwards? Thanks again!
good job on the video, I like the progression of the drill. I will be working on 2:35. No need to apologize your bum looks fine. Thanks for all your help.
So it looks like a hundred percent weight shift doesn't happen until the disk is almost at your chest, which is when your hips push against your front hip pointing it to the sky correct? because I've been crushing a can at the top of the reach back which puts all my weight shift 100% before I start to pull through. this feeling kind of feels like when I'm on my back leg when I'm starting Forward my back leg feels like a tree falling in the woods and then I catch myself with my front leg and then I pull through, which feels like i have nothing left
This drill is a good place to start to make sure you keep your weight in the right place, then start moving weight from the back foot too the plant foot and make sure you get back into the same place this drill puts you into.
you mention that the posterior needs to be stuck out behind you as a counter weight in order to maintain balance. won't this necessarily add hyzer? I've found that butt position controls spine angle, which should control throw plane/disc angle, right? honest question, as I'm having a hard time picturing how to keep balance this way if i want to release totally flat
Not necessarily. If you sit and squeeze the knees, you should be able to keep the spine vertical if you want to. It certainly can get your spine leaning forward over the disc if you want it to - but unhinge sitting down in a chair. You should be able to sit with an upright spine.
Hi, i wonder a few questions 1 how far did you drive before you start working on your techniq 2 how much have you increased in length since start 3 how long time did it take before you start notice some improvement, 1 week, 1 month ? i heard that muscle memory kicks in after about 2 weeks of practice or 5000 reps....
1. I started around 350' max distance - but that was with an inconsistent anhyzer. 2. I can now throw a very controlled 400' and my max distance is in the high 400's. 3. I spent an entire summer a few years back throwing and working on my form. That helped me get on the right path and after about 4-5 months of regular work I was seeing some real progress.
Do you open up the front leg yourself or power does it? When I try to resist the force and brace, I sometimes get stuck there, meaning it does not rotate forward at all. Also, what do you do with your rear foot? Do you push through it, do you resist something?
+Jaanus A low power shot might not open the plant foot. You can see this at 2:15 and then as I add more power (shifting harder against the front side) - the slightest bit of toe lift will let that plant foot pivot open. The rear foot initially helps clear the hips, meaning that at the back-swing - it's taking all your weight and then that instep will push your weight forward.
+JKK There's a bunch of weight shifting. The first weight shift forward initiates as the disc moves into the backswing. That weight shifts forwards with the the backside leading and is driven off the back foot. Then the "toe down, heel down" initiates the hips opening, which will in tern initiate the leading shoulder moving forward. As the disc comes forward, we'll have all our weight on the plant foot (inside of foot).
While looking at your impressive backside, does your left bum cheek try to spin and lunge in front of your right? I'm having troubles getting my hips involved, me thinks. Thx.
haha, thanks and no... you're not trying to do that. When you initiate your backswing, you are turning your hips backwards so your navel is facing away from the target. Turning your hips back should be all you need to get your left bum cheek moving target-ward. My friend Andrew likes to use the analogy of throwing a 9 pound hammer - you couldn't throw it very far if you tried throwing it without your hips. Sometime just pretending to throw something heavy will fool your body into engaging your hips.
It did come off the line for sure, I had to work on keeping my right side frame more firm to avoid collapsing the upper arm. I don’t want anybody to think that I’m saying “I’ve got perfect form”, I’m just sharing my journey and the drills I used and discussed with dgcr posters as we work on improving. Good luck my friend, hope you are well.
You dont respond much to messages, huh? How in the hell do you say you threw 320' with a standstill midrange? I spent a week practicing what you just did in the video and I can't hit 250! I call Malarky!
Timing takes lots of work and most importantly - you need slow motion video to verify that you're hitting the right points at the right time. Feel ain't real... you gotta verify, especially that you're keeping your hand on the outside of the disc to the center of your chest and that the disc is coming out of your hand nose down.
Gotcha, guess I'll just keep hoping something clicks that hasn't so far. Just frustrating to hear how "easy" it's supposed to be, when it's very obviously not.
