2017-02-19 Left Arm, Front Foot I have been throwing again. (I rarely play disc golf but rather throw discs.) There are two new aspects in my technique: First, pulling my left (passive) arm towards my body for faster rotation. It feels as if this helped a lot to gain distance. Second, bending my front (brace) foot for a flatter, straighter flight path. It seems as if this improved my direction consistency. I've watched Danny's Pro vs. Am comparison video [0] another cou- ple times, e.g. for the left arm movement. Besides that, I got some new insight from this ``More Snap'' video: [1] You shouldn't think about throwing a disc but about throwing a ham- mer. This imagination in my head alone was a step forward. Well, I'm settling within the 60-70 meters range currently. There are few shots that I throw shorter and only a couple that I throw farther (75 or 80). There's few difference among my discs, meaning that I can throw my putters as far as my midranges and my Teebird (on a calm day). Some words about each of my discs: The ESP Comet has started to become understable. I'm not sure if that's because of my faster throwing of because it got some small notches on the rim. (It's not because of wobble/OAT anymore.) Anyway, I slightly hyzerflip it now for max distance. It's no longer my number one max distance disc, but it often goes far. The Comet is a good indicator for nose-up, as in this case it shows a small hard fade left at the end of the flight. The DX Roc flies straight for me now. This disc is the one I throw farthest increasingly often. The wearing of the DX plastic is a so much different thing than my other (Z-FLX and ESP) mi- dranges, which hardly changed their flight characteristics. I'm not sure what I think of that. I usually put the Roc on a slight hyzer-flip. The Z-FLX Buzzz is the disc, who's true character I'm currently beginning to discover. If people write about discs that hold any line you put them on -- this is exactly what I'm experiencing currently with the Buzzz. I have to be really careful with the release angle, as it will continue with that angle for the whole flight. The Roc is more ``forgiving'' in this respect, and the Comet too needs more angle to follow that line. It'll be highly interesting to see what that leads to. My Champ Teebird is still too overstable for me, but well, that's how it should be, so maybe it's not too overstable but only as overstable as it is intended to be. It usually goes as far as the midranges, but more because it always goes far than because I've thrown it nicely. It's my only disc that skips and my only disc that has enough fade for utility shots. Maybe I should have a look for a Zone or Gator. I've also landed my first tombstone after a spike hyzer. Besides all that, the Teebird is my only forehand and overhead disc. Now to the strangest disc in my bag, the DX Aero. Today, I've thrown it -- a speed 3 putter -- several times as far as my farthest other discs. On other days, I can't get a single decent flight out of it. Maybe that's just the result of my throwing technique: Good technique means the Aero flies well, bad tech- nique means the Aero crashes. Clear is: it doesn't handle any wind. If there is wind, I better leave the Aero at home. Last my two D-Line P2 putters. I throw them as well, in lack of dedicated throwing putters (and because I'm not that profession- al). They demonstrate that speed numbers have nothing to do with distance. I've thrown the putters as far as my other discs! Well, perhaps that's only because I'm a novice (throws all discs equal- ly far) and am not able to utilize the power of faster discs. Anyway. If there's no wind, I could well play with putters only (as long as I don't have to throw a forehand, of course). When watching my videos, some technical flaws struck my right away. Although I now bend my front foot, I'm still pulling deeper on the way to the release. I have to stop this. Maybe the best way to do so is throwing more smoothly. ;-) Not with power but just smooth and with some snap and far it goes ... :-D I should pull the disc higher for straight shots. It's only that I always think that I couldn't get any energy into the disc if I pull this high. Probably that's false. On some videos it seemed as if I'd pull through too far from my body, but on others it looked alright. Concerning my active arm: My shoulder angle is a bit less than 90 degrees and my elbow angle a bit wider than 90 degrees. But that's mere details. After some shots, I forgot to continue pulling my passive arm to- wards the body. Must have been too many aspects I've focused on. Lastly, at the point of release, I push the tail of the disc down and the nose up. That might come from pulling too low, or from my grip. I'll have to have a look at that. Nonetheless, it doesn't really result in (visible) wobble. The good thing is: My foot work looks quite good. In the rough form, it resembles the look of the pros. Most important improve- ment for me is releasing with my body between my feet. For the first time I've filmed orthogonal and in line with the flight direction. All previous camera angles were somewhere in between. For analyzing my technique these 0 and 90 degrees angles show so much more. In some ways it is relieving to see so many form flaws, because it is clear what I can work on with the expectation to get some (distance or consistency) reward out of it directly. [0] http://youtu.be/FKaFDq_7UNI [1] http://youtu.be/qGGYsSUGKXk http://marmaro.de/discgolf/ markus schnalke