The Ever-Changing Cycles in Your Disc Golf Game…

Practice, practice, practice

A few weeks ago, I was absolutely confident in my backhand. I’d reached a point where I was throwing consistently, and getting really good distance. I felt like I didn’t need to practice my backhand. Everything was under control.

But then, suddenly, I started struggling to “find” my backhand.

It’s a depressing, worrying feeling—when you can’t get back to whatever was working so well in your game.

With my backhand, I wasn’t getting the power—or the “feeling”—I’d had. I was struggling to get distance. And I seemed to be pulling everything to the right.

Eventually, I realized that I’d been skimping on my X-step. I’d gotten a bit lazy about rotating at the hips. I was simply charging forward, expecting to just hurl the disc down the fairway.

With some work and practice, I started to get back to a more consistent backhand.

If anything, I’m always trying to simplify my throwing motion—to distill everything down to the most repeatable, elemental moves. I want a clear mental checklist of the steps needed to throw my backhand. And now, I’m pretty much back to a set of steps that—if I follow them fully—will allow me to properly drive my backhand.

It’s a strange thing about the human brain and sports psychology. We seem to go in cycles when it comes to being in command of our skills. For example, I’ll have days—or even weeks—of a really solid forehand. But then I’ll lose that consistency, and have to “re-find” my forehand.

Sometimes the problem is just mental laziness—I don’t fully follow my internal checklist. But other times, the checklist just doesn’t seem to be working.

The worst thing is to lose confidence in that “checklist” while playing a competitive round of disc golf. But it happens.

The only reliable, corrective fix I’ve found is that I sometimes rush my throws. We all do it occasionally. Sometimes it’s because of fatigue. Sometimes it’s anxiety. And sometimes it’s just a lack of focus. (I can think of a lot forehands I’ve blown simply because I didn’t stay focused on aiming at a specific target area.)

Probably the biggest killer of a good shot—especially a solid backhand—is not fully planting the front foot before starting the arm throw. I sometimes rush the last part of my throw. Or, I try to “muscle” it. And that usually means I start “throwing” before I’ve fully landed the front foot.

I have a similar problem with my forehand. From a lot of trial and error, I’ve found that the most solid forehands come from planting the front foot. Once the front foot is planted, I can move forward and release the disc over that front foot. That’s what gives leverage, power.

Realistically—whether it’s a backhand or forehand—planting the front foot is a bedrock, foundational part of a good throw. Everything else builds off of that. It’s essentially what we “pull” from in order to drive the disc. But we don’t always execute it…

The real irony is that there are days when my forehand is great, but my backhand is unreliable. Or vice versa. And some days I can drive well, but I can’t putt.

It’s hard to accept such a wide swing of highs and lows. But that’s part of the challenge. Because we’re human, we can’t push a button and automatically perform a great throw every time.

There’s an old saying that golf is a “daily mystery.” Meaning, some days you have it, some days you don’t. Hopefully we can accept that—and at least focus on the good shots.

Anyway, keep practicing. Hope springs eternal.