October 2010 DG Posts
Sunday, October 31, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
This was a Sunday morning round. I had a pretty good round (+11), but I don't think I was driving particularly well. After the round, I practiced driving on holes 1, 3, 5, and 6. I kind of bounced from hole to hole depending on where other groups were playing. BTW - There was a doubles tournament at Aptos on Saturday, so the course was not very crowded. Anyway, I started making some decent drives after the round, but nothing spectacular.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - Round with Simon, John and Christine at Dela
We had a blast. I did not drive particularly well, but I had a great approach game. We met them at hole 5 and played through hole 19. I did not get any birdies, but parred everything except 12, 13, 15, 16 (missed a makeable putt). And I was putting pretty well also.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - Solo round at Dela
I was going to meet John Hernland to play a few holes, but he needed to drop out at the last moment. I decided to go anyway. I had not thrown any discs for 3 or 4 days. It rained on Sunday and I was busy on Monday and I just needed to get out on to the course.
I started a little rusty, bogeying the first 3 holes. Then I started playing pretty well. In fact, I played very well. I played the next 15 holes at one under! I parred 6, 7, 8, 8a, bogied 13, birdied 14, bogied 15, parred 16 and 18, birdied 19, parred 20, birdied 21, parred 22, 23 and 24. There were several big groups lumped together, so I skipped holes 4 and 5 and 9-12. So I ended up 2 over for 18 holes, which is fantastic for me. For my bogies, I had poor drives on 1, 3 and 15, on 2 I had a good approach shot that rolled, on hole 13 a bogey is a good score for me. i had excellent drives on my birdie holes (14, 19, and 21). i also had nice drives on 13, 16, 20, 22, 23 and 24. All in all, I am very pleased with my round. I need to find some way to warm up before a round.
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Saturday, October 23, 2010 - Solo Round at Aptos
This was kind of a strange round. I only ended up playing 12 holes. There was a big group starting on hole 1, so I went to hole 4 to start. Then they were clearing brush on holes 11-13, so I skipped to hole 14. When I got done, I was pretty tired, so I did not play 1-3. On the other hand, I threw multiple drives on many holes. In fact, I threw 8 drives on hole 15, threw 8 drives on 16 and then went back to 15 and did it again. So I guess I actually played 14 holes.
I played pretty well. Some highlights, I had excellent drives on 7, 9, 10, 14, 18. I almost birdied hole 17! I had a very nice backhand drive, then my approach shot hit the chains.
It looks like I am starting to overpower my roadrunners. I can throw them the farthest, but they often turn over. I would like to experiment with a hyzerflip of these throws. I am starting to throw TeeBirds and Valks backhand. They do not seem to fly as well, but they go straight and as far as my roadrunners. So I think I should work on throwing my teebirds and valks flat and throw my roadrunners hyzerflips.
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Friday, October 22, 2010 - Moderate Field Session at Dela
This morning I had a session where I made roughly 175 throws on holes 13 and 16. I have mixed feelings about the session. I was more consistent, but did not seem to throw it as far. I had a few longish throws (280-290 feet), but not consistently that long. One nice thing is that I was pretty consistently throwing the t-birds straight. I tried some Valkyries. One was a champion in fairly good shape. I generally could get that disc to fly level and straight. I also brought an old beat-up dx one. I was only able to throw it reasonably once. I would practically throw it vertically and it would still turn over and fly off to the right. Finally, I tried throwing my Katana. I have nowhere close to the arm to throw this disc. Sigh ...
I think my biggest problem is that I still thow the discs with a bit of nose up. Sometimes I could get my gazelles to fly nose down and one of my road runners. So for my next session, I would like to work on nose down throws and work on late acceleration.
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - Round at Dela with Simon
Fun round - I was playing well. We played from 7 to 24. I parred everything except 11 (bogey), 13 (double bogey), 18 (bogey), 22 (bogey). 5 over for 17 holes, which is pretty good for me. And the nice thing is that I was not throwing as well as I did last Sunday. Better than usual, but I can still throw better.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - Field Session at Dela - not
Well, I overslept the field session. Hmmm, I actually underslept and then napped during the field session, but it was probably for the best. I went to bed too early on Monday night and then woke up at 2:30am. I finally fell back asleep about 5am and slept to 7:30am. However it allowed me time to get ready for the playoff game that afternoon. And it was a great game! When will I get a chance to have another practice session? Maybe Friday? I am playing with Simon on Wednesday. Another playoff game on Thursday. So I will try to get out early on Friday.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010 - Long Field Session at Dela
I had some time this morning, so I decided to take a long field session at Dela. My goal was to make 300 throws. It worked out pretty well. There were sporadic drizzles, enough to keep down the number of players, but not enough to deter me. I got to about 230 throws and then there was a steady downpour. So I decided to quit. I started out with one step throws. I made about 100 of those and was reasonably satisfied and then decided to try some x-step. Concentrating on hip/shoulder turn and reach back. And I made a breakthrough! About 2-3 of 5 driver throws were out to about 290-300 feet! Yipee! Most of my throws were 30-50 feet longer than before.
I think I made much more progress during the longer field session. It seemed like making 250 throws was more than 5 times as effective as a 100 throw session. Of course it is a sample of one, it is possible that I was ready for a breakthrough and it would have happened during a 100 throw session. The other cool thing, is that I was able to throw a teebird straight. In the past, I might have gotten a teebird to go straight about halfway and then start turning. Now, I can get it to go straight for the whole filght. I doubt that I am anywhere close to getting it to turn, but it is still cool to get it to stay straight.
I hope that I can get another long session on Tuesday. I am taking a vacation day since I will be going to a Giants playoff game in the afternoon. So I plan to get up early and have a long session. I plan to throw 40-50 standstill and one step throws. And then really work on my x-step throws. If I have the time, I would like to try a Valkyrie and a Katana. I might also play with throwing hyzer flips.
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Friday, October, 15, 2010 - Early Field session at Dela
I have given up on the two step drives. I had two goals for this session. First, I want to film some of my drives. I am suspicious that I have still struggling with nose up drives. So I am hoping that looking at film of my drives may give some indication of why I am getting nose up. Secondly, I would like to work on incorporating hip and shoulder turn into my drives. So I started with some standstill and one step drives to warm up and make sure that I was "pounding the hammer". After about 50 drives, I filmed my drives. Then I worked on a one step drive, where I reached back and then rotated my hips and shoulders. I felt pretty good about it. I did not see any great leaps in distance, but it did seem like I was getting more power into the throw and still keeping the snap. The throws were pretty erratic, some going left and some going right. I wish I could have practiced longer. Hopefully, I will get a chance to throw some more this weekend.
I read something interesting this weekend. A guy was suggesting that being left eye dominant will lead someone to be goofy footed. And as a result throwing with my left foot forward may feel more natural. As I think about it, I am left eye dominant and I have always been goofy footed. I will also note that forehand drives have come naturally to me. On the other hand, I have struggled with backhand drives. It makes me want to go out and try some left handed backhand drives.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - Round with Simon at Dela
A fun round with Simon after work. We left a half hour earlier due to the shortened daylight hours. Many of the pins are moved to the short locations which is kind of nice. I played pretty well. I had three remarkable drives. My drive on 8a was a backhand Gazelle drive that ended up about 10 feet from the pin. We almost quit after hole 19, but decided to play the next 3 holes. I had a great drive on hole 20. I usually try to put a little anhyzer angle and hope the drive will fade back towards the pin. This time, the pin was in the left location, so I threw a flat forehand drive. It was a line drive that flew a bit to the left of the pin and then faded right. It ended up about 30 feet from the basket. On the hole 20, we caught up to a group of four who let us drive through. I walk up to the tee and I am talking to the group. We are debating about volunteering for the Worlds. So I say something and just turn and throw my drive. What a beautiful drive. In fact, one guy in the group, thought it might be an ace. It went just where I threw it, of course on hole 21 you never know. It might bounce bad and roll down the hill. Not this time! It ended up about 5 feet from the basket. It was so cool to make that drive in front of the group of really good players. Of course I shanked my drive on 22, but that was ok.
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Monday, October 11, 2010 - Practice Session at Dela
I worked on three things this morning. First, I tried a three finger drive. Then I tried some 2 step drives and finally, I went to hole 11 and concentrated on aiming. It feels like my three finger drives go farther, though I have to say that I don't think I had any really impressive drives today. I noticed towards the end that it seemed like my drives were a bit nose up. For some reason, I can throw my red roadrunner nose down and it glides 30 feet longer than my other throws. Hmm, I wonder if it is a lighter disc? I am disappointed in my two step throws. I noticed that I was actually doing a 3 step xstep with little hip/shoulder rotation. The aiming work on hole 11 went pretty well. Almost all of my drives went down the tunnel. So I feel good about that.
I think I need to work on getting the nose down on the disc. I want to continue playing with a three finger grip. I would also like to film my drives to see if it is obvious why the nose is still up. I also want to work on integrating a hip/shoulder turn into my throws during my next field session.
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Sunday, October 10, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
I went for an early round where I tried to make it around the course in less than 2 hours. I started at a few minutes after 8am and finished well before 10am. I had planned to take only one shot from every position. However, I broke down and took several drives on many of the holes. I ended up playing 30 holes, I started on hole 5 and played all the way around finishing on hole 6. I impressed bystanders with my drives on 27 and 3. On 27, I threw a forehand that ended up about the old hole 1 tee. I threw my dx roc backhand and ended up about pin high, but about 45 feel to the left. On hole 3, I threw a low forehand that skipped right next to the basket. It is pretty cool to impress the bystanders. I had a number of other nice drives.
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Saturday, October 9, 2010 - Round with Simon at Aptos
Not too much to say here. It was fun to show Simon around the Aptos High course. I played pretty well, but not exceptionally well. It was mostly a casual, relaxed round. Highlights include an excellent putter drive off of 8. Simon had a great drive on 7 that got him an easy birdie putt. I also had a nice drive and approach shot on hole 2 that left me with about a 35 foot par putt. Of course, I missed the putt, but it was nice to even have a putt on this tough hole.
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Sunday, October 3, 2010 - Solo practice round at Aptos
I really wanted to do a field session, however all the fields at Harvey West were filled with soccer players! So I went to Aptos and played a solo round. I threw up to 8 drives on most holes. I threw pretty well, but not exceptionally well. I really need to get out to a field and work on my two step throw. I am also a bit confused on what the two step throw is, so I think I will post a question on DGR. I did find a couple of interesting things - My best drive on hole 2 was a backhand anhyzer. Some of my best throws on hole 3 were backhand drives (putter and gazelle).
This was a Sunday morning round. I had a pretty good round (+11), but I don't think I was driving particularly well. After the round, I practiced driving on holes 1, 3, 5, and 6. I kind of bounced from hole to hole depending on where other groups were playing. BTW - There was a doubles tournament at Aptos on Saturday, so the course was not very crowded. Anyway, I started making some decent drives after the round, but nothing spectacular.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - Round with Simon, John and Christine at Dela
We had a blast. I did not drive particularly well, but I had a great approach game. We met them at hole 5 and played through hole 19. I did not get any birdies, but parred everything except 12, 13, 15, 16 (missed a makeable putt). And I was putting pretty well also.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - Solo round at Dela
I was going to meet John Hernland to play a few holes, but he needed to drop out at the last moment. I decided to go anyway. I had not thrown any discs for 3 or 4 days. It rained on Sunday and I was busy on Monday and I just needed to get out on to the course.
I started a little rusty, bogeying the first 3 holes. Then I started playing pretty well. In fact, I played very well. I played the next 15 holes at one under! I parred 6, 7, 8, 8a, bogied 13, birdied 14, bogied 15, parred 16 and 18, birdied 19, parred 20, birdied 21, parred 22, 23 and 24. There were several big groups lumped together, so I skipped holes 4 and 5 and 9-12. So I ended up 2 over for 18 holes, which is fantastic for me. For my bogies, I had poor drives on 1, 3 and 15, on 2 I had a good approach shot that rolled, on hole 13 a bogey is a good score for me. i had excellent drives on my birdie holes (14, 19, and 21). i also had nice drives on 13, 16, 20, 22, 23 and 24. All in all, I am very pleased with my round. I need to find some way to warm up before a round.
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Saturday, October 23, 2010 - Solo Round at Aptos
This was kind of a strange round. I only ended up playing 12 holes. There was a big group starting on hole 1, so I went to hole 4 to start. Then they were clearing brush on holes 11-13, so I skipped to hole 14. When I got done, I was pretty tired, so I did not play 1-3. On the other hand, I threw multiple drives on many holes. In fact, I threw 8 drives on hole 15, threw 8 drives on 16 and then went back to 15 and did it again. So I guess I actually played 14 holes.
I played pretty well. Some highlights, I had excellent drives on 7, 9, 10, 14, 18. I almost birdied hole 17! I had a very nice backhand drive, then my approach shot hit the chains.
It looks like I am starting to overpower my roadrunners. I can throw them the farthest, but they often turn over. I would like to experiment with a hyzerflip of these throws. I am starting to throw TeeBirds and Valks backhand. They do not seem to fly as well, but they go straight and as far as my roadrunners. So I think I should work on throwing my teebirds and valks flat and throw my roadrunners hyzerflips.
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Friday, October 22, 2010 - Moderate Field Session at Dela
This morning I had a session where I made roughly 175 throws on holes 13 and 16. I have mixed feelings about the session. I was more consistent, but did not seem to throw it as far. I had a few longish throws (280-290 feet), but not consistently that long. One nice thing is that I was pretty consistently throwing the t-birds straight. I tried some Valkyries. One was a champion in fairly good shape. I generally could get that disc to fly level and straight. I also brought an old beat-up dx one. I was only able to throw it reasonably once. I would practically throw it vertically and it would still turn over and fly off to the right. Finally, I tried throwing my Katana. I have nowhere close to the arm to throw this disc. Sigh ...
I think my biggest problem is that I still thow the discs with a bit of nose up. Sometimes I could get my gazelles to fly nose down and one of my road runners. So for my next session, I would like to work on nose down throws and work on late acceleration.
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - Round at Dela with Simon
Fun round - I was playing well. We played from 7 to 24. I parred everything except 11 (bogey), 13 (double bogey), 18 (bogey), 22 (bogey). 5 over for 17 holes, which is pretty good for me. And the nice thing is that I was not throwing as well as I did last Sunday. Better than usual, but I can still throw better.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010 - Field Session at Dela - not
Well, I overslept the field session. Hmmm, I actually underslept and then napped during the field session, but it was probably for the best. I went to bed too early on Monday night and then woke up at 2:30am. I finally fell back asleep about 5am and slept to 7:30am. However it allowed me time to get ready for the playoff game that afternoon. And it was a great game! When will I get a chance to have another practice session? Maybe Friday? I am playing with Simon on Wednesday. Another playoff game on Thursday. So I will try to get out early on Friday.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010 - Long Field Session at Dela
I had some time this morning, so I decided to take a long field session at Dela. My goal was to make 300 throws. It worked out pretty well. There were sporadic drizzles, enough to keep down the number of players, but not enough to deter me. I got to about 230 throws and then there was a steady downpour. So I decided to quit. I started out with one step throws. I made about 100 of those and was reasonably satisfied and then decided to try some x-step. Concentrating on hip/shoulder turn and reach back. And I made a breakthrough! About 2-3 of 5 driver throws were out to about 290-300 feet! Yipee! Most of my throws were 30-50 feet longer than before.
I think I made much more progress during the longer field session. It seemed like making 250 throws was more than 5 times as effective as a 100 throw session. Of course it is a sample of one, it is possible that I was ready for a breakthrough and it would have happened during a 100 throw session. The other cool thing, is that I was able to throw a teebird straight. In the past, I might have gotten a teebird to go straight about halfway and then start turning. Now, I can get it to go straight for the whole filght. I doubt that I am anywhere close to getting it to turn, but it is still cool to get it to stay straight.
I hope that I can get another long session on Tuesday. I am taking a vacation day since I will be going to a Giants playoff game in the afternoon. So I plan to get up early and have a long session. I plan to throw 40-50 standstill and one step throws. And then really work on my x-step throws. If I have the time, I would like to try a Valkyrie and a Katana. I might also play with throwing hyzer flips.
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Friday, October, 15, 2010 - Early Field session at Dela
I have given up on the two step drives. I had two goals for this session. First, I want to film some of my drives. I am suspicious that I have still struggling with nose up drives. So I am hoping that looking at film of my drives may give some indication of why I am getting nose up. Secondly, I would like to work on incorporating hip and shoulder turn into my drives. So I started with some standstill and one step drives to warm up and make sure that I was "pounding the hammer". After about 50 drives, I filmed my drives. Then I worked on a one step drive, where I reached back and then rotated my hips and shoulders. I felt pretty good about it. I did not see any great leaps in distance, but it did seem like I was getting more power into the throw and still keeping the snap. The throws were pretty erratic, some going left and some going right. I wish I could have practiced longer. Hopefully, I will get a chance to throw some more this weekend.
I read something interesting this weekend. A guy was suggesting that being left eye dominant will lead someone to be goofy footed. And as a result throwing with my left foot forward may feel more natural. As I think about it, I am left eye dominant and I have always been goofy footed. I will also note that forehand drives have come naturally to me. On the other hand, I have struggled with backhand drives. It makes me want to go out and try some left handed backhand drives.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - Round with Simon at Dela
A fun round with Simon after work. We left a half hour earlier due to the shortened daylight hours. Many of the pins are moved to the short locations which is kind of nice. I played pretty well. I had three remarkable drives. My drive on 8a was a backhand Gazelle drive that ended up about 10 feet from the pin. We almost quit after hole 19, but decided to play the next 3 holes. I had a great drive on hole 20. I usually try to put a little anhyzer angle and hope the drive will fade back towards the pin. This time, the pin was in the left location, so I threw a flat forehand drive. It was a line drive that flew a bit to the left of the pin and then faded right. It ended up about 30 feet from the basket. On the hole 20, we caught up to a group of four who let us drive through. I walk up to the tee and I am talking to the group. We are debating about volunteering for the Worlds. So I say something and just turn and throw my drive. What a beautiful drive. In fact, one guy in the group, thought it might be an ace. It went just where I threw it, of course on hole 21 you never know. It might bounce bad and roll down the hill. Not this time! It ended up about 5 feet from the basket. It was so cool to make that drive in front of the group of really good players. Of course I shanked my drive on 22, but that was ok.
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Monday, October 11, 2010 - Practice Session at Dela
I worked on three things this morning. First, I tried a three finger drive. Then I tried some 2 step drives and finally, I went to hole 11 and concentrated on aiming. It feels like my three finger drives go farther, though I have to say that I don't think I had any really impressive drives today. I noticed towards the end that it seemed like my drives were a bit nose up. For some reason, I can throw my red roadrunner nose down and it glides 30 feet longer than my other throws. Hmm, I wonder if it is a lighter disc? I am disappointed in my two step throws. I noticed that I was actually doing a 3 step xstep with little hip/shoulder rotation. The aiming work on hole 11 went pretty well. Almost all of my drives went down the tunnel. So I feel good about that.
I think I need to work on getting the nose down on the disc. I want to continue playing with a three finger grip. I would also like to film my drives to see if it is obvious why the nose is still up. I also want to work on integrating a hip/shoulder turn into my throws during my next field session.
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Sunday, October 10, 2010 - Solo Round at Dela
I went for an early round where I tried to make it around the course in less than 2 hours. I started at a few minutes after 8am and finished well before 10am. I had planned to take only one shot from every position. However, I broke down and took several drives on many of the holes. I ended up playing 30 holes, I started on hole 5 and played all the way around finishing on hole 6. I impressed bystanders with my drives on 27 and 3. On 27, I threw a forehand that ended up about the old hole 1 tee. I threw my dx roc backhand and ended up about pin high, but about 45 feel to the left. On hole 3, I threw a low forehand that skipped right next to the basket. It is pretty cool to impress the bystanders. I had a number of other nice drives.
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Saturday, October 9, 2010 - Round with Simon at Aptos
Not too much to say here. It was fun to show Simon around the Aptos High course. I played pretty well, but not exceptionally well. It was mostly a casual, relaxed round. Highlights include an excellent putter drive off of 8. Simon had a great drive on 7 that got him an easy birdie putt. I also had a nice drive and approach shot on hole 2 that left me with about a 35 foot par putt. Of course, I missed the putt, but it was nice to even have a putt on this tough hole.
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Sunday, October 3, 2010 - Solo practice round at Aptos
I really wanted to do a field session, however all the fields at Harvey West were filled with soccer players! So I went to Aptos and played a solo round. I threw up to 8 drives on most holes. I threw pretty well, but not exceptionally well. I really need to get out to a field and work on my two step throw. I am also a bit confused on what the two step throw is, so I think I will post a question on DGR. I did find a couple of interesting things - My best drive on hole 2 was a backhand anhyzer. Some of my best throws on hole 3 were backhand drives (putter and gazelle).
posted by Steve @ 10:13 AM
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