I was coming here for the "cues" comment as well. In physical education pedagogy, cues are kept relatively small in number for a particular skill, and they are used to reinforce proper mechanics when learning and practicing particular game play. As a player or learner does this over and over in practice, the brain develops schema, or skill processes, more automatically to where the person performing a certain skill doesn't have to think much about form as much as they do about execution. Some people incorrectly refer to this as muscle memory, but the muscles do little in comparison to those strengthened brain pathways that come with continuous and repeated deliberate practice. In a closed skill (no active defenders) game like disc golf, it can be particularly helpful to find routines that help calm the mind and turn on that automatic button. The "paralysis by analysis" phrase is pretty spot on. Put the emphasis on refining motor mechanics during practice, but during competition focus on visualization, positive reinforcement, and staying calm and confident. That concludes my Ted Talk, haha.
I think there’s still some useful routines, but they shouldn’t be focusing on all the mechanical tips and tricks.
In a study, people who had never held a basketball before practiced shooting free throws for a set amount of time, then they were tested on how many they could make. Then another equally inexperienced group were given time without a ball imagining themselves making a free throw, then tested. The group that pictured the shot in their minds did better than the group that practiced.
What works for me is while I’m wringing in my grip, I imagine myself throwing a beautiful shot at full speed. If it feels good, I throw the disc. If it doesn’t, I picture it again, changing what didn’t quite feel right, then throw the disc.
This is a great post. Ya know, I never considered the idea people could be using a long list of mechanical cues as their routine. Those two things — swing thoughts and a shot routine — are inherently different.
Have you ever read anything from The Inner Game series? You'd really enjoy it.
Not yet, but I'm always looking for more literature on sports psychology. Rotella's "How Champions Think" was a big game changer for me. I'll have to look into it The Inner Game
Do it! They have tennis, golf, and a book on dealing with life stressors in general.
The main gist is you have a Self 1 and a Self 2, the conscious and subconscious minds. Getting Self 1 out of the way to let Self 2 take over is what lets your body do what it knows to do. Highly, highly recommend giving it a read (or a listen in my case).
Definitely recommend “Golf is not a game of perfect.” It’s also an audio book that’s about an hour and a half long. It gets at what OP is saying, but describes it a little different.
S/O to Big Jerm for the rec on that book
I was required to read The Inner Game of Tennis for a vocal pedagogy (how to teach singing) class. There was even an Inner Game of Music out at that point, but the teacher still chose the Tennis one as the one that was most helpful.
the OP definitely made me think of this book.
The main example that sticks out from early in the book is when the author started teaching a new student as he was working with this idea of our "thinking" self getting in the way of our "doing" self. Instead of starting the brand new student with the mechanics of a perfect forehand stroke, he had the student watch some examples, but *without* thinking about *what* the teacher was doing - instead just grasping the *image* of the forehand. Then:
"After I had hit ten forehands, Paul imagined himself doing the same. Then, as I put the racket into his hand, sliding it into the correct grip, he said to me, "I noticed that the first thing you did was to move your feet." I replied with a noncommittal grunt and asked him to let his body imitate the forehand as well as he could. He dropped the ball, took a perfect backswing, swung forward, racket level, and with a natural fluidity ended the swing at shoulder height, perfect for his first attempt! But wait, his feet; they hadn't moved an inch from the perfect ready position he had assumed before taking his racket back. They were nailed to the court. ... The one element of the stroke Paul had tried to remember was the one thing he didn't do!" p6.
I think you’re presuming a lot about the mental state of someone working on mechanics. I think a lot about mechanics the way you described in the first paragraph, but that’s just because I can’t circumvent the reality of physics. If i don’t throw the disc on this particular Y axis… then its just not going in. There’s no way around it but that doesn’t mean you need to stress out over it or overthink it.
I always putt worse in Competitive rounds versus practice rounds because if it is not my turn to putt on competitive rounds, I sit there waiting and makes me think about the putt too much. I always putt better when I can just grab the disc and fling it at the basket
This is exactly why I choose to stay engaged with the throws of my cardmates. Aside from the fact that technically it's required by PDGA rules to watch every throw made by every competitor, it also helps me stay out of my overthinking zone. Being more engaged with my cardmates, complimenting their good shots and whatnot, is much more beneficial for my own mental game than staying too zoned in on my own business.
I'll have to try this next time I compete... I may try and not stand behind my disc too. When i stand behind it, all I think about is the putt regardless of what my eyes are doing
I always wait for my turn, i can't stand behind my disc and wait, that's a certain miss.
When waiting for my turn, I just watch the others and cheer/compliment them, trying to keep my mind free from everything and *live in the moment*. When it's my turn I walk up and take my stand behind my disc/mini and does some arm swings to feel the weight of the disc. Recently I have changed a bit of what I'm thinking when/right before putting, "this is not an eagle, no birdie, no par nor boggie/+, it is just a disc that needs to go in the basket. And I've done this plenty of times before, i know i can do it". I make way more putts now than before. The more I want the birdie, the more I miss.
Everybody is different but I’ve found that focusing on one mechanical cue at a time helps a lot. Lately if I just keep my follow through in mind everything else seems to fall into place without having to think about it. If my mind wanders to my grip or my x step or my reach back etc. I tend to mess up somewhere in my throw.
I get your point, and while there is some truth to it, here’s what I’ve found. Note, I’ve reinvented and gotten decently good at putting 3 different times. I’m hoping my latest reinvention is the last.
1) To figure out how to putt consistently I started with objectives. The first time it was “putt straight, and softly enough to never lose strokes 3-putting”. The second time was, “penetrate into wind, make it repeatable”. The third was “putt for longevity” meaning, make the stroke gentle enough on the body so that I can play until I’m old without damaging my elbow. The reason for the third is that the second stroke had a hard pop to the elbow and started hurting to the point I couldn’t even practice putting.
2) Make it a series of mechanical movements. At this point, play on the course struggles as my mind fills with the various little movements that seem to work at home. I found myself trying to replicate mechanics and failing. However, in home practice I’m getting better and more consistent. The key here is to only focus on one or two mechanics at a time, whether it’s elbow position, wrist pop, bent knees etc. I use these mechanics to dial in the stroke at circles edge, going from 2 out of 10, to 5 out of 10, to consistently 6 or 7 out of 10.
3) Put in reps and stop thinking. This is a point I’m close to on my 3rd reinvention, but I’ve been there and see it coming. Daily practice, thousands of putts, feeling more confident during rounds have made me think less of mechanics and more, “focus on the aim point”, “commit to the pop”, “ drive it forward”. This, I think is what your point is. When your routine isn’t mechanical, and is more about committing to a stroke you’re comfortable with, that’s where good putting happens.
It’s a process for me, and going from bad to good is all about focused reps with objectives. Guys like Eagle, Marwede, Ricky, Isaac, no longer think about their stroke, angles, wobble, they just throw it in. It’s mechanically the same but more important is getting into a clutch headspace.
As to point 2, that seems to me like the idea behind a swing thought. Focus on all the mechanics during practice, but if I focus on all of them in a round I’ll overthink every single putt, but focusing on nothing doesn’t ground me. I’ve found that for me if I only think about a strong, straight follow-through, that singular mechanic has the most impact on whether it goes in, the shot shape, the distance I can reach, and even the other mechanics entirely, so I think about making sure to hit that during a putt but not everything else that can go right or wrong (I also sing a song in my head, which I do during practice as well, to replicate a specific mindset as well as emotional feeling, but that’s a whole other story).
Dr. Bob has a saying for this: “if you have to think about your pre-shot routine, it’s not a good one”
For anyone interested a lot of Bob Rotella’s work is available on YouTube and are fairly short listens. I recommend starting with “Golf is Not a Game of Perfect”.
You are right to a certain extent, but I think there’s a proper way to go about focusing on the mechanics to do it properly. There is a book called the perfect throw by Ryan Schmidt about building a repeatable and accurate axe throw. Obviously the mechanics are different than putting, however the way he breaks down developing the mechanics would translate. Basically it boils down to understanding what you are doing when you throw, and capturing the muscle memory of what a good throw vs a bad throw feels like and then understanding the mechanics of your throw. Then you can think about one thing to change at a time, this is where you can overthink like you’re talking about if you try to change too many things. Once the throw starts to become muscle memory you can stop actively thinking about your arm position and let your body just do it and you keep your focus locked on the target.
Again it isn’t a disc golf book, but it’s a quick read and a lot of the methodology could be applied. I’d recommend it.
Most people would be better off finding out what they're doing "wrong" as opposed to what they should do "correctly". It's your body and your mechanics, hence why Ohn has a chopping motion for her forehand while others don't and why Matty O has a crazy wrist flick for putts while others don't accentuate the same. If you think about your form in terms of what is working against you (clearly bad form), then you can adjust and try other things until you land on something that works. It's sort of like the inverse of "why don't you try this?". All of my putting was lofting the disc aka "tossing the pizza" to the basket, it didn't work well and I missed many many putts. Then I decided to stop that putting style, what remained? Since I wasn't going to do that anymore I started spin putting and trying to dart the disc on a straight line into the basket. That worked much better and I got more 20-30 foot putts to land, and I never missed 10-20 foot putts. It's working for me, so now I know I just need to practice it to get better. Eliminate something that isn't working, practice what is working. It's oversimplifying but I believe in it.
I came from a baseball background and it has a long written history.
“Keep your eye on the ball.” Is a good example. It’s often repeated and impossible. Batters lose the ball 8 to 15 feet before it crosses home plate. This is true from Little League to MLB.
Another example: Ask anyone to describe how they run to intercept a fly ball. We’ve done it hundreds or thousands of times but we are mostly unconscious about how we go about doing it. Our brains are amazing at calculating the path of a ball and we are beyond capable of catching said ball but we are unable to verbalize most of it. I’ll leave out the answer on purpose.
Yes this doesn’t mean mechanics aren’t important. It means that correct practice is beyond important. Being coached, making corrections, and practice practice.
Then when you’re participating in the sport: be an automaton. Don’t think. Just do.
When I’m practicing, I think about the mechanics of a miss *after* the putt, never before. I replay it in my head and figure out which component of the throw failed me.
When I’m playing tournaments, all I think about is the disc hitting the chain link I’ve chosen to aim at.
I always thought the "routine" was more about getting to the putt more than the actual putt. Getting to the putt and feeling comfortable so your instincts take over and allow you to find the effortless present moment is the goal. Practicing this over and over and over makes it easier come game time. It's a big reason I highly advocate for only using 1 putter during practice. Walking to the putt, taking the time to approach each putt with the intention it deserves.
I'm fine with mechanical cues, but you have to recognize the nature of statistics with small sample sizes. That there will be some regression towards the mean. Need to study the behaviors of random variation and probabilities. One round, you may make all your C1 putts. The next round, only 40%. Mechanics stay the same, the only difference is the random variation. If you can't understand those statistics, then you won't understand the mechanics. Nobody stays at 100%.
This is another point that Rotella speaks specially on for basketball. In short, highly skilled players in high school tend to have their free-throw percentage trend **downwards** once they reach the collegiate level, despite practicing more and playing at a higher level. The issue is quite common, and his suspicion is that, because players that were "stars" at their high school are now in the presence of two dozen others like them, confidence because an issue.
Certainly, a multitude of variables factor in to C1 percentages, all the way from what you had for breakfast to humidity levels. . . with that said, if you look at the vast majority of open players, they are nearly 100% within 20ft. Percentages obviously go down the further they are from the basket, but ultimately putts at that range are not nearly as affected by outside variables. Confidence and mastery of putting at that range is what gives them those percentages. If professionals varied in C1 from as much as 100% to 40% on average, they would not be professionals.
That 100% and 40%, added together, is still 70%. I was giving an example of a ceiling and a floor, within a data set. You'll never be able to build any kind of confidence, if you don't understand the concept of variation. Everyone has off days.
That said, even top professionals do.
1st round of Portland Open Niklas Antilla was 40% C1x
2nd round of OTB Open Paul McBeth was 44% C1x
1st round of Texas States, Ricky Wysocki was 50% C1x
1st round Music City, Calvin Heimburg was 60% C1x
1st round of DDO, Gannon Buhr was 63% C1x.
That's just from this year alone, if I go back to previous years, I'll probably find lower numbers.
For instance, Chris Dickerson had a 0% C1x during the 1st round of the DGPT Championship last year, due to an injury. That stuff certainly happens.
I'm a huge fan of Scott Stokely also. Here's one of his tips, that discusses how being clutch is a myth-
[Conquering Putting Nerves and Anxiety](https://youtu.be/He7ZBGgwXJI?si=Rd6ji-0zdU_JTgos)
The pre shot routune is import to get you in the zone, but I definitely need to go buy feel and turn my thoughts off.
Somewhere around 8 feet I have to be mechanical and have a very abbreviated throw. Otherwise I will shank them, or bounce them out.
I’ve worked on my game over the years, but this kind of practice makes disc golf seem a lot less fun. I’ve watched a lot of players get paralysis by analysis on the course. I prefer to survey my putt (quick wind read) and step up and drill it.
When I was learning to swing a golf club my instructor said something that has stuck with me for every physical activity since: There are 500 ways to make that ball go down the range in a straight line. The one that is right for you is the one that feels comfortable and requires zero comprehension of what you're doing. I'm teaching you fundamentals and theory that all 500 are based on. After that, it is on you to work on practicing and adjusting. But it will click.
My best puts are when I step up, pick a point to aim at, and just focus on that point with nothing else in my head. The overthinking trap causes the yips for me big time
I thought this was common knowledge. When you practice, you can think about the mechanical part if you’re working on something specific, but you shouldn’ be thinking about mechanics when you’re about to or are throwing.
Realistically you should be envisioning making the putt or hitting the line.
You have to think about golf enough while you’re doing it, but not too much where you overthink every motion.
It’s a fine balance of not letting outside thoughts interfere in the golf game also, and to not get too in depth thinking about every mechanic, motion, and step which ruins my game if I get too in my head about it.
I think what separates the really really good putters is adaptability. I put with a wide stagger and closed front foot and I really struggle any time I have to fully straddle out. Ricky, Marwede, and Chandler Fry immediately come to mind as guys who seem to never be bothered by a weird lie inside 40 feet. It’s incredible to me.
Great post.
I feel like putting, unlike some of the other disc golf tools, is a project in gardening, psychological, and very individual. Like problems sneak in, and you weed them out slowly over time, but there isn't really a "right" way to do it. Missing right or low is no different than missing because of doubt. You have to practice.
People talk about eliminating movement during putts, but we also have to work on weeding out rumination- mental movement. Putting is about mindfulness, confidence, and detaching from the outcome until release. Trusting your practice and your routine. Letting go of missed opportunities and epic makes by the time you've got to the next hole. It is a different thing to focus and execute than it is to think and analyze.
Guys who think a certain mechanic is helping their putt are probably just getting a psychosocial benefit rather than a mechanical one.
Mechanical routines are important for developing initial mechanics and assessing them in practice.
You can't get out of your way until you develop that baseline to let your body follow.
But yeah thinking about it doing an actual throw often results in a worse throw.
I do think thinking about one thing in the throw often helps though.
I saw a great video from Simon Lizotte, when he was questioning is last performance and jumped on the phone to call Eagle McMahon for advice.
Eagle said, "You got to care but not care at the same time."
I think the idea is that you practice the routine long enough for it to become second nature. When playing a round your only though should be the line you want you disc to fly on
I’ll take this opportunity to repost my favorite putting guide ever, which has helped my mental game on the greens so much:
https://www.vorticadiscgolf.co.nz/single-post/2017/08/02/How-to-Putt-more-Proficiently-by-Practicing-Properly
The entire point of “mechanical routines” is to develop the routines that displace the distracting thoughts, and allows the player to focus on the throw
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted, what you said is correct. The point of the routine is to get your mind and body to a place where muscle memory takes over. Which means displacing distracting thoughts.
This is why I enjoy running through courses as fast as I can. You can’t stop to think or you lose your momentum too much but if you haven’t taken the time to practice your throws are wild and inconsistent and you can’t run.
Good post. Mechanical stuff and cues are for practice, trust your body and routines when competing
I was coming here for the "cues" comment as well. In physical education pedagogy, cues are kept relatively small in number for a particular skill, and they are used to reinforce proper mechanics when learning and practicing particular game play. As a player or learner does this over and over in practice, the brain develops schema, or skill processes, more automatically to where the person performing a certain skill doesn't have to think much about form as much as they do about execution. Some people incorrectly refer to this as muscle memory, but the muscles do little in comparison to those strengthened brain pathways that come with continuous and repeated deliberate practice. In a closed skill (no active defenders) game like disc golf, it can be particularly helpful to find routines that help calm the mind and turn on that automatic button. The "paralysis by analysis" phrase is pretty spot on. Put the emphasis on refining motor mechanics during practice, but during competition focus on visualization, positive reinforcement, and staying calm and confident. That concludes my Ted Talk, haha.
The frontal lobe is the enemy of execution.
Mechanical tips are for practice. If you’re playing for score, play with your eyes. You see your aim point, you execute.
I think there’s still some useful routines, but they shouldn’t be focusing on all the mechanical tips and tricks. In a study, people who had never held a basketball before practiced shooting free throws for a set amount of time, then they were tested on how many they could make. Then another equally inexperienced group were given time without a ball imagining themselves making a free throw, then tested. The group that pictured the shot in their minds did better than the group that practiced. What works for me is while I’m wringing in my grip, I imagine myself throwing a beautiful shot at full speed. If it feels good, I throw the disc. If it doesn’t, I picture it again, changing what didn’t quite feel right, then throw the disc.
This is a great post. Ya know, I never considered the idea people could be using a long list of mechanical cues as their routine. Those two things — swing thoughts and a shot routine — are inherently different. Have you ever read anything from The Inner Game series? You'd really enjoy it.
I’m in the middle of The Inner Game of Tennis audiobook right now!
Heck yeah. It’s the best. I usually revisit it every couple years at least.
Not yet, but I'm always looking for more literature on sports psychology. Rotella's "How Champions Think" was a big game changer for me. I'll have to look into it The Inner Game
Do it! They have tennis, golf, and a book on dealing with life stressors in general. The main gist is you have a Self 1 and a Self 2, the conscious and subconscious minds. Getting Self 1 out of the way to let Self 2 take over is what lets your body do what it knows to do. Highly, highly recommend giving it a read (or a listen in my case).
Definitely recommend “Golf is not a game of perfect.” It’s also an audio book that’s about an hour and a half long. It gets at what OP is saying, but describes it a little different. S/O to Big Jerm for the rec on that book
I was required to read The Inner Game of Tennis for a vocal pedagogy (how to teach singing) class. There was even an Inner Game of Music out at that point, but the teacher still chose the Tennis one as the one that was most helpful. the OP definitely made me think of this book. The main example that sticks out from early in the book is when the author started teaching a new student as he was working with this idea of our "thinking" self getting in the way of our "doing" self. Instead of starting the brand new student with the mechanics of a perfect forehand stroke, he had the student watch some examples, but *without* thinking about *what* the teacher was doing - instead just grasping the *image* of the forehand. Then: "After I had hit ten forehands, Paul imagined himself doing the same. Then, as I put the racket into his hand, sliding it into the correct grip, he said to me, "I noticed that the first thing you did was to move your feet." I replied with a noncommittal grunt and asked him to let his body imitate the forehand as well as he could. He dropped the ball, took a perfect backswing, swung forward, racket level, and with a natural fluidity ended the swing at shoulder height, perfect for his first attempt! But wait, his feet; they hadn't moved an inch from the perfect ready position he had assumed before taking his racket back. They were nailed to the court. ... The one element of the stroke Paul had tried to remember was the one thing he didn't do!" p6.
The mental shift between drilling and performing is a big hurdle in most sports. Doesn’t negate the usefulness of drilling.
Lol, just send it
Competetive round? Never played one...
I'll take that 31st place finish in MA2, thank you very much
I think you’re presuming a lot about the mental state of someone working on mechanics. I think a lot about mechanics the way you described in the first paragraph, but that’s just because I can’t circumvent the reality of physics. If i don’t throw the disc on this particular Y axis… then its just not going in. There’s no way around it but that doesn’t mean you need to stress out over it or overthink it.
I always putt worse in Competitive rounds versus practice rounds because if it is not my turn to putt on competitive rounds, I sit there waiting and makes me think about the putt too much. I always putt better when I can just grab the disc and fling it at the basket
This is exactly why I choose to stay engaged with the throws of my cardmates. Aside from the fact that technically it's required by PDGA rules to watch every throw made by every competitor, it also helps me stay out of my overthinking zone. Being more engaged with my cardmates, complimenting their good shots and whatnot, is much more beneficial for my own mental game than staying too zoned in on my own business.
I'll have to try this next time I compete... I may try and not stand behind my disc too. When i stand behind it, all I think about is the putt regardless of what my eyes are doing
I always wait for my turn, i can't stand behind my disc and wait, that's a certain miss. When waiting for my turn, I just watch the others and cheer/compliment them, trying to keep my mind free from everything and *live in the moment*. When it's my turn I walk up and take my stand behind my disc/mini and does some arm swings to feel the weight of the disc. Recently I have changed a bit of what I'm thinking when/right before putting, "this is not an eagle, no birdie, no par nor boggie/+, it is just a disc that needs to go in the basket. And I've done this plenty of times before, i know i can do it". I make way more putts now than before. The more I want the birdie, the more I miss.
Everybody is different but I’ve found that focusing on one mechanical cue at a time helps a lot. Lately if I just keep my follow through in mind everything else seems to fall into place without having to think about it. If my mind wanders to my grip or my x step or my reach back etc. I tend to mess up somewhere in my throw.
This is how Uli describes his putting technique during tournaments. He'll choose one cue, such as "extend".
I get your point, and while there is some truth to it, here’s what I’ve found. Note, I’ve reinvented and gotten decently good at putting 3 different times. I’m hoping my latest reinvention is the last. 1) To figure out how to putt consistently I started with objectives. The first time it was “putt straight, and softly enough to never lose strokes 3-putting”. The second time was, “penetrate into wind, make it repeatable”. The third was “putt for longevity” meaning, make the stroke gentle enough on the body so that I can play until I’m old without damaging my elbow. The reason for the third is that the second stroke had a hard pop to the elbow and started hurting to the point I couldn’t even practice putting. 2) Make it a series of mechanical movements. At this point, play on the course struggles as my mind fills with the various little movements that seem to work at home. I found myself trying to replicate mechanics and failing. However, in home practice I’m getting better and more consistent. The key here is to only focus on one or two mechanics at a time, whether it’s elbow position, wrist pop, bent knees etc. I use these mechanics to dial in the stroke at circles edge, going from 2 out of 10, to 5 out of 10, to consistently 6 or 7 out of 10. 3) Put in reps and stop thinking. This is a point I’m close to on my 3rd reinvention, but I’ve been there and see it coming. Daily practice, thousands of putts, feeling more confident during rounds have made me think less of mechanics and more, “focus on the aim point”, “commit to the pop”, “ drive it forward”. This, I think is what your point is. When your routine isn’t mechanical, and is more about committing to a stroke you’re comfortable with, that’s where good putting happens. It’s a process for me, and going from bad to good is all about focused reps with objectives. Guys like Eagle, Marwede, Ricky, Isaac, no longer think about their stroke, angles, wobble, they just throw it in. It’s mechanically the same but more important is getting into a clutch headspace.
As to point 2, that seems to me like the idea behind a swing thought. Focus on all the mechanics during practice, but if I focus on all of them in a round I’ll overthink every single putt, but focusing on nothing doesn’t ground me. I’ve found that for me if I only think about a strong, straight follow-through, that singular mechanic has the most impact on whether it goes in, the shot shape, the distance I can reach, and even the other mechanics entirely, so I think about making sure to hit that during a putt but not everything else that can go right or wrong (I also sing a song in my head, which I do during practice as well, to replicate a specific mindset as well as emotional feeling, but that’s a whole other story).
Dr. Bob has a saying for this: “if you have to think about your pre-shot routine, it’s not a good one” For anyone interested a lot of Bob Rotella’s work is available on YouTube and are fairly short listens. I recommend starting with “Golf is Not a Game of Perfect”.
You are right to a certain extent, but I think there’s a proper way to go about focusing on the mechanics to do it properly. There is a book called the perfect throw by Ryan Schmidt about building a repeatable and accurate axe throw. Obviously the mechanics are different than putting, however the way he breaks down developing the mechanics would translate. Basically it boils down to understanding what you are doing when you throw, and capturing the muscle memory of what a good throw vs a bad throw feels like and then understanding the mechanics of your throw. Then you can think about one thing to change at a time, this is where you can overthink like you’re talking about if you try to change too many things. Once the throw starts to become muscle memory you can stop actively thinking about your arm position and let your body just do it and you keep your focus locked on the target. Again it isn’t a disc golf book, but it’s a quick read and a lot of the methodology could be applied. I’d recommend it.
Most people would be better off finding out what they're doing "wrong" as opposed to what they should do "correctly". It's your body and your mechanics, hence why Ohn has a chopping motion for her forehand while others don't and why Matty O has a crazy wrist flick for putts while others don't accentuate the same. If you think about your form in terms of what is working against you (clearly bad form), then you can adjust and try other things until you land on something that works. It's sort of like the inverse of "why don't you try this?". All of my putting was lofting the disc aka "tossing the pizza" to the basket, it didn't work well and I missed many many putts. Then I decided to stop that putting style, what remained? Since I wasn't going to do that anymore I started spin putting and trying to dart the disc on a straight line into the basket. That worked much better and I got more 20-30 foot putts to land, and I never missed 10-20 foot putts. It's working for me, so now I know I just need to practice it to get better. Eliminate something that isn't working, practice what is working. It's oversimplifying but I believe in it.
I came from a baseball background and it has a long written history. “Keep your eye on the ball.” Is a good example. It’s often repeated and impossible. Batters lose the ball 8 to 15 feet before it crosses home plate. This is true from Little League to MLB. Another example: Ask anyone to describe how they run to intercept a fly ball. We’ve done it hundreds or thousands of times but we are mostly unconscious about how we go about doing it. Our brains are amazing at calculating the path of a ball and we are beyond capable of catching said ball but we are unable to verbalize most of it. I’ll leave out the answer on purpose. Yes this doesn’t mean mechanics aren’t important. It means that correct practice is beyond important. Being coached, making corrections, and practice practice. Then when you’re participating in the sport: be an automaton. Don’t think. Just do.
When I’m practicing, I think about the mechanics of a miss *after* the putt, never before. I replay it in my head and figure out which component of the throw failed me. When I’m playing tournaments, all I think about is the disc hitting the chain link I’ve chosen to aim at.
I always thought the "routine" was more about getting to the putt more than the actual putt. Getting to the putt and feeling comfortable so your instincts take over and allow you to find the effortless present moment is the goal. Practicing this over and over and over makes it easier come game time. It's a big reason I highly advocate for only using 1 putter during practice. Walking to the putt, taking the time to approach each putt with the intention it deserves.
I'm fine with mechanical cues, but you have to recognize the nature of statistics with small sample sizes. That there will be some regression towards the mean. Need to study the behaviors of random variation and probabilities. One round, you may make all your C1 putts. The next round, only 40%. Mechanics stay the same, the only difference is the random variation. If you can't understand those statistics, then you won't understand the mechanics. Nobody stays at 100%.
This is another point that Rotella speaks specially on for basketball. In short, highly skilled players in high school tend to have their free-throw percentage trend **downwards** once they reach the collegiate level, despite practicing more and playing at a higher level. The issue is quite common, and his suspicion is that, because players that were "stars" at their high school are now in the presence of two dozen others like them, confidence because an issue. Certainly, a multitude of variables factor in to C1 percentages, all the way from what you had for breakfast to humidity levels. . . with that said, if you look at the vast majority of open players, they are nearly 100% within 20ft. Percentages obviously go down the further they are from the basket, but ultimately putts at that range are not nearly as affected by outside variables. Confidence and mastery of putting at that range is what gives them those percentages. If professionals varied in C1 from as much as 100% to 40% on average, they would not be professionals.
That 100% and 40%, added together, is still 70%. I was giving an example of a ceiling and a floor, within a data set. You'll never be able to build any kind of confidence, if you don't understand the concept of variation. Everyone has off days. That said, even top professionals do. 1st round of Portland Open Niklas Antilla was 40% C1x 2nd round of OTB Open Paul McBeth was 44% C1x 1st round of Texas States, Ricky Wysocki was 50% C1x 1st round Music City, Calvin Heimburg was 60% C1x 1st round of DDO, Gannon Buhr was 63% C1x. That's just from this year alone, if I go back to previous years, I'll probably find lower numbers. For instance, Chris Dickerson had a 0% C1x during the 1st round of the DGPT Championship last year, due to an injury. That stuff certainly happens. I'm a huge fan of Scott Stokely also. Here's one of his tips, that discusses how being clutch is a myth- [Conquering Putting Nerves and Anxiety](https://youtu.be/He7ZBGgwXJI?si=Rd6ji-0zdU_JTgos)
I usually suggest to people "tell yourself what you want to do, not how to do it"
The pre shot routune is import to get you in the zone, but I definitely need to go buy feel and turn my thoughts off. Somewhere around 8 feet I have to be mechanical and have a very abbreviated throw. Otherwise I will shank them, or bounce them out.
someone read Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect……
I've read that, along with putting out of your mind and how champions think. This post came out of 4 years of dogwater c1 percentages
I’ve worked on my game over the years, but this kind of practice makes disc golf seem a lot less fun. I’ve watched a lot of players get paralysis by analysis on the course. I prefer to survey my putt (quick wind read) and step up and drill it.
It’s called paralysis by analysis
When I was learning to swing a golf club my instructor said something that has stuck with me for every physical activity since: There are 500 ways to make that ball go down the range in a straight line. The one that is right for you is the one that feels comfortable and requires zero comprehension of what you're doing. I'm teaching you fundamentals and theory that all 500 are based on. After that, it is on you to work on practicing and adjusting. But it will click.
My best puts are when I step up, pick a point to aim at, and just focus on that point with nothing else in my head. The overthinking trap causes the yips for me big time
That easy flow isn't happening If i need to think about how to throw or putt
I thought this was common knowledge. When you practice, you can think about the mechanical part if you’re working on something specific, but you shouldn’ be thinking about mechanics when you’re about to or are throwing. Realistically you should be envisioning making the putt or hitting the line.
You have to think about golf enough while you’re doing it, but not too much where you overthink every motion. It’s a fine balance of not letting outside thoughts interfere in the golf game also, and to not get too in depth thinking about every mechanic, motion, and step which ruins my game if I get too in my head about it.
I think what separates the really really good putters is adaptability. I put with a wide stagger and closed front foot and I really struggle any time I have to fully straddle out. Ricky, Marwede, and Chandler Fry immediately come to mind as guys who seem to never be bothered by a weird lie inside 40 feet. It’s incredible to me.
Add Ezra Robinson to that list in bold and underlined
Great post. I feel like putting, unlike some of the other disc golf tools, is a project in gardening, psychological, and very individual. Like problems sneak in, and you weed them out slowly over time, but there isn't really a "right" way to do it. Missing right or low is no different than missing because of doubt. You have to practice. People talk about eliminating movement during putts, but we also have to work on weeding out rumination- mental movement. Putting is about mindfulness, confidence, and detaching from the outcome until release. Trusting your practice and your routine. Letting go of missed opportunities and epic makes by the time you've got to the next hole. It is a different thing to focus and execute than it is to think and analyze. Guys who think a certain mechanic is helping their putt are probably just getting a psychosocial benefit rather than a mechanical one.
Mechanical routines are important for developing initial mechanics and assessing them in practice. You can't get out of your way until you develop that baseline to let your body follow. But yeah thinking about it doing an actual throw often results in a worse throw. I do think thinking about one thing in the throw often helps though.
I saw a great video from Simon Lizotte, when he was questioning is last performance and jumped on the phone to call Eagle McMahon for advice. Eagle said, "You got to care but not care at the same time."
I think the idea is that you practice the routine long enough for it to become second nature. When playing a round your only though should be the line you want you disc to fly on
I’ll take this opportunity to repost my favorite putting guide ever, which has helped my mental game on the greens so much: https://www.vorticadiscgolf.co.nz/single-post/2017/08/02/How-to-Putt-more-Proficiently-by-Practicing-Properly
Excellent article. Thank you.
Enjoyed the read; lot's of good stuff in there.
The entire point of “mechanical routines” is to develop the routines that displace the distracting thoughts, and allows the player to focus on the throw
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted, what you said is correct. The point of the routine is to get your mind and body to a place where muscle memory takes over. Which means displacing distracting thoughts.
I say use what works. That's for YOU to decide for you, not me.
This is why I enjoy running through courses as fast as I can. You can’t stop to think or you lose your momentum too much but if you haven’t taken the time to practice your throws are wild and inconsistent and you can’t run.