One of those golf magazines had an article a few years ago on the top 25 swing thoughts, images or key points that you keep in your head as you swing. I have probably spent more time golfing in my life than I have playing ultimate, but I still need to focus on a swing thought in order to get my swing back to where it is supposed to be.
Yesterday, I tried a swing thought for my long throws.
I could not believe how successful it was. Without consciously changing anything, my throws became better and more consistent. Whether I'll be able to focus on a swing thought while playing is another matter (I was just throwing in my back yard), but could it really be that simple?
And if it is, why couldn't anyone have told me this? Is it so difficult to analyze the throwing mechanics? There are literally millions of golfers who could have made a comparable diagnosis of a hitch in my golf swing.
For the record, the swing thought was "stay low". I mentioned this today to Alex, and he said, "Yeah, especially on your forehand. It wouldn't turn over so much." Thanks for the effin' tip, Count.
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After I told you this, I realized that while I had consciously done this on my long backhands through the years, I had never really paid attention to the forehand. So throwing around before corporate last night, I concentrated on the low release forehand, and it sure made a difference in the mid-range to long forehand. Who knows, I may develop a long forehand yet...
I just started doing this 3 weeks ago when working on my throws:
After every forehand I say to myself "Snap your wrist harder, keep your weight forward." And it has slowly worked to improve my throwing in games as well. I don't hear the voice in my head, but I'm starting to do these things unconcsiously.
Practice is effectively moving conscious thought to unconscious action through repetition.
The difference is that in golf, you can take your time and go over it all in your mind before you swing. Can't really do that in ultimate, except for on the pull.
Can't really do that in ultimate, except for on the pull.
Well, I think you can, if you develop expectations about what throws to look for. I think there's enough time to have a simple thought or image flash across your head ("stay low") during your windup.
A swing thought typically works on a particular flaw, whereas there are five or ten possible flaws that an experienced thrower/golfer could develop. Thus, you might need different thoughts at different times. Maybe a thought for when you're tired is "stay on your toes".
And if you're trying to fix a flaw in the swing, be prepared to fix the compensation that has been built into the swing. Perhaps someone curves the disc too much so they subconsciously aim further out than they should. Fix the curve, but also make sure they correct their aiming point.
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