Dear Scott,
I'm a three year, advanced player and have finally started playing fairly good golf. I've developed a nice right-handed anhyzer, but have seen many people -- including you -- have lots of success with the sidearm. With the Am Worlds coming up, do you recommend that I get this shot and a roller into my game, or should I just refine what I already have. This will be my first tournament above a B tier and I'm a bit nervous.
Dave Cannon
Columbia SC
Dave,
Since you still have a good month before Am Worlds, I would definitely suggest trying to get both the sidearm as well as the roller into your game. You can always decide at a later time not to use that shot if it is now working the way you want it to.
The expression I always use when teaching new techniques is sometimes you have to take one step backward in order to take two steps forward. There's always some tournament on the horizon that would make a person unwilling to want to learn a new shot or two. If you look at the big picture, meaning your entire disc golf career, then what is a couple bad shots or a couple bad events?
Dear Scott,
I know that throwing has a lot to do with form, but do you think that weight lifting helps?
Mike Woodworth
Shoot the Breeze DGC
Columbus OH
Mike,
The jury is still out on weight training, but lifting weights may be the best thing a player can do off the course to improve their game. I was never sure if it would help because I had the mentality of "it's not broke, don't mess with it." I had that mind set because for a number of years I was throwing farther than anyone else. This is no longer the case. Not only is Chris Voigt throwing farther than me, but there are a handful of players who are throwing at least as far, possibly farther as well.
This winter I started weight training and I have seen my distance improve. Not enough to beat Chris In April when he broke my record, but definitely farther than I was throwing before I started. I'm going to continue weight training and will be sure to be very public about its benefits, if in fact it works as I'm hoping it will.
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Adding A New Shot Before A Tournament, and Weight Training
