Dang… I was hoping to do well at one of the bigger disc golf tournaments I had planned for this year, but unfortunately… no doubt about it… I failed. This was probably the worst disc golf performance of the year, maybe the worst the past few years. Just crazy…..
Long story short… I was 10 over par after only 9 holes. Yep… no need to continue. I dropped out of the tournament in disgust and took the 3 hour drive back home feeling horrible.
Technically….. the past year I’ve been relying on a more level throw. This also makes it easier to throw anny (left to right) or even anny flex lines, much easier. But… it comes at the expense of making hyzer release throws a bit harder, and this is exactly what I believe has caused my timing to be off on the more technical holes with tighter gaps to hit. In open holes, it’s no problem, but I have been experiencing a lot of problems costing me stroke after stroke when it comes to throwing a decent line off the tee in the woods.
Because these technical holes with tighter gaps are typically much shorter, you want to throw something like a putter or a mid range disc on a hyzer, resulting in a hyzer flip which allows the disc to flip up, fly level for a bit and then depending on the angle released, the disc may fade to the left or turn to the right. When done correctly, it’s a thing of beauty. When done poorly, even just a tiny bit off on your release, can result in hitting a tree, ending up in a thick brush, etc, etc.
A bud took some video of me throwing a hyzer on an open hole so hitting a gap wasn’t an issue. The video wasn’t too bad, the disc flew well and almost aced a 350ft hole! But…I noticed an obvious problem that was more than likely why I have been having timing and release problems when throwing on a hyzer.
The video clearly showed me that it appears I’m always preparing to throw level or anny, but when I want a hyzer release, my arm is coming across waist or higher, which is fine for a level or anny shot, but to release at a hyzer angle I’m having to dip my arm and flip my wrist from anny into a hyzer position before releasing the disc. That is a lot of arm/wrist movement to deal with. Again.. on an open hole it’s no big deal because I’m typically just wanting the distance. But on shorter, technical holes, I need the timing of the release to be as accurate as possible, so with all this arm/wrist movement to get into position for throwing a hyzer, even small timing issues can result in lines being off 50-100-200ft out in the fairway. ugh…
In the past I was always known as a “hyzer flip” guy. I was known for throwing putters and mids on a hyzer flip and nailing those shorter technical holes off the tee. But due to learning how to throw more level (which is also very useful!) my muscle memory forgot how to throw a hyzer flip consistently and with decent accuracy off the tee.
Luckily… after watching the video of myself throwing, it all came back to me. The solution was simple. Instead of reaching back waist (or higher) level, just lower my arm on the reach back when throwing hyzer. This allows a much cleaner hyzer angle only pull throw and doesn’t have all that arm/wrist movement to get the disc from an anny/flat to hyzer angle. The end result is hitting those more narrow gaps off the tee is much more likely because I’ve eliminated a lot of the variance that can cause timing issues. Fingers crossed the problem is solved. In today’s practice round my putter hyzer flips were much more accurate than they have been! 🙂
In my last post I talked about not playing in these big competitive tournaments anymore if I didn’t perform well in my next tournament, that I would have to make a potentially hard decision.
I’ve decided to continue on and play in the 2025 NADGT North American Disc Golf Championships in late October of this year. This is the final big tournament of the year for me. I’ve had so many issues that I assumed was from nerves, warm up issues, etc.
Granted there is no doubt most of my putting issues have been from the yips, but I think I’ve done something to help that as well. Just get up there and within 5-10 seconds, just putt! No more 20-30 second deep breaths, etc, giving myself time to overthink it, just frickin putt! It was working great today during my practice round!
So especially now with a new focus on hitting some of those tighter lines off the tee, I’m looking forward to seeing if I can finally pull it all together, mentally, physically, etc, over the course of 4 rounds in this national tournament. There will be no quitting. This will probably be the final test to see if I am able to handle the pressure of playing in these bigger events. It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about getting my **** together and just playing at a skill level and consistency I know that I can play at.
It’s just a game… why take it so serious? Why does it matter so much to me? Why do I feel that failure on the course represents failure in life? Crazy I know… but I owe my life to this sport, it literally saved my life. I want to do it justice.
October 8, 2025
