Photo: Brandon Beers

The variety of situations you will encounter on a professionally designed disc golf course are infinite. We will therefore deal with the finesse of the game and leave the power.

The most important throw you can make is the putt. Most players concentrate on distance but if you can sink them from 30’ consistently you can win all but the longest holes. If you would like to win concentrate on putting and let distance and power happen naturally.

The muscular coordination required when putting must be absolutely automatic. Baseball and club golf stress the need to "groove your swing". If you think about the putt as the last part of your normal back hand throw you may be pleasantly surprised to find that it is already automatic! The players who change their throwing style when putting are the players who really have the work to find a new "groove." In other words, you can probably be a reasonably accurate putter with any style you choose, if you can concentrate on just throwing. But as soon as you apply concentration to the link of chain that is your target, compensate for wind, blank out people in the background, how far behind you are, etc. you will probably make your putt.

Perhaps a better example of how long it takes to establish a new groove is to go back to your first attempt at throwing a Frisbee disc. How long was it from that first try until you could throw a disc to a friend accurately and without any particular thought, i.e., automatically? It takes a long time for your mind to record the proper "relax and contract" information for all the muscles involved. It takes even longer for it to learn to properly issue these instructions in a fraction of a second. If the putt is part of this already established program, your mind already knows "the groove". All you have to do is to learn how to give it the correct information. This ability requires total concentration.

Stand facing the target. Relax and feel the wind on your face. Some players like to drop blades of grass or dust to gauge the wind velocity. Mentally record wind direction. Wind from either side is not too important unless you need to throw a curve. Wind from the front will cause the disc to hit higher than your aiming point and wind from the rear will cause it to drop. The more wind, the more radical the variation will be. A lot of practice and a heavy putter will help.

Next, turn 45 degrees from the target. Believe it of not, this is where the release usually occurs in your normal back hand throw, "the groove". Then judge the distance and move your arm. With the disc in your hand, towards the target at about the velocity and angle you want it exactly "in the groove". Pick a point to focus on. A link of chain, a mark or whatever but, focus on it until you don’t see anything else. Then throw with your mind only. See the disc hit its mark. Now throw! If anything happened to break your concentration, the message to your computer has been garbled and you will most assuredly miss. Do not throw!! Stop and repeat the whole process. When you get so that you can putt consistency well, amid all sorts of distractions, start to work on the rest of your game.