I have a New Practice Spot... in my Garage.

I have played SO MANY rounds lately. At LEAST 1 round per day average for the past few weeks, some days multiple rounds. I have REALLY enjoyed it. BUT, my body hasn't. My body is just plain Pissed at me.

In the midst of growing tired and not giving my body time to recoup after rounds, I am picking up bad habits in my throw, approach, etc. I have been wanting to go out and just work on my Approach/Throwing Technique, but there again, I am walking, retrieving discs, but mostly staring at the pretty disc in the air more than putting my full attention into the Technique....

So, I had an idea. This may have already been done. I have been thinking of a way to do it for awhile, but I haven't seen anything myself. So this is what I came up with from what I HAD laying around the house. 

I took an old padded moving blanket I had and put big grommets in the corners. I put rubber coated hooks in the ceiling and wall, then bungee corded the blanket up. I made sure that I put the hooks in the ceiling out far enough that the blanket would pitch forward. I can take a full power throw into the blanket and the disc drops into the box below that I filled with packing paper to make it quiet. It doesn't even make much noise. Very simple, but now I can walk out into my garage and work on my TECHNIQUE, so hopefully I will become more consistent out on the course. 

Anyone have feedback or questions? Would anyone be Interested in having a spot to throw discs, Full Power, in their home so they could practice more frequently? 

[Eric Day]

Sounds good as you as you don't grip lock and crush a disc threw the drywall lol. That would be fun to explain. I would throw in a video cam so you can see where you need to work on. Maybe add some chalk to the edge of the disc to see the hight/angle your hitting.

[kevin johnson]

you can use a ball golf swing analisys program,such as digital pro 2.0 with the video you take to really refine your form.

[Jeff Nichols]

Lol. I do wish the blanket was wider, but it was what I had. I am releasing the disc withing 2 ft of the backdrop, so even if I do griplock, I am still close enough to hit the backdrop. And as dusty as my garage is, the disc leaves a nice line on the black moving blanket so I can see how I released it. Lol. Thanks for the feedback Eric.

[Dave Engle]

LOVE the ingenuity you're showing, Jeff! I wish i had another player in my area that had that itch to get better; it would be nice having  someone else like me to lay a round with!

 

A word of caution though: without actually seeing the results of the throw, you might just be building on those bad habits you mentioned earlier.  I saw this happen first hand once.  When i used to play ball golf in high school, an indoor driving range opened up over the winter and my team and I were lucky enough to get free access to it.  We got to use high speed video cameras, club weights, and devices that showed or swing speed, etc...  come spring, when we all though we'd have a leg up on the competition, our scores soared.  We went from a team full of juniors who swept every tourney and clinched the state tourney with ease to a group of hacks who were consistently shooting in the 90's... about 10-15 strokes worse than our last years average!

Don't get me wrong, i think it still has its uses, but you might want to limit yourself exclusively to video analysis, or just as a good place to use the resistance band we talked about earlier.  

P.S. Love the basket!  Glad to see you took the recommendation seriously!  Someone told me today that it's the only PDGA approved portable. Not sure if it's the ONLY one, but it does help add to it's value for me.

[Jeff Nichols]

Keep the comments coming, appreciate the feedback y'all! Dave, I know what you mean about building Worser habits. Lol. That is what I HOPE this is going to get me away from. I know what I need to be doing with my throws. BUT, with my combo of A.D.D. and O.C.D.,  I find that throwing in a field takes me away from the actual practice of throwing. I end up trying to make the Pretty disc do neat things instead of working on TECHNIQUE. This will just be another tool to get the TECHNIQUE aspect worked in so my field practice becomes more about learning the discs. I mean, this is what I am HOPING anyway. Lol. 1st and foremost, I am hoping that I can do this in my garage and learn to RELAX when I throw. Slow and deliberate.

 

[K-Sea]

LOL, same here, but at least they have Lacrosse Nets in the field I throw on. Figure at least I have some type of goal to aim for, but throwing in open fields by myself is still a seriously boring activity.

[Disc Player Sports]

Where's the video in the background to watch the disc fly?

[david k. reisner]

looks good but , i think it could use a bullseye in the middle of it , or at the sweet spot of a basket . then all you would need are some swirling winds.

[mr ed]

Just a thought with distance or is it more practice/form.back wall of garage-length vs side wall -width as in picture.If a double garage then that would answer the question.You then have your distance.

[Jeff Nichols]

It is really more for me to practice the FORM and TECHNIQUE of the action of the throw itself. I know I can't watch the disc, but that's what field practice is for, for me anyway. This gives me a place to actually really focus and think about my pull through, footwork, release, follow through, etc without having to go out to a field. I work on the form at home, then head to the field. It seems to be working out fairly well. I have spent a few hours out there since I put it up, just working on FORM. Played my 1st round yesterday since, and played my BEST 18 at my home course. My drives were MUCH more consistent, accuracy AND distance wise.

[Daddy_Dragon]

Hey there are some serious comments and then there's the comical.

I am glad that you are interested in getting better, and using that

gray matter between your ears to do so.

It reminds me of the person who got tired of chasing the basketball around while

free throwing so they invented that contrapion that shoot the ball back to the thrower

after it goes into the basket.

Anything a player may do in order to improve their game is alright in my book.