GCF

They have putting comps at some of the big tournaments. This years winner at the USDGC was Ross Brandt and he used Mags. http://discgolfer.ning.com/forum/topics/ross-brandt-putter-at-usdgc

Wasn't Dietrich in on the putting contest?

No amount of TV is bad for a sick kid if it decreases the neediness and keeps them distracted.

It stands for off-axis torque, and it is bad if it is unintentional. It can be useful for certain shots if you know how to use it.

Basically, its causing rotation that is not on the same plane as the disc. If you roll your wrist over or don't maintain your shoulder plane while throwing then it will cause OAT.

Sidearm throws without great form are notorious for OAT, and you can often visually see the effects of it as "flutter." It is also visible when someone without clean form is pushing a putter or mid out as far as they can.

You can also use OAT to cause an understable disc to resist turning over by using wrist roll-under (the same motion as turning a key to lock a door). Distance lines use OAT to torque the nose down and maintain a turn late into the flight.

Most players that are throwing a disc that is too fast for their power level are using OAT to straighten out the disc's flight, and this is the same reason why those players often have trouble driving with stable or understable midranges and putters.

Crap, I just typed a whole thing and then it all vanished! So, here it is again, just shorter...

Is the "on-axis" plane the same as the shoulder plane? Is this true for FH and BH? Is shoulder angle an important componant in the huck (I have always tried to maintain a flat shoulder plane, is this not right?

I've read the 90-degree spike discussion over on another site (cool huck, I've been working on it around my house. I keep ending up in neighbor's yards) and I see the extreme shoulder angle there, but that seems like, well, an extreme case.

My kids were all sick last week, and they watched too much TV. Not that I would do it differently, but at least I now know what "too much" is.

So I have been reading more about OAT and working on some driving technique. What I have been doing, essentialy, is dropping my right shoulder for hyzer shots and dropping the left shoulder for anhyzer. Basically, I am trying to keep the disc on the same basic plane as my shoulders. While I have not seen much difference on my RHBH shots, my RHFH are coming out of my hand like rockets. I release FH with, I don't know, a 20 percent angle matching my shoulder tilt (so the disc and shoulders are on same axis) and the disc (typically a pro destroyer) flies forever on a nice right to left fade before turning back (if it has enough room, otherwise it justs holds the line into the ground).

So, is this a viable technique? I mean, should I continue on this line, or is it more important to keep shoulders square to the ground upon release (which just feels stronger to me)?

Whatever works for you is viable.

That being said, if you watch top pros throw, their shoulders are usually only square the ground at release for flat throws. Hyzers usually start with the shoulders on the same plane as the hyzer (throwing shoulder down 30 degrees for a 30 degree hyzer, and other shoulder raised 30 degrees) and finish opposite (throwing shoulder 30 degrees up, other shoulder 30 degrees down). Here's a clean Barry Schultz smooth hyzer that shows the shoulders well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdX2OJ3E3vM and as an added bonus he aces it.

Anhyzers are usually a bit different; at reachback the shoulders are pretty close to flat, but then finish with the shoulders on the anhyzer plane. I couldn't find any good footage on youtube of anhyzer throws without looking around a lot, but I'm sure they're all over the place. The 2004 MSDGC video with Cam Todd's record round may be a good resource, since Cam throws a lot of anhyzers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA7uagXX1Gg has a couple people throwing rollers on the first hole, which shows an extreme anhyzer angle. This isn't a great example, since most rollers have some OAT.

All right, thank you, Parks. I especially like the Schultz shot. You can clearly see the angle of his shoulders matches the angle of the disc. Is the film slow, or is that the speed of his huck? Freakishly smooth and mellow. I watched some Nate Doss stuff also, and he very much dips his right shoulder for hyzer shots.

It feels like a lot of this stuff is DG 101. I wish I had learned a lot of this stuff back in the nineties. Just proof the internet is good for more than porn.