[HN Gopher] For the strongest disc golf throws, it's all in the ...
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For the strongest disc golf throws, it's all in the thumbs
Author : Tomte
Score : 105 points
Date : 2024-10-24 05:34 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
| KingFelix wrote:
| Sweet, will have to play around with this. It's incredible to
| watch the people who know how to actually play.
| ChicagoDave wrote:
| I mentioned this article to a guy that's essentially a pro and he
| said the grip is different based on distance and type of disc and
| "a bunch of other factors."
|
| He said an article like this is misleading and incomplete.
| _puk wrote:
| "Lindsey cautioned that this is a preliminary finding since
| they only studied one type of disc and plan to conduct further
| experiments with other disc types. "Considering the lack of
| data relating to the various details of a disc golf throw to
| resulting performance, we hope that this study serves as a
| catalyst for similar research... at other institutions," he
| said."
| dfxm12 wrote:
| It can't be misleading in that way, since it isn't clearly
| isn't leading towards a conclusion of one grip being the best
| in all situations or thumb placement being the only factor that
| matters. It says that when controlling for thumb placement on a
| "mid-range" disc, "placing the thumb about 3 cm from the outer
| edge yielded the best results for all the participants in terms
| of simultaneously high average spin rates and launch speeds."
| frankhorrigan wrote:
| This article is kind of hilariously like almost every
| conversation you have at the disc golf course, but it's always
| something different. The reach back position, the power pocket,
| the elbow angle, the follow through, pouring the coffee, turning
| the key, etc etc etc.
|
| If _only_ it were as simple as one thing. But the truth is that
| distance can be achieved through a multitude of athletic motions
| which vary drastically player to player.
| amenghra wrote:
| Interestingly, when throwing objects (especially discs), the
| ideal angle to maximize distance might not be 45 degrees for
| two reasons: the object might fly better at specific angles and
| different human muscles come into play at different angles. The
| optimal angle might therefore vary by athlete.
| icegreentea2 wrote:
| For ballistic objects (so objects where air just acts as
| drag), the optimal launch angle is less than 45 degrees due
| to air resistance.
|
| For aerodynamic objects like a disc, the optimal launch angle
| will be complicated because a disc's flight path is far more
| influenced by "secondary" (such as angle of attack and spin)
| compared to say a baseball, or even golf.
|
| An "optimal" description of disc release angle that a player
| would likely be interested in (I say this as an ultimate
| player) would be given in terms of release angle, angle of
| attack (ie: how nose up), spin, and forward velocity.
|
| And then once converted into human terms for all but the most
| elite athletes, release angle will probably instead be
| simplified down to windup position and release
| position/height.
| amenghra wrote:
| Right. Even something that seems simple (such as a golf
| ball) is not trivial to model: the rough surface and spin
| end up creating lift -- the ball is essentially flying.
| jtbayly wrote:
| But each of those things will affect your throw. As will thumb
| placement.
| ThaDood wrote:
| Reading this article makes me think that I just throw weird
| compared to the pros. But who cares! I'm having fun.
| nkrisc wrote:
| If you're not getting paid to do it then that's all that
| matters.
| grecy wrote:
| The greatest life lesson I learned from disc golf is that the
| winner is the person that has the most fun.
| scrapcode wrote:
| If a lifetime of ball golf has taught me anything, there is no
| one-size-fits-all approach to athletic movements such as this.
| Even if there was, it would take one many years to find it
| articulated in a way that made sense to them. I've had certain
| "breakthroughs" and have been able to look back at professional
| lessons and see where they may have been trying to get that
| breakthrough advice across, and it just didn't make sense to me
| at the time, and thought "why didn't they just explain it like
| 'this'...?"
| gorgoiler wrote:
| See also: monads.
|
| Some things you just have to understand on your own terms, in
| your own time, and no amount of coaching can move you any
| faster towards enlightenment than your brain will allow.
| cglace wrote:
| I had one of those breakthroughs this weekend. I was hitting at
| the range with my brother, and I felt a specific cue when I hit
| a really pure ball. I realized that thinking about that cue
| caused me to do everything I had been told to do for so long.
| But instead of thinking about one million things(keep your back
| leg straight, move your front knee over your toe, bring the
| driver straight back, etc.), I could just think about the
| feeling I was looking for.
|
| I've had similar breakthroughs doing the Olympic lifts. After
| long enough, you realize there are small things you should feel
| that make a successful lift.
| fsckboy wrote:
| right, but you'll keep using that cue and one day it will
| fail. It happens to top golfers, then they go away and
| rebuild their swing from the bottom up for awhile.
| pimlottc wrote:
| This is the first time I've seen traditional golf referred to
| as "ball golf", that's hilarious
| idunnoman1222 wrote:
| I was wondering what to expect until met with a diagram depicting
| holding a disc normally...
| toss1 wrote:
| My first question about this is what is the status of
| instrumented discs? Seems it would be straightforward to fit
| lightweight sensors to measure acceleration, spin, distance,
| etc., and provide essentially instant feedback.
|
| While I can see reasons to ban that in actual competition, it
| could still be invaluable in practice, and enable accelerated
| skill learning. Is this standard and I just don't know about it
| (entirely possible as I'm not a disc golfer), or is it an open
| field?
| icegreentea2 wrote:
| Getting sensors that can measure the spin well (probably need
| at least 2000rpm) is a bit tricky.
|
| That said, you can buy these things: https://shop.techdisc.com
|
| I don't know about competition - I'm an ultimate player who
| stumbled on the disc golf stuff and then just got really
| envious.
| cloverich wrote:
| I have one of these, they are great. For those taking their
| form study very seriously, they in particular can help you
| understand the relationship between form changes you make as
| they relate to spin, velocity, nose angle, and launch angle;
| these can be tricky to fully understand. There's a popular
| youtube channel (Overthrow disc golf) where they use these as
| part of their very thorough analyses.
| cloverich wrote:
| I've been obsessed with disc golf form for the last 10 years or
| so. It's really cool to see a more scientific approach being
| slowly applied to form study, and also hilarious to see this on
| hackernews (my two worlds never seem to mix). My critical
| reaction to this piece is that it does not seem to mention how
| the positions affect nose angle, which is critical to getting
| discs to fly correctly; professionals are able to manipulate
| these angles to have their shots behave differently depending on
| the circumstances (e.g. land flat and soft, stall out, or turn
| and dive). The best courses have trees mixed in such a way that
| you need to manipulate the drive to e.g. turn right at 280ft,
| turn left at 330ft, etc. But more pointedly a disc thrown nose
| up, despite having a high velocity, will not fly as far as one
| with a neutral or (slightly) nose down angle.[1]
|
| Some other related context: A good amateur will throw the disc
| around 300-350ft. Good pros these days are able to break 600ft,
| despite many of them not appearing athletic or strong. This has
| led to a natural obsession with "form"
|
| [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HQt_kIk3-U [2]:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr3DjX3HbNM
| Carrok wrote:
| > A good amateur will throw the disc around 300-350ft
|
| _Cries at his 200ft max throw_
| vel0city wrote:
| Sucking at something is the first step at being kinda good at
| something.
|
| You're way out throwing my three year old, about as good as
| my max throw, and behind a number of my friends. I still show
| up at the course when my friends go and have a good time. It
| goes a little farther every time I go.
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