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I hope I can explain what I am thinking and what I do with the disc so that most of the people reading this
can understand it. Down through my career my upshots and putting have been the strongest part of my game. My upshots have
saved me a lot of strokes and no doubt helped me win a lot of tournaments. When you are approaching you need to have your
body 90 degrees to the basket. Example: If you are right handed your right shoulder or arm will be toward the basket and your
chest 90 degrees to the left. Your feet should be shoulder width apart or a little wider and make sure that your left foot
is in a line straight from the basket running through your right foot. If your left foot is not in line you will pull it one
way or the other depending on which way your left foot is out of line. Go out and get about 100 feet from the basket and experiment
with this by moving your left foot one way or the other and watch how far you will be off. I think you will be surprised.
The same applies to the side arm shot, it maybe even more important to have your back foot lined up right. Experiment with
this as well. If you can, it is better to stand flat footed and throw. If you can’t throw flat footed, you will have
to learn to lean back and then forward with your body as you throw. This will give you more power and whip on the disc, therefore
more distance. If I am outside of 150 feet I usually raise my right foot up, lean back and step forward to give me a little
more power. I’m usually not quite as accurate, but I can throw it a lot farther.
Now
that you have that down you need to learn about where to throw your upshot. You are probably thinking, heck I am going to
throw it straight at the basket. Not so fast. Probably 90% of the time, I will let the spin of the disc work for me. If you
are right handed throw it to the right side of the basket and let the spin of disc carry it toward the basket. If you throw
side arm or if you are left handed throw it to the left side of the basket. Those long birdies are impressive, but a drop
in 3 is a lot better than a 40 or 50 foot putt, coming back for par. Then a bogey that should have been a par, will mess with
your mind for several holes later. When you are in the woods and you have a real tight shot to the basket and the percentage
of you making it through is not real good. Don’t try that shot. Pick the biggest hole, [fairway] that is Semi-toward
the basket and try to get close enough to give yourself a putt. Remember, use the spin of the disc every chance you get. If
the biggest fairway is to the right, throw backhand and let it spin and roll toward the basket. If you have to go to the left
of the basket, throw sidearm. If you can throw it within 50 feet and let it spin
or role another 20 feet toward the basket, you got a 30 foot putt. Most of the time, if you try the tight fairway and hit
something, you are usually in a lot more trouble than you were to begin with. There have been lots of times that I have thrown
the disc 30 degrees off target, just to hit the biggest fairway. Often I have saved par and completely blown my competitors
minds. It will help your game, help your confidence and mess with your competition
I almost forgot a shot, that I think is very important. Especially
for those golfers that play on hills or should I say where the basket is on a slope. How many times has your 30, 40, 50 or
60 foot putt or upshot hit within 10 feet of the basket and rolled 30 or 40 feet down the hill? When you are facing an uphill shot, if you’re not careful you could be in the same spot or farther
back on your next shot. You can use your own judgment as to whether you think you can make the putt on that first shot. If
there is ANY DOUBT in your mind, take the disc, turn it over and give it a little flick upside down and slide it up to the
basket. Make your easy putt and go to the next tee. 95 percent of the time it won’t roll. The way the disc is curved
won’t let it turn up and roll.
Throwing it upside down feels weird the first couple of times you do
it, but after you get the hang of it you will love it. I promise you it will save you some strokes and a lot of aggravation.
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