And when I say “bad,” I mean it …
Like, unforgivably bad.
Aces, clutch birdies and impossible par saves all make for unforgettable memories on the disc golf course. But the near-death experiences your griplocks provide accomplish the same thing.
I started with disc golf in 2005 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hunter Park is where I cut my teeth with the sport, if you’re at all familiar with the area. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to wrap my head around the concept of snapping the disc, as opposed to tossing it like a beach frisbee.
Still, with around a year or so of disc golf under my belt, I managed to produce one of the all-time worst griplocks I’ve ever had the misfortune of witnessing firsthand. I’ve mentioned the disc before, but it was an orange Champion Beast that nearly ended a buddy’s life far too soon. Well, that or prevented him from having any kind of posterity – you’ll see what I mean.
Thanks to Richard’s viral video on YouTube, you know what a backhand griplock looks like, so I won’t focus on it much. The most insane part of the huck, however, was the positioning of the person it nearly eliminated. The sorry sap in question was merely throwing away a Gatorade bottle in a trash can about 30 feet to the side of the teepad – and slightly behind it, as well.
Apparently coated in Spider Tack, the missile in my right hand decided to stay with me longer than I’d anticipated, choosing to B-line at my brosef, instead of the basket. As luck would have it, coming in hot at about waist-height, it smashed the metal trash can between me and my friend, leaving a small dent in it directly opposite of where his man-berries had taken well-timed shelter.
Whew.
What brought about this topic, exactly?
I won’t mention his name, but after catching wind of Green Splatter, the kid in question – whom I haven’t seen in probably 15 years and who (likely) hasn’t thrown a disc in that same amount of time – hit me with a text a couple of weeks back, asking if I remembered the random incident.
If only he knew …
It haunts me.
He doesn’t know what griplock is, and yet, over a decade later …
He can’t escape its impact.
To this day, even with someone standing remotely close to the teepad, my brain reminds me that, technically, deep within me, the ability exists to somehow bean them – they’re NOT in the clear.
And by the way, don’t think for a minute extreme griplock is only an amateur issue. Plucked straight from the Pro Tour archives, there are all kinds of compilations like this on YouTube …
So good.
Griplock happens.
Life goes on.
But for better or worse, the memory of the grossest of ‘em never fades …
Grateful. Blessed.
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I don’t really experience grip lock on throws, at least not really bad gripl lock. But for me, putting is a different story. I played a tournament last april and only made 1 out of 6 putts from within 10-15 feet. And these weren’t spit-outs either, sometimes I wouldn’t even draw metal. When I am practicing everything is going great, but then under the tournament pressure, my realease is off, it gets caught on my finger ec. It is so scary not being able to trust your putt from within 15 feet.
That’s tough, Jacob.
Given where I’m at in my life right now (three kids under two), I don’t do as many tournaments as I used to …
That’ll (fingers crossed) change in the next couple of years, though.
In my experience, it’s just repetition, repetition, repetition.
Or, in other words, you’ve just got to do so many tournaments that you eventually become comfortable with the setting.
How many have you done, if you don’t mind me asking?
I have played 8 tournaments as of now. I don’t get to play in tournaments very often, so when I do, it is a pretty big deal for me.
Awesome, man!
Keep at it …
The feel is definitely different.
Still, I have to admit …
Multiple 10-foot misses is rough.
Time to bust out the practice basket!
(BTW, if you don’t yet have one, that should be your next D.G. purchase)
I’d also be curious if Jacob is missing left AND right, or just one of the two. Personally, I’ve struggled with air-balling to the right from 15ish feet in tournaments.
For that distance specifically, I started “painting the pole” more, and focusing on keeping my swing more in line with the pole(more push-putting and less spin-putting).
Great advice, David!
My miss is short …
I can’t help but short-arm those “gimmies” sometimes, and it blows.
I normally miss left. When I focus too hard it just slips or get caught on my finger and messes up my release.
Jacob, I don’t know if this’ll help at all, but it might …
Taylor wrote about this once upon a time: https://tinyurl.com/bdfsc5cr
It’s some food for thought, at least 🙂
Best of luck!
Grip lock is a thing…I can’t say that I have a story that compares to yours, or throws that match the video, however…
This past weekend, playing a 1 round C Tier, I was feeling the nerves on the first few holes. On hole 3, on my home course(played 100-200 rounds there), I grip lock…my disc takes a right line that I’ve never seen any disc take…fortunately, I miss about 50 trees, and have a routine up and down for par.
Weird things happen in tournament rounds.
Hahaha …
Man, I can relate to that.
I’m pretty sure I’ve bogeyed like 70% of my first holes at tournaments.
That might be a BIT high, but the nerves are there – no doubt about it.