Hello, I'm Steve Carson with Stumptown Disc Golf, we're here at Leverage Park in Vancouver, Washington to talk about disc golf putting techniques. Putting is one of the, probably most challenging parts of disc golf. Being a consistent putter and having consistency and confidence will make your game much better if you are, as you work and learn and improve your putting style. There's a couple of different basic ways that people learn to putt. Probably the most common is a one foot-forward stance, where they're throwing back end and they're leading off with usually, if they're right-handed, they're leading off with their right foot as they putt. I have seen people that putt with their left foot forward, it's a little tighter into the body, but you'll see both stances. But normally, you'll see the right foot forward and their right hand coming forward. And alternate stance is similar, you've got the right foot forward or one foot forward, but they're doing an actual forehand putt. I don't see a lot of people doing that quite as accurately, but I have seen that and there's a little more distance you can get on that throw. The next most common putt is a straddle putt, where you're standing square off, shoulders towards the basket. Same thing, same arm motion, you're bringing your throw from your waist and you're putting straight at the basket. A couple if other interesting putts that you see from time to time. You see a turbo putt where you're actually throwing overhand and spinning your disc as it comes. Or a flutter putt where your putt's, your disc is actually fluttering through the air, towards the basket. Not a lot of distance can be made with your putt when you're throwing that direction. A couple things to keep in mind for any putting technique, no matter how you're standing or how you're throwing your disc, things that you need to keep in mind. Number one, you want to have balance. You want to make sure that as you're getting ready to throw, you're grounded and you're solid where you're standing. If you feel like you're off balance, you're not going to be able to make an accurate putt. You need to be balanced on your feet, and I find for myself that doing a couple rocking, rocking back and forth helps me get, make sure that I've got good balance as I'm throwing. The next thing is your arm throw, you want to start from kind of, right at your waist, and extend and release straight at the basket. If you're throwing a cross arm like this, your arm has a lot more angle that you're releasing the disc at. And your disc can come out from a variety of different directions, most of them not at the basket. When you start right at your waist and release your disc, straight at the basket, it's going in one direction. All you have to correct there is, up and down, not left and right also. So start at your waist, release your disc straight at the basket. Usually you're going to use a grip that has a lot of control, a little more control than like a drive. On a drive grip, you're going to be gripping your disc more like this. On a putt, a lot of times, I see people put their index finger along the edge in order to have good control of their disc and then they're leaning back and putting just enough spin on that disc to carry it straight into the basket. Players wanting to improve in their game, will need to dedicate practice time to putting. I recommend having a basket or a target in your backyard that you can putt at, to practice every day. As your confidence builds, your game will improve. When you know that you can hit a putt, ninety percent of the time from within a certain distance, that will make your game so much, you're some much more confident at your putts. And you'll be improving and knocking scores, knocking strokes off, of your scores you play. Some people do have more natural ability than others, but everyone can see improvement in their putting, if you're willing to practice your technique.
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