Practice & Drills

A Driving Practice Routine

Turn range time into on-course distance and control.

Why it matters

Most driving practice is a bag of discs thrown as far as possible until the arm tires, which builds fatigue and a max-effort motion you will never use on a course. A routine turns the same hour into distance you can repeat and control you can rely on.

How to do it

Warm up first: ten minutes of easy throws at 50 to 60 percent before anything at full effort. This matters for your shoulder as much as your form.
Throw at targets, not into open space. Every throw should have a specific intent.
Work at 80% for most of the session. That is the effort you actually use on a course and it is where form is learnable.
Include distance control, not just maximum distance — throws aimed at 200 and 250 feet as well as as far as possible.
Finish on good repetitions. Stop while the throws are still clean rather than when you are too tired to make one.

Common mistakes

Starting at full power with no warm-up.Ten minutes easy first, every time. This is where shoulder and elbow problems begin.

Throwing until the arm is finished.Stop while the quality is high. The last ten tired throws teach a tired motion and cost you the next session too.

Maximum effort on every throw.Mostly 80%. Max effort is a small part of a session and never the whole of one.

Throwing with no target.Pick one for every throw. Distance without a direction does not show up on a scorecard.

Key points

Warm up, then throw with intent at targets.
End on good reps to bank the feeling.

The drill

Drill · Warm, work, finish clean — 10 min warm-up, 40 throws at 80% to targets, stop on 3 good ones. Ten minutes easy, then forty purposeful throws at about eighty percent with a target for each, then stop as soon as you have strung three clean ones together. Ending on quality rather than exhaustion is what makes the next session start where this one finished.

Watch: Practice like a Pro: Disc Golf Driving Routine — The SpinTV