You might not be able to mimic your way to a World title, but you can certainly get better.

July 13, 2022 by Steve Andrews in Instruction, Opinion with comments

When I first started playing, I watched all the videos that were recommended to me and tried to learn the game the “right way.” This was before YouTube offered thousands of options for instruction and my main guides were Will Schusterick videos, the very popular Sexton and McBeth clinic, and the classic Discraft teaching series.

These sources all encouraged players to take the disc straight back and then pull straight through the “power pocket” position into the release. Danny Lindahl, in one of his early videos, said that “it’s not rocket science,” it is “important to reach your arm away from your body straight back.” Simon Lizotte, in his Flying Circus clinic, also encouraged players to “reach back and extend on a 180 degree straight line” because there was greater accuracy and power in a lateral reachback and pull.

I tried it; I really did. For hours and hours in the field for eighteen months. My swing could be brilliant, then be gone. Maybe it’s because I am thick and stocky rather than long and willowy like Lizotte and Schusterick, but I could tell that it wasn’t what my body wanted to do. Eventually, I started to deviate from the model swing. Looking for some justification for abandoning the straight pull, I found some discussions of a technique that seemed to match what was more natural to me – the wide rail. I discovered that analysts like seabas22 and Bradley Walker had been posting videos and drills that went beyond advocating a lateral pull. However, while it had advocates, other swing analysts cautioned against it and described it as an advanced move that wasn’t meant for beginners.

Despite this, it felt natural, so I just dove in. I found that my accuracy improved and my swing became more consistent. If you are having difficulties timing the straight extension swing, let me make the case for giving the wide rail a try – even if you are a beginner. In fact, if this works for you, starting with this kind of technique might save you months or years of unlearning a swing that doesn’t fit.

The Straight Extension

The straight extension swing – which is generally described as a straight reachback and a lateral pull on that same line – is often…