Push Putting: A Great Disc Golf Putting Option
You’ve probably heard me say this before but here goes, putting is the most important part of your disc golf game. Let that sink in. THE MOST IMPORTANT part of your disc golf game. How you get your disc into the basket inside the circle can make or break a hole but more importantly, it can make or break a round. The key here is consistency. Meaning a repeatable movement that gives you a consistent result. As a disc golfer, if you want to see lower scores on a regular basis you need a consistent putt and it can be argued that the most consistent putting style is disc golf push putting.
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So What Is Disc Golf Push Putting?
You can think of pushing putting as pitching the disc at the basket.
A push putt is normally done by taking the disc with a straight wrist and bending at the waist. As your body moves forward toward the basket, you release the putter straight at the basket with a slight nose up.
The idea being, there isn’t any side to side motion, like with a spin putt. In a spin putt, you have to curl your wrist to achieve the spinning motion. In doing so, your hand moves side to side. This can generate power but you have to get your release point down perfectly.
With a push putt, there isn’t any side to side motion or timing your release in this way. You are just pointing and shooting. There will be more on why this is so important later.
How To Perform A Disc Golf Push Putt
- Line your feet up where they form a straight line toward the basket.
- Your dominate food will be in front.
- You build momentum by bending at the waist and drawing the disc toward your middle.
- To throw the putt, you will push the disc away from your middle in a straight line toward the basket.
- You should be pushing off with your back foot to generate power.
- Keep your wrist straight all the way through the movement.
- Release the putt with a slight nose up.
If you need a visual, David Feldberg does a great job of teaching the push putt in this video.
Benefits Of Push Putting
The ultimate benefit of the push putt is its consistency.
There aren’t as many moving parts as with the spinning putting technique so there is less to get wrong. If you do the putt correctly, your body should be lined up with the basket and it’s just a straight shot to the hole.
Point and shoot as they say. If you’ve aimed correctly and made the correct judgment for distance, you should make the putt.
Another great benefit of the push putt is if you do misjudge the putt, you are far more likely to miss short or hit the basket and have a nice tap-in putt.
With a spin putt, you might release the putt too early or too late. This can result in missing to the left or right and the disc flying past the basket. You could end up with a long comeback putt.
When push putting, you don’t have to worry about releasing too early or late and the disc being off to the left or right. You’re lobbing the disc at the basket in a straight line. You can only mess up by giving the putt too much or too little.
If you are off on your putt the disc hits off the top of the basket, the bottom of the basket or it doesn’t make it all the way to the basket. Rarely do you see if go over and if it does, the disc won’t likely fly as far as with a spin putt.
Drawbacks Of Push Putting
The push putt isn’t perfect and with any putting style, there are drawbacks.
Wind affects the flight of the disc more when push putting than it does with spin putting. When executing a push putt, the noise of the putter is slightly up which gives a greater chance for the wind to blow the disc off course.
Another drawback to the push putt is its reach. It’s difficult to reach the basket outside the circle.
Most push putters are only using the style inside the circle and adding either more spin to get the disc to carry to the basket or using a jump putt.
It may also be different to use the push putt when there is a low ceiling. Push putting is similar to shooting a free throw so there is an arch in the flight. A low ceiling obstacle can prevent you from making a putt.
So if you are really struggling with consistently knocking down your putts you should really consider trying the push putting style. While it’s not perfect, the may thing this putting style has going for it is the ability to repeat the putting motion over and over which leads to sinking your putts more often and ultimately getting lower scores out on the course.
Image Credit Flickr Creative Commons – Jeffrey
