Just the Tip – Use the Wrong Hand

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The round was going great until Mother Nature got involved.  I pretty much know where all of the hazards are on my home course, I’m out there every day.  I know where the ground hornets live.  I know where the wasps nests are.  I know where the poison ivy is.  Overall, I’m very comfortable going out there every day without worrying about getting stung, bitten, hurt, or itchy.  Sometimes life has other plans, though.

I knew there was a wasp’s nest in the tree above me.  I also knew that they were only a problem if someone had hit the tree near their nest on their tee shot.  No one had, so I wasn’t really paying them any attention at all.

I walked over to my disc, set my bag down, threw,  and reached down and grabbed the strap of my bag to pick it up.  I felt the little bastard between my hand and the strap right before he stung me…. 4 times.  Luckily I’m not allergic.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell.  That also doesn’t mean I can throw with a hand that’s been stung that many times.  There, on hole 16 of the first of 3 planned rounds that day, my day of disc golf came to an end.

Make sure you do this with your off hand.
Make sure you don’t do this with your throwing hand.

You know how people tell you things that you know are a good idea, yet you never actually do them?  This was one of those times.  Years before I had been given the advice that would have saved my day that day.  I just never bothered to take it.  I was told, very simply, only use your throwing hand for throwing.  Use your off hand for everything else.

Mine is an extreme example, but there are a lot of other good reasons to do this.  Everything from getting sap on your throwing hand to fire ants (I don’t know how you deal with that, Texas) can screw up your day.  I know if I had been stung on my non throwing hand it still would have hurt, but I could have continued playing.

So remember, when you are placing your mini, picking up your bag, grabbing the handle of your cart, taking discs in and out of your bag, or any number of non throwing activities, try to use your off hand as much as possible.  If you happen to grab a wasp one day, you won’t be happy, but at least you’ll still be able to play.

 

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