Disc Golf Video Review: “Disc Golf Fundamentals” with Ken Climo & David Feldberg
Video Review of "Disc Golf Fundamentals"
My father recently got the disc golf bug. He's already out-spent me in disc purchases, has bought a practice basket, is signing up for minis and plays the Perfect Putt game with me over the Internet (we send each other scores, he's winning...). He also bought four videos, watched them, loaned them to me, and I'm going to review them.
I'm hoping Dad will chime in here, at least in the comments, to give his "starter" perspective. I'm an experienced player, though not excellent. My current rating is 873 but I think I will hit 900 this year because I'm spending a lot of time practicing. We'll see. That's my background.
The first video I'm reviewing is "Disc Golf Fundamentals" with Ken Champ Climo & David Feldberg. I'll review the other three in the coming days.
I admire Feldberg's putting style and game and both of these guys are good talkers. Of the four videos I reviewed, this one is the best for my Dad and I both. Feldberg was the voice of this video, easily dominating camera time and tips, but he did indicate he learned a lot from the Champ.
There was a good deal of good disc golf information in this video for a starter like Dad. Feldberg talks about disc stability ("understable, understable, YOU WANT TO BUY UNDERSTABLE!" -- Thank You Dave!). He goes into detail about a new way to look at disc stability and both KC and DF stay away from jargon (like "stability") unless they explain it. This was not true for all of the videos.
Having said that, my Dad said he didn't understand the stability stuff and skipped it. For me, having "understood" stability for a while now, I didn't skip it but went "oh" and "really?" a couple of times. I thought I would skip it, and truthfully only watched it to confirm my know-it-all status. It's an interesting way to look at it, anyway. Probably not worth the video all by itself.
It is clear that this video had a script, was not "winged" and the guys have put a lot of thought into their technique. Feldberg teaches disc golf at a University (in Oregon) and it shows because he's a good explainer. Both speak with the authority of champions; one who has been champ many times over and one who worked his tail off for almost a decade to get to become champ.
If you are a serious beginner who knows he wants to be better than just a fun-day casual player (nothing wrong with that), then this is the video for you. If you just want to cruise the park with a couple of discs you found, you aren't going to probably even be reading this review... if you are an experienced player, winning tournaments and getting in a few 1000-rated games, you might only get it to share with friends who are starting, or to watch the urban golf bit or the 10 minute car-drive conversation, which was pretty interesting, IMO. If you are intermediate/advanced you'll also get a lot out of this video. Everyone at Int/Adv has a weak spot, and this video probably addresses yours.
They don't cover forehand here; I'm a sidearmer and I was hoping they'd provide some info but I realize neither of these guys use a forehand much. I've seen a few videos of Feldberg doing some short drives and upshots with a forehand, though. I think they both don't do the forehand that much and just left it out.
My opinion: 8 of 10 and only because I wanted to leave room for a better video down the road. The other technique videos won't be ranked this high. I can't think of a way to improve this video barring doubling it's length and adding more of those conversations in the car.
