Video Review: Scott Stokely Disc Golf Videos 2 & 3
This is a review of the 2nd and 3rd videos in Scott Stokely's disc golf video clinics. See the first one here.
Please read the first review for some generalizations about Scott's videos. These are somewhat entertaining and totally full of good advice and tips. Keep in mind as you read this review that I'm a bit fixated on how much better these could have been with just a few technical changes:
- Mic Scott directly; there is too much background noise, including dogs and kids. It's distracting.
- Get a better camera; the video is too washed out
- Use several cameras; some of the drives would have been interesting to see from both the tee box and the basket
- Several minor technical changes (1-3) take this from being "really good" to "I have nothing to complain about whatsoever"
So, that aside -- sorry, the technical stuff was distracting to me, probably it won't be to you-- I really got a lot out of these videos. I think two videos, instead of three, would be better. I think they stretched the content a little bit. I'll let that go, though, because I know he's trying to make a living doing this and it's a close call to how much stuff you could fit into two videos. And, these are the types of videos you want to watch once-a-month for a couple of years to absorb it all. No way you're going to remember all of that stuff. The Pro-tips are great; several things I wouldn't be thinking about. I might transcribe them onto a laminated card and read over them when I'm bored waiting for a tee box. These are tips you might not think about unless you play golf 15 rounds a week for years on end. Good for working stiffs like me.
Several content gripes:
- Scott reviews the latest and greatest from Discraft, but acts like that's all that is out there. Fine, he's sponsored by Discraft, but the people paying for this video should expect a fair review of all discs or at least a disclaimer that he throws only Discraft, so that's all he's reviewing. But don't act like Innova and Gateway don't exist.
- And, why, if a annhyzer is so hard and it's better to use a sidearm, does he throw so many annhyzers when demonstrating? Hey, I agree about the sidearm, I just don't know why he's demonstrating the annies when he doesn't discuss them as a good alternative for a shot.
- Very few examples of trick shots. Great shots, but put the examples right there next to the explanation.
- And, for the example, don't use a wide open hole. Use a hole where the trick is needed. I would love to have seen him pulling off a grenade over a tree or a scoober around a bush.
Having made all these gripes, I guarantee you I'm going to be a better player just because guys like Scott Stokely and David Feldberg and Tom Monroe are out there telling me things. The guys at the course that are 10 strokes better than me aren't as good of teachers, or have kids and a wife and a full-time job and not enough time to think about why this or that works, so they can better explain it to a newbie on the course. Stokely is a teacher. He seems fun and loose and would be a good guy to learn from. My Dad has sent me all three of his videos, and bought me a copy of his book. There is enough in them to make it worth the ~$80 dropped on the bunch.
As a disc golfer, there is a LOT of stuff out there on the Internet now. When I first golfed, before I knew it was anything popular at all (in 1992), there was nothing out there at all. I was lucky to figure it out and not go crazy. I remember seeing this one dude in dreadlocks & tie-dye fly out a 500 foot downhill shot. He looked like the Tazmanian devil, screwing himself up like a corkscrew before unfurling that monster shot. My friends and I couldn't believe it.
With all that exists now, forums, web sites, youtube, those great Discraft clinics by Mark Ellis, it's tempting to figure "what can I learn from a video I can't find out online?" In fact, that's what I said when my Dad bought the videos and told me he was mailing them to me. Turns out, quite a lot. There just isn't a replacement for a guy who is not only good, not only a champion, not just consistently successful but a guy who has spent a lot of figuring out why a certain throw works, a guy who has boiled it all down to "hey, a lot of pros do things differently, those things aren't important. It's the things they do the SAME that are important." And then goes on to tell you what those Same things are. I have a job and kids, and tops, 10 hours a week to play or practice disc golf. I'll never figure all this out, even if I played 50 more years. You need to play 10 hours a day to figure some of this out, I bet. That is the advantage of these videos and that's why I think you should get them. All of them.
