Here is a sampling of the forehand (RHFH) I used to throw as a young guy, age 26 in 1999 at the newly basketed Flip City, and one from yesterday as a 47-year-old MA-40+ player. Oh, and back to 1999 again from On Top of the World at DeLaveaga (except I didn’t have a tripod with me and you can only see my Banshee briefly zooming off).
In order: Flip City (in 1999) Hole #2 drive and upshot, Hole #3 (drive was pin-high and 40′ left), Hole #16, then yesterday in the open field behind my house, then from On Top of the World at DeLaveaga in 1999 again. I actually parked that famous DeLa hole the round before this one, wish I had filmed that throw!
If you watch my entire Flip City casual round video you’ll also see some duds. I wasn’t consistent yet. 2000 was probably the pinnacle of my career.
The 1999 forehands look to be getting about 330′ here. My 2020 forehand skips off the top of my neighbor’s MVP Black Hole from only 200′. I can get it to 250′ if I need it, but I’m obviously not able to replicate what I could do as a young buck.
There weren’t many of us relying on forehands back in the 1990’s. I can think of four personally: Scott Stokely, Mark Ellis (who taught me), Mike Raley (“The Sidearmer from Ann Arbor”), and, um, little old me (never made it beyond Am-1). Stokely could do both RHFH and RHBH well as one of the top talents in existence. There were probably a few more but I didn’t witness them because this was way before you could watch others online.
I was a high school baseball player originally and it felt way more natural than throwing a backhand, which to me always felt like batting left-handed.
You will notice I’m wearing a tennis elbow restraint by 1999. The elbow felt tingly. I suspect my follow through, like a baseball throw, was the culprit. This was six years before the advent of YouTube and you essentially had to teach yourself blindly compared to the form analyses we have at our disposal now.
It hurt so much in 2001 I had to stop throwing that way and I gave up playing in tournaments (except for a brief return in 2005-06). It would be years and years until I had a serviceable backhand, and it never was good for power.
In 1999 I was throwing Whippets and Banshees primarily with that forehand. I can’t tell you what I was throwing at Flip City that day but it was likely one or the other. I know I was done with X-Clones by this point. I loved them brand-new but they beat in so fast and my home courses were full of trees (Kalamazoo just had Cold Brook and 9 holes at Oshtemo at this time). Two or three good whacks on a tree and the X-Clone was useless to me when the Whippets and Banshees seemed to last a little longer. Maybe five or six good whacks? The Banshee was GREAT for me. So we’re talking no faster than speed 7 here.
I brought my forehand out of retirement just about a month ago. It’s for hitting gaps and dogleg placement shots 250′ on in. They’re paltry compared to the whip of an arm I used to have (I also was a catcher in HS baseball and threw out more than half who dared to try and steal second base…)
My first sanctioned tournament in 14 years was a couple of Saturdays ago, and we played the short tees on both rounds. My little 230′ RHFH came in handy quite a bit, except for one dud that landed O.B. early and probably cost me my 900 rating. Oh well.
