Registered: Aug 2007
Location:
Posts: 41

Wondering if anyone has suggestions to correct an outward drift on my in turns. I never in my life had a problem with my delivery and was always bang on target but I also seem to be sliding narrow on my out turns ever since I got new shoes. It doesn't seem to happen with my old solid teflon slider but with the new disk sliders I feel like I have a lot of pressure on the outside of my foot near the joint of my baby toe. Not sure if this is part of the problem and I don't think it is the shoe's fault, but I do think the new ones are probably highlighting something that was always there. I've tried everything to fix the slide but I still seem to be consistently sliding left of target. I feel like it may be a problem with my timing. Could too much pressure on my broom cause me to slide left (I throw right)?

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Registered: Feb 2005
Location: Elmira
Posts: 179

Best thing you can do is find someone to come out and see in person what's going on.

Video analysis is a terrific way to spot exactly what needs to be tweaked. There are several free apps you can install on a tablet or phone that allow you to pause, rewind, slo-mo a slide.

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location:
Posts: 399

Consult with an instructor to diagnose your problem. There are many ways to throw a stone narrow or wide.

However, in my experience in diagnosing this type of problem with club curlers, about 99% of the time it is due to not having your foot behind the rock in a no-lift, flat-foot delivery. I would strongly suspect this if you are putting your stone on the broom but your body tracks a different path on your follow-through. Release issues can also create problems, but this is often more inconsistent in nature.

In general, if you under-center (foot left of rock path) you will tend to drift left of the broom (right-hander). This is very common for newer curlers, especially those that "tripod" by balancing on trail knee, rock and slider foot. The result is wide in-turns and tight out-turns. If you over-center (foot too far right of the line of delivery) you will be tight on in-turns and wide on out-turns.

The other common issue is an "inside-out" delivery where you come out close to the centerline and throw back at the broom. This may make everything run wide except up the middle. Newer curlers fall into this trap a lot, too.

Work with a trusted instructor to look at your delivery. I will second the suggestion to get video analysis as well. There is no better way to see what's happening (I DO NOT DO THAT in my delivery!?) than to see hard, cold, video.

Cheers.

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Registered: Oct 2013
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Posts: 559

I don't have near the knowledge base of RockDoc, but my initial thought is that the problem was due to slider foot lift. Just thinking at the only thing that changed, with a solid Teflon, your shoe will be firm, and it will be easier to keep your foot flat. With the disc, now your shoe can actually flex, and I would suspect that the new freedom to flex is the source of the issue. Though I am not smart enough to know exactly why, I only feel observant enough to point out the only thing that really changed.

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location:
Posts: 399

quote:

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Originally posted by curlky
I don't have near the knowledge base of RockDoc, but my initial thought is that the problem was due to slider foot lift. Just thinking at the only thing that changed, with a solid Teflon, your shoe will be firm, and it will be easier to keep your foot flat. With the disc, now your shoe can actually flex, and I would suspect that the new freedom to flex is the source of the issue. Though I am not smart enough to know exactly why, I only feel observant enough to point out the only thing that really changed.

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Registered: Aug 2007
Location:
Posts: 41

Curlky, I think you are absolutely correct. Through some trial and error and by breaking down my slide piece by piece I have determined the problem arises when I bring my slider foot through. In contrast to most people who bring it too far across and end up sliding wide on out turns, it seems with the new shoes my weight it distributed slightly differently on the slider and especially on my up-weight slides my weight is more on the front of the foot and less evenly distributed than it use to be. If I pay extra close attention to keeping my weight more centred on my foot and my heel completely flat my slide is perfect. It is going to take some retraining to get this to become second nature on all my slides. It also seems that the problem may be related to an ongoing glute and hamstring problem/injury I have had for the past couple years. It seems that I am not engaging my glute and hamstring on my sliding leg as much as I should or as much as I have in the past. I guess I will have to start doing my physio exercises again.

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