Forehand

[treethacker]

Been working on my forehand but one thing I have not figured out yet is how you get that snap that everyone talks about when you throw.
I can see getting the snap when you backhand cause you can snap your wrist and it can only go so far but when you throw forehand your hand can go all the way down when you release the disc. So can some one explain to me how you snap the disc and yet your arm continues across your body. Wouldn't the snap stop your arm from moving since a snap involves popping your wrist opposite the way you arm is traveling ?
I think I could get some pretty good distance if I could just figure out how to pop the wrist and the arm continue on across my body.
Thanks

[sidewinder22]

Its kind of like throwing a fastball or curveball, but sidearm. Not sure how to explain it, but all the same principles of the backhand apply to the forehand just backwards.

[solomon.trenton]

keep your arm parallel with the ground and its more of a flick bringing your wrist back to front than anything else.

[ChaseTheAce]

I always use the analogy of a waiter carrying drinks to describe it.
You want to keep the drinks level on the tray so you want a fluid parallel motion the whole time. If you move the tray too much up or down the drinks will slide off. This helps to keep a straight follow through thats not giving you a drastic hyzer or anhyzer release.

You want a firm grip between yopur fingers, thumb, and the rim though.
Grip tighter for more control and power but not too tight as to overpower and grip lock the shot.
Two fingers is what I use.

[NovaDiscHead]

Start by clapping, using only your hands, not your arms at all. Feel how much force you can generate with the clapping motion? Now do that same motion with a disc in hand, using the two finger rim grip.

Practice tossing the disc with only your wrist, keeping your arms still, untill you can hit 100 feet. Now start to work on your arm motion, giving the disc a nice, flat trajectory...don't "overthrow" if you try to overpower/throw by dropping your elbow it will give you a nose up altitude and the disc will go up then fade back, not a good throw at all.

If you do it right, you should be able to hit 200 to 300 feet depending on your disc type and power.

Hope this helps!

[treethacker]

Thanks guys. I kinnda sorta understand.....kindda:confused:
Went and played to today and it was quite discouraging . Drives pretty much sucked. Don't know how much more of this I will do before I realize this sport ain't gonna work. I love the game and would love to be able to throw the disc 300ft with ease and everybody tells me its no problem but you know what?
It is! Bout the only thing I have gotten from disc golf is very sore knees and very sore hips and ankles. Something I will probably hate myself for when I am older and have arthritis.
All you people who can calmly throw a disc 300+ feet probably don't know how lucky you are. I would give anything to be able to do that but I am beginning to realize it ain't gonna happen.
Thanks for the tips but right now I am pretty much frustrated about how awful I am at this game..er. sport...whatever you want to call it.

[NovaDiscHead]

Follow my instructions and take time to practice, practice, practice. Find a field somewhere where you can toss discs and develop your game. Trust me, you will find that with repition and refinement you'll be kicking ass in no time.

Don't get discouraged... do you think LeBron James made the first basket he tried? Did Alex Ovechkin score a goal with his first shot? No!

[asu225]

Don't give up on it, I'm in the same boat, can't throw a sidearm for nothing but I keep trying it and look forward to practicing. I think the problem with me is much like in regular golf, harder and faster doesn't mean further if your form is no good, I'm trying to work on slowing it down, not there yet but I'm not giving up.

[Donovan]

Thanks guys. I kinnda sorta understand.....kindda:confused:
Went and played to today and it was quite discouraging . Drives pretty much sucked. Don't know how much more of this I will do before I realize this sport ain't gonna work. I love the game and would love to be able to throw the disc 300ft with ease and everybody tells me its no problem but you know what?
It is! Bout the only thing I have gotten from disc golf is very sore knees and very sore hips and ankles. Something I will probably hate myself for when I am older and have arthritis.
All you people who can calmly throw a disc 300+ feet probably don't know how lucky you are. I would give anything to be able to do that but I am beginning to realize it ain't gonna happen.
Thanks for the tips but right now I am pretty much frustrated about how awful I am at this game..er. sport...whatever you want to call it.

I don't know how long you have been at this, but it took me almost a year to be able to start throwing in the 300's. The new Ken and Dave video helped alot. But the biggest thing that helped me, was getting to play with much better players and really watching them closely. That will get you on the fast track, at least it did for me. It is frustrating to watch someone who is just starting out and can forehand 400 feet. But know that MOST of it is technique and not strength. Find someone to work with you. If your short game is decent, you can beat those guys that can out throw you.

AND YOU BITCHES (I know they are going to read this) know who you are! ;)

Good luck bro, and stick with it. It was really worth it for me.

[SBVT2012]

Yeah, definately stick with it and keep trying. Like someone mentioned, practice keeping your arm still and just flick the disc with your wrist. Then, try adding some arm motion, but still flicking the disc with your wrist like you did before. This is the key to getting your disc to travel further because if you do this, your disc will rotate faster, thus allowing it to carry further. My friend is having a similar problem. Instead of really flicking his wrist, he pulls his arm back and doesn't flick very hard with his wrist at all (Only the natural wrist rotation inherent with this throw gives his disc rotation speed, which isn't enough to get the disc to carry and cut through the air). If you throw with too much arm, the disc sort of floats and wobbles through the air, then just dies.

Bounces off trees become much greater when the disc is rotating faster. Trees can either help you out, or punish you badly. If you throw a wobbly, slow rotation disc that hits a tree chances are that the disc is going to fall straight down. You decide on which is more favorable, but I'd rather throw a quickly rotating disc at a tree because sometimes you can get very lucky bounces, or the tree barely phases the disc's rotational speed. Its more of a high risk, high reward kind of deal.

I know I'm sort of rambling, but I hope this helped you out. Once again, stick with it. My backhand used to be pitiful, but I would often throw the forehand for my actual throw and then throw a second disc backhand for each hole I played. Try this if you can. This would allow me to gauge improvement in my backhand because I throw the forehand fairly consistantly

[mmyersdisc]

I had to play forearm all day yesterday becuase of a wrist injury that wouldn't allow me to grip the disc and throw backhand...I wasn't getting much distance...the main thing to do is if you have an OAT problem you will roll discs over, I tended to just throw and overstable driver with an anny angle and let it fade back while trying to keep it low, I had some pretty good drives but no where near my backhand game...but at least I was able to still putt :-D

[SBVT2012]

I had to play forearm all day yesterday becuase of a wrist injury that wouldn't allow me to grip the disc and throw backhand...I wasn't getting much distance...the main thing to do is if you have an OAT problem you will roll discs over, I tended to just throw and overstable driver with an anny angle and let it fade back while trying to keep it low, I had some pretty good drives but no where near my backhand game...but at least I was able to still putt :-D

Yeah, thats exactly why its great to be able to throw both effectively. One of my friends always throws the disc so that it banks to the side and hes always able to play around patches of trees and stuff. It would be nice if I could do this too while still throwing the disc a considerable distance so I have an arsenal of throws.

[BrotherDave]

Might sound strange but I love flicking my Champ Monarch with a little hyzer and have it gradually s-curve. This has got me out of so many jams, especially if I am in the shule on the left side of the fairway. My brother has pretty much the same problem as Treethacker it sounds like, he doesn't snap the disc at all. He just kinda throws it and it wobbles wide left everytime, 100' max. His throw looks like a weak karate chop. i think he's mortally terrified to put real power into it.

[treethacker]

Thanks guys! I had just come in from a really bad round when I wrote that bit yesterday. I guess the best thing I can do is just practice on the weekdays and play a round on the weekend. Really hard sometimes to just practice and not want to go and play a game instead,but if I am ever going to get half decent at this sport I know I have got to put tons of practice in.
I will try to incorporate the ideas given here but I still think its gonna take some time to get it right. Just gotta get the patience to see it out.

[mmyersdisc]

try to use the one finger on the rim for distance...I am getting alot more distance with one finger then two, but if I want accuracy I normally use two fingers and fan them out under the rim and apply as much pressure as I can with the thumb and the finger on the rim

[milow369]

try to use the one finger on the rim for distance...I am getting alot more distance with one finger then two, but if I want accuracy I normally use two fingers and fan them out under the rim and apply as much pressure as I can with the thumb and the finger on the rim

Interesting...I might try one finger. My flick is pretty weak and is a part of my game that I would like to improve. I throw about 90% RHBH currently. I think I understand the concept but need to get out and throw a bunch of plastic. I played with some guys that were able to do it well and it's a thing of beauty when it's done right, and it's surprisingly long.

I tend to be able to flick fine at short (med-long putts) and med (mid range) but my drive is sorely lacking. I think I am trying to propel the disc forward instead of focusing on maximizing the rpm of the disc. Maybe I could get more snap on the disc forehand if I use 1 finger under the rim and focus more on the wrist action.

Thanks for the advice, I would love to get a solid flick drive.

[milow369]

try to use the one finger on the rim for distance...I am getting alot more distance with one finger then two, but if I want accuracy I normally use two fingers and fan them out under the rim and apply as much pressure as I can with the thumb and the finger on the rim.

Interesting...I might try one finger. My flick is pretty weak and is a part of my game that I would like to improve. I throw about 90% RHBH currently. I think I understand the concept but need to get out and throw a bunch of plastic. I played with some guys that were able to do it well and it's a thing of beauty when it's done right, and it's surprisingly long.

I tend to be able to flick fine at short (med-long putts) and med (mid range) but my drive is sorely lacking. I think I am trying to propel the disc forward instead of focusing on maximizing the rpm of the disc. Maybe I could get more snap on the disc forehand if I use 1 finger under the rim and focus more on the wrist action.

Thanks for the advice, I would love to get a solid flick drive.

[Texconsinite]

Its all about the wrist action. I dont even do a run-up when I use the flick, and only recently have i started getting more distance with BH. Being able to do both at least passably well opens up sooo many more possibilities on the course, especially on more technical holes.

[lko102]

For me, forehand driving was the throw that came "naturally" to me and I can usually out drive any of my RHBH shots (which isn't saying much, my RHBH has not come naturally to me at all, and in a word, stinks). I guess it is a matter of what "clicked" for you starting out...

[ishelost]

I drive almost exclusively forehand and would love to have a passable backhand. Sadly I feel that day is far off. What helped me early in my discin days with the forehand was keeping my elbow in and releasing higher than I thought I should. I would almost stick my elbow to my side and keep it there throughout my run up and only let it release out right before I snapped it. Also, release it with an almost upright position. If you watch a lot of forehand players they release low to the ground, which I now do. But when you are new to the style I feel this reduces your distance.

Get a few stable to overstable discs, firebird, teerex, flick, max, and throw them as stated above with an "s" angle and see what happens. I remember being awed by a guy when I first started who threw a firebird with a huge left "s" forehand. I thought it was going way left but it came back perfectly right by the hole. Now, a few years later, I feel that shot is a simple one. Hope it helps and try to play with other forehand players.

[NovaDiscHead]

IsHeLost- are you the guy I played with at Giles Run the other day?

[treethacker]

I went out today to a field and first practice a little putting (kind of a warm up for me) then begin practicing my forehands. I can get about 230' on a good throw but if the basket was,say,330' the I am gonna be 100'short!
Didn't worry about it though,I figured if I could hit 230 I only need 70' ft more.
I will get there though it may take awhile.
Try throwing with two fingers (I usually use one)and I seemed to get a better grip on the disc and perhaps a little bit better spin. Still have problems though getting that spin that propels it the 300 plus feet. Still a little confused on how that works.Guess I will try to snap the wrist a bit more.
Ishelost - what do you mean by an S angle?

[buzzinb]

"Still have problems though getting that spin that propels it the 300 plus feet. Still a little confused on how that works.Guess I will try to snap the wrist a bit more"

This really is the key to breaking the barrier. Sometimes visualizing a similar motion from a different activity when throwing helps to make a mental connection. Mark Ellis states that he basically adapted a raquetball "kill shot" to make his FH work. He also noted that another guy on the Discraft video looks like a 3rd baseman throwing to first when he drives. Other posters have related the FH motion to skipping a rock, reverse drawing a pistol and even slapping a midget. I have a couple that I use to help focus on generating better wrist snap. Sometimes I visualize that I am throwing a knife but adjust the motion to sidearm rather than overhand (grip adjusted for dg of course). Other times its chopping a tree with a hand axe. Either activity requires a lot of wrist action to perform correctly so in theory, it should translate when making a drive with a disc. I'm certainly not an expert in the realm of creative visualization but it does seem to help get me back on track when I feel my form is deteriorating.

Also try to keep in mind that the wrist snap is really the only explosive part of a FH drive. Everything up to that point should be an exercise in gradually increasing, controlled acceleration. In fact explosive may be too aggressive a term--its really more like the end of the whip concentrating the release of energy from the advancing wave of the whip.

Keep at it--it will fall into place, it just takes time. It is also a work in progress. The minute you break one barrier you'll hungry for the next.

[treethacker]

I have tried the "3rd baseman throwing to first" idea but have to keep reminding myself to throw to first base not up in the seats to the crowd behind him!

[corsicana420]

The drink glasses and the waiter is a great idea!!!!

[mindwind]

One way that helped me learn a forehand throw is watching submarine pitchers in baseball. Go to YouTube and check out some videos of submarine pitchers. Remember to keep your elbow tucked in close to your side, otherwise you risk injury.