Nose Down Technique

[Donovan]

I was curious if someone can explain the whole "nose down" thing to me? What is it that this is supposed to do for you?

[garublador]

"Nose down" means getting the leading (front) edge of the disc to be pointed downwards with respect to the disc's trajectory. More nose down will cause a disc to turn more and is essential for getting any sort of distance out of faster discs. A nose up flight with a fast disc will rise very quickly, stall and then fade hard. A nose down flight will stay in the air much longer, hold a truer line and fade less.

Slower discs will still fly well with a nose up attitude. Most putters and midrange discs will still fly straight without stalling out when thrown nose up. They'll fly farther and drop straighter nose down, though.

Unfortunately I can't explain the physics behind this. Perhaps someone with a better aerospace background can help with that.

Three things are required for a nose down flight: correct grip, correct wrist orientation (both these involve getting the disc in line with your forearm) and having your weight forward at the hit. I can elaborate (or give links that elaborate for me) if you have more in-depth questions about those, too.

[Donovan]

Well, I may have to experiment with this today. I hadn't really thought about slight nose up or nose down before. I guess I have always adjusted per disc and done this by feel. It seems to make sense though. A fast disc would climb naturally on its own and by starting it nose down it may have a better effect.

[garublador]

Actually, here's a great article if you're interested in understanding nose angles:

http://www.discgolfreview.com/resources/articles/angles.shtml

[Donovan]

Actually, here's a great article if you're interested in understanding nose angles:

http://www.discgolfreview.com/resources/articles/angles.shtml

Nice! Thanks for sharing that. The drawings were actually pretty darn good. ;)