Backhand VS Sidearm......is there a biased opinion in DG regarding Sidearmers

[Dan Ensor]

Not as bad as the opinion of lefties...

You meant to say "Not as bas as the opinion of cheaters", right?

 

[EXTRAMONTANA]

My experience is the more shots the better. I followed a guy who only threw overhead. It was painful to see someone go at it so one-dimentionally.

I injured my knee and can't power-up anything BH without falling down and weeping like a little baby girl. My game definately suffered. My FH game is improving rapidly though. FH shots are definately good to have because it takes less movement to rip off a flick then a full BH shot. I'll bet there are lots of guys who have smashed their hands into trees trying to get out of the woods BH. Sometimes you just don't have the space to manuver.

All that being said, I'd love to get my (weak) BH back. I can throw a bit over 200' usually from a standstill, but it's often not enough.

 

[jtreadwell]

Being primarily a RHBH thrower, I've found it critical to develop at least a rudimentary forehand shot. While it's possible to get by with turnover shots to go right, it's much easier to toss a forehand and put the fade on your side. I also do a lot of short approach flicks when there's no line to the right or right at the pin and I don't want to mess around with anhyzer angles and overpowering shots to force turn. Even if you can't break 200ft with a flick, it will help your game to have it in your arsenal.

 

[jtreadwell]

My experience is the more shots the better. I followed a guy who only threw overhead. It was painful to see someone go at it so one-dimentionally.

I had a buddy that used to only throw overhand as well. Not only was it painful to watch, it was painful for him to play once he busted his shoulder from throwing overhand all the time..:doh:

 

[IHearChains]

The reason some people think FH is not as accurate is because there is this myth out there that FH requires ridiculously overstable plastic.

So you see people throwing these giant sweeping s-curve FH shots that are really susceptible to wind, and get kind of erratic. Those would tend to be hard to control in the wind with BH form too, because you're trying to fight against a disc that is way too overstable, trying to make it go against its natural flight pattern.

There is no reason FH can't be just as accurate as BH. People should just take the same advice given here all the time for learning BH. Go out to the field and practice with slower understable plastic until you can control that, before you work with Bosses and Apes and Monsters. Then you can throw understable plastic FH and get all kinds of beautiful lines including hyzer flip FH drives that finish straight, and gentle anhyzer approaches from bad lies in the left rough.

One big advantage not mentioned here yet: The FH footwork seems a lot less sensitive to slippery tees. This is a big plus for winter play.

 

[Pwingles]

I had a buddy that used to only throw overhand as well. Not only was it painful to watch, it was painful for him to play once he busted his shoulder from throwing overhand all the time..:doh:

I think if youre doing OH throws and it hurts or results in you getting hurt over time, safe to say you are doing it wrong

 

[optidiscic]

The reason some people think FH is not as accurate is because there is this myth out there that FH requires ridiculously overstable plastic.

So you see people throwing these giant sweeping s-curve FH shots that are really susceptible to wind, and get kind of erratic. Those would tend to be hard to control in the wind with BH form too, because you're trying to fight against a disc that is way too overstable, trying to make it go against its natural flight pattern.

There is no reason FH can't be just as accurate as BH. People should just take the same advice given here all the time for learning BH. Go out to the field and practice with slower understable plastic until you can control that, before you work with Bosses and Apes and Monsters. Then you can throw understable plastic FH and get all kinds of beautiful lines including hyzer flip FH drives that finish straight, and gentle anhyzer approaches from bad lies in the left rough.

One big advantage not mentioned here yet: The FH footwork seems a lot less sensitive to slippery tees. This is a big plus for winter play.

most people generate more spin BH than FH....so a disc will remain on a truer flight path before fading...essentially a FH throw will typically go faster but spin less out of the hand and a bh will travel slower out of the hand but have more spin....this makes for requiring different types of discs and much different flight paths.
An Anhyzer and a FH do not follow exactly the same flight path and a RHFH and LHBH do not fllow the same path.

I agree with your premise but just wanted to point out that FH is not the mirror image of BH

 

[ReinZ_96]

I think if youre doing OH throws and it hurts or results in you getting hurt over time, safe to say you are doing it wrong

i cant throw anything with an overhand motion, be it disc, football, baseball, whatever, without it hurting..i think it's more the person when it comes to OH throws cuz there really is no way to throw them that you're not going to need to throw it with your arm.

 

[IHearChains]

most people generate more spin BH than FH....so a disc will remain on a truer flight path before fading...essentially a FH throw will typically go faster but spin less out of the hand and a bh will travel slower out of the hand but have more spin....this makes for requiring different types of discs and much different flight paths.
An Anhyzer and a FH do not follow exactly the same flight path and a RHFH and LHBH do not fllow the same path.

I agree with your premise but just wanted to point out that FH is not the mirror image of BH

Agreed. On all points except "much different flight paths" for RHFH and LHBH. Done properly, the flight paths may not be exactly mirror images but they are very similar. People should get out and practice their RHFH shots with discs that aren't so overstable and learn how to control them, get more spin on them, then they can get any line that a LHBH player can throw.

 

[thiswonisloaded]

A lot of people at the course I play at tend to throw forehand just because they think it looks cooler when they do it. The course I play at strongly favors RHBH and the people you see throwing FH tend to be people who just recently started playing the game or are hipsters and "cool kids" not to be harsh. But I know thats not how it is everywhere and I do respect players who have good forehands because I realize how useful it is on difficult or diverse courses......not my local 9 hole course that only has one hole over 300'

 

[chickenonabun]

I like sidearms and they are a very useful shot that I am continually working on. I encourage people to develop their sidearm, but not become dependant on it becuase not learning backhand screws you over. Also, 90 % of the chuckers around these parts only throw FH (with the other 10% only throwing tomahawks).

 

[elnino]

Pros for Forehand

-finish on the right side of fairways
-u are watching target entire time
- not much movement required to get disc a far distance.
- u can use the wind to carry your flippy forehand that would knock down a stable backhand. wind helpful.
- landing on a hill. instead of rolling away you can lay up with forehand

Cons
-having both opens lots of options
-if you are onfire with one disc it is hard to bag that throw/stop your streak and go with another disc or throw.
- does seem to be harder to read the wind on complex forehand shots. but maybe i'm just not that great at it.

I throw both but def not 50 50 more like 25 percent forehand.

and also people get bent when you throw some hard line forehand but usually it is because they don't have the skill to throw that path/line.

 

[Mike C]

For some reason a small percent of DGers (Less than 5% in my experience) get kind of pissy when you can do a shot they can't. I've seen it happen with just raw distance on a tee shot, rollers, OH drives that the guy parked, throwing a putter far etc. Dunno why anyone cares. Personally I love playin with FH dominant players because by the end of the round I've usually gotten a new idea or two. Play your own game and have fun doing it.

 

[tarel]

Whoever gets to the basket in the least amount of strokes has the right to comment. Those players usually throw both, if they do not they are missing a key part of the game.

 

[DikkaD]

Due to the over availibility of High Speed drivers at local retailers (at least in TX) most "noobs" have discs that are too fast or overstable for them and cannot throw them BH. In my experience I can throw these much easier FH because of arm speed but it is much harder to throw a putter or midrange this way (at least with the same arm speed). I mean when I was new and had to choose between a leopard or a Boss i would choose the Boss because I was expecting pro distance but I can actually chunk the leopard farther because my BH is much slower than my FH.......for now.

 

[elnino]

How all sidearm throwers act: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=fwNiJYMWG-E

 

[Mind Expansi0n]

I've noticed that guys that throw putters alot seem to NEED alot of reassurance about their game ... coming onto message boards fighting with people, desperately trying to get others to watch their videos, getting infractions/bans on DGCR ... sad sad world we live in. They just don't want to play their own game - sad folks.

 

[kutz167]

How all sidearm throwers act: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=fwNiJYMWG-E

That's awesome! Made my day!

 

[Mike C]

lol at M.E. I think he got confused as to which thread he's posting in.

 

[Pwingles]

Due to the over availibility of High Speed drivers at local retailers (at least in TX) most "noobs" have discs that are too fast or overstable for them and cannot throw them BH. In my experience I can throw these much easier FH because of arm speed but it is much harder to throw a putter or midrange this way (at least with the same arm speed). I mean when I was new and had to choose between a leopard or a Boss i would choose the Boss because I was expecting pro distance but I can actually chunk the leopard farther because my BH is much slower than my FH.......for now.

This is most likely wrong