Advice on rollers

[Mueltrain54]

I am pretty confident with RHBH rollers on shots less than 300 feet, and I use them mostly on scramble shots, or occasionally off the tee. I usually throw on an extreme anhyzer and hit the ground less than 50 feet in front of the tee when using this shot. However, I would really like to be able to throw the long distance rollers I see the pro's throwing where the disc flies for a while and then rolls forever. My problem is that whenever I try that i throw disc out around 100 feet and land on what seems to me to be the right angle, around 11 o'clock, but the disc usually just dies out after another 100 feet or so. Any tips for getting the disc to keep up momentum?

Background-
My everyday golf D is around 375 max
I currently roll with a leo, or a beat in starfire

 

[5QU166Y]

More spin.

 

[Mueltrain54]

Any other input?

 

[eday1022]

I have the same issue, where is a master roller at to answer this mans question.

 

[redrum]

first off, you may need a bigger wing to get the distance you wish. I said may, bc it's not impossible for a Leo or Starfire to get out to 400-600' on a roller I'm sure. But the big wings will do it easier.

They also take way more spin on the disc, and a lower angle. You're use to throwing them to land 50' in front of you and now want to get double that initial distance. You have two choices: throw higher anny angles but with a not so flippy disc. (flippy yes, but not extreme, remember you are looking to hit at about 45 degrees, about 10 o'clock or in between 9 and 10. any higher and the disc will cut roll to the right immediately)

or choice two which is to throw more of a hyzer flip roller. I'm assuming you know what a hyzer flip is. You should be abel to get your Leo out to 50-75' when it flips flat and it shold be hitting the ground at about 100', on that 45 degree angle. The biggest factor with rollers is the angle. If it's off, you're heading in the wrong direction in a hurry.It takes time and practice to know what angles perform best for your disc. Take about an hour in a field and try all of your discs, see what happens. I personally roll with a Halo or a Bolt, which are similar to a Boss/Surge or Tern/SurgeSS. Those are what work for me. But they took time to hone and might not work for you.

 

[Mueltrain54]

Thanks ill try some of your suggestions later this week

 

[chrishysell]

change your angle of attack. Instead of going straight up the teepad come in from the side and yank your disc into the direction you are throwing. This will increase your spin and distance. It will also allow you to use more stable discs.

 

[bnbanbury]

Chris qualifies as a master roller i would think, he rolls discs a long way despite being older than the first beveled edge eagle.

Also if you like visuals Johnathan Baldwin does a very good roller demo at a clinic found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYjtNV2Go3M

 

[Uncle Dougie]

I use to beat up to hell Eclipses. Really, if I just throw hard and straight out to the left the discs will do the rest for me.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

More spin.

This.....x10

Really focus on the grip and have the disc basically touching your forearm.
Grass/ground conditions play a huge part in the distance.

 

[Gonnagal]

Here is another great roller video from the master himself David Greenwell:

 

[BogeyNoMore]

This.....x10

Really focus on the grip and have the disc basically touching your forearm.
Grass/ground conditions play a huge part in the distance.

Rollers don't go far in wet or long grass, or loose sand. More spin makes a ton of sense, and only supports Redrum's point:

first off, you may need a bigger wing to get the distance you wish. I said may, bc it's not impossible for a Leo or Starfire to get out to 400-600' on a roller I'm sure. But the big wings will do it easier.

The bigger wing brings the center of mass closer to the center of the disc, which makes it spin faster (think of a figure skater moving their arms in or out to change the rate at which they rotate). The faster the disc spins, the faster (and farther) it will roll. Also, the sharper edge of larger wings means less rolling resistance with the ground/grass --> longer rolls.

I would also stay away from lightweight discs when the goal of throwing a roller is distance. Although it may be easier to get lighter discs to turn over to the point where they roll, the lower total mass means their momentum (i.e. velocity) is more easily reduced by bumps, grass, twigs, and anything else the disc is likely to encounter once it hits the ground.

Just my $0.02 worth.

 

[Gonnagal]

Fixed it, here is the video from above.

 

[sneakytiki]

The bigger wing brings the center of mass closer to the center of the disc, which makes it spin faster (think of a figure skater moving their arms in or out to change the rate at which they rotate). The faster the disc spins, the faster (and farther) it will roll. Also, the sharper edge of larger wings means less rolling resistance with the ground/grass --> longer rolls.

I take bigger wing to mean wider rim? Am I correct in that?

That would mean more weight around the outside of the disc and would be the equivalent of the figure skater with arms out, spinning slower. I think what a wider rim brings to the table is more rotational inertia. With more weight around the outside the spin you put on the disc will decay more slowly. It will stay rolling longer, but more torque is required to get the thing spinning faster.

 

[keltik]

Rollers are basically a controlled yank. and like Hysell said you have to change the direction you traverse the tee pad. and also using really flippy discs help.

I've had great rolling success with XL, Cyclone,Avenger SS, Valkyrie, Leopard, Mamba and Bolt.

The Mamba will roll if you look at it wrong. the Bolt I got to roll about 500 ft one time.

 

[chrishysell]

Rollers are basically a controlled yank

as I have described them for years

 

[Dan Ensor]

More spin.

This.....x10

Really focus on the grip and have the disc basically touching your forearm.
Grass/ground conditions play a huge part in the distance.

At the hit some people wonder which you should try to get - more speed or more spin. Ken Climo advises that you should try to get more speed. Mr. Climo wrote, "Try to get more speed off the hand instead of worrying about spin. Use your legs, hips, back, and shoulders to create max speed, and the spin will take care of itself. If you get more speed on the disc you will get more spin."

This is from Dave's "Distance Secrets" article, and is my pov on spin.

If the disc is touching your forearm, you're over-curling and will lose snap and spin.

 

[Jax11]

Rollers "turn" in a similar way to air shots. If your disc is really flippy it will want to turn on its head faster. so you can put it down on more of an angle (10' o clock) and it will work to stand up straight up and down and then work quickly to its head. These type of rollers roll more of an S-pattern.

I am a FH player and for power rollers I use a Nuke OS, I snap the crap out of it and stand it pretty upright (11 o'clock), since it is so overstable it resists flipping over on to it's head so I can put a lot behind it and it rolls a pretty straight line. As a BH player it will be tougher to roll something like a Nuke OS because you can't invert your release angle as well as you can FH. Something like a Wraith or a Teebird, or a stable Valkyrie are great roller discs for mid-power lever backhand players, IMO. I think its a common misconception that you can only roll flippy discs. Once you get the hang of getting the disc down with power, stable discs will roll longer and straighter.

Rolling uphill is like throwing in a tailwind, the discs is moving slower uphill and will resist flipping on its head, rolling downhill is like throwing in a headwind, discs will tend to flip on their head faster because they are travelling faster downhill.

Wet and/or long grass is not good for rollers. Softer ground tends to be a little bit more consistent than hard ground, IMO.

Also, its important to "set" the roller down and not pound it into the ground. The disc should still be travelling forward in the air when it hits the ground, if it crashes onto the ground, coming straight down, the impact will sap a lot of the spin energy out and it won't roll very far.

Hope this helps.

 

[_MTL_]

under 300 I use a beat Roc and it works well. Under 250 I use an aviar.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I take bigger wing to mean wider rim? Am I correct in that?

Yes.

That would mean more weight around the outside of the disc and would be the equivalent of the figure skater with arms out, spinning slower.

I understand why you'd say that, but I think you're missing something. True: there's more mass along a disc's rim than in the center... any golf disc - drivers, mids, putters. But the wider and sharper the rim is, the closer the mass is to the axis of rotation (i.e. the center of the disc).

Putters have more mass along the outer edge of the rim than mids.
Mids have more mass along the edge than Drivers, etc.

In drivers, the rim is significantly thinner at the edge (less mass at the furthest radius) and thicker at the innermost point of the rim (closer to the center). Putters tend to concentrate all the mass (other than the mass contained in the flightplate) about as far from the center as possible - hence they spin slower than drivers.

If you really wanted to move more mass toward the center to increase spin, just make the flighplate thicker than the wing. Think of a pancake that's thick in the middle, and razor thin at the edge. That would put the more mass at the center... but likely kills aerodynamics (particularly lift and glide).

Wide rimmed distance drivers are the closest to that design concept, but most of the middle has been "hollowed out" to provide a wing so that air passes faster over the top than the bottom to create lift.

Does that help?