Help with basic forehand

[waddleman]

Firstly finding a grip that works for you is important, sticking with it once you decide on something is REALLY important. When you're constantly changing grips it changes how you throw and you can't build any consistency, so pick the one that seems least stressful/easiest and don't change for a while.

I'd start with no run up, just start a little weight shift and either throw from a standstill or take one short strong step. Elbow close is a bit iffy, you want to kind of "throw" or lead with your elbow, but don't keep it glued to your hip. The key is to not round your shot a bunch, reach back and then pull the disc straight through around waist level.

Also don't throw with tons of power, especially on putters/mids. Firstly you'll give it lots of OAT and just slam it into the ground, and secondly you'll probably hurt something in your arm if you do it too much. Just let the arm flow with your weight shift and give it that snap/flick/whatever you wanna call it like you're skipping a stone. Also don't know why, but the best term I ever heard that just made me kinda go "Oh yup" was to 'sling' it.

Best advice I could give would be to go out in a field and throw at something around 70-100 feet away. Just keep trying to zip it over there and once you start to lose the wobble you can kinda slowly move out. I've bumped up my accuracy and distance lately sidearm, mostly by going out and trying to stay smooth and accurate at a 150 foot target. Besides, trying to throw max distance sidearm in a field for 50-100 throws wears out your arm and you'll end up practicing bad form by the end. Much better off peppering in 10-20 distance shots to go with the target practice.

 

[hk chef]

OH I FORGOT!

What about a nice forehand/overhead roller? I threw a super nice roller with a 175g dx banshee one time, slipped around trees on the right and parked it next to the basket at about 100 feet. :clap:

The underworld works for me on a FH roller!

 

[Mike C]

 

[Mike C]

OH I FORGOT!

What about a nice forehand/overhead roller? I threw a super nice roller with a 175g dx banshee one time, slipped around trees on the right and parked it next to the basket at about 100 feet. :clap:

Grip a putter or mid with a FH grip, point your forearm on a steep anhyzer angle around 1-1:30 o clock, then flick it towards the ground. Play around with them and you should be able to get them to stand up, roll straight, then fade to the left.

 

[StevieWraithVaughan]

I always had a decent forehand but over the last year have developed and added much distance and predictability.

There a few tricks that work for me when wanting to get it far and relatively straight. Pre-cock your wrist before even taking any steps. This helped me b/c sometimes I was forgetting to do so and I wouldn't generate as much spin.

When you finish keep your palm upward. This will help you throw more level.

To me this motion isn't like a backhand and you need to move your arm nearly as much or bring it way back. My bicep/tricep and shoulder actually move very little. My elbow stays not touching but very close to my torso. The most motion comes from my forearm and wrist. Keeping my elbow close to my body helps me release level and gets plenty of arm on it.

I used to crouch over and throw from a low release hoping it would help keep my disc lower and not get high and then fade hard. This was cutting back on my power and now I throw upright and release anywhere from hip to about pec height.

 

[tom12003]

OH I FORGOT!

What about a nice forehand/overhead roller? I threw a super nice roller with a 175g dx banshee one time, slipped around trees on the right and parked it next to the basket at about 100 feet. :clap:

I FH roll alot and have had them scream for up to 400' (has to be perfect in technique, ground conditions, wind, etc.). I use very overstable drivers (Avengers, Predators, TBirds). I release then at about 1:30 angle and try to have the disc maintain that angle when it hits the ground, Remember most will tail off to the left (factor that into your aim). If I roll a Predator at 2:00-2:30 angle, it won't stand up as much and has a tendency to keep a left-to-right roll.

 

[StarFirebird]

I've been getting pretty good as of late with my Forehand.

The key is finding a grip that works for you and keep that palm facing up.

The thing that has helped me the most is that I've been using a Discraft Comet for all of my Forehands. It does the same thing forehand as it does backhand. If you are having release issues it lets you know and it's easy to diagnose. I would highly suggest using a Comet.

 

[wake911]

I'm finally getting some confidence in my FH. I mainly FH a firebird for fairly hard right turns (RHFH), but also have been FH a destroyer for distance shots with a hard right fade. Threw my first FH spike hyzer this wknd, and it was pretty awesome.

About 1/10 is still a HORRIBLE toss. But 4/10 are great throws, 4/10 are useable throws and 1/10 is barely useable. So I've really progressed over the last 4 months of learning my FH. I've gotten fairly decent at FH a DGA Breaker over short distances (<100') but lose control very quickly pushing to 150'.

The key for my learning the FH was pretty simple. Every round I played, I threw 2 drives. One was how I normally throw the hole. And the second drive was a FH. Just doing this was a remarkable way to work out some issues, and made me use different lines

I would say the thing I'm doing wrong is throwing only OS discs. As this is likely hiding some form flaws, but at this point, i'm ok with that. I'm a BH thrower, but just wanted a comfortable enough FH to use when needed.

 

[Grinder12000]

Being a guy that drives FH and preach BH I'm not sure I can help but what I have found is keep you elbow in is important and will take away a lot of wobble, bend and stay loose. Be a rubber band man. I don't like mid range discs for FH because the lip catches my fingers but when I do throw one make sure your palm stay UP.

Oddly I rarely throw overstable discs unless I have too. Hmmmm

 

[Stardoggy]

I've been getting pretty good as of late with my Forehand.

The key is finding a grip that works for you and keep that palm facing up.

The thing that has helped me the most is that I've been using a Discraft Comet for all of my Forehands. It does the same thing forehand as it does backhand. If you are having release issues it lets you know and it's easy to diagnose. I would highly suggest using a Comet.

I'm pretty sure you cut and paste this line into every posting you make.

 

[StarFirebird]

I'm pretty sure you cut and paste this line into every posting you make.

lol. I do preach that a lot don't I.

 

[HeavyCritters]

Exactly the grip I use, as well. I'm sure I'm losing distance with the finger on the rim, but I suppose I don't need my FH to go much over 280-300' anyways.

Me too. I hold the rim of the disc the way I hold a pen.

Works ok for me. Get it out to 250' or so. Mostly use it as a 'get out of trouble' shot.

No big whoop.

 

[DG Trucker]

I have a question. I have to throw at a hyzer angle when I'm throwing RHFH in order for the disc to do what it's supposed to. If I try to throw the disc flat, it'll turn over. I'm throwing a buzzz that flies perfect when I release it flat RHBH. Is this a sign of bad RHFH form or what?

When I say hyzer, I mean the same angle that a LHBH uses. I think you guys use the same phrase "hyzer angle" for RHBH, LHBH, RHFH AND LHFH. Correct me if I'm wrong please.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

I would say yeah but not nessisarly as you are throwing hyzer-flips which are much more useful to learn throwing FH shots with than super oat anhyzer releases flexing a super OS disc.

A buzzz thrown flat should fly pretty straight regardless of FH or BH so that alone tells you something is up but not really "bad" just not perfect?! lol.. Most people mask this issue in their FH throws by going up in speed or stability in order to keep the disc from turning on them as you end up putting a little more wrist roll and can impart a little more speed easier on a disc throwing FH-- all factors which will cause a disc to turn over.

 

[DG Trucker]

Ugh, so it's a good thing and a bad thing. lol I think I should start over and learn to release it correctly then, if a flat release with both FH and BH should fly the same. =/ Thanks man.

 

[DannyThunders]

as someone who has recently developed an OKAY sidearm ( I can throw everything except putters smooth , drivers out to 300 ish ) All i can say is slow your arm down and concentrate on the flick, go to a field and just flick them at a standstill until you have the feeling down... Eventually you'll be able to put a little arm in there , and a little walk/run up . Hopefully one day i can crush drives sidearm (Lefty living in a right hand hyzer world) but for now it works .

 

[HeavyCritters]

Oddly I rarely throw overstable discs unless I have too. Hmmmm

I rarely flick OS discs either. I tend to get the best flight path and D out of my Champ Vikings and Pro Starfires (SL's).

I almost aced a hole RHFH with a DX Valkyrie. Only reason I used it was because there was water in play behind the basket and I didn't want to lose my baby (Hot pink champ Viking).

Waddleman's post was pretty much spot on though.