the face of the disc is where it will hook to, try using a roadrunner. im sure you could find videos of rollers on you tube.
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Is there a quick and easy way to learn to throw a roller
- Thread starter ShaZaun
- Start date
I love the forehand roller, but it takes a lot of power to use it for a drive off the box... I use forehand rollers with heavy Firebirds (any plastic), and have good results... usually distance of ~350', though a perfect line can go over 400'. I don't use it for extra distance, but on courses with clean ground and lots of trees or low branches, it is a great way to get foreward distance and take a possible 2 or easy 3 on a hole that could otherwise easily become a 4.
When you do the math, a disc is about 8" across, so to cleanly miss a skinny little 2" wide tree with an airshot requires that you miss a space 18" wide (8+8+2=18")... with a roller, your disc is ~1" wide, so to cleanly miss a 2" tree only requires that you miss a space 4" wide (1+1+2=4"). So when you are looking at a bunch of trees off the box, I'd say a roller roughly triples your odds of getting down the fairway clean...
To throw a forehand roller requires very little open space left or right. You really only need 50-100' of clean air in front of you with probably 10' minimum of vertical clearance. Take your overstable approach driver (firebird/predator/spirit) and throw it hard towards the ground, aiming it to land 80-100' in front of you. You'll have to experiment with the angle of landing. Ideally, I'd guess you'll need it to be leaning about 10-20 degrees to the right, but depending on the disc and how hard you throw it, it might need to be more than that.
The angle is where you have to experiment with your disc and your personal release power. At max power, with a max-weight firebird, I aim for the disc to hit the ground with as much as 25 or 30-degrees of angle on it. The power causes it to slowly straighten up and finish out roughly straight in front of where I started.
If your disc flips up and rolls left early, then have your disc hit leaning a little more to the right. If your disc rolls right and never finishes up straight, then start your disc leaning a little more left. This part takes practice and varies tremendously from disc to disc.
If you don't have a lot of power, then try something less stable. I've also had great results with slower fairway drivers like Teebirds...
Good luck with the throw, and let me know if you have questions.
NatiBuckeye
Eagle Member
Awesome response. Im going to start out with my champ t-bird and then something reall overstable. Ill let you know
NatiBuckeye
Eagle Member
Ok so in my first attempts at really developing this skill i have been using a 175 champ tbird. when thrown at about 60% of max it cuts a pretty hard FH anny and when hits pops up dead straight rolls but cuts hard towards the face?
My guess was i need a more stable disc? Would you agree?
My guess was i need a more stable disc? Would you agree?
XxInnovaxX
Double Eagle Member
roll it like a bowling ball
JK....roadrunners are a good choice, thats what i use. they work quite well after theyre broke in
JK....roadrunners are a good choice, thats what i use. they work quite well after theyre broke in
NatiBuckeye
Eagle Member
Im talking about a FH roller so i would think a RR would be way too under stable.
XxInnovaxX
Double Eagle Member
are you putting you finger inside the rim?
try putting your thumb on the inside, thrown kind of like a thumber with the disc at a 45 as your disc is always going to hit, pop up and straighten out and then roll towards the face.
ChronoDisc
Par Member
i choose the no go on the rollers. with practice technique and a little strength training comes lots of distance. rollers are too unpredictable for me. i always roll them into the trees or across the road.... or into a river...... or some stupid crap like that. i can outdrive my rollers by a good 75 feet so i basically have no use for them.
I agree with ChronoDisc for the most part. There are just too many variables with rollers to use them as a go to shot.
NatiBuckeye
Eagle Member
ok... but im trying to learn them. Im a teacher and kids love them even if they only go 10 ft.
Joey
Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2008
- Messages
- 10
Impress Your Friends
Flipping an under-stable disc is a good option for a roller; however, I have had some success throwing a forehand roller using an over-stable disc. Just take an over-stable disc like the Whippet and plunk it down on its edge about 40ft in front of you and watch it roll. This only works on dry, solid ground with short grass. I used this shot once in a tournament and it rolled right under the basket. Rollers are fun because it's like rolling the dice. You never know what's going to happen and that's what disc golf is all about. Fun, right?
Flipping an under-stable disc is a good option for a roller; however, I have had some success throwing a forehand roller using an over-stable disc. Just take an over-stable disc like the Whippet and plunk it down on its edge about 40ft in front of you and watch it roll. This only works on dry, solid ground with short grass. I used this shot once in a tournament and it rolled right under the basket. Rollers are fun because it's like rolling the dice. You never know what's going to happen and that's what disc golf is all about. Fun, right?
XxInnovaxX
Double Eagle Member
CORRECT!! "rolling the dice".....good analogy
discjon
Birdie Member
Just do what I do! Take an extremely beat DX Leopard, throw it as hard as you can towards the ground, and pray to the disc golf gods.
Never had much success with that...
Never had much success with that...
NatiBuckeye
Eagle Member
Well i have been throwing a FH roller with a champ Tbird and Star Orc with decent success. There are a couple very tricky holes in my area that start out left to right then go hard right to left. I throw a straight forehand layup then flick a roller up the hill for a very good three.
I wouldnt do this on a straight hole and i dont think many players would. However right to left uphill is a pretty nice roller shot especially if your courses are like mine and have alot of trees.
This discussion has helped alot even though most people are just expressing their dislike for rollers.
I wouldnt do this on a straight hole and i dont think many players would. However right to left uphill is a pretty nice roller shot especially if your courses are like mine and have alot of trees.
This discussion has helped alot even though most people are just expressing their dislike for rollers.
Fore
Eagle Member
During a recent field session I spent some time throwing overhand rollers with my champ Banshee. I was throwing with a slight angle and releasing a little above should height. The disc would line drive about twenty feet smack the ground and roll perfectly straight until it hit the fence eighty foot away. I plan on practicing it more and will focus more on remembering the little details. I have already encountered a few times where this would have come in handy but havn't invested enough time to own it.
Craton
Double Eagle Member
A beat up SL is the way to go, being that it gives you a little more room to stretch out the big distance before the roll, as opposed to using a discraft Stratus, or Innova Wolf/Stingray.
As for quick and easy ways, if you don't have time to work on it, just tilt the entire world 90 degrees, so that the "ground" is now on your right, as opposed to below you, and throw something understable. This should help you a ton.
As for quick and easy ways, if you don't have time to work on it, just tilt the entire world 90 degrees, so that the "ground" is now on your right, as opposed to below you, and throw something understable. This should help you a ton.
ShaZaun
Eagle Member
Wow cool thanks for the info..... I'll be practicing those later......
80playedin10states
Banned
go super stable for forehand rollers...
MikeR
Bogey Member
My best drives are 350ish on flat ground with no wind, but I've thrown an Eclipse 450' as an air to ground roller (flew about 175-200' before hitting the ground and rolling). It's crucial that you are throwing on a well groomed course - no point in throwing rollers on anything but. I find the control to be fine for a reasonably open area with the only uncertianty being just how far it's going to go. Straight to ground rollers either BH or FH are good for specialty situations, but not for distance.
Now when I roll for distance (not often on courses around here - usually just for fun to see how far I can go out on the practice field), I knife the disc pretty hard and don't make it fly like a disc, just huck it with tons of snap (TONS OF SNAP!) because that will give it it's rotational velocity, obviously the main driving force of a roller.
Now when I roll for distance (not often on courses around here - usually just for fun to see how far I can go out on the practice field), I knife the disc pretty hard and don't make it fly like a disc, just huck it with tons of snap (TONS OF SNAP!) because that will give it it's rotational velocity, obviously the main driving force of a roller.
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Darrington disc
Newbie
Lightning makes rollers. My longest was accidental really over torqued stratus. Since then I have done it on purpose with mixed results. A few genius moves and a few terrible shanks
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