Nose Down Throwing Uphill????

[BillFleming]

I have an issue throwing along slopes.

Downhill isn't too much of an issue as I can still keep the disc nose down while throwing down the slope.

Uphill is what I don't get. You need to keep the nose down for proper flight, but angling the throw uphill puts the nose up. Or is the nose down angle in comparison to the slope? For instance, throwing nose up out of the hand is actually nose down when compared to the uphill angle of the hole?

I'm just not getting distance on uphill tee shots and the majority of my drives end up going in a straight line from my hand into the hill side at close to the same level as I release.

 

[Armus Patheticus]

Nose angle is understood relative to the directional flight of the disc. You can throw "nose down" for example, absolutely vertically into the sky. The nose, or leading edge, will obviously be upmost relative to gravity, but lower than the tail relative to the line of flight. The ground is irrelevant. As long as the disc is in flight the ground doesn't exist.

 

[ray1970]

I'm just not getting distance on uphill tee shots

Welcome to the club.



Nose angle is more relative to the flight path of the disc and not anything to do with the ground if that makes sense. Big hyzers or anhyzers can be throw with a nose up or nose down angle and there isn't anything about either of those shots that's even close to lining up with the ground. I'm not really good at explaining things very well so hopefully someone else will chime in and explain it better.

 

[ray1970]

Nose angle is understood relative to the directional flight of the disc. You can throw "nose down" for example, absolutely vertically into the sky. The nose, or leading edge, will obviously be upmost relative to gravity, but lower than the tail relative to the line of flight. The ground is irrelevant. As long as the disc is in flight the ground doesn't exist.

Much better than my explanation. And you typed it up and got it posted way faster too.

 

[DoWork]

I generally use a flippy disc for uphill shots, and especially for reaching uphill plateaus. For me it helps to rip it uphill on a hyzer and let it flip up flat and glide in or if there's room, throw a high hyzer line and let it crash in. When I throw it straight on I just don't seem to have the same ability to reach the target.

 

[BuiltTooLong]

Try to approach your run-up from a more extreme right to left angle on these types of uphill power shots.

 

[dreadlock86]

Try to approach your run-up from a more extreme right to left angle on these types of uphill power shots.

McBeth does this really well. recent videos of him at the Toboggan course demonstrate it nicely


flippier plastic on a hyzerflip should get better results uphill

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

There's actually a rubric for this situation (downhill too), the full details of which you may read in my posthumous autobiography, but the first step is visualization of line. Unless you get that part right, you'll never escape from sin.

'Sin' is an ancient archery term which means 'to miss the mark', so now you understand exactly why we are all sinners, golfers in particular...

 

[Ryan P.]

I ran into McBeth the other week while playing a hole that's severely uphill (probably 50 feet uphill, 360 feet of distance). I asked him if he had any tips, and he said he throws more understable discs, and makes sure to get them really high. In other words, if you throw 20' off the ground on a regular shot, maybe throw 30' off the ground for an uphill shot, but choose a less stable disc so it doesn't fade out early.

 

[oldmandiscer]

Flippier disc. You are throwing much higher so you need more flip to counteract it. Obviously throwing uphill you are still going to lose a ton of distance so factor that into your expectations. Same for downhill. If you are throwing along the slope line you will need to stable up some since the nose angle will be technically down more (relatively to a flat ground shot). If you don't throw along the slope and throw it perpendicular you will fade out as normal and likely well off line.

 

[WeatherWimp]

McBeth does this really well. recent videos of him at the Toboggan course demonstrate it nicely

Is there anything that guy doesn't do really well on a disc golf course?

So to throw higher I assume your reach back is lower then?

 

[dreadlock86]

yup, cuz you want a straight line

 

[Dingus]

As others have said, flippy discs do well. When a disc flips its nose turns down, solving the issue in the OP.

The opposite can also work if you have a bigger arm. Flexing a disc uphill can work because as a disc flexes it usually gets some lift out of the fade.

 

[DoWork]

McBeth does this really well. recent videos of him at the Toboggan course demonstrate it nicely


flippier plastic on a hyzerflip should get better results uphill

Toboggan is basically the perfect course to describe uphill throwing form too. His -18 round there was case in point on how to capitalize on uphill execution. I also remember having a bit of an epiphany watching Feldy do a run-up across the fall line there too, that technique has definitely helped me since. Courses like that just demand all the precision and tricks, so I love watching pros execute them there. I feel like you learn a lot.

 

[BillFleming]

Thanks everyone for their advice/comments. Now to take it out on the course and see what works for me.

One day I need to find a disc golf dictionary that explains terms pretty well. I haven't been playing all that long (18 months) and am still not sure what is meant by "flippy disc", "hyzerflip", and many other terms used.

 

[Rastnav]

Thanks everyone for their advice/comments. Now to take it out on the course and see what works for me.

One day I need to find a disc golf dictionary that explains terms pretty well. I haven't been playing all that long (18 months) and am still not sure what is meant by "flippy disc", "hyzerflip", and many other terms used.

I think flippy just means understable. A hyzerflip is throwing with a hyzer release angle and having it "flip up" to flat (or even turn over to an anhyzer angle) due to the inherent instability of the disc you threw at the speed you threw it at.

I found that watching a fair amount of tournament coverage and then doing some googling on terms I didn't understand has really helped my understanding of how disc golfers talk about the sport. It's a little easier to understand the terms when you are watching someone execute a shot, with high quality camera work, and, for example, you can see that high speed turn working on a disc to bring it up to level over the flight.

 

[Consult20]

Thanks everyone for their advice/comments. Now to take it out on the course and see what works for me.

One day I need to find a disc golf dictionary that explains terms pretty well. I haven't been playing all that long (18 months) and am still not sure what is meant by "flippy disc", "hyzerflip", and many other terms used.

This is a pretty good start...

https://www.discgolfnow.com/disc-golf-terminology-guide/

 

[mojorooks]

I have an issue throwing along slopes.

Downhill isn't too much of an issue as I can still keep the disc nose down while throwing down the slope.

Uphill is what I don't get. You need to keep the nose down for proper flight, but angling the throw uphill puts the nose up. Or is the nose down angle in comparison to the slope? For instance, throwing nose up out of the hand is actually nose down when compared to the uphill angle of the hole?

I'm just not getting distance on uphill tee shots and the majority of my drives end up going in a straight line from my hand into the hill side at close to the same level as I release.

I've also have this issue. Understable discs didn't really seem to help. I recently tried with success to bend at the knees and hips to compensate for the uphill. Think of the shoulders as a pivot point. If your shoulder axis matches that of the slope, it should be similar to throwing on flat ground.

 

[roggenb3]

Stop thinking about it so hard and just pretend there's a guy up the hill and you are playing catch.

 

[oldmandiscer]

I've also have this issue. Understable discs didn't really seem to help. I recently tried with success to bend at the knees and hips to compensate for the uphill. Think of the shoulders as a pivot point. If your shoulder axis matches that of the slope, it should be similar to throwing on flat ground.

That's a good point on the shoulder angle. That right shoulder has to be higher then normal (RHBH) to get the higher throw.

It's also harder to transfer weight to the front foot (if you are already on a hill) so a narrower stance while walking up slower help too. I've found that slowing it down is a big help to throw on an upslope and uphill.