Sidearm: yay or nay?

[ilmcgee]

yea

I throw RHFH for distance and lately I've tuned down my throw for fairway and wooded shots. Main reason I throw RHFH is I can't get much past 200ft. RHBH. I don't get what's wrong with my form.

 

[Caldwell5161]

I am a die hard RHBH thrower. For my year and a half of disc golf I have pretty much exclusively thrown BH with some pretty good results. With that being said over the past month or two I have been making a conscience effort to practice my FH throw and it is really working out well for me. I saw a few of my friends incorporating it into their game with good results, so I decided to follow suit.

My problem used to be that when I was playing a competitive round with money or a tag on the line I didn't have the confidence in FH throw and didn't want to risk it. But I have practiced enough and have played enough casual rounds where I forced myself to throw FH now that I see it as a very valuable tool in my game. I see different lines now, and where I used to force a BH throw through a tight window I see the easy FH line and am confident that I can hit it.

Someone once told me that it is better to let the disc do the work and I cannot agree more. Rather then forcing a BH to go to the right and having varying degrees of success with that, I always know that my FH is going to go right and that's fantastic considering consistency is the name of the game.

 

[John Erickson]

unless you can throw RH and LH backhanded, i see no reason for not learning a FH shot

I broke my right wrist skateboarding shortly before taking up disc golf this June, so I was forced to learn LHBH. It was very frustrating at times, but I stuck with it. My drives were inconsistent and shorter than I'd like, but I found that my approach shots got to be pretty decent. Finally, my wrist healed and I went back to RHBH, and now I can't throw my LHBH very well :wall:

I also picked up the sidearm in late July/early August and have used it ever since. It was so much easier for me to pick up, and I threw longer than I could backhand. I much prefer throwing a right forehand rather than a left backhand. I'm told though that you can get the most distance out of backhand, but it just doesn't feel natural like my forehand. This can be fixed, I'm sure, with proper form and technique adjustments, but it's going to take more than a few casual throws to fix it for me.

 

[warchyld]

I can throw both BH and FH shots about the same distance( 400-500'). The FH shot is a more natural throw( what else do you throw across your chest) so it allows me to throw it with more confidence,accuracy, spin and far less effort then it would with a BH. With my home course (French Creek) being heavily wooded with tight fairways, my FH gives me a few strokes advantage over all those righties that can't throw FH's. The key to throwing great FH shots is finding the disc's that work the best for what you need them to do.
my opionon the best disc's for flicking are monsters,wraiths and destroyers champion plastic seems to fly the best.

 

[Bubbajoe]

I've spent my practice time building a LHBH to go with my RHBH and I'm loving the results. There are still times,however, when I wish I was more proficent forehanded. Sooo.. now I'm working on my forehand, and the elbo tip has been the most useful thus far.

 

[U_NICED_ME]

You need forehands, backhands, overhands, and rollers. You need every shot in your bag to stay competitive. It sux getting out there in the beginning and forehanding a high flying hyzer that drops 100 ft in front of you, but you have to stick with it. There's an advantage to not having to turn your back to the disc.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I don't have a single disc that I can throw 220 ft straight that will suddenly dive to the right on a RHBH. Most of my anny's need a little room to work with to get good placement OR it's gradually turning over the whple way.

 

[warchyld]

Couple of tips:

When I throw a FH I use 2 fingers, middle and fore. I keep my fingers straight and open, and just as I am about to release I close my fingers. It helps to give me extra spin.

I also dig the toes of my motion leg into the ground (sort of like an anchor) and almost stop my motion from the waist down and transfer all the momentum into my arm. I do seem to wear out the tip of my shoe alot faster but I gain about 50-75' doing it that way.

 

[Gonnagal]

Yah, I've heard Kensington is a good course with nearly all dogleg rights... haven't made it up that way yet. I play mostly Firefighters.

I play both courses reguarly. I have Monday night league at Firefighters, but really enjoy the challenge the Black Locust presents. If I was more confident in my FH I'd score much better at Kensington for sure. I won't if that's the reason Mark Ellis cleans house on that course?

 

[skurf]

I use forehand from time to time for shots 250' or less with some success. I don't have confidence in really letting one rip on the course though and resort to using the Flick to compensate for user error (aka OAT). I still use BH 90% of the time, but I'll use FH for that low-straight shot that needs a right-finish and for hyzer spikes. Those are pretty much the only lines I can't hit with BH so I've decided to not even worry about practicing for forehand distance any more. I'm content with my limited forehand and would rather put the distance practice into my backhand.

 

[snappyfingers]

FH = Overrated...

 

[KNole]

i throw mostly backhand unless there is no possible way of throwing it, then ill throw forehand but im more of an advocate of backhanded throwing

 

[bikinjack]

I throw mainly BH, but I'll throw FH at times. I wish I was better at it, but my elbow won't let me. I really only throw FH when I have to, or when I think I have a better chance of hitting the shot with my crappy FH than I do with my much better BH.

 

[sloppydisc]

Me and bikinjack are in a heated contest to see which one of us has the worst forehand in NC. Right now I am winning easily. Don't let him fool you. He has one. He nailed a nice forehand in the woods the other day to bail us out in a dubs game.

 

[Technohic]

Been working on FH a little and now I seem more comfortable with it than my turnover BH drives which have seemingly taken a dive lately. I think I need to stick with one disc and find its sweet spot because I am still a good bit longer with BH and need that shot.

 

[bikinjack]

Yeah sloppy, I hit like 1 in 5, and you hit like 1 in 25. I just know that the more I put myself into a position that I have to throw FH, the worse I score.

 

[chain-addicted]

I hate having to use my sidearm throw. I prefer backhand on every throw if possible. It's weird because I used to be able to execute a nice sidearm back when I first started playing. Now my sidearm is almost strictly for escape shots or those HARD ninety-degree "dogleg rights", off of the tee.

 

[lokirising]

I'm a horrible sidearm thrower.

 

[sloppydisc]

If you don't want people to mistake you for a chick, then maybe you should lose the Kitty. I thought you were a prepubescent chick. Sorry.

 

[:::LSWT:::]

The venerable KC seems to get by fine without sidearm

locastro has said he doesn't throw sidearm because of probable injury, or something to that effect.

 

[Easy Tigur]

I hate having to use my sidearm throw. I prefer backhand on every throw if possible. It's weird because I used to be able to execute a nice sidearm back when I first started playing. Now my sidearm is almost strictly for escape shots or those HARD ninety-degree "dogleg rights", off of the tee.

This is how I feel exactly. Whenever I throw forehand drives, the disc comes out all wobbly. I'm very confident in my forehand approaching, great little flicks for from out behind trees.