Bag o Tricks/get out of trouble Shots

[banknwank]

I have spent quite a bit of time in the field this spring working on my mids and looking for more distance. Made improvements in both areas. I noticed playing driving range also pisses off my right knee and other areas of my aging body..... So what's an aspiring disc golfer to do to give the knee ( or what ever bothers you) a break? The best answer is putting, but you can mix up your field work by learning to throw different shots. FHA, rollers, turbo putts, tommy, thumber, short little anny flex approaches........not that I put nearly as much time into these shots as I do my bh, but sooner or later the conditions are gonna call for one of these shots. And if it's not completely foreign to you, you might save par or a stroke or two.
Rollers are super handy for a lot of different situations, and you don't have to be a master roller for them to work. But you do need to have an idea of what angle the disc needs to hit the ground to get it goin in the right direction. I recently found myself trapped in the woods only about 50 ft from the basket, but no way to go at the basket. Had a little cut roller line that dad me pointed 20 ft to the left of the target. I knew I could get a reasonable shot at par with a less than perfect roller, but I had practiced just enough to know I need a bit of tilt to get it to cut to the right instead of standing up and finishing left. At release it all seemed perfect and cut toward the basket. But it took a big hop and stood up and was threatening to go left. It caught a berm that let it ride a prefect arch around the tree and finished for a 5 ft tap in par. People in the group were both amazed and pissed, cause they thought they were gonna get one back on me.

 

[nolangherity]

i backhand to safety, and take my stroke like a man. my game is played on the fairway.

 

[Cadmanic]

Always helpful to practice shots you rarely use just for those rare moments you have to use them (brilliant, I know).

I practice putting a lot; when I feel my arm getting a little tired, I'll switch to those shots. Off hand bh and fh, overhands, scoobers, chicken wings, thumber fh's... any way you can get a disc to fly (or roll, skip, or slide) in a predictable and repeatable pattern can become a clutch par saver. You'll never know what can work for you until you try it, and practice it. I now throw chicken wings inside of 150' when I need a good fh flight; it's just more accurate for me, and seems to have a more predictable landing than a fh flick. I get a lot of "what the heck was that?" comments with those.

 

[dentonchainclaim]

Creativity to "get out of trouble" is one of the most interesting things about DG to me. Pros don't hit the fairway every time, but they make the shot they need to recover and save par. The more shots you have in your bag, the less you'll find yourself in a situation trying to force a shot that probably wont work. Coming from a background in ultimate frisbee, the same thinking applies. If you are defending an offensive player who can only throw a backhand, you don't have to work very hard. Defending a player who could come at you with a backhand, flick, thumber, chicken-wing, etc., is much more difficult.

Personally, having grown up playing baseball, a thumber is the most useful shot for me in these situations because it doesn't require a lot of arm space to execute, can be thrown on several different release angles (e.g. throw in from the outfield vs third base to first throw), and is really quite reliable.

Cheers

 

[Indy21]

The thumber has saved me many many strokes. I played as an outfielder through my hs years and it feels natural, I just pretend the basket is an infielder I'm chucking to.

Funny to me is how I'll play tournament rounds with folks that hardly throw a single overhand shot but they see me parking holes with a thumber, then all of a sudden they start trying it, and some do pretty well. I get a lot of 'well, that was smart' comments from some groups, I just tell them 'try it!'.

I have a very crappy sidearm, or should I say I'm not that good at sa at all, so I go to a thumber on an angle and let that disc skip around the corner, works pretty well.

I use Star Max, Flat top Firebirds and a KC whippet. All have just a slight different flight path and I know them well.

Anyways, it's a great shot to have in your bag, learn it.

 

[John M. Fretz]

Thumbers, tomahawks, and 'chicken wings'. All amazing get out of trouble shots. Tomahawks and fh flicks are the best, imo

 

[HybridZombiw]

Rollers, both backhand and forehand are good. Also learning how to anny, and park where you need to go.

 

[tylerc]

also an offhand flick is helpful to be somewhat familiar at up to like 50 feet for those really bad lies so u can stretch way out and toss it. but I think having a lot of shots for getting out of trouble is very helpful. fh and bh rollers, thumbers, anny flick, flick spike hyzers, tomahawks, grenade, skip shots.. anymore?? but know when to pitch out. this is something I struggle with sometimes, I'm like but I can get it through that gap and around that then flex out and be under the basket. *throws* *hits first tree*

 

[All Day]

Buy a medium Vibram Ascent and start throwing thumbers. It changed my game.

 

[DannyM]

some of my "trick shots" include forehand anhyzer shots, placing my left foot behind my marker and stretching out to throw a backhand shot, and don't forget to practice straddle putting(if you putt straight on normal like I do). For those of us who play a lot of tighter courses, making straddle putts can easily save you a stroke or 2 per round.

 

[DeadEye]

I've been known to toss out a roller every once in a while to get out of trouble, but my favorite is the fore-hand anny with my gator. Toss it up high, let it pan out.. depending on the height and the amount of angle you put on it you can make it pan out and slide across the ground, or flex out into a nice S curve that threads the needle. I love the lines I can shape with it.

 

[DavidSauls]

I use a decent forehand roller to get out of the woods. I use it fairly often. Unfortunately.

I'm not sure if it's in the trick shot or trick disc category, but I have a beat-to-death DX stingray that I can throw RHBH around a right corner by throwing it very high, knowing it will turn and keep turning.

Among the rarely-used shots are a pancake, probably known by other names, which is a little overhead shot that lands upside down and slides, or the underhand, just slide it upside down shot, for laying up on steep downhills.

My entire forehand/flick arsenal is so weak that I consider it a trick shot. Used only when absolutely necessary, and always a delightful surprise when it works.

 

[DiscJunkie]

My main get out of trouble shot is a Thumber, but I also use it from the tee and on approaches.
Now I need to get better at Hammers, because they'll finish left.

Learning to use rollers, but they're not really dependable so I'm still working on that.

 

[heartman]

Wish I could throw thumbers and rollers

 

[Connor Jones]

Wish I could throw thumbers and rollers

Did you hurt your arm or something? Because I know damn well you can throw a thumber.

 

[JFibeZZZ]

Just recently practiced my forehand and it is coming along nicely, and in the process I accidentally learned how to do forehand rollers...I can't wait to try it out! But just learning my forehand alone has helped me on different occasions on my local courses. I just suck at throwing long anhyzers rhbh

 

[heartman]

Did you hurt your arm or something? Because I know damn well you can throw a thumber.

nah ... just still miffed that I lost my glow firechicken

 

[DiscJunkie]

Glow FB's are still available. You can also try a flat 12x. They're almost as good.
Another thing to try is a Glow Whippet.

 

[slamminsammy]

Overhand always

I use my hammer as much as I can every round, especially out of trouble. Coming from a background in baseball, it is a very natural throw to me that I can shape and control very well. I also use the disc golf equivalent of a scoober to get out of trouble a lot as well as a thumbed if I need the opposite shape of my hammer. I find these shots give me the best control in placement and power to get through trees and land it close.

If I need to stay low to get out of trouble, I love my overstable Latitude XXX that I usually use to bomb hammers. I love to curve it at a hard angle to get around or through things. It also skips really well for some added distance once out of the trouble.