Disc Altitude & Distance

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

Been watching a lot of pro tournaments lately and had a questions about something. When they have a wide open, long, straight fairway that will likely take another up and down to reach the basket, the go-to throw for pros seems to be a really high turnover shot. Disc climbs to, it looks, somewhere from 20' to 50', turns and glides right (RHBH), then, eventually fades back, giving that lauded s-curve. It makes sense that they go for height as it gives the disc more time in the air to cover more distance.

Learning to throw high successfully appeals to me, mainly because my drive generally doesn't ever get more than 15' above the ground (I also have difficulty breaking 300' to be honest). I worry that I'm missing out on distance because my disc hits the ground sooner than it needs to.

Watching the pros throw these high shots, I'm seeing what look like a few different ways they achieve altitude. Some look like they're just throwing level, or maybe with a slight angle and the disc just climbs - not sure if that's release angle, disc lift property, or both. Others do that weird 'air bounce' shot that looks for all the world like they're throwing down at the last second, but the disc 'bounces' and pops up and climbs - how this works without sapping disc speed is beyond me. Lastly, some genuinely seem to angle upwards at least a bit.

Any thoughts on necessary technique for getting higher shots without stalling and crashing out? I do a really decent nose down for my level shots, but any attempt to get the disc higher always seems to result in drag and fade out long before I want it.

Thanks.

 

[sidewinder22]

All about getting the nose down thru the apex to glide out instead of stalling out. Generally anhyzer will be more consistent because it's less angles, but hyzer flip has more potential.
https://www.dgcoursereview.com/dgr/resources/articles/distancelines.shtml

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

Thanks. I have watched both of those, but they're less practical instruction for fairway use (in fact, Simon says in the one video that he only hits the correct angle maybe 20% of the time). Also can't rely on always having a tail wind over my left shoulder. What DOES jibe is that they both agreed with what Page Pierce said about distance shots, which was throw an overstable disc high on an anny so it has time to ride the turn, but will come out and fade without becoming a roller.

They say the best nose-down angle is 4 degrees below the line of flight. I think I do that pretty well on a straight drive, but I suspect that angle is increasing dramatically when I attempt to throw higher - too used to judging based on the ground rather than on the angle of release relative to the plane of flight. That increased nose down angle probably means the top of the disc is hitting air pretty badly and slows too fast because of it. I need to get out in the field and throw, but, when I have time to do that, I want to play the course, not just throw drives over and over.

Oh well, my problem.