Forehand technique

[Tudbus]

Hey got a question about forehand. When I throw I get a lot of OAT and wobble, so my question is how should I throw with my hands and follow through? Is it more like a karate chop so my palm is facing the sky and moving side to side. Or is it more like a slap so my palm facing the target and pretty much backwards of a back hand motion. Thanks in advance

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

I think of it as a slap. I have found that if I grip the disc so the top it flat and my palm is also flat I end up rolling it over a little. Disc flat, palm more vertical yields me better results.

Forehand putters to get it down. Put out a target like 50' out and just throw at it until you get a smooth flight to the target, then back up your distance. It's hard to forehand a neutral putter dead flat 150'+, but when you get that down I bet you see a huge improvement with faster discs.

 

[Tudbus]

Awesome I'll try to practice like that. Yeah I think I need work on a new grip. What grip do you use to get the disc perpendictur to the palm?

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

I use a couple different grips. For power shots I extend my middle finger and curl my index over it, pinch my thumb and index fingers. For more touch shots I either extend both fingers, or do a kind of fan version of the first grip for real short placements (75' or less). This is what works for me anyway. Excuse the photos, it's tough to take pictures of your own hand like this! Third photo is to show how I like to orient the disc in relation to my palm.

Again this is just what works for me, YMMV but it's a place to start. All my friends I show this grip to seem to like it.

 

[Tudbus]

Thanks for the info and I'll definitely give this a try! Any other forehand tips or advice? I feel like I don't have much power, max at 175-200. I use the Paul McBeth run up. I think that's not allowing me to use my lower body as much. Any tips on distance or run ups?

 

[dysmike]

Can the run-up, it'll help you work on form.

 

[Tudbus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlTN9mfZFw

Here is a video of me.

 

[thirtydirtybirds]

Ok, I am by no means an expert on form. There are others on here much more knowledgeable and better than I am. But...
Your stance looks a little too open to me, and you aren't pivoting on your front foot. I agree you should can the run up for now and go from a stand still. If you watch a pitcher, with one step and good hip engagement, most can throw hard and straight, without having to over muscle it. This image doesn't show it perfectly, but you step in a bit closed, rotate on the heel as your hips come around, and let your hip motion pull your arm through to a degree.

Again I'm not an expert, and others probably have better visuals, but this is how I think of it.

 

[sidewinder22]

You aren't striding off the rear foot, leading with the hips forward enough. Also note how your front arm is in the way when you plant the front foot and your disc is vertical so it's changing 90 degrees and going to wobble on release from there. IMO best to keep the disc on same plane in backswing as going forward so there is less drag and wobble and nose angle inconsistency.

 

[Tudbus]

I can the run up and used the new grip. I no longer have OAT and I seem to throw farther with less effort. Some stuff I noticed just to share that might help others. The forehand is a lot like backhand, I notice I have to throw on a straight line and release on a this line just like backhand. This helps with OAT as well. I notice if I have a late release it will turn more. Also the "reachback" should be straight with the disc on the same plane as motioned by sidewinder just like backhand. Thanks guys for all the help!

 

[rayoflight]

For a long time I could never get my forehand out for as much distance as my backhand because adding power always caused the disc to wobble and act really understable. What helped me reduce the wobble on my disc so that I could throw harder was to do a towel drill. I basically just grabbed a dish towel by one corner and tried to make the opposite corner fly in a straight line along the plane of my imaginary forehand throw. If the towel flares out or twists up as you're going through the motion, then you're doing something wrong. The force of your throw should basically pull the towel taut and whip the opposite corner around in an arc that travels on a flat plane.

It also helps to just play catch with someone and throw forehands to them. This makes you practice distance control, and it's a lot easier to throw a bunch of throws in a short time if you don't have to go pick up the disc yourself every time you throw it. Plus you don't feel the pressure to throw super hard like you do when throwing a disc golf drive. By playing catch, you'll naturally focus on throwing in a smooth and controlled manner instead so that the other person can catch it.

 

[Tudbus]

I'll give this a try for sure. That's what I'm having trouble with. If I try too hard it wobbles and have no glide. Will try the towel drill and hopefully it will help me too.

 

[Disc Golf Doctor]

Your grip is fine in the video. You have to keep your palm up as you follow through. That is probably why you are turning it over with a late release because you are rolling your wrist. The only way to keep the disc on a single line and consistent is to not roll your wrist (keeping the palm up). I agree that the disc needs to stay at the same angle the whole time and not start so vertical. I discussed forehand grip in part of this video: https://youtu.be/r9e9rGyaYgE

 

[sidewinder22]

You have to keep your palm up as you follow through. That is probably why you are turning it over with a late release because you are rolling your wrist. The only way to keep the disc on a single line and consistent is to not roll your wrist (keeping the palm up).

Welcome to the board Doc, but I respectfully disagree and please correct me if I'm wrong and provide sources if possible. The medical journals I've read regarding the biomechanics of baseball pitching and tennis forehand have stated that you should pronate in the follow through. If you supinate in the follow through your arm must finish high which is off plane and restricts your extension/whip through the hit. If you swing your arm on a level swing plane, pronation allows more extension/whip through the hit and more on plane level rotary follow through with safer deceleration of the UCL. Now with the level arm swing relative your body, you adjust your body tilt angle to the release angle.

https://www.topvelocity.net/pronation-supports-pitching-velocity-while-preventing-injury/

 

[pearlybakerbest]

Welcome to the board Doc, but I respectfully disagree and please correct me if I'm wrong and provide sources if possible. The medical journals I've read regarding the biomechanics of baseball pitching and tennis forehand have stated that you should pronate in the follow through. If you supinate in the follow through your arm must finish high which is off plane and restricts your extension/whip through the hit. If you swing your arm on a level swing plane, pronation allows more extension/whip through the hit and more on plane level rotary follow through with safer deceleration of the UCL. Now with the level arm swing relative your body, you adjust your body tilt angle to the release angle.

https://www.topvelocity.net/pronation-supports-pitching-velocity-while-preventing-injury/

This is right on. I throw tons of forehands and was FH exclusive on drives for my first few years after switching to DG from Ultimate. The only time I don't fully pronate at follow through is if I am trying to hit a high hyzer line over or around an obstacle. Watch any proficient FHer, their thumb always finishes on the left with palm down or at slight angle(RHFH) when attempting to flip the disc to flat and get a full flight pattern. Wrist rolling is when you actively try to force a disc over during your release resulting in OAT, often because the thrown disc is to stable for your arm speed. So many people learn to FH this way with really over stable discs that will fight out of the OAT and give them a seemingly full flight. This is why learning to FH with neutral or US discs is so important.

 

[etdefender19]

Welcome to the board Doc, but I respectfully disagree and please correct me if I'm wrong and provide sources if possible. The medical journals I've read regarding the biomechanics of baseball pitching and tennis forehand have stated that you should pronate in the follow through. If you supinate in the follow through your arm must finish high which is off plane and restricts your extension/whip through the hit. If you swing your arm on a level swing plane, pronation allows more extension/whip through the hit and more on plane level rotary follow through with safer deceleration of the UCL. Now with the level arm swing relative your body, you adjust your body tilt angle to the release angle.

https://www.topvelocity.net/pronation-supports-pitching-velocity-while-preventing-injury/

I can confirm this is true for me - at least as it relates to my 3/4-slash-sidearm pitching release

 

[BPC2000]

This drill actual helped me quite bit. You snap the disc out of your hand, as high as you can, with the least amount of wobble as possible. It helps me get the muscle memory for on-axis wrist/finger action. It also trains you a bit to avoid wrist roll. The drill uses gravity to mimic the disc lagging behind the loosened wrist/fingers and helps to time the moment you activate them for the snap at the release of the disc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiWvum5p1rg

Something to note.....In the drill the forearm is supinated a little further than in an actual sidearm throw where the disc is more parallel to the ground. Some tweaking is needed to get it to translate to an actual throw where forearm position is concerned. Its more about getting the wrist/finger snap action down for a more on-axis release

 

[BPC2000]

This drill actual helped me quite bit. You snap the disc out of your hand, as high as you can, with the least amount of wobble as possible. It helps me get the muscle memory for on-axis wrist/finger action. It also trains you a bit to avoid wrist roll. The drill uses gravity to mimic the disc lagging behind the loosened wrist/fingers and helps to time the moment you activate them for the snap at the release of the disc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiWvum5p1rg

Something to note.....In the drill the forearm is supinated a little further than in an actual sidearm throw where the disc is more parallel to the ground. Some tweaking is needed to get it to translate to an actual throw where forearm position is concerned. Its more about getting the wrist/finger snap action down for a more on-axis release

I realized after watching the video again that spin is more important than height of the throw.

 

[armiller]

I'm lazy and haven't read everything you guys are saying or referencing about pronation/wrist action. But I do think it can be a bit of a distractor. Wrist flexion is far more important than wrist pronation (or supination). Get that motion down, with the weight shift, and I think a 330'-350' forehand is very reasonable, even from a one step run up.

Maybe it's just me, but one of the main things I've learned with grip is to get the disc such in your hand so that you're engaging your wrist flexors. Lately, I've been happily giving up 30' of distance to gain a lot of consistency by doing a little less of this, (yeah I'm not proud of that one) and getting a smoother motion that also happens to be better for one's body.

For what it's worth, I'm not a guy who's hoping to go pro or even dominate local tournaments. But I do hope I can keep throwing both forehands and backhands for a long time, and have fun on even the most challenging courses. By the way, Nate Sexton's recent forehand video from Infinite is pretty awesome.

I'll also add: I think the pronation and/or wrist roll thing gets a lot of attention because it's a very common, easy-to-make mistake. So I believe many of us have been helped by the "palm to the sky" tip.

 

[UncleBrother2001]

Youtube is great for finding videos to help with form. Back when I first started you had to ask around the course for tips. Now with the wonders of the internet you can find great info and visuals on youtube for help.