Yeah, I can definitely feel it in my elbow after a few attempts at longer throws. Same thing happens overhand. I've seen some videos of forehand shots and it definitely looks like the way you describe. It's like the elbow is glued to the hip and it looks like there's hardly any motion at all, but the thing flies far.
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Forehand throws must suck
- Thread starter Johnnytothec
- Start date
Funbags
Newbie
Biggest tips I can give on throwing forehand are....
Less is more. Keep it tight, compact, and fast. On drives, I take a 3 step approach. IF, I have to make a forehand approach shot, I do it standstill. Although, my approach shots are almost always backhand. I only throw forehand on drives.
Keeping the forearm parallel to the ground is the most important thing to me.
Don't do it if it hurts your arm. I can throw all day and I feel no side affects. I know it's not the same with other people. Everybody's different.
Some pics of my grip
Less is more. Keep it tight, compact, and fast. On drives, I take a 3 step approach. IF, I have to make a forehand approach shot, I do it standstill. Although, my approach shots are almost always backhand. I only throw forehand on drives.
Keeping the forearm parallel to the ground is the most important thing to me.
Don't do it if it hurts your arm. I can throw all day and I feel no side affects. I know it's not the same with other people. Everybody's different.
Some pics of my grip
presidio hills
Eagle Member
i think there's no question it's an advantage to be able to throw both forehand and backhand. a lot of pros probably have decent forehands and can pull it out if need be... but it's just not at the level of their backhand. people that can bomb it both ways have a big advantage! just like there's situations where a backhand anhyzer is a better line than a flick... a flick anny can be a better line than a backhand hyzer.
Funbags
Newbie
Throwing BH drives, I can only get about 80% of the distance I can get with FH. Not to mention, way, way, way worse accuracy backhand. I think sometimes though when I'm driving BH, I try to rip too hard, whereas, my FH form is smooth
kmanoni
Bogey Member
CJ1998 said:
I have a pretty nice flick. effortlessly, with no run up, just a weight shift, and almost no backswing i can flick a sidewinder straight as an arrow 300 ft <not every time> and i can flick a destroyer with an s-curve over 350.
my question is ... Can you describe this "massive hip turn" better.
i have a baseball background. i have always been a contact / control hitter, going up the middle with little power.
how do you set up?
do you have a run up? or a 1 step ?
do you start with your shoulders lining up in a straight line to your target <basket> and then finish with your chest pointing at the target? ... thus opening your hips and rotating your torso.
BTW ... one of the best tips i have read on the forehand flick is:
"What you want is a snap that turns the inside part of your wrist up (supination for you logophiles), as if were scooping water into your palm from an open container. " - taken from the Throwing Sidearm article by Conrad Damon
CJ1998 said:
I didn't say that, Kmanoni. Something must have happened when you quoted Beetard. I did take that advice to heart. I'm starting to see some improvement. I think the main thing about hip explosion is footwork and timing. If you open your hips too soon, you lose power.
Steady 26542
Double Eagle Member
I notice that your thumb is barely on the disc. Why is that? My biggest issue is that the disc wobbles when it leaves my hand. Kind of like OAT I assume. But I can't seem to find a way to make it come out smoother. I wonder if the grip has something to do with it.
JR
* Ace Member *
Steady 26542 said:
If your fingers don't separate from the disc and each other cleanly meaning fast enough the rim of the disc could drag along the hand and fingers making the disc wobble. A way to find out is to use no reach back and just flick forwards fast with the wrist. That assumes that you can generate enough speed for the disc to fly as it's supposed to. So a mid might be quite revealing. Since you're with millennium a QMS is slow enough and isn't that high speed overstable to mask OAT.
Steady 26542
Double Eagle Member
JR said:
I'll try that. One thing I've noticed is that if I stand still and throw a driver it doesn't wobble as much as when I do a 3 step run up and try to throw it hard. Thanks!
I have tried to throw forehand several times ,and I just can't make it work. I finally just started throwing Stingrays and Stratus's for my right turning shots. Then one day at the practice field I discovered my beat DX Viking will turn right with no effort at all and glide for quite a while. I use it for all my anny shots now and it works great.
Steady 26542
Double Eagle Member
JR said:
I tried the QMS standing still and just flicking it. It flipped over and crashed. So I tried flicking it quicker and it started to go better. I really worked on flicking it faster and that helped. But what really made a difference was the grip. I noticed in the one picture that the thumb was barely on the disc. I tried that and the disc came out smoother with less wobble. What seemed to work the best for me was to kind of kink the thumb and lay it on its side near the edge of the disc. It felt very weird but the disc came out the smoothest. I'll try to take a picture of it sometime and post it. I'd say I'm almost gripping the disc with my first knuckle of the thumb instead of the tip. It's hard to describe so a picture will help.
Thanks for the pictures Funbags!!
MDR_3000
Eagle Member
Mark,
If you're trying to flick a QMS, flick is with the nose up a bit...flicking a midrange isn't like flicking a driver.
If you're trying to flick a QMS, flick is with the nose up a bit...flicking a midrange isn't like flicking a driver.
ill4mation
Eagle Member
I used to be able to flick really well. what worked for me was a hyzer flip. Try something less stable and learn to make it flip up flat and then go from there. Once you can hyzer flip a sidearm then you are ready for a more stable disc....
Just my .02
Just my .02
JR
* Ace Member *
Steady 26542 said:
I've never tried touching the disc with the right side of the thumb while forehanding. An interesting experiment. On the other hand I've gotten wobble free flight with the disc in the bottom of the crevasse between the thumb and hand. With thumb touching the top of the disc all along the way.
My way is susceptible to impure release with too hard grips elsewhere than finger tips. And loses some power and possible spin rate loss vs having the disc closer to the tips of the fingers. What it gains is better repeatability and no chance of slipping early even in the dead of winter.
Considering you got better results by having very little finger contact to the disc it's very possible that you didn't previously have a clean release. I don't know how you positioned the disc in your hand and fingers previously. That may be a cause to wobbling. Also grip strength in wrong places like away from finger tips may extremely easily cause drag and OAT on a disc.
The good news is the quick visible results from quicker wrist flick. That's great news actually. The quicker you can flick the wrist the more accurate, longer and straighter the throws will be with lesser chance of a turn and burn. The distance you can throw is limited by the amount of spin you can put on the disc and that's coming from the wrist flick. Considering your age it's great news that did get an increase in the flick! That's cause for celebration seriously. Congratulations!!!
sweeper
Eagle Member
I throw both BH and FH. I use the FH mostly as a finesse shot on anything that goes L to R up to about 280' or so. I am also developing a FH roller for certain long downhill holes. I really think FH is a huge help to my game.
Please be careful when throwing FH. You can hurt your elbow. I play a lot of rec level softball (3rd base) so I got used to the motion that way. If you start to feel discomfort STOP! Figure out what you are doing wrong and fix it.
A
Please be careful when throwing FH. You can hurt your elbow. I play a lot of rec level softball (3rd base) so I got used to the motion that way. If you start to feel discomfort STOP! Figure out what you are doing wrong and fix it.
A
I agree with sweeper here. I've played some rec level softball and some baseball growing up as well. When that elbow pain starts to show up it's mainly because of short-arming. It also means you should lay off of throwing that way for a while. Same thing goes for overhand shots.
Steady 26542
Double Eagle Member
MDR_3000 said:
Thanks Mike. Flicking a mid WAS much different than a driver. I doubt I'll ever use a mid flick shot but it did show how much wobble I had. I really only use the flick to go L to R. (Duh...) But it sure would be nice to throw as far FH as BH.
Which for me really isn't saying much... 
Beetard
Double Eagle Member
Forehand throws suck real bad. Especially for long holes that are way downhill, but the teepad is on top of the hill on flat ground. It's much easier to get the needed downward trajectory by flicking the disc.
Steady 26542
Double Eagle Member
JR, I used to grip the disc with my thumb more on the flight plate than the edge of the disc. That had to add to the wobble. As soon as I moved it toward the rim I had far less wobble and more D. Mark Ellis told me to continue working at it and that I should continue to improve over the next few years. I am looking forward to that! :lol:
JR
* Ace Member *
Steady 26542 said:
I keep the thumb on top of my index finger that is on the inside rim so the tip of my thumb lays on the flight plate. But only the tip.
I just had an idea that may totally not work. I haven't tried it yet. The background to this idea was typing my latest post to this thread before this one and comparing your grip to mine with a Z Predator. My grip done in slo mo not throwing (being indoors) certainly dragged along the left side of the index finger and the base of it. With top not sliding friction free under the thumb. I don't feel and see wobble with a real throw with drivers.
I think the same happens with my grip as is described in the articles (grip it to rip it I think don't remember off the top of my head). Holding on to the disc for as long as possible not being grip locked to the left RHFH my throws have so much wrist flick acceleration that once the disc _rips_ (not slides out of the hand and fingers) it forces the index and thumb apart so quickly that what little drag there is from the base of the index finger doesn't destabilize and add enough OAT to be visible with drivers.
Too little forehanding of mids and putters to swear that I'm totally OAT free. I've seen no wobble and minimally gyrating mid throws but when I flick a mid it's strictly an approach done with instinct without going brainiac calculating zillion things so I don't concentrate and use a pre flight check list as I do with BH drives. I don't see wobble with my forehand drives with drivers. That makes me think that perhaps grips differ for disc to fingers drag based on the profile of the disc. If so perhaps with real throws drivers just come more cleanly off the hand than mids.
I think that acceleration plays the biggest part in a clean release. The quicker the wrist flick the more the fingers are separated by the disc in distance and the time it takes for the fingers to return to so tight that they would add drag to the disc. Quick flick may very well allow the disc to be out of reach of the fingers before they become a nuisance by hitting each other after the disc is already gone.
I'd like to know if you can throw with no wobble with drivers now that you have a quicker wrist flick. And if you can maintain as quick a wrist flick as with mids with fairway drivers and are Orions as easy as your fairway drivers?
The idea I got is to not lay the thumb on top of the disc like many do. I have an inkling I've seen this done by someone with forehand grip but can't remember who. Don't know if you did this.
Instead of laying the thumb flat on top of the disc you can do to forehand grip what Avery Jenkins does to backhand. With the thumb pushing with the tip down towards the top of the flight plate -works fine with me for grip. No bottom of the thumb to the flight plate contact for less drag.
I use my middle finger on the rim and index curled behind it. The tip of my thumb is very easy to lay on top of my index finger tip pinching the flight plate directly between those fingers. Makes a tighter grip and prevents slips. I think some kind of medium positioning between my Stokely adopted grip with the disc at the seam of the thumb and index finger base and your finger tip version can be reached for the best of both worlds with this addition to my style.
Good power without the danger of ever slipping out sounds tempting. Gotta try this out ASAP. Thanks for inspiring me to dig my memory for something to rip off off somebody
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