Yup. Keeping the elbow tight to your side while rotating your body is "leading with the elbow." It's not quite as noticeable as with backhand, but I think it's more natural to people who have played throwing sports.
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How do you add spin to a forehand throw?
- Thread starter Toddinski
- Start date
Yup. Keeping the elbow tight to your side while rotating your body is "leading with the elbow." It's not quite as noticeable as with backhand, but I think it's more natural to people who have played throwing sports.
RomServo
Eagle Member
With absolutely no intention at all of showing any disrespect to your friend, who im sure throws much farther than me, i have to say that once i ditched my "Happy Gilmore" run up and got more organized and focused on my form i started throwing farther. That video actually looks just like me about 6 weeks ago and cleaning up my form was a significant leap in distance control and fatigue. I still have a 4 step run up which is ergonimic and reliable, but shaving off the other first 4 helped an many areas.
More on topic, your elbow does actually lead in a FH, its just not in your line of sight so it seems less prominent. Any action shot (all the way from a baseball pitcher to Will Schustericks shot of the Sping '16 Discgolfer Magazine Page 14) youll see that in the high speed portion of the swing, the elbow is actually in front of the wrist.
blackcatsmith
Double Eagle Member
Keep your elbow attached to your hip during your weight shift, let your hand lag, as your weight crashes forward your hips will come through pushing your elbow forward. No it's not as exaggerated as in a backhand throw, but it's just as important for at least two reasons: It increases the fulcrums length by the width of one's hips, and it properly positions the hand.
blackcatsmith
Double Eagle Member
Ricky smashed that shot, but he smashes in general. The forehand flip-hyzer is a beautiful thing.
He does that runup on max distance forehands, he can absolutely crush forehand. I have seen him overthrow a 525' hole (laser rangefinder verified 525' to basket). His forehand is one of the best in the world, other pros are in awe of it, it is amazing to see in person. And he's incredibly accurate with it as well. The slow mo part shows very clearly his elbow forward throwing motion, which is why I posted it. I have another youtube video posted of him throwing more of a touch forehand 325'.
What disc was that?
I think it was a champ destroyer but I'll ask him tonight at leagues. He throws the beefiest stuff, he loves champ apes.
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BH does not have an extra arc. It's the same series of arcs in a reversed action, the wrist still "curls" or loads back either direction the difference being it's flexion vs extension. You can get a lot more spin on BH because you can lead with the elbow more and your grip on the disc is about 90 degrees further back which I believe is the main reason.
Typically when we talk about leading with the elbow in BH or FH or any any sport, we are talking about leading the elbow forward of the shoulder line. The elbow leading the wrist is kind of a given, I can't imagine throwing more than 20 feet otherwise. You can also lead too much with the elbow which is a power loading leak. There is no need to keep the elbow tight to your hip either, frankly it hurt when I tried to throw keeping the elbow in and threw much shorter. The elbow should extend forward away from the body whether you bring it through close to the hip or not. Throwing for distance it's much more natural for me to extend the elbow further out from my experience throwing baseballs and footballs in the long toss drill. The only time I tuck the elbow in is on shorter approach shots.
Scott Stokely said:
Leading with the elbow is definitely important, but it won't help if you don't get good snap in your wrist. FH is similar to BH in that way: all of the run-up and lead-in is wasted if you don't have a good clean hit/snap.
In SW's pictures above, you can see that the elbow the wrist is cocked back. This is especially apparent in the DG and baseball pictures. That's setting up for the snap, which occurs when the wrist flexes forward (i.e. goes from extension to flexion). I think that this wrist snap is critical to getting good spin regardless of what grip you use.
Regarding the "elbow glued to hip" advice:
I advocate this as something to think about, although it doesn't literally happen every throw. First of all, it helps to solve a lot of problems during the reach back. A loose elbow can mess up the swing plane of your entire throw. Also, having the elbow near your hip during the reach back naturally helps get your elbow forward. Especially as you add more power the elbow will move away from your hip, but it's still a useful way to think about and set up the throwing motion.
In SW's pictures above, you can see that the elbow the wrist is cocked back. This is especially apparent in the DG and baseball pictures. That's setting up for the snap, which occurs when the wrist flexes forward (i.e. goes from extension to flexion). I think that this wrist snap is critical to getting good spin regardless of what grip you use.
Regarding the "elbow glued to hip" advice:
I advocate this as something to think about, although it doesn't literally happen every throw. First of all, it helps to solve a lot of problems during the reach back. A loose elbow can mess up the swing plane of your entire throw. Also, having the elbow near your hip during the reach back naturally helps get your elbow forward. Especially as you add more power the elbow will move away from your hip, but it's still a useful way to think about and set up the throwing motion.
Do you throw league at Hiestand?
It was actually a champ boss.
Haven't played leagues at Heistand, mostly at Lustig.
Does the thumb have significant role in FH throw, because I never hear anyone talk about it. I've been lost with my FH game for a while now (used to have pretty accurate and OAT free form) and since I have nothing to loose, I've been just experimenting a little bit. From my own experience (which is somewhat limited) more pressure with thumb does not help at all, best option seems to be just to not think about it (whatever feels natural = works the best).
Anyway why I am ranting about this is because I had a chance to watch JK throw FH from close distance and I heard a clear "pop" when the disc released. I was just wondering if this came from his index/middle fingers hitting against the thumb, or what.. I've never had any "pop" in my FH throws.
Anyway why I am ranting about this is because I had a chance to watch JK throw FH from close distance and I heard a clear "pop" when the disc released. I was just wondering if this came from his index/middle fingers hitting against the thumb, or what.. I've never had any "pop" in my FH throws.
slowplastic
* Ace Member *
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SW22 those images are great. I got my arm out farther today and added 20'+ to my FH line drives with less effort. Much more connected feel between my upper arm and torso/hips, as well as a longer lever.
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- Joined
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Something I started drawing a couple of years ago but never got any further, not an artist and couldn't find a way to show the elbow well, ignore the text as well, what this does show is the sudden acceleration caused by pulling through the pivot late -
compare to Backhand
and it should show why backhand has more power potential.
compare to Backhand
RomServo
Eagle Member
^^THAT, is very cool.
DiscGolfMaster
Par Member
I used to only throw FH and could hit 375 - 400 regularly. But in an effort to obtain more distance and better accuracy I switched to BH. For years I neglected my FH and just recently have tried adding it into my play again. I don't have that distance anymore, and my accuracy at distance is a bit off, but I have already seen the benefits of having a FH throw I can count on accurately for up to 300 feet. Only a matter of time till I get my distance back.
My grip is just a one finger under the rim grip, my index finger. Makes a really nice snap! sound when I throw.
My grip is just a one finger under the rim grip, my index finger. Makes a really nice snap! sound when I throw.
A backhand throw is about follow through. A forehand is about the pop. You have to swing like you are trying to pop a rump, and make noise, but no real pain. That sudden stop is where your spin comes alive. Learn to flick slow and under-stable 1st. Folks that only flick high speed super over-stable drivers are hiding form issues with the disc selection. If you can flick your mids and putters without wobble and on a line, you can flick anything. A hyzer flip on a flick is an absolute crush.
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