How far is average with proper technique?

[HyzerUniBomber]

HyzerUniBomber & Slowplastic, I greatly appreciate your advice and help on the matter. I am going to try to practice what y'all have said in the field. Lately I've realized I do not flick my wrist at the end of my throw which is not giving me as much spin as I need. I've been trying to focus on that lately but I do realize when I concentrate on my wrist at the end of the shot I do tend to grip it and go right with it. But all in due time I guess.

Thanks again.

Let the mechanics take care of your wrist. By that I mean, if you're bracing your weight against the plant foot as you're bringing the disc forward into your right pec - the wrist will naturally bend. I don't actively bend the wrist at all. I don't time my release at all because the violence of the ejection will be impossible to hold onto.


If you're putting your body into the right places, you're building an ejection point that will be a struggle to hold onto. If you're "grip locking" most likely you're shoulders are open to early to the target and thus pulling the disc right.

 

[mark996]

I realized something last week that put about 50 more feet on my distance at the local driving range. I was hitting about 325-350 consistently with my drivers. After watching about every HUB video out there, I think I figured something out...stop forcing the damn disc. I was forcing my arm through before my hips activated the pulled things through. After I slowed my arm down, and rotated my hips through and got my footwork solid, I hit 400 for the first time, and shortly after that hit the 425 sign in the air (about a 4 foot sign). Was hella excited to be seeing the discs fly that far. To me, that's awesome distance for golf shots around here.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

I realized something last week that put about 50 more feet on my distance at the local driving range. I was hitting about 325-350 consistently with my drivers. After watching about every HUB video out there, I think I figured something out...stop forcing the damn disc. I was forcing my arm through before my hips activated the pulled things through. After I slowed my arm down, and rotated my hips through and got my footwork solid, I hit 400 for the first time, and shortly after that hit the 425 sign in the air (about a 4 foot sign). Was hella excited to be seeing the discs fly that far. To me, that's awesome distance for golf shots around here.

That's awesome!! Was there something specific that clicked in a video?

And that's awesome distance anywhere.

 

[ohtobediscing]

Meh, 275-300' for the average male who never threw a Frisbee in his life. Fortunately, I started tossing in '67 when I was 8, so my average is nearer 325-350'---decent but prolly as good as I've got 'cause I'm old, and 60+ mph eludes me. Though every now and then I rip a 400' footer...

 

[Vonbeezy1]

It depends on what people consider average.
Someone who is in decent shape and is somewhat athletic- 325/375
Someone who is in good shape and is athletic- 400+/450+
So many variables come into play. A buddy and I taught another buddy to throw farther and with better technique. He has been playing less than a year and he can already throw 400 average in a field and I've seen him push max d about 475. He is athletic but not not a freak of nature (sorry Joe!)

 

[COLODISCR]

I just played my first tournament today and after seeing the advanced players I'd say average max distance is 350-375ft for most (talking repeatable accurate distance here as even I get lucky and get long accidents now and then but can not do it on command).

Lately I have beeb starting to feel like I was not any good because so many people on here claim to bomb 450-500 ft and I can't seem to get that distance even putting a lot of time and effort into it. Now I'm sure a good chunk of guys who claim they drive that far are full of it with the following exceptions.

Guys who do a ton of field work to master the mechanics, guys that have played competitively for several years or the freaks of nature (aka: lucky guys who are the naturals) can surpass the 400ft mark but they seemto be the minority compared to to majority of the DG community. Open pro divisions are probably different with most of them being able to get out past 400 easily but they probably all fall under the above categories.

So, moral of the story is take a lot of the distances with a grain of salt here. There are a few great sources here, that have helped me out a ton in prior threads, like Slowplastic and HyzerUniBomber and a few others that know their stuff and have put in a lot of practice to learn the mechanics and understand them well enough actually hit those longer distances and be able to help all of us. All others may be questionable with few exceptions.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

For those new to this thread, the original question was asking "assuming an average body type, how far will solid form get me?"

There's a world of difference between most adv/am guys and solid form. When I started down the form fixing road , I could throw 350' getting by with just my own made up goofy mechanics. 2 years of regular work I can throw 100' more with no neck issues and substantially better accuracy.

I am about 6' 175lbs - which has some advantages because I'm longer than most. I still think an average build with solid (not world class) form will see 400'.

Younger guys will probably tend to be on the higher, old worn out guys (like Sidewinder) will probably be shorter.

Hahaha!

 

[mark996]

HUB, the Improving Back Hand Distance and Slow Down to Throw Far posts helped me a ton. I read them when they first were published, but for some reason reading them again a while ago seemed to click more. I guess I needed more time to get an understanding a somewhat of a foundation under my belt before implementing the specific work.

I wasn't using my lower body, on my follow through my left leg kicked out, I didn't keep things centered and focused and my weight shift was awful. Plus, slowing things down and holding on to the disc longer to get that hit.

I can watch videos all day long, but being able to sit down and read, re-read things and looking at the pictures, and THEN come here and post in threads and PM you guys has helped a ton.

 

[ash81]

HUB, the Improving Back Hand Distance and Slow Down to Throw Far posts helped me a ton. I read them when they first were published, but for some reason reading them again a while ago seemed to click more. I guess I needed more time to get an understanding a somewhat of a foundation under my belt before implementing the specific work.

I wasn't using my lower body, on my follow through my left leg kicked out, I didn't keep things centered and focused and my weight shift was awful. Plus, slowing things down and holding on to the disc longer to get that hit.

I can watch videos all day long, but being able to sit down and read, re-read things and looking at the pictures, and THEN come here and post in threads and PM you guys has helped a ton.

Funny how this is. I go back to HeavyDisc, SW22 drills, read Slowplastic's posts, hit YouTube...some of those things I've seen many times since the beginning of this year and as recently as TODAY something I've seen over and over just clicked for me. Same thing happened the other day and I hit a new clean distance record. Now if I could just keep repeating it.

 

[Tinkles]

I'd estimate 400 is average with no wind, truly flat, and not measuring skip and roll.

5' of elevation loss can change distance pretty substantially. Wind can really add or subtract. Average ejection speed probably 50-55mph with a driver.

I can only speculate from watching lots of recent tourny footage that he's throwing about 55-57mph. He's tall and masterful with his leverage and angles... but he's not blasting like the full-hitters: Drew Gibson, Wiggins.

I'm fairly certain that he is able to get the angles perfect and squeeze out 410-425'.

This is not consistent with what I have seen, but I may just not spin the disc like a pro or get the nose angle right. I throw 58-62 MPH and consider myself a 400 ft thrower. Based on what I have observed (football field, very little wind, 1000 ft above sea level, using same speed gun as CCDG), around 50 MPH gets you 300 and every MPH beyond gets you about 9 more feet, making 61 MPH around a 400ft throw. This general rule may break at ridiculous speeds over 75 but I would think holds true for mortal arms. I think pros like Nate Sexton who hit low to mid 60s probably throw close to 450 max on a football field, but again I have not measured RPM, so could be off.

I play in a league of around 30 people. If I polled them, half would say they throw 400 feet plus. If I took them to a football field, maybe 3 could hit 400 more than 3 times in 10 throws. I would guess that maybe 5 could hit 350 more than 50% of the time. These are people who play a lot but not necessarily who research form. Based on what I have seen in my limited experience, I think an average Joe with working with someone who understands the fundamentals of building the throw with lower body could be hitting 300-330 on a football field in a few months but every breakthrough after that is small and requires a lot of reps.

 

[Tinkles]

Think of it like this. Paige has amazing form and throws over 400'. The average guy could beat her in an arm wrestle, no training required. If he magically learned her amazing form in an instant, he would out throw her. If he worked on his form for the year and got it as good as hers, he would out throw her. (But I doubt there is any chance he'd beat her in a round still...)

An average male would beat Lexi Thompson arm wrestling and would watch her drive 50 feet passed them. An average male might beat Tim Lincecum arm wrestling and never get within 35 MPH of his throwing velocity.

Perfect form is a moving target and relative to your body type and capabilities. Part of perfect form is athleticism/rhythm/timing and average = average. Top female athletes can and have beaten male professionals. To think that an average male could compete with the top female pro in any category other than attendance is completely mistaken in my opinion.

 

[Tinkles]

2020 LVC round 4 is a good video since it is relatively flat, you can see Double G and Sexton throw:
Hole 1 393' maybe a slight uphill - GG 69 MPH hyzer w/ Invictus that goes about 373'
Hole 2 270' low ceiling shot - GG 55 MPH roc3 low line goes about 255'
Hole 3 270' slight downhill - GG 56 MPH Invictus hyzer goes about 280'
Hole 5 606' slight downhill - GG 71 MPH Emperor hyzer flip guessing about 500'
Hole 7 432' - Sexton 63MPH Destroyer hyzer flip about 415'
Hole 8 427' downhill - GG 61 MPH roc3 on a turnover line 385'
Hole 12 396' - Sexton 58 MPH Thunderbird flat around 350'

These aren't distance competition lines with perfect wind, but I don't think that is what OP or anyone else coming to this thread would want to know regarding an average Joe. These are nice shots where some get very nice golf green skips (sexton on hole 7) and are good examples of what I would consider real throws and achievable distance relative to velocity.

 

[Keller]

bumping a five year old thread? and three timesopcorn:

 

[rocthecourse]

400+ feet.

I still stand by what I said in 2015.

But to add I would say that an average healthy guy should be trying for 350+ feet with a Teebird. You don't even need to have perfect form to do that.

 

[DiscFifty]

This is not consistent with what I have seen, but I may just not spin the disc like a pro or get the nose angle right. I throw 58-62 MPH and consider myself a 400 ft thrower. Based on what I have observed (football field, very little wind, 1000 ft above sea level, using same speed gun as CCDG), around 50 MPH gets you 300 and every MPH beyond gets you about 9 more feet, making 61 MPH around a 400ft throw.

If you don't mind, which model of gun do you have? I need to get one... lol..

I still think a controlled 300ft would be average, even in today's bomber obsessed disc golf world. lol..

 

[Tinkles]

If you don't mind, which model of gun do you have? I need to get one... lol..

I still think a controlled 300ft would be average, even in today's bomber obsessed disc golf world. lol..

I got this one but you can pay $100 less to get the one that does not have the app interface. I wanted the interface so I could try to setup a bay in my basement.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H7SN831/ref=emc_b_5_t

 

[Tinkles]

bumping a five year old thread? and three timesopcorn:

This thread comes up as one of the most recent here with a lot of good discussion when searching the interwebs for this topic. I figured it was good to add my 2 cents here rather than start a new one.

 

[mojorooks]

Here is my approx distances of people I regularly play with:
On a good shot I can forehand my Valkyrie out to max 300. To get that I need to stop and focus on the angle of release. As a newb 2 years ago my max was 250 but my accuracy was ALL over the place.

One buddy can backhand 300 but his accuracy has been lacking lately so it rarely shows.

'Ti Nuke OS FH anny guy' can get 300 as long as he has space and doesn't have to shape a line.

'chucker' 200ft max and wildly inaccurate.

I recently played with a guy. His BH was 200/250 so I consistently outdrove him but his short game DESTROYED me.

 

[Armus Patheticus]

I haven't progressed in distance since the first day I played disc golf. But I haven't got good form and have never attempted to learn it.

I think a natural knack for throwing can be an obstacle sometimes. If you are terrible and your body has no idea what it's doing, it's easy to start at the beginning and learn by formula. But if you're naturally getting good results it's hard to defy your body and learn to get better ones.

 

[BillFleming]

One thing I've learned is to have other people watch your throw/form. I throw my Innova Sidewinder ~250 forehand. I throw my Kastaplast Falk (pretty much the same numbers, just domier) backhand a lot less. With my backhand throws, I'm never sure where the disc is going - a backhand throw may go left, straight, right, or behind me. I would have sworn I was doing everything right. Nope, a better player than me watched me throw some practice shots backhand and gave me advice. I thought I was pointed at my 'target' - the line I wanted the disc to start on. Nope...I was pointed more left of my intended target line. Then I could have sworn I was reaching back and pulling through on my line....nope, I was slightly rounding the throw. Then there were a few other things. In other words, he told me I was close to doing it right, but not close enough where the mistakes weren't noticeable. Now I need to keep practicing what he taught me.

As far as scores go....I learned in ball golf, play to your ability, but practice to improve your ability. I can throw my Sidewinder forehand ~250 feet. So I know that I have the 'ability' to birdie any hole 250 or less. I know that on holes 250 to 500 feet, I have the ability to par them (tee shot-250, second shot-250, I'm parked for a 'tap in' par). However, for me, my 'ability' isn't always accurate/consistent enough and my main course 'punishes' you for being a bit off - trees, bushes, lots of rocks.

Form is a large part of distance. Don't start with a walk/run up. Start with a stand-still until you have your form down and then add the walk/run-up to get more distance.