Playing varying Elevation

[KDinIN]

So I moved a few years ago, and was playing pretty heavily, but for the last two years haven't played much, but just got back into disc golf this month. Moving from Indiana to Pennsylvania, I find myself playing courses with a whole lot more elevation than I was used to. With that being said, I haven't played too many holes that has a tee box and then an uphill fairway. I had a couple of pretty good pulls today, that went... 75 ft... maybe 100 ft. I took a 6 on a par 3 300 ft hole that was on a steep hillside.

I know in ball golf, when you have an elevated green, you club up, so should I just go ahead and expect to lose distance on these types of holes? How can I keep my some semblance of distance while still climbing the hills?

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

Light glidey understable discs thrown on a hyzer will be a good bet. I like a 150 class teebird for my biggest uphill shots.

 

[sidewinder22]

Throw up by the tilt of your body so your swing plane matches the slope.

 

[DiscFifty]

Uphill throws are the hardest for me. I more than I'd like to...throw it 30ft in the ground ahead of me. I know to use lighter, understable discs, but it's still a tough shot to get any real distance on a regular basis.

 

[zmannz1984]

I have found that imagining I am throwing high to hit a tight window helps a lot on uphill throws. Focus on hitting a spot slight higher up the hill than the basket. Backhand I will usually grab a disc about a speed faster and a good bit less stable than the disc I would throw for the same shot on flat ground.

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

Throw up by the tilt of your body so your swing plane matches the slope.

Just because the ground slopes up doesn't mean you have license to angle your shot up and not have the same crappy result you'd get with the same up-angled shot on level ground. If you keep your flight plane parallel to the ground slope, you're basically throwing high and asking for a quick stall because you're angling up against the line of gravity. Better to aim for your target or, if it's over the slope, the crest of the slope. It's usually a lower angle than following the slope of the ground will give you. I'd also use a disc with 6 Glide as lift gained this way is less detrimental to the flight than getting the disc higher by angling up.

 

[INTP]

Add some overhead throws to your toolbox.
Thumbers and tomahawks are prob the most predictable throws.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Light glidey understable discs thrown on a hyzer will be a good bet. I like a 150 class teebird for my biggest uphill shots.

150 Leos work well for this. I favor 150 Z Storms for this, but sadly, they're OOP.

 

[Shipley]

Throw up by the tilt of your body so your swing plane matches the slope.

^This^

 

[sidewinder22]

Just because the ground slopes up doesn't mean you have license to angle your shot up and not have the same crappy result you'd get with the same up-angled shot on level ground. If you keep your flight plane parallel to the ground slope, you're basically throwing high and asking for a quick stall because you're angling up against the line of gravity. Better to aim for your target or, if it's over the slope, the crest of the slope. It's usually a lower angle than following the slope of the ground will give you. I'd also use a disc with 6 Glide as lift gained this way is less detrimental to the flight than getting the disc higher by angling up.

You don't seem to understand nose angle is relative to its current trajectory. Your "Perfect Wiley E Coyote Acme Airbounce Anti-Gravity Technique" described above is throwing downward into the slope with the nose up creating lift along with drag friction slowing the disc down and you still have gravity working against you trying to reach the same altitude target, unless you are a Sasquatch and magically got rid of gravity.

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

You don't seem to understand nose angle is relative to its current trajectory. Your "Perfect Wiley E Coyote Acme Airbounce Anti-Gravity Technique" described above is throwing downward into the slope with the nose up creating lift along with drag friction slowing the disc down and you still have gravity working against you trying to reach the same altitude target, unless you are a Sasquatch and magically got rid of gravity.

I have no idea how to respond to something like this when you appear to be responding to some post other than mine. Nothing I said even remotely suggested throwing down into the slope or nose up. Your suggestion would have him throwing at a 45 degree angle if that's the angle of the slope, whereas what I said was angle for your target on the slope or the crest of the slope if target is beyond it. That's a much lower angle than following the angle of the slope. Where you're getting the rest of the stuff you responded to...beats the heck out of me.

 

[AmsterdamHeavy]

I have no idea how to respond to something like this when you appear to be responding to some post other than mine. Nothing I said even remotely suggested throwing down into the slope or nose up. Your suggestion would have him throwing at a 45 degree angle if that's the angle of the slope, whereas what I said was angle for your target on the slope or the crest of the slope if target is beyond it. That's a much lower angle than following the angle of the slope. Where you're getting the rest of the stuff you responded to...beats the heck out of me.

I think you 2 are envisioning very different hills in your examples.

 

[armiller]

She causes all kinds of problems on DGCR. We call her Mis Communication.

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

Maybe this will clarify. My entire point was that SW22's recommendation to match the angle of the slope (red line) was probably too steep, and that you should use the lower angle of either a direct line to the target or, if the target is over the crest of the slope, a line to the crest.

 

[ohtobediscing]

I think sidewinder meant it as if you were already on the slope, it which case it perfectly matches what the fat one is describing.

 

[TAFL]

Just because the ground slopes up doesn't mean you have license to angle your shot up and not have the same crappy result you'd get with the same up-angled shot on level ground. If you keep your flight plane parallel to the ground slope, you're basically throwing high and asking for a quick stall because you're angling up against the line of gravity.

Gravity has zilch to do with getting a stall. The stall comes of having the nose up in relation to the plane of travel. You can adjust the plane of travel up by 35 degrees and throw the disc on that plane with the nose down and not get a stall.

If you've angled your throws up hills and gotten stalls, it's because you had the nose up in relation to the plane you were throwing on, not because you angled to throw up the hill.

Now, one can angle to match the terrain as SW said or one can angle enough to throw on a plane that would carry the disc over the top of the basket, as you suggest, and as long as the disc is thrown with the nose down relative to the plane of travel, it'll carry on up the hill without stalling.

 

[TheBeardedFatGuy]

Gravity has zilch to do with getting a stall. The stall comes of having the nose up in relation to the plane of travel. You can adjust the plane of travel up by 35 degrees and throw the disc on that plane with the nose down and not get a stall.

You're correct - I misspoke. What I should have said was that the greater the plane of travel differs from the direction of gravity, the greater the effect of gravity on slowing the disc. In Wikipedia's explanation of stall, it says:

"Stalls in fixed-wing flight are often experienced as a sudden reduction in lift as the pilot increases the wing's angle of attack and exceeds its critical angle of attack (which may be due to slowing down below stall speed in level flight)."

So, if reduced speed can be a factor in causing a stall, then as angling up higher against gravity's pull works to slow the disc, it could also contribute to the disc stalling despite it not being above the critical angle of attack with relation to the plane of travel. Just from personal experience, a disc thrown on a higher angle plane of flight, once slowed sufficiency by fighting gravity plus the usual forces of drag, tends to stall out and head for the ground. This is usually only desirable in a spike hyzer, but then a spike hyzer is probably closer to a ballistic behavior than a pure flight relying more on airfoil behavior.

 

[Dan Ensor]

I think sidewinder meant it as if you were already on the slope, it which case it perfectly matches what the fat one is describing.

I was pretty confused too. I was wondering how he wouldn't hit the hill at an angle less than the incline he's trying to throw up. Makes sense now

If you're throwing uphill, bend your knees and throw something lightweight. Don't try to kill the disc. Just try to put it in a good spot.

 

[sidewinder22]

Just from personal experience, a disc thrown on a higher angle plane of flight, once slowed sufficiency by fighting gravity plus the usual forces of drag, tends to stall out and head for the ground. This is usually only desirable in a spike hyzer, but then a spike hyzer is probably closer to a ballistic behavior than a pure flight relying more on airfoil behavior.

That is your own experience, and you are unfamiliar with a proper distance throw. Most the top distance throwers are trying to throw as high as possible given the current wind speed for the disc to fall through the apex nose down and glide out as far as possible. If you are gaining altitude by burning your thrust on lift then you are not likely to get the nose down through the apex.