The Roller

[Phil Esra]

In my limited experience, I have found rollers to be really touchy. They usually curl sharply one way or the other on the ground before covering much distance, but even when they travel straight for a while, they often finish with an unwanted curl. Any tips? Is this an inherently tricky shot, or do I just need more practice? It would be awfully handy at my local course if perfected.

 

[dontBLAMEtheDISC]

Practice practice practice. I throw rollers quite a bit just for fun sometimes and I still mess up.
As for the curl that's something you will have to take in account before the throw.

 

[brandocommando9]

It's just like an air shot practice it and you will learn how your discs behave rolling on the ground and your shots will become more consistent.

 

[texhop58]

I had never broke one out during a tourney because of being worried about results. Well after several weeks of perfecting the shot with several park birdies I broke it out. Guess what. It curled the wrong way. Don't know if I caught a rock or something by every thing until the curve seemed right. Oh well. I came back and saved par.

 

[Consult20]

In my limited experience, I have found rollers to be really touchy. They usually curl sharply one way or the other on the ground before covering much distance, but even when they travel straight for a while, they often finish with an unwanted curl. Any tips? Is this an inherently tricky shot, or do I just need more practice? It would be awfully handy at my local course if perfected.

Are you using understable / flippy discs?

 

[DiscFifty]

Speaking of rollers, anyone have a link to a really good roller tutorial from the ground up? Thx.

 

[grotto]

The only time I throw distance rollers is if I have a lot of room. In my experience, out of the box flippy discs are easiest to start rolling but harder to keep rolling straight (think of how they fly in the air, too much and you turn them over). My straightest rollers are a beat Gazelle and a Pro Starfire-L.

A good shot to learn, but even the pros can't control them, never know what rock or root it's going to hit and where it gets deflected to. Watched a recent tourney video where all four pros threw a roller on one hole and only one didn't end up in the sh!t.

 

[roggenb3]

The way to get a really long, really straight roller that doesn't curl too much is to throw something really overstable. I use O-Laces for distance rollers.

Rollers are key, but you gotta know when to not use them. I really love throwing rollers, but I often throw them in stupid situations simply because they are fun.

 

[kenjiac]

In my limited experience, I have found rollers to be really touchy. They usually curl sharply one way or the other on the ground before covering much distance, but even when they travel straight for a while, they often finish with an unwanted curl. Any tips? Is this an inherently tricky shot, or do I just need more practice? It would be awfully handy at my local course if perfected.

Account for the curl at the end. I don't throw flicks off the tee well but I can put down a mean roller. So when I need a shot that has that hard finish to the right if the ground is not totally rocky or very uneven I throw a roller. I use a star sidewinder for most rollers then disc down for shorter distances going to a leopard then down to a stingray for the really short ones.

 

[JSurmann]

I use an unLace as my roller disc but have also used a beat F7 as well. I usually throw it flat and low and have it hit the ground about 150-200' away from the tee. I've thrown a few in tourneys, hardly any with good results but they are quite fun when they just go for days.

 

[Pbmercil]

Rollers are finicky by nature. Its always a relatively high risk shot, best saved for situations where if it goes wrong the consequences are minimal.

More under-stable discs are easy to get on the ground and rolling, but harder to control after that. More stable discs are harder to get rolling, but behave more predictably on the ground. So it's a balance/preference thing. I like discs with some turn but not so flippy I can't or don't throw air shots with them too.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Speaking of rollers, anyone have a link to a really good roller tutorial from the ground up? Thx.

This video holds up pretty well.

A 2015 version would be nice.

 

[disctildeath]

This video holds up pretty well.

A 2015 version would be nice.

Yeah I never really knew about thumb rollers until seeing this video a few years back, Greenwell does a great job on a variety of shots on this one.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Distance rollers are much more disc/angle specific vs approaches too. Rolling for max D is different from trying to shape a shot with a roller.. Same as in the air.

 

[DanJon]

The best discs for long range rollers are beat up stable/overstable.

If you put them down at the right angle, they will stand up slowly and roll in a straighter line for a lot longer than an understable disc.

 

[Phil Esra]

Cool, thanks all. I've been using very under stable discs--I'll experiment with some less flippy ones.

By the way, is a "cut roller" any roller that curls hard in the fade direction? Just a terminology q.

 

[Pbmercil]

Cool, thanks all. I've been using very under stable discs--I'll experiment with some less flippy ones.

By the way, is a "cut roller" any roller that curls hard in the fade direction? Just a terminology q.

A cut roller finishes without falling onto the flight plate. So for a rhbh roller it will finish to the left. If you are rolling for distance or for a left to right finish you want the disc to fall onto the flight plate.

More stable discs generally need to be thrown higher, with more anhyzer, and need to stay in the air longer to hit the ground at the right angle to roll well.

 

[Major Tomahawk]

Greenwell's the only one that I know that throws a thumber roller with his 200 g Condor. He also gave me a good pointer one time on backhand rollers. His tip to me that works very well was: During the run-up, put your back to the target you are aiming for. Works for me.

 

[lasasj]

Account for the curl at the end. I don't throw flicks off the tee well but I can put down a mean roller. So when I need a shot that has that hard finish to the right if the ground is not totally rocky or very uneven I throw a roller. I use a star sidewinder for most rollers then disc down for shorter distances going to a leopard then down to a stingray for the really short ones.

I think Kenji throws more roller shots than I throw backhand shots. :thmbup:

 

[greg_b_4]

I think most replies on this post are making things pretty confusing for people who don't know better. There is a significant difference in what kind of discs to use for either a back hand roller or a forehand roller. For backhand roller I use a flippy or beat in disc like a sidewinder, for forehand roller I use something over stable like a firebird.