If You Grew up Throwing a Regular Frisbee…

I don’t throw a backhand in the style of most professional disc golfers. And I’m not talking about distance, or trajectory. I just mean that I don’t reach back and pull through in the “proper” motion.

I grew up throwing frisbees in the 1980s. Back then, the best frisbee we could hope to use was something like the modern 175-gram ultimate frisbee. Very often, though, it was a lighter-weight frisbee. Or a poorly made one.

The point is, I grew up throwing backhands with an ultimate frisbee. But the flight profile of an ultimate disc is very different from that of a golf disc.

In modern terminology, we’d say that an ultimate frisbee is very understable. To throw a level or “straight” backhand with an ultimate disc, you need to really slice it. Meaning, you have to throw it with a strong “hyzer” angle. And even with that heavy hyzer angle, an ultimate disc will still level off and fly relatively straight.

An ultimate disc also requires a bit of a nose-up delivery.

All of that conflicts tremendously with the backhand technique used in disc golf. If you try to hurl a golf disc in the same manner as an ultimate disc, it will simply slice off and fade out.

Essentially, the two techniques are different.

The problem for me when I started playing disc golf was that I had decades of ultimate frisbee throwing imprinted in my muscle memory. It took a lot of adjustment for me to start grasping the difference—and find a way to really launch a golf disc backhand.

The result—so far—has been my own sort of hybrid backhand. No doubt, I’m losing some distance from not fully “pulling through.” Instead, I still have a certain amount of “rounding.” So, I’m not fully throwing with the “modern” backhand technique. But realistically, I just can’t quite make the transition.

The thing is, I want some kind of consistent, reproducible backhand—something I can do reliably, and with some competence. So I continue to use my old-school backhand.

The problem with “rounding,” however, is that you can occasionally pull the disc hard to the right (if you’re a right-handed player.) It’s similar to “grip lock”—when the disc gets stuck in your hand at the moment of release.

The most famous/infamous example of rounding (or grip lock)—or both—is the “What the f—-, Richard” clip on YouTube. The “Richard” in question pulls his shot very far to the right.

No one wants to pull the disc hard to the right (in a right-handed player’s backhand). But it happens. And if you suffer from “rounding” in your throw, you’re more likely to pull it.

That kind of rounding primarily happens to players who throw a backhand in the mode of an ultimate frisbee. It’s the wide-arm throwing style I noted above. It works for an ultimate disc, but it can be an impediment in disc golf. (That’s why, in disc golf, it’s important to envision the forward line toward the target, and plant the front foot in that direction, to establish a “brake” against rounding.)

Ironically, when I recently had a frisbee catch with some friends—and used a regular ultimate disc—I kept hooking my backhand. I had gotten so accustomed to the stability of golf discs that I had forgotten how an ultimate disc handles. It took a few throws to readjust.

When I first started playing disc golf, a friend gave me some advice: “It’s all a process. Don’t judge yourself on the errors. Remember that you’re working toward something.”

That’s easier said than done. We all want to throw a perfect shot every time. And so I keep working on my backhand…