A few weeks back I posted that my mid ranges were flying as far as my drivers. Blake T suggested that I may have to throw with a more nose down trajectory. Last night I was practicing on a football field and could see the top of the disc on all throws. I experimented quite a bit. I use a power grip with the disc tucking in the crease under the pad of my thumb. I tried moving the disc edge up onto the pad closer to the 2nd knuckle. No luck...grip strength suffered. Tried cocking my wrist down moreso to the point that I was getting flutter. No luck... mechanics suffered.

I'm not sure if the answer is in my grip, but that seemed the most logical to me. So what should I experiment with and concentrate on to throw my disc nose down?

The things I watch for in my grip to keep the nose down are that my thumb isn't pointed twards the center of the disc (I try and keep it so it's just outside the edge of the wing) and that my wrist is cocked down slightly more than it would be if I were shanking hands.

For my arm motion, I try and pull across my chest, parallel with the ground. After doing all of the work to get the nose down I sometimes find that I pull across my shoulders from time to time and get wormburners, so I make sure to think about that before I throw, too.

I tuck the disc's outer edge between the boney prominences of my first (index) and second (middle) fingers on my palm...then I wrap my fingers into the power grip.
Look at your palm...just prior to where your fingers/digits begin is the edge of your palm...your 'pre'-fingers if you will. Feel the gap here and put the disc's edge in between...then make your grip.
This grip was shown to me by one of the farthest throwers I've ever known...

pinkie-side of palm / / /*/thumb-side of palm of right hand * is where to insert the disc's edge

Hope this helps!

In order for me to avoid nose up trajectory I try to do a couple things:

1) Keep my elbow up so my forearm stays parallel with the ground.

2) Pull straight across my chest. Any kind of sweeping motion will pull the disc upwards and cause it to stall out.

3) Keep my weight shifted forward. This is most easily accomplished with a strong follow-through. If my follow through is weak, I tend to hold my body back a little bit and my chest doesn't flare forward. I think this makes me throw the disc too high and I lose crucial distance and accuracy.

It may be more of keeping the disc in close and keeping my weight forward than problems with my grip. Thanks for the advice. I'll have to get out there and practice some more. When you get into the mechanics of long distance throwing it really is as complex as ball golf. It's hard to put everything together on the same throw.

Yeah your grip is probably the least of your worries. Nose up throws tend to be a problem of throwing technique rather than grip.

I most definitely agree with the other advice given here concerning weight distribution, follow through, etc... The grip I described above 'does' re-orient the disc in a more nose-down fashion...compared to just putting the edge of the disc into one's palm crease.
.02 YMMV

Concentrate on starting chest high and releasing chest high, you want a flat throw to start with as a foundation for all other throws ( not calling you uber noober just helping for what was asked). Also try to have an equal ammount of velocity as there is snap. I see some guys with no arm speed(velocity) who get too much snap. Other people get to much arm speed and not enough snap. I'm not saying you want to hear your wrist crack, Just get good snap with arm speed. I guess the best thing you can do for starters is get a light disc and experiment, when you get what you want practice it.

Velocity = Snap ;) make sure equal

I've always been confused as to what people mean when they say nose down. I know that nose up throws fly higher and usually stall out (airbounce). When I throw a throw that is literally nose down, It usually flys into the ground about 250' away, so I don't think this is going to get me more distance.

SO, does nose down a throw that flys up high early and then flattens out completely? I throw these every once in a while, mostly with midranges and putters, but it would be nice to know what a nose down shot really is!

circle_2:

No idea what you are describing. I have no 'bony prominences' on any of my fingers.
Help? :confused:

I think he is refering to the knuckle pads on your palm, blarg. The grip he is describing puts the rim of the disc in between the pad of your pointer finger and the pad of your middle finger. He isn't refering to fingers except as orientation points on the palm.

I've always been confused as to what people mean when they say nose down. I know that nose up throws fly higher and usually stall out (airbounce). When I throw a throw that is literally nose down, It usually flys into the ground about 250' away, so I don't think this is going to get me more distance.

SO, does nose down a throw that flys up high early and then flattens out completely? I throw these every once in a while, mostly with midranges and putters, but it would be nice to know what a nose down shot really is!



It just means that the "nose" of the disc is angled downward compared to the direction it's flying. So if you throw the disc parallel with the ground, the nose will be angled downward. If you throw the disc at an upward angle, the disc may be parallel with the ground and still be "nose down."

IP, thank you for the excellent synopsis...which made what I had to say a whole helluva lot easier to comprehend! :cool:
Doc

I can throw a CE Valkyrie or a Beast or any other driver with its nose down, 4 feet off the ground, more than 300 feet. However, no matter how hard I try, I cannot keep the nose down on a Flash or an Orc. Does anyone else have this problem?

I've run into this too. I think its because of the huge wing. I think you just have to grip them differently. No prob for me though...i throw X-Predators!!