Approach & Upshots

Touch Approaches

Soft, floaty shots that land dead and stay put.

Why it matters

The approach that finishes nearest is usually not the one thrown hardest at the basket — it is the one that lands dead and stays. A disc that arrives flat and slow stops where it lands; one that arrives fast skips, and a skip past the basket turns a 15-foot putt into a 40-foot one.

How to do it

Use a putter or a midrange. Their slow speed is exactly what makes them land softly.
Throw with easy, smooth power — this is a shot where effort actively hurts.
Let the disc arrive slightly nose-up so it stalls and falls rather than driving forward. This is the one shot where nose-up is correct.
Throw it on a line that lands beyond the basket only if the ground behind is safe. Otherwise land it short and let it finish.
Watch the ground. Wet grass stops a disc dead; hard-packed dirt sends it another 20 feet.

Common mistakes

Throwing hard and relying on the basket to stop the disc.Baskets reject far more than they catch. Throw to land, not to hit.

Using a driver, which arrives fast and skips.Slowest disc that reaches. The whole point of the shot is a soft arrival.

Ignoring the ground conditions.Look at where it will land before you choose the shot. The same throw finishes 20 feet apart on wet and dry ground.

Key points

Throw a putter or mid with easy power and nose up slightly.
Aim to land soft — not to skip past the basket.

The drill

Drill · Land it dead — 20 approaches from 100 ft, scoring where it STOPS. Twenty throws from 100 feet, and measure where each disc comes to rest rather than where it lands. Count how many finish inside 15 feet. You will find the soft, floaty ones win comfortably over the ones thrown at the chains, which is the lesson and is surprisingly hard to believe until you have counted.

Watch: How to Throw Touch Shots in Disc Golf (Instantly Increase Your Rating) — Gannon Buhr