Driving & Distance

Nose Angle & Release

Throw nose-down for more distance and glide.

Why it matters

Nose angle is the most expensive thing most players get wrong and the hardest to see. It is the angle of the disc’s leading edge relative to the direction it is travelling — not relative to the ground — and a few degrees nose-up turns a disc into a parachute that climbs, stalls and falls out of the sky well short.

How to do it

1. Keep the front edge slightly below the flight path at release. Slightly down, not dramatically.
2. Reach back level rather than low. A reach back that dips makes the disc come through rising, which is nose-up by definition.
3. Keep the wrist flat through the power pocket — a wrist that curls up tilts the nose up with it.
4. Watch the first thirty feet of flight. A nose-up throw climbs and loses speed visibly; a nose-down one tracks flat and holds.
5. Pull on a slightly rising line through the body while keeping the nose down. These are different things and confusing them is the usual trap.

Common mistakes

Key points

• A nose-up release stalls and dumps distance.
• Pull low-to-high and keep the front edge slightly down.

The drill

Drill · Watch the first thirty feet — 20 throws, judging only the first 30 ft of flight. Throw twenty and ignore where each lands entirely. Watch only whether the disc climbs in the first thirty feet or tracks flat. Climbing is nose-up. When twenty out of twenty track flat, the distance has already arrived without you looking for it.

Watch: How to Fix Your Nose Angle (and Throw the Disc FARTHER) — Armory Disc Golf

Further reading

• How to Throw Backhands... Really Far — Innova Discs
• Episode #27 of Down The Fairway. A couple tips on how to get more distance off the Tee. — Paul Ulibarri
• How To Throw Flat Backhands Every Time — Scott Stokely

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