Forehand / Sidearm

Forehand Distance

Add effortless power to your flick.

Why it matters

Most players’ forehands top out well short of their backhands, and conclude the forehand is simply a shorter throw. It is not — it is a throw they are making with their arm. Forehand distance comes from exactly the same chain as backhand distance, and the players who throw both a long way are using their legs for both.

How to do it

Use a run-up or at least a crow hop. The forehand benefits from momentum just as much as the backhand does.
Load the back leg, drive the hips, plant and brace. The lower half does not know which throw you are making.
Let the disc trail further behind the hand than feels natural. The longer the trail, the more the wrist loads.
Snap late and hard. Everything before the snap is set-up; the snap is where distance actually appears.
Keep the disc flat or very slightly hyzer. Forehands lose more distance to a turned-over release than to anything else.

Common mistakes

Adding effort in the arm and shoulder.That produces a faster arm and no more spin, so the disc flies badly and not far. The legs are where the distance is.

Throwing an understable disc for extra distance, which turns over and rolls.Forehands need more stable discs than backhands at the same power, because the snap puts a lot of spin on. Go more overstable than feels right.

Short-arming it — releasing close to the body to keep control.Extend out front. Distance and accuracy both live in the extension.

Working on forehand distance before the motion is clean.A wobbling forehand does not get longer with power, it gets worse. Clean first, then long.

Key points

Use your legs and rotation, not just the arm.
Let the disc trail, then whip it with wrist snap.

The drill

Drill · Crow hop and brace — 20 forehands with a crow hop, 20 without, same disc. Twenty with a crow hop and twenty standstill, same disc, same target, and pace both groups. If the crow-hop group is not clearly longer, your lower half is not involved in the throw — which is the finding, and it is the thing to work on before anything else.

Watch: How To Throw EFFORTLESS Power Forehands | Grip, Wrist, Release Angle, Disc Selection, Plant Foot — IceBerg TV