Form & Technique

The Reach Back

Extend fully to create the distance your throw travels.

Why it matters

The reach back sets the length of the path the disc accelerates over, but more importantly it sets the LINE. A reach back that drifts out behind you makes rounding inevitable, because the arm has to come back in before it can go forward — and no amount of work on the pull fixes a bad start to it.

How to do it

Reach straight back along the line you want the disc to travel, not out to the side.
Keep the disc level with your shoulder. Dropping it low or lifting it high changes the release angle before you have even started.
Keep the disc flat, matching the angle you intend to release at.
Let the shoulders turn away with the arm rather than the arm stretching away from a still body.
Finish the reach back before the forward move starts. Smooth and complete beats long and rushed.

Common mistakes

Reaching back and around, so the disc ends up behind your back rather than behind your shoulder.Imagine a rail along your target line and keep the disc on it. Everything you want from a throw starts with this path being straight.

Letting the disc drop toward the ground at the back of the reach.Level with the shoulder. A dropped reach back comes through nose-up, which is why the throw balloons.

Over-reaching until balance goes.Reach as far as you can while still being able to stop. Extra inches bought with balance cost more than they pay.

Starting forward while still reaching back, so the two moves overlap.Complete one, then the other. Rushing them together is what makes a throw feel frantic and come out short.

Key points

Reach straight back along your target line.
Keep the disc level with your shoulders.
A full, smooth reach beats a short, rushed one.

The drill

Drill · On the rail — 15 slow reps at half speed, then 10 throws. Stand beside a fence line, a path edge or a line of discs on the ground running toward your target. Do fifteen reach-backs at half speed watching the disc stay on that line, then throw ten. The slow reps are the point — at full speed you cannot feel where the disc went.

Watch: The Disc Golf "Reach Back" Explained... — Overthrow Disc Golf