Form & Technique

Roller Shots

Turn a throw into a rolling shot for distance and obstacles.

Why it matters

A roller gets under a low ceiling, around a corner nothing flies around, and on firm flat ground it can travel further than anything you throw in the air. It is also the shot most people never learn, which means it quietly costs them a stroke on the same two holes every time they play their home course.

How to do it

Use an understable disc. An overstable one will not turn over into the roll, which is most of the battle.
Release on a steep anhyzer — far steeper than feels sensible, often close to vertical for a cut roller.
Release with a downward angle so the disc meets the ground on its edge and stands up rather than landing flat.
Aim at the patch of ground where you want the roll to begin, not at the basket.
Expect the disc to roll in the direction it is leaning and to fall that way as it slows — usually to the right for a right-handed backhand roller.

Common mistakes

Using a stable or overstable disc.Pick the most understable, most worn disc in your bag. Rollers are the one place a beaten-up disc is the right tool.

Too flat an angle, so the disc skips and lands on its back.Steeper than you think. A roller that fails usually failed because the angle was timid.

Throwing a roller into long grass or soft ground.Rollers need firm, short ground. In the rough they stop dead and you have wasted a throw on a shot that was never available.

Aiming at the target rather than at the landing point.The roll is most of the distance. Plan where it touches down and which way it will curve from there.

Key points

Use an understable disc on steep anhyzer.
Release with a downward angle to plant the roller.
Aim where the disc lands, not where it flies.

The drill

Drill · Find the angle — 15 rollers on firm open ground. Fifteen rollers in a field with no target at all, varying only the steepness of the release. You are looking for the angle at which the disc stands up cleanly and runs rather than skipping or falling over. Once you have found it, it is repeatable — and this is a shot that stays learned.

Watch: How to Throw Rollers in Disc Golf — Gannon Buhr