Form & Technique

Stance Fundamentals

Build a stable, athletic base to throw from.

Why it matters

Your stance is everything upstream of the arm. If the base is unstable you cannot brace, and if you cannot brace, the energy you generate goes into moving your own body around rather than into the disc. This is why some players with modest arms outdrive stronger ones: they are standing on something solid.

How to do it

Set your feet about shoulder width or a little wider, side-on to the target, with your throwing shoulder pointing where the disc is going.
Start with your weight loaded on the back leg, knee soft rather than locked.
Keep your chest turned away from the target as you reach back. Opening it early is how power leaks.
Plant the front foot deliberately, with the toe pointing down the target line or slightly across it.
Keep the knees bent through the throw. Standing up mid-throw is the quiet killer of distance.

Common mistakes

Feet too close together, which leaves nothing to brace against.Widen until you feel you could be shoved and not move. That is the base a throw is built on.

Standing tall with straight legs.Soft knees at setup and through the throw. A straight leg cannot absorb or redirect anything.

Opening the chest toward the target before the pull begins.Stay closed until the front foot has planted. The chest opening IS the throw; doing it early means doing it with nothing left.

Weight already on the front foot before the arm starts.Load back, then move forward. If you start forward there is no transfer to make.

Key points

Feet shoulder-width, weight balanced.
Line your lead foot toward your target line.
Stay loaded on the back foot before you pull.

The drill

Drill · Plant and hold — 20 stand-still throws, holding the finish for 2 seconds. Throw from a standstill and freeze when the disc leaves, holding your finish for a slow count of two. If you cannot hold it, you were off balance during the throw and the disc knows. This finds the fault faster than any amount of watching video of yourself.

Watch: BEST ADVICE for Disc Golf Beginners — Ready Set Throw!