The Best Disc Golf Driving Tips

Disc golf has taken the United States by storm in the past few years!  It has quickly increased in popularity and many thousands of Americans now play it on a weekly basis.  In addition to being fun, it is a great way to improve your fitness, enjoy the great outdoors and have a few laughs with friends.  However, getting good at disc golf does take some practice.

This guide will help you become a disc golf pro by providing some useful disc golf driving tips.  They will help you improve this important aspect of your game and shave a few throws off your next round of disc golf.  Your friends will be wondering how you improved your game and started kicking their butts!

10 Of The Best Disc Golf Driving Tips

The X-step is the most effective way to throw a disc golf driver.  It is a three step movement that allows you to use your entire body when throwing the disc.  It helps by applying additional momentum to the disc from your legs, arms, hips and shoulders — which means longer throws down the fairway.

Here is a great footwork chart that shows how the X-step works.  You will  start at a 45 degree angle to the basket with your dominant foot forward.  Then you take a step forward with your dominate foot, cross your left leg behind it (the X-step), then landing on the right.

Although it seems like a simple pattern, you will need to perform it hundreds of times before you feel entirely comfortable.  It often helps to run through the X-step footwork in slow motion, until it becomes second nature.

Repetition is the best way to improve the accuracy and length of your drives.  Here are a few tips for practicing golf disc drives:

• Practice in an open field
  This allows you to track the flight pattern of your disc without trees and other obstacles getting in the way.  You will see how each of your discs flies at different heights and velocities.
• Warmup before you throw
  Perform some stretches to warm up, concentrating on your shoulders, legs, and torso.  Once you are properly warmed up, your throws will be better and you will have less risk of injury.
• Have a stack of the same disc
  It helps to have at least 5 of the same disc, so you can throw multiple shots with the same disc in a short period.  This helps you get used to different disc very quickly and you will be able to test different throws with the same disc.
• Use targets
  Set up some poles to gauge how far you are throwing and to give you something to aim at.  A good practice routine will involve throwing the same disc at different heights ad velocities to reach different targets.
• Practice the shots you are not good at
  There are five different types of throws in disc golf — the backhand throw, the side arm, the overhand throw, the Hyzer and the Anhyzer.  Make sure you practice all types of throws and spend time performing the throws you are not good at.

The aim of disc golf is simple — to get your disc into the basket in the fewest number of throws possible.  Your first inclination when performing a disc golf drive is probably to go for as much distance as possible.  However, this choice can blow up in your face!

To obtain the most distance possible distance, some players use a maximum distance driver disc like the Discraft Nuke SS Elite Z Golf Disc or the Innova DX Valkyrie Distance Driver Golf Disc.  The problem with using this kind of disc is that they are harder to control.  You are much more likely to send the disc flying off into the bushes unless you have perfected your technique and can accurately control a maximum distance driver.

Other players just try to put every ounce of energy into their throw.  They concentrate so much on pushing power into the disc that they lose their accuracy when driving.  Instead of going for raw power and distance, focus on your technique.  An accurate 200 foot throw is better than sending a disc 300 feet off course.

It often helps to take a breath when you reach the tee position.  Stop for a minute and look around.  Is there much of a curve to the fairway?  Are there unusual obstacles and hazards part way along the fairway?  What are the conditions on the edge of the fairway, could you lose a disc easily?  What about the wind — is it stable and in one direction or fluctuating?

Once you have weighed up all of these factors, think about disc choice.  Choose a disc with the right velocity, profile, weight, and velocity for the shot you need to make in these conditions.

Most disc golf fairways have well manicured tee areas when you can launch your first shot — however, that is not always the case.  Before you throw your shot, look at the ground in front of you.  Does it look like you will have good traction on this surface?  You may have to remove sticks and pebbles from the area before you can safely throw.  Once you are into the fairway, you will have to look at the ground for every shot to make sure any obstacles are moved.

You will also have to look at the ground where you expect the disc will land.  Is the ground soft grass or dirt?  If it is compacted dirt, the disc might skip a little further than expected, which will affect where it ends up.

Disc selection is very important when playing golf disc. You need to use a disc that is appropriate for the throw you are attempting to make. There are three types of discs commonly used for performing a disc golf drive:

As the name suggests, a maximum distance driver is designed to be thrown very long distances.

It has a narrow edge which makes it extremely aerodynamic and able to cut through the air easily.

Maximum distance drivers move at a very fast speed through the air.

Unfortunately, this design can also make the disc difficult to control, particularly for beginners.

A couple of the most popular maximum distance drivers are the Innova Champion Daedalus Distance Driver and the Innova GStar Destroyer.

A control driver has a slightly rounded edge and moves through the air slower than a maximum distance driver.

The benefit of using a control driver is that you can be more accurate with your throws.

This type of disc is ideal for fairways that are quite narrow or fairways containing many obstacles.

If you are new to disc golf, you may be better off using a control driver instead of a maximum distance driver because they are so much easier to control.  Many professionals prefer to use control drivers because they can achieve a long, accurate, and reliable throw.

Two of the most popular control drivers for disc golf are the Remix Ronin Fairway Driver Discand the Discraft GLO Z Zombee Long Range Driver.

A midrange disc is an excellent choice if you want to combine accuracy, stability and distance.

A midrange disc is a normally used for long approach shots to a basket, but it can also be used to drive up the fairway.

Two of the best disc golf midrange discs are the Innova Disc Golf Champion Material Mako 3 and the Discraft Buzzz Elite Z Golf Disc.

Your first instinct might be to use a maximum distance driver to reduce the number of throws you need to reach the basket.

However, the additional precision that control drivers and midrange discs may prove a better choice in many situations.

A midrange disc is an excellent choice if you want to combine accuracy, stability and distance.

A midrange disc is a normally used for long approach shots to a basket, but it can also be used to drive up the fairway.

Two of the best disc golf midrange discs are the Innova Disc Golf Champion Material Mako 3 and the Discraft Buzzz Elite Z Golf Disc.

Your first instinct might be to use a maximum distance driver to reduce the number of throws you need to reach the basket.

However, the additional precision that control drivers and midrange discs may prove a better choice in many situations.

Each disc has a unique flight path when thrown.  Disc golfers use a variety of terms to describe a disc’s trajectory.  One of those terms is stability — which is how much the disc curves after you throw it.

If a disc is stable it flies a straight line.  If it is under-stable, it will curve to the right and over-stable discs will curve to the left (when thrown with a right hand backhand throw).

Disc manufacturers use different descriptions for a disc’s stability.  Discraft uses a scale of -3 to +3.  A disc with a negative number is under stable and will curve to the right, while a positive number is over-stable and will curve left.  Innova uses the terms Turn (under-stable) and Fade (over-stable) to describe the disc’s stability.

You can use this knowledge to select discs perfect for your throw style and the terrain you are faced with.  If you tend to let go of the disc early into your throw (sending it to the left slight), you might benefit from a disc that curves to the right.  You can also choose a disc with the right stability to curve around trees and other obstacles that you are faced with.

How much the disc weighs will affect its handling, stability and speed.  In most cases, a heavier disc will be over-stable (it curves to the left).  Using an over-stable disc can help if you are a right handed thrower because your natural throwing action will be more to the right.

Heavier discs tend to grant you more control, but they cannot be thrown as far.  Many highly skilled players like heavy discs because they enjoy being able to throw the disc very precisely.  They are less concerned about distance because they have perfected their throwing style and can throw heavy discs at a high velocity.

A heavier disc is also less likely to skip once it has landed.  This can help you avoid the situation where the disc slips down an embankment. 

The type of plastic used to form each disc has a dramatic impact over its performance and longevity. Discs made from the more expensive plastics tend to maintain their performance for longer than cheap discs. That’s because they are more durable and capable of tolerating collisions more than a cheap disc.

Manufacturers usually create lines of products made from each type of plastic they use. Innova uses the designations CH (Championship plastic), PL (Pro plastic), and DX (Economy plastics) for their discs. Purchasing a disc made from a higher quality material can improve your disc golf drives as the disc will be more reliable.

Some discs also include ridges or a rubber coating to help you gain more traction when you throw it. This can be particularly useful if you are playing in wet conditions.

After playing disc golf for a while you will realize that you are better at performing certain throws. If you are most accurate with a fairway driver, stick to it, don’t feel compelled to use a maximum distance driver. If you are only accurate on throws up to 200 feet, stick to that distance and don’t try for longer throws that become less accurate. By playing to your strengths, you will enjoy a more consistent game.

You can learn a lot about disc golf by watching professionals play.  There are some great videos on YouTube that show you how a professional performs a disc golf drive — including some videos that use slow motion.  Look at their footwork and how they move their body when throwing.

There is a surprising about of strategy required to do well in disc golf.  When you perform a drive, you will need it to land in a spot that sets you up for your second and third throw.  That means you may have to intentionally perform short drives to get yourself into a better position for your subsequent throws.  Don’t just launch your drive up the middle of fairway as fast as you can — think about the angle of the second and third shot.  You may get a better result by curving your throw to the edge of the fairway for better angles.

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