How to Throw a Frisbee
Here you'll find in depth instruction on all of the ultimate frisbee throws
How to Throw a Frisbee - A Quickstart Tutorial
1. Hold the frisbee with a medium strength grip. Fingers underneath and thumb on top
2. Point your shoulder toward your target
3. lift your arm up so your elbow is pointed at your target and is at about a sharp (more than 90 degree) angle
4. Check that the disc and your arm are all in the same plane.
5. As your elbow moves toward your target and straightens, bend your wrist.
6. Finally your wrist will straighten. Release the disc toward your target.
This video demonstrates a basic backhand, the easiest throw.
Your fingers are going to be underneath the disc. The thumb is on top. You can hold the disc with medium strength. You don't want it to fall out of your hand if you wiggle it, but you don't have to have a super tight grip either.
Start with your shoulder pointed towards your target. Hips are perpendicular to the person you're throwing to.
You want to throw the disc flat and in a straight line, so the movement starts with your shoulder first, then your elbow, and finally your wrist as you uncoil and release the disc.
How to Throw a Frisbee Straight
When you're first learning to throw a frisbee, the biggest challenges is to make it fly straight to your target.
If you find that your frisbee is flying off to one side or the other, you're likely having challenges with one of these common mistakes...
Mistake #1: Throwing the Disc Up Instead of Flat
A common mistake is to release the disc with the nose higher than the back end. This will generate too much lift and the disc will fly up instead of straight.
This mistake is especially common in ultimate frisbee when newer players throw with a mark for the first time.
Mistake #2: Using Too Much Arm
The second big mistake new throwers make is to put too much arm into the throw.
A frisbee does not weigh very much. Just like throwing a paper airplane, throwing it harder usually doesn't result in more distance. Technique is more important than power, especially when you are first learning to throw.
One way to combat this mistake is to learn to throw using only your wrist. Throwing with just this wrist will help you get better control over how you release the disc. Then when you're ready to add more power, you'll be able to get the disc to fly farther and with control.
Mistake #3: Too Much Wind-up
Curling the disc up in your arm or bringing the disc back behind your body are two ways than new players use too much windup in their frisbee throws.
Curling the disc too much will force you to use your arm instead of your shoulders and hips to generate power.
Excessive windup behind the body forces the disc into an arched trajectory instead of a straight line trajectory.
Flat Release, Use Your Wrist, Straight Line Release
Putting it all together, if you want to throw the frisbee straight, you'll need to make sure the disc is flat when you release it. Trust the aerodynamics of the frisbee instead of trying to put a lot of power into the throw. Start with using your wrist and slowly add more power with an increased windup that keeps the disc moving in a straight line
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Getting accurate and consistent throws takes a lot of practice! When you first start throwing you may not have the wrist strength to control the disc the way you want. Throwing a few times a week for a few weeks, you'll notice a big difference in your ability to throw a frisbee straight.
The Five Most Common Throws Used in Ultimate Frisbee Today
There are lots of trick shot videos on YouTube. Chicken wings, BBQ Backhands, Hammers, Scoobers and more. But what throws do you actually need if you want to play ultimate frisbee, and play it well? These are the throws you'll need in your arsenal listed in rough order of importance.
1. Ultimate Frisbee Forehand
This is the first throw you should start working on. Forehands and backhands are the most common throws in frisbee. The backhand is relatively easier for most folks to learn. Since the forehand will take a bit more time, start working on it asap!
Once you get good at the forehand, you'll likely find it to be your most accurate throw at middle distances and a better throw for windy conditions because you'll be able to put a lot of spin on it.
2. Ultimate Frisbee Backhand
This is likely the first throw you learned when you picked up a frisbee.
Your backhand will likely be your farthest throw. It's also an easier throw for very short distances because you can release it with a lot of touch at low speeds.
3. Ultimate Frisbee Hammer
This throw used to be frowned upon as "too risky." But in today's game, if you want to be a handler, you'll need a serviceable overhead throw.
Hammers are great for reaching certain spaces on the field quickly. You'll be able to throw it above defenders and drop it into spaces on the break mark side of the field.
4. Ultimate Frisbee Scoober
This is a good throw for getting the disc over a mark or a cup. With a scoober, you'll be able to reach spaces you can't reach with backhands, forehands, or hammers. The scoober is typically a shorter distance throw than a hammer.
5. Off-hand Backhand
The backhand is a great throw for short distances. It's also easy to catch and release quickly. For these reasons a backhand is great for give-and-go situations. So a lot of players are developing off-hand (non-dominant hand) backhands as an alternative to short-distance forehands.
The Essentials
With a forehand and backhand, you'll be able to play ultimate frisbee. With all five throws, you'll be developing the full arsenal you'll need to become a handler in ultimate frisbee.
We'll dive into the techniques behind each of these five ultimate frisbee throws below...
How to Throw an Ultimate Frisbee Forehand
The key to the forehand is having a proper grip. It's a little bit awkward for beginners. But what you want to do is shake hands with the disc. Put the disc into the meat of your hand pretty tightly. A common error is to have a grip that's too loose so gripping with just the fingers.
Getting spin on the disc comes from mostly the wrist. A common thing for beginner throwers to do is to just practice just with the wrist because this is the most awkward part. All you need to do is bring the disc back and flick it forward and you can get a lot of spin that way.
If you're a beginner thrower you might not actually have the hand strength required to throw a nice, flat throw. In that case start with a split finger grip. A split finger grip can help you as you're learning to throw and as you're developing that strength and coordination.
Hips should be facing your target. You might take a small step slightly forward. Try leading with the elbow. Release the disc flat.
Forehand Grip
How to Throw a Frisbee Backhand
Grip the disc with four fingers underneath and your thumb on top. Use a medium grip that doesn't fall out of your hand. But you don't need to squeeze it really hard for a medium distance throw.
Your grip strength will only start to matter when you're trying to perfect your farthest throws.
The throw starts with your shoulder pointed toward your target. Then the elbow comes through followed by the wrist.
The disc should be in the same plane as your arm in order to throw the frisbee flat and straight.
Backhand Grip
How to Throw a Hammer
I'm going to walk you through the basics of how to throw an ultimate frisbee hammer. You're going to use the exact same grip that you do with a forehand.
Even if you're a beginner thrower and you're starting with a split fingered forehand, you probably keep your fingers together for the hammer grip. Because you're going to be releasing it upside down, you don't need that extra support that you might as you're beginning to learn how to throw a forehand.
A hammer is going to be the same stance as a forehand. My hips are square to my target.
Unlike a forehand, I'm going to shift my weight backwards to forwards by taking a slight step back with the foot that's the same side as my throwing hand. This allows me to shift my weight a little bit backwards and then shift it forwards, as if I'm throwing a baseball.
Release the disc upside down. Some key points to help you aim your hammer - I like to think about a target point that's about halfway between me and my target, and a little bit to the side.
All I have to do is throw it to that spot, and then it's going to fall the other half of the parabola down to whoever I'm throwing to. I might even look up at that spot as I'm learning how to throw it, aim it towards that, and then it's gonna it's going to fall back towards my target.
You don't need to put a lot of force on it to get some decent distance. As you want to put more and more energy into the disc, it's going to come down to getting more of that momentum transfer from your lower body into the disc.
Like all the throws, it's more about technique than it is about forcing the throw with your arm strength.
How to Throw an Ultimate Frisbee Scoober
Here are the basics of how to throw a scoober. A scoober is basically an upside down throw in Ultimate frisbee. We use the scoober for things like getting over the top of the cup or for things that could be a throw with a similar shape to a hammer but shorter distances.
You can get a lot of touch and have a lot of different shapes with a scoober. It's a pretty versatile throw especially if there's not a lot of wind. In high wind situations you have to think a little bit harder about how you use a scoober.
To throw a scoober, use the exact same grip as a forehand throw. It's going to look a lot like a hammer. But instead of releasing above your head, you're releasing it lower at about your shoulder.
Also the stance is a little different. With a hammer my hips are pretty much squared to my target. With a scoober, the stance is more similar to a backhand stance. I might take a step forward. This might me get over the mark or around the mark and it just feels a little more natural.
Think about leading with your elbow. Someone once told me to think about it as if I'm elbowing someone in the face that's what really helps me to drive my elbow through first and get a clean release.
The trajectory of the scoober is really going to be dependent on the angle of release. I can do an arcing scoober that's outside-in simply by having that kind of release I could also do an inside out scoober. It's still going to be leading with the elbow but then my angle of release might be more like this and so I can do a different shape scoober if I want to.
How (and Why) to Throw an Off-hand Backhand for Ultimate Frisbee
Offhand just means your non-dominant hand. So if you are right handed, your offhand backhand is a backhand thrown with your left hand.
An offhand backhand is useful for a variety of situations.
At very short distances, and offhand backhand is easier to throw and you can throw it with more spin while still having a lot of touch. Off hand backhands can be very useful for short "dump" or reset passes.
Backhands are also quicker to catch and release. So offhand backhands can be useful in give and go situations.
How to Throw a Frisbee Far
For most people, the backhand will be the farthest throw. So we'll focus on how to throw a frisbee backhand as far as possible.
To throw a frisbee far, you'll want a lot of power and a lot of spin.
The Grip - For More Spin
To get more spin on your frisbee, you'll want to use a power grip. Not everyone who throws a frisbee far uses a power grip, but this would be the most common grip when trying to throw the disc as far as possible.
It will take some practice to get a clean release and release the disc at the right time. If the disc sticks to your fingers as you're releasing it, then that will affect the release angle and also take away some of the speed on the frisbee.
Adding Power to Your Throws
Getting more power into the disc is about getting more of your body into the throw. Throwing a disc far is more about your technique than it is about your strength. However, many of the athletes we work with have longer throws after a few months of strength training with us because we help players develop good core strength and stability.
A long throw starts with a pivot and ends with a clean release. When your non-pivot foot plants into the ground, what you are doing is stopping the rotation of your body. The rotational momentum then goes from your hips, through a stable core, and into the upper spine and shoulders. This is why hip and core stability are important for long throws. You don't want energy leaking from an inability to maintain a stable core or hip position. And you want your upper spine to be flexible and mobile so that rotation can transfer from your body into the disc.
You want to avoid conscious control of your body during the throwing motion, but what you can pay a bit of attention to is where your foot is planted and the direction the toes are pointing. The direction of the toes is related to the way your hips are rotated and that is an important piece of how you transfer momentum from the ground into the disc.
Angle of Release and Using the Wind
The final piece of getting maximum distance on your throws is learning to use the wind.
Most of the time, you'll want to use an inside-out angle of release. This is because the disc naturally flattens out and goes to an outside-in angle as it loses spin. Staring with an inside out angle ensures that the disc ends up flat for a longer period of time. To understand more about the physics of disc-flight in the wind, check out our Physics of Disc Flight mini-course in our Coaching and Game IQ Membership.
The ideal breeze for a right handed release is a breeze that is coming from about 45 degrees behind you in a right to left direction. This will help you get the maximum help on an inside-out angled throw without causing the disc to lose lift and sink prematurely.
If the breeze or wind is moving left to right, you might use an outside-in throw. Upwind, you'll almost always use an inside out angle unless you are trying to turn the disc over if you're doing a roller pull for example.
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