Disc Golf Driving Tips: The Key To More Distance
5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Backhand Disc Golf Drive Distance
We’ve read through and tried literally dozens of tips for increasing driving distance, and we’ll bet that you have too.
After much trial (and error) working with players of all skill levels, these are the five tips we’ve found that deliver the most significant and immediate benefit.
Two Important Things Before we Begin
#1 Read these tips in conjunction with your Driving Optimization Guide.
There’s no point in having great technique without also understanding what adjustments you need to make based on the flight patterns you are throwing.
#2 Watch these 4 pros drive simultaneously.
What common mechanics do they all share?
While there are many, many observations to be made, here are the top five tips (as demonstrated perfectly by these pros) to increase your drive distance:
Pro Tip #1 – Take a big, fast final step
In the video, you can see all four pros take a long, fast final step followed by a huge push forward from their back foot.
As covered in our research on the Science of Distance, release velocity is the primary determining factor of distance, with each one mph of incremental speed yielding an additional 7 feet of distance.
Taking an aggressive final step with a big push can increase your forward momentum by 4-5 mph, ultimately adding around 30 feet to your drive.
Pro Tip #2 – Look Away!
The natural tendency is for players to keep their eyes looking in the direction they want to throw and “on the target”, but keeping your head turned forward limits the rotation range of your torso and shoulders during your reach-back, robbing your throw of critical rotation power.
All four pros above turn their head at least 85 degrees away from their drive line during the reach-back.
Pro Tip #3 – Lead with Your Elbow
Looking again to the pros, the disc is drawn forward with a leading elbow, pulling the disc in an almost perfectly straight-forward path.
This efficient motion eliminates wasted lateral energy while simultaneously generating high initial arm speed that is magnified by the forward whip of the forearm and snap of the wrist.
Pro Tip #4 – Minimize Release Friction
Grip is primarily maintained by the tips of your fingers pressed against the underside lip of the disc’s rim. This creates a nice, clean, low-friction release.
Pro Tip #5 – Choose the Right Disc
As you learned in the Driving Optimization Guide, to maximize distance, you must find a driver that matches your particular release velocity to get the optimal disc turnover and distance flight pattern.
Here are three specific disc recommendations, delineated by player experience level.
Each of these has been proven by our testing (and validated by our members!) to provide superior flight distance performance when paired with the right skill level and release velocity.
Option #1: Best for Beginner / Intermediate Players
Avenger SS
- Maximum distance golf driver
- Recommended for advanced to expert players
- Best for long distance turnover drives
- Discraft stability rating for this disc is 0.5
- Disc colors will vary
Manufacturer: Discraft
Plastic: Z-Line
Weight Class: 160-174g
The “Avenger SS” model was created to provide extremely long, gliding turnover drives at a wider range of release velocities than their best-selling standard Avenger, and the resulting driving distance improvements vastly exceeded all expectations.
How?
The Avenger SS’s combination of balanced stability and high glide performance significantly extend the disc’s time-in-flight, while its gentle Fade performance provides additional distance by ensuring a longer, straighter finish.
See the full Avenger SS Flight Ratings Analysis and Reviews
Option #2: Best for Advanced Players who typically throw drives UNDER 400′
Shryke
![Innova Star Shryke Distance Driver Golf Disc [Colors may vary]](https://i0.wp.com/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51s4CPZjFJL._SL160_.jpg?w=800&ssl=1)
- Colors may vary
- Star Plastic
- Flight Ratings: Speed 13, Glide 6, Turn -2, Fade 2
Manufacturer: Innova
Plastic: Star
Weight Class:(165-172g)
The Shryke was designed with a similar distance-generating strategy to the Avenger SS above: balanced stability to produce long turnover flights paired with high Glide to extend total time in flight.
The difference, however, is the Shryke’s wider (2.3cm) and more aggressive rim that requires higher release velocities to generate optimal flight.
If you currently have a solid drive but are having trouble breaking the 400′ distance barrier, the Star Shryke is your best bet to do it.
See the Shryke’s full Flight Ratings Analysis plus Reviews
Option #3: Best for Advanced Players who typically throw drives OVER 400′
Boss
- Lighter weights = More distance with less effort and Blizzard Champion offers Superior durability in light weight plastic
- The Blizzard Champion Line has been adding distance for both pros and ams; The Blizzard Champion Boss currently holds the Distance World Record at 255 meters
- Colors may vary
- Blizzard technology incorporates thousands of microbubbles into our durable Champion plastic
- Speed 13, Glide 5, Turn 0 and Fade 3
Manufacturer: Innova
Plastic: R-Pro
Weight Class: 151-159g
The Boss ranked as the #1 driver for distance in our Ultra-Distance Driver Comparison, and the RPro version in the 151-159g class holds the current world distance record at an astounding 1108.9 feet!
In fact, the Boss was actually used to make each of the top 3 longest throws!
It’s obviously unreasonable to expect to regularly throw 1000 foot drives with your new Boss, but when the top distance throwers in the world compete, this is the disc they choose to give themselves the best chance to win.
See the Boss’ full Flight Ratings Analysis plus Reviews
