There’s a lot that goes into the perfect disc golf drive. Good technique, great discs, proper grip, practice, goals, consistency, and patience over time are just the tip of the iceberg. But if you want to throw farther than you ever have before, this post will help you get started.
In this post, we’re gonna’ talk about all of those things from the last paragraph and show you how you can benefit. Once you absorb these tips, your distance will go from where it is now to distances you never ever thought possible.
So let’s get into it and build up your distance. Here are the top 5 best disc golf distance tips!
The Top 5 Best Disc Golf Distance Tips!
1. Always use good technique
Technique: proper throwing technique is the foundation of your disc golf throw and one of the most important concepts in all of disc golf. Without good technique, your form will suck and you’ll never be able to get distance on your throws. Proper throwing technique follows the following 7 steps:
- Find proper power grip
- Work on x-step and hip rotation
- Good reach back
- Look away from line of sight
- Strong final step
- Lead with your elbow
- Follow through
You have to thoroughly learn and use proper technique as you’re building up your throwing ability and your distance over time. With that being said, consistent implementation of proper technique, along with consistent practice, will inevitably equal more distance. So LEARN technique NOW. For more, check out this post – 7 Steps to the Best Disc Golf Technique and a Perfect Throw!
Use your legs for power: leg strength is one of the keys for gaining more distance on your throws. As you’re coming through for your throw, make sure most of your body weight is on your back leg. Then transfer that body weight forward by pushing off. Using your legs to help propel you forward will help you gain an extra 30-40 feet. But remember to always use good technique. If you master this, your distance will increase dramatically.
You also want to be strengthening your legs with actual workouts including the use of squatting, lunging, leg-pressing, and other leg-strengthening exercises. Check some of those out here – The 12 Best Disc Golf Exercises to Keep You Fit!
Increase overall throw speed: in order to throw faster, and with more power, you have to start slow and with good technique. It’s technique before speed. You might also hear, “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” Over time, work your way up to throwing faster and with more power. Use your legs as well. Overall throw speed, as long as you’re throwing correctly, will help you gain just a little bit more distance in your throws once you’re throwing harder.
2. Use the best distance discs
As you’re building up your distance, start with control drivers and work your way up into distance drivers. If you want to throw farther, you have to use the best distance drivers. Once you’ve mastered distance discs, this will allow you to add an extra 40-50 feet or more to your drives. Here are 3 of the best distance drivers:
Innova Destroyer
Grab one here on Discgolfunited.com
Infinite Discs Pharaoh
Grab one here on InfiniteDiscs.com.
Dynamic Discs Trespass
Grab one here on InfiniteDiscs.com.
If you get any of those discs above, you can’t really go wrong. They’re all amazing and have HUGE distance potential.
3. Use a power grip
When it comes to distance, grip is insanely important. First off, you want to make sure your grip type on the disc is for distance and power. This is called a “power grip.” Basically, with thumb on top of the disc, you’re wrapping all of your other fingers underneath the disc and gripping the inside ring of the disc. That’s a power grip.
Also, make sure you’re holding the disc firmly. Not too loose, not too tight, but just right. Proper grip is a fairly simple concept. But it might take some getting used to. So follow the guidelines to proper grip and find what is most comfortable to you!
4. Do distance drills and field work
Perfect technique, awesome distance discs, and the right grip don’t matter at all unless you actually practice. So here’s how you do that:
Weekly rounds: At a minimum, you’ve got to play weekly. If you don’t at least play a few rounds a month, you’ll never improve your distance. But actually becoming an elite disc golfer that can throw 300-400+ plus feet takes way more than just a few rounds a month. You need to practice off the course as well. You need distance field work.
Field work: the idea is simple – actually getting out into a huge open field and working on various parts of your game including distance driving. During your field work training, repetition, good discs, good technique and mastering your bag will help you add more distance to your throws. Take your field work seriously and make your throws like you would throw on the course. Remember: practice how you play. Because practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes PERMANENT. Whatever you do in your field work sessions will reflect in your disc golf game. Field work once a week, paired with weekly rounds, can help expedite your distance progess.
For some great info on field work, check out this post – The Ultimate Guide to Disc Golf Field Work: 7 Tips to Use Today!
Distance drills: If you’re playing weekly and consistently hitting the field, you’re already on the right track for more distance! So improving even more will take some effort, patience, and even more practice. That’s where drills come in.
Drills help you fine tune specific parts of your game that might include footwork, technique, correct form, or other aspects of the game. Let’s take a look at 3 great drills:
Drill #1 – Beto Drill
The perfect drill for developing great technique and keeping your elbow moving toward the target before your throw. Notice how much distance Dan Beto can get from his quick snapping motions on each throw. Absolutely brilliant and great for field work practice.
Drill #2 – Towel drill
Perfect for practicing snap and technique indoors or inside during the colder months. The Towel drill will help you keep your form during the off-season or when you’re not playing as much disc golf.
Drill #3 – Windmill drill
The Windmill drill can be another great drill to practice with during your field work sessions. It’s a drill that helps to fix your shoulder timing issues to give yourself more momentum and power on your drives. Awesome and fun. Give this one a try during your next field work outing.
For more on drills, check out this epic post – The 50 Best Disc Golf Drills to Change Your Game Forever!
Pairing full rounds, field work practice, and distance drills can really add distance to your drives. If you do all of those and stay consistent, you’ll undoubtedly improve your distance. But there’s one more piece to the puzzle – setting distance goals!
5. Set distance goals
Finally, when you’re trying to improve at any part of the game, you have to set goals for yourself. But it’s probably the easiest to set these for distance. You can simply pick a distance that you want to try and hit and start working toward it.
Continuing to try and improve distance with no goals will almost always equal failure. So you can set whatever goals you’d like including: daily goals, monthly goals, yearly goals, and overall distance goals.
Daily goal: I want to work on distance driving during my field work session and throw 50 drives.
Monthly goals: play 4 rounds, complete 4 sessions of field work, and throw 200+ plus drives – and/or – starting on the 1st of this month, try to throw farther than 300 feet by the end of the current month or the following month.
Yearly goals: be able to throw 400 feet by the end of the year. Have a consistently straight drive on 80-90% of throws by the beginning of next year.
Overall distance goals: be able to throw 300, 400, or 500+ plus feet!
Once you set your goal, start slowly building toward it. But don’t just set and forget. Try to figure out the steps needed and baby step your way to each goal. After you hit your goal, move on to the next one. It might take you awhile, but eventually you’ll hit your ultimate distance goal! So keep working towards it!
For more on goals, check out this awesome post – 11 Powerful Reasons Why Goals Are Important in Disc Golf!
Be Patient!
Distance doesn’t come easy. But I want you to hear me on this: it’s going to take A LOT of practice and even more patience to be able throw long distances in disc golf. That’s just a fact. It took me years to eclipse 300, 350, and even 400 feet.
But you will get there. If you stay consistent, always use good technique, use the right discs, figure out the correct grip, practice well, set your goals, and stay patient, your personal distance record doesn’t stand a chance. Because you’ll undoubtedly hit 500+ plus feet in no time at all.
If you’d like to learn even more tips to help improve your distance, check out this awesome post – The 27 Best Disc Golf Distance Tips for Beginners!
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Don’t forget to check out the book!
If you’re looking for more tips and tricks on how to play disc golf, check out my book, “The Disc Golf Player’s Manual.” This ultimate beginner’s guide is loaded with over 200 pages of content, helping you to improve your game AND lower score on the disc golf course. Check it out here on my site.