Snap Discussion!

no, I'm not talking about the audible "snap" you hear when somebody throws (which is a byproduct of good wrist/forearm snap), but the elusive (for some of us) snapping of the wrist/forearm correctly to impart spin on the disc (and obtain max distance on drives)...I've read article after article about how to get more snap, but it seems that nobody can accurately describe in words how to achieve this...I have been working on this for months and months to better my drives only to realize recently that my wrist was never (rarely) in the right position to generate the snap I've been trying so hard to get (not in the articles!)...how did I realize this? ultimately, it all dawned on my while throwing minis in my back yard...

first I started looking for this snap w/ a simple exercise of holding my arm out and snapping it forward from the elbow much as I would snap a towel (heard that before), stopping my forearm abruptly while holding my fingers closed almost into a fist (like I would be gripping a disc)..I noticed while doing this that, as the wrist bent backwards and then forwards from the force of motion of the arm, not by me actively utilizing the muscles of the wrist, sometimes my hand would make the audible snapping noise as the back of my hand decelerated while my fingers impacted my palm and sometimes it would not...not really making the connection w/ the angle of my wrist, I thought I had it, went to the course and threw, and threw horribly...

days of frustration and back to the drawing board...what was I doing wrong? I felt like I was on the right track w/ my forearm exercise, and in my mind, though I could not duplicate it w/ a Destroyer in my hand...I continued to work on it w/o a disc until I noticed a difference in how the motion "felt" when my hand made the audible noise and how it felt when there was no noise...then I was throwing mini discs, just fooling around, and I started to reproduce the above exercise w/ a mini disc in my hand...I noticed immediately that when the wrist/forearm snap felt right, felt like it did when I achieved the snapping noise w/o a disc in the hand, the mini disc flew out of my hand on a good line WITH spin...if the motion felt wrong, the disc did not fly right...

Eureka, dumb ass! back to the course and back to work w/ a real driver and holy cow I could see and feel the difference immediately...not only did my drives improve, and feel better, but I saw and felt an immediate difference in my shorter game...I suddenly felt comfortable throwing a putter or a mid-range for distance, and I had an answer for all those months and months of playing disc golf and wondering why some shots "felt" right and some did not...it all had to do w/ the angle of my wrist, which, being so often wrong, resulted in me becoming an "arm" thrower and learning a ton of bad habits that I've been forced to break in an effort to find the snap and improve my game...

[mdub]

nice article!

[brad hoi]

one of the best exercises that ive found is using only the most understable plastic out of my invetory and throwing in an open field into a headwind and attempting to maintain a hyzer flight. this requires a feel and timing that is neccesary to throw far.
i have been talking to coda hatfield about the abuility to throw higher and while watching him throw noticed that he is bending over at the waist so that his pull dosnt change and he still achieves phenominal snap and speed out of his hand.

[rizbee_jr]

I am talking about the audible snap. I can pop a loud one with my TeeBird. And I mean loud. I think it's because I make my fingers real tacky before I throw. Oh well, I'll have to start a new discussion.

[Audi]

I found that the audible snap comed from arm speed, grip and follow thru. I also agree with the saying ' drive for show and putt for dough'

[Smokey]

I have found that you get better with your form and thus your snap by learning to throw touch shots with your putter....once you get the whole wrist action down with the putter you can move up in to a mid and see the form applied with that disc....then move up into a driver with what you have learned from the putter and mid. It is a slow progression but helps.

[J.D.Guy]

ok, so what's the angle? can you describe that in more detail?

[Pure Disc Golf dot Com]

The less you try to force the disc to spin the more spin will be created. I've noticed that when I try and hold the disc as "comfortably hard" as I can I achieve greater spin. It is a mis-conception in my opinion that spin comes from a wrist "action" I believe it is the lack of action the wrist under-goes which forces the disc out with the most spin. i.e. You hold your wrist tight and the disc is ripped out of your hand with more force. Therefore more spin is imposed upon the disc. The "elemental pull" put upon your wrist at that moment far exceeds any amount of "wrist action"......

This is not to say that you do not bend your wrist at all when you throw...At that moment of "impact" your wrist is completely locked. As the disc is starting to be forced out of the hand the wrist must follow through the shot, or break....

Does that ramble make any sense to anyone?