If you are an intermediate or experienced disc golfer trying to improve your game, adding the disc golf flex shot to your toolkit is a great place to begin. The disc golf flex shot will help you consistently produce great shot shapes. This flex shot can even extend your drive by a tiny amount if thrown correctly.
But first, let’s define a Disc Golf flex shot:
A flex shot is when you utilize the disc’s stability to make multiple directional flights in the same flight plan, often known as an S-shaped flight pattern. For the sake of this article’s example, we will use a forehand whose over-stability causes it to sweep in one direction before turning around to finish on the intended side of the fairway.
A left-handed player would aim for a left-side finish, whereas a right-handed player would have their disc finish to the right.Let me describe how this works so I can get into more detail.A right-handed player forehands an over-stable disc, intending for it to pan first to the left by throwing it at an anhyzer angle (left side of the disc down, right side up).The disc will finally emerge from the left drifting pan and finish to the right on a hyzer if it is sufficiently over the stable.For instance, if you threw a stable or under-stable disc, it would maintain that anhyzer line for the course of its flight, which is excellent in certain circumstances but not in one where you need the disc to fade to the right eventually.
Let me describe how this works so I can get into this in more detail. A right-handed player forehands an over-stable disc, intending for it to pan first to the left by throwing it at an anhyzer angle (left side of the disc down, right side up). The disc will finally emerge from the left drifting pan and finish to the right on a hyzer if it is sufficiently overstable. For instance, if you threw a stable or understandable disc, it would maintain that anhyzer line for the course of its flight. It is excellent in certain circumstances, but not when you need the disc to eventually fade to the right. This, however, would not be termed a flex shot since you would be working with the disc’s stability rather than against it. The S-shaped flight pattern is essential with the overstable disc on anhyzer because it will work out of the anhyzer line with enough fade and time.
What is the purpose of the flex shot?
- When you’re out in the wilderness, you always try to make your next shot as “high percentage” as possible. Sometimes this means moving through gaps at a side angle rather than directly through them.
- Beginners nearly always seek the quickest path from point A to point B.
- This becomes an issue when impediments are thrown into the mix since it lowers your shot’s high success rate.
- The ability to maneuver an overly stable disc around and through more significant gaps will dramatically improve your high-percentage shot.
- Suppose you get interested in or like watching professional disc golfers. In that case, you will notice that a lot of their gameplay in the wooded area is “shaping shots” or “flexing” shots through the terrain and around obstacles, enhancing their high percentage possibility.
When is a forehand flex shot appropriate?
Flex forehands are effective off the tee and while going down the fairway. To circle one, you may even have to bend an overly stable approach putter! When you’re trapped behind a bunker, like a structure, tree, bush, etc., and your backhand is inaccessible, you can also use the forehand flex shot. In this circumstance, a step-out straddle posture with a forehand flex can be your ticket out of trouble!
If done correctly, a right-handed forehand golfer might get out of and around one or more bunkers in front of them while pushing downfield and ending on the right side of the fairway. Flexing forehands might also provide you greater distance on an open shot rather than attempting to overpower a steady opponent if you are a forehand-dominant player still learning a decent backhand.
Flexing forehands might also provide you greater distance on an open shot rather than attempting to overpower a stable or under-stable disc if you are a dominant forehand player still working on developing a decent backhand. For an RHFH thrower, the overstability required for the flex shot allows for potential “rollovers” that otherwise would have caused your forehand to spin and burn out to the left. But if you exclusively use overstable throws to cover up your errors, you must improve your forehand technique. So that you may use each of your discs for any distance you need to cover, be sure to practice your forehands with various reliability and molds.
Flex Shot Advice for Disc Golf
- Utilize an unstable disc. The disc will fight the analyzer release and return because of its stability.
- Choose a disc with a medium to a high amount of fade. It will flex back as a result at the end of the flight.
- Release the disc quickly and forcefully. The success of the flex shot depends on producing enough power.
- If you are a more inexperienced player, avoid using the flex shot. There are more straightforward options available, such as the s-shot.
- When releasing it, keep the disc’s nose down. The disc will stall in the air and fall if it is released with the nose up.
- You must precisely align the analyzer angle. The disc will probably wind up in a cut roll if there is too much analyzer.
- The height of the throw affects the flex shot’s distance and form. The disc will spend more time in the air and fade farther if it is higher.
- Continually practice. To consistently execute this shot, practice is required. It could be wise to dedicate many field sessions to perfecting this shot.
- Rely on your disc. Put your trust in your overstable disc to bend back if you have created and perfected this shot.
Flex Shot VS S-Shot
Many individuals appear to confuse the phrases “flex shot” and “S-shot,” or even use them interchangeably, as I’ve discovered when doing research for this post. The flex shot, which we discussed before, involves taking an unstable disc and forcing it to spin, and then returning it by releasing it on an analyzer.
An understandable disc is taken and flatly released to produce an S-shot. The S-shot capitalizes on the disc’s inherent propensity, but the flex shot works against it. This distinction is an easy one to remember. The amount of expertise needed is another distinction between the two. For a novice, the S-shot is preferable since it is a simpler shot to execute. The stability of the disc being utilized makes the flex shot more consistent, even if it is more difficult to execute correctly.
The curve of the disc flight is the only similarity between these two shots. It would be quite difficult to tell which player was throwing a flex shot and which player was throwing an S-shot merely based on the form of the flight if you were in a helicopter and looked down on a group of disc golfers.
