The difference between throwing an ultimate frisbee disc and a disc golf driver can be startling for ultimate frisbee players trying out disc golf for the first time. I know it was for me! And while many of the rules do translate nicely from throwing an ultimate disc to throwing a disc golf driver, some just don’t.
Probably the most critical change that an ultimate frisbee player needs to make is to release angle.
With the way 175g ultimate discs fly, many of us get into a habit of releasing them with an exaggerated inside out (IO) angle. This release angle works out in the end because the disc corrects itself mid-flight and “flattens out” nicely.
But when the same IO release is attempted with a disc golf driver, it will spray out to the side. To compensate, I visualize “chopping down” into my drive. This brings the outer edge of the disc golf driver up substantially, preparing it for a healthy heiser and anheuser flight path (that characteristic “S Curve”).
