The forehand flex or flex forehand if you prefer is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most adaptable shots that you can add to your collection of disc golf shots.
Flex Shot with the Forehand – Let’s Drill!
But before we get too far into the specifics, let’s define what we mean when we say flex shot.
Well tricked you – lets look at what it’s not – an S-Shot. When you exploit the stability of the disc to make multi directional flights within the course of one flight path, you are performing what is known as an S-shaped flight pattern, which is also referred to as a flex shot. For the topic of this post, we will be discussing how to throw a forehand that first sweeps in one direction and then crosses back over to finish on the side of the fairway that you want it to finish on – ALL BECAUSE of its overstability.
You are always shaping with or against the discs mechanics, in this case its stability. A player who throws a RHBH will see their disc finish over to the right. While a player who is left handed would be striving for a finish out on the left side.
Bear with me as I walk you through the process of how this operates so that you have a better understanding. An overstable disc is forehanded by a right-handed player on an anhyer angle. The intention is this will cause the disc to pan initially to the left. The overstability of the disc will then lead the disc to stop veering left and works its way over to end on the right, hyzer style.
Compare this to if you where to use a disc that was stable or understable, for example. The anhyzer line would be maintained during the whole flight of the disc. This is useful in certain circumstances; however, it is not useful in circumstances in which you need your disc to eventually fade on the right.
So because you would be working with the stability of the disc rather than against it, this wouldn’t be called a flex shot. Flex shots involve fighting against the stability of the disc.
When using an overstable disc on anhyzer, the S-shaped flight pattern comes into play because an overstable disc can make its way out of the anhyzer line if it has enough fade and enough time.
Forehand flex shot in basic terms – if you are a right handed back hand thrower with a forehand flex shot the disc will move in the opposite direction of a RHBH flex shot. If you use an overstable disc. It will start out moving to the left then the disc overstability will force it to fight back to the right.
The overstability required for the flex shot allows for the possibility of roll overs, which, in the case of a RHFH player, would have caused their forehand to turn and crash out to the left. However, this overstability makes it possible to compensate for probable roll overs.
If you’re playing a hole that goes through a wooded area, you should always be striving to make the next shot you take with as little damage limitation as you can make it.
This can involve twisting your disc through specific openings between tress with side bending angles rather than burrowing full steam ahead.
When you can’t go forward directly you must go around. Weave in and out. if you have the ability to shot shape you are going to do well on wooded courses. Your game is going to improve dramatically.
And that’s exactly what the forehand flex shot gives you. Your chances of making these shots are much higher if you have the ability to handle an overstable disc such that can go around trees and filter through the spaces between them.
Watch any pro level tournament on wooded courses and you’ll see lots of flexing shot shaping shots and you’ll be amazed at how pros shoot into the gaps between trees so they don’t lose a pile of strokes on multiple baskets.
These shots as you know are great for getting around objects. If you can’t shoot your backhand around a shrub, hill, or bunker or maybe there’s a building obstructing your view, then adapting a different stance combined with a forehand flex might just be the perfect shot to help you get out of this jam!
If all goes according to plan, you should be able to get out of the bunker or obstacle in front of you, go around them, and still be able to charge down the fairway and finish up on the right side.
You can shoot a flex forehand off the tee – these shots are not just helpful for getting you around objects. Flexing your forehands can potentially get you greater distance when the field is wide open field and obstacle free, as opposed to trying to overpower a stable or understable disc. This is especially useful for players who are more proficient with their forehands but are still working on improving their backhands. You can even flex an overstable approach putter to get within the circle one zone.
Tip For Newbs – Putting on an anhyzer is the best technique to get distance out of discs if you don’t have big arm whip power to throw on a flatter angle.
Although this advice comes with a caveat: Throwing this way for distance can hamper your skill level as you progress in this sport. You can become a slave to you go-to throwing techniques, and not know how to throw less overstable discs that could better suit your arm speed. Just because your anhyzer release sends less stable discs rolling to the right. it doesn’t mean you have to use it all the time and just use overstable discs.
If you just rely on overstable throws to get you out of jail, you are limiting your options rather than properly refining your forehand technique. Therefore, make it a point to practise your forehands using a variety of discs stabilities and plastics so that you are familiar with how to use each of your discs effectively regardless of what is or isn’t in front of you. Practicing with different stabilities and molds is useful to see what distance you can make. Champions are built in the practice arena.
As was noted, the most typical form of flex shots employed by more experienced players are done with overstable discs thrown on anhyzer. But you will see also see pro players throw an understable disc on a hyzer flip.
Because the slower pace is a little bit easier to manage when starting off, I recommend mastering a forehand flex stroke with overstable mid-ranges or putters as your initial disc choices.
If you want to lower your scores possible, the forehand flex shot is absolutely one of the shots that you need to have in your toolkit. Make sure to add it regularly to your practice rounds.
I used to be afraid of flex shots. I was a backhand dominant player. I never like the feel of forehands. But when i watched Jeremy Koling double down on this shot I got hooked. I knew by avoiding this shot it was making me an inferior player.
So i did what any man would do i faced my fears. I actually i went of by myself with a practice bag and throw loads and loads of howlers, and watched endless You Tube tutorials into I got my form dialed in a bit.
Now the FF is a great shot for me for angling through trees, or when i need to zip in and out of obstacles. But not only obstacles, there are times when the forehand flex is my go to ninja move when i want to go out wide and sweep into the target zone, especially on approach shots or when i need to get more distance.
Ok now you know the basics, grab a bag and get that forehand flexing!
Sometimes you need to go over rather than around an object with a spike hyzer
This post will compliment the forehand flex shot – “How to stop hitting tress in disc golf”
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Thanks for reading. You’ve perfected a RHBH flex shot, so it’s time to practice this forehand flex shot. Follow the instructions in this this step-by-step guide and pull this shot out of your locker when you need to.