Beyond the Flight Numbers: How To Get More Out Of Your Bag

If you've ever picked up a disc golf disc, you may have noticed a series of four numbers printed on it. These numbers—Speed, Glide, Turn, and Fade—make up what's known as the flight rating system, a shorthand way to describe how a disc is designed to fly. While these numbers provide a great starting point, they don’t tell the whole story. The beauty of disc golf lies in how players can manipulate discs to achieve different flight paths, turning one disc into a versatile tool for a variety of shots.

Whether you’re a beginner, a seasoned player, or just someone who wants to understand some of the strange words your disc golfing friend has started to use, getting to know some of these techniques will help you take your game to the next level; allowing you not just to sound like you know what you're doing, but to let your game do the talking. Let’s dive in!

Learn the Basics of Flight Numbers

For an in-depth guide on what the Speed, Glide, Turn, and Fade numbers mean, check out our article: Understanding Disc Golf Flight Numbers: What Do They Mean?

How to Manipulate Flight Numbers on the Course

Assuming that you have a grasp of the flight numbers, this article will begin to explore how to use your technique to adjust the flight path of your discs beyond their printed numbers. While the flight numbers give a baseline for how a disc might behave, your throwing technique and the conditions on the course also play a significant role. Here are some ways to make the most of your discs:

1. Use Different Release Angles

The angle at which you release the disc can drastically change its flight path, at times effectively "overriding" the flight numbers. As a rule of thumb, a disc will always fall in the direction that is pointed downwards.

• Hyzer Angle: This is when the disc is tilted downward on the outside edge at release. Throwing with a hyzer angle causes the disc to follow a more pronounced curve in the direction of its natural fade. This is useful for controlled shots around obstacles.

The Hyzer shot is incredibly useful for when you need to get around an obstacle, which unfortunately happens from time to time on the disc golf course. Need your disc to make a 90 degree turn left? A hyzer shot is what you need! Want your understable disc to start its Turn a little later? Slap some hyzer on the release and you'll be good to go!

• Anhyzer Angle: This is when the disc is tilted upward on the outside edge at release. Anhyzer throws encourage the disc to turn in the opposite direction of its fade, creating a sweeping curve that’s great for distance or navigating around rightward turns.

Sometimes you need the shape of a forehand throw, but for one reason or another you need to release it on your backhand. Never fear - the Anhyzer throw is here! Anhyzer is great if you want to take a specific line to hit a gap, and it can also work to get an overstable disc to fly a bit more straight for the first part of its flight. 

• Nose Down: This is not a technique that is commonly recommended, but it is a trap that many beginners unintentionally fall into, so we wanted to explain what the symptoms are, and how to fix it if this is something you constantly do. Like previously stated, a disc will always fall in the direction that is pointing downwards, and so if the nose of the disc is pointed down, then from the moment the disc is released, the disc will travel in a straight line directly to the ground. If you've ever had a shot that you felt like you got good power on it, but it only travelled a very short distance, this could be the reason why.
  

There could be any number of reasons why your disc is released nose down, but some of the most common are simply the angle of the arm action through the throwing motion and the grip on the disc. If your arm starts at your shoulder and ends at your waist, your arm is travelling along a downward path, and it's likely that your disc may just continue along that same trajectory, resulting in a nose down throw. To fix this, try and work at creating a flatter throwing motion.

If you hold the disc as though you were going to throw it, take a look at the angle that the disc is lying at; if the disc's nose is pointed down, you're more likely to release it that way as well. To fix this, try sliding your hand further back in the disc as you hold it: if your hand is currently holding it at around 1 o'clock, try gripping it at 2 o'clock instead, if you're already at 2, try 3. By adjusting where you hold the disc slightly, you can change the angle of your throw without having to make any major mechanical adjustments to your own technique!

• Nose Up: Once again, this is less of a technique, and more of an error that players often make, though there definitely may be a certain situation where you would want to pull this trick out. The defining characteristic of a disc thrown nose up is the way that it finishes its flight; if you've ever had your disc seem to stall out midair and fall straight to the ground almost like a helicopter, that's what it looks like when the disc is thrown with its nose up. The reason this happens is twofold: as the disc travels forward through the air, that air will meet the back rim inside the disc, creating more air resistance, slowing down your disc, and robbing you of some valuable distance! Secondly, again the disc wants to fall towards the side that's facing down, in this case that would be backwards, and that backwards movement cancels out the forward momentum from the throw, making the disc fall straight down, like a helicopter, until it runs out of forward momentum, at which point it will start to fall backwards.

Similar, yet opposite, to a nose down throw, one of the easiest ways to fix this problem is to adjust the spot where you're holding the disc in your hand. If the disc is currently sitting at 4 or 3 o'clock in your hand, try sliding your hand forward so that the disc sits at 3 or 2 o'clock, respectively.

2. Adjust Your Throwing Speed

The speed number on a disc indicates its intended power requirement, but you don’t always need to match it.

• Underpowered Throws: By throwing a disc with less power than it is intended to have, you can make it act more overstable than the flight numbers suggest, following a straighter or more leftward path (RHBH).

Coming back to the IF-THEN way of thinking about the flight numbers (as outlined in our previous article) gives us the following: IF you throw the MVP Trail (10/5/-1/1) at its intended Speed 10, THEN it will Turn -1 and Fade 1. But, if you can't reach the full Speed 10, what will happen is that the disc won't Turn as much, and will Fade even more, so IF you throw that same MVP Trail with a Speed 7 or 8 throw, THEN it won't Turn at all, and will likely Fade 2 or even 3.

This is why we Always recommend that beginners start with Fairway Drivers; most new players don't have the proper technique to throw at Speeds 11 or 12, so if they use those discs, it will just Fade really far to the left every time. But once you can get your 9 Speed disc to behave according to its flight numbers, then you know "I'm throwing up to that Speed, maybe it's time to start going to higher Speed discs to challenge myself and see if I can start to get those to work too!"

We also recommend that new players start with more stable or understable discs like the Latitude 64 River or the Westside Hatchet, because if you can't throw the proper Speeds yet, the disc will Fade to the left of where it naturally wants to go. If it naturally wants to go to the right, Left of that is... straight ahead! And again, once these discs start behaving according to their flight numbers, you know you're ready to start expanding your collection.

Intentionally underpowering a throw is a nifty way to make your disc behave more stable to overstable than it otherwise would be, and can be a really useful trick if you need to get around a certain obstacle, but either don't have a different disc available, or need to go a specific direction around the obstacle.

• Overpowered Throws: Applying extra power to a disc can make it turn more than its flight numbers suggest, which can be handy for achieving long, S-shaped shots. IF you throw a stable disc like Innova's Mako3 (5/5/0/0) with an 8 or 9 Speed throw, THEN you will likely wind up with a disc that Turns a bunch to the right and doesn't come back very much to the left(RHBH). IF you throw a more overstable disc like Discraft's Zone (4/3/0/3) with an 8 or 9 speed throw, THEN you'll wind up with a nice S-curved, starting by veering to the right, and then coming back to the left at the end.

So just by manipulating how hard you throw the disc, you can make the same disc fly more stable, understable, or overstable depending on what you need it to do!

3. Disc Stability In Different Conditions

• Throwing into or with the wind: Playing on a windy day can drastically change the way that your discs behave. When you're throwing with a tailwind, the air itself almost serves as a speed boost to your throws, and as a result, throwing with a tailwind tends to make discs act more understable, as if you were throwing an Overpowered Throw.

A headwind works exactly the same but in reverse. Normally your disc has to fight so hard to achieve certain speeds relative to the air around it, but with a headwind, the air is now fighting back, essentially meaning that the disc if flying at a lower speed (relative to the air around it). Again, the result of this is the same as an Underpowered throw, meaning that headwinds tend to amplify the overstability of a disc.

• Breaking in your disc: Over time, discs wear down. As a disc wears down, it will become more understable. Many advanced players prefer their discs to be specifically "seasoned," so that they can know and rely upon the disc to travel along a certain flight path. 

4. Combine Techniques

For maximum versatility, it is possible to combine some of these adjustments in order to truly maximize your game, and to have multiple options for every shot. A common example is to throw a disc with a hyzer angle at a higher Speed than it's flight number in order to achieve a "flip-up" shot, where the disc rises from the hyzer angle to a flat flight path before turning or fading. This gives a player the benefit of the extra speed and power, while still maintaining the same control and path of the disc.

Tips for Beginners and Intermediate Players

Once you’re comfortable with the basics and how to manipulate flight paths, it’s time to refine your skills further:

• Beginners:

  • Focus on technique over power. Proper form will lead to better results than trying to throw as hard as possible.

  • Start with slower discs (speed ratings of 6-9) that are more forgiving and easier to control.

  • Practice short, straight shots to build consistency before attempting complex curves or long-distance throws. It's easier to add distance to good technique than it is to add technique to distance.

• Intermediate Players:

  • Experiment with different release angles (hyzer and anhyzer) to expand your shot repertoire.

  • Learn to manipulate your throwing speed and how that corresponds to the specific discs that you use. Become familiar with how your specific discs react when thrown at higher and lower speeds than what their flight numbers suggest.

  • Start expanding your bag to include a wide variety of discs so that you can always have the perfect tool for every situation you find yourself in on the course.

Final Thoughts

The flight numbers on a disc golf disc are a helpful guide, but they’re only the beginning. By experimenting with angles, power, and environmental factors, you can unlock the full potential of each disc in your bag. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your game to the next level, understanding and manipulating flight numbers adds a new layer of strategy and fun to the game.

Looking for the perfect disc to fit your style or for a gift? Check out our curated collection of discs, starter sets, bags, baskets, and more—tailored for players of all skill levels. Happy throwing!