10 Tips for Best Disc Golf Accuracy to Keep on Your Line
From beginners to pros, many disc golfers get caught up in “how can I throw farther in disc golf?”. But accuracy in disc golf is just as important as distance.
Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced disc golfer, you’ve likely experienced days where you miss your line over and over. Throwing a golf disc accurately takes practice, knowledge of disc golf flight paths, skill, and patience.
Here, we’ll go over the best tips on how to throw in disc golf to increase your accuracy and become a better disc golfer.
The Best Disc Golf Accuracy Tips
These 10 disc golf accuracy tips will help you navigate courses with confidence and consistency.
1. Work on Your Mental Game
If you are working on improving your disc golf accuracy, start with your mental game. If you watch the pros, you’ll notice their intense focus and fixation when eyeing their target.
Next time you’re on the course, pick a spot, fixate on it, and throw your disc. Do this over and over to work on improving your accuracy and ability to keep on your line.
It also helps to maintain a positive attitude. Remember that all players — even professional disc golfers — have days where they can’t seem to keep on their line or struggle with inconsistency.
2. Find the Problems with Your Disc Golf Accuracy
Once you dial in your mental game, it’s time to pinpoint where your accuracy issues are coming from.
Consider asking yourself the following questions to find out where your accuracy issues may be originating from:
- Have you always struggled with accuracy or is this a recent problem?
- Have you practised different disc golf throw techniques or do you always stick to one technique?
- Is your grip too tight or too loose?
- Do you practice consistently or do you only play a game now and then?
- Do you struggle to throw off the tee pad? Or on open-field shots? Or throwing through wooded areas?
- What golf discs are in your bag? Are they appropriate for your level?
- Do you understand disc golf flight paths?
- Do you feel focused or distracted during your games?
- What do you focus on when practising? Do you simply go out and complete a few throws or do you have specific drills you work on and goals you focus on?
If you’re wondering how to answer these questions, head to a local disc golf course and play a few rounds. Write these questions down and play with them in mind and be sure to take notes. The more you can identify areas you are struggling with, the more you can work toward fixing those accuracy issues.
3. Select the Right Disc Golf Disc
A big issue that affects disc golf accuracy, especially for beginners, is selecting a golf disc that suits their skill level. Often, beginners will end up with the wrong golf disc for their throwing abilities and experience level.
The wrong disc can decrease accuracy, reduce distance, and throw your game off completely. Alternatively, beginner golf discs are specifically designed to be easier to throw and control.
Here are some guidelines for choosing the best golf disc as a beginner:
- Select a low-speed disc (1 to 6)
- Opt for a golf disc with high glide (numbers 3 to 7)
- Opt for an understandable golf disc to help increase control
- Choose a disc with around -2 turn
- Choose a disc with a low fade (0 or 1)
- For younger players, choose a lightweight disc of around 150 grams
- Beginner players should generally throw a disc that weighs less than 170 grams
Choosing the best golf discs for beginners can be overwhelming. We’ve taken the guesswork out of choosing the best disc as a beginner by putting together beginner golf disc sets. These beginner disc golf starter sets have everything you need to grow your skills and improve your game.
If you are an intermediate or advanced disc golfer and you are struggling with accuracy issues, consider practising with some discs that are easier to control. Get out for some field work with some putters or mid-range discs and get back to basics until you pinpoint your issues and see improved consistency.
When in doubt, get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to walk you through the best golf discs for your specific skill level and goals.
4. Learn Golf Disc Physics
Speed.
Glide.
Turn.
Fade.
If you are a disc golfer, these terms should be second nature to you. Understanding disc golf flight ratings — how a disc is expected to travel through the air when thrown properly — is a crucial part of improving your accuracy on the course.
- Speed is the rate at which a disc can travel through the air. High-speed discs require more power to fly properly.
- Glide refers to the disc's ability to maintain loft during flight. Beginners should opt for discs with more glide.
- High-speed turn is the tendency of a disc to "turn" to the right (for right-hand backhand throws) during the initial part of the flight. Turn is dependent on the disc shape and the speed at which the disc is thrown.
- Low-speed fade is the disc's tendency to hook left (for right-hand backhand throws) at the end of the flight.
Along with learning the disc golf flight rating system, it is also important to know the physics of how golf discs fly through the air. You may be surprised by how many factors keep a disc flying through the air. Disc flight is a combination of gyroscopic inertia (a fancy way of referring to the continued spinning of the disc due to momentum and angle), lift, torque, roll, pitch, aerodynamics, and speed.
For instance, the thinness of drivers makes them more aerodynamic and allows them to fly faster and farther. Putters, with their thicker shape, fly slower and do not travel as far.
5. Check Your Feet for Clues
Your feet can give you significant clues when it comes to improving your disc golf accuracy. After a great shot, check out the placement of your feet. Where is your plant foot? What motion did you use to get there? Does your plant foot end up in that same placement for all your good throws?
Work on repeating that rhythm and motion with your shots to see if it helps you get more consistent with your throws. The same goes for bad shots. Check your feet afterwards and see where they are facing.
6. Watch the Pros to Help Perfect Your Disc Golf Throw Techniques
If you are new to disc golf, learning disc golf throw techniques is an important part of improving accuracy. Along with practising the different disc golf throw types on your own, watching the pros is a great way to learn disc golf throw techniques.
From McBeth and Climo to Eagle McMahon, you’ll notice spot-on disc golf throw techniques, consistent form, and similar-looking throws.
Here are some of our favourite disc golf pro videos that feature excellent disc golf throw techniques and consistency:
- Paul McBeth Highlights | 2022 PDGA Pro World Championships
- Eagle McMahon Highlights | 2022 European Open
- Final Round, Front 9 | European Open | MPO Lead | McBeth, McMahon, Kramer, Jones
- Top 10 Moments of the 2022 Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship
7. Watch Disc Golf Tutorials on YouTube
Another way to improve your disc golf accuracy fast is by watching disc golf tutorials on YouTube. Here are some excellent disc golf tutorials to start with:
Overthrow disc golf: https://youtube.com/@OverthrowDiscGolf
Discraft Level up disc golf: https://youtube.com/@discraftdiscgolf
Eagle McMahon Side arm breakdown: https://youtu.be/HPP8NwM5mQo
Simon Lizotte Backhand form Breakdown: https://youtu.be/q9e_lEs7ASE
8. Do Field Work to Improve Disc Golf Accuracy
Along with practising in your living room and backyard, fieldwork drills are the best way to improve your disc golf accuracy fast.
Here are some of the best disc golf accuracy drills to help you control your golf disc’s flight and landing:
Landing Zone Drill
- Pick a desired landing area for your disc (a target zone can be anything from your bag, a marker, between trees, near an object, or the basket)
- Start close to the object, around 15 metres away
- Once you master consistent throws that end up in your desired landing area, move further and further away from your chosen landing zone
Hit the Target
- Set up a line of several targets to throw at
- Choose distances based on your skill level (beginners may want to start with distances of 30, 45, and 60 metres and advanced players may start at 60, 90, and 120 metres)
- Take five throws, aiming to land your discs near the first target
- Once you master the first target, move on to the next furthest target and take another five throws
- Repeat until you’ve practised throwing at every target you’ve set up
Don’t Hit the Target
It may sound counterintuitive, but for this drill, you’ll want to purposely miss the target. This is one of the best field drills for improving disc golf accuracy, especially for beginners:
- Take a marker and place it on the ground 8 to 10 metres in front of you
- Throw your disc at the marker and try to get it to land as close as possible to your target without hitting it
- As you get better at landing all your throws in the same spot without hitting the target, move the target further away in small increments
- Keep working on your throws until you can land your disc close to the marker at 15 to 20 metres in front of you
Shot Shaping Drill
This drill will help improve your accuracy and get you more comfortable working around obstacles.
For this disc golf drill:
- Pick an obstacle such as a tree, set of trees, or light pole that you want to throw in between, over, or around
- Practice your throws until you can consistently get your disc to travel how you want
Field Goals
This drill will help improve distance and accuracy. For this drill, head to a local football field instead of a disc golf course. Using the field goal posts, aim to throw your disc through the posts.
Stick to putters and mid-range golf discs for this drill. To start:
- Grab your putter or midrange disc and begin at the 50-yard line
- Practice your throws until you are consistently passing through the middle of the field goalposts
- Once you master the 50-yard line, move back another 10 yards
- Continue moving back in 5 or 10-yard increments as you master each distance
You can also learn disc golf field drills from one of the best players in the world in this video by Paul McBeth.
9. Remember to Keep Your Head Down
Pulling your head up too early in your throw will hurt your accuracy. Lifting your head also lifts your shoulder, usually resulting in a late release.
Keep your head down through your pull, and release, and as you enter your follow-through, be sure to wait to lift your chin until just after you release your golf disc.
10. Record Your Disc Golf Throws
One of the best ways to discover problems with your accuracy is by recording your throws. Recording your practice sessions can help you pinpoint issues with your stance, picking your head up too soon, foot placement, throw technique, and much more.
When watching your practice videos, take note of mistakes with form or throwing technique, make small adjustments, and record yourself again at your next practice.
Want More Disc Golf Tips to Improve Your Accuracy and Game?
For more tips on how to throw in disc golf, disc golf throw techniques, and how to get better at disc golf, check out our detailed Beginner’s Disc Golf Guide.
As always, contact us with any questions or to get personalised advice on the best disc golf products for your goals and skill level.