Disc Golf Backhand for Beginners: Grip, Stance and the Throw

The backhand is the throw most players learn first, and it is also the one that takes longest to get right. The good news is that the basics are simple, and the mistakes beginners make are predictable. This guide walks through the grip, the stance and each part of the throw, then covers disc choice and how to check yourself on video.

Throughout, directions assume a right-handed backhand (RHBH). If you throw left-handed, mirror them.

Power grip vs fan grip

There are two main backhand grips. Most players use both, for different shots.

	Power grip	Fan grip
Fingers	All four curled under the rim, tips pressed into the inside of the rim	Spread out under the flight plate, fingertips toward the center
Thumb	On top of the disc, roughly along the rim	On top, a little more toward the center
Best for	Drives and longer shots	Approaches, short shots, controlled upshots
Feel	Secure, more snap at release	More control over angle, less power
Common problem	Squeezing too hard and releasing late or early	Disc slipping out early on harder throws

How to hold a power grip

1. Hold the disc in front of you, flat, with the rim facing your palm.
2. Curl your four fingers under the rim so the rim sits in the crease where your fingers meet your palm.
3. Lay your thumb on top of the disc.
4. Let your wrist relax so the disc hangs slightly below your forearm line.

Where to put your thumb

There is one piece of research on this. Researchers in Georgia measured 600 backhand throws by 24 professional and amateur players, using a sensor-fitted midrange, and varied thumb position. The best combination of spin and launch speed came with the thumb about 3 cm from the outer edge of the disc, and spin and launch speed were strongly correlated across all throws (Koch et al. 2024, via ScienceDaily). The authors caution that the best position may vary with build and arm speed, and that more discs need testing. So treat "about 3 cm in from the edge" as a sensible starting point, not a rule.

Grip pressure

Hold the disc firmly enough that it doesn't slip during the reach-back, but loosely enough to let go cleanly. Squeezing hard from the start is a common cause of releases that come out at a random point. A useful feel: relaxed at the reach-back, firming up as the disc comes through, and letting the disc rip out at the end.

The stance: start from a standstill

Beginners should learn from a standstill, not a run-up. A run-up adds speed you cannot yet use and makes it harder to see what is going wrong.

1. Stand sideways to the target, with your throwing shoulder pointing at it. For RHBH, your right foot is in front, closer to the target.
2. Feet about shoulder width apart or a little wider, roughly on a line toward the target.
3. Knees soft, hips back a little, chest over your feet. This is an athletic posture, the same shape you would use to catch a ball.
4. Weight centered or slightly on the back foot.

Once the standstill throw is consistent, the next step is a short run-up. Standstill vs x-step covers when and how to switch.

How to throw a backhand, step by step

1. The reach-back

From your stance, move the disc straight back along your target line, at about chest height. Let your shoulders turn so your back starts to face the target. Your weight shifts onto your back foot.

The key word is coil. You are winding your upper body, not just pushing your arm backward. A reach-back that goes out wide to the side, away from your body, sets up a curved pull later. The disc golf reach-back goes into what a good backswing looks like.

2. The forward move starts with the hips

This is the part beginners skip. Before your arm comes forward, shift your weight onto your front foot and let your hips start to turn toward the target. Your shoulders follow, and the arm comes last. That order, big segments first and the hand last, is the classic proximal-to-distal model of throwing (Putnam 1993).

If you remember one thing from this guide: the arm is the last thing to move, not the first.

3. The pull

As your body turns, pull the disc forward close to your chest, with your elbow bent and leading toward the target. The disc should travel in a fairly straight line, not swing out around your body. Swinging out is called rounding, and it is the most common beginner backhand fault. See how to stop rounding your backhand for how to spot and fix it.

4. The front-leg brace

As the disc comes through, your front leg firms up and stops your body sliding forward. That stop lets your hips and chest turn hard against it, which helps whip the arm through. Think of it as planting and posting up. Hips, brace and weight shift explains why this matters.

5. The release

The arm extends toward the target late, and the disc leaves your hand flat, with the nose not pointing up. If you release the disc too early, it tends to go right of your line on RHBH. If the nose is up, the disc climbs, stalls and drops left.

6. The follow-through

Let your arm keep going around your body after the release and let your back foot swing through naturally. Try to finish balanced on your front leg. A balanced finish is one of the easiest self-checks you have: if you stumble, something in the sequence was off.

Which discs to learn with

Your first backhand discs should be slow. A midrange or a fairway driver with some turn will fly farther and straighter for most beginners than a high-speed distance driver, because those drivers need a lot of arm speed to fly as designed. UDisc suggests keeping speed around 8 or lower while you learn (UDisc).

Disc golf flight numbers explained covers how to read the numbers on a disc and how to pick a small starter bag.

Common beginner backhand mistakes

Mistake	What you notice	What to do
Arm-only throw	Hips and feet barely move; throw feels all shoulder	Standstill reps where the hips must turn before the arm moves
Rounding	Disc swings wide of the chest; release point wanders	Pull the disc close across your chest; pause-at-the-pocket reps
Facing the target too early	Chest opens before the plant	Keep your back to the target longer in the reach-back
Nose up	Disc climbs, stalls and drops left	Keep your wrist level and the disc flat through the pull
Throwing too hard	Throws get worse as effort goes up	Throw at 70 percent until the shape is right
Starting with a distance driver	Disc fades left early and lands short	Switch to a midrange or slow fairway driver
Falling off the finish	Stumbling forward or sideways after release	Slow down and finish balanced on the front leg

If your disc keeps leaving right of your line, wobbling or climbing, nose up, off-axis torque and early release explains how to tell those faults apart.

Check your backhand on video

You cannot feel most of these mistakes accurately. A phone clip settles them.

• Side-on shows your weight shift, plant, posture and brace.
• From behind, looking down the target line, shows rounding and where the disc leaves your hand.
• Film three to five throws with the same setup, so you see your pattern and not one fluke.

For camera height, distance and slow-motion settings, see how to film your disc golf throw for form analysis.

Full disclosure: I build Disc Golf Form Analyzer. Pose Estimation grades backhand throws on 10 coach-defined faults, including rounding, weak front-side brace and poor plant timing. If you only filmed from the side, the 3D Throw view lets you spin the same throw around to look from behind or straight above, which is useful for checking your pull path as a beginner. For a sense of how this kind of 3D form analysis works, see disc golf 3D form analysis.

A first-month approach

Rather than a timeline, here is a sequence to work through at your own pace:

1. Grip and standstill. Learn the power grip and the standstill stance. Throw short, smooth shots with a midrange.
2. Hips first. Make the hips-before-arm order feel normal at low power.
3. Pull close, finish balanced. Keep the disc near your chest and hold your finish.
4. Film and review. Film a set, review it after the session, pick one fix.
5. Add effort, then a run-up. Only once the standstill throw is consistent.

For a full weekly structure, see the disc golf practice plan.