There’s nothing quite like standing on the tee pad, staring down a narrow tunnel, and knowing you need a perfectly straight drive to stay in bounds. Whether you’re threading trees or aiming for a tight gap, learning how to throw a disc straight can make or break your round.
In this guide, we’ll cover two main techniques to get your disc flying dead straight—plus a few bonus tips on disc selection and form tweaks that can make a big difference.
The Two Ways to Throw a Disc Golf Disc Straight
- Throw a stable disc with a flat release
- Throw an understable disc with a hyzer angle (a hyzer flip)
Both methods can work wonders depending on your form, arm speed, and disc selection. Let’s break them down.
Option 1: Use a Stable Disc With a Flat Release
To keep things simple, let’s define a stable disc as one that naturally flies straight when thrown flat. That usually means a Turn rating of 0 to -1, which is the third number in the disc’s flight rating (e.g., 7 / 5 / 0 / 1).
Here are a few great stable discs that work well for straight flights:
- Dynamic Discs EMAC Truth (midrange)
- Innova TL (fairway driver)
- Discraft Buzzz (midrange)
Throw these with a flat release angle and a smooth, straight pull across your chest. If you’re throwing backhand, keep your shoulders square and your wrist neutral. Avoid any upward or downward swoop in your reach-back or follow-through—that’s what causes hyzer or anhyzer angles when you don’t want them.
Quick tips:
- Keep your pull-through level: Start and end at the same height.
- Stay square to your target: Especially important for backhand form.
- Minimize wrist roll: Rounding can ruin an otherwise clean throw.
Option 2: Throw an Understable Disc With a Hyzer Angle (Hyzer Flip)
This method is a bit more technical but super effective once you dial it in. The hyzer flip involves using an understable disc (Turn rating -2 or lower) and releasing it on a hyzer angle. The disc will naturally flip up to flat and ride a straight path.
Ideal discs for a hyzer flip include:
- Westside Underworld (fairway driver)
- Innova Leopard (fairway driver)
- Discraft Meteor (midrange)
Throw the disc on a slight hyzer angle (edge down) with a powerful, clean snap. The disc should flip up to flat mid-flight and glide forward in a straight line. You may need to experiment with how much hyzer angle you give it—more angle for flippier discs, less angle for neutral ones.
Pro tips:
- Release low and fast: Gives the disc time to flip without fading early.
- Snap is everything: Hyzer flips need clean energy to fly correctly.
- Test your plastic: Some plastics like GStar or ESP FLX flip easier than stiff ones.
Pay Attention to Fade
Even if you nail a straight line, fade can ruin your approach. Fade is the disc’s natural tendency to hook at the end of its flight—usually back to the left for a right-hand backhand (RHBH) throw.
Fade is the fourth number in a disc’s flight rating. If you want your disc to finish straight, look for a Fade rating of 0 or 1.
Putters like the Latitude 64 Dagger or Discraft Challenger SS often have minimal fade and hold a line beautifully.
Bonus tip: Releasing the disc low can reduce the time it has to fade. So if you’re stuck with a disc that tends to hook at the end, throw it low and flat to minimize that finishing movement.
Practice These Methods Before Hitting the Course
Before you try to carve a laser beam through a tree-lined fairway, hit the practice field. Work on both the flat release and hyzer flip methods, and pay attention to how your form affects the disc’s behavior. Bring a few different discs and see what works best for your arm speed and release style.
With repetition, muscle memory will take over—and those tunnel shots won’t feel nearly as stressful.
Recommended Disc Categories to Explore:
Final Thoughts
Throwing a disc straight is one of the most useful—but trickiest—skills in disc golf. Whether you choose the flat release method with a stable disc or the hyzer flip with an understable flyer, you’ll need to experiment and practice to find what works best for you.
Don’t rush it. Work through your form, try different molds, and remember—even the pros didn’t learn to hit tunnels overnight.