Free Inquiry #5: Nailed the Hammer
So the third big skill I wanted to look at is the overhand throws, the Hammer/Tomahawk and the Thumber. These are useful throws as they can be down more easily when there is less room for a walk-up to your throw. Additionally when there are a lot of trees it gives the disk a more narrow profile initially, which can be good for sneaking in between trees.
This video by Karl Molitoris shows one of the more interesting aspects of this throw. As the disk is launched it has a tendency to rotate so that it is flying level through the air. This means that you can get that initial punchy throw that flips and then glides quite well. If the disk is unimpeded a tomahawk throw will ultimately curve to the thrown arm side (for me the left) while the thumber will go to the opposite side (for me the right).
Since my forearm throw is relatively weak, this offers me an alternative that I have been fairly successful with. Using these throws give me a far more reliable and competitive game, but may hamper the developments of my other skills. While I can use these throws for a variety of purposes it may be a better idea to practice the other skills which have a greater potential in other situations. for example if I needed to throw a fair distance on an upward angle this throw is not ideal as it has a tendency to follow a more artillery trajectory.
Commentary provided by David Heintz.
You can see here that my initial throw was trying to sneak through some trees but they were a little too tight. So I took a second throw aimed towards a safer area to play out of. Usually you wouldn’t get a second throw but we give ourselves a mulligan throw from the tee once per 9-holes. This was mine.