Kansas Disc Golf Association

I need advice on throwing a good long distance roller.
Disc selection?
Throwing techniques?
Wind effects?
Tricks?
I have played for years and my issue is that I can throw further than my best roller shots. I can be very accurate on 200 to 325ft rollers (low ceiling shots) but I want to add distance.

I have used teebirds, leopards, XS all with mixed results when trying for distance.

Any Advice from the Gurus of long distance rolling????

I'm no guru, but a couple things come to mind....

The wind determines the potential of the roller. For RHBH rolls, a 7 o'clock wind is optimal. You can roll decent distance in any wind direction (if it is moderate), but the chance of getting a good one go way down and the distance potential is less.

Discs will roll farther down hill, of course, but they are trickier to control. They will want to flip over more. Rolling uphill is just about impossible for long D.

What I think the trick to distance is getting lots of air time on the shot + having a good angle at contact + plenty of spin still on it to keep it going. I think a brand new X Xpress is a perfect roller disc. Throw it almost like a regular air shot. Clock your shot to the left a little, like a hyzer flip. If you have that 7 o'clock wind, you will want a lot of left to right sail effect as it flys and bounces down the fairway. If the roll turns out left or right while it still has spin, some part of the shot could have been better.

I'm guessing the longest rollers are probably 60% distance in the air.

The other thing that I would say is critical on the roll shot is follow through. This part is harder to do if you are trying for the big air. With a huge follow through, I've seen some rolls that get down on the ground quick go a long ways. When throwing the rolls down on the ground right away, I've seen better success with using a disc with a little more stability and landing it more straight up and down.

I throw my longest rolls on #12 in Hays (asphalt) when the wind is blowing really hard. Just aim for the water tower!!! (Someone showed me that shot. (Smitty, Randy M., Ronverse????)

Also, I have been throwing the ESP Avenger SS and it is a nice roller disc (Ronverse, Smitty, Emac, etc!!!) Not sure if those guys are rolling it now, but they have in the past. Good luck ROG!!!!

[quote="_dm4"]I throw my longest rolls on #12 in Hays (asphalt) when the wind is blowing really hard. Just aim for the water tower!!! (Someone showed me that shot. (Smitty, Randy M., Ronverse????)
quote]

That hole scares the hell out of me to roll....

I tried rolling ever disc I have and an old 190g Jaguar out rolled everything else????
Is it still PDGA approved?
Anybody ever throw this disc??
Really slow but glides forever when thrown with finese and when thrown hard it rolled great.

Notorious ROG wrote:I tried rolling ever disc I have and an old 190g Jaguar out rolled everything else????
Is it still PDGA approved?
Anybody ever throw this disc??
Really slow but glides forever when thrown with finese and when thrown hard it rolled great.

Yes, still approved!

http://www.pdga.com/files/documents/PDG ... argets.pdf

They roll pretty good because they have lots of inertia. I have heard a few people that roll them.

I always have a really old beat up Valkyrie that rolls wonders! I basically took the disk up and down a street for 3 hours bouncing it! lol. Sad to say though i have 5 valks in my bag!

This may sound strange, but i recently just for fun started to roll the FLX XL disc. Its surprisingly a great roller!

Seems like the FLX would absorb some of the speed on the bounces. It is surprising.

FYI my roller observations:

My longest roller drives are a two finger flick roll with a 175 star firebird. That thing is invincible. It hits the ground at about this angle 100 feet or so out in front: / With short dry grass and slight breeze I can put them from hole 8's pin in Pratt to hole 18's teepad next to the street. Pretty sure that's 500+. It's a right-to-left fading roll with a tight curl at the end.

I like a Roadrunner for backhand roller, also max weight. Inverse angle, inverse fade: \ Not nearly as much distance for me though as the flick roll.

I try not to roll at all with a cross wind unless the wind hits the disc in its "sails." If the wind is hitting the top plate of the roller, the thing will probably just spin out early. If the wind is hitting the bottom plate of the disc (that's wat I call the "sail"), it seems to give the roller extra leverage and distance.

Head winds seem to make the disc stand straight up and waiver around laterally a bit. Tailwinds tend to make the roller hyzer out early I think.

Sometimes I'll use a flexible disc to "bounce roll" around a sharp corner such as a bush (when flicks/hyzers are not an option for whatever reason). The springiness lets you jump obstacles and they die early. It is a crap shoot though.

Some people says discs should fly. I think they make good wheels!

Back in the day the Jag was the roller of choice. Physics says a bigger wheel clears obstacles better. I am learning the SS Avenger, but I think I'm going back to a flatter disc. Flatter discs with a little more rigidity seem to take the abuse better. A beat in Z Wildcat is great. Unfortunately I lost mine and need to break in a new one. An X wildcat works well, but I tear it up too soon. The Xpress is surprisingly good, and easy to learn, but it is not as long. I almost had a ESP Flash ready, but threw it in the river at Herman hill.
Whatever you try, DO NOT throw a "roller". Instead take an unstable disc and throw it (line drive) as if it was an Extremely overstable. With some practice and experimentation landing a big roller will be easier. Figuring out where it needs to hit and the correct angle for the disc on release is key to accuracy in rolling.

RON SAID

Whatever you try, DO NOT throw a "roller". Instead take an unstable disc and throw it (line drive) as if it was an Extremely overstable. With some practice and experimentation landing a big roller will be easier. Figuring out where it needs to hit and the correct angle for the disc on release is key to accuracy in rolling.

OK so what about those who don't throw bombs and an SS Avenger is all that under stable . I use it for my left turning disc and have to force it over to do that. If I throw it as hard and flat as I can it may go a little left but will ultamitly flatten out and hyser in its finnish. If I want to throw a roller Which I hardly ever do because its really hard to get a disc to go strait when on the ground for me. I used to have an old beat up stratous that worked ok for that but now i don't have a disc that understable in my bag other than my SS's and they are not beet up . So what should I use. By the way I don't throw innova crap or allow it in my bag .lol Gate way or DGA is acceptable.

My favorite roller was a worn in Polaris LS. I love the X-Press as well.

I've been trying Avenger SS & Sidewinder and find that I can't get them to roll straight! They vere way left then turn hard right. My slower drivers were WAY easier to control.