Overhand Wrist Flip

Overhand Wrist Flip or Chicken Wing?

catch high with fingers on top… turn it outside finger on the rim… pull to your target. that’s how it works. everything else is just expression and intent.


A Few Thoughts on This Throw:

  1. at or below shoulder level is fine
  2. there is no flick
  3. delivery is key
  4. work to throw floaters

Released Somewhere Around Shoulder Height

deliver this throw from around shoulder height. there is no benefit to releasing the disc any higher than that. below shoulder height is fine as well.

Many players try to deliver this throw from way up high, almost above their heads. Part of it is our fault for the “Catch High, Turn Outside…” instruction, but the point remains that you do not need to keep your arm high throughout this throw.

Keep your throw stroke, from outside to in front of you, at or slightly below shoulder height and you will be in the best spot to deliver the throw, with power, directly to the target. You can go slightly above if you want, and you can even throw from on high if you want. It’s not a big deal.

There Is No Flick

you don’t really flick your wrist in disc sports. it’s more like your loose wrist gets flicked. pull and deliver sharply to your target with a loose wrist. when the arm stops because it can’t go any further the wrist gets flicked because it keeps racing forward. Pop!

Keep your wrist loose during your throws and focus on moving and stopping your arm. The sudden movement and stopping of the arm with a loose wrist is what creates the flick. The wrist is the vehicle, not the motor. The loose wrist is being thrown and is popping or flinging open when the arm starts and stops it.

Deliver This Throw – Easing Up Is Trouble

the Overhand Wrist Flip must be delivered to the target. ease up and the throw will fall off. throw the Overhand Wrist flip with authority and intent at the release with a focus on the target and proper targeting and trajectory will follow.

The tendency is to try to finesse this throw. It’s so tempting, it feels as if you can do it, like you have to do it. Don’t. Don’t do it. Deliver this throw with authority, always. If you want to learn how to finesse it, do so throw through aggressive floaters or vault tosses. Easing up on this toss doesn’t work out so well.

Precision, Accuracy, and Depth with Floaters

just throwing the Overhand Wrist Flip is not enough. once you get a handle on the throw, take it to the next level. learn how to float it. work the middle distance (7-14 yards) with the throw. learn to put it where and when your dog is going to be and how to hold it there.

Once you have some mastery over targeting and trajectory start to play around with floating this toss. It’s a real challenge. There are maybe 10 players in the world, max who can deliver this throw as a floater at 7-12 yards to a leaping dog.

Overhand Wrist Flip

You’ll see tons of people chucking them out there 20+ yards, which is cool – what a great out throw – but you’ll see not many at all using them to elicit leaps out of their dogs in that middle distance. And there’s a reason for that. It’s hard!

Putting that depth – 7-14 yard floater – on creative releases is a great way to spend your human disc training time.