New research suggests that St. Albert disc golfers could get more shots on target if they put their thumbs in a specific spot.
Physics professor Zachary Lindsey and his team at Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga., published a study Oct. 22 in AIP Advances on the effects of thumb position on backhand disc golf throws on a mid-range disc. It is one of the few published studies on the sport released to date.
Disc golf is a sport where players try to toss a Frisbee-like disc into a chain-lined basket (the “hole”) in as few throws as possible. St. Albert has disc golf courses in Langholm Park and Kingswood Park.
Lindsey, who studies the physics of materials such as semiconductors, said he and his fellow academics often play disc golf on the two courses on the Berry College campus.
“Since I was playing disc golf with nerds, we typically ask each other nerdy questions,” he explained, such as the best place to put your thumb when gripping the disc.
Lindsey said he and his students decided to find out with a scientific study. They took a sensor-equipped mid-range disc and used paper tabs to mark five thumb positions on it ranging from about 2.6 to 9.4 cm from its centre. They recruited 24 professional and amateur disc golfers and had them each do five backhand power grip throws with their thumbs in each of those positions, recording the spin rate and launch speed of the disc for each throw.
After about 600 throws, the team found that the disc’s spin rates rose as the thrower’s thumb got closer to the edge, reaching its peak at about 1.5 cm from the edge. Launch speeds peaked when the thumb was about three to five cm from the edge.
“The position that showed the highest combined values of launch speed and spin rate was about three centimetres from the edge,” Lindsey said — a position most of the pro throwers in the study said was where they usually put their thumbs.
Sweet spot?
Physics says you impart more torque and spin to a disc the further out from the centre you apply your force to it, which was reflected in these results, Lindsey said. Spin grants gyroscopic stability, allowing the disc to fly further before it crashes. Conversely, you get more friction when you put your thumb closer to the centre of the disc, allowing you to transfer more force to the disc and causing it to fly faster.
Lindsey emphasized this is not a one-size-fits-all method to throwing discs farther, but said it could serve as a hint to beginners on where to put their thumbs. He hoped to continue this study with more professional throwers and other types of discs. (Disc golfers switch between drivers, mid-range, and putter discs depending on their distance to the hole.)
Jeremy Power, a St. Albert disc golfer and co-host of the Chain Out disc golf podcast, said scientific studies of disc golfs are rare, but of great interest to players looking to improve their game.
“If there’s a way to throw better or throw farther, we’re interested in knowing about it,” he said.
Power said there are many elements to a good throw, and high level players could use this study to sharpen their game. He personally planned to give the study’s advice a shot.
“It could make a good player better, but I don’t know if it’s going to do a lot for brand new players.”
Lindsey’s study can be found in the October 2024 issue of AIP Advances.
