Biomechanical analysis of disc golf throws to improve performance

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024)

Disc golf (DG) has recently seen a large growth in popularity. UDisc, a DG app reported a 50% increase in their player base in 2020 compared to 2019. Despite this growth, very little literature correlates technique to performance maximization. This study aimed to gain insight into the biomechanics of forehand and backhand DG throws and to relate these findings to the skill level of the participants. Skill is assessed by relating the throwing mechanics of an athlete to their Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) rating, which assigns athletes a number to reflect their performance in PDGA events. The range of PDGA ratings is from the 600s (beginners) to the low 1000s for top professionals. In this study, the participants ranged from the 800s to low 1000 ratings.