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I have recently gotten into disc golf, and an interesting phenomenon happens when you throw a disc hard. If you throw a disc right hand back hand, so that the disc spins clockwise, at high velocities the disc will start to tilt to the right (clockwise) and move right, then as it slows it tilts back left (counterclockwise) and finishes to the left. I'm having trouble coming up with a good reason that the velocity and/or the angular velocity slowing down would have the opposite affect on the tilt of the disc.

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  • $\begingroup$ this is a hard problem! surely someone in the disc community has analyzed it... $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 2:56
  • $\begingroup$ Is it similar to the effect you sometimes see on car tire rims; when going a certain speed the rims seem to turn clockwise, at another speed the rims seem to turn counter-clockwise? I am fairly certain this has to do with the framerate of observation vs rotational speed of the spinning object $\endgroup$
    – nluigi
    Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 10:18
  • $\begingroup$ This isn't always what happens. The flight path is determined by the characteristics of the disc and the way it is thrown. A disc can be "overstable" (tending to turn left), neutral, or "understable" (tending to turn right). The throw can be hyzer, flat or anhyzer. To get what you saw, you probably threw an overstable disc with an anhyzer release. See this link: discgolf.ultiworld.com/2017/05/02/… $\endgroup$
    – A. Newell
    Commented Sep 19, 2019 at 21:17
  • $\begingroup$ Just guessing, but gyroscopic precession should apply. If it's spinning clockwise, a pitch-down moment should cause it to roll right, and a pitch-up moment should cause a left roll. The pitch moments could be caused by variations in lift as its forward velocity changes. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 15:37
  • $\begingroup$ My question pertains to an understable disc thrown on a hyzer angle. The odd phenomenon is that when the disc is thrown hard (right hand back hand so that the disc spins clockwise as seen from above), the disc starts to tilt right (as viewed from behind), then as the spin an velocity decrease the disc begins to tilt left and continues to tilt left for the rest of the flight. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 23, 2019 at 16:55

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