Axe Throwing Tip: Don't Tip (Your Body)

In the spirit of sharing axe throwing tips that I should have known long before now, I have another one for you, dear reader:

This past Sunday was yet another lovely, 5-week marathon league at Meduseld Meadery. Unlike past marathon leagues, this one was brimming with throwers (15 in total, compared to our typical 8-10). And, it should be said, this particular marathon league had some heavy hitters in the sport.

So, being who I am as a low-self-esteem, just-happy-to-be-included sorta guy, I decided straight away to focus on a particular aspect of my game rather than the hope of winning big.

And something occurred to me, dear reader. Something that, again, I suspect a lot of people know (but I didn't. Get off my back about it).

There is a natural desire, when throwing something, to kinda stretch out that throw. By that I mean the natural body movement to stretch one's arm all the way out, while letting the body follow along.

The problem with that natural movement is this: it changes the latitude of your throw from the starting point. Maybe this would make more sense with a really poorly drawn graphic to illustrate:

Embarrassing to admit this took multiple attempts?

Assuming people don't get real low to aim when throwing an axe, the beautiful illustration above shows what I'm talking about. When a thrower take a step and stretches out their upper body to throw, they are changing the plane their throw is released. That means, potentially (or at least noticeably in my case) that the thrower has to account for that dip in "throwing" height, compared to "aiming" height.

Now I'm sure there are plenty of axe throwers out there who, through practice and muscle memory, adjusted their throw to account for this dip in height. But for the shit of it, I spent all of this last marathon league trying to keep my back (and thereby my throw) straight.

It had a noticeable affect on my throwing accuracy. Like, a significant one. My average was 68.5 for the league, whereas my average in my current weekly league is 65.3. And I mean I know that's not necessarily a proof-in-the-pudding comparison, but it also felt like I was more accurate/confident in my throwing, simply by keeping my stance as upright as possible during the entirety of my throw.

Do I think this is a revolutionary, "The Secret" level of advice? No. The majority of really great throwers that I've seen keep their bodies parallel to the target. BUT nobody ever told me that was a good idea. So I'm telling you.

I'm your dad, now. I'm giving you life advice. Also I'm proud of you.