How much further should you be able to throw with a sling?

We all want to throw further. That is why we pick up a sling in the first place.

But what can you expect when you first pick up a sling?

When it comes to throwing distance with a sling vs. your hand, the initial thought is you should be able to throw 2x further. Because, in essence, a sling will double your arm’s length. That is, if you have a sling that is as long as your arm. I usually recommend this to people starting.

I started doing a test because there is very little concise information on the internet about this topic.

Here is the question I am answering:
On a person-to-person basis, what can most people expect when throwing with a sling vs. throwing with their arm?

First, let’s look at some historical records. Getting a foundation will help us flesh out this idea.

The longest baseball throw is 445 ft and 10 inches, set by Glen Gorbous.

The longest Cricket ball throw is 422 ft, set by Robert Percival in April of 1882

The longest Sling throw was 1,434 ft 1 inch by Larry Bray in August of 1981

Larry Bray made that record with a rock weighing 52 grams. A baseball weighs about 142 grams, and a cricket ball weighs about 155. There is a significant difference in weight. About 100 grams. Along with the circumference size of the projectile. The stone is about one-quarter the size.
The sling is roughly 3x further than the thrown balls. Suppose we adjust the sling numbers based on projectile differences. Baseballs and Cricket balls are heavier and larger and have higher wind resistance. We could imply someone could still get about double the distance with a sling vs. their hand.

This information is, however, comparing pristine athletes against each other. Unfortunately, that does not help the average person know how far they should be able to throw.

The Test

I tested to see the difference between throwing a tennis ball with just my arm and a sling.

The weather

It was not the best weather for testing. It was right before a storm, with random gusts of wind. Sometimes giving a tailwind and sometimes giving a crosswind. However, I could keep most of the throws with similar circumstances.

My Equipment
I have an app on my phone Udisc (meant for disc golf), and it has a measuring tool to measure throws. It is GPS based, and I used it to measure all my throws. I can mark the starting point and endpoint for multiple throws all at once, and it saves it to the app.

The beginning of the test

After warmups, I started with throwing by hand. That got me a nice grouping. That felt consistent with my average distance for throws.

Next, I switched to my ten-strand Balearic sling. I was alternating after nine throws to throwing with my hand again, making sure not to tire my arm out too much with just one throw style.

I ended up getting in 18 throws each.

The storm was making the weather more and more unpredictable. So I didn’t feel more throws would help the data.

It was interesting data.

The Data

Here are the numbers from the test.

Throwing only with my hand got me a minimum of 141 feet and a maximum of 170 feet. The outlier was the long throw. I move up in consistent intervals from 141 ft to 163 ft. Then I have the 7ft jump to 170.

When I switch over to the ten-strand Balearic sling, I get a minimum of 168 feet with a maximum of 221 feet. Once again, the outlier is the long throw, with consistent increases from 168ft to 209ft. Ending with a massive jump of 22 ft.

The averages give us a more accurate image of what to expect.

The average distance for throwing with only my arm was 151 feet.
Throwing with the Balearic sling gave me an average of 194 ft.

Comparing the numbers, we see.

The Average throws 194/151= 1.28 or roughly a 30% increase in distance

I am not throwing twice as far with a sling as with my hand.

However, I also brought some other slings. These slings had different results.

Wool sling results

The minimum distance ended up being 181 feet, with a maximum distance of 225 feet. The average distance was 205 feet. What was even better about this was there were no outliers. Gradually increasing distance as I got comfortable with the sling and this new projectile.

The weather was getting more and more unpredictable. So, this did have to be a smaller sample size; I only got nine throws in.

The wool sling ends up being a 32 % increase in distance. It is still not that much, but this sling achieved that distance with less effort. Given more time, I could have gotten much further.

The Elite sling.

The minimum distance was 194 feet, with a maximum distance of 258 feet. The average is 236 feet. That is a 56% increase in distance. So it was getting significantly closer to a 100% increase in distance.

Thoughts on the results.

A sling the same length as your arm will not guarantee a 100% increase in distance. A crucial factor to consider is the sling lags behind your arm as you throw. So, it is not doubling the length of your arm. Instead, it is comparable to increasing it by 80% or less, depending on the style of throw and your release.

Moving forward, I will say to a beginning slinger to expect a 10% – 20% increase in the distance while using a sling. For someone that is intermediate, I would say a 30% – 40% increase in distance. And those who have practiced a lot expect a 50%- 70% in the distance. Of course, once you have mastered slinging and projectiles, you can expect more than the 80% increase in distance. But that will take some time.

Thoughts after the experiment

In doing this experiment, I found two things:

1 I was surprised by the numbers
2 I love doing this and will measure more distances and compare my designs with each other.

How it felt throwing with just my arm
Every throw felt violent and maxed out. I heard my elbow joint stretching and popping each throw for the last round. So, for me, I do feel I was getting everything I had behind the throws. The day after, I felt the muscles I used to throw the ball with my arm.

When it came to the slings, on the other hand, I feel like I left a lot of potential on the table. I have videos on my Instagram of me throwing at the lake. From when I was trying to throw over it. And I am spinning around with the amount of force I am throwing with. For this experiment, I had a few step-through throws, but mostly I ended with a balanced one-leg stance with my follow-through leg out to the side. This made throwing easy, so I could have kept throwing if the time allowed. But I feel like I was missing out on precious distance.

This might be from the lack of weight that a tennis ball has. In comparison to the average stone I throw. It could give a better counterweight to let me lean into it. I will have to throw more tennis balls to get the hang of them.

Also, my release timing was off for the tennis balls. I threw 30 degrees to the left of what I usually throw and about 35 to 40 degrees to the left of my power spot for throws. I think this comes down to the weight being different and the size of the tennis ball slowing the throw down in the windup. With more practice, I can adjust this and will be able to give updated data on throwing distance in the future.

Something else interesting is the difference between my max and minimum distance.

Hand – 29 feet
Balearic – 53 feet
Wool – 44 feet
Elite – 64 feet

This shows the inconsistencies for range with my form that day. I did have a nice grouping for 4 to 6 in one spot each round. But I often had a few that just did their own thing and either got that extra distance or were off to the side. The farther I got, the more significant the gap between the farthest and the closes. That makes sense because with harder throws comes decreased accuracy.

To conclude this topic, for now, I think a goal for throwers will be a 50% increase in distance. And to expect a 10 to 20% increase when beginning your journey. Especially if you start throwing a tennis ball, I want to compare tennis ball numbers to stone numbers. That will be in the future.

Thanks for reading!

What seems to be your struggle point when it comes to distance?

Sling on!
Glenn

This post came from a Newsletter article I wrote a few weeks ago. If you would like to join my Newsletter to hear my in-the-moment thoughts and funny side comments, please join!