Did some clay shooting last weekend. Purchased the hand thrower style that had the 4' fiberglass rod for extended throwing distances. Took about a dozen throws to get the feel of it and we were able to really throw the clays very fast and out to almost 100 yards. We could even slow the clays down by only loading the clay into the older about 1/2 way. This gave the person throwing the clays the ability to "surprise" the shooter as to speed and elevation of the clay.

We ended up throwing about 150 clays that day with zero problems. Other than our forearms hurt a little due to the slight whipping action you would do with your arm at the very last second of the throw....this helped in control of trajectory of the clay as well as getting it to release from the holder.

The thrower I mention we purchased locally from The Sportsmans Warehouse for about $11.00

Hope this helps.