Author: Alan

Alan Barker is the founder and owner of Infinite Discs and has tried more different disc golf molds than just about anyone on the planet.

New Golf Discs for 2017

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Spring is finally here for most parts of the country. For those of us who haven’t been as active in the disc golf world while our courses are covered in white stuff, here is a summary of new discs that have been or will be released in 2017.

Axiom

Axiom has been quiet so far this year. The exciting announcement from the MVP family thus far is the release of their new single mold brand Streamline Discs.

DGA

  • Quake – This new midrange will shock the world. It’s a flat top overstable mid with a very comfortable feel and flight ratings 5/3/0/3

Discmania

Discmania hasn’t yet released any new discs in 2017, but there are a few known discs we are expecting:

  • PDX – The Discmania PDX is a power driver that was released as a fundraising disc for the Disc Golf World Tour. We expect it to be released with a stock stamp sometime in 2017.
  • CD3 – This new control driver was recently PDGA approved. This driver is supposed to be easy enough to throw that a beginner can handle it, but consistent enough that experienced players will find a place in their bag for it.

Discraft

  • Archer – This is the 2016 Ace Race disc released as the Archer. This is a solid understable midrange that has a similar flight to the Discraft Stratus.

And while not exactly disc golf discs, Discraft has also release their very popular mini discs. If you haven’t tried them yet, these are really fun to throw.

Dynamic Discs

 

  • Sheriff – This High Speed Distance Driver has quickly become a top selling disc. Many are boasting new distance records with the DD Sheriff.
  • Slammer – This thumbtrack putt and approach disc is overstable, and highly anticipated. So far it has only been released to Dynamic Discs Buy Back retailers in a Special Edition that is available for in store sales only. We expect a first run and stock version to be released soon. Look for a limited edition stamp from Infinite Discs.

To be released:

  • Criminal – The Criminal is an overstable driver.
  • Deputy – The DD Deputy is an understable putter that will be released as one of the player pack discs for the Trilogy Challenge.

Full Turn

The newer manufacturer Full Turn disc recently had a driver known as the Drifter PDGA approved.

Gateway

Gateway has already released a new distance driver, the Siren, and plans to release a new PDGA approved version of the popular Ninja driver. As always, they continue to release the popular Wizard putter in new exciting plastic blends.

  • Siren – High speed distance driver.

Innova

Innova hasn’t wasted much time with the release of new understable mids and approach discs in 2017. They have already released the Manta, Wombat3, and Aviar3, and have new PDGA approved molds that will be coming soon.

  • Manta – This understable approach disc was initially slated to be the VStingray. Playing on the Sting Ray theme, they decided to go with the Manta Ray, or Manta for short. This is a unique disc with a thin profile.
  • Wombat3 – If you’re looking for a disc that isn’t going to fade at the end of the flight, you’ll want to try the Wombat3. The Wombat3 is said to be slightly faster than the original Wombat with the same great flightpath for fineesse shots.

To be released:

  • Aviar3 – A faster version of the worlds most popular putter — the Aviar. This flatter, less glidey, version is ideal for driving and approach shots.
  • Firstorm – A new very overstable speed 14 high speed driver. 14/4/0/3

Innova also has a number of discs they’ve released as part of their sponsorship packages and at their pro shop that may be released in stock runs this year including the, Commander, Gargoyle, Mystere, and Savant.

Latitude 64

Latitude 64 has already released a driver, midrange, and putter this year. They continue to pump out lots of new molds in Sweden and there will surely be many more to come in 2017. Infinite Discs has created unique limited edition stamps for the Latitude 64 Anchor, Caltrop and Gladiator.

  • Anchor – Reliably overstable midrange with a moderate dome and a big bead.
  • Caltrop – This unique stable putt and approach disc features a thumbtrac.
  • Gladiator – The Gladiator is an overstable high speed driver that combines glide and overstability.

Soon to Come:

  • Beetle – The Latitude 64 Beetle is unlike any disc Latitude has released. This disc is described to have the flight of a traditional Frisbee, but is PDGA approved. Latitude gives it a speed rating of only 1 but a glide of 7!
  • River Pro – The River Pro will be released in Trilogy Challenge player packs. This fairway driver should be slightly more overstable than the populare Latitude 64 River.

Latitude 64 has also hinted at their development of double mold discs similar to those made by MVP.

Legacy

  • Fighter – The Legacy Fighter was originally released as the 2016 Battle of the Aces disc. This is an overstable control driver built for wind fighting. The Fighter is one of the most ridiculously overstable discs on the market.

MVP

MVP has released new plastic molds for a few of their popular discs including the Proton Atom. It appears that most of their efforts this year are going into the new Streamline Brand. MVP has announced a new version of their portable course quality basket, the Black Hole Pro HD.

Soon to Come:

  • Particle – Beginning May 26th disc golfers will be able to get their hands on the MVP Particle putter by participating in a MVP circuit.

Prodigy

No news from the Prodigy camp in regards to new discs. They are coming up with a new BP2 Backpack and have released some special edition versions of existing discs.

RPM

  • Ruru – RPM discs in New Zealand released a new putter the Ruru. This straight flying disc is not only available in some of the most beautiful plastic blends you will ever see, but it flys great too.

Streamline

The announcement of Streamline discs is one of the hottest topics for new releases thus far in 2017. MVP Discs, which has boasted the benefits of their Gyro double mold technology for the last five years has decided to enter the market of single mold discs saying that they can do it better and for less money. They have two discs announced already, and look for some special limited edition stamps from Infinite Discs as well.

  • Pilot – A straight flying putt and approach disc with a small disc. This disc will be available in familiar Electron plastics, but without the harder outer rim.
  • Trace – A stable, consistent flying fairway driver that will keep you where you want to go.

Vibram

Vibram has released the Launch, and we have also seen tester versions of the overstable Crag hit the market. We are not sure if or when that disc will actually be released.

  • Launch –  The Vibram Launch is a new slightly understable straight flying midrange discs.

Viking Discs

Viking Discs is a new manufacturer in Finland that has several discs that have been PDGA approved. These new discs will arrive at Infinite at the end of March. They include:

  • Axe – A straight flying midrange with a putter like flight.
  • Berserker – Understable distance driver designed for rollers and anhyzers.
  • Knife – This is a multipurpose putter that can handle power. 2/3/0/2
  • Nordic Warrior – Overstable midrange. 4/4/02
  • Thunder God Thor – High Speed distance driver 14/5/0/2

Westside

Westside will soon release the Crown putter and for the Trilogy Challenge, a midrange known as the Pine.

  • Crown – A dependable beaded putter.
  • Pine – A stable midrange that is supposed to be more overstable than the Warship but that doesn’t fade as much as the Bard. 5/4/0/2

Do you know of other new discs that aren’t yet included on this list? Please let us know about them in the comment section below.

Disc Golf Brand Popularity – 2017 State of Disc Golf Results

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Small but popular brands on sale

Brand Awareness

When it comes to disc golf brand awareness, Innova remains king. While Dynamic Discs and Latitude 64 have taken great strides to increase their popularity and reputation, far more disc golfers are aware of Innova than any other brand.

This graph shows a break down of the overall awareness of brands included in the survey by combining all categories other than the “not aware of”.

While more disc golfers are aware of the long established “Discraft Brand” when it comes to “regularly follow”, Dynamic Discs and Latitude 64 rank higher. Westside Discs ranks #8 for brand awareness, but #5 for “regularly follow.”

It’s interesting to see that while the gap isn’t very big in awareness between the companies, when it comes to “regularly follow” there is a large gap between Innova and everybody else. Discmania, MVP, and Prodigy who rank 6th – 8th were only “regularly followed” by about 15% of the surveyed disc golfers.

Favorite Brands

At Infinite Discs we are able to get a good feeling for which brands are favorable by what sells. It’s also interesting to see which brands people find favorable based on a survey. The results are pretty similar and not surprisingly, Innova is the most favorite brand according to the 2017 State of Disc Golf Survey. The graph between “Favorite Brands” and “Regularly Follow are pretty similar.

It’s interesting to note that the trend over the last few years made it appear as if Dynamic Discs and the Trilogy brand might overtake Innova as most popular, but 2016 saw a significant step back from the up and comers. Through 2017, we are seeing a trend with Innova widening the gap.

I Bag ‘Em

While 75% of those surveyed include Innova among their favorite brands, the number of players that throw at least one Innova Disc is even higher! 83% of surveyed disc golfers carry at least one Innova Disc in their bag. This is 24% higher than second place Discraft where 59% of surveyed disc golfers bag their discs.

An interesting relationship occurs here between “bagged discs” and popularity in that Discraft doesn’t rank nearly as high in terms as popularity as the Trilogy Brands, yet a higher percentage of disc golfers actually throw their discs. This could say something about the quality of Discraft discs and the relationship to their limited marketing efforts.

Limited to an Exclusive Manufacturer

Likely a result of Innova’s dominance in terms of recognition and the number of people that own their discs, when the question “If you could throw discs made by only one manufacturer?” was asked, nearly half (45.5%) of survey respondents said they would choose Innova.  One third (32.6%) chose the Swedish manufactured trilogy discs. Only a very small percentage of disc golfers said they would choose any other manufacturer if they had to exclusively throw only that brands discs.  Discraft came in third at 7.8% followed by MVP at 6.5% and Prodigy in a distant fifth at 2.7%.

Following Professional Disc Golf

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As disc golfers, most of us watch professional disc golf. 85.6% of those surveyed said that they watched professional disc golf at least once in 2016. The preferred method of watching professional disc golf is after production YouTube videos where nearly 94% of those who “watched professional disc golf” participated.

About two thirds of those who watched professional disc golf spent time watching live videos (30.8% less than post production). 46% followed live scoring during tournaments, 70% watched instructional videos or clinics, and 28% attended a tournament where they watched the pros live.

Favorite Professional Disc Golfers

71.4% of those surveyed follow professional disc golfers. At Infinite Discs, we regularly see the impact of professional disc golfers as their “signature discs” regularly outperform sales of ordinary stock discs.

Among those that follow Professional Disc Golfers, Paul McBeth, Ricky Wysocki, Nate Sexton, and Simon Lizotte were the favorites of 2016.

Disc Golf Podcasts

Many disc golfers get their disc golf news and pro information by listening to podcasts. 28.9% of those surveyed said that they listened to at least one disc golf podcast. The most popular disc golf podcast according to respondents is Smashboxx.TV (71%) with the Disc Golf Answer Man (64.1%) close behind. Inside the Circle was the only additional Podcast that at least 20% of Podcast Listeners had tuned into at least once.

Growth of the Sport

Most of the participants surveyed (78.8%) would like to see disc golf grow and become a mainstream sport. Only 4.5% would like disc golf to stay small while 16.7% have no preference.

 

 

Streamline Discs – Single Mold Golf Discs Manufactured by MVP

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Streamline Disc Golf Discs

This morning, MVP Disc Sports introduced their new brand — Streamline Discs. Unlike the existing Axiom and MVP brands, Streamline discs will not feature the double mold “Gyro” technology but will be composed of a more traditional single mold plastic.

With MVP’s disc manufacturing experience, they claim that they will be able to make more consistent single mold discs at a less expensive cost:

For seven years we’ve been making far more complex discs than the competition, literally doing twice as much production per disc, all while keeping prices matched with the other guys. We’ve had to build the industry’s best order automation systems at MVP Distribution HQ to meet those prices.

Now with the streamlined efficiency we’ve built, we can produce a classic single piece disc (what we call a solo-mold) that’s molded better than the best out there, we can stamp it standard with 3-foil stock artwork, and we’re still able to beat the price of anyone out there.

While we are not sure of the official release of Streamline Discs, we do know that the initial release will include the Trace Driver and Pilot Putter. We look forward to releasing these discs soon at Infinite Discs.

Disc Golf Sales Trends by Brand

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Infinite Discs has officially completed four full years of business. A lot has changed in the disc golf world since we got started at the end of 2012. I thought it would be fun to put together some numbers that show the amount of inventory we’ve purchased from each manufacturer to see how disc preferences have changed.

Note that in 2013, we were a very small online retailer that did approximately one tenth of the business we did in 2016. The graphs and numbers in this chart are in no ways an indication of the overall success or popularity of individual disc brands. These figures simply demonstrate the popularity exclusively from InfiniteDiscs.com. The total volume of sales when demonstrated as a percentage makes it appear that some disc manufacturers are declining, when in reality, our total purchases from all the major manufacturers have increased every year.

Percentage of Sales by Year

2013

Innova has always been the dominating brand for disc golf sales at Infinite Discs, as you can see by the steady blue line at or above 30% of sales. Discraft took up the second-most shelf space in our warehouse, but accounted for significantly less sales at 11.15%. As the hot new thing, Prodigy and Vibram actually accounted for more sales than did Discraft. With many of the top pros switching to Prodigy, everybody needed to try their discs. All the new Prodigy releases flew off our shelves. The Vibram Lace was our most consistent seller throughout the year. In 2013, we purchased “Trilogy” discs directly from Latitude 64 in Sweden. At that time, Dynamic Discs was primarily a retailer, and had just begun manufacturing their own line of discs. MVP was still a rather new company and only offered a handful of disc models.

2014

In 2014 you can see the rapid rise of Trilogy and MVP plastic. At this point, Dynamic Discs became a major distributor and Trilogy discs became more mainstream. MVP introduced their first distance drivers as well as their secondary brand Axiom. Dynamic and MVP sales increased at such a rapid rate that Prodigy and Vibram sales accounted for a substantially smaller percentage of sales than the previous year.

2015

2015 sales follow a similar path as 2014. Trilogy and MVP sales continued to take a bigger share of the pie while Prodigy and several smaller brands became less significant in terms of sales. Dynamic disc sales especially rose with the popularity of their increasing line of disc golf bags. 2015 Vibram sales flat-lined while Legacy Discs started to see a small bump in percentage points with the release of the popular selling Outlaw. Discraft purchases were fairly steady, in large part due to the massive number of Ledgestone Insurance Open Discs introduced.

2016

Last year our biggest increase in percentage of sales came from Discmania. Because previous years Discmania purchases had always been made directly through Innova, these sales are still lumped in the same category. Discmania’s rise in popularity was at the expense of Trilogy, MVP and Discraft. Prodigy saw a slight bump last year, in large part because of the popularity of their inexpensive BP3 and Practice bags.

What will 2017 hold?

The one thing we know for sure is that disc golf will continue to grow and that it’s a great time to be in the industry. There will continue to be new discs and improvements that will help us enjoy the game even more. Innova and Trilogy may be the primary providers of the discs we throw, but you never know if someone, or something, might come along that will alter our disc preferences. We know by experience that one thing is true– most players never tire of exploring new discs!

Ricky Wysocki Putting Tips

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Ricky Wysocki, the #2 ranked disc golfer in the world, and arguably the best putter, gives a few putting tips to a clinic at the Cache County Fairgrounds. There are a lot of different ways to putt, different ways to grip the disc, and different stances that all work. Ricky recommends that you use the grip and stance that works best for you.

He emphasis these three points to improve your putting game:

1. Use your entire body.
2. Use your lower body to provide the power. Your arm guides the disc while the lower body provides the power.
3. When you bring the disc down before the putt, bend your leg, shift your weight to your back leg, and let the leg pop forward to provide the power.

Cyber Monday Deals – Innova & Discmania on Sale

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Innova & Discmania on SaleDuring the biggest online shopping day of the year, all discs manufactured by Innova (the  biggest disc golf manufacturer) will be on sale. These include Discmania and Millennium golf discs.

Discmania is one of the fastest growing brands and their discs continue to become more and more popular. Infinite Discs has among the largest selection of Discmania discs available including a huge selection with our popular Bomber and Illuminati stamps which are all on sale for Cyber Monday.

Millennium also has some excellent discs including the easy distance Sirius Aries, Dyed Orion LS, and the Omega SS Putter.

Shop Cyber Monday’s on Sale Discs Now.

Last Chance to get Gift Cards for Bags & Carts

Cyber Monday Bag, Cart DealsCyber Monday marks the last day we are offering gift cards for the purchase of Large Bags, Backpacks and Disc Golf Carts. Purchase today and you will receive a gift card of the following denomination:

If the bag or cart you order is not in stock locally, we will have it drop shipped directly from the manufacturer. In case of drop ship, we will email you your gift card code.

Last Day of All Our Weekend Deals

At 11:59PM on Monday, November 28th our huge sale will end. This is the last day to get a deals box for $62.99. It’s also the last day to get reduced shipping on all discs, so quit reading, and thank you for shopping with Infinite Discs!

 

Spectacular Sunday Sale – Gateway, Legacy, Prodigy & Vibram

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Small but popular brands on saleFor spectacular Sunday, all Gateway, Legacy, Prodigy, and Vibram discs will be on sale. These “mid major” brands make excellent discs that the casual disc golfer may not be familiar with.

  • Gateway – Gateway has a full lineup of discs, but they are most well known for their top selling putters. The Gateway Wizard is one of the most popular selling putters on the market and is available in dozens of plastic blends — the most popular being Super Stupid Soft. One fun thing about Gateway putters is that they are available in a variety of different stamp types including popular the Infinite Bomber and Illuminati stamps. Gateway putter plastics are on sale today for just $8.99.
  • Legacy – Legacy discs also offers a full selection of discs. They regularly release unique limited edition stamps and beautiful plastic blends. If you’re interested in trying out Legacy discs while they are on sell, their most popular selling discs are drivers including the Outlaw, Enemy, Rival, Cannon, and Patriot.
  • Prodigy – Prodigy discs offers premium plastic discs with easy release technology that provides a comfortable feel and in many cases — more distance. For an even better deal on Prodigy discs, be sure to check out our huge selection of Prodigy factory seconds and misprints. Our top selling Prodigy discs are as follows: A4, D6, D2, D3, PA-1, and M4.
  • Vibram – Vibram offers a unique disc golf experience in that Vibram discs are actually made out of rubber rather than plastic. These discs offer exceptional grip, especially in cold and wet conditions. Vibram Soft is even more unique in that this blend is completely floppy and you can literally fold these discs in half. The Onyx and unLace are perhaps two of the best disc golf drivers available for beginners. The uniqueness of Vibram discs make them a great gift idea for the disc golfer. The Lace is Vibram’s top selling disc.

Reduced Shipping on ALL Disc Orders

reducedshippingcostsDuring the sales weekend, we are discounting ALL discs by temporarily subsidizing our normal shipping charges.

Shipping for a one disc order this weekend is only $1.99 and the max disc shipping cost is just $4.69!

The more discs you purchase, the more money you save, even if you’re purchasing a disc that isn’t on sale today.

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