Todd Durrant, Author at Infinite Discs Blog

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – OCTOBER 1st 2019

October 1, 2019 Todd Durrant 39 comments

Welcome to another Top 20 Tuesday sales chart. We break these charts down by plastics as well so you can see which plastic types are most popular for each disc. New discs will often spike in the chart as other top sellers shuffle position. The chart is created by sales figures that are pulled from all Infinite Discs sales for the previous week — our customers decide the results with their purchases.

Top Twenty Tuesday for October 1st, 2019

#1 – Big Jerm Concrete SLAB
#2 – Royal PROFIT
#3 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#4 – Swirly S-Blend PHARAOH
#5 – Star DESTROYER
#6 – ESP ANAX
#7 – ESP MALTA
#8 – D-Line P2
#9 – Signature Swirly S-Line CD2
#10 – ESP ZEUS
#11 – P-Line Stiff P2
#12 – ESP BUZZZ
#13 – R-Pro PIG
#14 – KC Pro ROC
#15 – Tortoise Line TOMAHAWK
#16 – EXO Hard LINK
#17 – Swirly S-Blend X-Out PHARAOH
#18 – Tortoise Line METEOR HAMMER
#19 – K3 REKO
#20 – I-Blend PHARAOH

This week’s #1 spot was grabbed by the signature edition Big Jerm (Jeremy Koling) Concrete SLAB. It’s one of the most overstable drivers on the market and Big Jerm has become a fan while adding it to his bag. Spot #2 was grabbed by the debut putter from Mint Discs, the PROFIT, followed closely by the LUNA which has been near the top for months.

The #4 spot was claimed by the Tortoise Line TOMAHAWK by Yikun Discs.

Here is a look at how many times different brands showed up on this week’s chart:

–> Each week we’ll invite you to leave a prediction for a certain chart position on next week’s TOP TWENTY TUESDAY report. The person to predict that chart position correctly in the comments will win a $10 gift card for the Infinite Discs website.

WINNER – The number 15 spot was taken by the Tortoise Line TOMAHAWK mid-range by Yikun. The winner is Brandon who guessed it correctly. Great job on that guess!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK: Leave your comment below to guess the #10 spot for next week. It will go to the FIRST person to get it right. Good luck!

Storm Disc Golf Continues to Build Their Disc Line-Up

September 30, 2019 Todd Durrant Leave a comment

It is fun to watch new brands enter the boutique disc market year after year. One of the newcomers to the disc market is Storm Disc Golf.

Storm recently released their second putter, called the RADAR, plus introduced their first offering in Category 3 plastic with a premium edition of their EYE mid-range. With those new releases, we thought we’d take a quick look at their disc line-up so far and give a quick run-down of the plastic types.

So far, Storm discs has the following:

2 Putters, 1 Mid-Range, 1 Fairway Driver, and 1 Distance Driver

The Jet Stream – Distance Driver

The Storm Jet Stream is an overstable, high speed distance driver with a fairly thick rim width. When thrown by experienced disc golfers, the Jet Stream will experience some high-speed turn before finishing the flight with a strong, low-speed fade. Disc golfers with less power will find the Jet Stream to be consistently overstable.

Speed: 12.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: -1.0
Fade: 3.0

The Abyss – Fairway Driver

The Abyss is an impressive disc from Storm Disc Golf. This is a workhorse on the fairways with a manageable speed and dependable fade for consistent performance under all conditions. It can handle the power of experienced players who need precision s-flights to the basket. For less experienced players, it will have an overstable fade.

Speed: 8.0
Glide: 4.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 3.0

The Eye – Mid-Range

The Eye is a straight-flying mid-range which will hold the line for players of all skill levels. This wide diameter disc has excellent glide and can come in weights up to 181 grams for a solid, manageable feel and flight.

Speed: 5.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: -1.0
Fade: 1.0

The Crater – Putt and Approach

The Crater is a unique putter where the center portion of the flight plate is lower than the outer rim, creating a unique feel and thumb track design. It is an overstable putt and approach disc designed to handle wind and find its way to the ground without a lot of glide.

Speed: 3.0
Glide: 2.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 3.0

The Radar – Putt and Approach

The Radar is a stable putter with impressive glide. It has a very different feel and flight from the Crater. It is very dependable with a straight flight path and is great for not only putting but also for approaches and finesse driving off the tee.

Speed: 2.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 0.5

The 3 Plastic Types So Far

Storm Disc Golf currently has three plastic types which are as follows. Category 1 is their softer, grippy plastic blend designed as a favorite for putters or for playing in cold or wet conditions. Category 2 is a premium plastic that is more opaque and durable, more popular in mids and drivers. And Category 3 is another durable, premium blend with a slight more translucent look that should last a long time even with rougher handling on the course.

We’re excited to watch as Storm Disc Golf continues to bring more discs to the market. If you have thrown Storm discs and want to give your opinions and comments below, we welcome your feedback!

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 24TH 2019

September 24, 2019 Todd Durrant 36 comments

Top Twenty Tuesday for September 24th, 2019

#1 – ESP MALTA
#2 – Cryztal LUNA
#3 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#4 – ESP ANAX
#5 – ESP ZEUS
#6 – Tortoise Line TOMAHAWK
#7 – Star DESTROYER
#8 – D-Line P2
#9 – R-Pro PIG
#10 – Tortoise Line METEOR HAMMER
#11 – Champion MAKO3
#12 – Star WRAITH
#13 – ESP BUZZZ
#14 – Neo ENIGMA
#15 – K2 BERG
#16 – K1 BERG
#17 – Eraser WIZARD
#18 – Nexus FIREFLY
#19 – K3 BERG
#20 – Gold Line Burst RIVER

From first glance you’ll see that blue has taken over the top of the chart, and that blue represents Discraft. With a couple of special releases last week, the new MALTA overstable mid-range in the McBeth line jumped to the top, followed closely by the limited edition Cryztal LUNA release commemorating his fifth worth championship. We still don’t know why Discraft didn’t just make more of those Cryztal Lunas, but at this point they were extremely limited and there are none left on our website. The Zeus, stock edition Anax, and stock Luna all stayed at the top of the chart as well.

We also see a couple of other interesting entries on the chart this week. Two of the new overmold releases from Yikun hit the charts with the TOMAHAWK and the METEOR HAMMER. Those two molds join the Twin Swords to make a complete set of driver, mid, and putter with Yikun’s interesting overmold approach called “Tortoise Line”. We also see that the BERG putter from Kastalplast his the top 20 with all three plastic types, K1, K2, and K3. It’s fund to see a couple of import brands on the chart!

Here is a look at the number of times that different brands hit the chart this week:

WINNER – The number 14 spot was claimed by the Neo ENIGMA which dropped from the top of the chart the week before. Two people picked the Neo Enigma for the #14 spot, and they did it within four minutes of each other. We’ll typically give it to the first, but for this week we’ll give it to both since it was a very close call on a very good guess. Congrats Daniel and Gruchy!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK: Leave your comment below to guess the #15 spot for next week. It will go to the FIRST person to get it right. Good luck!

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 17TH 2019

September 17, 2019 Todd Durrant 36 comments

Top Twenty Tuesday for September 17th, 2019

#1 – Electron MATRIX
#2 – Neo ENIGMA
#3 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#4 – Star DESTROYER
#5 – R-Pro PIG
#6 – D-Line P2
#7 – Eclipse PILOT
#8 – Nexus FIREFLY
#9 – Opto DIAMOND
#10 – Swirly S-Blend PHARAOH
#11 – ESP ANAX
#12 – Star WRAITH
#13 – ESP ZEUS
#14 – Eclipse STABILIZER
#15 – ESP BUZZZ
#16 – Star FIREBIRD
#17 – Gold Line Burst RIVER
#18 – Neutron ATOM
#19 – Electron Firm PILOT
#20 – Special Blend Swirly RIFT

The new releases from MVP and Streamline found their way onto the chart this week with the Electron MATRIX strongly taking the number one spot. The glow-in-the-dark Eclipse PILOT and Eclipse STABILIZER both hit the Top 20 in the #7 and #14 spots. The NEO ENIGMA by Discmania took the #2 spot this week as a new distance driver release and we saw a restock of the popular LUNA by Discraft which enabled it to take the #3 spot.

Eight different brands hit the Top 20 chart this week, which is a pretty diverse representation. Here is a look at how many times different brands showed up in the chart this week:

WINNER – The number 4 spot was claimed by the Star Destroyer this week, which is a disc that usually hangs out at the top. It looks like that was also the very first guess that was launched for this chart, and the winner is Dustin. Good guess!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK: Leave your comment below to guess the #14 spot for next week. It will go to the FIRST person to get it right. Good luck!

Top-Selling Infinite Discs Brand

September 13, 2019 Todd Durrant 4 comments

Infinite Discs launched a line of discs in early 2018 in partnership with Innova Champion Discs. Since then, several molds have been introduced into the market. While some are very new and haven’t had as much time to earn a reputation or build sales momentum, a few are starting to stand out as favorites.

Here is a look at the top 10 best-sellers for the Infinite Discs brand so far…

#1 – PHARAOH – Distance Driver

#2 – EXODUS – Fairway Driver

#3 – SPHINX – Fairway Driver

#4 – TOMB – Putt and Approach

#5 – SLAB – Utility Distance Driver

#6 – CHARIOT – Mid-Range

#7 – MYTH – Putter

#8 – EMPEROR – Distance Driver

#9 – ANUBIS – Mid-Range

#10 – RA – Mid-Range

It is probably no surprise that the Pharaoh has more than doubled the sales of any of the other disc models so far. It has been a popular distance driver and each run has had its own profile and flight characteristics, which makes it a fun disc to fill a bag for a multitude of uses. You can see a Pharaoh Run Comparison Log HERE:

http://infinitediscgolf.com/InfiniteLine/Discs/distance-drivers/pharaoh/

The Exodus comes in 2nd place as a great fairway driver for players of all levels. It handles torque well and can be powered for long distances even with it’s smaller rim configuration. You can see a log of the Exodus Runs HERE:

https://infinitediscgolf.com/InfiniteLine/Discs/control-drivers/exodus/

In terms of momentum, the Sphinx is on a fast trajectory to catch the Exodus as it has become a fun favorite for new players who want a driver that is easier to keep straight, or for experienced players who love it for hyzer-flips and anhyzer lines. The Metal Flake Glow C-Blend edition Sphinx ended up quite a bit more stable than the I-Blend, earning it a spot even in the bags of power throwers who love to flip it out for impressive distances.

The Tomb is also a disc that has gained momentum since its release. It has become best known as an approach disc or small-diameter alternative to traditional mid-range discs. There are some players who have reported using it as a traditional putter, but with its flat top and low profile, it seems to have gained favor as a throwing putter in the premium plastic blends like S-Blend, I-Blend, and C-Blend. It can be laced down very narrow fairways with pin-point accuracy.

The Slab comes in 5th as a total utility distance driver. It is very overstable with a very flat top. It recently has gained a little bit of attention in the Jeremy Koling signature edition in “Concrete Plastic” which is a mix of metal flake and luster C-Blend.

Some of the newer models are yet to catch up with the 2018 releases, but the Emperor is starting to make a move as a more overstable distance driver than the Pharaoh. It is comparable to the popular Innova Destroyer. It will be fun to see what else catches on!

Leave a comment with your favorite Infinite Discs mold and tell us why!

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 10TH 2019

September 10, 2019 Todd Durrant 37 comments

Top Twenty Tuesday for September 10th, 2019

#1 – Swirly S-Blend PHARAOH
#2 – Opto-X Chameleon PURE
#3 – D-Line P2
#4 – Opto DIAMOND
#5 – Star DESTROYER
#6 – Neo ENIGMA
#7 – ESP ZEUS
#8 – R-Pro PIG
#9 – ESP ANAX
#10 – Lucid RAIDER
#11 – DX X-Out AVIAR
#12 – S-Blend PHARAOH
#13 – Concrete SLAB
#14 – Prime Burst DEPUTY
#15 – Nexus FIREFLY
#16 – EXO Soft LINK
#17 – EXO Hard Link
#18 – Swirly S-Blend X-Out PHARAOH
#19 – Star VALKYRIE
#20 – Fuzion RAIDER

The PHARAOH by Infinite Discs had a good week with some “Eye of Horus” stamped discs that came in from the factory, including the remaining Swirly S-Blend discs from both Run 2 and Run 5, plus a few S-Blend “Run 6” white discs. The Pharaoh hit the chart three times, including in X-Outs. The very collectible and visually impressive Opto-X Chameleon PURE discs from Latitude 64 also sold-out immediately and took the #2 spot on the chart, while the heavy Opto DIAMOND release lifted that disc to the #4 spot– a good week for Latitude 64.

The RAIDER by Dynamic Discs hit the chart twice with the new Lucid stock release and also the steady-selling Fuzion edition. Discmania also hit the #6 spot with only one day of sales, since it was released just yesterday (Monday).

Here is how the brands panned out this week, showing how many times each hit the Top 20 Chart:

WINNER – The number 6 spot this week was taken by the new NEO ENIGMA by Discmania. We didn’t see any picks for that disc, which was newly released just this week, with only one day of sales to lift it to the six spot.

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK: Leave your comment below to guess the #4 spot for next week. It will go to the FIRST person to get it right. Good luck!

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 3RD 2019

September 3, 2019 Todd Durrant 28 comments

Top Twenty Tuesday for September 3rd, 2019

#1 – Big Z ZEUS
#2 – D-Line P2
#3 – Concrete SLAB
#4 – Star DESTROYER
#5 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#6 – R-Pro PIG
#7 – Pro PIG
#8 – ESP ZEUS
#9 – Nexus FIREFLY
#10 – ESP ANAX
#11 – DX Aviar
#12 – Star TEEBIRD
#13 – Star WRAITH
#14 – Jawbreaker ZONE
#15 – Star VALKYRIE
#16 – DX ROC
#17 – EXO Soft LINK
#18 – Gold Line Burst RIVER
#19 – ESP Eclipse
#20 – S-Line DD3

The Big Z Zeus wraps up its final week in the Top 20 for a while. Why can we say that? Because that’s all we have and it was a limited edition run, so until it gets a stock release or another special edition down the road, it is highly unlikely to hit the chart again. The D-Line P2 by Discmania still holds a high spot in this week’s chart, followed very closely by the new Signature Jeremy Koling (Big Jerm) Concrete SLAB, which is an flat, super-overstable distance driver. The Star Destroyer is one again in the mix, along with the PIG. Some old favorites popped back up again.

For your entertainment, we’ve put together an animated graph for the Top 10 best-sellers for the week which shows how they moved day-to-day. Some tend to have sold in spurts, which others kept a slow but consistent pace. Here is the moving chart (click to play the video):

WINNER – The number 8 spot this week was taken by ESP ZEUS. We saw two guesses for the ESP Zeus with JANET getting hers in earlier for the win. Congratulations Janet!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK: Leave your comment below to guess the #6 spot for next week. It will go to the FIRST person to get it right. Good luck!

Distance Driver Sales Race – Animated Graphs

August 29, 2019 Todd Durrant 2 comments

Here at Infinite Discs, we love looking at statistics. The numbers always help tell a story of how the disc golf market is moving, at least when it comes to measuring how our own customers are responding to new discs or different brands. This week we thought it would be a lot of fun to make a video chart which shows actual movement of those trends through time.

Hot Distance Drivers

We know that distance drivers are considered the sports car of the disc golfer’s bag. It is one of the discs that almost every player feels defines them, their abilities, or their play style. It is one of those discs that players often swap when they feel like they need to revolutionize their game, so new distance drivers tend to get a lot of sales movement when they are first released.

That is why we thought it would be fun to track the movement of some popular, established distance drivers side-by-side with new distance drivers as they entered the market during the past 11 months. The ten distance drivers that we decided to track include some new ones that only came out in 2020, but we wanted to see how much attention they might have pulled away from the more established discs. These are the distance drivers we chose to track:

Destroyer (always a hot seller)
Wraith (another popular Innova seller)
Shryke (a somewhat newer driver by Innova)
Photon (a top-selling MVP driver)
DD3 (the new 2020 driver by Discmania)
Raider (the new 2020 driver by Dynamic Discs)
Trespass (a popular driver by Dynamic Discs before the Raider)
Pharaoh (a relatively new driver by Infinite Discs)
Force (an old driver by Discraft which became a McBeth signature disc in 2020)
Zeus (the first distance driver in McBeth’s own disc line)

This particular selection of discs lets us measure how Paul McBeth affected the market when moving from Innova to Discraft as his brand sponsor in 2020, how new discs affected other brands, how they compared to discs of their own brand (like the Raider vs the Trespass), how market hype can play into sales, and how availability may stifle the momentum of a new release.

The Percentage Animated Graph

This first animated graph is designed to show which disc was grabbing the larger percentage of the market through the movement of time from October 2018 through August 2019. That means that we take the total sales of these 10 distance drivers, add those sales together, and compare the percentages of that total that each one grabbed.

For example, the Destroyer may have been holding 40% of the total sum of sales for those 10 discs for a couple of months, but then a new driver comes out and grabs 40% of the total sales that particular week. That would make the Destroyer percentage drop, even though it may still be selling the same quantity as the previous months, simply because there is only 100% available for those 10 discs to share. This chart helps us to see which discs were grabbing attention at any given moment. The time line will appear at the bottom of the chart.

For your viewing pleasure, here is that October 2018 – August 2019 animated chart (click the play button to activate the graph):

You’ll notice that as the new 2020 discs entered the market, they grabbed a percentage of the sales for a moment, but sometimes didn’t keep that momentum, either because of limited availability or the hype didn’t last. For example, availability of both the DD3 and the Raider was fairly limited when they were first released and it took a little time for regular stock releases to give them a boost.

The Zeus went through huge spikes depending upon availability and the releases of the prototype (originally called the Kong), the first run, and ending with the August release of the limited edition Big Z Zeus– thus the spike at the end of the video when it grabbed a huge percentage of total sales.

You’ll also noticed that the Destroyer sales moved up as Paul McBeth announced his change of sponsors, while players and collectors grabbed his old signature edition before the end of 2019. It got another boost with the new Wysocki edition.

The Force sales at Discraft started to rise based on speculation about what he would throw, and then the announcement came of the Force as a McBeth signature disc. But then the Force died down as the attention turned to the Zeus, which as a disc in Paul’s own line, was grabbing more attention than the Force.

The Race – Total Sales Animated Graph

Now for a look at a chart that takes less explanation. This is very straight-forward. We totaled the sales through time, adding to the total with new sales from October 2018 through August 2019. This allows us to watch the total sales for that period like a race where the disc that sells the most by the end is the winner.

So, rather than comparing percentage of sales, we’re just adding sales for each separate disc. Will the slow-but-steady disc end up selling most in the end? Or will the spikes on new releases help boost the newcomers to the winning position?

For your viewing pleasure, here is that October 2018 – August 2019 animated race (click the play button to activate the graph):

It’s pretty obvious that the steady sales of the Destroyer kept it far enough ahead that even the spikes on new releases, including the Zeus, could not boost those newcomers to the lead. The Zeus finished in 2nd place, getting enough large spikes to push its totals up, but not high enough to take the win. The Wraith, even with it’s slow and steady sales, gave it the 3rd place title, with the Infinite Discs Pharaoh following closely behind.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed these animated charts. Watch them over and over and see what kind of analysis you can offer in the comments below.

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