Ted Hegemann, Author at Infinite Discs Blog

Best Midrange Discs of 2023

January 24, 2023 Ted Hegemann 27 comments

In this blog series we have looked at the top disc golf discs for 2022 according to sales. Then we focused on each the top distance drivers and the top fairway drivers. This time we’ll look at the top 50 midrange discs. We’ll also find the top overstable and understable mid’s.

Midrange discs fill the gap between short shots and putts, and longer distance throws. Their slower speeds make them a good fit for beginners, and valuable tools for skilled players. They don’t skip like faster discs so they make great approach discs. Like the other categories, midrange discs come in different stabilities to help you achieve the flight you need. Let’s look at which molds were the most popular, and which ones you might want to check out for 2023.

The top 50 midrange discs is based on sales at Infinite Discs for last year.

Far and away the most popular mid range disc is the Discraft Buzzz. The Buzz has been a hot seller for Discraft from the beginning. It has a straight flight and comfortable beadless grip. Plus, it comes in a variety of plastic types. The Buzzz sold almost three times as many discs as the second place Mako3. The Infinite Discs Anubis was in third place.

Best Selling Midrange Discs by Month

This fun graph helps to visualize the hot selling brand trends. Some months saw more obscure selling discs like the Doomdsday Discs Frag, and the Mint Discs Lobster.

Not only did Discraft own the number one spot, they have the most molds in the top 50. The ‘most molds’ title has been held by Innova in the Top 50, Top Distance Drivers, and Top Fairway Drivers. In the midrange category, Innova had to settle for second place.

Top 50 Mid Ranges Sorted by Brand

There were a total of 19 different brands in the top 50. Discraft and Innova are old-school brands, so it’s not a surprise to see them on the top of the list. How many names on the list are new to you? We’ve seen a lot of pros switch sponsor brands this year, so it will be interesting to see how much of an impact those changes make for their brand. Now let’s look at the sales percent.

Top 50 Mid Ranges Sorted by Sales

As expected, the brands with the most molds in the top 50 had the highest percentage of sales. Discraft was boosted with the huge numbers from the Buzzz. Innova had four molds in the top 10, which helped their numbers. Infinite Discs also had top-10 molds to add to their total.

Top Overstable Mid

Innova takes the podium when it comes to the overstable midrange discs. Their Pig, Roc3, and Roc accounted for about 8% of all midrange sales. There were six different molds in the top 10, although Innova and Discraft still made up half the brands. Let’s take a look at the PDGA approval dates to see if some which newer molds are taking a chunk of the market.

Mold	Approval date	Rank
Innova Roc	Jan-87	3
Discraft Drone	Feb-05	6
Innova Pig	May-08	1
Discraft Buzzz OS	Jul-14	4
Kastaplast Kaxe Z	Oct-14	10
Dynamic Discs Justice	Mar-15	5
Dynamic Discs EMac Truth	Mar-16	9
Innova Roc3	Aug-17	2
Axiom Pyro	Feb-19	7
Elevation Disc Golf Interceptor	Dec-20	8

Although the Pig has been around for many years, it got a nice boost when Ricky Wysocki started throwing the mold. It has kept up the momentum ever since. The Innova Roc is celebrating its 36^th birthday this month. It is by far the oldest overstable mold in the top 10. It was in the bag when Ken Climo dominated the 90’s, and remains a staple of the top Innova pros today.

At the other end of the timeline, the Elevation Interceptor (one of the staples in MY bag!) is just a couple years old, but still managed to land as the 5^th most popular overstable mid range. The silicon disc is like Velcro when it hits the ground.

Top Understable Mid Range Discs

Discraft leads the pack when it comes to understable mid’s. Three out of the top four molds come from Discraft. They also have four out of the top 10 discs. Dino Discs is the only other brand with more than one mold in the top 10. There were six different brands in the top 10. Here are their approval dates:

Mold	Approval date	Rank
Discraft Comet	Oct-95	3
Discraft Meteor	Sep-06	4
Discraft Buzzz SS	Feb-08	1
Westside Tursas	Apr-16	10
Discraft Sol	Nov-18	6
Infinite Discs Kon Tiki	Apr-21	8
MVP Uplink	Jul-21	7
Axiom Paradox	Jul-21	2
Dino Discs Brachiosaurus	N/A	9
Dino Discs Stegosaurus	N/A	5

The two oldest molds, the Discraft Comet and Discraft Meteor, are in the top four. The two most recent approvals, the MVP Uplink and Axiom Paradox, are less than two years old. Although it is apparent that some of the older molds are still selling well, it will be interesting to see how they hold up against the barrage of new molds on the market recently.
Dino Discs‘ don’t have an approval date because they are not PDGA approved. Dino decided that it wasn’t worth the cost, since their target market is beginners, and they are unlikely to compete in sanctioned tournaments.

In the next blog will look at the top putters.

Highest Rated Midrange Discs

Sales are one thing, but how much do disc golfers really like a midrange disc. Do they like it enough that they are going to want to come back to our website to leave a five star review? Our new website “highest rated” feature sorts discs based on these customer ratings. View the highest rated midrange discs here.

What are the Best Midrange Discs for You?

Will Discraft stay on top, or will a dark horse arise and claim the top spot for best midrange next year too?

We all have different throwing styles and preferences. What are your favorite overstable, understable and straight flying midrange molds?

Best Discs

Best Disc Golf Fairway Drivers of 2023

January 18, 2023 Ted Hegemann 38 comments

In a recent blog we took a look at the top disc golf discs in each category (Distance Drivers, Fairway Drivers, Mid Ranges, and Putt and Approach). Then we checked out the top 50 disc golf distance drivers, including the top overstable and understable molds. This week, we’ll do the same with the top disc golf fairway drivers.

Fairway drivers have slightly slower speeds than distance drivers. They can be used for drives and approach shots in all but the longest distances. Their rims are narrower than distance drivers, making them easier to grip for most people. Plus, their slower speed makes throwing them within skill set of most people. Fairway drivers are also called ‘control drivers’. Let’s see which fairway drivers were the most popular, and which ones you might consider throwing for 2023.

The top 50 list is based on the direct to consumer sales directly from InfiniteDiscs.com for last year.

Top Selling Disc Golf Fairway Drivers

Sitting at the top of the chart is the Infinite Discs Dynasty. This speed 9 control driver is not even a year old, but is already working its way into many of our bags. This was one of Eric Oakley’s 2022 signature discs which helped propel it as one of the top fairway drivers. The Dynasty has a stable flight, with a little turn and a dependable, but not too harsh fade.

The Finish Line Era got a podium finish for the year. Finish Line was started by Drew Gibson. It is another very new brand, but is making a mark in disc golf. The Finish Line Era has a very similar flight to the Dynasty in Forged plastic, but is substantially more overstable in the Composite blend.

The Centurion, Sphinx, Exodus and Firebird round out the top five (the Exodus and Firebird tied for fifth) Three are sold by Infinite, and one is an Innova classic.

The Leopard and Teebird have been around for decades and are popular among disc golfers of all skill levels. Those two staples were the next two on the list, followed by Axiom’s entry in the top 10, the Axiom Insanity. The Innova Valkyrie Rounded out the top 10.

Best Fairway Drivers by Month

This moving chart shows top fairway driver sales by month during 2022. This is a fun way to watch the trends and see as hot new discs are released or restocked.

Brands In The Top 50

While most manufacturers make some great disc golf fairway drivers, only some of them have the brand following and marketing power to land their discs in the Infinite Discs top seller lists. Below we see how many different fairway molds by each brand made the top 50 list for the year.

Innova was the top manufacturer for fairway drivers with 13 molds in the top 50. Discraft was in second, but several molds behind Innova. MVP and Infinite had the next most molds. Latitude 64 and Dynamic were the only other brands with more than two molds. There were a few manufacturers with two on the list, and a lot with one mold. In all, there were 17 different manufacturers in the top 50.

Let’s see how those molds translates to sales. We listed manufacturers of the top 50 fairway drivers and sorted them by the percentage of fairway drivers sold. There are a few interesting numbers on the list.

It is not surprising to see Innova on top, since they had the most molds. Infinite was next in line. Although Infinite is quite a bit ahead of third place, it is even more behind Innova. In third place is Discraft. The top three make up 50% of all control driver sales for the year!

Top Overstable Fairway Drivers

Just like the distance drivers, we will find the top 10 overstable fairway driver molds. This category is for overstable and very overstable discs. Here are the top 10:

Discraft has the most molds in the top 10 with 4, with Innova one mold behind them. Five brands had a disc in the top 10.

Overstable Discs Approval Dates

I like to see what dates each mold was approved to see which molds have been around for a while, and which ones are newer. The older molds are well established and have been popular for a long time. Newer brands might be hype, but they might also be the popular for a long time. Here are the dates.

Mold	Approval Date	Sales Rank
Innova Teebird	May-99	2
Innova Firebird	Mar-00	1
Dynamic Discs Escape	Dec-12	10
Innova Thunderbird	Aug-14	3
Discraft Undertaker	Apr-16	8
Discraft Raptor	Dec-18	4
Infinite Discs Scepter	Apr-19	6
Discraft Anax	Jun-19	7
Thought Space Athletics Votum	Mar-21	5
Discraft Captain’s Raptor	Dec-21	9

The oldest two molds are also the top molds. The Firebird and Teebird are more than two decades old. The Votum and Captain’s Raptor are the new kids on the block, each getting approved around two years ago as of this writing.

Top Understable Fairway Driver

For this blog, understable fairway drivers are those molds that have a turn of -2 or more. Understable discs are popular among beginners and people who don’t have a lot of arm speed. Here are the top 10 understable fairway drivers.

Innova had half of the molds in the top 10. The other five spots were taken by five different brands.

Axiom and Latitude 64 made the understable list, but not the overstable list.

Understable Discs Approval Dates

Mold	Approval Date	Sales Rank
Innova Leopard	May-99	2
Innova Valkyrie	Aug-00	4
Innova Sidewinder	Nov-04	8
Innova Roadrunner	Aug-05	9
Latitude 64 Diamond	Mar-11	10
Discraft Heat	Oct-14	7
Axiom Insanity	Dec-14	3
Innova Leopard3	Aug-17	6
Infinite Discs Sphinx	Mar-18	1
Thought Space Athletics Mantra	Oct-19	5

Just like the overstable molds, Innova has a couple discs in the top 10 that have been around for decades and have earned their way in our bags. That didn’t get them the number one spot, but they did get second in the top 10. Infinite took first with the Sphinx. While not as old as most of the Innova molds on the list, it has still been around for nearly half a decade. View the most recent listing of highest rated fairway drivers, according to reviews of customers here.

Next Blog Well Look At Mid Range Discs

What are the Best Fairway Drivers for You?

What will be the best fairway drivers of 2023? Will any brands catch up to Innova or Discraft? Or will the old school molds continue to dominate? The PDGA has already approved 17 new molds for this year (as of this writing). Maybe one of them will be a top fairway driver.

What is your favorite fairway driver? What fairway drivers do you think will be the best selling in 2023?

Best Discs

Introducing Team Infinite’s Erika Stinchcomb

January 13, 2023 Ted Hegemann One comment

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Ramona California, about 45 minutes Northeast of San Diego. It’s a small mountain town, and obviously in moving to Western Montana, that secluded mountain vibe is a key part of who I am. There was a lot of open space to run as a kid. I loved where I grew up and honestly, I am sometimes sad that my parents moved away. I still have a ton of family in the area, including my younger sister and brother-in-law.

How did you discover disc golf?

Occasionally as a kid I would join my dad on his water delivery routes (think 5 gallon bottles of water delivered to homes and businesses). I loved to try to carry the heavy bottles all by myself, and climb on his big water truck, using the necks of the bottles as handholds. He’d always buy me a big Slurpee from 7-Eleven after our hard day of work.

One day when I was 8, during one of my take-your-daughter-to-work outings, my dad surprised me and took me to Morley Field Disc Golf Course. He bought me a DX Panther from Snapper at the pro shop, and we played. I barely remember it. Then 8 years later, suddenly he took me and my brother again. I was 16, and I thought “why haven’t I been playing this my whole life?” I was immediately hooked. My brother Jason and I would go to the park and work on our distance. My Dad would take me and Jason to Morley Field at the crack of dawn on Saturdays, so we could beat the rush for our first round, and then play a leisurely second round as it got crowded.

When did you turn pro?

I didn’t know there were tournaments until I graduated college in 2014. My first tournament was in July of 2014, after that I played FA1 and dabbled in FPO in 2015 and 2016. I didn’t officially consider myself a pro until 2017, when I decided to do a self-funded, unsponsored mini tour in 2017. I was able to tour for nearly 6 months and made it to the DGPT Championships. I did get sponsors as I traveled, but I would have been out there sponsor or no sponsor.

What was it like the first time you took cash as a pro?

My first cash was anticlimactic. I could have taken cash in 2016, but wanted to continue as an amateur. I didn’t cash until my 9th pro event of 2017, and that was in a field of 2 at the Challenge at Goat Hill. What I consider my first “real” cash was a month later, when I took 2nd at the Zoo Town Open, my home tournament held in Missoula, MT.

Who did you look up to when you were first starting out?

I never watched videos or even knew there were tournaments until I was 21 and started playing FA1. My role models became people I met. Zoe Andyke was the first person that when I asked “what do you do for a living” the answer was “disc golf” and my mind was blown. I got to play a round with Zoe at Daisy Chains in 2015 and her positivity was inspiring.

Later that year, I played FPO in the Phoenix Ladies Open, and felt both intimidated and outclassed. It was a small field and I was on the lead card for the second and final round; my nerves were palpable. Ohn Scoggins was on the card, and her support was unforgettable; her kindness that day is one of the reasons I am Ohn’s biggest fan. I would mess up a drive or upshot and she’d say “it’s okay girl, it’s just a jump putt!”

Don’t get me wrong, I’d go out and watch Paige Pierce, Catrina Allen, Sarah Hokom, Valerie Jenkins, Jennifer Allen and all of those big names whenever I got the chance, but for me Zoe and Ohn were my biggest inspirations. Being nice, welcoming, inclusive and making a living playing disc golf became my dream, just like Zoe and Ohn.

What are some of your goals for next year?

Last year I lost a bit of my fire for the game. Disc Golf felt more like a job, and the job was throwing way more big open shots instead of the finesse woods golf I loved. Signing with Infinite has literally opened my world up to try so many new discs and re-discover my joy of simply watching a disc fly. I want to enjoy disc golf next year more than anything else, rather than feel mind-crushing pressure to perform. I think with a more relaxed, joyful attitude, I am naturally going to play better next year. I decided I am not going to have specific performance based goals. I am lucky to be able to play disc golf and make a living, and I am going to celebrate those facts. I believe results will follow.

Will you be commentating again this year as one of the Two Hot Geese (with Madison Walker)?

Because we do not have an official agreement at this time, I am not sure if Madison and I will be doing commentary next year, but we hope to be calling the shots again in 2023!

What do you picture disc golf looking like in 5 years (Growth, competition, contracts, etc.)?

I couldn’t have guessed the sport would grow so much in the past 5 years, let alone where we are going next. From an FPO standpoint, 5 years ago, 25 was a great field size. Now we can hit 75 with relative consistency. Disc Golf media was much less comprehensive, very few people had contracts that paid in real money and not just an allotment of discs, the list goes on. In 5 years, I – like many – would love to see disc golf as an Olympic Sport. I hope that as a pro, having a tour card means you make a liveable wage without all the side hustle that is required for most mid-level pros.

Outside of professional disc golf, I truly hope the growth of our sport wasn’t just a byproduct of Covid, and it continues to grow. I’d love to see a lot of new courses, continued free or cheap entry to play, access for all walks of life, involvement from parks and recreation, forest service and other organizations to preserve and maintain the land courses are on, avid disc golf clubs and all the things we have now including fan access to pro disc golfers. I hope we don’t lose the fact that disc golf is a sport for everybody. I like to tell people disc golf is whatever you want, a solitary retreat, exercise, maybe a place to drink a beer with your dumb buddies; you can take your dog or take your grandpa, all are welcome.

What Infinite molds do you throw?

I have not had a lot of time to adjust to new molds with the timing of switching contracts. Additionally, Montana winter golf doesn’t always allow for full-power shots. That being said, an I-blend Maya is my favorite right now, since it has effortless understability yet a reliable slight fade at the end. I have been throwing the Dynasty and Centurion for control drivers, and using a Cohort for straight upshots, as well as trying them for my putting putters. I am sure things will change and I am so excited to try everything!

Do you have any shout-outs or people you would like to acknowledge?

I have to give the biggest shout out to Eric Oakley, who gave me a hand when I felt like I was drowning. Leaving Westside was not the outcome I saw for myself in 2022 and I had very little time to decide what I wanted and how to get it. Todd Durrant has been kind and patient and I think that my vision of what I want disc golf to be totally aligns with Infinite’s. I also want to give a shout out to my husband Ian Harris, who has been a reassuring source of comfort and strength as we have toured the last 2 years; he always helps push me forward if I doubt myself. I want to thank my Mom for always watching UDisc Live Scoring even though it stresses her out. Lastly I want to thank my Dad – David Stinchcomb – for teaching me to play.

Infinite is on-board with working with my sponsors who have supported me for years: Whales Sacs and Skybreed Discs. I was scared that signing a new company meant losing my other sponsors. The sense of cooperation Infinite has is something to admire, and a way to grow the sport better than we can alone. Not only can I continue with my old sponsors, I also will get to work with Clash Discs and Thought Space Athletics this year. The opportunities I see are literally infinite and I can’t wait to get started.

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