Ted is the Chief Writer at Infinite Discs. He is responsible for the State of Disc Golf Survey articles and most of the "best discs" posts. Ted runs all kinds of local disc golf leagues and tournaments and tournaments in Northern Utah.
One of my favorite survey results that I like to explore is the number of discs we own. Although most of us started with a disc or two, or maybe a starter set, over time most of us picked up a bag full that we regularly throw. Then we might have gotten a few back-up discs in case we lost our go-to’s. And we always like to try a new discs from time to time. If you play tournaments, it is common to get a disc in your player’s pack. Raffles, found discs, and gifts from friends are other ways that make our collection grow.
After playing for a while, most of us eventually end up owning scores of discs. And that is just the ones we throw. Many of us collect discs or have wall-hanger ace discs that add to our total numbers. How big are those numbers? Let’s check out the survey results and find out.
How Many Discs We Own
One of the staple questions that we’ve been asking in our annual State of Disc Golf survey is how many discs we own. It is interesting to see how many of us own the bare minimum, and how many of us have bought significant numbers of discs. Here is a graph of the results:
The number of discs we own slowly increases until the 41-60 range. Then the percentages bounce around a bit before finishes on the highest percentage at the 200+ category. Nearly one out of five of us has over 200 discs! One out of four of us has between 100-200 discs.
When Did We Start Playing
Those big numbers don’t surprise me. I saw how quickly I got to 200, and I know a lot of people who got there faster than me. I was curious if the people who indicated they had more than 200 discs had been playing for a while. That makes sense, since people might just be holding onto discs while buying more. Let’s look at the people in the survey who indicated that they have more than 200 discs, then see what year they started to see if my theory is correct.
At first glance, it appears that the opposite is true. The percentages slowly decline the longer you’ve been playing. It looks like there is a spike in some of the earlier years, but that is because the graph shifts from single years to a five- year block in 2006-2010. Then it switches to a ten-year block for 1991-2000.
The people who started during the pandemic represent the largest group. They make up 10% of all people who own more than 200 discs. At the opposite end of the timeline, people who started playing decades ago make up a smaller percent of people who own 200 discs. In that case, there are fewer numbers of them. Below is a graph that shows when we started playing disc golf.
The number of people who started playing prior to 2001 represent 9% of survey respondents. But, they represent over 17% of the people who own 200+ discs. Their overall numbers are smaller than other starting years, but a high percentage of them have the big collections. If they started collecting when they started playing, they undoubtedly have some sweet discs in their collections!
We are acquiring more and more plastic!
Now let’s look at previous year’s results and see if the number of people who have 200+ discs have some kind of trend. Here is a graph of the number of people who indicated that they have 200+ discs, sorted by year:
As you can see, the number of people with 200+ discs has been increasing regularly, with the exception of the Pandemic year. In fact, this year was the highest number to date, and it was a decent increase from last year. Presumably, if people keep playing, there will be more and more who hit the 200+ mark.
Collectable Discs
In addition to many of us owning a lot of discs, we also wanted to see how many people have discs that are for collecting and not throwing. I am guilty of that, and have a large collection of discs that I never intend to throw (I collect discs with bear stamps, among others). Let’s see how many collectors there are by looking at the survey results:
Over half of us have 5 or fewer collectable discs that we don’t throw, with nearly have of those people having zero collectable discs. That still means that most of us have at least one collectable disc. Most of us have between 1-15 discs that meet that criteria. At the extreme, 1.7% of us have 200+ discs that we will never throw. I’m one of the 1.7%.
New Collectable
For those of us who collect discs, we wanted to see how much our collections grew last year. This number might be affected by the type of discs that we collect. For example, if you collect first-run discs, the growth would depend on how many discs were released last year. If you collect all known examples of a certain mold, your growth would depend on how many became available on the collector markets.
Here is how many discs we said that we added to our collection:
Two-thirds of us were content to add three or fewer discs to our collection. Only a tiny percentage of us added 40 or more discs. There were a few that managed to add 200+ to their collection. I want to know more about them and their collection!
Tell Us About YOUR Collection
Since the number of people who have 200+ discs is growing, I would like to add more options for survey respondents to select from, such as 201-300 discs, 301-400 discs, 401-500 discs, and 500+ discs. I would also like to know who has the most discs, or at least who the top few collection sizes. Comment below and let us know approximately how many discs that you own. If you collect discs, let us know what kind of discs you collect.
Check back next week for more State of Disc Golf survey results.
In last week’s State of Disc Golf Survey, I talked about how we are in tournament season. I wrote about the questions in the survey that asked about tournaments and how many of us participate in them. This week, I’ll look at another aspect of tournament season: watching the pros as they play tournaments.
With the rise of the Internet and social media, we now have opportunities to watch our favorite player compete in most major tournaments. We can also follow, and sometimes interact, with them from their own personal posts and videos. It’s never been easier to be a fan of disc golf pros!
Following the Pros
Even though following and watching pros is not difficult, we first have to ask whether or not people want to follow the pros. That brings us to our first survey question: Do you follow professional disc golf?
An overwhelming number of us follow professional disc golf to some degree. That might be watching them play tournaments, watching them play casual rounds, following them on social media, or checking out their tournament results. That might also mean we buy their tour discs. Manufacturers know that, and that has translated into some large contracts for the top players, and better contracts for other players.
Our History of Following Pros
If we look at past survey results, we see that we stay fairly consistent with how many people follow the prose. There are minor variations, but overall we like to watch the best people in the sport compete.
How are we watching tournaments
For the people in the survey who indicated that they do follow professional disc golfers, we asked follow-up questions to learn more about how they followed their favorites. The first question we asked was, “In which of the following ways did you follow professional disc golf in 2022?” Here are the results:
According to the survey results, 26% of us got to watch professional disc golfers in person at a tournament. There are enough tournaments around the country, and the world, the even if there isn’t a big tournament in our home town, we likely don’t have to travel far to attend one. Apparently, quite a few of us made the effort to do that.
Watching Tournaments
If we weren’t attending a tournament, odds are that we were watching one. Between the live broadcasts and post-produced content, we had lots of choices. Over 90% of us watched at least one tournament.
One out of every five of us watched the Pro Tour Championship on ESPN. That is a pretty big number, considering the tournament aired a while after the tournament was played.
When it comes to watching disc golf live, over 56% of us indicated that we watched a tournament live. I’m sure the Disc Golf Network will be happy to see that survey result. In fact, more people said they watched live than watched post-produced videos on YouTube. There were 42.6% of us that said we watched a tournament on YouTube.
Given that the live broadcasts are several hours long, that is a big commitment of time. On the other hand, it is exciting to watch the results slowly unfold, while checking in with other cards that are playing. Plus, it is something that you can have on in the background, then listen for highlights and scores updates. That is usually what I do when I watch live. The quality has improved a lot, too. Live broadcasts have improved quite a bit since the first attempts, even though there will still be challenges doing things in real time.
Live Scoring
Another option to watch professionals is to watch the live scoring. That is another thing you can do while you are doing other things. Surprisingly, it can be kind of exciting to see the scores change and see ‘battles’ unfolding. Nearly half of us indicated that we watch tournaments via live scoring.
The final question of how we watch the pros is watching them in online in disc golf tutorials. A whopping 70% of us watch online tutorials. Although watching a professional tutorial isn’t the same as getting coached, it’s nice to watch the best in our sport give tips to make our game better.
Live Tournaments and DGN
Speaking of the Disc Golf Network, we wanted to see how many of us subscribe to the network. As you can see from the chart below, it was pretty much and even split between those who subscribe and those who don’t. Since the stat above said that 56% of us watched live tournaments, which means about 6% of us are just buying the individual tournaments that we want to watch.
Live and Post
Since a majority of us watch live tournaments we asked those people if they still like to watch post-produced rounds of the same tournament. Here is a graph of the results.
Only a small percentage of those of us who watch live events rarely or never also watch post produced. And over a third of us always or almost always watch post-produced rounds that we’ve already seen. Perhaps if we have a live event on in the background, we want to watch it later to actually watch what happened. Another reason is that there are different commentators for post-produced, which might drive people to watch both.
Favorite FPO
No discussion about professional disc golfers would be complete without looking at which of the top pros we like to follow. We asked who our first- and second-most favorite player was, in both FPO and MPO. Starting with FPO, here are the top 20 results.
Head and shoulders above everyone else in FPO is the current World Champion, Kristan Tattar. When you consider how many picked her first or second, over 60% of us had her on one list or the other, she is an amazingly popular person! Paige Pierce took second on both lists. Catrina Allen got one podium finish, and Valerie Mandujano got the other. Now let’s look at MPO.
Favorite MPO
Once again we saw one player, in this case it’s Simon Lizotte, way ahead of the rest. The ahead of the reigning and six-time world champ, Paul McBeth. With his trick shots and likable personality, Simon is on one or the other list for over half of us. He is definitely the people’s player.
For the MPO, the top five players are the same on both lists, with Paul and Calvin swapping places. In fact, there are only a couple names on the top 25 list that are only on one list or the other.
That wraps up this week’s blog. Check back next week for more survey results.
On January 4, 2023, Infinite Discs hosted new team member Eric Oakley (Aroc) on our Discord server where he answered your questions. Here is a transcript of the questions:
Beef Lips: May I start with a 2 year extension pog? First and most real question, Do you think with Paul McBeth skipping PDX, DDO,DMC and Preserve more touring pros will start playing European tour events in favor of some of these increasingly ball golf course tourneys?
Aroc: I think for the top players it will be an option, but for most players trying to make the DGPT Championships they will need to play those events!
Beef Lips: What new molds (besides the spice) are you trying out and most excited for?
Aroc: DGA Quake! Halo Dynasty as well!
Beef Lips: Everyone needs a bag, are you in works with a new bag sponsor and can you tease anything?
Aroc: I have a collaboration in the works. They are a European Company! Bags just hit the States so I should have them super soon!
Beef Lips: Disc golf AMAS are always full of “Whats your favorite tour stop”. What tour stop do you think is the most “fair” on average, considering OB lines/rules, usual weather (cough Kansas wind cough) and other outliers and factors us more casual players might not consider?
Aroc: Des Moines fashow!
Beef Lips: New van looks sick, have you named it yet?
Aroc: Her name is Nancy, Nancy Nissan, she is Fancy!
DRB: How many hours per week do you practice? Can you elaborate on your practice routine?
Aroc: I practice about 5-7 days a week, mostly a mix of field work and course work. I’m trying to do 100 made putts a day. I try and use the field work to apply to my course work, and use my course work to give me stuff to work on for my field work. Probably, 60% Course work atm, 40% field work!
SuperBone: Did the crow hop in your backhand come naturally to you or was it something you added later on?
Aroc: It’s something I saw early on with Steve Brinster, and I adopted it when I was probably 15-16 years old and it stuck!
Schrodingers Joe: Hello, Eric! Long time listener, first time caller. Your first year with Infinite was your first year in a long time where you were able tp put any disc in your bag you wanted. When picking discs for certain slots in the bag, what were the deciding factors that made you lean towards a specific disc over a comparable mold from a different manufacturer?
Aroc: Partially based on the manufacture, I was always looking to support my main sponsors first, but in the end I need to throw what helps me perform the best. I always looked to go off of what felt the best and then what flew the best. I have a good basis of what slots I need to cover and I stick with that.
n8n: Who was the first touring pro that you hit it off with when you went pro? In your time touring, have you noticed any changes in how close touring professionals have gotten with each other?
Aroc: JohnE McCray was the first real pro I interacted with and it was HUGE for my development. I bonded incredibly well with Bobby Musick and he will forever remain one of favorite players of all time!
SeanFace: Do you have any special minis that hold some kind of importance or memory to you?
Aroc: Absolutely, I have some Saba Ping Minis that I love to support the POD and a few St Louis Blues minis I use. Tina also found a great mini she made for me that has been rotating in and out.
SeanFace: Any west coast stops this year? I’ll be at the OTB Open and LVC
Aroc: I’m hitting all DGPT Elite Series and a handful of Silver Series. I’ll see you at both of those!
Crokz: What discs should i swap out in my bag, or what should i do with my bag. I only bad Innova made molds 12. pd2(3) destroyers/dd3(7) 11. pdx(1) wraith(1) mamba(1) 10. pd(2) 9. fd3(2) cd2(1) sidewinder(1) roadrunner(1) 7. fd2(1) fd(3) it(1) 5. roc3(2) md3(1) mako3(1) 4. toro(1) roc(1 os and 1 flippy) 3. p2(1) tomb(1) dart(1) 2. jk aviar(2) 1. polecat(1)
Aroc: 12. Emperor for sure! 10. Spice 9. Scepter. Halo Dynasty, Sphinx. 7 . Exodus, Centurion 5. Chariot and Maria Anubis 3. ALPACA!!!!!! 2. ALPACA!!!!!
McShotty: What’s your favorite stamp design?
Aroc: Any of my TSA collaborations. Probably the Alpaca is my favorite, with the Dynasty/Pathfinder being a close second.
Beef Lips: WHEN WILL THE STAMP STORY BE REVEALED?!
Aroc: Story stamp video should be filmed here super soon. I’m working on the next set of designs with TSA atm. Including the introduction of our main antagonist and our first female character.
NoSkillManiac: Are you going to be at Champions cup?
Aroc: I’m planning on it, Just need the PDGA to open registration.
InfiniteDylan: Are you going to play Fall Guys during your 24 hour stream? 😛
Aroc: Fall Guys is on the docket!
Al Greazy: I got in a fight with my mailman today because I keep asking him where my Halo Dynasty is. He told me to ask you on the AMA instead of hitting him anymore. So…..
Aroc: They are on the way! The final release will line up with LVC, so a longer wait, but it will be worth it!
Finch: Any idea when we may see stock Spice? Didn’t get a box but would love to try one.
Aroc: Working on the stamp with TSA for the next release. Hoping for something super soon!
Myle: What is biggest advice for amateur who wants be marketable because wants be sponsored?
Aroc: Post often. Show the love for the game and that you are helping the sport grow even without a sponsor so anyone who comes along to sponsor you just amplifies the things you are already doing.
Crokz: What’s your favorite signature series disc of all time, any manufacturer?
Aroc: Not my molds, Calvin Heimburg Halo Destroyer. My mold Pathfinder/Dynasty/Alpaca/Spice 4 way tie LOL
Baja: Are you going to Waco this yea?
Aroc: I’ll be there!
RainbowSmaug: Who is your favorite cameraman on the Whale Pants YouTube channel?
TheHunter924: Who do you want to have on ‘is that good’ next?
Aroc: Planning on filming one with Missy Gannon and Paige Pierce here super soon. Hoping to get a handful more in 2023.
Mysterymirrors: Hey Eric. Can we get a special stamp on a Tomb for Easter? “The Empty Tomb” Pull some strings. Thanks for interacting with the infinite community so much!
Aroc: @InfiniteDylan this is a great idea LOL
Rivalmejr: What disc did you expect to love and ended up not being for you? In addition, what disc did you not think you’d like but then liked?
Aroc: I was expecting myself to love the Buzzz, but I ended up finding the Pathfinder and the angle I like to release on is so much better for the Pathfinder in comparison to the Buzzz.
Myle: Are you ever thought about an ‘is that good’ video where you give amateur your new signature disc and they tell is it good?
Aroc: I love this idea. This could be great for Youtube Shorts or Instagram Reels!
mandalorian540: With the berg, kotare, and spice you have done what seem like single disc sponsorships. I know this is something Drew has talked about before for open bag players. Do you see this as a future of the sport? OR will manufacturers eventually have all slots filled with the same quality of disc in a homogenized boring market?
Aroc: I think there’s too much of a stronghold from the big manufactures that it will be hard for it to become the norm. But it is definitely a possibility, we just need companies to understand the value.
TheHunter924: Can we get an “is that good” for different baskets?
Aroc: I love this idea. But this could easily make some people mad 😬
Kightsbridge: When not prepping for a tournament course. Do you practice on technical courses or bomber courses?
Aroc: I try and plan out what course is coming up next. If I have no event ahead I try and get a good mix so I can feel confident on both.
Crokz: How do your glow d-blend alpacas compare to imperial eagle 2s (glow p-line p2s)
Aroc: Imperial Eagles are Glow P-Line P2s and I wanted the Glow P- Blend Alpacas that I have for my tour series to be similar to the IE P2s. They are incredible and only get better with age.
Cobra: Are there any out of production discs you wish you could bag but can’t justify because they’re hard to replace/expensive?
Aroc: Not atm. Infinite has helped work making some great molds that were hard to find before with their great relationship with Innova.
TheHunter924: Hey Eric, what is your favorite alpaca plastic?
Aroc: Glow P or D Blend.
i shot a pigeon: If there was a disc slower and less glidey than a Beorg, would you bag it?
Aroc: Nah, BEORG is BIS.
Crokz: If I gave you a cloudbreaker2 would you bag it?
Aroc: I have Emperors, so I don’t need CBs. Emperors are the perfect disc for me.
Unlucky: What were your favorite things about your Discmania van touring days? What do you miss about the scene / what has the scene lost since those days? What are you glad we’ve grown passed and don’t have to deal with anymore? Thanks for doing this Eric : )
Aroc: Just the simplicity of being on the road. But now it’s such a great touring scene and I love it. DM was such a great option for me to grow.
SeanFace: I stopped by OTB yesterday and grabbed a Lucid Justice, how scared should I be?
Aroc: They are good for one thing only… Fading.
TheHunter924: Can we expect an Eric Oakley Coalesce?
Aroc: Likely not, But there will be a tour series Coalesce from someone, no doubt!
SeanFace: Follow up: if you’ve thrown the Coalesce, how much does it differ from the Omen?
Aroc: Very Different. Omen is OS, Coalesce is more Thunderbirdish.
mandalorian540: Assuming the Pathfinder is the best mid in the sport, what’s the second best? And why is it the Ursus?
Aroc: Ursus just is so wonderful. It does everything I need and feels so good!
Spoot: What’s your favorite new mold from the past year?
Aroc: Dynasty and Pathfinder are the first that come to mind.
Ay lmao: What was it like to help design the Spice and what kind of disc do you want to have a hand in designing next?
Aroc: I’m wanting to keep working to make sure the Spice has a couple variations so we can love two slightly different runs that work perfectly together. Not sure what I would choose next since I’m just loving my bag so much atm.
Spoot: If you could have any doubles partner from any period in time, who would it be?
Baja: How far is your max distance forehand and backhand?
Aroc: Backhand If I’m feeling SUPER GOOD. Backhand is like 425-460 If I’m feeling CRAZY GOOD! But I focus on throwing 400-450 super accurate for backhands and about 375-400 for forehands.
HeroesNeverQuit: Are pros signed under an nda to not disclose what they are being paid etc, or do a lot not talk about it publicly for personal reasons?
Aroc: It’s all up to the pros and the sponsors what gets shared. Not sure what is best.
Mark IV: Favorite shot or moment in your disc golf career? Anything that really sticks out??
Aroc: Ft Stelly always sticks out. It really boosted my confidence that I was doing the right thing.
Baja: What do you think of Lone Star’s giant Ranger team?
Aroc: Hey, people are talking about their discs a ton now. Seems like a decent play, but we will see if they can keep it up.
Đę$iǤИęƦ D̸͘͜R̸̆͠Ṻ̷́G̵͛͋S̸̄̚: So how many TSA discs in the works for you?
Aroc: More Pathfinders for sure, and likely a small run of Votums.
Crokz: What are your thoughts on night strike fds, they are prob my most reliable fairway and i love them
Aroc: Exodus is super close and the Halo Centurion cover similar slots and they are SOOOOO GOOOOD!
Mark IV: I have pathfinders in glow, aura, and ethereal, for some reason I haven’t thrown an ethos one… why do you prefer the ethos plastic to the others?
Aroc: It was the plastic I first threw and loved it, I throw Ethos Mantra, Votum and Construct. Ethos and I just work… EthOs…. it makes sense LOL
SeanFace: Tomb or Praxis?
Aroc: Alpaca, Popcorn, Envy, Berg is my putter lineup.
Cobra: Who on tour last year were you most surprised about changes they’ve made to their game/personality?
Aroc: Gannon. Kid is just unbelievably confident and it’s so awesome to see.
McShotty: What gap in TSA’s lineup would you like to see filled?
Aroc: Maybe a stable Mid like Quake. Distance driver that has a little more go than the Synapse, or retool the synapse to get some dome!
TheHunter924: Biggest advice for breaking the 900 rating?
Aroc: Make smarter decisions. Play for Par and make your putts. Eating a bogey is generally better than trying to save par.
Bueno: You are on a deserted island with all your friends. In order to leave you must land a disc on the island next to you. 250’ (standard island distance) Island diameter 33’. One shot or your stuck for a month. What are you throwing?
Aroc: Pepper because it doesn’t skip!
Al Greazy: Real men throw dyed discs. Thoughts?
Aroc: Madd Discs helped me through puberty.
Crokz: Did you make the Spice to replace a pd
Aroc: Spice was meant to be more of a Felon/Firebird type disc, but the goal was for it to not be STUPID OS, it is meant to be throwable for all and super workable. I think we nailed it.
SeanFace: Have you had any misadventures flying with discs? Do you check your disc bag and has anything even gone missing?
Aroc: Always carry on my bag. Never checking my bag, but I do check my backups.
Crokz: What dynasty flies most similar to roaming thunder 2s?
Aroc: Depends on how OS RT2s are. Halos are the most OS like First Run C CD2s, Metal Flake Color Glow are a small step down from the Halos, S Blends are super workable and dead straight and I/C blends start kinda stable but beat in faster.
TheHunter924: Berg or glitch
Aroc: Different Discs. Berg is so unique and the Glitch is Sonic/Bite/Polecat like.
Al Greazy: I tend to have really sweaty hands in the summertime. Do you know of anything that can help me with this?
Aroc: WHALE SACS 4 LYFE!!!
HeroesNeverQuit: When you swapped to infinite you obviously tried out a lot of molds and plastics. I haven’t watched your play or any in the bags. Are there any dynamic discs that you still bag because you just couldn’t find a good replacement for them or just love the mold that much?
Aroc: Nope. All Trilogy is out. Claymore was holding strong but I lost it in Norway and tried out the Berry and the rest is history. Claymore is still the most underrated disc in the market IMO.
TheHunter924: Who is the best card mate?
Aroc: Bobby Musick, MJ, Zach Melton, Chris Dickerson
Crokz: What is the best foil?
Aroc: Anything but Gold or Copper or Camo. I love Black and White.
SeanFace: Favorite mid-round snack?
Aroc: Belvita Breakfast Cookies.
Spoot: Any new discs you’re testing to see how they fit your game?
Aroc: Mint to battle with my Zone!
Crokz: If you could take one part out of a different pros game, what part of whose game would it be?
Aroc: Ricky’s ability to shank and still birdie. He’s gotten so much cleaner so it doesn’t happen as much, but he used to steal strokes from people ALL THE TIME after being the worst off the tee. Scramble game is UNREAL!
CommanderFox2K: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get sponsored?
Aroc: Set a foundation that shows you are growing the sport so that any company who comes along amplifies what you are doing. Don’t wait for a sponsor to build that foundation. Play a ton, Promote a ton, post a ton and be amazing in your community.
Cobra: Does a specific type of shoe make a difference for you?
Aroc: I’m hooked on Vivo Barefoot. I was heavy into Nike Trail, but Vivos are the best shoes I’ve ever used and I don’t see myself going away from Vivos.
TheHunter924: Hopefully I get to meet you at the dgpt championship this October! Are you planning on filming any videos in Nc soon!
Aroc: Not soon, but definitely when the tour makes it back that way!
Despite the constant storms that are bringing rain and snow to much of the country, it’s tournament time! The southern part of the country has seen several top-tier tournaments already, with some exciting finishes. And announcements for local tournaments are starting to roll out. B- and C-tiers around the world are filling up fast as we plan out what tournaments we will be playing this year. There is no doubt about it, many of us like to compete in tournaments.
For this week’s State of Disc Golf blog, we will be looking at survey results surrounding tournament play. It’s a question that we regularly ask on the survey, so we have lots of data about our views on tournaments in past years, too. Let get to the numbers!
Did You Play A Tournament in 2022?
As long as I’ve been playing, one of the things I’ve seen consistently is that a majority of us like to compete in tournaments. There are some who aren’t into the formal sanctioned tournaments, but who will gladly show up for more casual competitions, like an Ace Race or Match Play competitions. Others of us really like the sanctioned events, with their more serious vibes. The first tournament-related question we asked was simply, ‘Did you play in at least one disc golf tournament or event in 2022?’ Here is the chart:
While most of us played in at least one tournament, that still leaves a lot of people who are content to just play casual rounds with their buddies (or solo). They are the ones you see regularly on the course or at league events, and that’s as competitive as they want to get. That also includes newer players who don’t feel like they are ‘good enough’ to play in a tournament.
Sanctioned Tournaments
For the people who indicated in the survey that they did attend at least one tournament, let’s look at how many and which kinds of tournaments we attended. First, let’s look at how many sanctioned tournaments we attended.
Just under half of us attended at least one sanctioned event. Nearly a third of us played five or less. Ten percent of us played 10 or more. I played 14 sanctioned tournaments, putting me in the top 5%. Nearly 3% of us played in 20+ sanctioned tournaments! Impressive. Let’s see how that compares to unsanctioned events.
Unsanctioned
Slightly fewer of us played in at least one unsanctioned event. Unlike the chart showing sanctioned tournament, the unsanctioned numbers drop off sharply for people who play more than 5 unsanctioned tournament. It is interesting that there is 1% of us who attended 20+ unsanctioned tournaments. I wonder what kind of tournaments those were.
$10 Fee
When someone plays in a PDGA sanctioned tournament, they need to either be a current PDGA member, or pay a $10 fee for a ‘temporary’ membership. Since PDGA membership is $50 per year for amateurs ($75 for pros, $30 for Juniors), as an amateur you need to play in at least 5 tournaments to ‘break even’ financially. We wanted to find out how people felt about the $10 fee for non-PDGA members. Unfortunately, this question was only asked to those people that indicated they played in a tournament in 2022. The numbers on the chart are the percentage of the 61% of us who played in at least one tournament. That’s too bad, because there might be people who didn’t play in a tournament in part because of the fee.
Here is the chart:
It looks like most of us are okay with the fee, while a fifth of us don’t like it. Hopefully the fee, or PDGA membership, isn’t keeping people from playing in sanctioned tournaments.
More or Less in 2022/2023?
The next survey result we would like to look at is whether we played more or less tournaments than in 2021. We also asked everyone to predict if they would play more in 2023. Here are the survey results:
A significant number of us got to play more tournaments in 2022 than we did in 2021. About a fifth of us played about the same number. Projecting into this year, only about 10% of us think that we played more last year than we will this year. That means 90% of us will play the same or more this year. 58% of us plan on playing more tournaments this year than last. That may mean tournaments will be filling faster, and wait lists will be longer. I recommend setting a reminder for when registrations open, to increase your chances of getting to play the tournaments you want.
A Look Back
The final chart we will look at is a look back at how our tournament attendance has changed over the past few years. It looks like our percentage was holding fairly steady until Covid.
After the pandemic dip, the last couple of years have seen a steady increase in the number of people attending tournaments. And as we just saw, most of us are planning on increasing the number of tournaments we attend this year. That might put us at or above where we had been prior to the pandemic.
PDGA Event Numbers
As I mentioned, locally at least, we are seeing tournaments fill up fast and long wait lists to get in tournaments. With the steady growth of the sport, and the turbo boost caused by Covid, even though the percentage of us attending tournaments might have dipped recently, it is a percentage of a higher number. Meaning, higher numbers of us are playing tournaments. I wanted to see how the numbers of tournaments available has changed over the same time period as the last chart, so I got the data from the PDGA.
Keep in mind the preceding chart is just showing the tournaments offered by the PDGA. There are many unsanctioned tournaments that appear on Disc Golf Scene and other sites. As you can see, the number of sanctioned tournament opportunities have more than doubled since 2014! If you consider the number of tournaments that fill up, and the number of tournaments offered, it’s easy to see that we love competing in tournaments!
The greater disc golf community has a large variation in the level of participation in our sport. There are those among who currently are (or are working toward) making disc golf a career, and who play or practice daily. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who may only play once or twice per year. They may not even own their own discs. This week’s State of Disc Golf blog will discuss a few survey results that will help us see where we lie on that participation scale.
One of the ways we might express our participation level in disc golf is how many tournaments we play. Typically, if you like to play tournaments, you probably play more disc golf than the average person. And you might spend a bit of time practicing for tournaments. In the survey, we wanted to find out how often people practice putting and doing field work. We’ll look at those responses and get a snapshot of the current level of participation in disc golf.
Putting Practice in Winter
To dissect the data a little more, we asked about how our practice habits change from summer to winter. We’ll start with putting practice in the winter. Here are the survey results
An impressive number of us, 29%, practice at least twice per week in the winter. If you live in a climate that allows for comfortable outside play, or if you can putt indoors, you are more likely to keep putting when the temperatures drop and the snow flies. Putting leagues are another way to be competitive and keep practicing in the winter. Now let’s see how warmer weather affects putting practice.
Putting Practice in Summer
Almost half of us are committed to practicing putting in the summer at least two times per week. Nearly 16% don’t do any extra putting practice, but the rest of us will break out the putters at least once per month.
Since missed putts can add so many strokes to our scores, we would all benefit from practicing. Unfortunately, putting practice isn’t the most fun activity in disc golf. We can improve our chances of putting regularly by playing putting games. There are solo games that you can play, where you keep track of either points or consecutive makes. And there are games you can play with others. Playing putting games makes the time and the reps fly by.
Fieldwork in Winter
A cousin to putting practice is field work. Throwing discs in a field is a great way to work on our form and our distance. Regular practice will improve our consistency and conditioning. Field work is a little more fun than putting, to me, because you get to watch the flight of the disc and feel the satisfaction when you get a great rip. It is tougher to do in the winter in much of the country, because of snow. Let’s see what the numbers say about field work
Just over half of us don’t do any field work in the winter. Cold and snowy conditions are probable responsible for keeping most of us indoors instead of out practicing in the winter. Another reason could be that the days are shorter and we might not get off work in time to practice. About 10% of us still manage to get out at least twice a week in the ‘off-season’.
Fieldwork in Summer
Now we’ll take a look at how much change there is from winter to summer. Below is the chart for summer field work and we can see that over 75% of us do field work at least once per month. One in five of us practice two or more times per week. Those numbers are a little higher than what I see locally, but maybe people are practicing at non-disc golf fields.
Data From 2017
We’ve asked similar questions in the past, so let’s look at the numbers from 2017.
The data from 2017 shows that a lot more people indicated that they practice putting regularly. A third of us practiced at least twice per week. And a lot fewer people indicated that they either never practice putting, or only practice a few times each year. Let’s see how the fieldwork numbers compare to the recent survey. Here are the results from 2017:
The number for the 2017 fieldwork results is similar to the results for this year’s results about fieldwork in the summer. There are slightly more people today who never do fieldwork, but most of the numbers from 2017 are similar to this year’s numbers.
Rounds Per Month
Another survey question that shows how active we are in disc golf is how many rounds per month we played last year. That question was only for those who started playing in 2021 or before. The results are pretty close to what I would guess. Let’s take a look at the chart.
A small percentage of us only averaged less than a round per month. However, at the other end of the scale, over 5% of us got to play nearly a round per day! Playing in leagues and tournaments regularly will bump your average up a bit. Add a few casual rounds with your buddies and it’s not too hard to get up to double-digits per month. However, over half of us stayed in single-digits.
More or Less Golf Last Year
In addition to seeing how many rounds we averaged last year, we also wanted to see if the number of rounds we played were more or less than in 2021, or if it stayed the same. Here is the data:
Prediction For 2023
It’s good to see that a significant majority of us played either the same or more disc golf in 2022. Regionally here in northern Utah there is a tournament or league happening every week, so it isn’t difficult to get your golf fix, if you have the time. Although we can predict how much free time we’ll have in the future, we did ask how much golf that people thought they would play this year compared to last. Here are the results:
I like people’s optimism about this year. Most of us will be playing as much or more disc golf this year. Let’s hope that works out for all of us!
Tune in next week for more State of Disc Golf survey results.
Once again it is time to check out the results of the Infinite Discs State of Disc Golf survey. We had fewer surveys taken this year versus last year, but we still had 6536 people take the survey. I always look forward to seeing some of the results, which are a snapshot of the current state of disc golf. It’s also fun and interesting to compare this year’s results with prior years. Let’s check out the results.
Demographics
Every year we ask people about their basic demographics. We asked where people live, their age, and their gender. We’ll start with where we live. In the survey we gave people the option to select any of the 50 US states plus the District of Columbia, Canadian Providences, Australia, New Zealand, many countries in Europe, and several regions around the world. Hopefully, through the work of the McBeth foundation, in the future we will need to include all countries in Africa, Central and South America.
Where We Live
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the states with the most survey participants are also the most populated. However, after the top two, the survey doesn’t match the list of the most populated states. Here is a chart of survey respondents according to where you indicated that you live:
Historically, the states with the highest number of respondents will vary slightly from year to year. As mentioned above, the most populated states are typically in the top of the results. But, that doesn’t tell us the per capita results. So, I took the survey results and compared them to the state population to see which state had the highest participation rate. Again, the state in the number one spot won’t be much of a surprise. In the chart the number by the state indicates how many people are in the state for every person who took the survey. Here is the chart:
The home state for Infinite Discs is Utah, so it’s easy to see why we had the most participation per capita. Third place Idaho is right next door to Utah, and even has an Infinite store. Sandwiched between those two states is Vermont. With its sparse population, it doesn’t take a lot of people who took the survey to make them move up the chart. Oregon and Kansas have much bigger populations, and also good survey participation.
At the other end of the spectrum, Rhode Island and Washington, DC had the least participation per capita. Out of curiosity, I looked up both of those states’ PDGA membership. DC has 128 members (current and expired), while Rhode Island has 300. Utah, at the top of the per capita chart, has 2210 PDGA members.
Our Age
We did something with this survey that we should have done a long time ago: we cleaned up the age ranges that you could select. For example, instead of indicating whether you are 18-21, 22-25, 26-29, etc., we asked in 5-year increments. So, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, Etc. While I like the 5-year blocks, it makes it tougher to compare this year’s results to previous years. But, we’ll do what we can. Here are the results of this year’s survey:
The resulting graph looks generally similar to results we’ve seen in the past. The numbers slowly climb as we approach 30, then slowly decline as we age past 35. Nearly a fifth of us fall in that 30-34 group that is the largest. That is close to the same number of all players 50+.
Let’s look at a couple of previous years’ results so we can see where the numbers might have changed.
It looks like the age group that is consistently the highest is the 30-35 ish range. This year, however, that age group gave up some numbers to those of us who are younger and older. Let’s look at the under-30 group, the 30-39 group, and the 40+ group.
The survey results for the 40+ age group reflect what I see in tournaments in the area. The age-protected divisions are growing rapidly. As someone who plays in that group, that news is very encouraging. Hopefully that trend doesn’t stop, which will allow current young players to have a lengthy disc golf career.
It’s also encouraging to see younger players in the area, and see their numbers continue to grow. Despite the stats in the survey, we are doing pretty well as a sport. The future looks great and disc golf should continue to grow and expand. It really helps to have some of the young pros that the youth in disc golf can look up to and aspire to be.
Gender
When it comes to gender in the sport of disc golf, the numbers are probably always going to lean massively toward the guys. That’s what we see with the pros, and at most tournaments. Even so, FPO players are seeing the same relative increase in the number of competitors who are considered top tier. That is exciting for those of us who are fans of the pros and watching competitions. And beneficial to disc golf. We’ve already seen some great FPO tournament finishes this year, and with the number of top players increasing, we’re sure to see more. Let’s look at the results for this year.
While the number of women taking the survey remains significantly lower than men, the actual percentage bounces around from year to year. When I pulled up a couple other years’ results, percentage of women who were taking the survey stayed within a fairly narrow range. The men’s numbers were in an even more narrow range. Here are some previous results:
Prior to last year, we only had two options for gender: male or female. There were some who didn’t want to answer, so we added the NA option. Last year we has .05% who chose NA or didn’t answer. This year is was nearly double that.
Since open answers are difficult to process, we want to have set answers to choose from. Next year we will reevaluate the best options to be the most inclusive. And we will still give people the option to not answer
Infinite Discs started a blog series focusing on some of the smaller brands that we carry. That series continues this week with a look at a Delaware brand, Birdie Disc Golf Supply.
New Castle, Delaware, is located on the banks of the Delaware River, across from New Jersey. It was settled hundreds of years ago. It is home to the first dike made in the United State, the New Castle Presbyterian Church, which was built in 1707, and New Castle is home to Birdie Disc Golf Supply.
Retail to Brand
Birdie was started in 2018 by Derek Fell. It started as a retail disc golf store. After a few years, Birdie became a brand with the release of their first mold, the Marvel. The Marvel was PDGA approved in December, 2021. It is a beadless putter with a fairly straight flight. Since its introduction to the disc golf world, over 100,000 Marvels have been sold.
Following the Marvel, Birdie released their first fairway driver, the Strike. It is a speed seven driver with a good amount of glide and a solid fade. Birdie likes to pick names that are strong and exciting to the disc golf community.
As for plastic types, Birdie fans have quite a few choices. Their Putter Blends include Base, Stiff, AG, Soft, and Glow. Their Premium Blends are Premium, Premium Swirly, Color Glow, and Glow. The most popular of these is the Base Blend.
Sponsored Pros
Despite being a new brand, there are quite a few top pros that have been sponsored by Birdie. Ricky Wysocki and Casey White have been sponsored by them. Currently, Scott Stokely, Alex Geisinger, and Dylan Cease.
The Future…
What does the future hold for Birdie Disc Golf Supply? Keep an eye out for several new molds and plastics coming out this year. Their new overstable midrange, the Ultra, will be out in Color Glow plastic in a few months. The Strike will also be released in that plastic.
This summer, the Weapon will be released. It is an overstable control driver. Later in the year a new driver will be available.
Derek is optimistic about the future of Birdie. They are a family owned business which focusses on customer relations and service, and all of their molds are made in the USA. They have plans to keep growing their brand to include a complete lineup of discs.
As for the sport of disc golf, Derek says it will get, “bigger and better every day!”
Comment below about Birdie Disc Golf Supply and you might win one! Let us know which ones you’ve tried, and what you thought about them! Let us know which ones you would like to throw! We’ll pick three random commenters and send them a new Birdie disc.
Infinite Discs started a blog series focusing on some of the smaller brands that we carry. That series continues this week with a look at a Texas brand, Terminal Velocity Discs.
About 25 miles from Dallas lies the city of Rockwall, Texas. The city gets its name from some naturally occurring formations that resemble a wall. Harry Myers disc golf course is located in Rockwall. The Nick Hyde Memorial pro/am tournament is held there every year. And Rockwall is home to Terminal Velocity Discs.
Terminal Velocity owner Zach Windell
When did your company begin, and who started it?
Terminal Velocity Discs started retailing for other companies in August 2020 and started making their own molds in January 2022. The store was started as a creative outlet for owner Zach Windell, who works full time but loves disc golf and was looking for a way to get more involved in the sport.
Can you give a brief history of your company?
As mentioned above, we started as a retailer for other companies in August 2020, at first just selling a couple brands and doing custom designs on discs when we could. Infinite has been crucial to our growth as a company from the start. Before starting Terminal Velocity, Zach bagged mostly infinite molds, so he wanted to have his favorite discs with Terminal Velocity designs. We still retail for other companies but we always dreamed of creating our own molds and designs. In the summer of 2021, we started reaching out looking for manufacturers to make Terminal Velocity molds. We tested several plastics, but fell in love with some of the plastic and molds Legacy Discs offers. We have been steadily building our company, with a busy 2023 planned with our new mold, the Cervini, coming out in the spring of 2023 and another run of Special Blend Ursus also in spring 2023.
Where is your headquarters located?
Our headquarters is in Rockwall, Texas (about 30 minutes East of Dallas).
What were your first couple of molds?
Our first mold is the Ursus (“bear” genus, 5/4/0/4) and we have released it in three plastics currently, and are working on a fourth (Quartz). The Ursus is a disc I quickly fell in love with as a player. I have always struggled with my forehand and this disc loves to be flicked and has really helped my game having a midrange I can forehand. Our second mold is the Cervini (“deer/elk” genus, 10/6/-4/1 in the Mica plastic). We are releasing this one in the next month or so and really looking forward to getting into players hands. Legacy did an amazing job with this disc. The Mica plastic is grippy, pearly, and loves to glide. Some of the initial Cervini I tested were a tad more stable (10/5/-2/1) so we are looking forward to releasing the Cervinin in our Quartz plastic this summer.
How did you choose the names for your molds?
I have always loved science. Our name, Terminal Velocity is a physics term that I thought meant something to disc golf. Terminal Velocity is the max speed an object can go (as in a throw) but also to me it means pushing limitations and achieving the most you can. And that’s what we’re trying to do at Terminal Velocity, with our limited resources, push as hard as we can to be the best disc company we can be.
Which is your most popular mold?
Our most popular mold is currently the Ursus by default, because it is the only disc released to the public but the Ursus may always be Terminal Velocity’s most popular mold. It is just a great disc that is unique and can be used in so many ways, I bag 3 Ursus right now (Glass, Granite and Calcite Glow).
What plastics do you offer, and what is your most popular plastic?
The plastics we currently have are the Glass, the Calcite, and the Granite. The Glass is a C-Blend type of plastic that uses an Italian blend of plastic and is a tad gummy and very grippy. The Calcite is our premium glow plastic. It is more grippy than Glass and beats in great. Our Granite plastic is a putter blend that we released the Ursus in last spring. It is a very unique disc in that plastic. The Ursus feels great in the hand, and in Granite has a straighter midrange flight. We are planning on releasing two new plastics this year, both with metal flake in them. We will have the Mica Cervini out soon, a metal flake S-Blend plastic, and the Quartz in a metal flake glass blend.
Can you tell us about some upcoming releases?
The Mica Cervini should be out by the end of the month (Feb 2023) and we are working on a Signature run of Quartz Ursus that will be released around March 2023. We also plan on doing a Quartz run of Cervini in the summer 2023 and hopefully one more new mold by the end of the year.
Who are some pros or other players that you sponsor?
We currently have a small team of about 30 players, most of which I have had a direct relationship with over the years. I wanted to keep the team as small as possible at first, so I have a real opportunity to help the players on the team. We are working on several collaborations with open bag touring pros. One pro that I can mention is Eric Oakley. Eric has been a huge supporter, he has been throwing the Glass Ursus for almost a year now and we are looking forward to dropping a signature EOursus this spring.
What does the future look like for you?
We are excited to keep growing. We are gaining a lot of momentum going into 2023, and we think this will be a huge year for us with multiple releases and hopefully a couple new fans. Another aspect we are trying to grow in is running more tournaments in the Dallas area, and go from there. The Dallas disc golf scene is growing so fast. It’s been fun to see the exponential growth in talent the last couple years and we want to help feed that growth.
What will disc golf look like in the future?
It’s hard to say what disc golf in general will look like in the near future, let alone long term future. Obviously as a smaller disc golf company, we are just happy to go along with the ride, trying to take a piece of the pie and enjoy the sports growth.
What is something unique about your company?
I think Terminal Velocity is a very unique company. We try to do everything as genuinely as possible to express our creativity in every aspect of the sport. For instance, the plastic names and hard to pronounce discs named after Latin Genera. I knew it was a risk, but it’s something that I like and all I can hope is that some other people out there like it too. The deeper you dive into some of our designs and names the more you will learn. For example, all our plastics are named after minerals/rocks that represent the plastic they’re named after. Like our Calcite Glow plastic. Calcite is a mineral that is fluorescent, and naturally glows. We’re kind of the Snapple lid facts of disc golf.
In last week’s State of Disc Golf Survey, I talked about how we are in tournament season. I wrote about the questions in the survey that asked about tournaments and how many of us participate in them. This week, I’ll look at another aspect of tournament season: watching the pros as they play tournaments.
DRB: How many hours per week do you practice? Can you elaborate on your practice routine?
SeanFace: Any west coast stops this year? I’ll be at the OTB Open and LVC 
Myle: Are you ever thought about an ‘is that good’ video where you give amateur your new signature disc and they tell is it good?
Cobra: Are there any out of production discs you wish you could bag but can’t justify because they’re hard to replace/expensive?
Despite being a new brand, there are quite a few top pros that have been sponsored by Birdie. Ricky Wysocki and Casey White have been sponsored by them. Currently, Scott Stokely, Alex Geisinger, and Dylan Cease.
How did you choose the names for your molds?
Who are some pros or other players that you sponsor?