Best Distance Driver For 2022
This article was written for 2022. Check out this article and data if you’re looking for the most up to date best distance drivers list.
Best Distance Driver of 2022
We looked at the best selling molds, the best rated molds, and counted your votes for your favorite mold, and we can declare the winner of the Best Distance Driver. And boy was it close! The Innova Destroyer and Wraith traded position on top of the sales and fan vote categories. And the ratings were separated by a hundredth of a point!
The top five were all Innova/Infinite, which is not surprising after seeing the results of the individual categories. Four of the top five molds have fairly similar flights, the exception being the 5th place Maya, the only understable mold. Here are the top molds and their ranking in the different categories.
Mold | Sales | Rating | Fan | Total |
Innova Destroyer | 1 | 4.63 | 2 | 7.63 |
Innova Wraith | 2 | 4.64 | 1 | 7.64 |
Infinite Discs Emperor | 3 | 4.75 | 3 | 10.75 |
Infinite Discs Pharaoh | 4 | 4.71 | 4 | 12.71 |
Infinite Discs Maya | 5 | 4.58 | 5 | 14.58 |
Here are some comments mentioned by fans:
Matt M – “Destroyer has to be my all time mold. Why? There are so many different throws you can make with it. A controlled spike hyzer, a sidearm flick, an all out distance bomber.”
David M – “My go-to is a seasoned Star Destroyer. It has a good feel for backhand and forehand. One at a lighter weight like 167-170 if I’m wanting a little more turn. The Destroyer is the gold standard for good reason.”
Tom – “My favorite driver has always been the Wraith. As they break in the develop a little instability so I can bag several Wraith of various plastic / beat in yet have the same grip. The Wraith is also very good in wind as I find it very reliable and wind resistant. Plus what is not to like about the Halo Wraith, wicked cool stamp.”
In this series exploring the best discs of 2022, we started with putters and have been moving up the speed ratings until this week. You can check out the survey results for Putters, Mid Ranges, and Fairway Drivers by clicking these links. Today, we will finally check out the highest-speed discs, the distance drivers, or high-speed drivers. Once again we will look at the sales data to see what people are buying. Then we will rank the molds by their Infinite rating. Finally, we will ask you to vote for the distance driver that you feel is the best. Then we will compile the information and declare a winner! We will also award one lucky commenter a gift card for their input.
Best Distance Drivers
There is something about the feel of a distance driver that sets it apart from other types of discs. The wide rim makes you feel like there is something significant in your hand, both in terms of mass and of potential distance. The sharper edge has a distinct feeling that is unlike other discs. Their higher speed rating requires a little more effort in your throw, making the movement a little more physical. All of these things add up to a different experience when you throw a distance driver.
The high-speed, or distance driver category has been the bane of many new disc golfers. Someone new to disc golf may not understand that the name of the category refers to how fast the disc must be thrown in order to fly like it’s designed to do. Instead, newer players regularly buy discs that they don’t have the skill to be able to throw properly. Therefore, many bad habits might be formed before the disc golfer understands the need to start by throwing lower-speed discs. Lighter plastics can help someone without the arm speed to throw higher speed discs. However, there are benefits to throwing lower speed discs when starting out.
High speed drivers account for slightly over a quarter of all disc sales at Infinite. That’s pretty close to where we could expect it to be. It does trail putters as a category by a couple of percentage points.
To find out which molds were the most popular, I pulled up a list of the top 20 discs that were sold in the past year. Below is a chart with the top discs, along with the percentage of all distance drivers sold:
Rank | Brand and Mold | % of all distance drivers |
1 | Innova Destroyer | 10.5% |
2 | Innova Wraith | 9.0% |
3 | Infinite Discs Emperor | 6.5% |
4 | Infinite Discs Pharaoh | 5.2% |
5 | Infinite Discs Maya | 3.2% |
6 | Innova Beast | 2.3% |
7 | Innova Shryke | 2.1% |
8 | Innova Mamba | 2.1% |
9 | Discraft Avenger SS | 1.9% |
10 | Discraft Nuke | 1.9% |
11 | Innova Tern | 1.7% |
12 | Discraft Force | 1.5% |
13 | MVP Photon | 1.5% |
14 | Discraft Surge SS | 1.4% |
15 | Discraft Hades | 1.4% |
16 | Innova Boss | 1.4% |
17 | Discraft Zeus | 1.3% |
18 | Discraft Thrasher | 1.3% |
19 | Discraft Scorch | 1.2% |
20 | Innova Katana | 1.2% |
Brands in the Top 20
Although most people know about the popularity of the Destroyer and Wraith, they may not know that one out of every five distance drivers sold at Infinite is one of those two molds! Those are some successful molds. In addition to holding the top two spots in the category. Innova is also responsible for 8 of the top 20 distance drivers we sell. That ties Discraft, who also holds 8 of the top 20 spots. In a distant third place is Infinite Discs, with 3 of the top 20. There were only four manufacturers in the top 20, and here is a chart with the breakdown:
Although Infinite Discs only had three molds in the top 20, those molds accounted for a significant portion of the distance drivers sold. In fact, sales of Infinite’s three top-20 molds surpassed Discraft’s eight molds in the top 20. Here is a list of the four manufacturers in the top 20, with the percentage of overall distance driver sales for the past year:
Best Rated Discs
Now let’s take a look at the Infinite Discs rating for the top molds. These are the ratings that customers have given each mold when they give a review. The ratings give us a picture of how people feel about the disc once they’ve had a chance to throw it. That’s a more accurate indication of the long-term view of people’s opinions of the disc, assuming it’s been around long enough for a significant number of people to rate the mold. Infinite Discs’ Emperor and Pharaoh top the list, with ratings a bit above the rest of the group. Here are the top 20 discs, sorted by Infinite rating:
Infinite Discs Emperor | 4.75 |
Infinite Discs Pharaoh | 4.71 |
Innova Wraith | 4.64 |
Discraft Zeus | 4.64 |
Innova Destroyer | 4.63 |
Innova Tern | 4.61 |
Innova Shryke | 4.6 |
Discraft Surge SS | 4.59 |
Infinite Discs Maya | 4.58 |
Discraft Hades | 4.58 |
Discraft Thrasher | 4.58 |
Fan Vote Results
We asked you to let us know which mold you considered to be the best distance driver. You responded by the hundreds, and we’ve compiled a list of the top molds. Just like the top mold sales, the fan vote was all Innova/Infinite. Topping the list wasn’t the popular Destroyer. It was the Wraith, which is like a slightly slower Destroyer. In addition to the brands you would expect to make the list, there were votes for many other brands, including Divergent Discs, Viking, Millennium, Legacy, Axiom, Kastaplast, Thought Space Athletics, and DGA.
Here is a list of the top voted discs, along with the percentage of people who voted for that mold.
Mold | Percentage of Votes |
Wraith | 13.9% |
Destroyer | 9.4% |
Emperor | 4.5% |
Pharaoh | 4.1% |
Maya | 3.7% |
Boss | 3.4% |
Grace | 3.0% |
Mamba | 3.0% |
DD3 | 2.2% |
Shryke | 2.2% |
Thanks to everyone who voted!
Let Us Know Your Favorite!
Now it’s your turn to let us know about your favorite distance driver. Even if your disc didn’t make the list, let us know what it is, and why it is the best disc for you or the best driver for beginners. This is a great chance to show people looking for a distance driver why your favorite disc works for you!
150 class DGA Sail, 167 Rogue or a Discraft Thrasher are my go to drivers. Sails are great for big hyzer flips!
My favorite is the Latitude 64 Saint because of its versatility. I threw 2 aces in 2021 with one!
I am so torn right now. I just got the cloud breaker 3 and I’m loving it!! But I also started throwing the Lat 64 Grace and it’s money also. So torn ♂️
I like destroyer in pro plastic, or wraith in star plastic. Pro destroyers have more glide than their star or champion counterparts, and are usually my farthest flying drivers (400 feet). I like star wraiths because they are more overstable than g star and pro plastic wraiths.
My favorite distance driver right not is MVP Fission Waves. The extra gyroscopic stability from having the extra weight pushed to the rim seems to keep the disc from flipping too much at high sleep and lessens the fade at slow speed. I get long straight lines.
I’ve been using the Discraft Crank SS 174g. Something about the combination of the heavier weight and under stable nature of the disc seem to counteract each pretty well for me, particularly on lower height throws. I can keep it floating a good distance under branches off the tee even on the more narrow tunnels. The top isn’t too domey and the depth of the rim sits well into my fingers/hand.
Destroyer has to be my all time mold.
Why? There are so many different throws you can make with it. A controlled spike hyzer, a sidearm flick, an all out distance bomber.
Different runs have different feels and sometimes a slight difference in domey or flat will offer up more variations.
This is why I have a ridiculous amount of destroyers and will continue to buy more 🙂
The Innova Wraith is a great disc all around for distance whether you throw it with forehand or backhand.
Destroyer is my go to for distance! Beautiful S curves and fights the wind.
Gotta be a Nuke for me. Very reliable and comfortable in the hand.
Haven’t even thrown it yet and it’s already the Finish Line Era 🙂
My favorite driver has always been the wraith. As they break in the develop a little instability so I can bag several wraith of various plastic / beat in yet have the same grip. The wraith is also very good in wind as I find it very reliable and wind resistant. Plus what is not to like about the halo wraith, wicked cool stamp.
Honestly not one to throw many distance drivers. I occasionally throw a beast but I’ve yet to manage the arm speed for distance drivers to make sense. Threw a lot of destroyers starting out though
I’m almost completely Axiom discs, but the Wraith continues to be my go to distance driver. It’s rim size is a Goldilocks that feels just right, it’s nice and flat for a seriously smooth and precise throw, and it has a reliable skip to it. It helps that it’s the only disc I can consistently get over 300’ as the new player I am. I love this disc (and getting multiple versions of it from infinite discs )
I love the Nitro forehand, or the star Destroyer backhand.
My go-to is a seasoned star destroyer. It has a good feel for backhand and forehand. One at a lighter weight like 167-170 if I’m wanting a little more turn. The destroyer is the gold standard for good reason.
I love the Innova Beast
I’m definitely in the category of players who shouldn’t be throwing discs with high speed numbers. I really only rely on distance drivers for forehand throws. The wraith gets my vote because it seems really forgiving when I throw it sidearm.
I absolutely love a lightweight blizzard Katana! It’s overstability helps it not turn over too much so it has a dependable fade, but it’s lightweight enough to be thrown far and it glides forever.
My go to distance driver has the be my DX innova wraith. If I am going for max distance the wraith has me covered. I recently got a champion wraith and it is oddly enough more on the overstable side. If I won the gift card I would possibly pick up a shryke and more wraiths!