This year we had enough respondents to determine which brand is most popular throughout the world. We actually didn’t bother making a map for the most popular brand, because it would look like this:
It’s true, Innova is the most popular brand in every state and region of the world. We knew that Innova was dominant from the responses in the survey, but to find out they were the favorite brand in every region. We are amazed. Even across the country in “Scandinavia” Innova was still #1. Had we asked specific countries, perhaps Sweden would have been Latitude 64.
We know that from interacting with others, they may disagree. We have seen the comments that say “everybody throws such and such brand where I live.” Our response to that is, you may not know everybody in your state that plays disc golf. In some cases, the sample size should be larger to strongly say that we are strongly confident in these results (more specifically, the results below). For example, we awarded no 2nd place in Wyoming because there is not enough data to determine.
Where things start to get interesting is when we look at where the second most popular brands are found in this image:
Here’s what stood out to us from the image above:
This is a colorful map. Many different brands (outside of Innova) are strongly favored in different parts of the world.
The closer a brand is to its headquarters, it tends to be more highly favored in that area.
Legacy is headquartered in California. What is California and Nevada’s second favorite brand Legacy? DD is in Kansas, and is dominant in the midwest. The exceptions start to come with MVP, where disc golf manufacturuing is
Before you comment:
To understand how Infinite Discs has come to conclusions in this article, please read our State of Disc Golf 2015: Introduction post. After you understand the statistics and methodology of the survey, feel free to post.
We had some fun digging much deeper into the data to do some per capita comparisons and are super intrigued by what we have found. According to the data, Maine has more disc golfers per person than anywhere else in the world! Below is information about how popular disc golf is in each state, and region of the world.
For the images below, we did not make a world map, just a United States map. The shades of the lettering on the actual name of the territory (such as Canada) indicates how popular disc golf is in said area. For exact details, scroll to the bottom of this post; we published the number of responses from every region. Africa, South America, and Antarctica were not options in the poll; they will be included next year.
Where today’s disc golfers are (number of respondents/ divided by population). The more popular areas are shaded darker.
Disc golf popularity according to Google Trends. This graph adds validity the previous graph, by comparing search data to where respondents are located. The graphs look incredibly similar.
Region
# Respondents
Population in Millions
Respondents per Million
Alabama
62
4.78
1.30
Alaska
21
0.71
2.96
Arizona
57
6.39
0.89
Arkansas
33
2.92
1.13
Asia
4
4,427.00
0.00
Australia
30
23.3
0.13
California
353
37.25
0.95
Canada
151
35.16
0.43
Colorado
132
5.03
2.62
Connecticut
37
3.57
1.04
Delaware
15
0.9
1.67
District of Columbia
1
0.6
0.17
Europe
67
722.38
0.01
Europe – Scandinavia
133
20.12
0.66
Florida
134
18.8
0.71
Georgia
133
9.69
1.37
Hawaii
7
1.36
0.51
Idaho
52
1.57
3.32
Illinois
174
12.83
1.36
Indiana
107
6.48
1.65
Iowa
82
3.05
2.69
Kansas
101
2.85
3.54
Kentucky
67
4.34
1.54
Louisiana
29
4.53
0.64
Maine
50
1.33
3.76
Maryland
40
5.77
0.69
Massachusetts
124
6.55
1.89
Michigan
273
9.88
2.76
Minnesota
148
5.3
2.79
Mississippi
26
2.97
0.88
Missouri
146
5.99
2.44
Montana
11
0.99
1.11
Nebraska
20
1.83
1.10
Nevada
17
2.7
0.63
New Hampshire
36
1.32
2.73
New Jersey
32
8.79
0.36
New Mexico
18
2.06
0.87
New York
101
19.38
0.52
North Carolina
232
9.54
2.43
North Dakota
9
0.67
1.34
Ohio
157
11.54
1.36
Before you comment:
To understand how Infinite Discs has come to conclusions in this article, please read our State of Disc Golf 2015: Introduction post. After you understand the statistics and methodology of the survey, feel free to post.
Innova ran away with the title of most popular brand again in 2014. While that fact may not be surprising, what stands out is the amount of increase in popularity from 2013 to 2014. This year, nearly half of all respondents chose Innova as their favorite brand of disc (48%). According to last year’s survey, 38% of disc golfers chose Innova as the favorite brand. That is a sizable increase in one year.
2014 Leading Manufacturers
2013 Leading Manufacturers
[one_half]Coming in second place is Discraft at 12%. That percentage is down slightly from 2013. Third place belonged to Latitude 64 with 10% of respondents listing them as the favorite. Dynamic Discs came in next at 6%, followed by MVP and Prodigy, with 5% each. The top six manufacturers stayed in the same order from 2013, with their percentages changing only slightly.
It isn’t surprising that Innova remains at the top of the disc golf world. They have a long, thriving history, the largest selection of models and plastics, they are made in America, and they sponsor three-time World Champion Paul McBeth. They are an established institution in disc golf.
Because of its dominance, Innova is also sold in department and sporting goods stores, in addition to specialty disc golf shops. For that reason, many respondents are only familiar with Innova.
2014 Survey Change
Last year, in many of the survey questions, several brands were combined and listed as a single manufacturer. For example, Latitude 64 manufactures Dynamic Discs and Westside (also known as Trilogy). This year, “Trilogy” brands had 19% of this pie.
Likewise, MVP and Axiom are made by MVP and 6% of the pie.
This year, and in future surveys, each individual brand will be considered separately so its changes are clearer from year to year. In this summary, we will mention the combined statistics for comparison.
Brand Loyalty
Only 6% of disc golfers are so loyal that they will only throw discs from one manufacturer. Most respondents choose from a variety of brands. That’s important because it says that even though people have their favorite brand, they are willing to try different ones. Of the 6% who only throw one brand, 61% of them chose Innova, while Prodigy and Discraft loyalists represented 14% each. Vibram came in at 3%, Legacy just over 1%, and all other brands less than 1%.
Disc golfers without a mixed bag (throw only brand), choose to throw:
Not surprisingly, when asked if you HAD TO throw only one brand, which you would choose, the results were nearly exactly the same as the favorite brands. Only a percentage point at most separated this category from the favorites. Last year Latitude 64 was selected by 20% of the respondents, but included Westside and Dynamic Discs brands. This year, adding the numbers from those three brands, we get 21%, which is nearly identical.
Throw only one brand: 2014
Throw only one brand: 2013
What does the future hold?
While Innova remains the undisputed king of disc golf, several smaller brands are releasing popular discs and working hard to claim their share of the market. That is good, because competition among manufacturers is healthy for the sport. Several statistics indicate that smaller companies are making headway.
Most Anticipated Releases
To start with, in addition to the fact that most respondents throw several brands of discs, the survey also indicates that they like to know what discs will be released from many different manufacturers. Which brand’s releases are people looking forward to the most?
Innova still leads at 33%. After them is Latitude 64 at 11%. Dynamic Discs was the third most anticipated brand with 10%, followed by Discraft, MVP, and Prodigy with 9%, 8%, and 7% respectively. Westside rounds out the top seven with 5%. Even though 48% of disc golfers chose Innova as their favorite disc company, only 33% anticipate its releases more than other brands.
Most Anticipated Releases: 2014
Most Anticipated Releases: 2013
Last year, Innova received only 16% of the votes, showing a major increase this year. On the contrary, MVP was the most anticipated in 2013 and has dropped off significantly. At the time of this survey in 2013, MVP had just announced the Axiom brand (which is now its own option in this survey), and rumors of their distance drivers were on the horizon.
When we combine the Trilogy numbers for this year, we get a total of 26%, which is up quite a bit from last year’s 18%. Innova’s and the Trilogy’s increases came at the expense of MVP and Prodigy, who decreased 12% and 7% respectively. Discraft’s anticipated releases raised slightly, from 8% to 9%.
Most Innovative Brand
When it comes to innovation, the race is a little tighter among manufacturers. Innova is perceived to be the most innovative company, and garnered 27% of the votes, up from last year’s 17%. MVP was not far behind this year with 19% of respondents. That is a decrease from 38% last year. Latitude 64 was next with 12%, followed by Dynamic Discs and Prodigy at 9% each. Vibram, the only company making discs out of a different material, carried 7% of the votes. Discraft sat at 5%. Comparing Trilogy brands to last year shows an increase from 11% to 21%, which puts them in second place.
While some brands have taken strides in innovation, we feel that a few have accomplishments worth emphasizing:
Trilogy Brands
In 2014, the efforts put in collectively by Trilogy brands have been amazing and they receive our vote as the most innovative. They have diversified their product lineup, popularized the Missilen, which has divots in the plastic for increased aerodynamic properties, and have launched a new blend of plastic which is durable, transparent, flexible, and grippy. But, outside of the product line itself, Dynamic Discs has raised the bar in marketing and creating a premium identity within the industry. Singling out Dynamic Discs within the Trilogy category, they have launched an app specifically for their home National Tour tournament, the Glass Blown Open (which is already sold out at 900 competitors), they have created beautiful short video teasers for new releases, and they sponsor weekly podcasts (which is not new this year). In the end, hats off to Dynamic Discs for their all around efforts to innovate, not just in plastic, but in overall growth for disc golf.
MVP
For how small and young MVP is, they garner many votes in this category. MVP has the best overmold in disc golf. Because it is so unique, it will always stand out as innovative, even if it was introduced long ago. That’s not to say MVP was not innovative in 2014. This year MVP introduced the only overmold discs to ever see the fairway, and they have expanded their product lineup to bring brilliant colors. It’s clear that with MVP their mantra is “If you are going to do something, do it well”. We sometimes consider MVP the “Apple” of disc golf.
Prodigy
In 2013, Prodigy faired well with the amount of new releases, unique plastic blends, and “easy release technology” (which we don’t hear about often anymore). In 2014, Prodigy introduced a new basket with inner horizontal chains which make a chain-out impossible when you hit the target zone. It will be interesting to see how this innovation affects the sport moving forward.
Innova
Innova does something new on an annual basis. In 2013 they began production of overmold discs. In 2014 they created GStar plastic and released it in several popular molds. GStar is a unique blend which is opaque, flexible, durable, grippy, and attractive.
Most Innovative Brand: 2013
Most Innovative Brand: 2014
Largest Impact on Disc Golf
The survey also sought to find out which company had the largest impact on disc golf in 2014. The top vote recipient was Innova, who edged out Prodigy, 26% to 22%. Dynamic Discs received 17% of the votes, Latitude 64 got 8%. Discraft and MVP rounded out the list of companies making the largest impact, with 6% and 5% respectively. Innova and Prodigy sponsor a majority of the most widely recognized and skilled disc golfers in the world. That exposure undoubtedly contributed to the high numbers for those manufacturers in this category.
In addition, Innova’s impact on disc golf for simply being in so many stores cannot be measured. How often are players introduced to disc golf while browsing for discs at Hastings? Even Innova may have a hard time calculating that number. Because of the availability of Innova product, more people become attached to disc golf.
Largest Impact on Disc Golf: 2014
Largest Impact on Disc Golf: 2013
Last year Prodigy was voted as the top company to impact disc golf with 40% of respondents. Innova was a distant second with 16%. MVP held a larger share than this year, sitting at 12%. Latitude 64 took fourth with 11%, compared with this year’s combined Trilogy result of 27%.
Best Reputation in Disc Golf
Which disc golf brand has the best reputation? In the most lopsided category, Innova crushed the competition with 58% of the votes. The next closest was Discraft at a distant 12%. Dynamic Discs had 8%, and Latitude 64 had 7%. MVP and Prodigy tied at 4%. That says a lot about Innova when people who throw other brands still respect them.
Last year Innova also led the category with 51% choosing them. Discraft took second last year with 16%. Latitude 64 and MVP rounded out the top four with 11% and 7%. The Trilogy result for this year is 16%, which is still significantly behind the leader, Innova.
Best Reputation in Disc Golf: 2013
Best Reputation in Disc Golf: 2014
Summary
Innova dominates the disc golf world, but certainly has a lot of competitors hungry for a bigger slice of that growing pie. What would it take to unseat the giant? Major breakthroughs are rare in disc golf. True, discs come along that certainly make waves, but what new development will occur that might allow one of the smaller manufacturers to become the new number one? Maybe a new plastic type? Or new material altogether? It’s more likely that smaller brands will just need to expand their lines to offer a bigger variety of speed and flight characteristics. And, just keep getting their name out there. Sponsoring disc golfers, sponsoring major tournaments, and offering specialty tournaments might turn the tide for Innova’s competitors. Perhaps smaller companies might focus on introducing new players to the sport. That would grow the sport, the customer base, and possibly create lifelong, dedicated fans of their brand.
Thanks to all of you who took the time to share a little part of your disc golf world. The results will be posted in periodic blogs at InfiniteDiscs.com, each blog covering different aspects of the survey. If you would like to be alerted to new posts, scroll down to join the Infinite Discs mailing list.
In coming articles we will explore more nuances of respondent’s choices for tops brands. We will examine who the typical disc golfers is, and how that affects which brands they prefer. We will also look at who is switching brands and which companies they are moving to and from.
Between December 5th and December 15th, 2014, exactly 5,038 participants completed “The State of Disc Golf: 2015 Survey.” The survey can be summarized as an accurate representation of self-selecting disc golfers.
Accuracy
It is impossible to know how many disc golfers there are in the world right now. A larger survey of random Americans would be necessary to determine the approximate number.
If we assume that there are 1,000,000 disc golfers, this survey has, with 99% confidence, a margin of error of +/- 1.81%. We can also say with 95% confidence, that there is a margin of error of +/- 1.38%. These numbers were found using a simple calculator here.
Methodology
This survey was first published and announced on December 5th by Infinite Discs. It was then posted on Facebook and Twitter by Infinite Discs. After the initial announcement, it was picked up by others and posted and shared in many social outlets, such as Reddit. This survey was also published on the PDGA Facebook page and was e-mailed by the PDGA to those who are included in the PDGA mailing list.
This survey is not truly scientific, as participants were self-selecting. It was published that the survey was just over 10 minutes in length, and $1,305 in prize merchandise would be awarded to random participants.
One may argue that casual disc golfers are not enticed by the prizes, and would therefore not elect to participate in the survey. Therefore, those who participated in the survey may generally be more passionate about the sport. This survey is not a sample of the average American. It is instead a sample of the disc golfer who is involved in the sport to a degree that they would have heard about the survey through any of the means mentioned above.
Sponsors
These sponsors donated prior to the survey closing, but were not announced until after.
MVP – $180 in discs
Dynamic Discs – $355 in merchandise
Prodigy – $220 in discs
Aerobie – $150 in discs
Vibram – $100 in discs
Infinite Discs – $50 in gift cards
PDGA – $160 in memberships
Innova – $90 in discs
Avoiding Bias
We felt very strongly about avoiding bias in this survey. Through e-mail we discouraged all parties who may be interested in obtaining favorable results from advertising or promoting this survey. We informed manufacturers that if they did promote the survey, they may be accused of obtaining bias results. As far as we are aware, no manufacturer promoted this survey.
We also encouraged manufacturers to donate to this survey, to entice respondents to complete the survey. Manufacturers who donated are listed above. Each of these manufacturers and donors understood that they would be listed as a survey sponsor after the survey had closed.
Fans of certain brands, who are bias, shared this survey. Therefore, this survey includes results from bias individuals and groups. This is fine, as the State of Disc Golf finds the bias of fans equally important; we simply did not want fan bias to be unfairly and heavily weighted from promotion of the manufacturer which they admire.
Publication Schedule
We anticipate to have our series of articles published before the end of March, 2015.
Thank You!
The results of this survey are immensely beneficial to disc golf. A survey of this scale allows us, and you, to do more for disc golf. We encourage you to use the data you find in this survey to promote disc golf courses, and to persuade city officials how beneficial this sport can be in your area. We would love to hear about how you use the data.
Welcome Feedback
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please comment below. You may also e-mail support@infinitediscs.com with any feedback.
As disc golfers we like to know how our sport is doing from year to year. This annual survey was created to answer questions and help us all see our sport more clearly. The results will help us track growth, changes, and opinions about discs, manufacturers, and the evolution of the sport.
The results of this survey will be published in 2015, as a series titled “The State of Disc Golf 2015.” Results from the 2014 survey were beneficial
Share for Statistical Accuracy
To maximize statistical accuracy, we need your help spreading the word. Last year this survey had a margin of error of +/- 2.5% with 1,400 respondents. To get a margin of error of +/- .5%, we need 9,000 people to take this survey. After completing the survey, please share it with as many people who have ever thrown a disc that you know. Share it via social media, word of mouth, emails, etc.
This survey takes 10-15 minutes.
Survey Availability
On December 14th at midnight, this survey will close. Once closed, results and analysis will be compiled by an independent party, unaffiliated with disc golf manufacturers or retailers.
Survey Giveaway: $1320 in merchandise
Infinite Discs will be hosting a giveaway with more than $800 worth of prizes. The prizes are donated by companies who will be identified after the survey has completed; to avoid bias, sponsors and prizes are not identified at this time. Simply put, the prizes are worth your 10-15 minutes.
The State of Disc Golf 2014: Leading Manufacturers
This is part 5 of a seven part editorial series of the 1,422 responses from the survey “The State of Disc Golf: 2014”
Note 1: This article takes real data from real survey results, and then they are published with educated opinion. You may not agree with everything you read, and that’s completely ok. Please leave any of your thoughts or comments below. Rude, belligerent, or otherwise inappropriate comments will not be published.
Note 2: We acknowledge and emphasize to you that the results here directly reflect the disc golf community who is in some way, shape, or form, involved with disc golf online. We therefore recognize that it would be inaccurate for us to claim that this survey is a proper reflection of the entire disc golf community. The results portray disc golfers who found this survey via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google+, forums, E-mail, and other means. With over 1,400 respondents the statistical accuracy is high.
Manufacturers & Brands
While there are several brands, some manufacturers actually produce products for other brands.
To best illustrate this we’ll use the MVP as our example. In January 2014 MVP launched a new brand called Axiom. MVP discs & Axiom discs are both produced by MVP Disc Sports, however Axiom is its own product lineup and brand.
Q: Which manufacturer is the leader in disc golf today?
Which manufacturer disc golfers believed was the leader in disc golf today? The answer wasn’t even close. Innova took it by the largest margin of any other question in the survey. In contrast to the data in the last survey “Which brand is your favorite?” is what makes the results here more intriguing. While bias likely works into the answers for many when taking a survey such as this, it shows bias was largely set aside. 38% of people responded that Innova was their favorite brand, but 74% responded that Innova is todays leading manufacturer. 3 in 4 disc golfers voted that Innova is the top manufacturer today, even if Innova wasn’t their choice of disc.
Q: Which manufacturer are you looking forward to new releases from the most?
This question had a very nice spread when compared to the landslide of the last question. MVP is impressive here not only because they placed first With 20% of disc golfers most excited for releases from MVP, but also because this is a small company which currently has a very small market share. MVP has created hype around each release, and their distance driver lineup which is coming out this spring is the most anticipated release that we can remember. In addition, from our point of view MVP also lives up to the hype that they create with each release – consistency and quality is a staple when working with MVP.
The next three are Latitude 64, Innova, and Prodigy with 18%, 16% and 14% of the votes respectively. From our view Latitude 64 is establishing itself as a major player in the industry and has a strong following which faithfully buy whatever the product. Innova has also produced a handful of top selling discs the last two years with Krait, Tern, and now their overmold plastic options with the Atlas and Nova has also turned heads. Finally Prodigy, who according to their number system has released a majority of the discs which will be released, how will they adapt in 2014? More signature series?
Q: Which manufacturer has the best public reputation?
Innova takes first place again at 50%. Second place is Discraft with 16%, Latitude 64 with 11%, MVP with 7%, and everybody from there has just a small share.
Innova’s dominance in this category was honestly a surprise. While we are not questioning Innova having a solid reputation, I (the author) feel that many brands are also deserving of the top vote for many. Perhaps next time, this question will be rephrased to ask “On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the reputation of such and such company.” That question will give us a better thermometer reading of how different manufacturers are doing for the disc golf world.
Kudos to Innova for doing an overall fantastic job! The results don’t lie!
Q: Which manufacturer is the most Innovative?
And we’re back to MVP, except MVP now takes it by a larger margin. MVP certainly has a unique way of doing things, and it’s catchy… and according to respondents, it’s Innovative.
In second place is Innova, with less than half the votes of MVP. Innova is large, and continues to adapt. For example, noting the success of MVP, Innova developed their own overmold style. Innova has a steady stream of discs annually which frequently seems to fill a void in what seems to be a very well built lineup.
Latitude 64, Prodigy, and Vibram round out the next three – each with unique aspects they bring to the game!
Q: If you could have discs made by only one manufacturer, which would it be?
Innova strikes again. Most disc golfers would choose Innova if they could throw with only one brand, and it’s not hard to see why. Innova has something for just about everybody.
At the same time, it’s not hard to see why many of the other brands are chosen. The reality is, you don’t always need a disc for every possible situation, you need discs only for the scenarios which you play one. Many players choose only a handful of discs because they are versatile and they simply love them, so it’s easy to see where fan bias plays into this question more.
Latitude 64 takes second place with Discraft not far behind.
Q: Which manufacturer made the largest impact to disc golf in 2013?
First place goes to Prodigy who garnered 40% of the votes here, and again, it’s not hard to see why. January 1, 2013 was the first day most of the disc golf world ever heard the name Prodigy, and it is now common to nearly all disc golfers. In fact, in the next article we’ll focus on brand awareness, but to give a sneak peak, over 73% of respondents said they are familiar with the brand Prodigy. Only 8% said that are not familiar at all. That is an amazing feat in one year of business by nearly all standards. Be it the D1, or PA-1, it’s hard to play disc golf with a league or club where somebody does not regularly use a Prodigy disc.
Innova, MVP, and Latitude 64 were others who gathered a reasonable amount of votes. Each had a number of very popular releases which, like Prodigy, are hard not to find in a nearby players bag.
Q: Which manufacturer made the largest impact to disc golf in 2014?
People still expect big things from Prodigy in 2014, who gathered 18% of the votes for this question. However, first place goes to (you guessed it) MVP who gathered 19% of the votes.
There are many ways which a disc golf company can make an impact – PDGA National Tour tournaments, or grass-roots efforts like the Vibram Birdie Bash and Discraft Ace Race. To date, MVP has not done any of these things, but they have created a new brand, they’re releasing new discs – so 2014 has not disappointed yet.
Our Overall Impression:
Even though they’re small, MVP has made a splash! They’re tenacious and Is the best still to come from company which has already amazed in so many ways in 2014?
Near the top of the pack each time was Latitude 64, the manufacturer for Westside and Dynamic Discs. The Scandinavian-made plastic (aka, Trilogy), has earned a solid reputation as a fair sized contingent of the disc golf industry trades out their old plastic for any one of these brands. It is my speculation that given the current course of Latitude 64 they will be rivaling Innova for the top spot in the disc golf market.
Innova is #1. When you’re the largest disc golf manufacturer in the world, it is inevitable that complaints will be voiced. Innova has already been through the growing pains which others are currently experiencing, and they’re in a stride. They are still most respected as #1 and have set a high mark for others to rise to. Innova will be hard to catch as their current pace will not be shrinking. Instead, the way to catch up with Innova will be to continue to grow the overall disc golf scene (which companies such as Dynamic Discs have been doing a remarkable job) and to create brand loyal fans.
This is part 4 of a seven part editorial series of the 1,422 responses from the survey “The State of Disc Golf: 2014”
We acknowledge and emphasize to you that the results here directly reflect the disc golf community who is in some way, shape, or form, involved with disc golf online. We therefore recognize that it would be inaccurate for us to claim that this survey is a proper reflection of the entire disc golf community. The results portray disc golfers who found this survey via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google+, forums, E-mail, and other means. With over 1,400 respondents the statistical accuracy is high.
This article was one of my favorites to piece together with the survey data that was assembled. It was both fascinating, mind-boggling, and there is an enormous amount of conclusions which can be drawn from this data. For the sake of keeping this straightforward, we’ll share some facts and conclusions which you will likely find interesting as well.
Disc Consumption & Discs Owned
Of the 1403 respondents that have data collected, a rough estimate of 32,886 discs were purchased in 2013, or 23 per respondent. These players collectively have 68,959 discs, or 49.15 on average. This means that 47.68% of discs owned by respondents were purchased this year.
How was this calculated? We took this number by averaging each segment, and placed a number discs owned for players who owned “101+ discs” at 130. Yes, this was a rough guess, but it should suffice for this editorial. We imagine that if given the opportunity, some players in this column would have said they have over 1,000 discs, and others may have only had 105. For fear of over inflating these results, we were modest. If you would like, you may want to increase those numbers a bit.
Another interesting point as shown in the graph is that the darkest areas of the graph tend to be where “New discs this year” and “Total Discs Owned” intersect at equal points. In other words, somebody who purchased 16-20 discs in their first of year play is likely to currently own 16-20 discs. This means that many players tend to gather most discs immediately, and purchasing habits in coming years tends to slow.
Roughly 71% of disc golfers who began acquiring discs this year purchased a minimum of 16 discs. New disc golfers tend to fill their bag right up.
Brands vs Purchases
The survey also asked “what was your favorite brand at the end of 2013?” Here’s a look at those answers vs how many discs consumers purchased.
Please note:
This survey was not promoted or endorsed by any manufacturer or brand, to the best of our knowledge.
Any brand who had less than 1% share, or less than 15 votes were not included in the results here.
Innova’s followers also made the largest portion of disc purchases, thanks to sheer numbers of fans. Many of these fans were purchasing large numbers of discs, however, the Innova fans on a spread of how many discs they were likely to purchase, were not as likely as Prodigy, Legacy, Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, or Westside fans to purchase a large number of discs.
For example, both Innova and Discraft fans purchased 6-10 discs last year 15% and 23% of the time respectively while Dynamic Discs fans purchased 16-20 discs 21% of the time. As you can see from the graph on the right, the line represent Innova peaks in the 6-10 disc column, whereas the line for Dynamic and Prodigy peak in the 16-20 disc column.
The reasoning behind this may be simple, brands such as Innova and Discraft (while they have vast selection), are not releasing discs as rapidly. For example, if somebody has chosen Prodigy as their favorite brand, they are more likely to purchase Prodigy new releases – and there were 17 new Prodigy discs last year alone. Dynamic Discs, which is manufactured by Latitude 64 (which also manufactures Westside) also has had a number of new releases. But new releases are only part of the puzzle.
Brand Favorites: End of 2012 vs End of 2013
Respondents overwhelmingly chose Innova as the favorite brand at the end of 2012. Keep in mind, this survey was taken at the start of 2014, so Innova may be the easy answer for those with unclear memories. Even still, chosen as the favorite brand 63% of the time when 19 options are present is an overwhelming landslide victory. It wasn’t even close.
Fast forward 1 year and Innova is still the favorite, but it’s an entirely new landscape. At the end of 2013, and with 24 different options, Innova only had a 36% share of the pie, that’s a 27% drop! What changed? For the most part, Scandinavian-made brands became more popular and Prodigy hit shelves. Other brands such as MVP, Vibram, and Legacy also made modest gains.
Good Questions for the 2014 Survey
2.71% of players own less discs at the end of 2013, than the amount of discs which they purchased through the course of 2013. What does that mean? They either took heavy casualties on the course, or they were generous to fellow players. A good follow up question may be, “Do you lose more discs to the course, or by giving them to others?”
“Within a 15 mile radius, which brands are available for you to purchase in a physical store location? (check all that apply)
“How many different discs do you throw regularly?”
“How many different discs do you typically throw during play on an 18 hole course?”
“How many discs do you have in your bag?”
“Do you own a disc golf bag? If so, which style?”
Yes, there are many things we are already looking forward to in our State of Disc Golf: 2014 survey. Let us know what you think and what you would like to see!
This is part 3 of a seven part editorial series of the 1,422 responses from the survey “The State of Disc Golf: 2014”
We acknowledge and emphasize to you that the results here directly reflect the disc golf community who is in some way, shape, or form, involved with disc golf online. We recognize that it would be inaccurate for us to claim that this survey is a proper reflection of the entire disc golf community. The results portray disc golfers who found this survey via Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google+, forums, E-mail, and many other means.
It is time to look back on the discs that were released in 2013. In our State of Disc Golf survey, we asked you which of these discs were your favorites. We have looked over the results, and with the Winter Olympics taking place in Sochi, It seems fitting to award the top discs with gold, silver and bronze medals. So without further ado, let the games begin!
Best Putt & Approach Disc of 2013
There were nine putters released in 2013. While this number is impressive there were fewer putters released than any other type of disc. Prodigy alone had 1/3 of the new putters released.
Taking home the first gold medal of our games is the Dynamic Discs Warden. After releasing the highly rated Judge in 2012, Dynamic Discs struck again this year with the Warden. The Warden is Dynamic Disc’s beadless version of the Judge. It is no wonder this disc took the number one spot. Doug, one reviewer of the Warden said, “Within a week I was hitting more puts and from farther distances. Guess this putter is just more intuitive for me. It goes where I aim it. The rim is clean and shallow, so I rarely miss wide with it.”
This disc made an impressive late run to take the silver medal after being released very late in the year. The Nova was Innova Discs’ second release to utilize a two plastic blend known as the overmold. The Nova is a very reliable straight flying disc. The outer rim is made of a softer gummy plastic to grip the chains. Several great reviews of this disc can be found here: Innova Nova Reviews.
In their first year Prodigy released three putters and the PA-4 won as the most popular. The PA-4 is the most understable of these putters. Many of our reviewers credited this putter as a fantastic driving putter as well. One reviewer said, “The PA-4 is an excellent approach and driving putter. It can be thrown flat and expected to turn over for a good portion of it’s flight. It is a hyzer-flipping machine and has glide galore.” One interesting note, is the other two putters released by Prodigy took fourth and fifth place, and the total votes received by Prodigy exceeded the votes received by the Warden. It is safe to say Prodigy made a big splash in the world of Putters this year.
Best Midrange Disc of 2013
The field was dense in the Midrange category this year with twenty new releases, each of these discs vying for a spot in the bag as a consistent flyer which feels great in the hand, flies with ease, and has beautiful control.
Even in the dense field of new releases it was the Roc3 that ran away with the gold by a wide margin. Innova Discs’ Roc has become a staple in many disc golfer’s bag. Therefore, it was natural that the release of the Roc3 received the attention that it did. The response to the Roc3 has been overwhelmingly positive. The Roc3 is slightly faster than the original Roc, and at this time it is only available in Innova’s more durable Champion plastic. Just recently Mike wrote this review, “If I had to choose one disc out of my bag to play an entire round with… the Roc 3 would be my choice. This disc does it all and is very predictable. In wind, it handles very nicely and its a straight flier. This is by far my favorite disc of all time.”
Dynamic Discs Can you handle the Truth? The Truth is a very “true” flying mid-range. It will hold its line very well with minimal fade at the end of the flight. The Truth is also considered by many to be a great anhyzer disc. One review written by Jack reads,“Just got my max weight Truth and am in love. This is the disc I’ve been waiting for to fill my straight flying midrange gap. The Truth can handle some power and really will hold just about any line.” The Truth has made a great splash in 2013 and was very deserving of the Silver Medal.
The Atlas won a very close race for the Bronze medal followed by the MVP Tangent and Innova Mako3. The release of the Atlas also received a lot of attention as it was the first disc Innova released using a two plastic blend. The response to this disc has been a resounding, “It flies straight.” Also just like the Truth, the Atlas has a very minimal fade. We have received many reviews already on this disc, and they can all be read at Innova Atlas Reviews .
Best Fairway Driver of 2013
Competition for the best Fairway Driver is not as fierce as the competition for best midrange or best driver, but it’s still fierce. Fourteen discs have been released which we’ve labeled Fairway Drivers, with a full set from Prodigy, and other pairs of discs from a variety of manufacturers.
The Zombee was the disc of the 2012 Ace Race and carried on the momentum from that event to bring home the gold. It is a very stable Fairway driver with a predictable fade. It has been compared to be as a cross between the classic mid-range Buzzz and driver Stalker. Discraft gives the Zombee a stability rating of 1.0. The response to this release has been very positive as the Zombee has found a place in many disc golfer’s bags. One reviewer even said it replaced the Buzzz in his bag. He said, “If i had to choose just ONE disc to play with all the time it would be the Zombee. I fully endorse this disc and believe it would make a great addition to any ones bag. you can drive, approach, and even putt with this disc. Discraft nailed this one.”
Westside Discs is a smaller but growing brand that has been establishing a strong presence with the rest of the discs manufactured by Latitude 64. Westside has a reputation for reliability and quality, so we were very excited to see them make the podium and take the silver medal. The Underworld is an understable driver with very minimal low speed fade. Our reviewers have called this disc a great disc for beginners. Here is the link to read all the reviews: Westside Underworld Reviews. We look forward to the rest of the Westside batch being released in just a few months.
MVP is another up and rising disc golf manufacturer that has already made a great name for itself. They burst on to the scene with their revolutionary overmold technique utilizing GYRO technology which affects the aerodynamics and flight of their discs. The Shock is more stable than MVP’s other fairway driver the Volt, making it a great disc for more powerful throwers who found the Volt too flippy. James wrote, “The shock is a great disc for mid-long drives with a strong fade/flare at the end. If I ever need to take a sharp corner around a fairway with some type of height restriction the Shock is the way to go. A nice low hyzer thrown with a lot of snap will skip up and around a 90 degree corner every time. I have yet to throw a disc with a more consistent flare at the end of both long/short shots and am thoroughly impressed with the shock overall.” As with Westside, we are excited to see what the future holds for MVP. Especially after their announcement this week that they will soon release their first distance driver. Congratulations to MVP for the bronze!
Best Distance Driver of 2013
The competition for the top driver is arguably the most fierce. Innova & Discraft each had one release, while the Scandinavian plastic & Prodigy had a majority of the others. Vibram finished the Lace trio with the understable and overstable versions of their widely demanded and popular driver.
And Innova receives their second gold medal! With the release of the Tern, Innova again proved they are a powerhouse among disc manufacturers, and they don’t plan on changing that any time soon. The Tern is a high speed understable distance driver. This makes it a top disc for intermediate players seeking for max distance, but have found other high speed molds too overstable to control. One review by RJ had the profound statement, “You could build your game around this thing.” We have received many reviews on the Tern and they can all be found at https://infinitediscs.com/innova-tern/ .
With the release of the Escape, Dynamic Discs showed that they aren’t just to be known for their excellent putters. The response to the Escape has been positive across the board. It is a very stable distance driver. A pattern seen in many of our reviews is the use of this disc as a great tunnel shot disc. The Escape holds its line very well with a strong fade at the very end. This predictability has helped the Escape to find a niche in many disc golfers’ game. A very deserving silver medal for the Folks at Dynamic Discs!
The final medal of these games goes to Discraft. Just like Innova and the Tern, the release of the Crank showed the Disc golf world that Discraft plans to stay a powerhouse manufacturer. The Crank is described as a mix between the Nuke and the Nuke SS. It provides controllable max distance and is perfect for experienced players who have found the Nuke too overstable and the Nuke SS not stable enough. Some of our reviewers have compared it to the Innova Destroyer. One reviewer wrote, “Field threw this bad boy!! Great feel!! Immediately made throwing 350′ easy. Great glide! Just took over my go-to driver!! Get one of these! You won’t be disappointed!!”
Your Thoughts?
What do you think? Did your favorite disc make the podium? Who will take home the hardware for their releases this year? Feel free to let us know what your predictions are for 2014, as well as what you would like to see us do/change for next years survey and results!
This question had a very nice spread when compared to the landslide of the last question. MVP is impressive here not only because they placed first With 20% of disc golfers most excited for releases from MVP, but also because this is a small company which currently has a very small market share. MVP has created hype around each release, and their distance driver lineup which is coming out this spring is the most anticipated release that we can remember. In addition, from our point of view MVP also lives up to the hype that they create with each release – consistency and quality is a staple when working with MVP.
Innova takes first place again at 50%. Second place is Discraft with 16%, Latitude 64 with 11%, MVP with 7%, and everybody from there has just a small share.
And we’re back to MVP, except MVP now takes it by a larger margin. MVP certainly has a unique way of doing things, and it’s catchy… and according to respondents, it’s Innovative.
Innova strikes again. Most disc golfers would choose Innova if they could throw with only one brand, and it’s not hard to see why. Innova has something for just about everybody.
First place goes to Prodigy who garnered 40% of the votes here, and again, it’s not hard to see why. January 1, 2013 was the first day most of the disc golf world ever heard the name Prodigy, and it is now common to nearly all disc golfers. In fact, in the next article we’ll focus on brand awareness, but to give a sneak peak, over 73% of respondents said they are familiar with the brand Prodigy. Only 8% said that are not familiar at all. That is an amazing feat in one year of business by nearly all standards. Be it the D1, or PA-1, it’s hard to play disc golf with a league or club where somebody does not regularly use a Prodigy disc.
Of the 1403 respondents that have data collected, a rough estimate of 32,886 discs were purchased in 2013, or 23 per respondent. These players collectively have 68,959 discs, or 49.15 on average. This means that 47.68% of discs owned by respondents were purchased this year.