Category: State of Disc Golf

State of Disc Golf 2020 – How Do We Carry Our Discs?

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How Do We Carry Our Discs?

It’s time for our look at how we carry our discs in 2020! We’ve asked this question in several surveys past, so we’ll have some good data to compare. For this data, we’ve broken down the results into five main categories: Backpack Bags, Disc Golf Carts, Small Bag, Large Tournament Style Bag, and Miscellaneous Bags (usually homemade or not made for disc golf).

2020 Survey Results

Backpack Bags take the cake with over 51.03% of people saying they use one. Disc Golf Carts took a close second place, at 18.62%, with Small bags being surprisingly high, at 18.4%. Large Tournament Style Bags only represent 8.3% of the results, with the last 3.65% being miscellaneous bags.

Let’s break it down! Backpack Bags being so heavily used is not a huge surprise. Most people at the disc golf course are using backpack bags these days. They are widely available and come in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges. Even a beginner can afford a cheaper backpack bag, so many people are skipping over the Tournament Style Bag, which used to be a hot commodity.

Small Bags take a surprising 3rd place. But maybe it’s not so surprising with how many new players are taking up the sport. Most people are starting with a $15 – $20 starter bag and then upgrading once they have enough discs to warrant it. We think those upgrades are going directly to backpack bags. More on bag upgrades/replacements later.

Bags Over the Years

Let’s take a look at the trends over the years. We have data from 2020, 2018, 2017, and 2015 to show the trends. Let’s take a look:

 

Let’s look at the first takeaway- the decline of the Tournament Bag. Back in 2015, Tournament Bags were all the rage, taking up at least a third of the market. Over the years these bags have been used less and less, till now when Tournament Bags are only used by around 8% of people.

Small Bags have declined over the past few years, until this year. They made a big jump in the 2020 Survey. This is likely due to more and more new players getting into the sport. Some people, may also have opted to simplify their bag.

Disc Golf Carts have been raising in popularity ever since their introduction. ZUCA takes the majority share of Disc Golf Carts, offering them not only as ZUCA branded carts, but Dynamic Discs branded as well. More and more players are opting for carts now.

Backpack Bags steadily increased over the past years, and dipped a little bit this year. Backpack Bags seem to be the staple of Disc Golf Bags, so we don’t foresee them dropping off the charts anytime soon.

Replacing Our Bags/Carts

In the 2020 Survey, we asked people how many times they had replaced their bag/cart in the last 10 years. Let’s see the results:

The chart starts off with those people who have never replaced their bag. Quite a lot!

We were surprised at how many people stayed loyal to one bag over the course of 10 years. But, when you pit the people who replaced bags against the people who haven’t, it looks like the graph to the right. 32% of people did not replace their bag in the last 10 years.

Back to the upper chart- it seems like a perfect decline in people who replaced their bag multiple times. With each replacement, the number of people dropped, until 8+ times, a few bag-crazy people took it up just a notch on the chart. Where do you stand on the chart? What’s your preferred bag? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for joining us on this State of Disc Golf 2020 article. Stay tuned for more data!

 

 

State of Disc Golf Survey – Sponsors & Prizes

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State of Disc Golf Survey Sponsors

We’d like to give a huge thanks to the sponsors of this year’s State of Disc Golf Survey! These sponsors graciously donated prizes to be given to survey participants. We had over 6500 survey participants this year, and nine amazing sponsors. We’re going to announce the sponsors here, in alphabetical order:

 

Discmania

 

Discraft

Dynamic Discs

 

 

Innova

Latitude 64

MVP

Prodigy

ZUCA

 

And Presenting the Survey, as well as donating prizes:

Survey Prizes

We’d also like to announce that all survey prizes have been drawn. If your email was drawn, we have sent you an email as of now. Please check your email and get back to us to claim your prize if you’ve won! We will be shipping out Prizes as we get your replies.

Thanks to everybody who participated in the survey this year!

Survey results are being posted on this page

Click the link above to see the data for this year! New results are posted several times a month as we parse the data and make some graphs to show interesting finds!

 

 

STATE OF DISC GOLF 2020 – How Many Discs We Own

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Every year we enjoy asking disc golfers questions about their disc purchasing habits and preferences. As a retailer, this is a subject that always interests us at Infinite Discs. We help customers at all different levels, from the novice who wants to know the best beginner discs to the hard-core collector who buys the hottest new releases. It’s time to share the data collected from the survey participants on the subject of how many discs we own and what motivates us to purchase more.

HOW MANY DISCS DO YOU OWN?

Many of us remember when we were new to the game of disc golf. The first time we see another player carrying a backpack loaded with discs is usually a shocker. Why could the possibly need so many discs? It doesn’t take long to learn why multiple discs are necessary as you become a more serious player. But some of us dive much deeper into the sea of plastic than others. Here’s a look at how many discs survey participants claim to own.

Of course, those who would take the time to participate in a State of Disc Golf survey are typically more serious players. Thus, the number of participants who claimed to own less than 10 discs was very low. The highest column on the chart is the one representing players who own 41-60 discs. That means that the sweet spot is somewhere around 50 discs. However, as the quantities go higher, the number of responses doesn’t drop much. The final quantity of 200+ discs is the 2nd highest on the chart. In fact, just over 14% of those surveyed own more than 200 discs! 

HOW MANY DISCS DID YOU BUY?

Perhaps you are a player who thinks deeply about what you want in a disc, weighing the pros and cons of each purchase before pulling the trigger. But there are plenty of other players and collectors who have a fast trigger finger when it comes to disc buying habits. Some players only purchase a disc when they lose a favorite. Others purchase a disc in the hopes that it will improve their game. Others purchase discs to hang on the wall. In the end, how many discs did the survey participants purchase in 2019? Here are the results.

A good number of survey participants claimed not to have purchased any discs in 2019, but the vast majority made disc purchases. The largest column is the one that represents 10-14 discs purchased. That’s an average of about a disc per month, which sounds pretty reasonable for an avid player. You may find it interesting that 58 people claimed to have purchased more than 200 discs in 2019.

HOW MANY DISCS DID YOU BUY TO COLLECT?

Let’s take a moment to measure how many discs were purchased solely for the purpose of collecting. When asked how many discs survey participants purchased only to collect, these were the results:

About 46% of those surveyed said that they purchased absolutely no discs for collection purposes. Another Another 24% said that they only purchased 1-3 discs in 2019 to collect. That makes about 70% who are probably not serious collectors. However, there are a good number of people who purchased large numbers of discs and who primarily purchased those discs for collections.

WHERE DID YOU BUY YOUR DISCS?

There is one more piece of data we’ll look at in this run-down, and that answers the question of where the survey participants acquired all of their discs in 2019. Was it at a local pro shop? Was it online? Was it at a tournament? Here’s the results.

Survey participants could choose as many answers are applied to their situation. So most people picked several sources. The most common answer was “Local Disc Golf Shop” which means that the pro shops and individual disc golf stores out there are still a vital part of the market. It is hard to compare online shopping with the feeling you get when you walk into a store, hold the disc in your hand, and thumb through a pile of plastic.

Online shoppers are still plentiful with 4127 people saying that they’d purchased a disc from Infinite Discs. That might be expected since we hosted the survey. But the 3799 survey respondents also said that they’d purchased from other online retailers as well, like Disc Golf Center, Marshall Street, etc.).

There were 1319 people who claimed to have purchased from Amazon.com and a smaller number at 972 from EBay. Those larger online retailers are important, no doubt, but in this case did not look as popular as other specialized local and online stores.

COMING UP LATER…

In a future blog post, we’ll take a look at the responses to the survey which indicate what factors are most important to players when they make their disc purchasing choices. Is it rarity, stamp design, brand, or something else? Stay tuned, and feel free to leave your comments below.

State of Disc Golf 2020 – Disc Golf Brands Bagged by State

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Brands vs Location

We asked the question, “Which disc brands are found in your bag?” Participants were allowed to pick as many disc brands as were in their bag. With more than 6,000 responses, this was a giant list of brands! We decided to break it down and look at which states bag which brands the most. We’re going to start off with some maps that break down the top brands, and then we’ll list the top five bagged brands in every state. All of this data comes from the 2020 State of Disc Golf Survey.

Most Bagged Brands

Let’s start off with a map of the #1 bagged brand in each state. It may look exactly how you predicted:

Yep! Innova still rules most of the country. It’s important to remember that people may have selected multiple brands that they bag, so whichever brand shows up the MOST in a state, takes the win. This doesn’t mean other brands aren’t popular in these states, it  means that most people bag at least one Innova disc. Dynamic discs holds down the fort in Kansas and North Dakota, and Discraft shines through in Michigan, Iowa, and Alaska.

Without Innova

Now we decided to take the map a step further. What if we eliminate Innova entirely? Which brands would take the chart? Have a look:

This chart may not have looked like this two years ago, but Discraft has really topped the charts over the last couple of years. With Paul McBeth and Paige Pierce joining Discraft’s ranks, it’s inspired a lot of people to try and bag Discraft molds. Dynamic Discs takes a few more states this time, though. Also note, since this is a chart by brand, Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, and Westside are each represented as their own brands. Some regard them as the same “Trilogy” brand, but technically they are separate.

Without Innova & Discraft

Let’s take this another step further. Let’s eliminate Innova AND Discraft from the equation, and see who takes the cake:

Dynamic Discs comes in strong! This means that most people do bag Innova, Discraft, and Dynamic Discs molds in their bags. Dynamic Discs almost completely takes the chart in 3rd place for bagged molds. It also shows how strong Dynamic Discs is over it’s family brands, Latitude 64, and Westside. Some new faces appear on this chart: Discmania, MVP, Westside, and Latitude 64.

Without Innova, Discraft & Trilogy

Shall we take it one last step? Let’s Eliminate Innova, Discraft, and ALL of the Trilogy brands to see if we can bring some color variety into the chart:

Did you see that coming? Discmania shows up strong and sweeps most of the country! I think we can attribute a lot of this to Discmania’s massive popularity of the P2. It’s been the #1 selling putter at www.infinitediscs.com for three years running now. Discmania also has a lot of really great discs and signature molds that people love! Prodigy takes a bit of the South region, and MVP takes a good variety of the eastern half of the country, plus Alaska and Hawaii.

Brands per Bag

This data has shown us a lot. There are very dominate brands that appear in a lot of player’s bags. Innova, Discraft, Dynamic Discs, and Discmania have shown us that. We also noticed in the survey data just how many people are throwing mixed bags.

Here’s a histogram chart that shows how many brands each survey participant bags.

We find that most people bag between 3 and 7 brands, and there’s still a big chunk of people who bag even more! Some people are bagging 10+ brands in their bag. There were even a couple of wild people who throw 20+ brands! They must have a different brand for every mold in their bag. We love it when people try out some of the lesser known brands.

Top 5 Bagged Brands by State

Now the moment you may or may not have been waiting for! We’ll list off the Top 5 Disc Golf Bagged Brands in every state. You can see how your bag lines up with your state.

Alabama
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Alaska
  1. Discraft
  2. Dynamic Discs
  3. Innova
  4. MVP
  5. Latitude 64
Arizona
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Arkansas
  1. Innova
  2. Dynamic Discs
  3. Discraft
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
California
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Discmania
  5. Latitude 64
Colorado
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Discmania
  5. Latitude 64
Connecticut
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Delaware
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Discmania
  4. Dynamic Discs
  5. Latitude 64
Florida
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Georgia
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. MVP
Hawaii
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Latitude 64
  4. MVP
  5. Prodigy
Idaho
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Illinois
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Indiana
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Iowa
  1. Discraft
  2. Innova
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Laitude 64
  5. Discmania
Kansas
  1. Dynamic Discs
  2. Innova
  3. Latitude 64
  4. Westside
  5. Discraft
Kentucky
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Prodigy
Louisiana
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Maine
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Maryland
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Discmania
  4. Dynamic Discs
  5. Latitude 64
Massachusetts
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Michigan
  1. Discraft
  2. Innova
  3. MVP
  4. Dynamic Discs
  5. Latitude 64
Minnesota
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Discmania
  5. Latitude 64
Mississippi
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Prodigy
Missouri
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Montana
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Discmania
  5. Latitude 64
Nebraska
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Nevada
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
New Hampshire
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
New Jersey
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
New Mexico
  1. Innova
  2. Dynamic Discs
  3. Latitude 64
  4. Discraft
  5. Westside
New York
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
North Carolina
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
North Dakota
  1. Dynamic Discs
  2. Discraft
  3. Innova
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Ohio
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Oklahoma
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Oregon
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Pennsylvania
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Wetside
Rhode Island
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Wetside
South Carolina
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
South Dakota
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Tennessee
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Prodigy
Texas
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Utah
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Westside
Vermont
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Latitude 64
  4. Westside
  5. Discmania
Virginia
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Washington
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
West Virginia
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. MVP
Wisconsin
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Dynamic Discs
  4. Latitude 64
  5. Discmania
Wyoming
  1. Innova
  2. Discraft
  3. Westside
  4. Dynamic Discs
  5. Latitude 64

 

Be sure to check back weekly for more 2020 State of Disc Golf Statistics Blogs!

Who Took the State of Disc Golf 2020 Survey

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Infinite Discs and the State of Disc Golf 2020 sponsors would like to thank all of those disc golfers who took the survey this year. Your input really helps us to get a great overview of how the sport is evolving and growing. We look forward to sharing the information that we’ve gathered with the public and with the brand sponsors who are providing prizes for randomly selected survey participants.

Some of the 2020 Survey Sponsors:

  • Infinite Discs
  • ZUCA
  • Prodigy
  • MVP / Axiom
  • Dynamic Discs
  • Innova
  • Discraft
  • Discmania

WHO TOOK THE SURVEY THIS YEAR?

We had 6,541 disc golfers who took the survey this year. As usual, most of the survey participants are based in the USA, though the numbers are growing in other countries as well. Of course, we launched the survey primarily to the market in the USA and it is in English, which may limit the number of people in other countries who are able to participate. Here is a look at the breakdown by state. The map displays a darker shade of green in the states that had the most participants. The color is more faint in the states with fewer participants.

Map of Survey Participants in the USA

If we remove all of the survey participants from the United States of America, then this chart shows the percentage of remaining survey participants from other countries.

Survey Participants Outside of the USA

Originally, we had under 4% of survey participants who were female, so we put out a last call request for more ladies to participate. They heard the call and we received a good number of last-minute female participants to give us a better, more rounded collection of opinions and feedback. We finished with 7.4% of participants being female. Thanks ladies!

Gender of Survey Participants

How Old are Disc Golfers?

Disc golf is known as a sport that is playable by people of all ages. You don’t have to be in your prime to enjoy a round of disc golf. Nor do you need to be particularly athletic. The learning curve is fast and there are discs designed for players at any skill level. With all of that said, let’s take a look at the average ages of the people who took the time to answer the 2020 survey questions.

Age of Survey Participants

What Skill Level Do You Consider Yourself?

When a player needs to definite their own skill level, the results can be pretty mixed. Some of us have been playing for several years, yet always consider ourselves as recreational or intermediate at best. Some of us are involved with the sport for a very short time, yet our competitive nature drives us to claim advanced skill levels. When looking at how we rate ourselves, one person’s “beginner” can be another person’s “advanced” depending on the severity of levity of our self evaluation. But it’s still a fun question to ask.  We’re always surprised at how many participants call themselves “Professional.” Do they actually make money playing disc golf? We hope so!

How Do Participants Rate their Skill Level

 

Thanks again for participating and we look forward to parsing the data and sharing what we’ve learned! Feel free to leave any comments below.

 

 

2019 State of Disc Golf–Par for the Course…Literally

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Disc Golf Par Controversy

Today we are tackling a subject in disc golf that some consider controversial while others consider it just silly. Today we are talking about par. How should we determine par? Should we adopt par 2s in disc golf? Lots of disc golfers have their opinions on this subject, but in the end, does any of it even matter? In doing some research for this post, I found a well written article from our friend Steve Dodge that I will likely refer to a few times today. So what is par exactly?

Par in Ball Golf vs Par in Disc Golf

A quick google search for the definition of the word “par” in golf will yield this definition: “the number of strokes a first-class player should normally require for a particular hole or course.” Another explanation I found said that par is how many strokes an expert golfer should take to complete a hole.

The idea of par and using par as a way to define our scores in disc golf (1 under par, 2 over par, etc.) can be directly traced back to our ball golf roots. But something we might be forgetting is that par in ball golf should reflect what first-class or expert golfers are scoring, not the field at large.

This is why on the PGA tour we see scores close to par or maybe even as low as around 10-under par winning four day, four round tournaments. So why is it that for tournaments with the same number of holes on the PDGA National Tour and the DGPT we are seeing disc golfers needing to score close to 40-under par in order to win the event?

One line of thinking that I tend to agree with is that it’s all about putting. Steve Dodge explains, “In golf, the average number of putts is theoretically two…In golf, par is the number of shots to reach the green + putts (2).” So how does this translate to disc golf? “In disc golf, the average number of putts is theoretically one…In disc golf, par would be the number of shots to reach the green + putts (1). This would make about half of our holes into par 2s.”

Par 2 in Disc Golf?

While some of us may average 2 putts from inside the circle, our first-class and expert disc golfers for whom par should be determined (if we follow ball golf’s model) are nearly automatic from inside the circle. But in ball golf, even the best putters in the game will miss putts from inside 10 feet from time to time. That is just the difference between our two games.

So ball golf and disc golf are different in scoring. Another way to phrase that is ball golf is harder than disc golf, which is something we all like about disc golf. But since disc golf is easier shouldn’t par then be adjusted to account for this? The quickest way to account for this is the adoption of par 2s in disc golf.

This brings us to our first bit of data from the State of Disc Golf Survey. We asked survey takers if they would like to see very short or easy holes be considered par 2? The answers were pretty telling:

75% of Those Surveyed Believe there should be no Par 2's in Disc Golf

 

For the most part, we disc golfers don’t want to see par 2s out on the course. But some, especially those who are new to disc golf or unfamiliar with our culture, may be confused or surprised by this. Why would those within the sport not want to see more accurate par ratings on their courses?

Steve Dodge shed some light here again: “Setting a par 2 makes the scoring expectation much harder and, oddly enough, decreases our enjoyment of playing the game. Disc golf has a tremendous advantage in that it is more fun to play because our par score is easier to attain.” That last statement is interesting, claiming that disc golf is more fun because the par score is easier. But as we discussed earlier, a 10 ft putt in disc golf is easier than a 10 ft putt in golf, regardless of the hole’s par.

This makes me think that we have a bit of a blind spot here because we have come to expect extremely low par scores in our sport. How would you feel if you shot 10-under par at your local course and then someone came along and told you that your score was actually 1-over par if your course par was rated more accurately? But if that round had always been considered a 1-over par round, you wouldn’t care as much right?

Like when I go out and play ball golf, I know that par is pretty well out of reach. So I am pretty pleased if I score a few strokes over par.

It is all about expectation, and we in disc golf have come to expect very low scores relative to par, and as we can see in the above chart, most of us don’t care that some of our par 3 holes should be rated as par 2 if we adopted more accurate par ratings.

More Par 4 and 5 in Disc Golf?

Now what about the other end of the spectrum? What about longer and more challenging holes? We asked survey takers if they would like to see more courses with par 4 and par 5 holes. Here are the results:

More Par 4s

So once again, we see a clear answer–we want more par 4 and par 5 holes. But as we could see from our first question about par 2s, we don’t seem to care about the accuracy of our par ratings. So do we want more par 4 and par 5 holes just because we view them as an opportunity for more birdies?

When discussing a long disc golf hole and whether it should be considered a par 3 or 4, more than once I have heard someone arguing that it should be a par 4 say something like, “Well, if it were a par 3, then it would be almost impossible to birdie.” In disc golf, we expect to get our birdies, and sometimes we expect every hole to be birdie-able. And we expect birdies not just for the first-class and expert golfers, but for your average casual players as well.

State of Disc Golf – Disc Golf News

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Where do disc golfers get their disc golf related news?

That is the question we’ll be answering today! The data is pretty straight forward! In the 2019 State of Disc Golf Survey we asked people “Where do you get disc golf news/updates?” They then could pick from a list of choices, checking as many as applied to them. So, we took those answers and compiled the data! We took the top 11 answers, as anything left hardly made a blip on the graph.

First we’ll break it down by all respondents, then we’ll take a look by age. Without further ado:

So- Facebook took first place as the news source for disc golf, which is understandable. Facebook serves as news and community for many disc golfers. There are many, many disc golf groups on Facebook for brands, players, and teams. News gets spread around Facebook with ease, so it’s apparent that Facebook is where we get our disc golf news.

The PDGA was the second highest. They send out a weekly newsletter that keeps everyone up to date on disc golf happenings. All PDGA members receive this newsletter, so it’s no surprise that a lot of us get our news direct from the Professional Disc Golf Association.

Instagram was next in line, followed by Infinite Discs. Then Reddit, Disc Golf Podcasts, Ultiworld, and Disc Golfer Magazine. Finally, the last three were DGCourseReview.com, Twitter, and YouTube.

Disc Golf News Source by Age

Now we’ll take a look at the same data, but broken down by age. The age ranges are general and large, but, they do still share some interesting data. Let’s take a look!

This time, we had to break it down by percentage of respondents within each age group, yielding some fun results. Facebook is still the #1 source for all age groups, but the 50+ year old category comes out on top for using Facebook as their news source the most.

At the #3 spot we have Instagram, but this one was fun to look at. 58% of the 12-25 age group used Instagram, while only 9% of the 50+ age group used Instagram. This was the biggest gap by far, but understandable if you know about social media trends. Far more young people use Instagram daily.

Reddit and Twitter also see a similar breakdown by age. Then, we see that Disc Golfer Magazine has the inverse trend– 33% of the 50+ group use Disc Golfer Magazine as their news source, and that stat trends down the younger you get.

This goes to show that the newer social media platforms are far more dominated by the younger crowd, and magazines are mainly used by the older crowd. This stat likely goes beyond Disc Golf Media, but it’s still fun to see within our sport.

Thanks for joining us today! Let us know in the comments what your favorite news source is!

State of Disc Golf 2019–Disc Buying Habits

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We are getting into our busy season here at Infinite Discs! People are playing lots of disc golf which means they are buying lots of discs. So it seems like a perfect time to take a look back at our disc golf buying habits from 2018.

How Many Discs Do We Own?

First, let’s look at how many discs we own. Are we a bunch of hoarders? Let’s find out!

Surprise, (not really) we own lots of discs! The pie chart is a bit crowded, so here is a bar graph featuring the same information:

The most popular response was 41-60 discs, and from the pie chart we can see that almost 3/4 of us own more than 30 discs, which is more than you can fit in an average disc golf bag or cart. I remember when I first started playing disc golf and I saw someone on the course with a backpack full of discs. I thought there was no way I could ever own enough discs to fill a backpack bag. Now I have boxes and boxes of discs…

But that is the literal state of disc golf and disc ownership! And it is something that is pretty unique to our sport. You don’t see many golfers who have multiple bags of clubs, or casual basketball players who have closets full of different basketball shoes. We don’t just own the discs we need to play, but we also collect disc golf equipment.

How Many New Discs Though?

So how many new discs did we add to our collections in 2018? Again, here is both the pie chart and bar graph with this data:

So from this we could say that a rough “average” for the community as a whole is around 10-14 discs since a little over half of us bought at least 10 discs in 2018. I personally would say that is a little higher than I expected. 10 discs is a lot, especially for players who have a pretty established bag. But I think there are a couple of factors that drive us to buy more and more discs.

First of all, there are new releases. I usually write our quarterly sales reports on the blog, and almost every single time one of the top selling discs in every category is a new release disc. We for some reason in disc golf love trying out and collecting new disc molds, and there are definitely more than 10 new molds released every year.

I also think there is a sweet spot in the competitiveness and experience of disc golfers in correlation with how many discs we purchase. Beginners often purchase a lot of discs because they are excited about this new thing in their life and they are jumping in full swing. These new disc golfers are figuring out how to play and what molds will work in their bag. Then after maybe a year or more, once that disc golfer has gotten the hang of things, their purchasing may slow a bit.

This is that sweet spot. Experienced disc golfers who have for the most part found their comfort zone in the game. They don’t feel as strong of a need to buy more discs. However, if that experienced disc golfer becomes more competitive and play more frequently, they become more involved in the replacement market of disc golf. Depending on the types of courses they play, they might be losing more discs than average. Also their discs get worn in quicker and may need to be replaced sooner.

But something else that always needs to be remembered when analyzing this data is that the data is from people who cared enough about disc golf to take a survey put out by a disc golf company. We get a large number of respondents every year, but they are generally more active in the online disc golf community. So it makes sense that our numbers might be higher than expected when it comes to disc golf purchases.

How Many Discs Did We Collect?

Now, back to the data! And an interesting question that gets back to my comments earlier about us being collectors: How many discs did we acquire to collect and not throw? I think just the pie chart is sufficient for this one:

Again, we are collectors! Over half of us got a disc that we had no intention of ever throwing. This also doesn’t include discs that we collect but also want to throw a few times before hanging it on the wall or storing it away in plastic totes. This is great news for disc golf manufacturers and retailers. As we can see, their special edition, signature series, and first run discs are working in getting us to spend more money on new collectible discs.

But Where Do the Discs Come From?

So where do we get our new discs from? We asked that question, and provided survey takers with a variety of options for their responses. Here is how we answered:

As it is with the rest of the retail world, online is a dominant avenue through which we acquire new disc golf discs. So some may be surprised to see that the most popular selection was local disc golf stores that are focused primarily on selling disc golf equipment. This is encouraging for small business owners who have invested in building their own small business. It is also why companies like Dynamic Discs have opened several locations across the country.

But in a world that has seen brick and mortar stores go under because of the pressure from online retailers, why would most survey takers still buy discs from local stores? Again, this gets to a quirk in disc golf–there are benefits to seeing and holding a disc before you buy it. It is always nice to try on shoes and see them in person, but a size 11 of the same basketball shoe is going to be the exact same whether you buy it from a local Foot Locker or from Amazon or Eastbay online.

However, a max weight Star Destroyer from your local shop may be different from all of the max weight Star Destroyers available right now on Infinite Discs or any other online retailer. One might be more domey or have any other idiosyncratic feature you have learned that you like or dislike in your Star Destroyers.

I know when I worked in the warehouse at Infinite Discs I always got calls asking how flat a certain Champion Firebird was that we had listed online. Well when you shop in with a local disc golf store, you can inspect the disc however you want before buying your purchase. Due to overhead, some local stores may have higher prices than online retailers, but it may be worth the extra cost knowing exactly what you are getting before you buy it.

Over the last few years, I have been able to help out at our local Infinite Discs store in Pocatello, Idaho. I have seen the above scenario play out several times, but also I think a local pro shop is more inviting to newer players who may feel overwhelmed by all of the options available. Online retailers try their best to provide new players with information, but for many people it is nice to be able to have a face to face conversation with a store associate who knows about disc golf and are qualified to answer their questions.

But another interesting aspect of local disc golf stores being the most popular way that survey takers acquired discs is simply the fact that that many people have access to a dedicated local disc golf store. It would be interesting to know how many disc golf stores have opened over the last few years, but from this survey we know that at least over 60% of survey takers have access to a local disc golf shop, which is exciting for the growth of the sport.

So there you have it! What bit of data stood out to you? Is there something I failed to discuss that should have gotten more attention? Please let us know your thoughts and feelings in the comments!

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