More Injury-Related Survey Results

In my last blog post about the 2019 survey, where I talked about injuries and exercise (HERE), I was surprised to learn that people were more likely to be injured if their exercise regimen was specifically tailored to disc golf. I wanted to see if we could learn what other factors might be driving that counter intuitive (to me) statistic. That is what I will talk about today. I’ll look at a couple of other survey questions to see how they relate to the injury rate.

More Opportunities For Injury

My initial thought was that if a person is so dedicated to disc golf that they would adopt an exercise program specifically for the sport, they would also be attending leagues, tournaments, and throwing more practice rounds than the average disc golfer. Therefore, more opportunities for injury. Let’s see if we can test that hypothesis. First, let’s look again at the general injury rate among all survey participants. That rate is about 19.4%.

 

Round And Round We Go

Now we can look at other statistics. In the survey we asked how many rounds you threw in a month. According to the results, people who averaged 1-4 rounds per month have an injury rate of 6.5%. That percentage increases with each increase in the number of rounds played, until a slight dip occurs in the 25-30 round/month category. Then, it reaches the highest level with 31+ rounds played. If you play 31+ rounds per month, congratulations on getting so many rounds in! And, statistically speaking, you have an approximately 1 in 4 chance of getting injured. Your chances of getting injured are greater than the average if you play 10 or more rounds per month, . The results are graphed below.

Injuries And Tournament Attendance

Let’s see if tournament attendance follows the same pattern. I’ll present the data in the same format as with the injury rate in the graph above, breaking the category down into the number of tournaments we participated in, versus how many people who played that number of tournaments were injured. That doesn’t mean people were necessarily injured while playing in a tournament. Just that they played in a tournament some time in 2019, and were injured come time that year. I also broke it down into sanctioned and unsanctioned tournaments. Here are those survey results.

According to the survey, tournament attendees don’t increase their chances of getting hurt significantly as they increase the number of tournaments they play. And as an average, the injury rate is 23% for those people who play tournaments, versus 19.4% for all disc golfers. Slightly higher, but not too significant.

 

Exercise and Injury

Although there are many factors to show why we would get injured more often when using a fitness routine tailored for disc golf, these survey results at least partially validate the idea that playing more often gives us more opportunities for injury. Countering is the notion that if we are playing more often, we should be in better shape, thus reducing our chances for injury. Despite the survey results in the last blog, I still recommend a fitness and stretching routine that is specifically for disc golf. Since we use such a variety of muscles in our sport, getting in shape for disc golf would make someone in good condition overall.

 

In addition to examining these statistics about injuries and disc golf, I wanted to reach out to an expert. Seth Munsey of Disc Golf Strong works with the top disc golfers in the world. He has a few thoughts about why we would have a higher injury rate among those of us who exercise specifically for disc golf. His comments lead me to believe that the issue is that people’s definition of ‘exercising specifically for disc golf’. I think when people say that, they are really saying that they exercise with a general fitness routine. If they are in good overalls shape, that will help for disc golf. But, the overall fitness isn’t the same as preparing specifically for disc golf.

Words From a Pro

Seth Munsey said, “There is a big difference in “exercising” and “training.”  Many people that exercise do so with the intent of burning calories, feeling the burn, sweating, etc. While it is always a good thing that people are moving and strengthening their bodies, it is entirely different than training for disc golf. Training is exercising with purposeful intent.  Exercises are selected and programmed specifically for the demands placed on the disc golfer’s body.”

He concluded by saying, “There are likely other factors at play that we could investigate and discuss, but following a general exercise program and not exercises that are best for disc golf could definitely lead to a higher injury risk.”

One More Thing I Was Curious About

In addition to the things I’ve covered, I thought it might be interesting to see if cart and backpack bag use affecting the injury rate. Do we get injured more often when we continually have to pick up our bags? I would expect a lower injury rate for cart users, and a higher rate among backpack users.

As the charts below show, using a cart doesn’t significantly decrease your chances of getting injured. Interestingly, the survey shows that backpack type bag users are even less likely to get injured. That is not what I would have guessed. Whether or not we get injured depends on many factors. Despite the survey results mentioned in my last blog post, I still recommend a fitness and stretching routine. One specifically for disc golf as the best prevention of injury. Getting in shape for disc golf would make someone in good condition overall.

 

 

 

Check out some exercises for disc golf at Disc Golf Strong, HERE

 

 

Disc Golf Exercise and Injury

 

In my last blog post about disc golf practice, I alluded to the need for fitness and stretching to improve our performance in disc golf. In this blog, I will look at our health as it relates to disc golf by looking at our exercise habits and the injuries we received last year. I’ll cover the numbers and types of injuries we received, and our approach to exercise as it relates to disc golf. I have experienced, and seen firsthand the issues that arise due to injuries relating to disc golf. It’s so frustrating to miss a tournament from an injury, much less an entire season. But, in any sport or activity that requires such a heavy use of body mechanics, there will be injuries, regardless of the level of fitness of its participants. Let’s see how we did last year.

Getting Injured

To start, let’s see how many of us indicated that we sustained an injury last year. According to the survey, about one in five of us were injured in 2019. Of those people, about a third of us received more than one injury.

Disc Golf Injuries in 2019 Yes - 19%, No - 81%

 

Number of Injuries 1- 70%, 2 or more - 30%

What Gets Injured The Most

Before adding up the numbers for each type of injury to see which ones are the most common, I reached out to Seth Munsey of Disc Golf Strong. Seth works with disc golfers at all levels, and said there are two injury types that he sees the most, shoulder and elbow. He said, “We see many different injuries in disc golf, but two that stand out prominently are injuries to the shoulder and elbow. The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body.  It’s important to build stability and strength in the shoulder to keep it safely in its socket and limit injury risk.  The elbow takes a beating when throwing forehand, so building strength in the tendons and surrounding tissues is crucial for long-term elbow health.”

The data from the survey had pretty much the same result. Shoulder and elbow injuries came in first and third for specific injuries. Here is the breakdown.

Injures, shoulder 416, other 339, back 291, elbow 269, knee 242, ankle 220, neck 73

 

How Bad Are Our Injuries

The severity of the injuries surprised me. There are a lot more serious injuries occurring while playing disc golf than I thought. In the survey we had participants list the severity of their injury on a scale from 1, which is a minor injury that didn’t affect their play more than a week, to 5, meaning they required surgery and was out for months. I considered anything rated 4 or 5 as very severe. In 2019 nearly 15% of us that had injuries, had very severe injuries. To put that in the bigger picture, about 3% of respondents had severe injuries. Not a huge percent. But, when you consider how many of us play disc golf, it is quite a few injuries.

On the other end of the spectrum, over half of our injuries (59%) kept up out of play for little to no time. That represents about 11% of all disc golfers. Here is the severity ratings.

 

How severe? 1 319, 2 444, 3 347, 4 151, 5 43

Our sport requires extensive use of a variety of muscles. As Seth Munsey puts it, “As disc golfers, we are throwing athletes.  The rotational power and force we generate when throwing a disc places a high amount of stress on our tissues.” We’ve seen how many of us are getting hurt playing disc golf. Now let’s look at what we are doing to prevent injury.

Exercise and Stretching

To improve our game and simultaneously reduce our risk of injury, we can use exercise and stretching routines to strengthen our tissue, and prepare it for use. In the survey we asked about people’s exercise and stretching habits. I’ll start with stretching.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that nearly half of us will always stretch before we play. I’m one of those who stretches before playing, and I know it makes a difference in my play. Conversely, there are about 10% of us who never stretch. An even smaller percent of us will stretch, but only before tournaments or leagues. Here is how you responded.

stretch before playing? every time 3240, occasionally 2547, never 692, tournaments or leagues 133, only tournaments 81

 

The other component of fitness that we covered in the survey was exercise. We asked if you regularly exercise, if you exercise specifically for disc golf, or if you exercise, but would do so even without disc golf. Half of us said we exercise regularly, but would do so even if we didn’t play disc golf. Nearly a third of us said that disc golf is basically the only exercise we get. About 18% of us exercise specifically for disc golf. These are our exercise habits.

 

exercise for disc golf? No, but do exercise 3362, rarely 2142, yes 1193

 

Conclusion? Wait For It…

 

Normally, I like to summarize the statistics and draw a conclusion based on the numbers. In this case, I would like to encourage everyone to set up a regular exercise regiment, which includes stretches, and warm up before you play or practice, because those things reduce your chances of getting injured. However, I decided to look at a couple more survey results to make sure they fell in line with the narrative that I was encouraging. The results didn’t fall in line.

I looked at how people responded to the question, “Do you exercise specifically for disc golf?”, and compared those answers with the question about whether or not they were injured in 2019. Certainly, the people who exercise specifically for disc golf would have the fewest injuries, right?

Exercise=Injury?

Of the 6711 people who answered the question, 2142 people said they rarely exercise, other than disc golf. Of those 2142 people, 434 of them suffered an injury. That’s 20.3%.

There were 3362 people who said they do exercise, but they would even without disc golf. They had 540 injuries in their group, for a total of 16.1%. I would have thought they would have had a much lower percent compared to the non-exercisers. But, at least there were fewer, percentage-wise.disc golf tee pad

Then I looked at the group that one would assume would have the lowest injury rate of the three. There were 1193 people who indicated that they do exercises specifically for disc. Yet they had 322 injuries, for a total of 27%! That’s about one in four people who train for disc golf, yet end up with injuries.

I have a couple theories about why that would be the case. I will need to look at a few more statistics to see if they support my ideas. I’ll run the numbers and post in another blog. Until then, stay safe and happy hucking!

Other survey results:

Tournaments

Seth Munsey’s website has great information about exercises and stretches for disc golf. It can be found here:

Disc Golf Strong

 

 

Getting Better at Disc Golf Through Practicing

Getting Better at Disc Golf

 

Few people who play this sport don’t care if they improve their skills. Most of us would love to add a few more feet to our drive or increase our putting percentage. For those of us who play in leagues and tournaments, we would love to place higher and win more competitions. In fact, in a recent blog post, we learned that the number one thing that would motivate someone who doesn’t play tournaments to sign up for one, is if they were a better player. (Survey Results: Tournaments) One of the best ways to get better is with disc golf practicing. Whether we are improving enough to feel confident about playing in a tournament, or watching our PDGA rating climb high enough to step up to the next division, one of the more satisfying aspects of disc golf is to see improvement in our game.

Practice makes perfect?

To be clear, playing a round of disc golf is still practicing. The more you play, the better you will get. However, for this blog, when I say ‘disc golf practicing’ I am referring to field work and putting. From what I’ve seen and experienced, those will give your game the most rapid improvement. They take a little more discipline, because they aren’t as fun as playing a round. But, you will definitely see the most improvement with field work and putting practice.

 

Preparing to Practice

In this blog, I will talk about the best way to carve up your limited disc golf practice time, a couple of practice methods, and one aspect of practicing that I don’t feel is covered sufficiently, warming up. Most people, at the very least, try to get some practice throws and putts in before a league or tournament, if not some stretches. But, how many of us take the time to stretch before ripping some drives in a field or putting inside the circle? I believe that even before putting we should do some stretches. Although the risk for injury is practically nonexistent with putting, it is the consistency we are striving for.

Professional disc golfers suggest that we keep our routine consistent in practice and competition.  Do the same pre-throw or pre-putt routine. Have the same mental thoughts and affirmations run through our head. Try to get the same motion in practice that we use on the course. The point of practice is to get that consistency. And if that is our goal, our muscles should be stretched and warmed up for practice the same as when we compete. That isn’t always easy. Most of us have to squeeze in some practice time in our busy schedule. Who wants to use that time stretching?

Seth Munsey of disc golf strong commented on warming up before practicing. He said, “It is very important to warm your body up properly before engaging in any athletic movement.  This includes fieldwork and time spent around the practice basket. Warming up will help lower your risk of injury and allow you to tap into more of your athletic potential.”

5-10 Minutes

Seth also indicated that warm-up/stretching routines don’t need to be extensive. He said, “You can complete a warm-up in as little as 5 mins, although giving yourself up to 10 mins will help ensure you don’t feel rushed or stressed to speed it up or end up skipping exercises due to time constraints.” I will talk more about stretching and exercise in an upcoming blog.

 

Drive for Show?

Hopefully we can make time to properly warm up before practicing. But, then what? What is the best use of our limited practice time? I asked touring pro Dave Feldberg about the best way to split up your practice times. He recommends spending the most time practicing your drives. He says, “If you don’t get a look (at the basket), it doesn’t matter how well you putt”.

At home, he likes to work on his driving form with his ProPull trainer. Then he likes to take a bunch of drivers to a field to test their flight and prepare his bag for upcoming tournaments. He will choose his discs based on the flights he will need. For example, if he is facing a 400-foot hyzer shot, “I know that I should (use) my pink Emperor”. Throwing a variety of discs helps him keep his shaping ability honed.

To increase power and distance, Dave said he likes to, “throw 80 times, as hard as I can”. Throwing at max power repeatedly is something you would want to warm up for. And for most of us, that many repetitions is something we would need to work up to.

When I work on my driving, I really try to throw at fields I’m familiar with. Then I have landmarks such as trees or light poles to mark the distances and note my progress. It feels great when your disc finally lands beyond a tree that you’ve struggled to reach in the past!

Putt for Dough!

The next most important aspect of the game to work on, according to Dave, is putting. He said, “Driving and putting are much more important to scoring and they are something you can practice exactly what you will be facing.” In other words, with the exception of large elevation gains, the putting you do in practice translates very well to game play. You can practice straddle putts, turbo putts, and jump putts, and you will be seeing the same basic shot in a tournament.

There are many theories and techniques as to the most efficient ways to practice putting. The ones that resonate with me have a few things that I’m looking for in a practice routine. First, they need to include many, many opportunities for you to experience success. For most of us, if we picked a point 40 feet from the basket and let 10 discs fly, we would likely have more misses that hits. I think there are great psychological benefits to having a lot more hits than misses. Therefore, starting your practice closer to the basket, then slowly working your way out, will ensure that we end up with a lot more in the basket. The starting distance varies from person to person.

Starting at the 12-15 foot range and putting 3-4 discs until I can get all of them in the basket is a great place for me to start. Then I will move back a little and try again. If I miss, I move back up to the short position and start again. It can be frustrating to have to move to the closer spot, but I think that motivates me to focus more. Which brings me to the second thing I look for in a practice routine, replicating the pressure of playing in a tournament.

 

Practice Like You Compete

If you take a handful of putters in practice and just start putting from anywhere, you really don’t have much incentive to ‘try’ to make the shot. In a tournament, you have lots of incentive. Therefore, if you can create that feeling of pressure in your putting practice, it will feel familiar in a tournament setting. If you know that a miss in practice means having to start over, you are somewhat recreating the pressure of a tournament setting.

The third thing I like to do for disc golf putting practice is to work on the routine that you will use during an actual round of disc golf. Marking your lie. Either holding an extra disc or not, depending on what you do during a tournament. Taking the same amount of time that you would in a tournament to do your entire putting routine. You could even carry a bag around during this porting of your practice time. I don’t do that the entire putting practice time. Instead, I make a little time at the end of disc golf practice to focus on my entire routine.

For me, I like to scatter a dozen or so putters around the basket at a variety of lengths. Then, I’ll pick one at random and go through my entire putting routine. I’ll mark my lie if I am further than 6-8 feet from the basket, take my usual stance, check the grip on my putter, pick a link, and let the putter fly. Then, I’ll retrieve the disc and go to the disc that is furthest from where I started, and putt again.

Upshot Practice

For up-shot or approach practice, let’s look at the practices of Dave Feldberg. He said that the look at the basket you get in a tournament can vary greatly from hole to hole, depending on where you land. To prepare for that, he likes to choose a mold, then get a variety of flights for that mold. Dave said, “I carry multiple Sinus’s, one that goes left no matter what , one that goes somewhat left at the end, one that goes straight , and one that turns over.” Then, no matter the situation, he has a disc that has the flight he is looking for.

Dave also has four midrange discs and four fairway drivers with the same variety of flights. He said, “This way no matter what position I am in I have a disc that can make that shot. Sometimes I take a full run up and throw a Sinus, other times I stand still and softly throw a fairway driver. It depends on the condition, terrain, run up, and weather. ”

To practice, he recommends taking those discs to a field and keep throwing them until you are comfortable with how they fly. Then you have a variety of tools to cover the wide range of upshots you might face.

One other effective and productive way to practice approach shots is to play catch with someone using a putter. You get a lot of throws without having to retrieve discs. It’s a great way to get ready for leagues or tournaments.

Time to Practice Disc Golf!

Although field work and putting practice are not as fun as a round of disc golf, they are the mundane tools you need to improve your skills. So, get warmed up with some stretches, grab those discs, and hit the field/basket. Let us know about YOUR disc golf practicing routines in the comments.

Support Dave Feldberg by checking out his Stash on the Infinite Discs Site:

Dave’s Stash

Also, be sure to check out some good disc golf fitness routines and stretches from Seth Munsey’s site, Disc Golf Strong:

Disc Golf Strong

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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.