Infinite Discs recently asked on Facebook if anybody had any questions for us. Our original intention was to produce a video with the answers to the questions that were posted. However, we became so busy with the business of adding and shipping inventory that we didn’t get the time necessary to complete the video. So, rather than keep you waiting, here are some of those questions along with some simple answers. We hope that you find them informative.
INVENTORY QUESTIONS
Q: When are you going to restock [ fill in the blank ]?
A: We restock all brands and discs as fast as we can. However, if a certain disc model is not available at the manufacturer, we can’t restock it. We can only restock what has been manufactured and is ready to ship out to retailers. As soon as discs are available again from the manufacturers, we order more.
Q: How has the Global Pandemic effected Disc Sales?
A: Disc sales have increased, often dramatically, during the pandemic. That is the reason why manufacturers can’t keep up. That is why many of the most popular discs seem hard to find– the supply has been unable to meet the increased demand.
Q: Which disc is most commonly purchased?
A: The most popular discs purchased can vary week to week. We post “Top 20 Tuesday” charts on this blog which allow you to see how disc sales are moving week to week. But we also post best-seller charts for entire years. We can only track sales through Infinite Discs, but that can give you a very good idea of what is popular. Traditionally, for putters, you’ll find the P2, Aviar, and Judge frequently need the top, and for drivers, you’ll find Destroyer, Wraith, and Zeus are often leading the pack, when available.
Here is where you can search for past “Top 20 Tuesday” charts:
https://blog.infinitediscs.com/category/top-twenty-tuesday/
Here is an example of a post showing sales for an entire year:
Best Disc Golf Discs of 2023
Q: What are the biggest challenges you have faced with the increase in disc golf popularity?
A: From a retailer standpoint, the biggest challenge with the recent growth in disc golf is the availability of discs. It can be very challenging finding products to meet the demands of the growing number of players.
Q: How many discs do you sell each week?
A: We sell a lot of discs every week, but we don’t usually give exact numerical data to the public. Our charts and stats that we openly publish are usually comparisons– looking at sales of one disc compared to another, etc. to show percentage differences, or percentage growth, etc. But since you asked, we’ll just say that yesterday (March 4th) we sold 2217 discs.
Q: When will there be some infinite jackets again?
A: That is a very good questions. We should get on that! We don’t focus as much energy on apparel as we should. Thanks for the reminder!
Q: Does your market share give you any leverage with manufacturer’s production process in any way?
A: Yes, it does.. Thanks in part to our VIP Club, we have been able to develop relationships and leverage with manufacturers that allows us to order special runs of discs or plastics that are not in regular production. That has become more difficult with manufacturing being so overwhelmed for the last few months, but we keep trying to get those special runs into the queue.
Q: Will Infinite be releasing any understable mids like the Sol or Meteor, or putters like the Sonic or Mirage?
A: Yes, a very understable mid-range / approach disc has been in the plans for the Infinite Discs brand and has been on order since early 2020. However, the overwhelming stress on the manufacturing at Innova has caused a repeated delay of that easy-to-throw, understable approach disc. We plan to call it the Kon Tiki. Hopefully it will see the light of day in 2021, but we don’t know when at this point.
Q: Why do some disc come in a variety of colors while others only seem to come in a couple?
A: First of all, as a retailer, we are not able to pick and choose colors when we restock discs from the manufactures. We get whatever they send to us. Some of the larger manufacturers make a variety of colors, since they are running large enough quantities to justify the color changes during the production run. Other smaller manufacturers tend to only include a color or two every run because they are making smaller quantities. We’ve noticed that some smaller manufacturers who run only one or two thousand discs at a time will only hit one color in that run. It’s most likely due to production costs and efficiency. Then maybe the next time they run a different color.
Q: How do you decide on which discs to stock up on?
A: We try to stock up on all of the discs that are on the market. However, the quantities that we stock are driven by previous sales history. If a particular disc has had a strong sales history, then we try to restock a lot more of them than a disc that has not historically sold many. Sometimes a customer will ask, “why don’t you get more of the [ fill in the blank ] discs?” and it’s hard to answer honestly with, “because apparently you are the only person that wants it.” But that’s the way the market has always been driven– larger quantities of products that are popular, and lower quantities of products that only sale occasionally. We have a formula that uses short-term and long-term sales history to predict the needed inventory levels. Of course, if we can’t get a disc because the manufacturer doesn’t have it, then it doesn’t matter what the sales history shows, because we can’t buy what is no longer available.
Q: How do you determine how much to price special stamped discs for?
A: Many times we don’t get to decide the price. Some disc makers determine the price and have what is called an MSRP and a MAP. MSRP means “Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price” which is the price they’d like the stores to sell the discs for. MAP means “Minimum Advertised Price which means that the retailer absolutely cannot list the product for less than that price. So, if a manufacturer says that MAP is $19.99 then we can’t sell it for less. If it is up to Infinite Discs to determine the price, then we’ll usually add a little premium, like an extra dollar or two to cover the stamping costs and the design cost (we have to license images or pay artists for cool artwork).
Q: What factors go into the discs carried by a retailer and what factors go into a mold no longer being produced?
A: The factors that determine what a retailer carries has been discussed above (availability and popularity of the product). When it comes to a disc mold no longer being produced, it is almost always because the demand for that particular mold was very low. If a manufacturer only has so much machine time to produce discs, they will focus on the discs that sell the most rather than dedicate the time and expense to making discs which do not sell well.
Q: Would you consider Infinite Discs molds not produced by Innova?
A: The partnership for our Infinite Discs brand is with Innova. It is planned to stay that way. We do work closely with many other small brands, some of which are produced in partnership with other manufactures.
Q: Why are putters cheaper than other discs?
A: Putters are usually made in softer, “base plastic” (which is cheaper plastic). Since price is determined by the cost of the plastic used to make the disc, those softer plastics tend to be cheaper. Base plastic is preferred for many putters because it has better grip, and you’re not throwing them hard.
Q: Do you have any discs that float in the water?
A: Yes! There are several different brands that make discs specifically designed to float in the water. This link shows you all of those floating discs that are available for sale, including the individual pictures.
Q: How do you determine when a new disc design is actually an improvement and not just new?
A: When it comes to discs, a lot of them do the same things as others. There are many choices for anything from overstable to understable, and it just boils down to player preference and throwing styles. A pro may “need” certain kinds of discs because of their amazing arm speed and power, while recreational players need something completely different. But there are rarely “new” innovations in disc golf discs. If a disc design were to get a little more adventurous, it is likely they wouldn’t pass PDGA approval for competitive use.
Q: What small / smaller company do you see making significant growth and that you will be stocking more this year?
A: We’ve already seen a lot of growth in small brands during 2020 and early 2021. For example, our restock of the Thought Space Athletics MANTRA sold out in a couple of days. Another example is the introductory rubber disc by Elevation Disc Golf which sold out in a couple of hours. While larger manufacturers are struggling to meet demand, this is a great time for small brands to break into the spotlight with products that are often just as exciting and that perform just as well as established brands.
Q: Do Infinite and Millennium use the same molds as other Innova discs or does each named disc have a unique mold at the Innova factory?
A: While we can’t answer about Millennium, we can say that the Infinite Discs molds are often variants and reconfigurations of existing Innova molds. Discs actually take a couple of mold parts to make. To keep it simple there is a mold part for the rim and a mold part for the flight plate (a little more complex than that, but keeping it simple). Different rims and plates can be mated together to create different flight characteristics. Under the terms of our agreement with Innova, we can’t publicize exactly which mold parts are being used for which discs, but often there are older Innova molds in use, or there is a rim for one popular Innova mold being used with the flight plate of a different Innova mold, etc. Some end up looking similar to existing molds, or are throw-backs to previously discontinued molds, or may just be a beaded or non-beaded version of an existing putter. It’s a fun thing to explore and basically gives Infinite Discs a chance to make different Innova mold configurations available to players.
Q: Do you see yourselves stocking Starlite plastic discs again?
A: “Starlite” plastic was a name given to Star plastic when it was run in very light weights. Often that is accomplished by adding micro-bubbles to the plastic in the rim. The same process is used for Blizzard plastic, which is Champion plastic with micro-bubbles in the rim. From what we understand, Innova is simplifying by just calling Star plastic by that name, even when run in lighter weights. Same with Blizzard vs Champion. Usually a disc we receive now that says “Starlite” is from an old run. The newer runs just say Star, even when run in very light weights. So, what you’ll want to do going forward is just look for Star discs in light weights. It’s the exact same thing, just calling it what it is instead of marketing it as something different.
Q: I’ve bought MULTIPLE “factory seconds” and compared them to “regular stock” discs and just can’t find what makes the disc a “second.”
A: First, let’s clarify something that can be confusing. A factory second disc is also called an “X-Out” which is a name created because the top of the disc is marked with an “X” when it comes out of the molding machine to show that it was not considered perfect. X-Out is a disc golf term, and Factory Second is a more generic term for something determined to be less-than-perfect by the factory, but they are one in the same. A “misprint” is usually a disc with stamping problems (multiple stamps, messed up stamps, etc.).
Second, Infinite Discs does not determine what is or is not an X-Out or Factory Second. That is determined by the factory before we receive the discs. We’re not a factory. Factory seconds are sold to us for a lower price, so we then sell them to the customer for a lower price. They are marked as such, either by a special stamp or the little “X” on the disc, so the customer knows it was sold cheaper as a factory second.
Usually it is for very minor cosmetic reasons, like impurities (dirt or flakes) in the plastic, or a little divot in the rim or flight plate, or something that makes it less than perfect, but still a throwable disc. It is not uncommon for our customer service department to receive calls or emails complaining that a factory second that they purchased has a problem. “This has dirt in the disc,” or “this has a small dent in the rim,” etc. Well yes, that’s because the disc was purchased as a discounted factory second, and the imperfection is why it was cheaper.
Back to the original question– sometimes it is very hard to see what the imperfection may be. It might be that the disc was marked as a factory second simply because it was early in the run and the factory wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly before cranking out perfect “stock” discs. Again, we don’t get to determine what qualifies– we just sell them as they are sold to us.
Q: Will companies limit how many discs one person can buy in an order, so more people can get tour series or highly sought after molds and not have to pay $80 or $100?
A: Some manufacturers already limit how many discs the retailers, like us, can get. It is frustrating for us to deal with limitations like that. For example, if all of our customers want a Nate Sexton Firebird, but we can only get 100 of them, there’s no way on earth all of our customer are going to be able to get a disc from us. We can’t sell what we don’t have.
The lack of availability of those desired products is what causes the price to go up very high in the “after market.” The after market is when somebody who was lucky enough to get some then turns around and sells the disc for a huge profit. Why do they do it? Well, because they can. If they buy something for $25 and then see that another person wants to pay $50, then why not? That’s the way supply and demand works. But Infinite Discs is not the after market. So we do not want to inflate the price– we want to make it available at a reasonable price.
With that said, we do struggle with having too few discs for too large of a customer base. To help deal with some of those difficult limitations, we have started to make some of those limited editions available only through our VIP Club Store. Since the VIP Club pays for collectible monthly discs anyway, we felt like they deserve access to other limited editions when we don’t have enough for everybody. Also, the VIP Club members have been very good at following limitations like “One Per Customer” because they don’t want to step on the toes of other VIP Club members. It has been a great way to help distribute those kinds of discs to a smaller audience of collectors who appreciates limited editions.
Our future website development may include a “limit per customer” feature which only allows a pre-determined quantity to be added to a customer’s cart.
Q: What is the most popular non-disc product that you sell?
A: After pulling up a report, we’d have to say that grip enhancers like Whale Sacs and Sportsacks or the most popular, along with towels. We also sell a lot of bags. Also on the rise are disc retrievers, and novelty games like RIPT Revenge.
OTHER SERVICES
Q: Will there be any updates to the Infinite Disc Golf app?
A: We have stopped work on the Infinite Disc Golf app for now. We feel like it was a great, no-cost product that could be used for a variety of score-keeping and statistical purposes. There are other great apps that do the same things very well. Since we use the same developer for our app and for our website, we turned the focus back to updating our website so that it can get a functionality and feature overhaul that it badly needs. But even that has been delayed by the pandemic and other factors. We hope to revisit the app again in the future.
Q: How do I get a tournament sponsored by Infinite Discs?
A: We can’t sponsor every tournament that asks, since there are so many. But we do try to help when we can. We are unable to sponsor tournaments by sending money– we never do that, so if that is what you want, it’s probably best not to ask. However, for smaller events we can sometimes provide fun CTP prizes or little items to give to players. For larger tournaments, we handle those on a case by case basis and usually approach sponsorship in ways that helps the tournament in their fundraising efforts while also providing unique products that we can sell to our customers. We tend to like mutually beneficial arrangements, which is what we feel is best for the marketplace. One-sided relationships are never very fun, right?
Q: What does it look like to build a partnership with a player? Do they need to be 1000 rated to qualify?
A: We have different team levels, so the relationships are different depending on the team level. Most of Team Infinite are simply players that interact positively with their local disc golf scene, have an active social media presence, and are actively trying to grow the sport. Of course we can’t accept everybody, but we try to take a look at those factors. The player rating doesn’t have much to do with those kinds of players. We accept Team Infinite applications at the end of each year so we can pick a team for the next year.
When it comes to professional, touring players, the arrangement will likely be different for each player. We address those agreements individually and support those players through signature discs and in other ways, hoping that they also support and represent the Infinite Discs brand while they’re out competing.
Q: How many members are in the VIP club and how many did you originally start with?
A: We started the VIP Club in May of 2016 with a run of 500 discs. But there were just under 300 people who subscribed to the club at the time. There are currently just over 900 VIP Club subscribers.
Q: Will Infinite Discs be able to make its own stamps in house?
A: We have been stamping in our own warehouse now for a few months. We commission and license artwork frequently for the stamps and also have some stamp designs made by our staff. We love stamps and stamping, since it is another way to create a variety of discs for people with varied tastes.
Q: How do you determine the disc and stamp style for the VIP Club?
A: Since the beginning of the VIP Club, we have taken a lot of effort to get different kinds of discs from many different brands for the monthly featured discs. There have been drivers, mid-ranges, and putters, with some overstable, some understable, some neutral, etc. The more variety, the better. We have also tried to mix it up with the stamp designs, with some stamps looking more edgy, while others are more intricate, or humorous, or visually unique. We don’t want the VIP Club monthly discs to become predictable or the designs to become too common. So we try to keep the journey interesting.
Q: If you were to have a disc warp on you or have too much damage, what would be the best way to attempt to reshape it at home?
A: When we get warped discs in the bulk disc shipments from manufacturers, we deal with it as simply as possible. When discs come in boxes of 50 or 100, they can often shift around and become slightly warped, and this is what we do: We stack them neatly on a shelf with the weight evenly distributed around the rims. We leave them there for a few days. The vast majority of the time they will be perfectly fine after that. This is what we mean by a stack:
When customers have asked us what to do about a warped disc, we often recommend the same approach. Again, when customers stack their other discs neatly on top of the warped one like this and leave them for a couple of days, the disc looks as good as new.
We have found this to be the most effective and least risky way to address a warped disc. We usually do not recommend some of the other more dramatic “fixes” that float around, like microwaving discs with water or other things that can actually damage the disc.
If a disc arrives so badly warped that it won’t repair, we take care of our customers in those cases.
OPERATIONS QUESTIONS
Q: What is the process for stamp design from concept to being pressed?
A: The first step is to find artwork that addresses the artistic need or matches the desired flavor of the release. Sometimes we can find an existing image that has the desired look, in which case we license it so that the artist is paid. In other cases we commission an artist to put together what we’re looking for. Sometimes we design it in house. After the artwork is complete, we have to send the digital image file to a machine shop that will make the metal stamp plate (called a dye). That stamp plate can be rather costly, but it is made so that the stamp can be used over and over again, if necessary. The stamp plate is used on a stamping machine to head the plate and press the foil into the plastic of the disc, which is a delicate, precision process. There are usually several misprints resulting from the initial stamp setup and calibration.
Q: How do you determine which stamps go on a disc?
A: We try to appeal to many different tastes when it comes to stamping. A stamp is art, and like any art, different people like different styles. If we stamp something silly on a disc that one customer thinks is the “stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” then it is highly likely that those discs are selling fast to other people who think, “this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.” One person may like skulls and crossbones, while another may prefer pretty birds or colored patterns. And believe it or not, whatever you think is awesome, somebody else thinks it is ugly. That’s the nature of the beast, so we try to take a couple of steps back and use an approach that has a little something for everybody. Sometimes we look for art that thematically fits the name of the disc. Other times, it is just a cool image, no matter what the disc is called.
Q: When are you going to add scaled weight, flatness/dome, gummy/stiff ratings to your site?
A: Infinite Discs was one of the first online disc sellers to use individual photos of every disc. That was really rather groundbreaking at the time– to get the exact disc you were looking at when you place the order. We have not expanded on that by scaling every disc or flexing them, or looking at the profile, etc. There are several reasons for that. One of them is the cost of labor. It’s already a huge, time consuming process to photograph every disc, upload that photo, add the color and weight data, over and over again for hundreds or thousands of discs a day. That process would be slowed considerably by adding more requirements.
On top of that, we have as many as four people at a time working on disc listings, with different shifts that involved a dozen different people. Not all of those people can eyeball a disc and feel the same way about it, or flex it and decide how flexible it is compared to somebody else’s estimation. One person’s domey disc is another person’s normal disc. One person’s standard disc is another person’s flat disc, based on what they’ve seen before or thrown before. If we hire a college student to help add discs to inventory and then attempt to train them in relative dominess, that could have very mixed results. It’s hard to imagine it being very consistent when handling so many discs. Our customer service department would very likely start receiving calls and emails saying “you said this disc was flat, but it isn’t as flat as my last one…”
The same can go with flexibility. Often a disc that is flexible is already indicated as such by the plastic name. Innova GStar is “Gummy Star” so you know it is more flexible than Star. An SSS (Super Stupid Soft) Wizard is already known to be more flexible than an SS (Super Soft) Wizard. MVP’s Electron plastic has regular, firm, and soft varieties. Latitude 64 has Zero, Zero Soft, and Zero Hard plastic. Most brands indicate the softness or flexibility in those names. But when it comes to saying if one kind of plastic, like S-Line plastic, is more or less flexible than the last S-Line disc you felt, it gets to be more of a nuance that will change from one person to the next.
With scaled weights, we’ve addressed the reason that we don’t weigh discs in THIS BLOG HERE . In a nutshell, the manufacturers weigh the discs at the factory. The discs come with weights on them (or at least a weight range) so we use the information provided by the factory as determined by their scales. We do not feel like we should alter or change what the manufacturer has declared to be the weight. Can they be wrong sometimes? Yes. Could we be wrong sometimes if we weighed them? Yes. We have chosen to trust the manufacturer and only weigh discs that do not come with a weight indicated on the disc by the factory. We don’t choose to alter the disc or dispute the weight.
With that said, we know that there are retailers who do all of the above. We are grateful for the efforts that they go through to provide that extra service to their customers. We don’t mind recommending those other retailers as options for customers who want a verified weight or to know somebody’s estimation of flexibility and profile. We also fully support and love the pro shops and the brick-and-mortar stores out there, where customers can pick up the disc to feel it and flex it and decide if it is right for them. There is a place for all of us. Marshall Street takes a photo of the disc on a scale. OTB puts flexibility and profile details on their listings. Those are both great places to buy discs. We are thankful to the people who have loved buying from Infinite Discs and continue to buy discs from us, but also love what other stores are doing to offer alternatives.
Q: How were you able to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and were there any lessons you learned through it that you will apply post-COVID?
A: We are still learning to cope with challenges of Covid-19. We had to move around some work stations, we’ve had to use masks when working in close proximity, and we’ve had to deal with a lack in supply while demand has increased. We still don’t know exactly when things will “normalize,” or if they ever will.
Q: What’s something special that sets Infinite Discs apart from other online disc retailers?
A: Probably one of things that most immediately sets us apart is the selection. We carry a larger quantity of brands and disc varieties than most other retailers. We try to keep more than 50,000 discs in stock on our online store at all times. We also currently carry more than 55 different brands. We also like to present a huge variety when it comes to custom stamps, tournament support discs, pro signature discs, and other unique, fun products.
Q: Do you plan on expanding to any other locations?
A: We currently have two independently owned Infinite Discs franchise stores. There is one in Pocatello, Idaho, and another in Saint George, Utah. They are owned by individuals who love disc golf and love the Infinite Discs brand. We do not have immediate plans to relocate or open other locations.
Q: Has Infinite Discs thought about doing a Infinite challenge? Similar to the Discraft ace race, or trilogy challenge of the Prodigy par 2 events?
A: We’ve thought a lot about it and had plans to do it. But Covid-19 changed those plans because we have not been able to get enough of our Infinite Discs brand discs in stock to host such events. We can’t offer a 3-disc player pack when we can’t keep discs in stock in our warehouse.
Q: When will the Infinite Discs website get an overhaul?
A: The website has been in overhaul mode for a couple of years. It has run into pandemic related delays and other technical hurtles that have needed to be handled. We need our website to not only be designed well for the customer experience, but to handle huge amounts of data pulling from tens of thousands of photos and storing vast amounts of information. It’s a big chore and is taking much longer than we would have hoped. Our fingers are crossed for a launch in 2021…sometime.
Q: Is it hard to find the discs people order? I bet you inventory is crazy!
A: Thankfully, our inventory system is very easy to manage. The crew members pulling the orders become very good at knowing exactly where things are. They know where each brand is stored, and then the discs are divided up in alphabetical order, and each disc is tagged with a code that lets them know when it was photographed and entered into inventory. So they can find the discs quite quickly. Sometimes human errors are made, but thankfully not very often.
Q: What would you say, moving forward, are some of the main goals for Infinite Discs?
A: We always have something new in the works. We always have a lot of ideas. Our main goal is to keep building the disc golf market. One of more recent goals was to work more closely with other stores to meet the increased demand for discs. We love partnering with all business in the industry to unite and grow the sport.
Q: Given that you take pictures of each disc that gets listed, how long does it actually take to list a run of discs?
A: It’s hard to say exactly, but it takes a long time. We can usually add at least 100 discs per hour with two people working a station. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the nature of the discs being entered.
Q: I haven’t bought a disc in years. Is there a return costumer loyalty deal.
A: While you may not know it, anybody shopping at Infinite Discs already has reward points for all purchases. Those points add up and then can be redeemed for gift cards that give you discounts. So, just by shopping with Infinite Discs, you’re being rewarded. But it requires creating a login and filling out a profile to use that point system to your advantage.
Read more about the points rewards system here.
Q: Have you thought of producing your own discs instead of having Innova doing the injection and molding for you?
A: We do not currently have plans to manufacture discs in our warehouse. We don’t have the space in our current building to do that.
Q: As the Infinite Discs brand of discs continues for your company do you see yourself staying like you currently are, meaning carrying and offer all other brands as well or are you looking at going the way Dynamic Disc did as a company.
A: We are first and foremost a disc retailer. Our own brand is a way to offer more unique, fun products to our retail customers and also to other stores. But we do not plan to leave our retail business behind and become centered only on our brand. While we love and appreciate what Dynamic Discs has done with their brand and the marvelous things they do for the sport, we are not following the same model when it comes to brand selection. We want to sell as many Dynamic Discs and other brands as possible.
Q: Why do you have to collect 1000 points before the points are available for redemption?
A: Since 1000 points equals $10 (points are roughly 5% of your purchase price) we figured it would make sense to at least have $10 available before redeeming. Since we have to approve each requst manually, it would feel a bit odd to sort through and approve a bunch of redemption requests for $1.56 or $3.11 etc. We thought this would be easier.
Q: Do you have plans for building automation into your intake, inventory, and shipping processes?
A: No, we do not have plans for that right now. At the moment, our crew is awesome and we love having a business that employees real people to do the work of entering inventory and shipping out orders. Plus, we can’t afford all those fancy Amazon warehouse robots.
Q: Would you consider doing a crowd sourced disc design?
A: We actually did that through the Stamp Wars contests that we hosted up until this last year when Covid-19 made it impossible to even order discs that could be stamped. We always invited anybody who wanted to submit a design to do so, then we allowed our customers to vote on their favorites. It was a fun problem, with some plusses, and some negatives (like having to deal with cheating). We might bring it back again, but we’ll evaluate at the end of this year.
Q: Have you ever thought to make the Infinite molds available in retail stores and pro shops around the country?
A: We already do make Infinite Discs products available to other stores. We have a wholesale department that distributes not only the Infinite Discs brand but also other great import and boutique brands. That way, other pro shops, retailers, and online stores don’t need to set up little accounts all over the place to get a few discs here and a few discs there. Instead they can grab a variety of interesting discs in one stop and offer those discs to their customers.
We have never felt that “competition” means that one business must destroy another. We believe that it is more healthy to cooperate and work with each other. Different retailers should rise or fall based on their own choices, their own strengths, and their own unique situations. We’re not looking to take anybody down– we’re looking to help as much as possible so that we can all continue to grow and evolve as individual businesses. There is strength in numbers and a great deal of reward in cooperation. So yes, we do sell discs to other stores, and we love when it helps their businesses to grow. So if you see Infinite Discs in a local store, be sure to thank them and support with a purchase.
Now…if we could just get more discs!
OTHER QUESTIONS
There were a lot of other questions pertaining to personal preferences for discs, brands, etc. Those preferences would of course change depending on who in the company you ask. So we felt like those are best on forums where everybody can answer with their own opinion. There were other questions about the game of disc golf. Answers to those questions can be found in blogs, on videos, and on websites all over the place. When it comes to rules or tournament procedures, you might consider looking at the website for the PDGA.
https://www.pdga.com/rules/official-rules-disc-golf
There were a lot of questions, so in the end, we hope that we’ve answered some of the ones that Infinite Discs, as a retailer and boutique brand is able to address. We can’t speak for the entire disc golf market, but we can share a little bit of information about how thing work around here and the experiences that we’ve had.
If you have follow-up questions or other questions that you’d like to ask, feel free to do so in the comments below. Thanks!
When six university schoolmates were introduced to disc sports while in school, little did they know it would lead to starting a disc business. The group started playing ultimate frisbee and became the first Chinese ultimate players. It was during their final year in school that they decided to start a company whose mission was to promote flying disc sports and introduce a healthier lifestyle to the youth of the country.
Hyperflite, Inc. has been producing dog discs for a couple decades, so it was not a big leap to make disc golf discs. They started manufacturing in 2000 with their mold, the K-10 a 8.76” disc. After that they released the Pup disc, a 7” diameter disc similar to the K-10, but made for smaller dogs. That mold was excellent for kids with smaller hands, so Troy rebranded it the Kidzee for younger kids learning to throw.
Rhys was playing in a tournament in Finland when he hit a tree while throwing. He was a sponsored player, representing RPM Discs. Although he had already been thinking about manufacturing discs, and talking to a local player about it, the down time with a broken hand gave him an opportunity to get serious about the idea. It was during that time that Rhys decided to turn his knowledge of disc golf into a manufacturing company. And Fourth Circle Discs was born.
The second mold released by the company was the Dingo. It was approved and released last year. It was the first mold to be made in Australia by Fourth Circle, and it was definitely a learning experience for them, and for the manufacturer and tooling company. The mold was intended to be an overstable midrange, but they ended up with a disc that was too overstable. After some tweaking with the mold and the process, they ended up with a disc that they are thrilled with. It has a good amount of wind-fighting glide and a strong finish at the end of flight.
and offer different levels of grip. Their Ekka plastic is similar in feel and durability to Star or Gold Line Plastics. Iron Plastic is translucent and similar to Champion or Lucid Plastics. The Huntsman presale is in Ekka Plastic.
Rhys (left) with pro Darnley Pearson
Infinite Discs carries over 55 brands of discs! We started this blog series to introduce you to some of the brands and molds that you might not be as familiar with. Each week we will spotlight a different company and tell you a little more about them. Because of Covid shutdowns our supply of discs was severely affected. Therefore, we may not have all of the molds from all of the brands we will talk about. But, it might put a few more molds on your radar for the future. This week we are back in Texas to learn about Lone Star Disc.
