Category: General

Discmania Active Line Release

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Discmania has been introducing their Active Line discs, initially in base plastic runs, but the time has now come for new disc names and premium plastic.  There are five “new” (renamed) discs that are available in both Active Baseline plastic and some in Active Premium. Head on over to Infinite Discs to check out these discs to see if they are a good fit for your disc golf bag: the Mentor, the Genius, the Magician, the, Maestro, and the Sensei.

Note: The original names have been retired.

Discmania went with an excellent choice of vivid colors for these new disc golf discs. This new Active Premium Line plastic looks wonderful and has good grip. You can read more about the release here. And of course, if you’ve been waiting for this new release and already know what disc you want, head on over to Infinite Discs to make your purchase.

Leave a comment below: which of these five Discmania discs is your favorite? What are your thoughts on Discmania’s new Active Premium Line plastic?

Drew Gibson Signature Stamps & New Inca Release

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Drew Gibson’s Inca

Yesterday we released the Inca, a new mid-range disc among the Infinite Discs line line. This mid-range is released with an epic Incan warrior. I imagine him charging the chains on the disc catcher. We’ve decided to start it off with a P-Blend Glow plastic. Allowing you to play a round of disc golf at night and during the day!

This is a great disc for the individual who is looking for a moderately overstable mid-range. It has a consistent flight with slight end-fade. You can also manipulate this disc fairly easily and it will hold most lines you put it on. The P-Blend Glow plastic feels good in the hand and has enough grip that it won’t slip out prematurely. Check out this great video that talks about the Inca and shows you the flight path. Thanks Taylor!

Drew Gibson’s Scepter

Disc golf fans have never seen a Scepter as majestic as the Drew Gibson signature edition. This control driver looks even better than it did before in this Swirly S Line plastic with this sweet signature stamp. Thanks Drew Gibson, yet again. You can get yourself this disc to add to your disc golf collection, whether it is for the wall or for you bag.

All of us here at Infinite Discs, we thank you all, for making it possible for us to provide awesome discs to our fellow disc golfers. Throw on!

More Injury-Related Survey Results

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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

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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

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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

 

 

Disc Golf Tournaments: Why We Play State of Disc Golf Results

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When I started playing disc golf about eight years ago, I pretty much only played casual or league rounds. I might have played in a ‘themed’ tournament, where your entry fee buys you a couple discs that you use in the tournament. But, I didn’t play in any sanctioned tournaments. That didn’t happen until the next year. After that, I was hooked on tournaments!

I can’t say it was the competition that made me want to keep playing tournaments, since I wasn’t very competitive. Part of the appeal was undoubtedly the players pack. Part if it was playing new courses. But, a very big part of my desire to play tournaments was for social reasons. It was fun to meet new players and get to know a wider family of disc golfers. I still love to reconnect with my disc golf family in other areas, either in person or on social media.  Some of which I have known since my first my first tournament year!

In this blog I will dive into the tournament section of the 2019 survey to find out who is playing tournaments and why, which tournaments are the most popular, and other aspects of tournaments covered in the survey. The timing is a bit unfortunate, since so many tournaments this year have been cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19. But, it will still be fun to see how we viewed tournaments in general last year.

Tournaments: Aye or Nay

The obvious place to start is to see how many of us attended disc golf tournaments of any kind last year. According to the survey results, of the nearly 7,000 responses we received, almost two-thirds of us attended at least one tournament in 2019. I suspect that if you are active enough in disc golf that you would take the time to fill out a survey, you are more likely to attend at least one tournament throughout the year. Even so, over one-third of us didn’t attend a single tournament last year. Here is the breakdown:

To Sanction or not to Sanction

For those who did attend a tournament, we also wanted to find out which tournaments people were attending. First, we asked if people attended a sanctioned tournament. Then we asked how many people attended unsanctioned tournaments. From there, we wanted to see how many attended ‘themed’ tournaments. Let’s check out the results.

A sanctioned tournament means that the tournament is sanctioned by the PDGA. Certain requirements have to be met to be sanctioned, and PDGA rules and guideline have to be followed. The rules are stricter, and typically the payouts are better than unsanctioned tournaments. A benefit to the participants is that they can see what their rating is compared to others at the tournament. Participants either need to be PDGA members, or purchase a $10 temporary membership. Some people like the more professional and consistent play of a sanctioned tournament. According to the survey, over half of us played in at least one sanctioned tournament in 2019.

Sanctioned Tournament Count

We also wanted to find out how many sanctioned tournaments individuals played last year. A majority of us played five or fewer. Quite a few lucky individuals played 12 or more sanctioned tournaments. Here are the numbers:

Next we asked about unsanctioned tournaments to find out how many were playing in them, what kind they were, and which themed tournaments they were playing. An unsanctioned tournament could be anything from local charity events, to themed tournaments, to night tournaments, or a variety of other events. The main thing is that these tournaments aren’t governed by the PDGA. As such, the rules tend to be looser and the payout structure different. Casual players tend to favor the more relaxed atmosphere of an unsanctioned tournament. Although more than half of us played an unsanctioned tournament, we played in more sanctioned tournaments than unsanctioned. Again, that might go back to the fact that if you are taking the survey, you are a little more serious than the casual player who doesn’t care about sanctioned tournaments. Here are the numbers:

Unsanctioned Tournament Count

A majority of us played in three or fewer unsanctioned tournaments in 2019, and a smaller percentage of us played in 12 or more unsanctioned tournaments.

Special Types of Tournaments

Among the many unsanctioned tournaments held around the world, one of the more popular ones are the themed tournaments. Various manufacturers sponsor those tournament. For the entrance fee, participants receive a couple of discs and some swag. Those discs must then be used to play in the tournament. It’s a great way to try new plastic, while getting to play in a tournament.

Topping the survey were the more generic event, Putting League, and the food-charity tournament, the Ice Bowl. Each of these tournaments had a third of the survey participants attend them. The Ice Bowl numbers are even more impressive because those tournaments are only held in January or February.

Nearly a third of us attended a Trilogy Challenge in 2019, helping it lead the Themed Tournament category. It almost had as many of us attend as the next two tournaments combined. Here is a list of the most popular special tournaments:

Why We Play in Tournaments

One of the more fascinating aspects of the survey was to explore what motivates people to play a tournament. Just like in life, we all have different things that motivate us to take action. Whether you are talking about choosing a job or political party, or how we will spend our free time. Different things drive us to choose the things we do. In the case of disc golf, we wanted to find out why people were willing to commit time and money to participate in a tournament. For the survey, we let people choose all that applied to them. Here is what we learned.

Not surprisingly, over three-fourths of us play tournaments for the competition. That is in our wiring. Even if we don’t think we can win our division, we still like to see how we stack up against the other competitors. It feels great to win, but can still feel good if we just beat some of our buddies. The second most popular reason people play in tournaments is also not surprising: For the fun of it! We are, after all, playing disc golf! It’s something we enjoy doing, so it only logical that we would enjoy doing that in a tournament. Two-thirds of us indicated that we play tournaments because they are fun. Here are the survey, including the rest of the survey options.

Despite having a variety of choices for why we would play in a tournament, nearly 5% of the people who indicated that they play tournaments do so for a single reason. Those people gave just three reasons: Competition, fun, and the social aspect of tournaments. Here is the exact count:

Why We DON’T Play Tournaments

Since we’ve talked about the reason people DID play in tournaments in 2019, it is also interesting to see what kept people away from tournaments. I have to say, these results surprised me. Having invited literally hundreds of people out to our local leagues, I thought I could have predicted the results of this question a little more accurately. Before getting into the results, let me also include that this question allowed for more than one answer.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

Surprisingly, the number one reason that people don’t play in tournaments is because of how long they take and/or the days they are played. To be specific, the answer reads, “Limited free time. I’m not available to play on weekends when tournaments are held.” While I would like to explore the time and date subjects separately, the bottom line is that people’s schedules don’t allow them to play. That could be because they work on weekends, or more likely because they DON’T work on weekends, so they need the weekends to take care of home/family needs. Over 40% chose that reason for not attending tournaments.

The number two reason is that people said they are not skilled enough to play in a tournament. That is what I thought would be the number one answer because I’ve heard similar remarks so often. Nearly a third of those who don’t play tournaments selected a lack of skill as the reason they don’t play. Here are the numbers:

Why disc golfers don't play tournaments graph.

Interestingly, the three least chosen answers are the ones that I hear the most. Even more reason that the results surprised me. Adding to the surprise was that over half of the people who answered the question only chose one reason they don’t play tournaments. Their answers were in line with the people who gave multiple reasons. Here are the results:

 

Things That Would Motivate People to Play Tournaments

Our final question in the tournament series was similar to the last one, but with some different answers. We asked people who didn’t play in tournaments what it would take for them to play. We included questions about enticements, such as free stuff, bigger winnings, and the option to play with friends. Turns out that playing with friends doesn’t mean as much as getting stuff! J

The top answers reconfirmed the previous answers. Other things that would get people to play tournaments include making shorter, less expensive tournaments, and getting the word out about the tournament in some non-traditional ways. Having said that, quite a few people said they have no desire to play tournaments.

Return to Normal?

Hopefully, tournament life will get back into full swing soon so that those of us who enjoy that aspect of our sport will be able to satisfy whatever reasons we have for playing. Until then, we will have to be content with whatever disc golf looks like for us at the moment. Whether that includes tournaments, casual rounds and leagues, or practicing at home, there are usually a variety of ways that we can satisfy our disc golf itch.

How the Pandemic Has Affected Disc Golf and the Supply Chain

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Nobody saw the surprises, challenges, and often bizarre events of 2020 coming. It has been a very unexpected year. On top of the obvious heartbreak of sickness, death, job losses, and disrupted lives, even small sports like disc golf and pickleball have had its disappointments with the cancellation of major events. But let’s really dive into the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on disc golf in terms of growth and the marketplace.

“Skip the Course. Stay Home”

A lot of people, especially tournament directors and touring professionals, felt an acute sting when the PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) suspended all sanctioned events starting March 14th. It felt like much of the year was ruined for competitive disc golf. And yet, many players still felt like they could enjoy recreational play to some extent, especially since many jobs were sending people home, schools were switched to online courses, and other public events were all cancelled. People had time on their hands and parks seems a safe place to socially separate while doing something fun.

Then on March 23rd, the PDGA sent out a letter to registered members to please “skip the course and stay home.” They encouraging leagues not to gather and basically requested that all players avoid their local courses. It wasn’t long before many courses in the most populated cities started pulling their baskets out, just to make sure nobody would gather to play. The request made total sense. After all, the world was in a panic, Covid-19 is very contagious, and staying away from one another is a good way to avoid the spread of disease.

But did everybody get that memo? Conditions can vary greatly in the many different parts of the country. In more rural areas, things pretty much continued as usual because cases of Covid-19 were barely present, if detected at all. More densely populated areas had to take more drastic measures. But it would be incorrect to claim that everybody everywhere was staying at home. Many disc golfers continued to play, whether in small groups, with family members, or alone. Disc golf, in many ways, it a socially distant sport when tournament and league play is removed.

 

With all that said, there are many people who know nothing about the PDGA. They aren’t members, or they play casually, or they discovered disc golf while looking for a way to pass the time. Those people obviously did not hear or head the call to stay home. How do we know? Because disc golf exploded.

A Great Way to Pass the Time

Maybe it was the number of people in forced quarantine from work, school, and other events that fed the interest in disc golf. Maybe the outdoors simply feels safer than staying pent-up in a building. Whatever it was that created the perfect storm, disc golf suddenly became a very popular way to pass the time during the pandemic.

Infinite Discs has a unique perspective into the disc golf growth and interest trends, being a seller of disc golf products. Here is a look at website traffic that hit the InfiniteDiscs.com website from the end of 2019 to the present (June 5th).

The candlestick in June is shorter than the others because the week was not over when the chart was made. We’re not sure if the apparent growth will settle to a new plateau or if it will continue in an upward trend. But the increase in traffic, even dwarfing 2019 holiday sales, shows an obvious increase in interest. The dark blue represents “organic searches,” meaning that those are people who found and visited the website through their own searches and exploration. That is where most of the increase was generated– new people looking for discs.

Disruption in the Supply Chain

While the growth and interest in disc golf and the coinciding desire to purchase discs increased, the ability to supply those discs dropped. With the declaration of a worldwide pandemic, many states in the USA mandated the complete shutdown of “non-essential” businesses and manufacturing. Disc golf apparently is non-essential, but that did not stop people from wanting discs. More people were spending more time either on the course or playing in the backyard. Most of the major manufacturers and distributors of discs and targets (baskets) were forced to shut down or operate on a skeleton crew. Suddenly, manufacturers like Innova, Discraft, MVP, Prodigy, and others were unable to feed the growing demand. Not only could they not keep up, but they were falling behind on previously scheduled manufacturing runs, meaning that the supply would take a long time to catch up, even when allowed to turn the machinery back on again.

For an visually stunning look at the conundrum of disc golf supply vs demand during the pandemic, take a look at the following graph. It shows the sales trend at Infinite Discs from October 2019 through May 2020. The red shaded area roughly designates the time period that several major manufacturers were forced to close and had very limited ability to ship restock.

So, during the steepest time of growth, the disc manufacturers were unable to continue functioning. The obvious effect of that pattern is a drastic drop in inventory levels at disc golf retailers. When new supply is unavailable, old supply drops precipitously.

Infinite Discs took up a mantra of “More the 50,000 discs in stock” in 2017 when we were able to move into a larger facility and increase our inventory levels. It was our goal to stay well above that level for the long term. We printed thousands of promo cards stating that mantra. But the supply chain challenges of 2020 made it impossible. Here is a graph showing Infinite Discs disc inventory levels starting in November of 2019 (the peak of inventory before Black Friday sales kicked in) to the present.

When we combine the sales levels with the decrease in inventory levels, you can easily see the correlation. Again, when interest and sales increase, but the ability to restock is removed, the balance of supply vs demand is broken.

Sorry, We’re Out of Stock

One easy product to discuss when pointing out the effect of the pandemic on disc golf purchases is baskets (or “targets”). With many people taking up backyard putting to pass the time, the demand for disc golf baskets sky-rocketed, quickly clearing retailers out of inventory. Much of the time, large items like baskets are drop-shipped from the manufacturers when they are ordered through online vendors. That is a logical way to avoid the issues of storage and the high shipping costs of moving heavy items around the country. A customer buys a basket, then the online retailer sends an order to the manufacturer to ship directly to the customer.

But if the manufacturers are closed…then drop-ship orders are no longer available. So even if the baskets are technically in a warehouse, they aren’t accessible. Infinite Discs tried to battle that problem as things started to shut down and immediately ordered large shipments of baskets that in some cases took weeks to arrive. Suppliers were basically piling baskets on pallets and shipping them out before having to lock up and go home for an indefinite period of time.

So in many cases, the choices were few when it came to obtaining portable baskets at a time when people most wanted portable baskets. That lack of supply existed with other products as well.

Where Are the Popular Discs?

For many years, Innova has been the highest-selling brand at Infinite Discs. Without making detailed comparisons through the years, it is safe to say that they represent a large portion of the disc golf market. Innova’s manufacturing facilities are located in California, and that was one of the first states to shut down businesses because of the pandemic. If the discs in highest demand were not being manufactured for a couple of months, then how do you think things are looking for Innova now that they are back in business and trying to catch up?

Once again, here at Infinite Discs, we can share a little bit of insight into that problem. We have an algorithm which calculates the number of discs we need for each disc model and in each plastic type based on 30-day vs 90-day sales vs discs in stock. That way we can restock based on the sales trends in an attempt to keep the right quantities in stock for every disc. We recently placed a restock order with Innova for nearly 16,000 discs based on that algorithm because the demand was so high and the inventory levels so low after the shutdown. At the time of this blog post, our current inventory level for all Innova discs in stock is 3,975 discs. That means that the shipment that we’re still awaiting should have four times our current inventory, just in restock! But Innova is struggling to meet those quantities as they have spent days putting the shipment together, because they have many more retailers making similar demands, and they too are at very low inventory levels after having a couple of months without manufacturing.

Take a look at popular Discraft disc models. In the case of Discraft, where signature Paul McBeth discs are a huge boon to the brand, keeping certain discs in stock at all is a challenge for the same reasons. Last week, Infinite Discs had these totals available for certain models:

Luna = 0
Malta = 0
Anax = 0
Zeus = 0
Zone = 0

Those are some of the hottest discs in the current Discraft line-up, aside from the Buzzz. None of them were in stock. Not a single disc in any kind of plastic. After a small restock, we’re back to zero again this week.

In May the new Paul McBeth Hades was announces as soon as Discraft was able to open up their operations again, along with a slew of other signature discs. With nearly 1,000 Hades in stock at midnight of the release day, Infinite Discs was sold out by morning. One of the most hotly anticipated signature releases, the Paul McBeth Tour Z Swirly Luna, was one that we’d asked for 1,200, but received just short of 100. To this day, we’ve still received no more than 300 total of the disc after two small, follow-up shipments. Why? It is Discraft’s fault? Nope. They also cannot keep up with the new demand and the depletion of inventory when they too are trying to make up for lost time.

When Will Things Turn Around?

Basically, the Pandemic caused a huge increase in interest, when it comes to Disc Golf. The cancellation of tournaments and the plea not to assemble in groups didn’t stop new players from picking up the game. The new increase in demand has drained the market of discs and other supplies. How long will it take for the market to catch up to the new demand and eventually normalize? We don’t know. We’re struggling to keep discs in stock, but people won’t stop buying them. Will there be an eventual shortage? Will it take months or years for disc makers to meet a new surge that was never anticipated or expected?

What are your thoughts on the pandemic and it’s effects on disc golf? Did you see an increase in interest in the game? Are more people on your local courses now? Share your experiences in the comments below.

How to Make a Disc Golf Flight Tracker

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Flight Tracking

Have you ever watched professional disc golf footage and wondered how they make the line that shows the disc’s flight path? Now is your chance to learn! If you have Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, you can even do it yourself. Here’s our tutorial on our method of making Flight Trackers that are featured on our YouTube channel.

 

 

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