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MVP Best Sellers – August 2019 Edition

August 30, 2019 Dylan Durrant 2 comments

MVP, Axiom, and Streamline Best Sellers

Recently, we all got hit with a rough announcement: Fifteen MVP and Axiom molds are going out of production. This seemed like a good time to take a look at the data and see where the sales stand. MVP has talked of big plans for 2020, and we believe them! We’re looking forward to another great year from MVP! So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the data and discuss.

The Best Sellers

The Envy, for another year in a row, takes the top spot. This isn’t too surprising, the Envy is an awesome mold for up shots and putting. With it being available in so many plastics, everybody seems to be able to find a flavor of Envy that they like.

The Pilot takes the second spot! This was a little surprising, coming from the smallest of the trifecta, Streamline. The Pilot has sold super well over the past year, it is well loved as a putting putter and a straight approach disc.

The Insanity moves up a few spots from last year’s report, snagging the #3 spot. This has become a very popular driver in the last few months, really excelling to the top of the charts.

Discontinued Molds

The highest selling discontinued mold is the Axis in the #22 best seller position, which does bring into question the decision to retire it. However, it was explained in MVP’s announcement that some of their older, original midrange molds are less compatible with their new modern machinery. They promise to make new midranges to replace several that were brought out of production. Midranges only make up about 11% of our MVP sales, so they are not quite as popular as the other discs, or they just get replaced less often. There is generally a reason that players do not buy discs. More on that later.

We also took a look at the percentage of sales the newly discontinued molds make up. In the last year, the now discontinued molds only made up 9% of the total MVP, Axiom, and Streamline sales. Those fifteen molds make up less than 10% of our sales, so we can infer that it is a good move for MVP to make some shelf space for their new additions.

Everything Else

While we were at it, we added a couple interesting pie graphs to the mix.

MVP made up 53.6% of the sales, Axiom brought in 32.9%, and Streamline made up the remaining 13.5%.
Electron Firm, Plasma, and Eclipse made up nearly 50% of the Envy sales.
Neutron plastic made up for more sales than Proton and Plasma combined.
Distance drivers and Putt & Approach discs each took about a third of the sales, leaving fairways and midranges with the last third.

That’s it for now!

What did you find that interested or surprised you? Let us know in the comments!

Distance Driver Sales Race – Animated Graphs

August 29, 2019 Todd Durrant 2 comments

Here at Infinite Discs, we love looking at statistics. The numbers always help tell a story of how the disc golf market is moving, at least when it comes to measuring how our own customers are responding to new discs or different brands. This week we thought it would be a lot of fun to make a video chart which shows actual movement of those trends through time.

Hot Distance Drivers

We know that distance drivers are considered the sports car of the disc golfer’s bag. It is one of the discs that almost every player feels defines them, their abilities, or their play style. It is one of those discs that players often swap when they feel like they need to revolutionize their game, so new distance drivers tend to get a lot of sales movement when they are first released.

That is why we thought it would be fun to track the movement of some popular, established distance drivers side-by-side with new distance drivers as they entered the market during the past 11 months. The ten distance drivers that we decided to track include some new ones that only came out in 2020, but we wanted to see how much attention they might have pulled away from the more established discs. These are the distance drivers we chose to track:

Destroyer (always a hot seller)
Wraith (another popular Innova seller)
Shryke (a somewhat newer driver by Innova)
Photon (a top-selling MVP driver)
DD3 (the new 2020 driver by Discmania)
Raider (the new 2020 driver by Dynamic Discs)
Trespass (a popular driver by Dynamic Discs before the Raider)
Pharaoh (a relatively new driver by Infinite Discs)
Force (an old driver by Discraft which became a McBeth signature disc in 2020)
Zeus (the first distance driver in McBeth’s own disc line)

This particular selection of discs lets us measure how Paul McBeth affected the market when moving from Innova to Discraft as his brand sponsor in 2020, how new discs affected other brands, how they compared to discs of their own brand (like the Raider vs the Trespass), how market hype can play into sales, and how availability may stifle the momentum of a new release.

The Percentage Animated Graph

This first animated graph is designed to show which disc was grabbing the larger percentage of the market through the movement of time from October 2018 through August 2019. That means that we take the total sales of these 10 distance drivers, add those sales together, and compare the percentages of that total that each one grabbed.

For example, the Destroyer may have been holding 40% of the total sum of sales for those 10 discs for a couple of months, but then a new driver comes out and grabs 40% of the total sales that particular week. That would make the Destroyer percentage drop, even though it may still be selling the same quantity as the previous months, simply because there is only 100% available for those 10 discs to share. This chart helps us to see which discs were grabbing attention at any given moment. The time line will appear at the bottom of the chart.

For your viewing pleasure, here is that October 2018 – August 2019 animated chart (click the play button to activate the graph):

You’ll notice that as the new 2020 discs entered the market, they grabbed a percentage of the sales for a moment, but sometimes didn’t keep that momentum, either because of limited availability or the hype didn’t last. For example, availability of both the DD3 and the Raider was fairly limited when they were first released and it took a little time for regular stock releases to give them a boost.

The Zeus went through huge spikes depending upon availability and the releases of the prototype (originally called the Kong), the first run, and ending with the August release of the limited edition Big Z Zeus– thus the spike at the end of the video when it grabbed a huge percentage of total sales.

You’ll also noticed that the Destroyer sales moved up as Paul McBeth announced his change of sponsors, while players and collectors grabbed his old signature edition before the end of 2019. It got another boost with the new Wysocki edition.

The Force sales at Discraft started to rise based on speculation about what he would throw, and then the announcement came of the Force as a McBeth signature disc. But then the Force died down as the attention turned to the Zeus, which as a disc in Paul’s own line, was grabbing more attention than the Force.

The Race – Total Sales Animated Graph

Now for a look at a chart that takes less explanation. This is very straight-forward. We totaled the sales through time, adding to the total with new sales from October 2018 through August 2019. This allows us to watch the total sales for that period like a race where the disc that sells the most by the end is the winner.

So, rather than comparing percentage of sales, we’re just adding sales for each separate disc. Will the slow-but-steady disc end up selling most in the end? Or will the spikes on new releases help boost the newcomers to the winning position?

For your viewing pleasure, here is that October 2018 – August 2019 animated race (click the play button to activate the graph):

It’s pretty obvious that the steady sales of the Destroyer kept it far enough ahead that even the spikes on new releases, including the Zeus, could not boost those newcomers to the lead. The Zeus finished in 2nd place, getting enough large spikes to push its totals up, but not high enough to take the win. The Wraith, even with it’s slow and steady sales, gave it the 3rd place title, with the Infinite Discs Pharaoh following closely behind.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed these animated charts. Watch them over and over and see what kind of analysis you can offer in the comments below.

Top 100 Discs – First Half of 2019

August 5, 2019 Dylan Durrant 7 comments

Top 100 Discs

Welcome to another statistics blog! These are some of my favorite blogs to write and look at, since we can see some fun data about the sport we’ve grown to love! Today we’re going to be looking at some of the top discs, specifically the Top 100 Discs from the first half of 2019.

Disclaimer – This data is all from InfiniteDiscs.com, the biggest online retailer. This data is from discs sold this year- hundreds of orders shipped per day to all across the country and world.

Click to expand.

Discraft vs Innova

First off, we notice that the Destroyer is still clenching the #1 spot, even after McBeth’s switch to Discraft. The Zeus and Luna, however are making a run for the top. They come in at 4th and 5th place respectively. The Anax was released shortly after the first half of the year, so it didn’t quite make it to the chart.

Innova appears more than 30 times on the chart, while Discraft is just under 20. Last year, this was definitely a different story; Discraft has grown a lot this year.

Infinite Discs

In the second year of having our own line of discs (produced by Innova), we have 5 discs on the chart. One of them, the Pharaoh, makes the #9 spot. The Pharaoh has definitely been our hottest mold. This is a little biased, however, because currently the only place to get our line up is from our own website. We will wholesale our own line later this year.

Discmania & MVP

Discmania & MVP both have nine entries on this list. These are two awesome disc golf companies that have been exploding in popularity recently! Axiom has the Envy at #11, and Discmania has the P2 at #3 and the FD at #13.

Honorable Mentions

The Pig snags the #46 spot, largely due to Ricky Wysocki putting in his new Innova bag this year. People have started to take notice of his silky smooth pig throws!

The Orc has the #33 spot, due to an influx of some really cool Pre-Flight number Orcs that we’ve come across. People say these are the best of the Orcs, so check them out!

Kastaplast has two entries on the top 100, the Reko (#60) and the Berg (#63). Kastaplast has been putting out some really unique feeling plastic and people are loving them! The Berg and Reko are some awesome putt & approach discs worth looking into.

The MINT Discs Alpha barely snuck onto the chart at the #98 spot. MINT Discs is an up and coming company with two very good molds, the Alpha and the Bobcat. MINT has it’s fan club set in stone, with popularity growing!

Let’s Discuss!

Let us know how many discs you throw from the top 100!
Next, we’ll do a top 100 for the entire year of 2019. Which discs do you think will make the chart? The Anax?
Which brands do you think will grow more this year and next?
Which discs deserve to be in the top 100?

Top Selling Discs–Q2 of 2019

July 22, 2019 Jace Smellie Leave a comment

The always hectic summer in the disc golf world is in full swing! We are doing everything we can here at Infinite Discs to stay on top of it all. This post is a little late, but it is time to take a look back at the top selling discs of the second quarter in 2019!

Top 10 Overall

The disc formerly known as Kong, aka the Discraft Zeus, has been flying off the shelves, but it still wasn’t enough to beat out the “original” Paul McBeth distance driver. The Innova Destroyer stayed at number one this quarter, but it will be exciting to see if the stock stamp release of the Zeus will push it up to the top spot. Beyond that, we see most of the same names we saw last quarter with the most movement coming from the Innova Firebird that dropped from 5 to 10.

Top Distance Drivers

As always, we see Innova with a strong presence in the distance driver category. They manufacture 8 of the 10. But the other two discs may not be going anywhere soon. The Zeus has proven to be a hit, and the Raider was an instant success for Dynamic Discs. It will be interesting to see if both of these discs can continue to compete with the rest of the Innova made distance drivers that seem to always be at the top of the charts. Oh, and don’t sleep on the newly released Infinite Discs Emperor. I think we will continue to see this disc in the top 10 for a while.

Top Control/Fairway Drivers

Like with the distance drivers, Innova manufactures 8 of these top 10 discs. I think this is the first time we have seen the Innova Thunderbird take the number one spot. It is always near the top, but the new Swirly Star Jeremy Koling Thunderbirds finally bumped it to number one. The newly released Discmania Evolution Instinct came in at 6 with a lot of hype. We will see if it continues to sell well down the road. Beyond that, we have a lot of the same in the fairway drivers.

Top Midrange Discs

The top half of the midrange chart stayed nearly identical featuring the same top 4 as last quarter, but the bottom half shook up a bit. We haven’t heard a lot about Mint Discs since they released the very successful Alpha a few years ago, but now they add a midrange to the mix with the Bobcat taking our 7 spot. Also we see Discraft continuing to have a positive year on the sales charts with the Buzzz SS making its first appearance on the top 10 for as long as I can remember.

Top Putt and Approach Discs

This is something I’ve never seen before. All top 8 selling putt and approach discs this quarter are in the exact same position as last quarter. I guess we are pretty consistent with our putt and approach game here at Infinite Discs :). The Streamline Pilot cracked the top 10 this quarter with help from a Special Edition release in Streamline’s Neutron and Cosmic Neutron. The MVP Entropy is a newly released overstable approach disc that fills a great slot in the MVP lineup.

And that does it for our 2019 Q2 top sellers! Do any of these charts surprise you? What discs did better/worse than you would have expected? Tell us in the comments! And see you next quarter!

Discraft’s Paul McBeth Prototype Anax & First Run Zeus

July 11, 2019 Dylan Durrant Leave a comment

Prototype Anax & First Run Zeus

The day is almost here! The Prototype Anax & First Run Zeus release Friday, July 12 at midnight eastern time. You can find the Anax here and the Zeus here at that exact time! They come in beautiful colors and many have great swirls in them. The ESP plastic feels very good!

The Anax

The Anax (pronounced “Onyx” according to Discraft) is Paul McBeth’s newest signature driver. It’s a few notches slower than the Zeus, coming in at a speed 10. Beginners may find this disc to be overstable, but more advanced players will find the Anax goes straight for a long time, maximizing it’s 6 glide rating to the fullest before fading out at the end of the flight. We made a quick video review about the Anax:

The Zeus

Formerly known as the Kong, the Zeus is Paul McBeth’s go-to signature distance driver.

This is an overstable distance driver, similar to a Destroyer in flight. Previously, we’ve only had access to Prototype Zeus/Kongs. Now, this release presents to us the First Run edition of the Zeus.

Be sure to pick yours up tonight at midnight eastern!

2019 Infinite Discs Signature Series Discs

July 3, 2019 Todd Durrant One comment

As we’re enjoying the summer disc golf months, we thought that we’d introduce you to this year’s signature disc collection on the Infinite Discs brand. These are discs that we release in cooperation with professional players so that we can help to financially support their travels during the tournament season. By purchasing these great discs, you also help to contribute to their touring. If you enjoy watching these players, you want to help to grow the sport, and you want to try some new discs, we encourage you to spend the couple of dollars extra to get a signature series disc, no matter what the brand.

DAVID FELDBERG – SPLATTER S-BLEND EMPEROR

The Splatter S-Blend run of Emperor discs is technically “Run 2” and is a very solid distance driver that came out more overstable than the Run 1 I-Blend edition. The entire run is dedicated to Team Infinite player, DAVID FELDBERG, who wanted to show that quality players can use a mixed bag of different brands and still play at a high level. Yes, he does use the Emperor by Infinite Discs as a primary driver, but it fits in his bag along with discs from many great brands, and we’re happy to have him on the team.

We thought it would be fun to present two different stamps for David’s signature disc– one that focuses more on him and that has a play on the classic, Greek Olympian pose, and another that has more of a stock stamp flavor with a touch of ancient Rome.

GARRETT GURTHIE – METAL FLAKE GLOW C-BLEND PHARAOH

Infinite Discs was happy to sponsor Garrett Gurthie starting in 2018 when he was making his touring comeback. He had a 2018 signature Pharaoh and a signature Slab, but for 2019 he wanted to have a signature edition Metal Flake Glow C-Blend Emperor so that he could add it to his distance driver arsenal. Garrett is best known for his ability to throw amazing distances and he has already started to stack up some big wins in the 2019 season. Garrett is also a member of Innova’s Champion team.

This is the first edition of the Garrett Gurthie signature stamp and there will be another later in the year, so keep your eyes open!

JESSICA WEESE – SWIRLY S-BLEND PHARAOH

We’ve been happy to work with Jessica Weese since 2018 as well. She is a member of Innova’s Star team and one of the best FPO players in the game. Last year Jessica had a signature Chariot mid-range with Infinite Discs, and for 2019 she has a signature Swirly S-Blend Pharaoh which was part of a very flat-topped run with extra stability for distance throwers.

NICOLE “PICKLE” DIONISIO – C-BLEND SCEPTER

Nicole Dionisio is an FPO player from Maine who works closely with her local disc golf scene and who is loved by other professional players wherever she plays. Known affectionately as Pickle, she’s a great ambassador for the sport and is proudly sponsored by Infinite Discs. For 2018 she had a signature S-Blend Exodus, and for 2019 she fell in love with the new Scepter, which is a very overstable, flat-topped fairway driver in the Infinite Discs line. Pickle throws a lot of forehand drives and her signature C-Blend Scepter works into her style perfectly with its beefy fade and wind-fighting power.

JOEL FREEMAN – X-BLEND SCARAB

Joel Freeman is another great player on Innova’s Champion team and who started working with Infintie Discs in 2019 for a special signature edition disc. He wanted to take his putting game to the next level for the 2019 touring season and requested a run of putters now known as the Scarab. Joel prefers the X-Blend for its good grip in all weather conditions, including rain or cold. Check out Joe’s signature X-Blend Scarab for a great, beaded putter with nice glide for both long and short putts.

COMING SOON…

Infinite Discs is also excited to announce another fun signature edition disc for 2019 which we hope to release in the end of July.

JEREMY KOLING “BIG JERM” – CONCRETE SLAB

Big Jerm got his hands on a Slab early in the 2019 season and pulled it out of his bag during a tournament to give it a try. He ended up loving its flat profile and overstable, high-speed flight. While doing commentary for a professional disc golf round on Youtube, he jokingly called the plastic type “concrete” so that he could say he was throwing a “Concrete Slab,” so Infinite Discs decided to run with that name. The signature Slab for Big Jerm is a mix of metal flake and luster C-Blend plastic which we’ll obligingly call “Concrete.”

Other partnerships with other great players are in the works. Infinite Discs is excited to help support these great players with fun discs that they enjoy throwing.

General

Getting Ready for Masters Worlds – Sandy Creek Sling — Dave Feldberg Blog Post #3

June 18, 2019 David Feldberg One comment

One last event to practice for Masters World’s in Vermont. The Sandy Creek sling is a one day C-tier which I won in 2018. Being that it is in Athens and on a course I really like, I headed there to defend my title. It looked like a gloomy day kinda of misting but was playable and not steaming hot. I was placed in a somewhat featured group that included the top other two rated players in the event Jason Light and Austin Lytle. We played two holes and they called it for lightening. I went birdie, eagle with a 75 foot putt right before they blew the horn. We waited around for 4 hours and I though they were just going to call it.

But they sent us out there to finish the 16 holes and make it an official event. The lightning was gone but the rain was still in full force. Luckily I had my new pro Pull sponsored super umbrella and Ryan my buddy on the bag. I came out and played pretty well taking a commanding 5 stroke lead headed on to hole 11. Austin pushes a little as the rain and my grip had reached it saturated point, but I held on to win by 3. So now I have an A, B, and a C- tier win in the open division this year. I really mixed it up throwing many different discs. After birding 4 out of 5 holes all with different brands J-Light looked at me and said “you really do throw everything, huh”. I went Latitude, Prodigy, Innova, and Kastaplast all birdies.

Getting ready for Masters Worlds as my next event. I am excited to defend the title and look forward to what I am told will be fair fun courses. Patrick Brown and I will defend our doubles title to start the week and then I will be on my quest for a second title. I have found that it is hard to repeat in any event, but I have noticed with my new mixed bag that when I am playing well, my level is higher than last year. Plus my jump putt is much better now that I have old blackie back .

On a business level I see NG getting smoother every day. It has its hick ups, but overall we are on the rise. The funny thing is people ask me why should I play NG? Besides all the prizes and such, I ask them, why did you play your local C-tier? I didn’t know we had to give players a reason to play tournament golf. Our goal was just to make that experience better.

On a personal level I just celebrated my first Father’s Day and Synthya is so sweet. From gifts to homemade steak and potatoes she made me feel special. Leomax is growing fast and he is so smart!! I just rented my first pressure washer and waved my house . Those things are pretty fun. I have also been working on getting a few courses put in so we have something decent to play. Looking good to put in a championship course here in Georgia!!

Going to Vermont now, wish me luck!!!

General

NEW Ledgestone 2019 Releases!

June 4, 2019 Dylan Durrant Leave a comment

New Ledgestone Insurance Open Releases!

It’s time for the next wave of Ledgestone discs to take to the skies! We’ve just listed an entire new batch of Discraft discs in new plastics and blends! Let’s take a look at the new discs coming out today (June 4, 2019)! Click the title or picture in each section to see all of the discs available to purchase!

If you’d like to browse, filter, and sort through all of the 2019 Ledgestone releases, click here! (Otherwise, look below for the breakdown of new releases.)

If you’d like to check out some of the previous years Ledgestone releases, click here!

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