Infinite Discs Blog

Pureline Tournament Series 2017 Discs are Available

May 10, 2017 Todd Durrant Leave a comment

In order to support the Pureline Tournament Series, which is a series of tournaments in the western states, Infinite Discs now has a great selection of limited edition stamped discs from series co-sponsor, Innova! The Pureline Series allows players of all skill levels to play at different disc golf courses in order to accumulate scores that don’t only win payouts for each tournament, but that also take them toward grand prizes at the end of the series. Infinite Discs is happy to team up with the Pureline organizers to support this series through the selling of this discs.

The Pureline Series stamps feature a formation of fighter jets, drawing out flight paths, from understable to overstable, with their smoke trails. It’s a fun stamp and the discs are downright awesome! There are a lot of glow and colored glow discs, plus plastic types that are not the usual offerings for certain disc models, and just some fun, good-looking colors!

Once these 2017 series discs are gone, then they won’t be back, so get them while you can!

Which Discs Can You Get?

An easy way to browse all of the discs with the Pureline stamp is to click on Advanced Disc Search, and then click the check-box for “Stamp,” and then click the button to view all of the available discs. You can browse through pages of photos and add the ones you want to your cart.

Here is a list of the limited edition Innova discs with the Pureline stamp:

DX AVIAR
CHAMPION SHRYKE
CHAMPION MAKO3
STAR DESTROYER
STAR SHRYKE
PRO DESTROYER
DX GLOW AVIAR
GLOW KC PRO AVIAR
JK AVIAR
KC PRO AVIAR
CHAMPION GATOR
PRO COLT
CHAMPION GUMMY DESTROYER
CHAMPION GUMMY RHYNO
CHAMPION GUMMY TERN
CHAMPION GLOW BOSS
CHAMPION GLOW DESTROYER
CHAMPION ROC3
CHAMPION THUNDERBIRD
PRO GATOR
PRO GLOW GATOR
KC PRO ROC
GLOW KC PRO GLOW ROC
CHAMPION FIREBIRD
CHAMPION DYED TEEBIRD
CHAMPION DYED TERN
CHAMPION DYED DESTROYER
CHAMPION DYED FIREBIRD
CHAMPION DYED ROC3
COLORED GLOW JK PRO AVIAR
COLORED GLOW KC PRO AVIAR
COLORED GLOW KC PRO ROC
XT NOVA
CHAMPION GLOW AVIAR
CHAMPION GLOW FIREBIRD
CHAMPION GLOW GATOR
CHAMPION GLOW SHRYKE
CHAMPION COLORED GLOW DESTROYER
CHAMPION COLORED GLOW FIREBIRD
CHAMPION COLORED GLOW LEOPARD3
CHAMPION COLORED GLOW ROC3
CHAMPION COLORED GLOW TEEBIRD

General

Favorite Disc Golf Course Baskets – 2017 Survey Results

May 9, 2017 Alan Leave a comment

Nowadays there are a lot of different disc golf basket options available. Up and coming manufacturers like Prodigy, Dynamic Discs, and MVP have more affordable course basket options that are making it easier than ever to get a disc golf course installed.

With so many different basket options, which one do you choose? What is the best course quality disc golf basket?

In our State of Disc Golf Survey we asked, “How do you feel about the following baskets on the course?”

While some of the newer baskets are only known and have been tested by only a small population of the sampled survey, the most well known basket is clearly the Innova DISCatcher.

Disc Golf Basket Familiarity

From the basket options included in our survey, at the beginning of 2017 only 29.35% of respondents were familiar with the MVP Black Hole while 77% were familiar with the Innova DISCatcher.

Favorite Disc Golf Baskets

When we break down baskets by those rated “Above Average and The Best” the most favorable baskets are the Mach X, Innova DISCatcher, and Dynamic Discs Veteran.

Baskets Size

On disc golf podcasts and in the professional world there is talk about reducing basket size to align disc golf more with traditional “ball” golf. While a few pros are in favor of smaller baskets, the vast majority of those who participated in our State of Disc Golf Survey (88%) strongly feel that disc golf baskets are currently about just right. 9.7% wish that course baskets were bigger while just 2.3% want disc golf course baskets to be smaller.

Putter Wars 2017 – Which Disc Golf Putter Will Win?

April 28, 2017 Todd Durrant 6 comments

Putters are very personal discs. Some players can go through a lot of different putters before settling on one, primary putter for running the chains. Other players like to keep a variety of putters on hand for different settings and conditions. Some putters are better for approaches or drives. We all have our favorites, and we could argue for hours about which one is “best,” but honestly, the “best” putter is the one that feels right to each individual player.

For example, I currently have a stack of TUI putters by RPM Discs as my primary practice putter. The owner of Infinite Discs has been putting faithfully, and very accurately, with MONEY putters from ABC Discs. Another Infinite Discs employee putts with the Latitude 64 MACANA. These putters all have something in common– none of them are best-selling putters. However, they feel right to each individual player.

So for the sake of argument, let’s take a look at the one thing that can help determine which putters are the “top” putters in terms of the numbers of players using them. That can be determined by the number of players purchasing those discs, and those stats are readily at hand.

Let’s Talk About SALES

We are now approaching the month of May 2017, and we are starting to see putter sales rise as players, both veteran and novice, stock up on putters for the season. Which putters are the hottest movers? Undoubtedly, we’ll see some well known, long established putters rising to the top, but there are also some new putters that are making a splash in 2017.

First of all, here are a couple of comparison charts for the top 10 best-selling putters at Infinite Discs so far in 2017 (4 months including January, February, March, and April):

The Judge by Dynamic Discs was the best-selling putter at Infinite Discs in 2016, but has fallen behind in the first four months of 2017, dropping to 4th place while the three top-sellers are running a close race.

The Discmania P2 “Psycho” has jumped to the top, with the base D-Line plastic exploding in sales. Both P-Line and S-Line are also pushing the sales through the roof.

In second place, we see the juggernaut Aviar by Innova. With many different plastic types, it consistently adds up to being one of the top-selling putters. The McPro Aviar is the plastic blend that is pushing the sales much higher, accounting for more than 1/3 of total Aviar sales so far in 2017.

Third place is held by another long-time best-seller, the Wizard by Gateway. With probably more different plastic blends than any other putter out there, the Wizard is the top-selling disc for the Gateway brand. The most recent blends are the 4S (the most flexible, even more so than Super Stupid Soft) and Evolution Diamond, which is a premium, durable blend. Wizard sales at Infinite Discs have been given a big boost in 2017 with the addition of Wizard 6-Pack bundles which allow customers to grab a bunch of Wizards at once.

Fifth and Sixth place are both owned by discs which are actually more notorious as approach discs, rather than discs for putting. The Westside Harp is very popular, primarily because of the high profile use of the disc by pro disc-golfer, Ricky Wysocki. Sales of the Harp would be higher, possibly giving the Judge a run for the money if the most popular BT Hard plastic had been in stock. But the BT Hard blend has been out of stock from the manufacturer for most of early 2017.

The Nova by Innova is likewise popular as an approach disc, with its reputation boosted by pro disc-golfer, Paul McBeth. The sales have been helped recently by a love for the artistic frame that the over-mold design of the Nova provides. With attractive stamps and great dual color combinations, customers race to buy the most appealing discs whenever a new supply arrives.

The Atom by MVP is making a surprising run into the top 10 best-selling putters of 2017, lifted by the new release of the Atom in Proton plastic. Many fans of the Atom had clamored for a more durable Proton plastic version of the disc for driving, and it was delivered. The Atom was also released in the new Electron Firm plastic blend right at the end of April.

The Pure by Latitude 64 has been a consistently selling putter at Infinite Discs for quite a while, released in glow-in-the-dark Moonshine Plastic in April 2017.

The 9th and 10th place putters are both 2017 newcomers. The Aviar3 by Innova flew off the shelves as a flat-topped, faster, more overstable version of the famous Aviar. Being presented as a new variation of the Aviar, it is no wonder that players want to give it a try. The momentum will likely carry on as the Aviar3 is released in more plastic blends.

The Pilot by Streamline, a brand new spin-off company from MVP in 2017, made a very strong introductory showing, spiking to 10th place so far. A lot of those sales at Infinite Discs were due to a special edition Pilot in Electron Soft plastic with five stamp variations for collectors. There were also 5-Pilot Packs and a massive 21-Pilots Pack which boosted initial sales. The long-term sales of the Pilot are yet to be seen, but it has started off the year strong.

Other Strong Newcomers

Aside from the Aviar3 and Pilot launching with impressive sales in 2017, there are some other putters that are making a splash, and as the year pans out, they have a shot at reaching the top 10.

The Slammer by Dynamic Discs is another disc which could fall more into the category of being an approach disc, though it works wonderfully as an overstable headwind putter. With limited editions helping to build anticipation, the launch of the Slammer was certainly strong, and we will see if that momentum continues.

The Caltrop by Latitude 64 is an interesting putter, being the first by Latitude 64 with a thumb-track. Sales were initially strong, as it was the first major putter release of 2017, though the momentum has slowed under the shadow of other new putters like the Aviar3, Pilot, and Slammer.

The Crown by Westside is another new putter that came out in the spring of 2017, and the initial reviews have been very positive. With a feel and style similar to two of the top 4 putters in this article, the Wizard and the Judge, it has the potential to at least become the best-selling putter released by Westside so far.

Other putters are on the way in 2017, and we will soon see what kind of a splash they make in the disc golf market. Will they dethrone other newcomers like the Crown, the Slammer, or the Pilot? Or will they fade into a growing arsenal of discs that are pouring into the market each year, becoming yet another lesser-known favorite for a few players. Stay tuned, and we’ll find out!

State of Disc Golf – How Much We Spend on the Sport

April 25, 2017 Todd Durrant 2 comments

Looking at the results of the 2017 State of Disc Golf Survey, we can get a glimpse of how much money is spent by disc golfers during the past year. On this year’s survey, we didn’t ask if that money was spent specifically on equipment, or on tournament fees, or on travel, etc. but instead asked the survey participants to generally consider how much total they spend on the sport. These are the results:

As you can see, the majority replied that they spent between $200 and $499 on disc golf in 2016, with the next largest groupings made of people who spent slightly less than that, or who spent up to $999. If you put those three highest groups together, then you have almost exactly 70% of respondents spending between $100 and $999 on disc golf during the year.

By looking at the answer choices, you’ll noticed that the spread became larger as we moved to higher dollar amounts, so the first three choices went from $0 to $199, where the latter four choices covered from $200 to $2000 or more. Thus it was natural that more people would fall somewhere in the middle. But what might seem surprising is that 13.76% of respondents claim to have spent $1000 or more on disc golf in 2016, and 32.73% spend $500 or more on disc golf in 2016. That’s a respectable percentage of players that are spending a significant amount of money on disc golf.

How Did We Spend that Money?

Undoubtedly some of that money is spent on discs, bags, and other accessories. But one factor which could likely tally the higher expenses which would take players into the $500+ categories are things like tournaments and travel. Let’s look at responses that shed some light on the costs of tournaments.

So, with 73.1% of respondents who played in tournaments in 2016 (the vast majority), and those tournaments all have registration fees. And then we figure that 63.4% of players would travel 4 hours or more to play in a tournament, it makes sense that significant travel and tournament play is a contributing factor in disc golf spending. In fact, 22.7% of survey respondents said that they’d “go anywhere” to play a tournament. That implies fuel costs, boarding costs, and more.

Now let’s look at how disc purchases might have calculated into those spending totals:

Looking at these survey results, it would appear that many players are quite conservative when it comes to buying discs. We can see that 42.5% purchase between 0 and 9 discs. If you average a cost of $12 per disc (some are much more expensive, and some are less), then you’re looking at an investment under $100 or just over that amount on discs in a year.

Once we move into those people who bought 10-29 discs, which is a collective 40.1% of those surveyed, then we can estimate that they spent at least in a range of $120 – $350 on discs during the year.

Even though disc golf is an inexpensive sport compared to many others out there, where most courses are free to play, and equipment costs are very low, the truth is that players find ways to spend money on the sport they love. If not in buying discs and equipment, then in tournaments, travel, league fees, and more. Those spending choices are not a bad thing when it comes to the growth of disc golf. The fact that so many players are slapping money on the barrel for equipment, accessories, and tournament support means that disc golf can continue healthy growth, with more opportunities for players, and a growing body of enterprise surrounding the sport we love.

How We Carry Our Discs – 2017 State of Disc Golf Results

April 10, 2017 Alan Leave a comment

There are many ways to carry disc golf discs around. It’s not uncommon to see recreational disc golfers simply carrying around a disc or two in their hands. Many diehards use carts or strollers where they can wheel around dozens of discs at a time. In the 2017 State of Disc Golf survey we asked, “What kind of disc golf bag/cart do you predominately use?”

The majority of surveyed disc golfers use some sort of backpack bag. The backpack has been the trendy way to carry around discs over the past half decade, and with the recent addition of the more affordable backpacks like the Prodigy BP3 and Dynamic Discs Sniper, we expect this trend to continue to rise.

For the recreational disc golfer, the single strap “starter bag” is still an adequate way to carry more than a handful of discs along with a water bottle, keys, phone and other on the course necessities. Small disc golf bags with a single shoulder strap had the second greatest share at 13.7%.

In addition to the increased popularity, the share of disc golf carts, especially among tournament players, is on the rise. 8.6% of surveyed disc golfers said that they primarily use a cart. Go to any PDGA sanctioned tournament and the percentage of cart users is substantially higher. When we ran the survey in 2015 disc golf carts were not even an option.

Over the last two years the biggest decline in disc golf carrying is the “Large Disc Golf Bag.” In the 2015 survey, 34.3% of those surveyed used a large disc golf bag with or without shoulder straps. Almost half as many (16.8%) primarily use a large disc golf bag according to the 2017 survey.

Putting Styles Disc Golfers Use

April 9, 2017 Alan Leave a comment

Putting Style Used

With the exception of the “Turbo Putt,” the different putting styles are pretty evenly distributed among disc golfers. 28.5% of respondents said they use the “spin putt” while 25.7% said they push putt. 39.1% putt using techniques that combine elements of both the spin and the push putt. Less than 1% of putters regularly Turbo Putt from inside the circle, so if you’re among this minority, congratulations! You are in the 1%.

Putting Stance Used

When it comes to putting stance, almost all disc golfers use the traditional staggered approach. Only 10.9% of surveyed disc golfers use a straddle putt.

The Controversial Jump Putt

One of the more controversial disc golf calls is the “jump” or step putt. Those who don’t jump putt feel it is an unfair advantage. Those of us who do jump putt think the 10 meter rule is fantastic as it makes it easier to make long putts. Slightly more than half of those surveyed jump putt while 47.5% said that they do not jump putt outside the circle.

Limited Edition PILOT is Ready for Takeoff

April 6, 2017 Todd Durrant Leave a comment

There has been a lot of hype and a lot of anticipation for the first discs released on the MVP spin-off brand, Streamline Discs. The Pilot was announced to be the initial putter release, and the Trace was the long-range driver. Both discs were officially released to the disc golf market on Friday, March 31st, and sales for both discs were high. The Streamline spin-off was created separately from the existing MVP and Axiom brands because, unlike the discs on those brands, the Streamline discs would be made from a single mold, rather than an over-mold.

One of the unique features for Streamline Discs, as a single mold manufacturer, is the ability to stamp the discs in triple foil (3-color), just like with other MVP and Axiom discs, giving them the ability to present some fun stamps. Infinite Discs embraced that feature and arranged for a limited edition of both discs.

The Trace limited edition featured a dragon being shot at by missiles from a modern fighter jet. The dragon colors varied, making it fun to find a personal favorite. There were 100 of these stamps on Proton plastic and 100 on Neutron plastic, making a total of 200 limited Infinite Discs edition Traces.

Sales on the limited edition Trace soared and at the time of this blog, only a few remained.

Here Comes the Pilot – On 5 Different Stamps!

For the Pilot, Infinite Discs arrange to have a fun stamp series put together and available to customers on April 6th. The limited edition stamp comes in five different varieties. Each stamp features a pilot standing in front of his airplane, but there are five numbered planes, each from a different era of flight. These are the quantities made:

100 Discs – Plane #1 – Early flight
100 Discs – Plane #2 – World War I Fighter
100 Discs – Plane #3 – World War II Fighter
100 Discs – Plane #4 – Modern Fighter Jet
100 Discs – Plane #5 – Fantasy “Space” Jet
10 – Solo Pilot Discs (all black)

There are four different stamp colors for each airplane. These limited edition Infinite Discs Pilot discs can be purchased separately, or in multi-disc packs for enthusiasts and collectors! All of the stamps are on Electron Soft plastic, which is an ideal, grippy, soft plastic blend that works wonderfully for putters.

For those who want one of each of the 5 airplane stamps, there are a limited quantity of pre-assembled 5-Pilots Packs that can be purchased HERE.

For those who want all 5 airplane stamps as well as all four stamp color variations of each airplane, plus one of the unique Solo Pilot discs (these are black with a unique foil on each stamp, making each of the 10 a “unicorn”), there are an extremely limited quantity of the 21-Pilots Pack. In fact, there are only 10 of these packs, each with its own, unique solo pilot black disc.

These huge pack of putters is perfect for ultimate stamp collectors as well as for those who are excited to make the Pilot putter their primary putter, since there are plenty of discs for practice drills. Or, it could be shared with friends. You can find the limited 21-Pilots Packs available for order HERE.

Separate Electron Soft Pilots HERE

5-Pilots Packs HERE

21-Pilots Packs HERE

Top Selling Discs–Q1 of 2017

April 4, 2017 Jace Smellie One comment

Is it really April already? Hard to believe that the first quarter of 2017 has already come and gone! It has been an exciting and busy time here at Infinite Discs. The weather is warming up, and so is disc golf season! Like we do every quarter, it is time for us to look back on the top selling discs of the past three months. As I ran this report, I found a lot of surprises that I am excited to discuss! Like a new disc to reach the number two best selling disc overall, and lots and lots of new releases already claiming their spots on the top selling charts! So let’s get into the top 10 overall to start!

Top 10 Overall

So on what seems to be a regular occurrence, the Innova Destroyer was the number one selling disc overall. But how about the Discmania P2 Psycho jumping 5 spots to become the second best selling disc this quarter? Also, it is worth noting that we were out of stock on max weight D-Line and P-line P2s more days than we had them in stock. If we (and Discmania) had been able to keep more of these discs in stock, it would have been very interesting to see if the P2 would have been able to finally take the top selling spot from the Destroyer. The next few spots we see some of the same names in different slots, but then we find three new names in the bottom three slots! The Dynamic Discs Sheriff was a newly released distance driver this quarter that was a big hit in the Trilogy market. Also the Innova Shryke had a successful first full quarter of sales. Then we see a name that we haven’t seen discussed here in a while, the MVP Atom. This quarter MVP released the Atom in Proton plastic for the first time, and in conjunction with that release we ran a limited edition 3-color stamp Proton Atom that was very well received and sold out within 24 hours. So I think that definitely helped the Atom‘s sales numbers crack into the top 10 overall.

Top Distance Drivers

I generally mention at this point how Innova dominated the distance driver category. And yes, most of the discs in the top 10 are Innova discs, but they gave up a bit of ground this time, only claiming 6 of the top 10 spots. The newly released Dynamic Discs Sheriff made a splash into the number two spot. It will be interesting to see how that disc fares in upcoming quarters. We see the MVP Catalyst hold onto the 10 spot it took last quarter as well, but the number 9 spot is very interesting. The Dynamic Discs Trespass is one of DD‘s original molds, and always sells well, but I don’t remember the last time it was one of the top 10 selling distance drivers. Maybe this is just another indication of the continued growth of Dynamic Discs within the disc golf market.

One other quick note from further down the chart that I think is worth noting. March 31st (the last day of the quarter) was the release date for the new Streamline Discs. The Streamline Trace ended up being the number 12 selling Distance Driver. Not bad for only being released for one day of the quarter.

Top Control/Fairway Drivers

For the top 6 slots we see very little movement with just the Innova Thunderbird and Discmania FD Jackal swapping for the 2 and 3 spots. But at number 7 we see a new name to this chart, the Dynamic Discs Convict. When the Convict was first released, it was usually only available in fundraiser editions, but this quarter we saw the Paige Pierce Signature Series Convicts released. Also, the MVP Volt made a jump up from last quarter into a tie at number 8. I already mentioned how we are seeing the growth of Dynamic Discs in these numbers, but it definitely looks like MVP is once again making some waves in the disc golf world.

Top Midrange Discs

This quarter we didn’t see any Midrange Discs in the overall top 10 for the first time since I started writing these articles, but the Discraft Buzzz still held on to the top midrange spot (11th overall). The Roc3 took back the number 2 spot from the Roc, while the Discmania MD3 jumped ahead of the Innova Mako3 to take number 4. In the bottom half we see some mix-up with the newly released Latitude 64 Anchor jumping in at number 7. Then we see the Latitude 64 Compass jump back into the top 10 by snagging the number 9 spot. The Dynamic Discs Justice also cracked into the top 10 for the first time in a while claiming the final spot.

Top Putt and Approach Discs

There is a new king for putt and approach discs! The Discmania P2 Psycho jumped ahead of 4 putters to claim the top spot. What was once a two horse race has gotten a lot more crowded, and it will be interesting to see how the top continues to shake out throughout the rest of the year. Most of this chart features the same names in similar spots, except for the MVP Atom jumping all the way up to number 6. It will be interesting to see if the Atom sticks around at the top, or if this was just a flash because of the Proton Atom release.

*****Now, a very important bit of detail on the Gateway Wizard that I almost forgot. This year, we introduced a new product to our site, Wizard Putter Packs. These packs allow customers to buy multiple Wizards at a discounted price, and if you add in the individual discs sold in these packs to the totals sold individually, it would put the Wizard ahead of the top selling putter, the Discmania P2 Psycho, by 5 discs sold. This is a noticeable jump in the numbers for the Wizard, and by adding in the packs, it places the Wizard back on top of the Putt and Approach category that it dominated for our first few years in business. And naturally, this would make the Gateway Wizard the second best selling disc overall for Q1.

So, what to watch moving forward? I think both Dynamic Discs and MVP/Axiom and now Streamline will be interesting to analyze in the coming months. Will they continue to build off the growth we see in the first quarter? Also, while they gave up a few slots, Innova seems to be showing that they aren’t going anywhere, with an impressive quarter from the Innova Shryke, and their new putter, the Aviar3, finished just outside of the top 10 at number 11. But will those new molds hang on? Also a disappointing quarter for Discraft, only having one disc make it on any of these lists with a few dropping off from last quarter. Will they bounce back? Only time will tell!

What do you think? Any surprises or disappointments? What do you think is the most interesting disc from this quarter? Leave a comment and let us know!

General

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