Get to Know Signature Team Member Kesler Martin

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Welcome Kesler Martin! Not only is Kesler a member of our Signature Team, but he is also a member of Team Innova as part of the Ambassador Team. He is currently 1011 rated, and the second highest rated player in Utah! Kesler works at Infinite Discs full time as the creative director, or as I like to call him, the Stamp Master. Kesler was gracious enough to take some time to answer some questions. Get to know a bit more about Kesler Martin!

 

How did you get started in disc golf?

When I was about 10 years old, my dad took me out to play a round at our local course. He started playing in the early ‘80s with the classic Wham-O frisbee and let me use it when I first played. I definitely liked the sport, but I was using most of my free time practicing to make my high school golf team (I did eventually). We would play disc golf off and on as I was growing up, but I did not practice with the intent to get better/compete until I was 21 years old. Over the following 5 years, I increased my rating from 948 to 1011. Over the last ~2 years, I have oscillated between being the highest rated in Utah. I have had lots of big local wins along with mediocre results at the few tour events I have played. I finally got my dad to sign up for the PDGA in 2018. He played his first tournament in Logan, Utah where I was the tournament director. Today, he and I complete on a regular basis and often at the same tournaments. Having this relationship with my father has been a huge blessing in my life.

Is there anyone in particular you look up to or admire in the game?

Totally! I admire a few aspects of multiple professionals’ playstyles. Here are a few examples: Any backhand shot from Barry Shultz. Touch shots with the Nova from Paul McBeth. How flipping far Eagle can forehand. Dallin Blanchard’s consistency, Kevin Jones’ athleticism and Philo Brathwaite’s super silky-smooth putt.

 

What is your favorite type of shot to throw?

Hands down, I thoroughly love throwing perfectly straight shots. I feel like straight shots and turnovers are a lost art. I also love throwing shots that shape to tightly wooded fairways. All these shots give such a rewarding feeling that is very difficult to describe.

Which of your disc golf achievements are you most proud of?

This would probably be my back-to-back B-Tier winning streak in 2018. The first win was up in Idaho at the Southeast Idaho Invitational. I was keeping up with three 1000 rated players and finally pushed ahead during the final round. I was so confident, and it felt like I could not miss a putt. My final round was super-hot and pushed me clear of the tough competition by 5 strokes. The second win was the Creekside Open about three weeks later down in Salt Lake City, Utah. Had I not dropped from Ledgestone, I would not have been able to compete at this one. I was able to clutch a hot second round that gave me a comfortable lead. Both these tournaments netted me +$1000, and more importantly they revealed and gave me confidence that I could win big tournaments.

 

If you could play a round with only three discs, which would they be? And why?

I would choose the XT Nova, Champion Coyote, and Star Thunderbird. The Nova is my go-to putting putter and shot shaping throwing putter. The Coyote is a workable straight flying mid-range with tons of glide. The Thunderbird is by far my favorite driver. I will gladly exchange the bit of distance lost from choosing other distance drivers for the consistency and control I get from the Thunderbird.

 

 Other than disc golf, what else do you enjoy doing?

I am passionate about music (playing and listening) and graphic design. I adore spending quality time with my wife, family, and friends. I also enjoy both playing a variety of board games and selection of video games such as, Smash Bros Ultimate, Minecraft and many of the Zelda installments. Furthermore, I enjoy other individual sports like golf, pickle ball and ping pong.

What tips do you have for newer players or players looking to improve their game?

Practice your short game! Putting and approach shots are roughly half the strokes you take out on the course. Throwing far is helpful but its not everything. Consistency and control are paramount.

 

 If people want to follow along on your journey, where can they best follow you?

You can friend me on Facebook, and I can be found on Instagram and Twitter at @km4rt_special.

Be on the look out for Kesler this year! The Kesler Martin Signature Metal Flake C-Blend Meme Sphinx goes live on Thursday, February 25th. Be sure to get one fast before they’re gone and help support Kesler’s season. If you are interested in what the second highest rated player in Utah throws, be on the lookout for his in the bag coming soon. Tear it up this season, Kesler!

Focus Friday

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Happy Friday, another week has come and gone. Making summertime all that much closer. Where it is Friday, its time for another discount code: FOCUSPMODELS. As we are focusing on the Prodigy P Model S, so over the weekend use that code to save 20% on all P Model S molds.

The P Model S is a fairly stable putter. Great for straight putts with little fade at the end of the flight. Its stability helps it to be a good driving putter as well. Coming in a variety of plastics it will be easy to use this disc for an approach disc or putting. Where this is a beaded disc, it’ll hold onto its stability for a bit longer than if it didn’t have the bead. Keep your eye on these as later this weekend we’ll add some glow plastic with a fun stamp on it.

Head on over to https://infinitediscs.com/Prodigy-P-Model-S/DuraFlex-Glow to select your P Model S. Once everything you want is in your cart, you can apply the discount code FOCUSPMODELS and get 10% off all P Model S molds in your cart.

Note: After placing your discs in the shopping cart and before checking out, click on the “Discount Code” box under the shopping cart and enter that code. Then proceed to checkout.

 

When Did You Start Playing?

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2021 State of Disc Golf:

How Long Have You Been Playing?

 

In last week’s blog we looked at the ages, gender, and where we live. This week we will look at when we started playing, and check out some other data related to when we started. We will also look at people who started recently, as in during the pandemic, and see what their motivation was to start. I wanted to explore some other questions, but I think they will fit in better with other blog subjects.

We all got introduced to the sport of disc golf at some point, and in some fashion. For me, I’m happy to say that I invented disc golf! Well, sort of. My brothers and I were tossing Frisbees around the yard in the mid 70’s and we came up with a cool game. We selected nine objects around my parent’s spacious yard, and our disc golf course was born. It wasn’t until decades later that we heard there was actually a sport similar to what we were doing, complete with formal baskets and discs. It wouldn’t be for a couple more years before we would get actual discs and play on a ‘real’ course. (The first real course we played was Creekside in Salt Lake City).

Finally Getting Real

 

Although it wasn’t for another many years until we considered ourselves disc golfers, the seed was planted and we were hooked. Today, when people ask how long I’ve been playing, I refer to my 2013 beginning, since that was when I got some ‘real’ discs and played a league round with our local club. In this blog post, we will check out when people say they started playing. Then we’ll focus on a couple years or year ranges that had the highest number of people start disc golf. And we’ll look at a couple other survey results.

When Did You Start Playing Disc Golf?

 

The question we asked in the survey was ‘When did you begin playing disc golf?’ The choices were individual years for 2011-2020, five-year blocks from 2001-2010, ten-year blocks from 1971-2000, and the final category was ‘Before 1970’. If you were lucky enough to be able to answer ‘Before 1970’, good on you! Also, congrats for playing so long, and presumably still playing! Also, what is your PDGA number?!

Here are the results for when people said they started playing:

 

 

As you can see, there are a few people among the respondents who started playing more than 50 years ago! Interestingly, the biggest group are the people who started just last year. If you look at the next biggest group, it may be surprising to see such a large number of people in the 2006-2010 range. But, that’s when the five-year span starts. Here is a chart with all of the years from 2001-2020 in five year increments. It’s more of what we should expect.

 

 

Even with the overall graph looking like what we would expect, the statistic that is the most impressive is how many people say they started last year. Factoring in the Covid19 shutdowns, leaving people with more time on their hands and fewer activities that could be done safely, the large increase is not surprising. The big increase in sales for Infinite for 2020 can be partially explained by the large number of disc golfers who already played the sport, but now wanted discs, putters, baskets, etc. for quarantine activities. Even so, the sport has been growing the last few years and while some organic growth is to be expected, such a large number of new players is partially because of Covid19. Let’s explore some of the reasons why people picked up disc golf last year.

 

What’s The Appeal With Disc Golf

 

According to the first graph above, 1205 people said they started playing last year. For that group of people, we asked a follow-up question to learn more about their motives. We asked, ‘Why Did You Start Playing In 2020?’ With nine responses to choose from, we know there would be multiple reasons why people started playing, so we gave them more than one choice. Of those 1205 people, 25% of them listed the pandemic as all or part of the reason they started playing. I was happy to see that over half of the people listed ‘Friend invited me’ as one of their reasons. I’ve seen many people get into the sport simply because someone invited them to play. Invite your friends! Here is a chart showing the percentage of reasons given by the newest members of our sport. It’s good to see ESPN, CBS, and Brodie Smith contributing to the growth!

Age/Starting Year

I wanted to see the ages of people who started playing last year, to see if there were something that might stand out in the data. To start, here is the chart from last week showing the age divisions among all of the survey participants. Below that is a graph of the ages of the 1205 people who started last year.

 

 

The new player demographic is pretty much spot on the average of all disc golfers in the survey. Out of curiosity, I checked out the ages of people who said they started in the 2006-2010, since that was the largest group of years in the survey outside of 2020. You would expect the ages to look different, since a group that started 10 years ago would statistically be older than a group that started last year. But, I would expect the graph to still have the same general highs and lows as the average. But, that is not the case. Here is a graph of the ages of people who started playing in 2006-2010:

 

 

30-Somethings

To be clear, those are the current age groups of the people who said they started in 2006-2010. The early-30’s group is still the largest, but the general shape of the graph doesn’t look like the overall graph. Most notably is the smaller ratio of the 41-50 group. Since I wasn’t playing then, I don’t have an idea why that age would look different. It might be worth breaking down all of the groups by when they started and the age group they belong to.

 

If you have any thoughts on these stats, be sure to comment below. Also, if you have any survey results that you would like to have explored, let me know if the comments. Check back next week for more results of the 2020 State of Disc Golf

Click here for last week’s blog.

 

 

Introducing Wild Discs

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Infinite Discs carries a large selection of brands and we want to introduce you to some of the brands and molds that you might not be as familiar with. Each week we will spotlight a different company and tell you a little more about them. Because of Covid shutdowns, our supply of discs was severely affected. Therefore, we may not have all of the molds from all of the brands we will talk about. But, it might put a few more molds on your radar for the future. We are back in the US this week and we’re featuring Buffalo, New York manufacturer, Wild Discs.

Wild in Buffalo

Buffalo, New York, sits next to Lake Erie in the western part of the state. It is just across the Niagara River from Canada.  It is home to the Buffalo Bills, and Wild Discs.

Wild

Discs was started in June, 2020, by Kyle Knab and Becky Fix. It was created out of a two-pronged desire: first, to grow the sport of disc golf by providing quality discs and accessories. And second, to give back to the world by committing 5% of all proceeds to wildlife conservation. The founders love disc golf, love animals, and love to spend time outdoors enjoying the wilderness. Wild Discs is a combination of their passions.

First Molds

The first disc approved by the PDGA for Wild Discs is the Hummingbird putter. The mold has a small, smooth bead and a straight flight with a lot of glide. It was approved at the end of 2020, and since then two other molds have been approved and released: the Orca and the Addax. The Orca is a high-speed driver whose flight is similar to an

Innova Tern. The Addax is their midrange with a straight flight and solid fade. The stamps for all of their discs are created by Co-founder, Becky Fix.

What’s An Addax?

Although most people are familiar with orcas and hummingbirds (the animals), the Addax might not be as familiar. You have probably seen a picture of one, without knowing its name. It is an African animal whose body shape is similar to an antelope, but with long, spiral horns. The animal is nearly extinct in the wild. Details about each the animals featured on their molds are found on Wild Discs’ website.

Wild Discs currently offers three plastic types for their discs. However, the have several more plastic types that they are experimenting with. Currently, the company lists Landslide, Quicksand, and Whirlpool as their available plastics. Landslide is a durable plastic that is firm, but still has good grip. Whirlpool plastic has even more durability than Landslide, and with a little more grip. Quicksand is a nylon based plastic mixed with some Landslide plastic, with a ton of grip – the most of all their plastics. It also has a soft flex and is very durable.

Coming to Wild Discs…

As mentioned above, Wild Discs has several new plastic types they are experimenting with. They are also working on expanding both their disc and product lines. What will the future hold? Coming out in a couple of months will be a fairway driver and a mid/approach disc. Even before those hit the market Wild will be releasing a new bag that, according to founder Kyle Knab, will be “the most eye-catching bag on the market” whose functionality is “next level”. Stay tuned to Wild Discs for their new releases! Here is a sneak peak of the bag.

Although Wild Discs is a new company, selling their first discs in October 2020, they are already looking forward to the future. One avenue of growth that Wild uses is supporting an ambassador team. Anyone can apply to be on the team. Details can be found on their website.

Growing And Supporting Conservation

In addition to adding more molds and products to their brand, they are excited about the growth of the sport. They are looking forward to getting more women and youth involved in disc golf and are glad to be in a position to make a difference. Even in the short time they’ve been a business, they have received a lot of support, kind words, and positive feedback from the disc golf community. They have already raised over $1,000 that will go toward wildlife conservation.

Wild Discs will continue to support conservation efforts, and that commitment is one of the unique aspects of their company. They will continue to contribute 5% of proceeds toward conservation efforts. Plus, they will be holding charity events and tournaments to further support the cause. Wild Discs’ commitment to animals is apparent in their mold names, stamp designs, and even their company name. Check out Wild Discs today! Then see below how you can win a Wild Discs mold.

Check out Infinite’s selection of Wild Discs molds here:

https://infinitediscs.com/category/Wild-Discs

Check out the Wild Discs website (and their awesome hoodies!) here:

https://wilddiscs.com/

See how you can support conservation efforts here:

https://www.wcs.org/

Comment About Wild Discs !

 

Do you throw Wild Discs? Tell us which mold is your favorite.

Never tried them? Tell us which mold you would like to try.

 

 

Last Week: Disctroyer

Last week we looked at Disctroyer. We selected three random people who commented on that blog. Here are the winners:

Colby S

Brian F

Harry S

Congrats! We’ll get your disc shipped out shortly.

 

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – FEBRUARY 16TH 2021

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Welcome to the Top 20 Tuesday chart! Every week we take a look at the twenty top-selling discs on the Infinite Discs website, broken down by plastic type as well. So these are the top sellers for the last seven days in order:

(NOTE: This chart is for the last 2 weeks this time, since we missed a week)

Top Twenty Tuesday for February 16th 2021

#1 – Crazy Tuff ZONE
#2 – ESP REAPER
#3 – Rubber Blend ZONE
#4 – Royal Soft BOBCAT
#5 – Royal BOBCAT
#6 –Signature I-Blend EMPEROR
#7 – Z-Line ZONE
#8 – Z Line BUZZZ
#9 – ESP NUKE
#10 – D-Blend ALPACA
#11 – ESP UNDERTAKER
#12 – Metal Flake Glow C-Blend CENTURION
#13 – Star X-Out DESTROYER
#14 – Basic JOKERI
#15 – Star DESTROYER
#16 – Star X-Out WRAITH
#17 – Feather ALLOSAURUS
#18 – Z Line HEAT
#19 – ESP RAPTOR
#20 – S-Line DD3

This week we have a chart that reflects the last two weeks of sales because of a vacation (sorry about that). Discraft dominated the sales chart with six of the top nine spots, with three of those been Zones in different plastics. The Royal and Royal Soft BOBCAT from Mint Discs took the #4 and #5 spots with a limited edition stamp release at Infinite Discs. The JOKERI made it onto the chart with a cool 10th Anniversary release in their original, grippy Basic plastic blend. With Innova, a couple of X-Outs made the chart since stock discs have been lacking, but we are restocking a lot of Innova right now and expect to see them on the chart in multiple spots.

Here is a look at how many times the different brands hit the chart:

–> Each week we’ll invite you to leave a prediction for a certain chart position on next week’s TOP TWENTY TUESDAY report. The person to predict that chart position correctly in the comments will win a $10 gift card for the Infinite Discs website.

WINNER – The number 9 spot was the ESP NUKE by Discraft. Nobody picked the Nuke, so we don’t have a winner this time. But please keep the guesses coming!

NEXT WEEK: Guess the #10 spot for next week. The first person to get it right (include the disc model and plastic type) will win!

THANKS FOR READING AND WATCHING EACH WEEK!

Get to Know Signature Team Member Jamie Kiep

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Jamie Kiep is a member of Team Infinite as part of the Signature Team. He resides in Leesburg, Georgia and is currently 1007 rated! We were able to chat with Jamie and ask him some questions about disc golf and about himself. Enjoy learning a bit more about Jamie, and be on the lookout for his signature disc coming in 2021!

 

How did you get started in disc golf?

A buddy of mine introduced me. I used to make fun of him for playing, but he kept inviting me and I finally went. After my 1st throw I couldn’t stop.

 

 

Is there anyone in particular you look up to or admire in the game?

Calvin Heimburg, Chris Dickerson. Both players are humble, down to earth and good people.

 

What is your favorite type of shot to throw?

Full power hyzer!

Which of your disc golf achievements are you most proud of?

I was leading an A tier for 3 rounds at the South Florida Open. After only playing for my 2nd year. I was able to beat Eagle Mcmahon, Zach Melton, Calvin Heimburg but coming up just short of BIG Jeremy Koling

 

If you could play a round with only three discs,

which would they be?

Infinite Discs Concrete Slab, Infinite Discs Centurion, and EV-7 Penrose

 

Other than disc golf, what else do you enjoy doing?

I enjoy playing with my 4 children and hunting any animal in season.

 

What tips do you have for newer players or players looking to improve their game?

Always have the most fun and always follow through. Do those 2 things every throw and you are sure to see an improvement.

 

If people want to follow along on your journey, where can they best follow you?

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

 

Big shoutout to Jamie for taking the time to answer some questions for us! Be sure to follow Jamie along on his journey this year. Good luck Jamie!

Focus Friday – Particle

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Another week has come and gone. The weekend is upon us, happy Friday. For this Focus Friday we will be on MVP’s Particle. You can use the discount code FOCUSAPRTICLE to save 10% on all MVP Particles. Valentine’s day is upon us as well, so I hope the weekend treats you all well.

The MVP Particle is a stable putter that is currently available in Neutron and Neutron Soft. You can use this disc as a putter or as an approach disc. The stability of this disc is comparable to that of the Axiom Envy. Whether throwing the Particle or putting with it, you can expect it to be quite reliable. For this Focus Friday, we decided to bring back the Skulboy Maurader and the “Its’ Okay to Be Alone” Valentines Day stamp.

You can select your disc by clicking here. Simply add as many Particle Molds to your shopping cart as you want, then BEFORE you click to checkout, look below the shopping cart. Right below the shopping cart is a box for Discount Codes. Click there and paste the code, FOCUSPARTICLE, into the box. Then proceed to checkout and you’ll get the discount.

Here is a screenshot to help you out, though it doesn’t necessarily show a D Model S in the cart – it’s just a generic visual to help you find the discount code box:

We hope that you love throwing the Particle. If you’ve thrown the disc, feel free to share what you think of this putter. Thanks!

STAY TUNED for our next Focus Friday for another chance to try a featured disc at a nice discounted price!

State of Disc Golf 2021

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2021 State of Disc Golf

Another year has rolled around and once again we are pouring over the results of our annual State of Disc Golf survey to see what disc golf looks like for the past year. What an interesting year! We are really curious to see how the pandemic affected the results of the survey. Our sport is one that can be played while maintaining social distancing, or even played/practiced solo. That caused a lot of growth for disc golf. We anticipate many of the survey results will reflect both the growth and the limitations put upon the sport because of Covid19. With that in mind, let’s get to the results!

2021 Disc Golf Demographics

We’ll start by looking at who took the survey. Where do you live? What is your gender? How old and how skilled are you? Basic demographics.

This year, 6,286 people took the survey. That is down a few hundred compared to the last couple of years. Here is a breakdown of the respondent’s genders.

Gender

 

Checking out the last few years of data, we see that the numbers are relatively consistent. Last year we did a last minute push to get more women to take the survey, so there was a small ‘spike’ in the numbers. But, the overall numbers for women in the sport remain a lot lower than most of us think it should be. In our local club, we only have a couple female players that will show up for leagues. There are quite a few wives/girlfriends of club members that play disc golf. They just don’t have a desire to play at leagues or competitively. Here are the last few years in a graph:

Where Do You Live?

Not surprisingly, an overwhelming number of people who took the survey live in the United States. Looking at the numbers for each state, we see Texas and California leading the country with the highest number of disc golfers that took the survey. Given their populations and their climates, it’s easy to see why they have so many. They don’t have the highest number per capita, but we’ll have to explore that information in another blog. Here are the numbers for each state.

Here are the top ten states, along with the top ten from two years ago:

 

 

 

Our sport is global, and so are our customers. Here is a chart that shows the numbers of respondents from each country/region outside of the USA. If without adding up all of the provinces in Canada, they lead the world in the number of people that responded to the survey.

 

 

How Old Are You?

 

Checking the survey results for the ages of people who took the survey, we find the largest number of people in the 30-35 age bracket are once the most popular age bracket. That has been the case in all of our survey results in the past. One thing you’ll see is the 36-40 age bracket dip down, only to shoot back up in the next age group. That is because the age brackets go from 5-year increments to 10-year increments at that point.

 

 

I checked out the 2015 survey results (here) to compare numbers and see if there are many differences in the age brackets between the two years. Here is a chart with both years’ data expressed in percentages of people who took the survey that year. I like that the older groups are trending upward for 2021, meaning people are playing later in life. I know that the younger age groups are the same or decreasing in percentage, but I don’t think that is a general trend in the sport. We’ll look at some other statistics that might help us understand those numbers better, and see why the older age groups are growing faster.

 

Are We Getting Better?

 

One of the questions we like to ask is how we rank our skills as a disc golfer. One way to come up with an answer is to look at what division we play in most of the time. That can vary, depending on how many tournaments we play. Often times playing in one division at a club league doesn’t mean we will play in the same division at a sanctioned tournament. From what I see, the level of competition is higher at a tournament, and it becomes necessary to play in a lower division. Not as a sandbagger, but as someone who couldn’t be competitive unless they play down. Once you move up to the pro ranks that is less of an issue. But for the rest of us, we might play a different division out of necessity. Even so, I feel like we have a good idea how we rank generally, and that is what we hope to find out with the survey. We asked people to rate their skills by choosing which of four divisions they consider themselves:

Beginner/Recreational, Intermediate, Advanced, or Professional

First, let’s look at this year’s results. Typical of past years, the majority of the respondents consider themselves Intermediate players. Here are the numbers:

 

 

We also took a look at a few previous years to see how we ranked ourselves. Interestingly, there is a declining number of people that thought they were Advanced and Professional players. I don’t know yet if there were more people new to the sport, people are judging themselves more accurately, or players are dropping divisions. Either way, here is a graph of survey results for 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021.

Check Back For More Survey Results

 

Check out our blog next week to find out more survey results. Also, let us know what you would like us to ask in next year’s blog.

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