TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – JULY 2ND 2019

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Welcome to another Top 20 Tuesday sales chart. We break these charts down by plastics as well so you can see which plastic types are most popular for each disc. New discs will often spike in the chart as other top sellers shuffle position. The chart is created by sales figures that are pulled from all Infinite Discs sales for the previous week — our customers decide the results with their purchases.

Top Twenty Tuesday for July 2nd, 2019

#1 – Big Z LUNA
#2 – Prism Proton PYRO
#3 – ESP ZEUS (formerly the Kong)
#4 – Star DESTROYER
#5 – R-Pro PIG
#6 – Neutron STABILIZER
#7 – Cosmic Neutron STABILIZER
#8 – Cosmic Electron Firm ENVY
#9 – Cosmic Electron Medium ENVY
#10 – Swirly Star WRAITH
#11 – Fission PHOTON
#12 – Tour ESP BUZZZ
#13 – Star WRAITH
#14 – D-Line P2
#15 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#16 – DX AVIAR
#17 – K3 REKO
#18 – Cosmic Electron Soft ENVY
#19 – KC Pro ROC
#20 – Star SONIC

We saw almost a complete change-out of the entire top 20 chart from last week. Very few discs remained on the chart as new releases dominated this last week. The Big Z LUNA completely overshadowed everything else in terms of quantity sold. It was a popular limited edition release that got a lot of attention as Paul McBeth was seen bombing it for long distances in tournament play.

Then the new releases from Axiom, MVP, and Streamline really filled up the chart with the Stabilizer overstable putt-and-approach from Streamline taking two spots in two plastics, the Cosmic Electron Envy taking three spots with firm, medium, and soft, and the Prism Proton PYRO shooting on up to the #2 spot on the chart.

You’ll notice that the name of the Kong changed to the ZEUS and took the #3 spot. The original prototypes are running out now as the official “first run” approaches. The Star DESTROYER held on strong with the #4 spot and the R-Pro PIG is still seeing love with the flying pig stamp and moved to #5 on the cart.

Here is how the brands looked this last week with the number of spots they claimed on 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 #20 spot was a hard one to guess. Nobody hit it right with the Star Sonic this week, which probably got a bump from Garrett Gurthie’s weekend win. Congratulations to Garrett, but sorry to the guesses for the week.

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below to guess the #10 spot for next week. Good luck!

 

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – JUNE 25TH 2019

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We missed last week’s “Top 20 Tuesday” update because we were on the road at the Ledgestone Open and didn’t get a chance to write the blog, so this week’s report will calculate the sales for the last two weeks.

We break these charts down by plastics as well so you can see which plastic types are most popular for each disc. New discs will often spike in the chart as other top sellers shuffle position. The chart is created by sales figures that are pulled from all Infinite Discs sales for the previous week — our customers decide the results with their purchases.

Top Twenty Tuesday for June 25th, 2019

#1 – Star DESTROYER
#2 – R-Pro PIG
#3 – ESP KONG
#4 – D-Line P2
#5 – Neo INSTINCT
#6 – Splatter S-Blend EMPEROR
#7 – Star Glow DESTROYER
#8 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#9 – Star WRAITH
#10 – ESP BUZZZ
#11 – Fuzion RAIDER
#12 – DX AVIAR
#13 – Star ORC
#14 – Plasma PILOT
#15 – Neutron ENTROPY
#16 – Star LEOPARD3
#17 – 400G D3 MAX
#18 – KC Pro AVIAR
#19 – XT Mix NOVA
#20 – Star VALKYRIE

 

The Star DESTROYER jumped right back up to the #1 spot when calculating in the last two weeks, followed by the R-Pro PIG which gained new life (and wings) with the Infinite Discs special edition flying pig stamp (just restocked that one too). That put the ESP KONG into the #3 spot and we’ve picked up intelligence that the prototype run is over– Discraft is sold out of those.

The Splatter S-Blend Emperor made its debut in the last couple of weeks, so it stands at #6, followed by the Philo Star Glow Destroyer.  Other new releases still holding strong are the Fuzion Raider distance driver, the overstable putt-and-approach disc, the Entropy, and the D3 Max distance driver by Prodigy.

Here is a look at how many times different brands appeared on the chart, with Innova taking exactly half of the spots during this 2-week period:

–> 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 – Two people guessed that the #12 spot would be taken by the DX Aviar. Since we missed a week, we’ll award both of those guesses, so congratulations Steven and Owen!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below to guess the #20 spot for next week. I don’t believe we’ve ever requested #20 before.

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

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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!!!

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – JUNE 11TH 2019

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Infinite Discs is happy to present another Top 20 Tuesday chart, looking back at the discs that sold the most during the last week. We break these charts down by plastics as well so you can see which plastic types are most popular for each disc. New discs will often spike in the chart as other top sellers shuffle position. The chart is created by sales figures that are pulled from all Infinite Discs sales for the previous week — our customers decide the results with their purchases.

Here we go…

Top Twenty Tuesday for June 11th, 2019

#1 – Plasma PILOT
#2 – Star DESTROYER
#3 – Glo Swirly ESP UNDERTAKER
#4 – Rubber Blend BUZZZ
#5 – Full Foil Super Color BUZZZ
#6 – Glo Swirly ESP BANGER GT
#7 – ESP KONG
#8 – D-Line P2
#9 – Fuzion RAIDER
#10 – DX ROC
#11 – Swirly ESP CYCLONE
#12 – Retro KEYSTONE
#13 – DX AVIAR
#14 – Star WRAITH
#15 – Signature Glow Metal Flake C-Line MD3
#16 – Jawbreaker ROACH
#17 – Champion MAKO3
#18 – Star ORC
#19 – ESP BUZZZ
#20 – Pure White WIZARD

The hot-seller this last week was the limited run of Plasma PILOT discs from Streamline to support the MVP Open at Maple Hill. The Star DESTROYER got a nice boost from the release of the “Destroy!” stamp here at Infinite Discs. Then the chart was rocked by Discraft with a bunch of tournament support discs for this year’s Ledgestone Open, with some of those special editions selling-out quickly. Even the KONG was pushed down to #7 from all the action on the chart. The Fuzion Raider moved up a few spots to #9, still holding strong as a popular new driver. The KEYSTONE putter as featured in the Trilogy Challenge is still on the chart as well.

Here is a look at how the different brands hit the charts this week:

–> 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 – We saw an incredible guess from Chris G. this week to get the 11th spot for the special edition Ledgestone Cyclone. Great guess and congratulations Chris!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below this blog to predict the #12 spot for next week’s chart.

NEW Ledgestone 2019 Releases!

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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!

Swirl ESP GLO Banger-GT

The Banger-GT is released for the first time in Swirl ESP GLO plastic! Discraft has hit it out of the park with their new ESP swirls. These Banger-GTs feature those great swirls, plus a little added GLO effect!

Rubber Blend Buzzz

The Buzzz, for the first time ever, releases in Discraft’s Rubber Blend. This is a blend of plastic and rubber together that gives the disc a rubbery feel while not being too sticky. The grip is unique, yet perfect for this best selling mid-range!

Swirl ESP Cyclone

The Cyclone has recently only been available in Pro-D, but now it’s available in Swirl ESP plastic! For all of the Cyclone lovers out there, this is the perfect chance to get some premium plastic Cyclones!

GLO Sparkle Thrasher & Crank

The Thrasher and Crank both get a new plastic type as well! Each of these GLO Sparkle discs are chock full of sparkly metal flakes and a dash of GLO plastic to make them perfect for playing in the sun or under the stars.

Swirly ESP GLO Undertaker

The Undertaker brings on an awesome new stamp with an awesome new plastic blend. These Swirly ESP GLO Undertakers came out looking amazing, with new interesting swirls that we haven’t yet seen! Be sure to look through all of them!

New Full Foil Buzzzs

There are five new full foil Buzzzs with the different Discraft Bees on them, and we think the artwork is some of the best yet! These new designs feature the Techno Bee, Mining Bee, Orchid Bee, Arctic Bee, and Wallace’s Giant Bee.

That’s all of the new releases this time around!

2019 State of Disc Golf–Par for the Course…Literally

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Disc Golf Par Controversy

Today we are tackling a subject in disc golf that some consider controversial while others consider it just silly. Today we are talking about par. How should we determine par? Should we adopt par 2s in disc golf? Lots of disc golfers have their opinions on this subject, but in the end, does any of it even matter? In doing some research for this post, I found a well written article from our friend Steve Dodge that I will likely refer to a few times today. So what is par exactly?

Par in Ball Golf vs Par in Disc Golf

A quick google search for the definition of the word “par” in golf will yield this definition: “the number of strokes a first-class player should normally require for a particular hole or course.” Another explanation I found said that par is how many strokes an expert golfer should take to complete a hole.

The idea of par and using par as a way to define our scores in disc golf (1 under par, 2 over par, etc.) can be directly traced back to our ball golf roots. But something we might be forgetting is that par in ball golf should reflect what first-class or expert golfers are scoring, not the field at large.

This is why on the PGA tour we see scores close to par or maybe even as low as around 10-under par winning four day, four round tournaments. So why is it that for tournaments with the same number of holes on the PDGA National Tour and the DGPT we are seeing disc golfers needing to score close to 40-under par in order to win the event?

One line of thinking that I tend to agree with is that it’s all about putting. Steve Dodge explains, “In golf, the average number of putts is theoretically two…In golf, par is the number of shots to reach the green + putts (2).” So how does this translate to disc golf? “In disc golf, the average number of putts is theoretically one…In disc golf, par would be the number of shots to reach the green + putts (1). This would make about half of our holes into par 2s.”

Par 2 in Disc Golf?

While some of us may average 2 putts from inside the circle, our first-class and expert disc golfers for whom par should be determined (if we follow ball golf’s model) are nearly automatic from inside the circle. But in ball golf, even the best putters in the game will miss putts from inside 10 feet from time to time. That is just the difference between our two games.

So ball golf and disc golf are different in scoring. Another way to phrase that is ball golf is harder than disc golf, which is something we all like about disc golf. But since disc golf is easier shouldn’t par then be adjusted to account for this? The quickest way to account for this is the adoption of par 2s in disc golf.

This brings us to our first bit of data from the State of Disc Golf Survey. We asked survey takers if they would like to see very short or easy holes be considered par 2? The answers were pretty telling:

75% of Those Surveyed Believe there should be no Par 2's in Disc Golf

 

For the most part, we disc golfers don’t want to see par 2s out on the course. But some, especially those who are new to disc golf or unfamiliar with our culture, may be confused or surprised by this. Why would those within the sport not want to see more accurate par ratings on their courses?

Steve Dodge shed some light here again: “Setting a par 2 makes the scoring expectation much harder and, oddly enough, decreases our enjoyment of playing the game. Disc golf has a tremendous advantage in that it is more fun to play because our par score is easier to attain.” That last statement is interesting, claiming that disc golf is more fun because the par score is easier. But as we discussed earlier, a 10 ft putt in disc golf is easier than a 10 ft putt in golf, regardless of the hole’s par.

This makes me think that we have a bit of a blind spot here because we have come to expect extremely low par scores in our sport. How would you feel if you shot 10-under par at your local course and then someone came along and told you that your score was actually 1-over par if your course par was rated more accurately? But if that round had always been considered a 1-over par round, you wouldn’t care as much right?

Like when I go out and play ball golf, I know that par is pretty well out of reach. So I am pretty pleased if I score a few strokes over par.

It is all about expectation, and we in disc golf have come to expect very low scores relative to par, and as we can see in the above chart, most of us don’t care that some of our par 3 holes should be rated as par 2 if we adopted more accurate par ratings.

More Par 4 and 5 in Disc Golf?

Now what about the other end of the spectrum? What about longer and more challenging holes? We asked survey takers if they would like to see more courses with par 4 and par 5 holes. Here are the results:

More Par 4s

So once again, we see a clear answer–we want more par 4 and par 5 holes. But as we could see from our first question about par 2s, we don’t seem to care about the accuracy of our par ratings. So do we want more par 4 and par 5 holes just because we view them as an opportunity for more birdies?

When discussing a long disc golf hole and whether it should be considered a par 3 or 4, more than once I have heard someone arguing that it should be a par 4 say something like, “Well, if it were a par 3, then it would be almost impossible to birdie.” In disc golf, we expect to get our birdies, and sometimes we expect every hole to be birdie-able. And we expect birdies not just for the first-class and expert golfers, but for your average casual players as well.

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – JUNE 4TH 2019

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Infinite Discs is happy to present another Top 20 Tuesday chart, looking back at the discs that sold the most during the last week. We break these charts down by plastics as well so you can see which plastic types are most popular for each disc. New discs will often spike in the chart as other top sellers shuffle position. The chart is created by sales figures that are pulled from all Infinite Discs sales for the previous week — our customers decide the results with their purchases.

Here we go…

Top Twenty Tuesday for June 4th, 2019

#1 – ESP KONG
#2 – Swirly Star DESTROYER
#3 – D-Line P2
#4 – Star DESTROYER
#5 – Star ORC
#6 – ESP FLX PREDATOR
#7 – Lucid VANDAL
#8 – S-Line DD3
#9 – Swirly S-Blend PHARAOH
#10 – Signature ESP BUZZZ
#11 – Star WRAITH
#12 – Neutron ENTROPY
#13 – Retro KEYSTONE
#14 – Fuzion RAIDER
#15 – Champion Colored Glow FIREBIRD
#16 – 400 Spectrum PA-1
#17 – Champion MAKO3
#18 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#19 – DX AVIAR
#20 – Star CORVETTE

The new DD3 dropped to the #8 spot from a strong #1 last week, but only because we completely sold out at Infinite Discs. Thus, the Kong reclaimed the #1 spot this week with the Swirly Star Destroyer jumping in at #2 because of the Calvin Heimburg signature release.  The D-Line P2 has held strong for many weeks and many months and continues to be the top-selling putter at Infinite Discs. The Star Destroyer stayed in the mix at #4 with the Star ORC coming in right behind at #5 because of the collectors that keep raiding our inventory for the Pre-Flight Orcs (quite a collector’s item).

The ESP FLX Predator, which was a special run for Infinite Discs, entered strongly into the chart at the #6 spot, followed by the Lucid VANDAL which sold because we had some remaining discs from the local Trilogy Challenge (same with the Retro Keystone).

Here is a look at how many times the different brands entered the chart this week, where Innova again dominated with good sales on several of their popular discs:

–> 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 #6 spot this week went to the ESP FLX Predator, which would have been a very difficult (and lucky) guess, since it was a special run of discs that most disc enthusiasts likely had no idea was coming. There were several very good guesses though. It looks like a lot of you readers are putting some very tactical and thoughtful guesses out there every week! Keep it up!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below this blog to predict the #11 spot for next week’s chart.

2 A-Tiers — Another Win – Dave Feldberg Blog #3

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First Place

Huk Central, South Carolina

Some days you feel great and other days you don’t. Being that this event is only 3 hours away from our house I decided to drive back and forth each day. I also decided to just show up on the day of the event since I had played the course before. Both of these decisions were poor choices to play my best. So when I arrived after a 3 hour drive leaving my house at 4:40 am, I am also told that it will be a record hot day both days of the event. So I decided to take it easy and play in the masters division. Another poor decision.

I came out of the gates playing well but I somehow forgot how to make short putts? Which was the one thing coming in I had been the most consistent with this year. So I was spun and managed a 1020 rated round where I threw about a 1070. Then the second round I was trailing Barry by 2 and I cut the lead, but again I couldn’t make routine 18 footers and then the heat broke me. I had not played in heat like that (97 degrees) in a long time and I just ran out of gas. My leg was cramping and my energy was gone allowing Barry to go ahead by 6 while shooting a lousy 983 rated round.

On day two I still had hope, and I started to make some putts, cutting the lead to 3 on the front nine. But then I managed to somehow miss a few more very short putts and ended the round with a bogey from 15 feet and gave him all the strokes back to be down by 6 again. The heat would not let up and the final round was a test to say the least. I played well shooting a 1052, but again I ended my round and event by missing a 15 foot putt for low round of the day.

I did finish in second, but I would have tied for 4th in Open and I probably would have made less of those silly focus mistakes if I was playing in the open division. I also would have made a little more money. Just a weekend of bad decisions and poor play. I want to thank Brian and the Huk Central staff for a well run event with plenty of water!! They always run a solid event that I will continue to play for years to come!! I want to thank my caddy Ryan Schollkopf  for helping me get through the heat!!

Trailblazer – Clermont, FL

I had no idea what to expect as I had never played in that part of Florida before. I did know that the heat wave had not gone away and I would be in for record hot temps again. I felt lucky that I had played the week before in South Carolina as I had learned how to deal with heat better. One thing was that Synthya bought me one of the chilly pad cool towels. Man those things are a life saver and only 8 bucks at Walmart. Also for this event I showed up two days early so I could learn the courses and be prepared.

They would have us play two really long courses twice a day, this was more of the Florida Iron man contest. Both courses were designed by Gregg Hosfield and one was brand new. The first course, Hiawatha Preserve a par 65 over 9000 feet, was a very fair mature tree course. It had challenging shots and fair ob’s. I came out the first round on fire breaking the course record and I would have gone lower but I was stung multiple times by some yellow jackets while trying to stand out of the way of my fellow competitors shot. It shook me up for a few holes. I carded a bogey on the hole I was stung and missed a 16 foot birdie putt in the next hole as I was still a bit worked up from the incident. The good news was that the night before the event I had gone to the course and practiced putted in the dark and figured out what had gone wrong with my circle one putting. It was pure laziness. I noticed I was leaning back in my set up instead of leaning forward. I think the habit started because I was so tired the week before. Once I started leaning forward I started making all my putts again.

After the first day I had a 7 stroke lead headed to Palmetto point park, a new course that will be great but still needs some breaking in. The holes were long, par 67, and they were tight, many a car couldn’t fit through. The rough was on another level (poisonous snakes) and you had to pitch sideways when you missed the fairway. I knew this type of golf would play to my advantage since I learned on wooded courses and my best skill nowadays is accuracy. I came out in the morning and set the new record of -12 with two bogeys. I was throwing well hitting most fairways and making all my circle one putts as well as making a few long putts. My competitors struggled as this course tightness is not easy to explain on paper. I extended my lead to 20 strokes.

Then in the fourth round I came out firing again shooting the exact same -6 on the front nine, but then with the lack of push and the heat reaching its peak of the day and it being the fourth round in two days I lost focus and shot only -1 on the back. It was still the low score of the round at -7. So I won by 21 strokes to win my first A-tier in Open this year. The course was hard period. Fox Hills video crew was there and so you can see when the video comes out what I am talking about.

I want to thank my caddy on Saturday Dan Lewis and my Caddy on Sunday Anthony Rising. Without them it would have been rough. Also, great to see a lot of Florida guys I have not seen in years. I also won the putting contest claiming some cash and a mini basket!!

The trophy was a sick sword!! Looks kind of like the Huk Lab blade. I want to thank the staff of the event for a great event and I look forward to this club and event growing over the years.

NG Update

On a business level NG is doing well and we are working out all the computer kinks that come with a new system. Everything should be working great in the next couple of weeks!! We have really been focused on building a quality staff this year so we can accomplish more and do it smoothly. If you’ve played an event, be sure to check out he current standings.

On a personnel level. Synthya and Leomax are doing great. He is smiling, and really becoming curious, we think he is also starting teething. Everyday the reward of a family is stronger and reminds me how small my life really is. My brother came to visit and loved Leomax. We took him on the lake and he caught his first freshwater fish. Synthya’s Grandparents also came to visit while I was gone but I did get to see them for a few minutes before they left. They are always a treat. We are now getting ready for this summer and of watching Leomax grow !!

I am really starting to dial in my mixed bag, and i am looking forward to defending at the Masters World Championships in a month!!

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