TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – MAY 14TH 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 May 14th, 2019

#1 – ESP KONG
#2 – Star DESTROYER
#3 – Swirly Star THUNDERBIRD
#4 – Neo INSTINCT
#5 – C-Blend SCEPTER
#6 – D-Line P2
#7 – Elite Z BUZZZ
#8 – 400 H4 V2
#9 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#10 – Fuzion RAIDER
#11 – Swirly S-Blend PHARAOH
#12 – Pro PIG
#13 – Cosmic Neutron SL FLARE
#14 – Neutron ENTROPY
#15 – Star WRAITH
#16 – Metal Flake Glow C-Blend X-Out EMPEROR
#17 – Metal Flake Glow C-Blend EMPEROR
#18 – Champion Colored Glow FIREBIRD
#19 – DX AVIAR
#20 – S-Line DDX

The KONG by Discraft reclaimed the top spot this week with the Star DESTROYER by Innova climbing back up to a close 2nd after spending a little time in lower positions. The Swirly Star THUNDERBIRD took a strong jump to #3 as the Jeremy Koling signature edition came in stock last week. The Neo INSTINCT by Discmania still holds strong as a new release in the #4 spot with the new SCEPTER by Infinite Discs coming in 5th.

Another new releases that hit the chart is the H4 V2 from Prodigy. The Infinite Discs brand had a generally strong showing with a restock of Swirly S-Blend Pharaoh’s kicking off interest again and the Metal Flake Glow C-Blend Emperors charting with the limited edition stamp as well as in X-Outs for a cheaper way to try the disc.  Here is a chart showing the number of times different brands appeared in the top 20 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 – The #7 spot this week went to the Elite Z Buzzz, which was a little bit strange considering that the ESP Buzzz has had all of the attention lately. But with a restock of Elite Z Buzzz discs at Infintie Discs, that may have fueled the buys. That somewhat random appearance didn’t get any guesses this week. But there were some excellent, close guesses. Keep trying!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below this blog to predict the #2 spot for next week’s chart.

State of Disc Golf – Ace Statistics

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The All Elusive Ace

Have you ever wondered if you are the only one in the world to not get an ace? We’re going to dive into the cold, hard statistics from this years State of Disc Golf survey to find out how often aces happen, and who they come from most often. First, we’ll look at the straight data to see how many hole-in-ones occurred in 2018.

Alright! So we see that most of you did not card an ace last year. In fact, if we pit the aces against the no-aces, this is what it looks like:

55.8% of survey respondents did not ace in 2018, leaving 44.2% with the excitement of a hole in one! So it seems the disc golf ace might not be all-elusive after all. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll get an ace this year!

As expected, this is quite different than the traditional golf scene. According to the National Hole-In-One Registry, only 1-2% of ball golfers will capture an ace in a given year. With an estimated 20+ million golfers playing 450 million rounds a year, we see that aces are far more rare.

In contrast, we turn to disc golf and see people reporting 8, 9, and 10+ aces in 2018. But it’s no big surprise aces in disc golf are far more common. Even in disc golf’s top events, several aces are captured on camera each year.

Who Takes the Ace?

Let’s do some cross comparison and see made all of these aces in 2018. Maybe it’ll give us clues on how to snag one ourselves…

Aces by Division

This likely also won’t come as a surprise, but the data backs it up: the higher division you play, the more likely you are to have an ace. About 81% of beginners did not ace in 2018, while only 16% of professionals didn’t. There’s something to be said for skill level and hitting the basket on your first throw.

Aces by Amount Played

No big surprises here either! The more rounds you play in a year, the more likely you are to have an ace. If you only play once a week or less, your chances of an ace are only 21% (still 10 times higher than that of ball golf). If you play every day, there’s only an 18% chance you won’t get an ace. At about 10-14 rounds a month is where you’ll hit the 50/50 chance of getting an ace.

Of course, this all depends on where you play as well.

Aces by Region

Aces by State

The number of reported aces from each state on the State of Disc Golf survey.

This map shows us the raw data of where the most aces occurred based on survey results. Michigan took first, Texas second, then California and Colorado. Pennsylvania had more survey takers than Colorado, but the rate of aces reported was much higher in Colorado, causing it to take fourth place in aces reported. This map coincides almost perfectly with survey data on # of course and players in each state.

Aces Per Capita of Survey Respondents

The number of aces reported per state, divided by the number of respondents per state.

This map is a little fun, and likely not the best way to pick where to hunt your next ace. This map takes the number of aces reported in each state and divides it by the number of survey takers in that state. North Dakota took the number one spot with a reported 17 aces, yet only 9 survey takers, yielding nearly 2 aces per person. Now does this extend to all disc golfers in North Dakota? Probably not. Alaska had a similar story with 27 aces and 16 respondents.

The top dogs in the previous map (Texas, Michigan, California) were taken right back down to normal levels in this map, having less aces than survey respondents.

Thanks for taking time to join us on this ace adventure, and thank you for taking the State of Disc Golf survey and helping us with the data to process. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m packing my bags for North Dakota to get some aces.

Breaking Off The Rust – Dave Feldberg Blog Post #2

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Dave Feldberg at Tournament

Jonesboro Open

So I decided to play in my first two singles events with my new mixed bag. The first event was the Jonesboro Open.

I felt ready. I showed up the day before the event to practice and the wind was blowing 30 mph. Not very good practice since it was going to not be 30 mph during the event. The fact is I know my discs, but I had not seen many of them fly in heavy wind. So when the first round rolled around and it was only a slight wind, I felt like instead of executing I was playing a guessing game of, “How much is that going to Hyzer?”

 I didn’t make many mistakes, but I also didn’t make anything worth mentioning and I found myself in 35th after the first round. But I was only a few strokes back of the top ten. I did putt 100% in Circle 1. The second round came, and the weather was looming. Everyone was getting ready for a doozy of a day. I usually play well in the conditions and I was prepared, and my caddy Steve was also highly prepared. 

At the start, I was playing better than the first round and by the time we got to hole 11 I was already in the top 20. Then after a great drive, they blew the stop horn. I still had seven holes to go and now we were to play at 7:30 am. I have never been much of a morning person. 

When I woke up on Sunday at 6 am it was literally freezing and raining. I barely had enough clothes to feel comfortable outside. I headed out and I took a par on all seven holes dropping me to around 25th. That I could handle, but now I had a 5 hour wait in the rain and cold before I had to play 18 more holes. I tried to distract myself, rest, and stay warm, but this was a task. I headed out for the third round and played the front nine well. But then I just ran out of gas and focus. I took a bogey on three of my last four holes, finishing with a sloppy par on the last hole. I dropped back down to 35th.

All in all, it was good weekend. It’s just the older you get, even though you have the experience to play in the conditions, it is less enjoyable playing in the bad weather. But it was a good warm up and let me know what I need to work on for the rest the season.

Linton Park Open

I played in one more event, the Linton Park Open which was a B-tier in Sandersville, Georgia. I was able to pull out the win by two strokes over Matt Dollar. It paid $1100 for first!! I started off a little slow and gradually increased my play throughout the weekend. Jamie Brindell and his crew ran a fabulous tournament with all kinds of food, awesome trophies, and tons of added cash. It’s nice be able to win over thousand dollars less than an hour from my house.

Over the next few weeks I have two more events planned. I will be playing in the Huk Central A -tier in South Carolina, followed up by the Trailblazer A-tier in Clermont, Florida. I’m hoping to be able to start playing my rating at those two events.

I got my first action with the Infinite Discs Emperor at these events and I must say I really like the disc. It is giving me a really fast over stable distance driver for my bag. My new tour Emperor in Splatter Star should be coming out very soon. If you like Destroyers, you’ll love the Emperor.

Next Gen Tour

On a business level next generation tour is doing well. We just announced that we will have a $100,000 final event in Austin Texas. Synthya and I decided after lots of thought that the one thing that amateurs need to take that next step is cash. 

On a personal level, Synthya, Leomax, and I have been doing great. He is growing so fast, and Synthya has turned into a wonderful mother already. This week my brother is coming to town from Maryland to visit us and meet the baby. I think we’ll all go up to the Atlanta aquarium and check it out.

Well that’s my update for now hopefully I can start playing better Disc Golf, make sure people understand what NextGen is now, and enjoy being a father to this wonderful family that I have helped create. Until next time, see you in the fairways.


TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – MAY 7TH 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 May 7th, 2019

#1 – Neo INSTINCT
#2 – Metal Flake Glow C-Blend EMPEROR
#3 – ESP KONG
#4 – Cosmic Neutron SL FLARE
#5 – D-Line P2
#6 – Fuzion RAIDER
#7 – Star DESTROYER
#8 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#9 – Tour Series Pro Color Glow ROC3
#10 – Neutron ENTROPY
#11 – Star WRAITH
#12 – ESP ZONE
#13 – Star CORVETTE
#14 – Swirly S-Blend PHARAOH
#15 – Champion FIREBIRD
#16 – XT Mix NOVA
#17 – Prime Burst JUDGE
#18 – R-Pro AVIAR
#19 – KC Pro AVIAR
#20 – S-Line P2

The chart this week had a nice battle for the top with the new Neo INSTINCT by Discmania taking the #1 spot for its release week, and the Metal Flake Glow C-Blend EMPEROR by Infinite Discs taking the 2nd spot on its new release week. The KONG feel to 3rd place, but is hanging out regularly around the top, with the new FLARE by Streamline discs takes the #4 spot, still selling well with a new limited edition stamp. The new Fuzion RAIDER by Dynamic Discs is still cruising strong at the #6 spot, beating out the long-time top-dweller, the Star DESTROYER.

Here is a chart showing the number of times that different brands appeared in this week’s top 20:

–> 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 FUZION RAIDER. The first comment which guessed Fuzion Raider for the #6 spot was left by Matthew. Congratulations to Matthew, and this isn’t his first win either. Nice work.

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below this blog to predict the #7 spot for next week’s chart.

Want a disc signed by Paige Bjerkaas or Grady Shue?

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Disc Golf World Champion Paige Bjerkaas and her touring companion Grady Shue will be visiting the Infinite warehouse tomorrow, May 7th.

They will be autographing discs and answering questions on Facebook Live beginning at 3:30 MDT.

To get a disc in your online order autographed by either Paige or Grady, make an order before 4:00 PM tomorrow and use discount code:

PaigeSigning – (signed by Paige)

or

GradySigning – (signed by Grady)

or

PaigeGrady – (signed by both)

 

PLEASE NOTE INSTRUCTIONS: After you put the discs in your shopping cart, scroll below the cart BEFORE clicking “Checkout” and click on the Discount Code box. That is where you’ll input the code. THEN proceed to checkout.

Only one discount code can be used per order, so if you would like different signatures for different discs, you will need to check out multiple times. Paige and Grady will receive a portion of the sales proceeds for each disc they sign.

State of Disc Golf 2019 – Average Throwing Distances

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During the 2019 State of Disc Golf Survey, we asked players about their average throwing distance on drives. When looking at the overall field of players that responded to the survey, here are the percentages that claimed specific distance abilities:

You’ll notice that the largest percentage of overall players claimed a distance between 301 and 350 feet maximum. That distance represents almost 31% of players. The next largest percentage claims a distance between 251 and 300 feet, at almost 27% of those surveyed. Close behind that is the 351 to 400 foot range at 22%.

That means that if you add together those three categories with a distance from 251 – 400 feet, that covers the vast majority of players while much smaller groups claim 400+ feet. Only 2.1% of those surveyed claimed to be able to through 451 to 500 feet and a minor sliver of .5% claimed a distance of over 500 feet.

DISTANCE VS AGE

We thought it would be fun to take a look at the results broken down by age groups. So here is a very chart-heavy report, but we hope that you enjoy seeing how age influences distance. As you scroll through the age breakdowns, you’ll notice that the middle ages have a much higher number of survey participants, but the averages stay pretty close…

AGE 12 – 17

AGE 18 – 21

AGE 22 – 25

AGE 26 – 29

AGE 30 – 35

AGE 36 – 40

AGE 41 – 50

AGE 51 – 60

AGE 61 – 70

AGE 71 +

Only when you start to hit the charts for 61-70 and the 71+ age groups do the distance abilities begin a dramatic drop-off, landing more of those older players in a range under 300 feet.

DISTANCE VS ELEVATION

Now, for a little something you’ve never considered, we have a breakdown of the claimed distances from survey participants versus the elevation of the states in the USA where those players are from. Did you ever wonder how much elevation figures into distance? While higher elevations often make disc flight paths more overstable (and the reverse for lower elevations), the abilities to throw further seems to favor those who live at higher elevations.

This chart, provided by Lucid Software’s analysis team, can be a little bit hard to decipher, but it basically takes the average elevation of all the survey participants that answered for each distance. You can see that the further the distance (shown at the bottom of each bar) the darker the bar becomes, with the darker bars representing higher elevations. The average elevation is shown above each bar.

The black box feature’s Lucid Software’s bullet points (or take-aways) stating that distance data seems consistent with other sports, like baseball, and that disc golf course designers in higher elevations might consider longer hole distances. Of course, we can take or leave that advice, but the data seems clear regarding distance versus elevation of where players live.

However, here is a thought– it could be that the courses are very different at lower elevations where wooded courses are more predominant. In those lower elevation, wooded courses, players need to play with precision as their focus, rather than distance. After all, if playing in the woods, there is little need for power throws due to low ceilings and obstacles. However, at higher elevations, the trees may be less predominant on courses, making distance more of a factor. You either throw far across open fairways, or bomb high throws over the tops of the few trees on the course.

What do you think is the cause for this distance disparity when it comes to altitude? Leave your thoughts in the comments, and thanks again to all of the thousands of players who participated in the survey.

Tracking the Pharaoh and Emperor Run Numbers

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When Infinite Discs first launched our own disc brand with manufacturing by Innova, we wanted to make sure that each run had its own identification. We’re aware that different runs of the same mold in different plastics and at different times can have slight variations. Because of that, we figured that players who fell in love with certain runs or who sought specific characteristics would appreciate a way to know which one they have, which one they want, etc.

When we create a stock stamp, that run number and the run quantity (number of discs in the run) is displayed on the stamp at the bottom. With some of the limited editions and signature editions, the run number and quantity is not necessarily described on the stamp. But we still want you to know what you’re getting.

Here is a quick run-down of the runs that have been produced and ordered for the Pharaoh and the Emperor as of May 2019, for your reference:

THE PHARAOH

PROTOTYPE:
Swirly S-Blend
Quantity 224
This run came out flat with a moderate fade. 

RUN 1:
Swirly S-Blend
Quantity 800
This run came out relatively flat with a moderate fade. A few of these were released in Garrett Gurthie signature edition.

RUN 2:
Swirly S-Blend
Quantity 1100 (plus 88 “Test Run” stamp)
This run had more dome on the flight plate than the first run and slightly less fade for some players. Some of these were released in Garrett Gurthie signature edition with a new stamp.

RUN 3:
I-Blend
Quantity 1100 (plus 120 “Test Run” stamp)
This run was again quite flat, but more understable than any of the S-Blend runs.

RUN 4:
Metal Flake Glow C-Blend
Quantity 1000 (plus 79 “Test Run” stamp)
This run turned out very domey with a lot of glide and more overstable than the other runs. This run featured an XXL Alien Pharaoh stamp and also a bottom stamp.

RUN 5:
Swirly S-Blend
Quantity 1203
This run is once again flat, like the first run, with more color variety.

THE EMPEROR

RUN 1:
I-Blend
Quantity 850 (plus 27 “Test Run” stamp)
This run was the introductory run and had an early release with a unique stamp at the 2019 Las Vegas Challenge tournament. The X-Outs were released on the Ides of March as a teaser, with stock stamp following. This is a more understable run, though it still has plenty of fade for average players.

RUN 2:
Splatter S-Blend
Quantity 900 (plus 133 “Test Run” stamp)
This run turned out much more overstable than the first run and was made to release primarily as a David Feldberg signature edition disc for 2019.

RUN 3:
Metal Flake Glow C-Blend
Quantity 900 (plus 41 “Test Run” stamp)
This run has a nice fade that is slightly less than Run 2, but more than Run 1. It is released with an XXL Alien and also has a Garrett Gurthie signature edition stamp.

 

TOP TWENTY TUESDAY – APRIL 30TH 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. It can be fun to see which discs keep up the pace.

Here we go…

Top Twenty Tuesday for April 30th, 2019

#1 – ESP KONG
#2 – D-Line P2
#3 – Star DESTROYER
#4 – Star LION
#5 – ESP ZONE
#6 – Fuzion RAIDER
#7 – Neutron ENTROPY
#8 – Discraft Special Blend LUNA
#9 – S-Line FD
#10 – Champion Colored Glow FIREBIRD
#11 – Star ORC
#12 – Star CORVETTE
#13 – Champion TEEBIRD3
#14 – DX AVIAR
#15 – Prism Plasma WRATH
#16 – S-Line CD2
#17 – Elite Z BUZZZ
#18 – Star WRAITH
#19 – Star VALKYRIE
#20 – C-Line FD

There was some more shuffling around in the top 20 chart for this week. The KONG reclaimed the #1 spot while the D-Line P2 by Discmania jumped up to 2nd place and the Star Destroyer moved back up to #3. The new Star LION by Innova took the #4 spot and the cool ESP ZONE putt-and-approach disc followed at #5.  The FUZION RAIDER by Dynamic Discs maintained a strong position in the #6 spot.

Here is a chart showing the number of times each brand appeared in this week’s 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 #5 spot went to the ESP ZONE by Discraft this week. We had a simple and sweet stamp put on some of those and people apparently liked it. It doesn’t look like anybody guessed the ZONE in any type of plastic for #5, so no winner this week. But be sure to guess for next week!

GIFT CARD PREDICTION FOR NEXT WEEK:  Leave your comment below this blog to predict the #6 spot for next week’s chart.

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