The Infinite Discs MYTH and SPHINX

May 11, 2018 Todd Durrant 4 comments

Infinite Discs is continuing to build a balanced line of branded discs manufactured by Innova. The 2018 year has already brought the Exodus fairway driver, the Chariot mid-range, and the Pharaoh distance driver. We’ve now added to more discs to that lineup, both released at the end of April 2018.

THE MYTH

The Myth First Run is in P-Blend plastic, which is a stiff pro blend which works great for both driving and putting. There was also a first run VIP Club edition in grippy X-Blend plastic. Though the VIP Club stamped versions were only available to the VIP Club members, there were a few of the X-Blend discs remaining which were bottom-stamped if you want a grippy version of the Myth. You can find the few remaining X-Blend Myth putters HERE.

THE SPHINX

The first run Sphinx was released in I-Blend plastic which is a special blend made by Innova for Infinite Discs. It is durable, yet has good flexibility and grip. This is a great disc for beginners and experienced players alike and is available in a variety of weights from below 150 grams (awesome for kids) up to max weight 175 grams.

Check out this wonderful video review which also shows the flights patterns for the Sphinx.

Watch for more discs coming on the Infinite Discs brand in 2018!

State of Disc Golf 2018 – Our Disc Buying Habits

May 8, 2018 Todd Durrant 4 comments

It is always interesting, particularly for those of us working in the disc golf industry, to look at the State of Disc Golf survey responses concerning spending habits and what motivates players to buy discs. Of course, just playing the game at all requires a certain number of discs. But how many of us go beyond what we really “need” to play the game when it comes to purchasing more and more discs?

When a few thousand players were asked to say if these statements described their disc purchasing attitudes, these were the results:

I Primarily Stick With Discs I Already Know and Throw

I Regularly Try New Molds By My Favorite Brands

I Regularly Try New Discs, Regardless of Manufacturer

I Only Buy New Discs to Replace Lost Discs

I Buy Discs Primarily to Collect

I Throw Every Disc that I Buy

From the above results, a few things can be noted. For one, people tend to experiment more with favorite manufacturers, though there is a good number (majority) of players who don’t mind experimenting across brands.

It also looks like it is a minority that only buys to replace lost discs– that means more players are buying for other reasons. One of those reasons might be collecting, but when asked if they only buy to collect, the vast majority didn’t feel like that described their buying habits. Around 25% swayed toward buying to collect, if only occasionally. The last graph shows that despite the motivation for buying, the majority of those surveyed throw every disc that they buy. Only 17.4% does not throw all of their purchased discs.

How Likely Are We To Pay Extra for the Stamp?

Another motivating factor for buying discs is the design of the stamp on the disc. We asked survey participants how likely they are to pay extra for a special stamp in the same mold, weight, and color that they could have purchased in a cheaper, stock stamp. Though the “buy to collect” market may be small, the larger “buy to throw” contingency is definitely not opposed to spending more for a stamp design that they like.

How likely are you to pay extra for a special stamp in the same mold, wight and color as the stock stamp?

That is only 14.7% that claims it is very unlikely that they’d pay more for a cool stamp design on their disc.

We’ll continue to follow disc purchasing trends and opinions closely!

State of Disc Golf–Disc Golf Tournaments

May 5, 2018 Jace Smellie One comment

The 2018 Glass Blown Open is in the books! This annual event is considered one of the most inviting for disc golf fans and amateur players in the world. The host city, Emporia, Kansas, has a population of just over 20,000 and is considered by many the “Disc Golf Mecca.” So with another successful GBO coming to a close on Saturday, it seems like an appropriate time to discuss our participation in disc golf tournaments and the potential economic impact of that participation.

In our State of Disc Golf Survey at the beginning of the year, we asked disc golfers if they played in any disc golf tournaments in 2017. Just shy of 3/4 of us did compete in a tournament with 72.59% of survey takers answering in the affirmative. Of these disc golfers who played in a tournament, we asked how many PDGA sanctioned tournaments they played in as well as how many non-PDGA sanctioned tournaments. Here were the results:

What do these numbers tell us? It looks like the majority of us who play in tournaments still keep it casual, only playing in a handful of tournaments. We can see that more than half of us played in 3 PDGA and non PDGA sanctioned tournaments or less this year. I’d say I am a bit surprised by how low that number is, and I am also surprised that there isn’t a larger difference in these percentages. I would have imagined there would have been significantly more participation in PDGA events, but the spread is pretty even for both.

Now for some questions that lead to great info for those of us who are trying to grow the sport by getting our local parks and city officials to support disc golf. This info could also be useful when trying to seek out sponsors for your local events–How far are we willing to travel for disc golf, and how much money do we spend when we do travel?

Again, here I think the numbers should do most of the talking, so here are our responses to those questions:

As someone who has been involved in running tournaments and installing new disc golf courses, the statistical tidbit that I think I will use in future meetings is over a quarter of competitive disc golfers are willing to travel anywhere for a disc golf tournament. “If you build it, they will come,” right? If the courses are good enough and the payout high enough, the disc golfers will come and they will bring their wallets with them. Now city officials may not be ecstatic by the size of those wallets based on the results of the second question, but still, communities know that community events bring in money. If you get the chance, ask business owners in the small town of Emporia, Kansas what they think about disc golf tournaments. And if you don’t get a chance, take notice of all the “Welcome Disc Golfers” signs your friends who went to GBO posted on their social media accounts.

Getting back to our involvement in disc golf, my final takeaway is something that I think is pretty unique to disc golf. And that is disc golf fans are also disc golf competitors. Yes, there are community leagues for basketball and soccer that fans of those sports participate in, but do all fans of those sports also compete? In my last article, I reported that 77.4% of survey takers follow professional disc golfers. If we assume that the 72.59% of disc golfers who played in a tournament in 2017 also follow the pros, that would mean that less than 5% of those who follow the professionals don’t compete themselves. I’d imagine that number is much bigger for those who follow the professional game in basketball, soccer, or most other sports.

Why is that? Well, most of us learned about professional disc golf well after playing it first since pro disc golf is not in the mainstream. Also all we need to do to compete in disc golf is pay the tournament registration fee. Team sports require…well, a team of players who are willing to practice and play together. Also in most locations, disc golfers can practice and prepare to compete without spending a dime except for the money they spend on their gear. For other individual sports like ball golf or bowling, you can’t access the competition facility to practice for free. The ease of access is greater for disc golf competitors, so we see more participation in the amateur game.

Which leads to the common discussion in our sport of how much does the amateur game fuel the professional game? This year after the Las Vegas Challenge, participants were invited to provide their feedback for the event, and one of the main questions asked was if they should split the event into two weekends, one for amateur competition and one for the pros. This would allow for a larger field of competitors. You would have to contact Jeff Jaquart and the fantastic crew at the LVC for the results of that survey, but just by word of mouth I heard a lot of my fellow competitors express that they would likely not make the trip back next year if they didn’t get to see the pros compete that same weekend. But the question I have is how many fans would make the trip just to watch the pros if they weren’t competing themselves? Would the gallery be smaller for the final round of next year’s LVC? No matter the answer, I can’t help but think of the huge gallery I saw all 4 rounds of the Masters (that’s a kind of big ball golf tournament for those who don’t know :)), and it just makes me think that we still have a long way to go in disc golf.

What do you think? What are you most surprised by in these numbers? Comment and let us know!

Disc Golf Pros Who Throw Infinite Discs

May 4, 2018 Todd Durrant One comment

We’d like to welcome two new Pro players to Team Infinite! Plus we’re happy to announce two additional pros from Innova’s team who will have signature editions of Infinite Discs. First, let’s meet the two new team members:

GARRETT GURTHIE

Garrett Gurthie is making his big comeback to the professional disc golf touring season in 2018 and has already made a strong showing in several tournaments. You can follow his tournament results HERE.
https://www.pdga.com/player/13864

Garrett has already had a signature edition of the Infinite Discs PHAROAH on 100 of the first run discs. As soon as the second run is available, we’ll have a lot more with a cool signature stamp for Garrett!

Plus, we’re working with Garrett and Innova to bring back a signature edition of the max weight SONIC which is a classic putt and approach disc that uses minimal effort to glide through tight fairways right into the chains. Check out an example by clicking HERE.

NICOLE “PICKLE” DIONISIO

Pickle has been rocking the Women’s Open pro scene for a couple of years now and we’re glad to add her to Team Infinite. You can follow her tournament results HERE.
https://www.pdga.com/player/71562

Infinite Discs will be working with Pickle to bring future signature discs to the market that are as fun as she is. Watch for signature discs down the road!

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We’re also happy to announce that two members of INNOVA’s team are including Infinite Disc models in their bags and will soon have signature discs available!

JESSICA WEESE

Jessica Weese has kicked off a strong 2018 tournament showing. You can follow her tournament results and history HERE.
https://www.pdga.com/player/50656

You can already get your hands on Innova’s player support Swirly Star Shryke from Innova to help support her efforts on tour. She is a member of Innova’s Star team. Plus, the Infinite Discs store will soon stock four other popular Innova models which Jessica loves to throw, all with her own signature stamp design, so you can help her out while buying some great discs for your own bag. Watch for Star Destroyers, Star Wraiths, Champion Thunderbirds, and KC Pro Avairs coming soon!

Jessica will also have a signature edition of the Infinite Discs CHARIOT once we get to the second run!

ALEX GEISINGER

Alex Geisinger has a great touring history as a professional disc golfer. You can follow his history and tournament results HERE.
https://www.pdga.com/player/52063

Alex is now putting with the Infinite Discs MYTH and will have his own signature edition as part of the first run in P-Blend plastic! Watch for that to show up this summer and pick it up to support his future touring plans. He is a member of Innova’s Champion team.

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And we’d like to give a big hand to our Team Infinite CAPTAIN who has done some great work to build this year’s team and to pull together a great bunch of players from all over, and at all skill levels. Special thanks goes out to…

KESLER MARTIN

Kesler Martin works full-time at Infinite Discs but likes to get away from the desk job to play tournaments as much as possible. You can follow his tournament results HERE.
https://www.pdga.com/player/88497

Kesler continues to run and coordinate Team Infinite and we hope that he continues to rise in the rankings and make great showings in tournaments. As an artist, we know that he already has a bunch of signature disc designs that he’s ready to unleash on the world, once he unleashes his disc golf fame. But he’s already a champion at work. He is also a member of Innova’s Ambassador team.

For more information on what’s up with Team Infinite, follow our team blog here.

Disc Golf News

Ledgestone 2018 Special Edition Discs from Discraft

April 28, 2018 Todd Durrant 2 comments

We’ve seen some fun, limited edition Ledgestone Open discs come into the store at Infinite Discs so far this year, and we keep getting more. The biggest release so far was the serious of multiple Bee stamped Swirly ESP Buzzz discs. Those have excited both Buzzz throwers and collectors who want to add each different bee stamp to their collection.

Let’s take a look at the latest Ledgestone 2018 limited edition discs to arrive at Infinite Discs…

Elite Z Color Shift Zone

These are some cool discs in Elite Z plastic that have a decorative “Color Shift” effect in the disc. When you tilt the disc at different angles in the light, you can see it change from black, to green, to turquoise.

CryZtal Z Flag Died Zone

CryZtal Z is a great, translucent plastic blend, and now it comes with a cool American flag dye.

CryZtal Sparkle Thrasher

CryZtal Sparkle is a beautiful, translucent plastic with added glittery sparkle that shimmers in the light, and the Thrasher is a great distance driver for players at all levels.

Jawbreaker Glow Buzzz

The popular Jawbreaker plastic is given the glow-in-the-dark treatment on these limited edition Buzzz mid-range discs. It has great glow patterns in the plastic.

Jawbreaker Buzzz OS

The Buzzz OS is the overstable edition of the popular Buzzz mid-range and this is its first appearance in Jawbreaker plastic.

Jawbreaker Undertaker

The Undertaker is an excellent fairway driver that has a very dependable flight path with moderate fade. This is the first time it is available in Jawbreaker plastic.

Glo Swirly ESP Wasp

Though this batch of Swirly ESP plastic is supposed to glow, they certainly don’t glow very brightly. But they are nice looking discs with a limited edition Ledgestone stamp

Big Z Force

Big Z discs from Discraft have big picture stamps. Well, this Ledgestone edition Big Z Force has a Biz Z stamp…that says “Big Z”.

Swirly ESP Buzzz SS

The Buzzz SS is the super-straight version of the Buzzz mid-range disc and a wonderful disc for beginning players. Now you can get a limited edition in Swirly ESP plastic.

Keep watching for more Ledgestone 2018 tournament support discs at Infinite Discs, the proud retail sponsor of the Ledgestone Open!

New Releases - New Disc Golf Discs on the Market

State of Disc Golf 2018 – How We Carry Our Discs

April 18, 2018 Todd Durrant 4 comments

The State of Discgolf Survey has been tracking the trends in disc golf bags and the different ways that we carry our discs around the course. The trends leaned from traditional shoulder bags to a strong surge in backpacks, and has been moving steadily toward carts for the last couple of years. Here is a look at the survey results for 2018.

By far, the most popular way of transporting discs around the course is by using disc golf backpacks. Disc Golf Carts have now moved strongly into 2nd place, pushing aside the large bags (with and without shoulder straps). The small shoulder-strap bags still have the edge over large bags with shoulder straps. Here is what the results looked like in 2017:

Where disc golf carts used to be 4th place at 8.6% of survey participants, carts are now 2nd place at 15.47% of survey participants. The percentage of small bag users has dropped from 2017 to 2018 but still remains a good portion of players that prefer to travel light.

It appears the the trend is generally away from larger should-strap bags (even with added straps for backpack-style carrying) and toward either backpacks or carts, with small bags holding ground.

Going back to the 2015 survey, large disc golf shoulder bags accounted for 34.4% of those surveyed. That percentage has been cut to a third in 2018 with a total of 11.87% using large bags with or without straps. Disc Golf Carts were not included separately in the survey in 2015 and would have fallen into the “other” category which amounted to less than 3%. Carts are definitely an exploding part of the market.

To get in on the latest trends check out these links for ideas on getting the best disc golf bags or carts:

2018 State of Disc Golf Survey: PDGA Membership & Tournament Participation

April 12, 2018 Jack Tupp 3 comments

This week’s examination of the 2018 State of Disc Golf Survey focuses on PDGA membership and tournament participation. As always, the results tell us plenty about the hardcore disc golf enthusiasts who are well-represented in the survey, but in this case, with the help of some supplemental data, they also help us better understand the broader disc golfing population. The most interesting question that arises is: Who belongs to the PDGA, and why— or why not? Let’s look first at the survey data alone.

Figure 1

Figure 2

A little more than half of the 11,230 respondents said they are now or have at some point been PDGA members (Fig. 1)
A large majority of those who said Yes are either current now or plan to be in time to play tournaments this season (fig. 2)
More than half of those who said Yes to the PDGA question also said they joined the PDGA in the last 3+ years (fig. 3)
Most respondents played in multiple PDGA events last year as well as multiple non-PDGA sanctioned events (fig 4)

We know from other survey results this year and those from surveys in past years that the disc golfers who respond tend to be from the nucleus of the disc golfing population— what I like to refer to as the Inner Core. People who eat, sleep, and breathe disc golf. Learning that most play multiple tournaments each year and belong to the PDGA is no big surprise. But take note that the response rates and affirmative responses are higher for questions asking about tournaments in general and non-sanctioned events than PDGA events. It appears that nearly all PDGA members play tournaments, but not all tournament players belong to the PDGA, a line of inquiry that gets more interesting when we consider the big picture.

Figure 3

The disc golfing population is accurately represented as a large circle with a small Inner Core and an even smaller bullseye (fig. 6). An estimated 2.5 million people play disc golf at least once a month (the PDGA’s website says 2 million, but their number hasn’t changed for at least 5 years). At the center of this population are those who are plugged into the small, tightknit ‘disc golf community’— an estimated 100 to 150,000 who play at least local tournaments, belong to their local clubs, and proudly display disc golf shirts and stickers. The Inner Core. In some cases (but, importantly, not all) we also belong to the PDGA.

If you are reading this, odds are pretty good you are in not just the red dot but the white bullseye as well. Reading about disc golf online is typical ‘Inner Core’ behavior. So is completing disc golf surveys, which is why the results usually tell us much more about the five percent of all disc golfers who play tournaments than the 95 percent who don’t.

Figure 4

If you and the disc golfers who answered this survey accurately represented all disc golfers, the PDGA would have more than a million members, right? That is obviously not the case (the PDGA currently has around 42,000 active members), but have you ever wondered what a disc golf organization with that many members could accomplish? It’s an exciting question, which brings us back to our original questions: Why do disc golfers join the PDGA—or, in the case of the overwhelming majority, why not?

The data suggests that players join the PDGA and renew each year for two primary reasons: participation in top-tier events and maintaining a player rating. Both are perks that require an active membership. It seems that while a large majority of Inner Core disc golfers play tournaments, a healthy minority are satisfied with non-sanctioned events and therefore see no need to join the PDGA.

Figure 5

Almost to a person, those regular disc golfers who keep it casual but still love the game don’t belong to the PDGA. Most are likely unaware it even exists, and those who do might be balking at paying annual fees that average $50 just to support a cause.

One final piece of this week’s finding has until now gone unaddressed. Of the 6,176 who said they had joined the PDGA at some point, more than half said they had joined in the past 3+ years. Disc golf is growing, and fast. Just remember when you hear the impressive PDGA numbers regarding membership and event growth that it is just (to use one last metaphor) the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface, the sport is growing even faster. In this case, though, the unseen will not sink us. Quite the opposite.

Top Selling Discs–Q1 of 2018

April 10, 2018 Jace Smellie Leave a comment

Well, the weather is warming up! Disc golf season is (finally) here! It is time to look back on the first quarter of 2018 and discuss the best selling discs. This was the long and cold offseason, which is often the collector’s disc buying season, and I think these results show that a bit. You will notice that most of the discs that moved up the charts had a limited edition or tour fundraiser edition released during the first three months of the year. As always, we also have some new releases that climbed into these charts. So let’s take a look!

Top 10 Overall

Last quarter the Discmania P2 made Infinite Discs history by knocking off the Innova Destroyer as the top selling disc for the first time ever, and it held its ground at the top spot. The top three discs here are the same, but after that we see a pretty good mix up. TheDiscraft Buzzz, which was a long time number 2 on this list before dropping quite a bit over the last year or two, jumped up 4 spots to come in at number 4 this quarter. Also three discs made it into the overall top 10 that weren’t there last quarter–Innova Shryke, Dynamic Discs Judge, and Discmania FD. The FD is also making its debut on the top 10 overall.

Top Distance Drivers

So the top half of this chart looks like business as usual, with only two discs swapping placements since last quarter, but the next five spots shook up quite a bit. We have two Discmania discs cracking into the top 10 for the first time, the PD Freak at number 6 and the PD2 at number 9. The Streamline Trace finished in 8th making it into the top 10 for the first time since Streamline Discs‘ initial release. I mentioned that special releases and runs impacted our charts, and we see that here as the Plasma Trace was released this quarter including the very popular “Trace of Hearts” stamp. However, the two Discmania discs did not have a special release this quarter, which I will discuss more later in this post. Also an honorable mention–The Vibram Lace finished 11th. Vibram announced that they will no longer be manufacturing discs in February, so we have seen their sales increase since that time.

Top Control/Fairway Drivers

There were a few notable surprises in the Control Drivers this quarter. The Discmania FD jumped up 5 spots to be the top selling Control Driver for the first time ever. We also have two new release discs that jumped into the top 10, Infinite Discs Exodus and Latitude 64 Explorer. As you probably already know if you are reading this article, Infinite Discs partnered with Innova in 2018 to release our own lineup of discs. The first disc released in this collaboration was the Exodus. Some might be surprised to see how high the Exodus climbed in its initial release, but just keep in mind that we are the only place you can buy an Exodus, unlike the rest of the Control Drivers we sell (but, I mean, if you only buy them from us, we won’t complain! :)).

Top Midrange Discs

Not a lot of excitement for the Midrange Discs this quarter. The top 3 discs stayed the same. The biggest climb up the chart came from another Discmania mold, the MD3. We also have two new releases here, the Innova Rat and the Infinite Discs Chariot which was the second Infinite Discs mold released this year.

Top Putt and Approach Discs

While there was some movement in the placing, this quarter’s chart actually has the exact same 10 putters as last quarter’s. If my memory is right, that is the first time that has ever happened for any category. The Dynamic Discs Judge climbed up 3 spots to be the third best selling putter. This is noteworthy because though the Judge has been a consistent name on this chart, it has slipped a bit over the last year or so. 3rd is the highest we have seen the Judge for a while, so it will be interesting to see if it will hold or even climb higher in the future.

And there you have it? Any surprises? I’d say what surprised me most was how well the Discmania molds performed. Unlike several of the molds throughout this post, We didn’t have any special releases from Discmania this quarter. So what changed? I think we could attribute this spike in sales to the performance of Team Discmania members in the first two big tournaments of the year. Eagle McMahon won the Las Vegas Challenge, and then Simon Lizotte won the Memorial Championship the very next weekend. Whether this influenced sales or not, I am curious to see if these molds will hold their ground moving forward. What do you think? Anything I missed? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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