The Infinite Discs PHARAOH Rules Distance Drivers

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Infinite Discs is proud to present the first distance driver in our new brand! The Pharaoh was PDGA approved on February 26th, 2018 and is now officially released in the First Run stock edition on March 30th, 2018.

The First Run was made in Swirly S-Blend plastic and there are a total of 800 discs in that first run. Infinite Discs has opted to put the run number and quantity for each run on the disc stamp so that the players and collectors can know exactly what they have.

Of those 800 First Run Pharaoh discs, 100 of them were stamped with Garrett Gurthie’s signature at the bottom as a signature edition. Garrett Gurthie is a 4-times USDGC distance champion who loves throwing discs as hard and as far as possible, and he instantly fell in love with the Pharaoh. He’s planning on using it as a regular distance driver in his bag as he continues competing during the 2018 season.

So far, the feedback from early testing has been very positive, so we’ve already scheduled the next two runs of the Pharaoh. We’re looking forward to this disc becoming one of the top, high-speed distance drivers in the market!

Here is a little video clip of Garrett Gurthie crushing the Pharaoh over 600 feet!


Get Yours Here!

March New Releases and New Look from Discraft

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DISCRAFT has just released a couple of new discs and has also unleashed a whole new look with their disc catalog. Most notably, the newer runs of their most popular discs now come with the 4-digit flight rating system that has been adopted by most disc golf brands, large and small. Discraft had kept a single digit stability rating for years, but has finally opted to give not only their rating, but the 4-digit variety for those players who believe that it better represents the complete flight characteristics of the disc. We applaud this move!

First you’ll see the four digits which equate to speed / glide / turn / fade, followed by a fifth number which is the old-school Discraft flight number. So now players who like one system or the other can have both for easy reference.

They’ve also given their Titanium plastic a new look with a large, attractive two-color stamp as their regular stock stamp.

While they’ve always had quality discs and great plastic blends, this new look and the effort to conform to the expectations of the growing disc golf market really raises the appeal for the Discraft brand.

According to Discraft, the new Titanium plastic is also an improved blend with greater durability, improved strength, and better grip. So, not only should you see the difference, you should feel it in the plastic as well.

Here is a list of discs that are already released with the new Titanium, plus a few that are coming soon:

Archer (coming this spring)
Buzzz
BuzzzSS (coming this spring)
BuzzzOS
Challenger (coming this spring)
Comet (coming this spring)
Crank
CrankSS
Heat
Machete
Mantis
Nuke
NukeOS
NukeSS
Punisher
Thrasher
Undertaker
Zombee
Zone

On top of the new Titanium, Discraft is also unleashing the new, more attractive ESP Plastic blend with more swirls and decorative effect. They also say that the plastic is now more durable and grippy, but most consumers will instantly notice the added beauty and the unique look to each disc.

Here is another list of the discs that are already released in the new ESP plus some that are coming later this spring:

Archer (coming this spring)
Avenger SS (coming this spring)
Buzzz
Buzzz SS (coming this spring)
Buzzz OS (coming this spring)
Challenger (coming this spring)
Comet (coming this spring)
Crank
CrankSS (coming this spring)
Flick (coming this spring)
Heat
Impact (coming this spring)
Machete
Mantis (coming this spring)
Meteor (coming this spring)
Nuke (coming this spring)
NukeOS (coming this spring)
NukeSS
Punisher
Surge (coming this spring)
Thrasher
Undertaker
Zone

BIG Z VULTURE – Now Available!

The Vulture is now released on Big Z plastic with a very cool, large stamp. The Vulture is an overstable fairway driver that has a bit less fade than the Predator, with excellent control and the ability to fight moderate headwinds. Pros and less experienced players will appreciate the shot-shaping and consistency of the Vulture.

These are the flight numbers for the Vulture:

  • Speed: 9.0
  • Glide: 4.0
  • Turn: 0.0
  • Fade: 2.0

The traditional Discraft flight number is 1.7

BIG Z STING – Now Available!

The Sting was released as the 2017 Ace Race disc. This understable driver provides long glide and more distance for newer disc golfers. The Sting is easy to control for short to medium range drives.

These are the flight numbers for the Sting:

  • Speed: 6.0
  • Glide: 5.0
  • Turn: -2.0
  • Fade: 1.0

The traditional Discraft flight number is 0.0

 

Discraft also released the 10th Anniversary Zone in both Elite Z with a traditional hot stamp, plus a Z Supercolor. There were just over 2000 of the hot stamp made, and just over 1000 of the colored version. They’ve been hot sellers.

Watch for more from Discraft!

 

Axiom & MVP March 2018 New Releases

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March has been a big month for MVP and Axiom! Axiom has released one new disc, and MVP has released some molds in new plastic types.

Let’s kick it off with the Tantrum.

The Tantrum is Axiom’s first 24.5mm rim distance driver. Basically, it’s the first of the really thick rim discs for Axiom. MVP released discs of same rim width last year- so it’s looking like this will be the year for big rimmed Axiom discs.

They picked the perfect mold for debuting the big rims- the Tantrum is a stable to straight long distance bomber. Coming in around 14, 5, -1, 2, you can use this for maximum distance. Even with a lower arm speed, it’ll fly straight for a good while before fading. This disc should be accessible to most Intermediate players and up. Axiom describes this disc as “a longer Defy“.

This disc was released with a stock stamp, plus a special edition “Artist Series” featuring art from John Dorn.

MVP’s new contributions include the Matrix in Neutron plastic (with special stamp), the Catalyst in Plasma plastic, and a fresh Skulboy stamp on the Electron Atom.

 

 

We’re looking forward to the next new releases from MVP, Axiom, and Streamline!

Three New Releases from VIKING DISCS

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Viking Discs from Finland entered the scene with a fun, diverse disc lineup in 2017 and now they’ve added three new discs to that lineup for the 2018 spring and summer disc golf season. These three discs add very nicely to their existing arsenal, providing some flight characteristics that were not yet present with their brand. Let’s take a look at those three new discs from VIKING DISCS.

VALHALLA – Distance Driver

The newest distance driver that Viking has added to the mix is the VALHALLA which is available in their base plastic blend, Ground, as well as in their premium blends, Storm and Armor.  Without the maxed-out rim width of the Thunder God Thor, this new driver falls more into the realm of usefulness to a wider group of players. While still overstable with a consistent fade, that fade is not overly exaggerated or premature when thrown at a speed that most intermediate and experienced players can manage. It is more likely to take the position as the workhorse distance driver fro the Viking Discs selection so far with their previous distance drivers falling more into the category of “utility discs” with the exception of the very manageable Ragnarok.  As with other Viking Discs, if you plan to throw this with any power, it’s worth paying for the premium plastics because the Ground plastic will not stand up to many collisions with trees (or the ground) without eventual damage.

BARBARIAN – Control Driver

The Barbarian was introduced in base Ground plastic as well as in Storm and Armor. It also came out in “Fire” plastic which is technically Storm plastic with an attached LED light to the center bottom of the flight plate for night play. This is a solid, dependable control driver with consistent fade and manageable speed. It is stable enough to throw with higher power and still stay in control. I would be comparable to an Innova TeeBird and is better suited to intermediate and advanced play than the previously released Cosmos control driver which is designed much more toward the beginning player.

LOKI – Mid-Range

It has been difficult to find very overstable mid-range discs for a while, with the Dynamic Discs Justice pretty much standing alone as a very overstable utility disc for short shots. The Loki can now claim a spot among those very few beefy, overstable mid-range discs. It was released in base Ground plastic as well as in Storm and Armor. Whether thrown forehand or backhand, this disc will fade hard once it loses velocity, and at a “speed 4” it will not go far before it loses that velocity. So, expect a sharp, dumping fade at end-of-flight and know that this disc is designed for specific use as an overstable utility disc.

We look forward to seeing more discs added to the Viking Discs linup in coming months and years!

 

 

State of Disc Golf – What Brands Do You Know and Throw?

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In the 2018 State of Disc Golf Survey we asked some questions that we love to ask every year– we want to know which brands are most recognized and loved, plus how many players bag discs by those brands. Sometimes we see an imbalance between brand awareness and loyalty vs. what is actually inside a player’s bag. For example, last year we discovered that while more people claimed that Dynamic Discs and Latitude 64 were their favorite brands, there were actually more people who had Discraft in their bags than those who bagged Dynamic Discs or Latitude 64. Let’s take a look at how those results panned out in this year’s survey.

BRAND AWARENESS VS IN YOUR BAG

First of all, this chart excludes any brands that were under 1% of survey participants claiming to bag the brand. The “Regularly Follow the Brand” data is made up of those participants who said that they regularly follow the brand as apposed to “not aware of them,” “heard of them,” “I know some things about them,” etc. In other words, we only included the data where players ranked the brand the highest in terms of awareness.

Innova has taken the top spot again in terms of high brand awareness with Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, and Westside (all Trilogy brands) following behind. When it comes to bagging the brand, Discraft has now fallen right behind Dynamic Discs, but is still in front of Latitude 64. That is still a big disparity between people who regularly follow Discraft and those who bag Discraft — while they don’t follow the brand, they do have Discraft discs in their bag. It’s probably safe to assume that the extremely popular Buzzz mid-range has a lot to do with that.

Discmania is also making great headway in terms of the number of players who bag their discs, and their brand awareness is also growing rapidly. MVP and Axiom have picked up in the number of players bagging their discs. The awareness of those brands has also pulled up the awareness of their newer spin-off brand, Streamline, though not as many people bag that brand yet (at the time of this survey there were only two Streamline molds).

The rising of other smaller brands in awareness and disc use, like RPM, Mint Discs, Kastaplast, Hyzer Bomb, etc. is encouraging in showing that more players are becoming aware of newer or smaller brands, and are more likely now to add their discs to bags when compared to previous years.

FAVORITE MANUFACTURER

 

We also asked survey participants this question: If you could throw discs made by only one manufacturer, which would it be?

The “Innova Made” brands took the lead with 46.4% and that includes brands like Discmania, Hyzer Bomb, and Millenium, which are all manufactured by Innova.

Trilogy came in a strong second with 32.9% and that includes the brands Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, and Westside.

MVP also manufactures Axiom and Streamline Discs, and they now take up third place with 9.3%. Though quite a bit behind the two leaders, they are a fast-growing part of the disc golf market. They passed Discraft this year to take that third place spot.

Another ironic move in this year’s survey is that Vibram jumped into sixth place where they didn’t even hit the top eight last year. But since the survey they have opted to exit the disc golf business.

CHANGING BRAND LOYALTIES

Finally, we asked if survey participants had changed their favorite brand during the last year. The majority 74.5% said that they did not change favorite brands, while the other 25.5% said that they did. So, a quarter of disc golfers changed brand loyalties last year, showing that the market is still fluid when it comes to branding.

 

New Disc Alert: Prodigy H5

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The Prodigy H5 is the newest disc in Prodigy’s Hybrid series. This is the most understable Hybrid Driver so far, making it a great disc for beginners to use for extra distance. We’re excited to see what comes next from Prodigy!

Will Schusterick says, “It’s a really, really good disc. It’s really exciting. Even if you don’t throw hard, you can throw it straight, or flex it a little bit.”

See them here: http://bit.ly/ProdigyH5

Our Course Preferences and Courses Played

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This week we’re going to look at what types of Disc Golf Courses we like by examining our vegetation density and course length preferences.

We will first take a look at the vegetation density, broken down by skill level.

 

 

Right away we see that Beginners like moderately wooded courses just a tad more than lightly wooded courses, but they are almost equal. However, Intermediate players vastly prefer moderately wooded courses. My speculation is that Intermediate players want more of a challenge, and they enjoy taking their game to the next level by having more trees to throw through.

Once players reach the Advanced and Professional levels though, the lightly wooded courses take a step back up to nearly 25% of preferences. Moderately wooded courses still reign supreme, while thickly wooded and wide open courses remain a minority. This could be because Advanced and Professional players are competing more, and courses with too many trees could add in some unlucky tree hits and kicks, hurting players scores. Yet, these players still prefer moderately/lightly wooded courses because it adds far more technique and skill than a wide open course.

Now we take a look broken down by gender:

 

 

We don’t see any vast differences between Male and Female disc golfers’ course preferences. The only noticeable difference is that males seem to prefer moderately wooded courses a bit more.

Now, taking a look at length of course preferred by survey participants. Here is a break down of the course distances broken down by the survey.

Short Courses: Less than 4500 feet

Moderate Courses: 4500 – 6000 feet

Longer Courses: 6000 – 7500 feet

Pro Level Courses: 7500+ feet

 

This is what you would likely expect in course length preferences, broken down by skill level. Beginners mostly want the moderate length courses. Intermediate players like the same, but with a growing percentage of people enjoying the longer courses. Advanced players have a larger percentage who enjoy pro level courses and longer courses, while moderate still reigns supreme. Professionals (with good reason) prefer pro level courses more than others, but still enjoy an equal mix of moderate and long courses. Short course preferences are all but lost among the higher skill levels.

I’m led to conclude that as your skill level goes up, the more likely you are to enjoy a longer course. This is what I predicted before examining the data, and you probably did too.

Here is the breakdown by gender, in case you were curious. These results are also to be expected:

 

 

Let’s take a look at our summary of course preferences of every player. These results show that the most preferred course type is Moderately Wooded with Moderate Length. This is followed by Lightly Wooded and Longer Courses.

 

 

Lastly we’ll take a quick look at how many courses we played in 2017, by skill level.

 

The results are also to be expected. As skill level rises, the average number of courses played last year rises. However, in every skill level, the most common answer was 10-15 courses played last year. It was the 2nd and 3rd most common answered that varied by skill level, slightly rising with each division.

In conclusion: We love Disc Golf, and as we get better at it, we want to play harder courses and we want to play more courses. This is to be expected! The only response that was not linearly effected by skill level, was the intermediate players preference to course vegetation density. It dramatically increased from beginners, and then dropped back down with advanced skill level.

 

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