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Best Disc Golf Discs for 2023

January 3, 2023 Ted Hegemann 151 comments

As a new year and new tournament season dawns, disc golfers will once again be considering which discs we will be throwing, and looking for new discs to try. Here at Infinite Discs, we thought we would check out our sales from 2022 to let you know what the most popular discs are and give you some discs to consider trying this year. We’ll break it down by disc type and find the top five for each category. Let’s check out the top discs!

Before looking at the individual disc types, let’s look at a graph of all discs sold by Infinite last year, sorted by category. The category that won by a small margin is Putt & Approach, which is just under a third of all sales. Second place was more of a battle. Distance Drivers barely beat Control Drivers by a fraction of a percent. Midranges brought up the rear.

Top Selling Disc Types

Putt and Approach Discs
Distance Drivers
Control Drivers
Midrange Discs

Best Distance Drivers

The top three drivers were all pretty close in sales, with each of the three representing about 6% of all Distance Driver sales. They are also very similar in flight, having a little turn and good fade. The Infinite Disc’s Emperor just edged out the Innova Wraith for the top spot, both selling within a hundred discs of each other. Innova’s hot selling disc, the Destroyer, was the third most popular disc for 2022. In fourth place was another popular Infinite mold, the Pharaoh. It accounted for about 5% of all Distance Driver molds. Wrapping up the top five is the Aztec, Infinite’s speed 10 driver.

It will probably not come as a surprise the most popular plastic for the first-place Emperor is the Halo S-Blend. That good-looking plastic is a hit for any mold. About 22% of all Emperors sold in 2022 was in the Halo S-Blend. The next closest was the Metal Flake Glow C-Blend, with 16% of all Emperors sold in that plastic.

2022 Top Selling Distance Drivers

Read the full breakdown of best disc golf distance drivers of 2023 here.

Best Control Drivers

Stepping down in speed a little bit we find Control or Fairway Drivers. The best Control Drivers for 2022 were also quite close in sales. The Infinite Discs Dynasty was the best-seller for the year, just beating the Finish Line Era by half a percent of all Control Drivers sold. There was a neck-and-neck race for third place with two Infinite molds. The Centurion ended up beating the Sphinx by a fraction of a percent. Rounding out the top five is the ever-popular Innova Firebird, not too far behind the Sphinx.

The best-selling plastic for the top Control Driver, the Dynasty, is the Signature Swirly S-Blend. The Eric Oakley Dynasty is a beautiful stamp, and the Swirly S-blend adds even more to its appeal. A little over a third of all Dynasty’s cam in the Signature Swirly S-Blend. The second most popular plastic is the I-Blend. Infinite’s I-Blend has the perfect balance of amazing feel at an inexpensive price. It’s one of my favorites.

Top Selling Fairway Drivers

Get the data and read our article on the best fairway drivers here.

Best Midrange Discs

For the Mid’s, there isn’t much of a surprise in discovering the mold that sold the most in 2022. It feels like it has been the category leader forever. Selling more than double the second place mold is the amazing Discraft Buzzz. The Buzz made up 12 percent of all Mid’s sold last year. Taking second at around 5% is the Innova Mako3. Just a smidge behind the Mako3 is my favorite, the Infinite Anubis. Another smidge back and you have the Thought Space Athletics Pathfinder. Bringing up the rear, a tick behind the Pathfinder is the Innova Pig. The interesting thing about the Pig, is that for many this disc is classified as a putter or at least an approach disc.

A little over one in four Buzz fans preferred the mold in ESP plastic. ESP was the most popular Buzzz plastic in 2022, beating Z-Line by about 4%.

Top Selling Midrange Discs

Get the full article on the best midrange discs here.

Best Putt and Approach Discs

On to the final, and largest category, Putt/Approach. Technically, that is two categories. Most of us have our putting putters, and separate discs for throwing. Many molds do both quite well, like the number one seller for 2022, the Infinite Alpaca. Just a couple years old, the Alpaca has quickly become a favorite of many disc golfers. The Alpaca was the best seller in the Putt/Approach category AND the number one selling mold in all categories in 2022.

Next up, also with some respectable sales numbers, is the Infinite Tomb. It trailed the Alpaca by a couple percentage points. Nearly matching the Tomb in sales is the Discraft Zone. Coming in as the third hottest Putt/Approach disc, the Zone is a perennial favorite among disc golfers. The Axiom Envy moved up a little from last year, cinching the number four spot. Last on the top five best-selling Putt/ Approach discs is the Kastaplast Berg.

The top plastic preference for the top Putt/Approach disc is the Signature P-Blend Glow. Nearly one in four Alpaca buyers chose that plastic. A little over 15% of the Alpacas sold were in D-Blend.

Top Selling Disc Golf Putters and Approach Discs

Read this article for more sales stats and recommendations on the best disc golf putters.

Best Discs Compared To All Disc Sales

Looking at just the top mold in each of the four categories we see that just those four molds make up over 7.5% of all disc sales for the year!

There you have the top five disc sales in each of the four categories. We will provide follow up articles with more details about top sales for each of the four categories of golf discs.

The Best Disc Golf Brands for 2023

And finally, let’s check out the top five discs in each category, and sort by the number of molds each manufacture has in the top five. It turns out that Infinite dominates the field, even beating out Innova as having more molds in the top 5. It’s also interesting to see some of the smaller brands make the list. Here is the breakdown:

Top Selling Disc Golf Brands of 2022

When you include all disc sales of all brands (not just those that included top five discs) on InfiniteDiscs.com these were the top selling disc golf brands of 2022.

Check out this moving graph showing monthly disc sales by brand on InfiniteDiscs.com since 2014.

Best Disc Golf Discs for 2023

We Want YOUR feedback!

What do you think the top selling discs of 2023 will be? Let us know what discs you think will make the list for the top distance driver, top control driver, top midrange and top putter. Which disc golf brands do you see moving up or down the list in 2023?

How many of the top molds do you throw? Do you throw the top plastics for the top molds? How many of discs on our list are in your bag?

Best Discs

Best Distance Driver For 2022

February 9, 2022 Ted Hegemann 282 comments

This article was written for 2022. Check out this article and data if you’re looking for the most up to date best distance drivers list.

Best Distance Driver of 2022

We looked at the best selling molds, the best rated molds, and counted your votes for your favorite mold, and we can declare the winner of the Best Distance Driver. And boy was it close! The Innova Destroyer and Wraith traded position on top of the sales and fan vote categories. And the ratings were separated by a hundredth of a point!

The top five were all Innova/Infinite, which is not surprising after seeing the results of the individual categories. Four of the top five molds have fairly similar flights, the exception being the 5th place Maya, the only understable mold. Here are the top molds and their ranking in the different categories.

Mold	Sales	Rating	Fan	Total
Innova Destroyer	1	4.63	2	7.63
Innova Wraith	2	4.64	1	7.64
Infinite Discs Emperor	3	4.75	3	10.75
Infinite Discs Pharaoh	4	4.71	4	12.71
Infinite Discs Maya	5	4.58	5	14.58

Here are some comments mentioned by fans:

Matt M – “Destroyer has to be my all time mold. Why? There are so many different throws you can make with it. A controlled spike hyzer, a sidearm flick, an all out distance bomber.”

David M – “My go-to is a seasoned Star Destroyer. It has a good feel for backhand and forehand. One at a lighter weight like 167-170 if I’m wanting a little more turn. The Destroyer is the gold standard for good reason.”

Tom – “My favorite driver has always been the Wraith. As they break in the develop a little instability so I can bag several Wraith of various plastic / beat in yet have the same grip. The Wraith is also very good in wind as I find it very reliable and wind resistant. Plus what is not to like about the Halo Wraith, wicked cool stamp.”

In this series exploring the best discs of 2022, we started with putters and have been moving up the speed ratings until this week. You can check out the survey results for Putters, Mid Ranges, and Fairway Drivers by clicking these links. Today, we will finally check out the highest-speed discs, the distance drivers, or high-speed drivers. Once again we will look at the sales data to see what people are buying. Then we will rank the molds by their Infinite rating. Finally, we will ask you to vote for the distance driver that you feel is the best. Then we will compile the information and declare a winner! We will also award one lucky commenter a gift card for their input.

Best Distance Drivers

There is something about the feel of a distance driver that sets it apart from other types of discs. The wide rim makes you feel like there is something significant in your hand, both in terms of mass and of potential distance. The sharper edge has a distinct feeling that is unlike other discs. Their higher speed rating requires a little more effort in your throw, making the movement a little more physical. All of these things add up to a different experience when you throw a distance driver.

The high-speed, or distance driver category has been the bane of many new disc golfers. Someone new to disc golf may not understand that the name of the category refers to how fast the disc must be thrown in order to fly like it’s designed to do. Instead, newer players regularly buy discs that they don’t have the skill to be able to throw properly. Therefore, many bad habits might be formed before the disc golfer understands the need to start by throwing lower-speed discs. Lighter plastics can help someone without the arm speed to throw higher speed discs. However, there are benefits to throwing lower speed discs when starting out.

High speed drivers account for slightly over a quarter of all disc sales at Infinite. That’s pretty close to where we could expect it to be. It does trail putters as a category by a couple of percentage points.

To find out which molds were the most popular, I pulled up a list of the top 20 discs that were sold in the past year. Below is a chart with the top discs, along with the percentage of all distance drivers sold:

Rank	Brand and Mold	% of all distance drivers
1	Innova Destroyer	10.5%
2	Innova Wraith	9.0%
3	Infinite Discs Emperor	6.5%
4	Infinite Discs Pharaoh	5.2%
5	Infinite Discs Maya	3.2%
6	Innova Beast	2.3%
7	Innova Shryke	2.1%
8	Innova Mamba	2.1%
9	Discraft Avenger SS	1.9%
10	Discraft Nuke	1.9%
11	Innova Tern	1.7%
12	Discraft Force	1.5%
13	MVP Photon	1.5%
14	Discraft Surge SS	1.4%
15	Discraft Hades	1.4%
16	Innova Boss	1.4%
17	Discraft Zeus	1.3%
18	Discraft Thrasher	1.3%
19	Discraft Scorch	1.2%
20	Innova Katana	1.2%

Brands in the Top 20

Although most people know about the popularity of the Destroyer and Wraith, they may not know that one out of every five distance drivers sold at Infinite is one of those two molds! Those are some successful molds. In addition to holding the top two spots in the category. Innova is also responsible for 8 of the top 20 distance drivers we sell. That ties Discraft, who also holds 8 of the top 20 spots. In a distant third place is Infinite Discs, with 3 of the top 20. There were only four manufacturers in the top 20, and here is a chart with the breakdown:

Although Infinite Discs only had three molds in the top 20, those molds accounted for a significant portion of the distance drivers sold. In fact, sales of Infinite’s three top-20 molds surpassed Discraft’s eight molds in the top 20. Here is a list of the four manufacturers in the top 20, with the percentage of overall distance driver sales for the past year:

Best Rated Discs

Now let’s take a look at the Infinite Discs rating for the top molds. These are the ratings that customers have given each mold when they give a review. The ratings give us a picture of how people feel about the disc once they’ve had a chance to throw it. That’s a more accurate indication of the long-term view of people’s opinions of the disc, assuming it’s been around long enough for a significant number of people to rate the mold. Infinite Discs’ Emperor and Pharaoh top the list, with ratings a bit above the rest of the group. Here are the top 20 discs, sorted by Infinite rating:

Infinite Discs Emperor	4.75
Infinite Discs Pharaoh	4.71
Innova Wraith	4.64
Discraft Zeus	4.64
Innova Destroyer	4.63
Innova Tern	4.61
Innova Shryke	4.6
Discraft Surge SS	4.59
Infinite Discs Maya	4.58
Discraft Hades	4.58
Discraft Thrasher	4.58

Fan Vote Results

We asked you to let us know which mold you considered to be the best distance driver. You responded by the hundreds, and we’ve compiled a list of the top molds. Just like the top mold sales, the fan vote was all Innova/Infinite. Topping the list wasn’t the popular Destroyer. It was the Wraith, which is like a slightly slower Destroyer. In addition to the brands you would expect to make the list, there were votes for many other brands, including Divergent Discs, Viking, Millennium, Legacy, Axiom, Kastaplast, Thought Space Athletics, and DGA.

Here is a list of the top voted discs, along with the percentage of people who voted for that mold.

Mold	Percentage of Votes
Wraith	13.9%
Destroyer	9.4%
Emperor	4.5%
Pharaoh	4.1%
Maya	3.7%
Boss	3.4%
Grace	3.0%
Mamba	3.0%
DD3	2.2%
Shryke	2.2%

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Let Us Know Your Favorite!

Now it’s your turn to let us know about your favorite distance driver. Even if your disc didn’t make the list, let us know what it is, and why it is the best disc for you or the best driver for beginners. This is a great chance to show people looking for a distance driver why your favorite disc works for you!

Best Discs

Best Disc Golf Drivers of 2020

August 6, 2020 Ted Hegemann 141 comments

In this unprecedented year of pandemic, unrest, and shutdowns, we’ve seen people buying discs faster than suppliers can get them made and shipped. People are still playing disc golf. What better activity for either staying home, with putting and upshot practice, or maintaining social distancing out on the course. Since people are still playing, and buying discs, we wanted to see what kind of impact the world situation might have had on our disc selections. For the next few weeks, we will look at the best discs of 2020, broken down by disc type. This week, we will look at the best disc golf drivers of 2020.

2020: What An Interesting Year

Since a bulk of the year was during the pandemic, we will see if our disc selections have been different than in years past. There would likely have to be something bigger than a global pandemic to get us to change our favorite discs. But, there are factors that do get us to change.

For example, if our favorite disc golf pro, who happens to be a world champion, puts out a new disc. Or puts out a new version of an old disc. Those kinds of things affect disc golf sales, as we’ve seen in the past. Let’s start by jumping right in and see who is the King (no pun intended) of drivers for 2020.

Best Disc Golf Drivers

Rank	Disc Mold	Sales Rank	Star Rating	Fan Vote	Average
1	Innova Destroyer	1	1	1	1.0
2	Innova Wraith	2	2	2	2.0
3	Innova Teebird	4	3	7	4.7
4	Innova Thunderbird	9	5	3	5.7
5	Discraft Hades	7	9	3	6.3

How We Chose the Best Disc Golf Driver For 2020?

There are several different components to our rating system that we used to determine the best disc golf distance drivers for 2020:

First, we counted the sales volume. That makes sense. The mold that sells the most is certainly a contender for the number one disc.
Second we look at both how you have rated the discs, and how many reviews you have made for the top drivers to date on Infinite Discs website. A high rating and a lot of reviews translates into a desirable disc.
And finally, we will considered what you our blog readers and social media followers say when asked the question: What do you think is the best disc golf driver?

Best Disc Golf Drivers by Sales

According to online disc sales at InfiniteDiscs.com, the following are the top drivers in disc golf for 2020:

2020 Sales Rank	Disc Mold
1	Innova Destroyer
2	Innova Wraith
3	Innova Firebird
4	Innova Teebird
5	Innova Valkyrie
6	Innova Leopard
7	Discraft Hades
8	Discraft Undertaker
9	Innova Thunderbird
10	Discraft Zeus
11	Discraft Heat
12	Innova Beast
13	Discraft Force
14	Innova Shryke
15	Infinite Discs Pharaoh
16	Discraft Avenger SS
17	Discraft Anax
18	Innova Leopard3
19	Infinite Discs Emperor
20	Discraft Thrasher

Best Discs According to Star Ratings

Based on user submitted reviews and star ratings, these are the top 10 rated drivers of 2020:

Rank	Disc	Star Rating	# Of 2020 Reviews	Weighted Score
1	Innova Destroyer	4.8	70	5.44
2	Innova Wraith	4.61	53	5.01
3	Innova Teebird	4.77	41	5.00
4	Innova Firebird	4.57	49	4.91
5	Innova Thunderbird	4.67	35	4.81
6	Discraft Undertaker	4.78	23	4.75
7	Discraft Zeus	4.69	22	4.65
8	Infinite Discs Pharaoh	4.72	18	4.62
9	Discraft Hades	4.77	14	4.61
10	Infinite Discs Emperor	4.7	16	4.57

While most of the top discs appear in both lists, two understable Innova fairway drivers — the Valkyrie and Leopard made the top 10 sales list but not the top rated discs list. Interestingly, the two discs that replaced them — the Pharaoh and Emperor are high speed distance drivers. It appears that website visitors are more likely to buy easy to throw fairway drivers, but more excited to review discs that provide maximum distance.

So, here we go with the breakdown of some of the top contenders for best disc golf driver of 2020 based on sales, reviews, and ratings. After we hear back from you in the comment section at the bottom of the page, we will update the blog to declare an ultimate winner of the best disc golf driver of 2020.

Top Drivers of 2020: Fan Choice!

For our third and final criteria we reached out to our fans in this post and on social media to let them have their say on what they think the best disc golf driver truly is. The results of the fan vote are as follows:

	Fan Vote
Rank	Disc Model	Percent of Vote
1	Innova Destroyer	20.0%
2	Innova Wraith	19.0%
3	Innova Thunderbird	6.3%
4	Discraft Hades	6.3%
5	Discraft Zeus	5.3%
6	Discraft Undertaker	3.0%
7	Innova Teebird	3.0%
8	Streamline Trace	2.4%
9	Innova Katana	2.4%
10	Innova Valkyrie	2.4%

We’ve tallied your votes to determine the fan winner. We counted 127 votes on the blog and on Facebook. Garnering just over 20% of the votes is the Innova Destroyer. In a very close second place is the popular, and similarly flying Innova Wraith. The Wraith got just under 19% of the votes. In a tie for second place, with 6.3% of the votes is the Innova Thunderbird and the Discraft Hades. Just one percentage point behind those two molds is the Discraft Zeus.

The next few spots are occupied by the Undertaker and TeeBird at 3%, and coming in a 2.4% is the Trace, Katana and Valkyrie. Although the Streamline Trace is the only non-Innova or Discraft mold up to this point in the tally, there were 29 different molds that only received one or two votes. Those include molds from Discmania, Prodigy, Westside, Latitude 64, Dynamic Discs, MVP, Infinite Discs, Axiom, and Vibram.

A Summary of some of the Top Drivers

The Innova Destroyer

This perennial powerhouse made a splash when it was released over a decade ago, and has pretty much dominated the category ever since. Its popular flight numbers, giving a little turn with a reliable fade, has made this disc a winner from the beginning. The Destroyer’s availability in lighter plastics makes it a hit with people of all skill levels.

Innova Teebird

The only thin rim control driver in the top five of the best disc golf drivers of 2020 category, this reliable workhorse has a spot in the bag of many pro and amateur alike. It has been around for two decades, and clearly has a popular flight number. It has become a signature disc for a couple of pros, which might contribute to its popularity.

Innova Firebird and Thunderbird, Discraft Undertaker

These three molds are ‘tweener’ drivers, with thicker rims than traditional fairway drivers but not thick enough to be considered distance drivers. Whatever you call them, all of these molds are popular with people of all skill levels, helping them make the list of best drivers for the year.

The Thunderbird is a straight-flying disc that still has a decent fade at the end. It is the definition of ‘control driver’.

The Firebird could be called a more stable Thunderbird. Its ability to fight headwinds and deliver a solid fade has made the Firebird one of the most in-demand drivers for many years. Certain Firebirds, such as the Sexton Glow Firebirds, are popular for their added overstability, making them even more in demand.

The Undertaker has a little more turn than the Firebird or Thunderbird, but still has a good fade at the end. With a hyzer flip, the Undertaker can be shaped for some long throws.

Discraft Zeus and Infinite Discs Emperor

While the Destroyer has been the #1 rated disc for years, it’s no surprise that similar discs by other brands are also very popular.

It wasn’t long after McBeth moved to Discraft that they announced the newest disc to the Discraft line-up, the Kong. The name was later changed to the Zeus. With a flight number similar to the popular Destroyer and the Infinite Discs Emperor, the Zeus was an immediate hit. With its desirable flight, beautiful swirly plastic, and its endorsement by a world champ, the Zeus fought for the number one spot last year. And, it remains a contender this year.

With its Destroyer-like flight and popularity among professional disc golfers like Garrett Gurthie, Dave Feldberg, and Kona Panis, it’s no surprise that the Emperor achieved top 10 status for ratings this year.

Infinite Discs Pharaoh

This high-speed driver has been one of Infinite’s most popular drivers since it was released. It has a slight turn and a reliable, but not too harsh, fade. Available in several plastic blends, the Pharaoh’s distance is its strength. Fortunately, the mold comes in lighter weights, too, giving the novice player and touring pro alike and option for long-distance throws. Making its top-ten appearance for three years in a row, the Pharaoh is here to stay!

Discraft Hades

New to the Discraft lineup this year is the understable, but controllable, speed 12 Hades. With lots of glide and flight numbers that fill the needs of a variety of skill levels, the Hades has been a hit for Discraft. Introducing a disc with the name of a repeat world champion on it surely helps with sales. Then, mix in some popular flight numbers and you have a winning combination. The Hades has flight numbers that are similar to the widely used Innova Tern. If you want a flip-to-straight flight with a solid fade, or a big turnover shot, the Hades would fill that slot in your bag. Of all the drivers in the top 10, the Hades has the most high speed turn by far.

Innova Valkyrie and Leopard

The Valkyrie and Leopard are known as Innova’s “easy to throw” drivers. These are the very drivers that are included in most Innova three disc starter sets. In their base DX plastic, these popular beginner discs can be very understable. With the huge growth of disc golf during the pandemic it is no surprise that these popular beginner discs made the top sales list. But do the Valkyrie and Leopard have what it takes to be considered the best disc golf driver of 2020?

What Makes a Top Ten Disc Golf Driver

So, why do we like those discs? If we break down the flight ratings of all of the top ten discs, we can come up with an average flight, and see if that helps us understand why these discs are popular. The ‘average’ flight rating of these ten discs, using the common flight rating of speed, glide, turn, and fade, is 10.6, -5, -.9, 2.6. If we round those numbers, we pretty much get the flight of the Wraith, which is the second most popular disc on the list. The Innova Wraith is one speed slower than the Destroyer, which occupies the number 1 spot. As was mentioned, the Destroyer shares the same flight rating as the Zeus and the Emperor, as well as other popular molds that didn’t make the top ten, like the Trespass, Outlaw, and DD3. Apparently, we like that general flight.

The average flight is similar to the flight of 6 out of the 10 best discs. We like discs that give us a little turn, but also give us a reliable fade. We like wide rims, but not too wide. Other than the Hades, we don’t want a lot of turn. (Discs in the 11-20 most popular range have more flip, or turn, to them, such as the Beast, Valkyrie, Shryke, Heat, and Avenger SS) We also like some of our discs to have all fade and little to no turn, for utility shots.

In With the Old, In With the New

The first four molds on the list, Destroyer, Wraith, Teebird, and Firebird, were all released prior to 2008. They’ve been around for a while and have proven their value to the disc golf community. The last four discs on the list, Zeus, Pharaoh, Hades, and Emperor, were all released in the last couple of years. Only time will tell is they remain as popular in years to come. Probably so, since three out of four of them have the popular flight characteristics mentioned above. For the record, the average PDGA approval year for the top ten drivers is 2012.

Feel Free to watch this video which summarizes the results in a minute and thirty seconds:

Your Opinion: What is the best driver for you?

We want your opinion. What do you think the best disc golf driver is and why? What weight and plastic do you like it in. How long have you been playing disc golf, how far can you throw? Please comment below.