best fairway driver Archives

Best Disc Golf Fairway Drivers for 2024

September 6, 2024 Ted Hegemann 230 comments

Disc golf drivers can be broken down into two categories: Distance drivers and fairway drivers (also called ‘control drivers’). For longer shots most disc golfers reach for their distance drivers. For more controlled or technical shots, control drivers are the go-to type of driver. They have slightly slower speeds, more narrow rims, and are easier to throw at a speed that will allow shaping your shot.

Top Selling Fairway Drivers

Much like our Best Putters of 2024 and Best Distance Drivers of 2024, this week we will look at the Best Fairway Drivers of 2024. We’ll look at the top selling molds, the most popular brands, and the highest rated discs. Let’s start by checking out the top 50 for 2023 so we can see what discs changed for 2024:

Infinite Discs took the top three spots on the 2023 list, rounded out with the third-place Centurion. One place in front of the Centurion is the popular understable fairway driver, the Sphinx. Taking the top spot by a sizable margin is the Infinite Discs Dynasty. The Dynasty represents over 6% of all fairway drivers sold, and is coming up on its two-year birthday (Approved Jan. 2022). It is a signature disc for a couple touring pros. Both Eric Oakley and Maria Oliva throw the speed 9 Dynasty.

Top 50 For 2024

Okay, now lets check out the top 50 control drivers for the first half of 2024:

The top ten for 2024 consisted of eight out of ten of the top ten for 2023. The Infinite Discs Roman and the Discraft Cicada replaced the Axiom Crave and Discraft Athena in the top ten.

There was a total of eight discs that were added to the list that weren’t on the 2023 list. Here are the molds:

Axiom Rhythm
Dynamic Discs Escape
Latitude 64 Saint
Lone Star Disc Lariat
Lone Star Disc Mockingbird
MVP Terra
MVP Volt
Westside Hatchet

Those molds replaced these eight molds:

Axiom Fireball
Clash Discs Cookie
Clash Discs Lotus
Clash Discs Soda
Discraft Captain’s Raptor
Divergent Discs Kraken
Latitude 64 Brave
Thought Space Athletics Omen

Top Fairway Driver Brands

Although Infinite’s mold took all three spots of the podium, there were two other brands that had more discs in the top 50. Once again, Innova and Discraft are number’s one and two for the most molds, and combined they have 20 percent of the molds in the top 50. Innova is in first with a whopping 13 molds, nearly doubling Discraft’s seven molds. Infinite has 6 molds. Smaller brands such as Dino Discs and Finish Line joined Doomsday, Dynamic Discs, and Kastaplast, all having one mold in the top 50.

Highest Rated Fairway Drivers

Shifting from the best disc golf fairway drivers based on sales, we look at the highest rated fairway molds. Infinite Discs allows customers to rate individual discs and products to help other disc golfers see how other people feel about discs and accessories. If you would like to contribute YOUR reviews you can earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards.

A quick check of the highest rated fairway drivers and we see that the Infinite Discs Sphinx is the highest rated with 4.89 out of five stars. The second place Centurion is just a tick behind the Sphinx with 4.88. Taking third place for the highest rated fairway driver is the first mold from Thought Space Athletics, the Mantra. It has an average rating of 4.86. It’s easy to see why these three sell so many discs. Based on the reviews, people really love them!

Highest Rated Overstable Fairway Drive

Our website has two different classifications of Overstable. The “Overstable” classification is used for slightly overstable discs, while the “Very Overstable” classification is used for the real meat hooks of disc golf, those discs that are overstable for players of all abilities.

The highest-rated overstable fairway driver is a mold that has been part of the disc golf scene for a couple of decades. That mold is the Innova TeeBird. It tops the list with a rating of 4.76 out of five stars. Just behind the TeeBird is the second-place Discraft Raptor, with an average rating of 4.75. Discraft also holds third place with its slightly overstable Undertaker. The speed 9 Undertaker is rated 4.73

Highest Rated Stable Fairway Driver

Fairway drivers that have minimal high-speed turn and fade are considered ‘stable’. These discs can be shaped to suit the needs of a particular situation. The mold with the highest rating in this category is the Infinite Discs Centurion. The speed 7 Centurion has a little bit of turn at high speed, and a relatively mild fade at the end of its flight. It has an Infinite rating of 4.88, making it one of the higher rated discs of any category. In second place for fairway drivers is the Discmania Essence, rated at 4.79. A couple tenths behind the Essence is the Innova TL3. The TL3 is a faster version of the TL, which is a less overstable version of the TeeBird. It has an rating of 4.59

Highest Rated Understable Fairway Driver

Sometimes you need a bit more turn on your throws in order to either shape the shot you want, or keep turning over until you get a roller. In other words, you need something understable. Here is a list of some of the highest-rated molds that have a bit more understability in their flight.

Sitting at the top of the list as the highest rated and top selling understable fairway driver is Infinite Discs’ Sphinx. It is a flippy speed 9 disc that can definitely give you some turn in your flight. The Sphinx is rated at a whopping 4.89 out of five stars. Second place is another speed 9 mold, TSA’s Mantra. It is rated at 4.86. In third place with a pretty high rating is the Axiom Insanity. The Insanity is rated 4.71.

What are Your Favorite Fairway Drivers?

Let us know your favorites!

Those are our lists of the top fairway drivers with sales and ratings data. Let’s add to the data by hearing from YOU! Please answer one or more of the following questions:

1 – What is your favorite fairway driver?
2 – What is your favorite over/understable fairway driver?
3 – What do you think will be the best fairway driver for next year?

Let us know if the comments below.

We selected five random commenters and gave them an Infinite Gift Card. Congrats to the winners:

Drew H – Is favorite fairway driver is a TSA Votum. He likes its reliability.

Kevin M – Tops on his fairway list is the Latitude 64 Explorer

James V – He likes both the Birdie Strike and the Discmania FD

Morgan L – A disc golfer after my own heart, chooses the Infinite Discs Sphinx

Matt Y – He is bagging the Discmania FD

Find out about current giveaways HERE

Best Disc Golf Fairway Drivers of 2023

January 18, 2023 Ted Hegemann 38 comments

In a recent blog we took a look at the top disc golf discs in each category (Distance Drivers, Fairway Drivers, Mid Ranges, and Putt and Approach). Then we checked out the top 50 disc golf distance drivers, including the top overstable and understable molds. This week, we’ll do the same with the top disc golf fairway drivers.

Fairway drivers have slightly slower speeds than distance drivers. They can be used for drives and approach shots in all but the longest distances. Their rims are narrower than distance drivers, making them easier to grip for most people. Plus, their slower speed makes throwing them within skill set of most people. Fairway drivers are also called ‘control drivers’. Let’s see which fairway drivers were the most popular, and which ones you might consider throwing for 2023.

The top 50 list is based on the direct to consumer sales directly from InfiniteDiscs.com for last year.

Top Selling Disc Golf Fairway Drivers

Sitting at the top of the chart is the Infinite Discs Dynasty. This speed 9 control driver is not even a year old, but is already working its way into many of our bags. This was one of Eric Oakley’s 2022 signature discs which helped propel it as one of the top fairway drivers. The Dynasty has a stable flight, with a little turn and a dependable, but not too harsh fade.

The Finish Line Era got a podium finish for the year. Finish Line was started by Drew Gibson. It is another very new brand, but is making a mark in disc golf. The Finish Line Era has a very similar flight to the Dynasty in Forged plastic, but is substantially more overstable in the Composite blend.

The Centurion, Sphinx, Exodus and Firebird round out the top five (the Exodus and Firebird tied for fifth) Three are sold by Infinite, and one is an Innova classic.

The Leopard and Teebird have been around for decades and are popular among disc golfers of all skill levels. Those two staples were the next two on the list, followed by Axiom’s entry in the top 10, the Axiom Insanity. The Innova Valkyrie Rounded out the top 10.

Best Fairway Drivers by Month

This moving chart shows top fairway driver sales by month during 2022. This is a fun way to watch the trends and see as hot new discs are released or restocked.

Brands In The Top 50

While most manufacturers make some great disc golf fairway drivers, only some of them have the brand following and marketing power to land their discs in the Infinite Discs top seller lists. Below we see how many different fairway molds by each brand made the top 50 list for the year.

Innova was the top manufacturer for fairway drivers with 13 molds in the top 50. Discraft was in second, but several molds behind Innova. MVP and Infinite had the next most molds. Latitude 64 and Dynamic were the only other brands with more than two molds. There were a few manufacturers with two on the list, and a lot with one mold. In all, there were 17 different manufacturers in the top 50.

Let’s see how those molds translates to sales. We listed manufacturers of the top 50 fairway drivers and sorted them by the percentage of fairway drivers sold. There are a few interesting numbers on the list.

It is not surprising to see Innova on top, since they had the most molds. Infinite was next in line. Although Infinite is quite a bit ahead of third place, it is even more behind Innova. In third place is Discraft. The top three make up 50% of all control driver sales for the year!

Top Overstable Fairway Drivers

Just like the distance drivers, we will find the top 10 overstable fairway driver molds. This category is for overstable and very overstable discs. Here are the top 10:

Discraft has the most molds in the top 10 with 4, with Innova one mold behind them. Five brands had a disc in the top 10.

Overstable Discs Approval Dates

I like to see what dates each mold was approved to see which molds have been around for a while, and which ones are newer. The older molds are well established and have been popular for a long time. Newer brands might be hype, but they might also be the popular for a long time. Here are the dates.

Mold	Approval Date	Sales Rank
Innova Teebird	May-99	2
Innova Firebird	Mar-00	1
Dynamic Discs Escape	Dec-12	10
Innova Thunderbird	Aug-14	3
Discraft Undertaker	Apr-16	8
Discraft Raptor	Dec-18	4
Infinite Discs Scepter	Apr-19	6
Discraft Anax	Jun-19	7
Thought Space Athletics Votum	Mar-21	5
Discraft Captain’s Raptor	Dec-21	9

The oldest two molds are also the top molds. The Firebird and Teebird are more than two decades old. The Votum and Captain’s Raptor are the new kids on the block, each getting approved around two years ago as of this writing.

Top Understable Fairway Driver

For this blog, understable fairway drivers are those molds that have a turn of -2 or more. Understable discs are popular among beginners and people who don’t have a lot of arm speed. Here are the top 10 understable fairway drivers.

Innova had half of the molds in the top 10. The other five spots were taken by five different brands.

Axiom and Latitude 64 made the understable list, but not the overstable list.

Understable Discs Approval Dates

Mold	Approval Date	Sales Rank
Innova Leopard	May-99	2
Innova Valkyrie	Aug-00	4
Innova Sidewinder	Nov-04	8
Innova Roadrunner	Aug-05	9
Latitude 64 Diamond	Mar-11	10
Discraft Heat	Oct-14	7
Axiom Insanity	Dec-14	3
Innova Leopard3	Aug-17	6
Infinite Discs Sphinx	Mar-18	1
Thought Space Athletics Mantra	Oct-19	5

Just like the overstable molds, Innova has a couple discs in the top 10 that have been around for decades and have earned their way in our bags. That didn’t get them the number one spot, but they did get second in the top 10. Infinite took first with the Sphinx. While not as old as most of the Innova molds on the list, it has still been around for nearly half a decade. View the most recent listing of highest rated fairway drivers, according to reviews of customers here.

Next Blog Well Look At Mid Range Discs

What are the Best Fairway Drivers for You?

What will be the best fairway drivers of 2023? Will any brands catch up to Innova or Discraft? Or will the old school molds continue to dominate? The PDGA has already approved 17 new molds for this year (as of this writing). Maybe one of them will be a top fairway driver.

What is your favorite fairway driver? What fairway drivers do you think will be the best selling in 2023?

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