Farthest Flying Disc Golf Discs: The Real Max Distance Drivers

Last year we posted a survey asking you which disc you reach for if you want the longest drive possible.  Well, we want to know if your farthest flying disc has changed, so we’re asking again. And like last year, we’ll randomly select a few of you to win a $50 Infinite Discs gift card. you can read last year’s results below. Then post your response to the questions:

  1. What mold and plastic do you reach for when you want to get the longest distance possible (assume that wind is not a factor)?
  2. About how far are you throwing on a max drive attempt?
  3. Is your max drive a forehand or backhand?

Here are the results for last year.

Farthest Flying Disc Golf Discs

We’ll take a look at the top discs for backhand throws, forehand throws, and which disc was number one for certain distance ranges. We’ll also look at the top molds from the survey to find out the max distance drivers from each manufacturer. Here are the survey results!

Farthest Backhand Disc

Farthest Backhand Disc Graph

Taking first place with the most people choosing this disc as their farthest flyer with a backhand throw is the Innova Destroyer. This perennial fan favorite regularly takes the title of most discs sold at Infinite Discs. It has been a hot seller since it was introduced a decade and a half ago. The speed 12 disc flight gives disc golfers a gentle turn with a solid fade, allowing for lots of power while still creating the S-curve that we love when we’re throwing for distance.

Spoiler alert: The top four molds for farthest flying backhand disc are the same as the top four forehand molds, but in a different order. Taking second place is the Infinite Discs Pharaoh. Third place goes to the Innova Wraith, with a similar flight to the Destroyer, but slightly lower speed. Forth place is the Infinite Discs Emperor, which also has a flight similar to the Destroyer. Rounding out the top five is the Discmania DD3, another mold whose flight delivers the long S-curve.

 

Innova Destroyer - farthest flying backhand disc

Top Five Farthest Flying Discs for Backhand Throws

  1. Innova Destroyer
  2. Infinite Discs Pharaoh
  3. Innova Wraith
  4. Infinite Discs Emperor
  5. Discmania DD3

 

Farthest Forehand Disc

Graph showing farthest flying forehand disc golf discs

Taking the top title for farthest forehand disc is, once again, the Innova Destroyer. I think it’s safe to say that this disc will go far for most players. The stability of this mold helps fight the torque off the tee that a forehand throw generates, so it can get a long flight and a reliable finish. The Destroyer’s little brother, the Wraith, picked up second place for forehands. Two Infinite molds occupy the third and fourth spots, the Emperor and Pharaoh respectively. The long-flying Discraft Nuke holds the last of the top five spots.

Top Five Farthest Flying Forehand Discs

Innova Destroyer, Farthest flying disc for forehand and sidearm throws.

  1. Innova Destroyer
  2. Innova Wraith
  3. Infinite Discs Emperor
  4. Infinite Discs Pharaoh
  5. Discraft Nuke

Two Tips for more Forehand Distance

Connor has a couple tips to get MORE FOREHAND DISTANCE. Watch this video to improve your sidearm throw.

The Farthest Flying Discs for Each Arm Speed

In our survey we asked what is your max distance, then we took the disc you threw to achieve that distance. While the Destroyer was the farthest flying disc overall according to our survey results, not all of us have the arm speed to get a Destroyer Max Distance.

So what are the best discs for distance for beginner and intermediate players? This chart shows the flight range for max throws, and the most popular disc to achieve that distance.

Backhand Max Distance by Arm Speed

Graph showing farthest flying disc golf discs based on maximum throwing distance.

Low Arm Speed – Less than 300 Feet Total Distance

Although there are lighter-weight discs in the faster molds, I would expect to see a few different molds for the shorter max distances. For those of us who throw a max drive of less than 300 feet, the Innova Valkyrie is our most popular choice. The Valkyrie has a lot of turn and a mild fade. That extra turn helps players who don’t have the speed to generate the longer drives that more experienced players have.

Moderate Arm Speed – 300-350 Feet Distance

Another Innova mold was the preferential disc for those people who throw 300-349 feet. The Innova Mamba is an understable driver that can be thrown on a hyzer angle to achieve extra-long turnover drives. Thrown flat, the Mamba can be amazing roller disc, too. For more info, check out this list of best distance drivers for beginners.

Intermediate Arm Speed -350-400 Feet Distance Range

The disc at the top of the list for the 350-399 foot range is also the number one choice for backhand and forehand shots. The Innova Destroyer is what more people reach for overall, and for those who max distance is 350-399 feet. The Destroyer was easily in first place, winning by quite a margin.

Max Distance for High Arm Speed Throwers

The number one disc for people who throw 400+ feet was a close race. I would have assumed that the Destroyer would be in first place, but the Destroyer came in second, behind the most popular choice. Taking the top spot for the big arms is the Infinite Discs Pharaoh. The Pharaoh doesn’t fade as much as a Destroyer, but it has plenty of glide for some smashing drives. That mold is available in a variety of plastic types and weights, including some signature discs.

Links to Max Backhand Throws Discs

Under 300 feet – Innova Valkyrie
300-349 feet – Innova Mamba
350-399 feet – Innova Destroyer
400 + feet – Infinite Discs Pharaoh

Farthest Forehand Throws by Distance

Graph showing the top forehand discs broken down by players max throwing distance.

Forehand Throws Less than 350 Feet

For the sidearm drivers out there, the Innova Wraith is number one among disc golfers who throw under 300 feet. The second place overall winner is a speed 11 disc with a glide, turn, and fade that is similar to the Destroyer.  The Wraith was also the top disc for people whose max drives are in the 300-349 foot range.

Forehand Throws between 350 and 400 Feet

Extending the max forehand range to 350-399 feet we find the Destroyer once again on top of the list. Since this distance range was the most popular, it allowed the Destroyer to end up as the most popular forehand disc overall. However, it was not the most popular for the 400+ range.

Sidearm Throws 400+ Feet

For those players who can flick a disc more than 400 feet, their disc of choice is the Infinite Discs Emperor. The speed 12 Emperor was released in 2019 and has become a staple for many disc golfers. It has a lot of glide and a strong, reliable fade. People who can throw 400+ will appreciate the Emperor’s ability to keep from overturning, while allowing a nice s-curve. Lesser- distance players will find the mold is still excellent in lighter weights.

Links to Max Forehand Throws Discs

Under 300 feet – Innova Wraith
300-349 feet – Innova Wraith
350-399 feet – Innova Destroyer
400+ – Infinite Discs Emperor

Farthest Flying Distance Drivers by Brand

So far in this survey we have only seen a few different manufacturers mentioned. There were actually many brands that received at least one vote. Here are the top 10 manufacturers, with the total number of molds that people chose as their farthest flying disc.

Bar graph showing the farthest flying discs made by each disc golf brand

It is never a surprise to see Innova at the top of any disc golf list. They have been around for four decades and offer more high-speed drivers than many smaller brands have total molds available. As we’ve seen in our annual State of Disc Golf survey, smaller brands are definitely taking an increasing amount of market share from Innova. However, Innova is still offers such a variety of discs that it will still end up on the top of lists like this.

Top Selling Distance Drivers by Brand

Check out the top selling distance drivers offered by the top 10 brands in the links below”

The farthest discs from each disc golf manufacturer

And finally, we look at which molds from each manufacturer that were selected the most times in the survey. Did YOUR farthest flying disc make the list?

Survey Results: Max Distance Discs

We asked YOU about your farthest flying disc, and you responded by the hundreds! We randomly selected 5 winners to receive an Infinite Discs gift card. Each person was contacted via email. Congrats to the winners for 2023:

Mason K

Jerry B

Joshua T

Jacob R

Matt Y

Now it’s your turn to contribute to the 2024 results. Comment below to let us know the answers to the following questions:

  1. What mold and plastic do you reach for when you want to get the longest distance possible (assume that wind is not a factor)?
  2. About how far are you throwing on a max drive attempt?
  3. Is your max drive a forehand or backhand?

We’ll pick a few random commenters for 2024 and award them an Infinite Discs gift card.

 

Improving At Disc Golf

practicing disc golf driving to improve

One of the question I hear asked a lot when there is someone new to a disc golf group is, how long have you been playing disc golf? I’ve often asked that question and have been asked it many times myself. It’s fun and interesting to learn how and when people started playing. It’s also interesting to see people’s skill level based on how long they have been playing, and what they are doing to improve at disc golf.

Some people have impressive amounts of skill, even though they haven’t been playing long. Others are at about the level we would expect them to be, based on how long they have been playing. There are a couple reasons why there might be a difference. First, some people just have more athletic ability than others. Second, the courses and people we play with can influence how much and how rapidly we grow. Third, some people want to get better while others are content to just play at their current skill level.

Survey From Remix Outdoors

How does your growth and skill level compare to others? Our friends at Remix Outdoors shared the results of a survey they conducted among disc golfers which shows the average driving distance and the length of time playing for survey participants. This gives us an idea where our skills match up with others who have been playing as long as us.

disc golf distance survey results

 

According to the survey, after starting out as a beginner, the average disc golfer doubles their driving distance in just six months. Then the average distance gains slow quite a bit. The longer we play, the more difficult to add distance to our drives. I’ve seen this trend among a lot of disc golfers that I know. Although the arc seems accurate, the distances seemed a little lower than I’ve seen.

I would have guessed that the average disc golfer would have picked up a little more distance in the first year or so. After people learn the basics of form, quite a lot of growth can occur. Then the progress might slow down. Even so, the growth/plateau arc is close to what I’ve seen a lot. Is there something we can do to speed up the growth?

Improving at Disc Golf

There are several methods we can use to improve our skills in disc golf. Some cost money but most are free. They all involve investing time to improve our skills.

Watch Youtube Videos

YouTube logo

One of the great benefits of social media is that people with a lot of knowledge can impart that knowledge to the masses easily and cheaply. There are many disc golf coaches who post videos that walk you through every aspect of disc golf. Watching the videos, doing the drills, and following suggestions can help us improve our skills. We can see every detail of good form, then work to implement that form for ourselves.

That method of improving does have a few drawbacks though. First, not everyone learns just by watching a video. Some need to be told how to make our body do the moves in the videos. We might assume we are doing what is suggested in the video, but really just creating new bad habits. Which leads us to the second drawback: A video can’t give feedback. Unless we know we are using proper form, we can’t really correct our issues. Which leads us to the second method we can use to improve:

Take Video of Our Form

If you watch good tutorials you can get a good mental image of what proper form looks like. If we then record and watch ourselves doing the same moves, we can compare our form to the proper form to see what areas we need to work on. This still requires us to be able to make changes to the way our body moves, which may or may not be easy for us. That is where the last improvement method comes into play:

Get Some Coaching

cartoon image of a coach

Having a knowledgeable coach watch our form and give immediate feedback, including ways we can correct any issues we’re having, is a great way to speed up the learning curve. This takes more than just pointing out problem areas. This means finding someone that can teach us how to change our muscle memory and lay the foundation for good form and good habits.

When it comes to coaching, there are several options. Some coaches have monthly subscriptions that include video form reviews. Others offer single lessons with feedback. If you are lucky enough to have a good teacher in your club, you can get some one-on-one coaching or maybe some feedback if you’re playing a casual together.

Practice!

Regardless of the method you choose to improve your skills, if you don’t plan time for practice, you are making the road to getting better a hard one. I mean, even the pros practice. We need that body/brain connection on a regular basis to cement the neural pathways so we can duplicate the correct form on a regular basis. Practice!

What is YOUR experience with driving distance vs Experience?

As I said in the before, the general trajectory I’ve frequently seen with new players fits nicely with the results of the survey by Remix Outdoors. How we fall on the scale and how fast we want to advance is up to us.

How about you? How fast did you gain distance? Are you taking steps to improve your disc golf game?

Unlocking Your Disc Golf Potential: A Survey on Skill Improvement and Product Interest

Are you passionate about disc golf and eager to take your game to the next level? Are you a tad more casual about disc golf, content to grow (or maintain) by just playing rounds for fun? If you observe the members your local disc golf group you’ll likely see people in each extreme, and everything between.

Your Voice Matters

Disc golf is more than just a sport—it’s a community, a challenge, and a rewarding journey of self-improvement. We recognize that disc golfers come from all walks of life, each with their unique goals and interests. That’s why we’re conducting a survey. We want to gain insights into the diverse range of disc golfers’ skill improvement preferences and their readiness to invest in products to improve their performance on the course. At Infinite Discs, we like to cater to disc golfers of all skill levels and a variety of interest in self improvement. And we’re always looking out for new products that will help disc golfers achieve the skill level they desire.

Let us know how you feel about new products!

Comment below and let us know about YOUR interest in improving your game and how much you would invest in programs or devices. We surveyed our readers and here are the results of our survey.

Results

 

We opened up our survey for a few weeks to allow plenty of time for people to reply. Then we compiled the data and we present it in the graphs below. Here is what we found: We want to improve our skills because we aren’t completely satisfied with our skill level, and depending on the cost of an improvement device, we would be willing to invest in one.

Unsatisfied With Our Current Skill Level

 

According to the survey, only a tiny percent of us are Very Satisfied with our current skill level. Although more half of us are Somewhat Satisfied, less than half of us are Neutral or Not Satisfied. Even those Somewhat Satisfied have areas of our game that we would like to improve. Here are the survey results:

Want to Change

A whopping 94% of us indicated that we want to improve our skills, and actively do so. Although there are a small percent of us who just want to play for fun and don’t care about the results, most of us want to improve. That applied to beginners and touring pros alike. Let’s look at the graph.

Improvement Products

We wanted to find out which improvement products people are interested in purchasing. We also let people add products that were not in the survey. Participants could choose more than one answer.

The top product chosen is some kind of program with practice drills and exercises. There were a handful of people who added that they wanted a good program, and needed help finding one that would work for them. The next most popular is a training discs for specific technique. A handful of people included the desire for a disc with electronics to measure different aspects of the throw, such as rotation speed and nose angle.

Nearly half of us want personalized coaching, which slightly fewer of us would like video courses about technique. Here are the results:

Purchase Factors

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone to learn that we are looking for products that will work. More than four out of every five of us listed that factor. Cost was the next most popular answer (We will cover that in more detail next), followed by positive reviews. I thought a money-back guarantee would be more highly rated, but it cam in last place. Here is the graph:

 

Spending Limits

The last question we wanted to explore was how much people would pay for products that would help them improve. A few people noted that their budget would higher for products that get good reviews for their effectiveness. Much less than half of us would spend over $50 for an improvement product, and only 13% of us would spend over $100.

 

Conclusion

The results of our poll provide valuable insights into the preferences and attitudes of disc golfers towards skill improvement products. Disc golfers are eager to enhance their skills, with a strong majority actively seeking ways to improve. We value practical training methods, affordability, and products with a proven track record of effectiveness.

For businesses and individuals interested in catering to the disc golf community, this data serves as a valuable guide to tailor offerings that align with the desires and expectations of disc golfers looking to take their game to the next level. Whether it’s practice drills, coaching sessions, or training devices, there are ample opportunities to meet the needs of this growing community.

Education, Aces, and Transgender Players – State of Disc Golf

Throughout our annual State of Disc Golf survey results blog series, we’ve talked about almost all of the poll questions. We’ve covered our demographics, tournament interests, and what we do or do not know about certain brands. We’ve talked about pros, how many discs we own, and what we look for when buying a disc, among other subjects. In other words, we’ve covered a lot of ground. However, we ended up with a few extra poll question that we still need to address.

We still need to find out how we responded to questions about our education, how we keep score in casual rounds, our ace numbers, and transgendered women playing in FPO. Realistically, I could have included each of those in one of the other blogs. But, they got skipped over. So let’s address them now!

Education

Although there were a couple percent of us (1.8%) who didn’t graduate high school, there are also a couple percent of us who are too young to have finished yet. There are 3.7% of us under the age of nineteen. That could easily account for most of those who didn’t graduate. For reference, the Department of Education stated that the graduation rate in the US is around 90%, and that number has been climbing for decades.

If you look at the percentage of us who went to a Trade School or got a degree, that accounts for over 57% of us. As for the 28.7% of us who got some college, we can also say that a certain percentage of respondents are still going and will end up graduating.

Comparing disc golfers to the general public, we have a higher percent of us who got a Bachelor’s Degree. The survey puts disc golfers at 37.6%. The US census (for 2021) shows that 23.5% of Americans got a Bachelor as their highest degree.

The advanced degrees for disc golfers were a little closer to the US average, but still higher. There were 14.4% of the US population with advanced degrees (Masters or Doctoral), and there were 16.1% of disc golfers with advanced degrees. Regardless of our education, I think we can all agree that we are smart enough to pick up a great sport like disc golf!

Keeping score

When it comes to keeping score in a casual round, I’m glad to see so many people use an app. If more rounds are recorded, it’s easier to take that data to a city or town and propose a new course. Most municipalities like the idea that a new course might draw in people from surrounding areas, as well as take care of the needs of their own residents.

There were 68.6% of us who indicate we use an app to keep score in casual rounds. Although there are numerous apps on the market, UDisc is the biggest. That app keeps score, give you stats, and helps you know how far you’ve thrown.

The number of people who either don’t keep score, or do so in their head, is around 29%. And a small percentage of us who still use a physical scorecard. Since there are reusable, waterproof scorecards that attach to your bag, it can be even easier to use a physical scorecard. However, most people would rather use their phone.

ACES

According to the Ken Climo Wikipedia page, The Champ had 103 aces in his 20-year PDGA career. That is five per year, and that is just in PDGA sanctioned competitions. Some people just seem to hit more aces than others. Part of that depends on the courses being played. But, part of that is skill (or luck!). In the survey, we asked how many aces people got last year. Let’s see how many people racked up some aces.

A whopping 60% of us didn’t card a single ace last year. If you happen to play longer or more difficult courses, you really don’t even have ace opportunities. Plus, even on the holes that you can reach, you might be laying up your shot for an easier birdie. If you come close to getting an ace, but miss the basket, you’re usually looking at a longer comeback shot.

One in five of us got one ace last year. And 9.1% got 2 aces. That means 90% of us got two or fewer aces. And only a handful of people (11 people) got 21 or more. I would be interested to see the average hole length for those aces.

Transgender Disc Golfers

If you follow the tournament scene in disc golf, you’re probably aware of the wild ride that transgender FPO player Natalie Ryan went on last weekend (as of this writing) at the OTB Open. In case you weren’t aware of her situation, Natalie is suing the PDGA and Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) in California because of a new PDGA rule regarding transgender players. (The rule can be seen HERE). That rule precluded her from playing at the Pro Tour competitions.

Just before the OTB Open, Natalie’s lawyers sought a temporary restraining order to allow her to play. The California court ruled in her favor, and she was allowed to play the opening round. However, the PDGA and DGPT then filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court, which reversed the restraining order and prohibited Natalie from continuing to play, due to the PDGA rule. (If you are interested in the legal aspects of this and other disc golf related cases, check out the Disc Golf dot Law YouTube channel HERE.)

Which brings us back to the survey. We asked how you felt about the rule. Is it a fair policy? Is it unfair for transgender women? We narrowed the choices down to four options, out of necessity. Since there is much nuance to the subject, and a lot of strong opinions, we didn’t allow people to write in answers. That basically makes the data unusable, since there is such a variety of opinions. If you didn’t agree with three of the answers, you were able to select “No comment/other”.

A lot of people chose No comment/other as their answer. Nearly one in four either didn’t think the options fit their opinion, didn’t want to comment, or possibly haven’t come to a conclusion about how they feel. That is a significant number of people. There were 14.1% of us who felt the policy is too strict and unfair for transgender athletes.

Two categories that received the highest percent of people who selected them are the 31.8% of people who thought the ruling was not strict enough, and unfair to non-transgender female athletes (Chromosomally female, etc., as listed in Part A of the rule), and 30.9% who thought the rule was fair.

Since men make up a majority of those taking the survey, if we break the results down according to gender, the men’s chart looks pretty similar to the overall numbers. However, here are the results of the women who took the survey:

There is a significantly smaller percent of women who think the policy is fair, versus the total number, and a larger percentage who think it is not fair for transgender athletes. Also, a smaller percentage of women who indicated No comment/other. In light of the numerous FPO players who have vocally opposed Natalie playing in FPO, I would have thought those two results would have been different.

We’ll see how Natalie’s lawsuit turns out, and what impact it might have on disc golf.

That’s all for this year’s State of Disc Golf survey! See you next year!

Favorite Disc Golf Brand – State of Disc Golf Results

What is your favorite brand banner.

It wasn’t long after I started playing disc golf that I started throwing only Innova discs. I’m not sure exactly why I made that decision, but it probably had to do with Paul McBeth. He was sponsored by Innova and was also winning World Championships. I was a big fan of his, and probably wanted to throw the same brand as him.

My bag has definitely changed since then. Now I try to support the home team and throw mostly Infinite molds. However, I definitely have a mixed bag. I currently have six or seven different brands in my bag. Many of the Innova molds that I started with were replaced with similar Infinite molds. I do still have my original Dart that I started putting with years ago, but most of the others changed.

Which Disc Golf Brand Is Our Favorite?

We asked a few questions in the State of Disc Golf survey concerning the brands that we consider our favorite, and whether or not that brand changed in the past year. Let’s take a look at the results and see which brands are the most popular.

We’ve seen in past surveys that most of us throw a mixed bag. Which means we have more than one brand in our bag. In fact, we might not even have a favorite brand. So, the survey gave us the choice to indicate our favorite brand, or which single brand that we had the most of in our bag.

Graph showing favorite brands by percentage. Nearly a quarter of disc golfers chose Innova as their favorite disc golf brand.

Innova is the favorite brand of one in every four of us. That’s quite bit more than second place Discraft. Discmania is sandwiched between two trilogy brands near the top of the list. And MVP rounds out the top five. A total of 56 different brands were chosen by at least one person as their favorite in the survey.

There were quite a few people who gave answers such as, “I don’t have a favorite” or “I like several brands equally”. Sometimes it can be hard to pick just one. That is a good commentary about having so many brands that make quality discs.

Did Our Favorite Brand Change?

The follow-up question that we asked in the survey was whether or not people’s favorite brand changed last year. People can have a lot of different reasons for changing favorites. So we also asked the people who indicated that their favorite brand did change last year, why it changed. Here are the results.

Pie Chart showing that 32% of surveyed disc golfers changed their favorite brand in 2022

Surprisingly, nearly a third of us decided to switch favorite brands! That is a lot higher than I would have guessed. Switching favorite brands means learning new discs and breaking them in. Let’s take a look at why people were switching favorites.

Reasons we choose new favorite disc golf brands bar graph. #1 reasons is the feel and flight of the plastic.

New Plastic and Flight Numbers

Keeping in mind that people could select multiple reasons for changing favorite brands, nearly three-fourths of the people who changed, said they did so in part because of the flight and feel of new plastic. As we learned in a previous survey blog, the plastic type and the flight of a disc are two of the most important factors we consider when looking at discs. So it should come as no surprise that those two factors would be the reason people might want to change favorites.

Importance of a disc golf brands plastic Importance of flight numbers and flight paths graph

The second most popular reason people changed favorites is because of the company itself. There were 40% of people who changed because they liked what the company was doing for disc golf, while 5.1% changed because they didn’t like some things the company was doing. Both groups were voting with their money.

Just over 15% of the people who changed favorites indicated that they did so because someone introduced them to some molds/plastics. I’ve seen a lot of people add a mold to their bag because of the recommendations of a friend or card-mate, but never switched brand favorites entirely. I had to see what brand their friends recommended. Here is a chart that shows the new favorite brand for people who received a recommendation.

MVP - Favorite New Brand of 2023

MVP apparently draws the most people into its lair with their overmold technology.  Nearly a fourth of the people who changed favorites because of a recommendation did so by changing to MVP. I think MVP can thank Simon Lizotte for that one. His huge sponsorship appears to have paid off.

The next closest wasn’t really close. Discraft was a distant 9.9%. Lone Star was in third place, ahead of many larger brands.

Switching because a pro that you follow changed sponsors accounted for a decent number of us who indicated that is why we changed. I suppose that is why I chose my favorite when I started. Plus McBeth’s leaving Innova might have influenced my brand selection.

From One Brand To Another

The final question about favorite brands that we asked was meant to see which brands we changed from, if we had a change last year. We wanted to see which brands decreased in the number of people who chose them as their favorite, and which brands increased. Here is the data:

Favorite disc golf brand at the beginning of 2022. Innova was the clear favorite with 35%

It looks like Innova took the biggest hit from their former fans. There were 35% of those of us our favorite brand was Innova in 2022. But this year, only 24.4% of us picked Innova. Discraft and Dynamic Discs also dropped some numbers.

MVP, on the other hand, more than doubled the number of people who indicated that the brand was their favorite at the end of 2022, vs the beginning. Latitude 64 and Axiom also picked up some loyalists.

People will always be switching brands and trying new plastic. With all of the selections out there, why not try something new? Whether or not we make a new brand our favorite remains to be seen. Maybe we love the brand that is our current favorite, but then our favorite pro signs a new contract

Tune in next week for more results from the State of Disc Golf Survey.

 

Have You Heard Of These Disc Golf Brands – State of Disc Golf Survey

Although the sport of disc golf has been growing steadily for over a decade, none of the growth compares to the explosion in popularity that occurred during the pandemic. Disc golf was the perfect activity for social distancing, and many people discovered the sport during that time.

In addition to the increase in the number of participants of disc golf, we have also seen a growth in the number of new brands hitting the market. There have been new brands rolling out with regularity over the past decade, but the explosion in popularity of disc golf also saw a rapid increase in new disc golf brands. A quick check of the PDGA approved discs list (HERE) and we see that already this year there have been numerous new manufacturers getting molds approved. Even in the past month we see a couple new brands. It will likely take some time before people know about some of the new brands and the molds they are producing.

Which Brands Do We Know?

In the State of Disc Golf survey, we asked if how well everyone knew some of the newer brands on the market. We asked you to rank how well you knew each of 14 new brands. You could rank your knowledge from “Not aware of them” to “I regularly follow this brand”. Let’s take a look at which brands you know best and least.

Who Are They?

Let’s begin by discussing how you ranked each brand that you were unfamiliar with. Part of the challenge in starting a new brand is getting the word out about your molds and plastics. That can cost a lot of money that newer companies might not have. You can’t rely on a pro getting an ace on video using your disc, like Cole Redalen did with Wild Discs’ Sea Otter. Here is a graph showing how many of you didn’t know these brands.

Five brands have a similar percentage of individuals who are not aware of them. Momentum Disc Golf (Now Momentum Discs), Wing It Disc Golf, Goliath Discs, Premier Discs, and Pie Pan Discs are all within a couple of percentage points from each other. All of these brands are just a couple of years old, and only have a few molds. As they grow and add more molds to their lineup, maybe they’ll get more recognition. Word of mouth about a great disc can give a young company a big boost. Hopefully this blog will get people to check out these brands.

Sounds Familiar

Next, let’s look at the brands that people had at least heard about.

Birdie Disc Golf Supply and Doomsday Discs are two of the ‘most heard about’ brands on the list. Both of these brands have been featured in Infinite Discs’ blog series about smaller brands that we carry. Birdie is a Delaware company, and Doomsday is a very, very unusual company that is headquartered in Wyoming (I think) but uses a variety of manufacturers and distributors (Including Infinite Discs) around the world.

Check out the Birdie Disc Golf Supply blog HERE.

Check out the Doomsday Discs blog HERE

Joining Momentum at the bottom of the list is local (to Infinite Discs) manufacturer, Wing It Disc Golf. Check out the Wing It blog HERE. Only a small percentage of us have heard of these two brands. It will be interesting to see how they grow and become more well-known.

Know A Bit About Them

Moving on to the third level of knowledge about brands, we’ll look at how many of them we know some things about. Maybe we’ve been to their website or checked out discs that they make. Here is the chart:

At the top of the list we have two brands that have garnered some attention lately. Clash Discs has announced some big name pros that they are sponsoring. The move ensured that their name would be known among anyone who follows pros to any degree. They also advertise on live events, getting their molds in front of a big audience. Check out our blog featuring Clash Discs HERE

Trash Panda Discs had a decent-sized following long before they released their first disc. Jesse, the founder of Trash Panda, had a stated goal of manufacturing and producing discs that are made from recycled plastic and are fully recyclable. He achieved that goal and is now working to expand his lineup. I interviewed Jesse before Trash Panda was even a year old. Check out that interview HERE

Finish Line Discs is just a year old, but many of us know about the brand because it was started by one of the top touring pros, Drew Gibson. That certainly helps get exposure for a new company with just a few molds.

Let’s Chat About Them

Knowing about a company, and holding a conversation about the company, are two different things. To hold a conversation about a brand takes more than just seeing a commercial, watching a pro who throws the disc, or seeing one of their discs in someone’s bag. If we know a brand well enough to converse about it, that means that we’ve at least spent time checking out the company or listening to a buddy who throws their plastic. Here are the numbers:

Once again, Clash and Trash Panda are at the top of the list. UPlay made an appearance in the top five companies. That is the brand started by Infinite’s Zoe Andyke. UPlay has one disc, the Zeal. Their focus is on growing the sport of disc golf by introducing it to kids of all ages.

I Know Them Well

The final category which indicates the level of understanding is which brand we follow. These are the brands whose molds we are familiar with, and maybe we even throw some of their discs. Let’s look at the results.

Once again, Trash Panda has the highest percent. Over ten percent of survey respondents indicate that they regularly follow this brand. Since Trash Panda has a popular Youtube channel and a mission that resonates with a lot of people, it is not surprising that they are in the number one spot. The large gap between Trash Panda and the second place spot IS somewhat surprising. Their 10% number represents hundreds of people who took the survey. Well done, Trash Panda!

If we look at the number of people who either knows about the brand, can converse about the brand, and regularly follows the brand, we can find the brands with the most exposure to the disc golf public. Given the top two  brand in the last couple of graphs, the winner pretty much comes down to two brands. Drumroll, please…

Trash Panda edges out Clash by just a few percentage points! Both of those brands can feel proud about the attention they’ve been able to draw to their brands in an ever-growing competition for attention. Congrats to both brands!

Check out Infinite’s selection of the brands mentioned:

Trash Panda Disc Golf
Clash Discs
Finish Line Discs
Doomsday Discs
UPLAY Disc Golf
Birdie Disc Golf Supply
Hooligan Discs
Terminal Velocity Discs
Alpha Discs
Wing It Disc Golf
Pie Pan Discs
Goliath Discs
Premier Discs
Momentum Discs

Check back next week for more State of Disc Golf Survey results.

Why Do We Choose THOSE Discs? Part 2 – State of Disc Golf Survey

Last week we looked at some of the factors that are important to us when we are buying a disc. We looked at some of the more important factors: Brand, Plastic Type, and Flight Numbers. Of those people who said that Brand was Very Important, we looked at which brand that they indicated was their favorite. That blog can be seen  HERE

Color

This week we are going to look at some more factors and see which of them we consider important. We’ll start with color.

If we think about color we might be tempted to conclude that the people who value the factor of color are doing it for aesthetics. Maybe they look for their favorite color, or they might have a single-color bag, with all of their molds pretty much the same color. (I’ve seen bags with all orange, all pink, all green, all blue, and all yellow discs). However, there are pragmatic reasons for selecting disc colors.

The first reason, one which I subscribe to, is that certain colors are easier to see. When your disc lands in tall grass or dark bushes, a bright pink disc is one of the easier colors to spot. Black, on the other hand, looks amazing but is difficult to spot in certain situations. If you happen to be color blind, other colors might be better than pink, but the bottom line is that some people want to be able to find a disc that is most visible to them.

The second reason someone might chose a certain color is that there is a belief among some disc golfers that the color of a disc affects its flight. This isn’t an inherent property that colors hold, but rather how some colors cool faster or slower than other colors. I haven’t seen empirical evidence to conclude that color makes a difference, but I know people who swear by it.

Whatever the reason, over two-thirds of us felt that color was at least Semi Important, and one in five chose the option Very Important. That mean quite a few of us might be competing for certain colors.

Weight

Next up is another factor that is (not surprising) very popular among disc golfers. One factor that can be a deal breaker. It can make a disc unusable by a beginner, and difficult to control as a more experienced golfer. That factor is a discs weight.

For beginners, weight is important because it can be the difference between having a disc that can be thrown easily for good distance, and a disc that is yet another overstable disc. Since discs must be thrown at certain speeds for them to fly like they should, beginners might be unable to throw heavier discs at the required speed, and they their actual flight would appear to be overstable.

For more skilled players, they do have the ability to throw discs at high speeds, but if they have discs that are too light, they will overpower the disc and it will become very understable and difficult to control. Therefore, it becomes important for powerful throwers to have the heaviest discs they can find.

Looking at the chart we see that 90% of us find weight at least Semi Important. And over 40% of us find it Very Important. Those numbers are because of how important that factor is to the flight of a disc.

The final three factors we will look at are not at all related to the utility of the disc. As such, I would expect them to have a smaller number of people who felt they were important. Let’s start with the importance of the stamp or artwork on a disc.

Stamp/Art Work

There are discs out there that are works of art. I love when a manufacturer puts some thought and effort into their designs. Some of those creative designs I have and throw. Others, I bought just to collect as wall hangers. I definitely consider the stamp when buying a disc. Let’s see how the group answered the question.

Graph showing percentage of players that choose a disc because of its stamp artwork

While only about 15% of us find the stamp Very Important, over half of us find it at least Semi Important. I suspect most of us would prefer a cool stamp, all other things being equal, so we have at least a little bit of interest in the discs aesthetics. Mix in some collectors looking for certain stamps and I think that is why the overall numbers are fairly high.

Collectability

The second factor unrelated to the flight of the disc is its collectability. This wouldn’t be too important for anyone but collectors. And even they aren’t too worried about the collectability of their throwers.  Let check out the graph.

Graph showing percent of disc golfers that purchase discs to collect.

There are still nearly one in five of us that find the collectability of a disc as least semi important. I don’t know how much that number will change over time. I figured that with the growth of the sport we would see a growth in the number of collectors. Hopefully that growth continues so we have a thriving collector market. In this survey we asked if you’ve bought a disc to collect and not throw. Here is what you indicated:

Bar graph showing percentage of players that bought collector discs they never intend to throw.

The survey indicates that well over half of us bought a disc just to collect and not throw. It would be interesting to learn why the disc was being collected. We may need to ask that question in future surveys.

Resale Value

The final factor we’ll look at is Resale Value. I would expect that people who indicated that this factor is important or semi-important is a small subset of collectors, or people who just want to flip the disc for a profit. Let’s look at the numbers.

There is still ten percent of us that find resell value important to some degree. But, not surprisingly, an overwhelming number of us don’t care much. Most of us buy a disc to throw, and likely will never sell it.

Tune in next week for more survey results.

Why Do We Choose THOSE Discs? – State of Disc Golf Survey

Picture yourself walking into a disc golf store to look around. If you don’t have a local shop, picture yourself hopping on InfiniteDiscs.com. What’s the first disc you want to look at? Do you check out the discs on sale? Do you look at the new releases? Are there some cool stamps that grab your attention? Or do you just look for a specific disc you had in mind that brought you to the store in the first place?

Now that you’ve decided on what to check out, think about what drew you to the disc. Did it have a cool stamp that you like? Was there a new plastic for a mold you like? Did you head straight to your favorite brand? Maybe it was the color of the disc that caught your eye? Or perhaps it was the flight of the disc?

In this week’s State of Disc Golf survey results we examine which disc qualities we like, and which ones are not important to us. This week we’ll look at the brand, plastic types, and flight numbers. Let’s find out which factors are the most important when we buy a disc.

How Important is a Disc Golf Brand?

There was a time when disc golfers only had a few choices for brands when they were looking for a disc. However, the past few years have seen an explosion in the number of new manufacturers and new molds. We now have such a large selection of discs that we might not be as loyal to one brand. However, we might still feel like certain brands are better than others, and stick to those brands. Let’s look at the numbers and see how important brand it to our disc buying preference.

Nearly 25% of us find the brand of a disc Very Important. Additionally, nearly half of us find the brand of a disc semi-important. Although more of us will likely be throwing a more mixed bag, since there are so many more options available now, those numbers may not change much in the future. Those of us who still value certain brands will just have more brands that we prefer to throw.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see which brands were preferred by the people who indicated that brands are very important. Here is the chart showing the favorite brand, or the brand that makes most discs in our bag, by people who find the brand Very Important:

Graph showing Favorite Brand of disc golfers who consider the brand important

Over half of the people preferred one of three brands: Innova, Discraft, or MVP. Although MVP hasn’t been around nearly as long as the other two manufacturers, they have been around long enough to gain some traction in the disc golf world.

Year Started

The next thing I wanted to look at is what year this same group of people started playing. I wanted to see if newer players or players that started years ago were more likely to find the brand of their discs important. Here are the data:


Pandemic Choices

Over forty percent of us who say the brand is important started in 2019 or more recently. The numbers drop off prior to 2019 and are spread out relatively evenly. The worst year of the pandemic was 2020, which has the highest percentage of people who find brand important. That year there were major disruptions in the supply chain. Since people couldn’t always get the discs they wanted, they started buying any brands that were available. This introduced a lot of people to new brands. I wanted to see if the people who started playing in 2020, and who found brand important, had favorite discs that were not mainstream companies. Here are the results:

The top five brands are the same. Apparently, being forced to buy the brands that are available didn’t really gain those brands loyal followers. Or, at least those brands aren’t the only one that people are loyal to.

Importance of Plastic Type

Let’s take a look at another factor to consider when buying a disc. In fact, this factor had the highest number of people who said it is Very Important. The factor is Plastic Type. Here is the graph of the survey results:

A whopping 95% of all survey respondents indicated that they found plastic type either Semi-Important or Very Important. Over 63% said they found plastic type Very Important. I’m in that 63%. There are plastic types that I won’t throw, and others that I won’t throw with certain disc types. I hear other disc golfers express similar feelings about plastic types, so the numbers in the graph don’t surprise me.

Plastic types not only greatly affect how a disc feels in our hand, but affects the flight and durability of the disc. They also affect the cost of the disc. Less expensive plastics are not as durable, nor as stable as premium plastics. They do cost less and occasionally we might want a disc to wear a little faster so it will fly like we want.

Are Disc Golf Flight Numbers Important?

The second most popular factor that we look for in a disc is its flight numbers. Although flight numbers for a particular mold can vary significantly because of plastic type, wear, and weight, it is still the best system we have for a manufacturer to indicate approximately how a disc should fly. We can then use that knowledge to find out if a particular disc is the right one for us.

Graph showing percentage of disc golfers who feel flight numbers are important.

Over half of us rate flight numbers as Very Important, and nearly ninety percent think that they are at least Semi-Important. Although it would be nice if we could test the flight of each mold and plastic under controlled conditions with few variables, until we reach that point we’ll have to rely on the flight numbers to help us chose a disc. It appears that most of us value the numbers and use them to guide our purchases.

Tune in next week when we will conclude our examination of the disc factors that are most important to us.

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