Distance Driver Sales Race – Animated Graphs

August 29, 2019 Todd Durrant 2 comments

Here at Infinite Discs, we love looking at statistics. The numbers always help tell a story of how the disc golf market is moving, at least when it comes to measuring how our own customers are responding to new discs or different brands. This week we thought it would be a lot of fun to make a video chart which shows actual movement of those trends through time.

Hot Distance Drivers

We know that distance drivers are considered the sports car of the disc golfer’s bag. It is one of the discs that almost every player feels defines them, their abilities, or their play style. It is one of those discs that players often swap when they feel like they need to revolutionize their game, so new distance drivers tend to get a lot of sales movement when they are first released.

That is why we thought it would be fun to track the movement of some popular, established distance drivers side-by-side with new distance drivers as they entered the market during the past 11 months. The ten distance drivers that we decided to track include some new ones that only came out in 2020, but we wanted to see how much attention they might have pulled away from the more established discs. These are the distance drivers we chose to track:

Destroyer (always a hot seller)
Wraith (another popular Innova seller)
Shryke (a somewhat newer driver by Innova)
Photon (a top-selling MVP driver)
DD3 (the new 2020 driver by Discmania)
Raider (the new 2020 driver by Dynamic Discs)
Trespass (a popular driver by Dynamic Discs before the Raider)
Pharaoh (a relatively new driver by Infinite Discs)
Force (an old driver by Discraft which became a McBeth signature disc in 2020)
Zeus (the first distance driver in McBeth’s own disc line)

This particular selection of discs lets us measure how Paul McBeth affected the market when moving from Innova to Discraft as his brand sponsor in 2020, how new discs affected other brands, how they compared to discs of their own brand (like the Raider vs the Trespass), how market hype can play into sales, and how availability may stifle the momentum of a new release.

The Percentage Animated Graph

This first animated graph is designed to show which disc was grabbing the larger percentage of the market through the movement of time from October 2018 through August 2019. That means that we take the total sales of these 10 distance drivers, add those sales together, and compare the percentages of that total that each one grabbed.

For example, the Destroyer may have been holding 40% of the total sum of sales for those 10 discs for a couple of months, but then a new driver comes out and grabs 40% of the total sales that particular week. That would make the Destroyer percentage drop, even though it may still be selling the same quantity as the previous months, simply because there is only 100% available for those 10 discs to share. This chart helps us to see which discs were grabbing attention at any given moment. The time line will appear at the bottom of the chart.

For your viewing pleasure, here is that October 2018 – August 2019 animated chart (click the play button to activate the graph):

You’ll notice that as the new 2020 discs entered the market, they grabbed a percentage of the sales for a moment, but sometimes didn’t keep that momentum, either because of limited availability or the hype didn’t last. For example, availability of both the DD3 and the Raider was fairly limited when they were first released and it took a little time for regular stock releases to give them a boost.

The Zeus went through huge spikes depending upon availability and the releases of the prototype (originally called the Kong), the first run, and ending with the August release of the limited edition Big Z Zeus– thus the spike at the end of the video when it grabbed a huge percentage of total sales.

You’ll also noticed that the Destroyer sales moved up as Paul McBeth announced his change of sponsors, while players and collectors grabbed his old signature edition before the end of 2019. It got another boost with the new Wysocki edition.

The Force sales at Discraft started to rise based on speculation about what he would throw, and then the announcement came of the Force as a McBeth signature disc. But then the Force died down as the attention turned to the Zeus, which as a disc in Paul’s own line, was grabbing more attention than the Force.

The Race – Total Sales Animated Graph

Now for a look at a chart that takes less explanation. This is very straight-forward. We totaled the sales through time, adding to the total with new sales from October 2018 through August 2019. This allows us to watch the total sales for that period like a race where the disc that sells the most by the end is the winner.

So, rather than comparing percentage of sales, we’re just adding sales for each separate disc. Will the slow-but-steady disc end up selling most in the end? Or will the spikes on new releases help boost the newcomers to the winning position?

For your viewing pleasure, here is that October 2018 – August 2019 animated race (click the play button to activate the graph):

It’s pretty obvious that the steady sales of the Destroyer kept it far enough ahead that even the spikes on new releases, including the Zeus, could not boost those newcomers to the lead. The Zeus finished in 2nd place, getting enough large spikes to push its totals up, but not high enough to take the win. The Wraith, even with it’s slow and steady sales, gave it the 3rd place title, with the Infinite Discs Pharaoh following closely behind.

We hope that you’ve enjoyed these animated charts. Watch them over and over and see what kind of analysis you can offer in the comments below.

Hot Disc Brands of 2019

July 23, 2019 Alan 6 comments

When Paul McBeth announced his change of sponsors from Innova to Discraft at the end of 2018 we knew it would have an impact on the buyer behavior of die hard disc golfers. Many scoffed at the million dollar contract and wondered how Discraft could afford to pay a professional disc golfer that much money.

After looking at our sales numbers for the first half of the year 2019, it appears that Paul McBeths brand value for disc sales may have been underestimated. When it comes to “hot brands of 2019,” among the major players, Discraft is on fire.

During the first six months of 2018, Discraft was our #5 brand in terms of disc sales. The Innova, Discmania, Dynamic Discs, and Latitude 64 brands all accounted for more InfiniteDiscs.com sales than did Discraft — which represented less than 7% of our online sales.

Jan – June 2019 InfiniteDiscs.com Sales By Brand

Through the first half of 2019 Discraft sales have nearly tripled! The introduction of the Paul McBeth Kong/Zeus was our hottest disc release ever. Sales of the Anax and Luna were almost just as hot. While Innova is still #1, Discraft has sold more discs than the #3 and #4 brands combined. The sales difference gap between Innova and Discraft was less than 13% during the first half of 2019 compared with a 31.5% difference during the same time period one year ago.

Not all of the credit can be given to Paul McBeth. Discraft has made some major changes to prepare themselves for a massive production increase that would bring their brand back to the top. Discraft Swirly ESP plastic is arguably the best looking plastic on the market. Discraft has done a brilliant job re-marketing themselves as a leader in disc golf.

With such a rapid increase in Discraft sales, the question arises, is it at the expense of other brands?

Overall, our total disc sales at Infinite Discs are up slightly for the first half of the year, but Discraft is taking market share from others and we have seen a year over year decline in sales for some brands.

Brands That Saw Sales Declines

Among the larger brands we sell, Innova and Discmania (brands Paul McBeth used to promote) have seen a slight decline in sales. During the off season, Discmania made some significant changes by also manufacturing with Latitude 64 and Yikun. With these changes I was very surprised to see that our Discmania sales declined. Had they sufficient stock of DD3’s to meet our buyers demand, I’m pretty sure Discmania would not have appeared on this list.

The biggest “hit” taken on brand preference in 2019 among our customers appears to be decreased demand for Latitude 64 and Westside Discs. Our online sales for Latitude 64 were down 17% while the Westside brand was down almost 25%. One likely reason for a decrease in sales of these brands is the loss of Ricky Wysocki as a Latitude 64 sponsored player.

During the first six months of 2018, the Westside Harp (one of the primary discs used by Ricky Wysocki) was our #11 selling disc. During the same period of 2019, Harp sales dropped to #26. The Explorer dropped from #36 to #62 and the Dagger dropped from #47 to #92.

Meanwhile the Innova Pig went from being our 175th best selling disc in 2018 to our 45th best selling disc during the first half of 2019. Despite the loss of Paul McBeth, the Ricky Wysocki signature Destroyer has helped that disc remain as our top selling disc of 2019. The addition of Ricky Wysocki to Team Innova undoubtedly lightened the blow of losing McBeth.

Other Brands That Increased in Sales Despite Discraft’s Surge

The third member of the Trilogy family, Dynamic Discs, saw a modest 3% sales increase compared with 2018. The new Raider distance driver undoubtedly helped those sales.

MVP and Axiom, with their triple foil artwork and loyal fan-base, saw growth rates of 24% and 27% respectively. Their unrelenting new release schedule and new swirly plastic blends fanned the flames.

With the addition of five new molds, sales of the Infinite Discs brand increased by 66% during the first half of 2019.

Prodigy Disc saw an impressive sales increase 43%. Some of this increase can be attributed to the success of their pros, particularly Kevin Jones, who is having a fantastic year and is becoming one of the most liked players on tour.

Gateway, which has made a big emphasis on improving their premium plastic look and feel, saw a modest increase in 2019 sales of 5%.

Most of the smaller disc brands also saw an increase in our online sales with the exceptions being Legacy, Hyzer Bomb, and Viking Discs. A primary reason for the reduction in Viking sales is our inability to order more of these discs from Finland. We have been in need of a major restock for most of the year, and we can’t sell discs that we do not have. With Hyzer Bomb, the sales figures are most likely an adjustment after an incredible run on Mortar discs.

Growth Among Smaller Disc Brands

The introduction of several new molds, as well as the new “Cosmic Neutron” plastic blend, has helped Streamline to a 91% 2019 sales increase. Through the first six months, Streamline is currently our #11 selling disc brand.

Kastaplast’s popular plastic feel and increased availability lead to an increase of more than double their 2018 sales in 2019.

Yikun saw the largest percentage of sales growth from companies not named Discraft. The increase in Yikun sales may be partially attributed to Discmania’s partnership with the Yikun brand which has some players interested in checking out the additional molds.

DGA saw a 56% increase in sales during the first half of 2019. DGA’s likely benefited from their partnership with Discraft and the fact that Paul McBeth spent some time throwing DGA branded discs.

RPM discs out of New Zealand saw a healthy 84% year over year increase while Finland’s Prodiscus brand saw a modest 27% improvement.

The release of their second disc, the Bobcat, helped Mint Discs increase sales by 65% this year.

The first half of 2019 has been a dramatic ride for the ever changing landscape of disc sales. It will be interesting to see if the Discraft popularity surge has peaked, or if the hype for Paul McBeth products will continue.

Disclaimer: The numbers used for this article are taken solely from InfiniteDiscs.com sales, and do not necessarily reflect the actual sales trends for the different brands among all retail outlets. InfiniteDiscs.com customers are primarily avid disc golfers who regularly follow professional disc golf. Casual disc golfers, that represent the majority of people who play disc golf, are less likely to be influenced by the moves of professional disc golfers.

Paul McBeth In the Bag 2019

March 20, 2019 Todd Durrant 3 comments

On the heals of his big win at the Waco Annual Charity Open where he threw a perfect -18 on his 2nd round, Paul McBeth has released his “In The Bag” video for 2019. Now you can see what Paul’s first year throwing Discraft looks like!

Thanks to JOMEZ PRODUCTIONS for producing the video and for capturing that great performance in Waco as well! Here is the video for you, followed by links to the discs that Paul McBeth is bagging this year:

So what discs are Paul McBeth throwing?

LUNA – Putter

Speed: 3.0
Glide: 3.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 3.0
Primary Use: Putt & Approach

ZONE – Putt and Approach

Speed: 4.0
Glide: 3.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 3.0
Primary Use: Putt & Approach

DRONE – Mid-Range

Speed: 5.0
Glide: 4.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 4.0
Primary Use: Mid Range – Overstable

BUZZZ – Mid-Range

Speed: 5.0
Glide: 4.0
Turn: -1.0
Fade: 1.0
Primary Use: Mid Range – Straight

WASP – Mid-Range

Speed: 5.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 3.0
Primary Use: Mid Range – Various Flights

TRACKER – Fairway Driver

Speed: 8.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: -1.0
Fade: 3.0
Primary Use: Control Driver – Moderately Overstable

PREDATOR – Fairway Driver

Speed: 9.0
Glide: 4.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 4.0
Primary Use: Control Driver – Overstable

UNDERTAKER – Fairway Driver

Speed: 9.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: -1.0
Fade: 2.0
Primary Use: Control Driver – Straight

FORCE – Distance Driver

Speed: 12.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: 0.0
Fade: 3.0
Primary Use: Distance Driver

KONG – Distance Driver

Speed: 12.0
Glide: 5.0
Turn: -1.0
Fade: 3.0
Primary Use: Distance Driver – Overstable

Watch These Discs In Use

Now, for your enjoyment, watch Paul throw these discs in his -18 round at the Waco Annual Charity Open. Obviously, he did not take long to adapt to his new bag of discs and makes great use of the different flight characteristics of his discs.

The State of Disc Golf–Our Favorite Pros and Why

March 16, 2019 Jace Smellie Leave a comment

The 2019 disc golf season has arrived! We have already had a few exciting events and we are looking forward to watching the rest of the Waco Annual Charity Open this weekend. That means it is time to start analyzing the data we got back from our annual State of Disc Golf survey. Around this time last year I wrote an article breaking down who our favorite professional disc golfers are and why. There were a few surprises last year, and with all of the sponsorship changes that happened this offseason it will be interesting to see how we responded to the survey this year.

First of all, let’s take a look at how many of us actually follow professional disc golf. According to the state of disc golf survey, 79.4% of us said that we follow professional disc golf. That is a slight increase from the 77.6% from last year. Professional disc golf is growing, but so is disc golf in general, and I always find it encouraging for our sport that there is still a significant amount of disc golfers who care enough about the sport to fill out an online survey but still don’t take the time to follow professional disc golf.

But for those of us who do follow professional disc golf, who are our favorite disc golfers? In the survey we allowed multiple answers. We had thousands of survey takers, and not everyone has perfect spelling or like to use full names of their favorite disc golfers. But I did my best to try and make sure all of them were counted for this post. Again, we had well over 50 different disc golfers named as favorites, but here is the top 10 breakdown:

Our Favorite Disc Golfers

Paul McBeth–27.92%
Nathan Sexton–21.76%
Simon Lizotte–21.37%
Ricky Wysocki–9.97%
Paige Pierce–9.96%
Eagle McMahon–9.94%
Gregg Barsby–9.22%
James Conrad–7.76%
Paige Bjerkaas–5.35%
Jeremy Koling–4.41%

So I think there is one clear surprise here, and that is Ricky Wysocki being named as a favorite by less than 10% of disc golfers who took our survey that follow disc golf. I was shocked when my data analysis came back with this result. I double and triple checked and tried all sorts of crazy spellings for his name, but this is what it came back with every time. Last year he was the third most favorite disc golfer of survey takers with over 20% of survey takers naming him as a favorite. What could have caused such a drop? We will get to more of that in a bit.

Paul McBeth was once again the most favorite with about a 2.5% increase from last year. Gregg Barsby also saw a similar increase after winning his first world championship last year. Paige Bjerkaas is the only newcomer to the top 10 after she also won her first world championship. Paige Pierce also saw a significant decrease in her percentage from this year to last year (about 5%).

Now, why did we choose these disc golfers as our favorites? Like last year, in the survey we were given five options: Attitude, Abilities as a Disc Golfer, Personality, Personal Interaction, and The Brand They Represent. We could choose all of these that applied. Here is what we said:

Why we Chose our Favorite Disc Golfers

Abilities as a Disc Golfer—86.04%
Attitude—82.61%
Personality—84.25%
Personal Interaction—37.78%
The Brand They Represent—16.70%

When we compare the top four cited reasons to last year, they are all within a couple percentage points of each other.

In fact, the Personal Interaction ended up with the exact same percentage. But that final reason is where things change. That reason is The Brand They Represent, which might be confusing in other sports, but those who follow disc golf know this means who their disc manufacturer sponsor is. Last year just shy of a quarter of survey takers (24.49%) said that this influenced who they chose as their favorite disc golfers. But this year that dropped by just shy of 8%. What caused this decrease?

I have some opinions, but first let’s look at a couple of crucial facts. Paul McBeth is now sponsored by Discraft after years with Innova as a sponsor. Ricky Wysocki is now sponsored by Innova after years with Latitude 64. So what happens when we take those facts and mix them with the two biggest changes/facts from our survey today: A lower percentage of disc golfers named Ricky Wysocki as one of their favorite disc golfers, and a lower percentage of disc golfers said that they brand their favorite disc golfers represent influenced their choice in favorite disc golfers?

Well, first there is Paul McBeth. His popularity increased by about 2% after a pretty good season overall and then announcing a change in sponsorship to Discraft. A few years ago this kind of move may have upset the Innova fanboys because Discraft was the only other big sponsorship team, but the Trilogy brands (Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64, and Westside Discs) have taken that spot as Innova’s rival. For more context, I wrote a recent article about the recent influx in disc golf sponsorship teams and how it has influenced our disc golf culture.

Now obviously we are getting into the opinion side of interpreting these facts, but when we look at just Paul McBeth, there is a simple conclusion you could draw. It would be easy enough to say that with McBeth changing sponsorships, those who had previously cited his Innova sponsorship as a reason that he was one of their favorite pros just didn’t cite that as a reason that he was a favorite this time. Because obviously, a favorite professional athlete in any sport changing the equipment they use would never influence their fan base right??? Well, this isn’t just any sport, this is disc golf, and apparently we care about that kind of stuff (again, I refer to my previous article.)

This takes us back to Ricky Wysocki and his decreased popularity. Now, to be fair, this was also the first year that Ricky didn’t win a world championship in a couple years, and he wasn’t as dominant in other events as he had previously been. So some of that decrease may have been because he didn’t play as well as the previous year. I would argue that McBeth’s increasing popularity negates that argument, but it is worth considering. But, again, what are the two biggest changes in data from last year to this year? The percentage of disc golfers who named Ricky as a favorite decreased by over 10%, and survey takers who cited the brand their favorite disc golfers represent decreased by about 8%.

I really wish we had a way to know how many of the people who said Ricky was one of their favorites didn’t name him as one of their favorites this year. But like I cited earlier, Innova and the Trilogy brands have become a bit of a rivalry while Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki have become rivals out on the disc golf course. So when Ricky announced Innova as his new disc manufacture sponsor, the Trilogy fanboys may have seen this as him joining the enemy. But wouldn’t such a decrease in those who cited brand representation as a reason for choosing their favorite disc golfers mean that it would be the last reason Ricky’s popularity decreased? In my opinion, it is the opposite. The question asks why you chose the disc golfers you named as your favorite, not why you didn’t choose the other disc golfers.

And I think this bit of data supports my theory. This year, of the survey takers who named Ricky as one of their favorite disc golfers, 14.67% of them cited the brand they represent as one of the reasons they chose their favorite pros. Running the numbers from last year shows that same percentage at 27.80%. So Ricky as a favorite disc golfer decreased by just over 10%, and the percentage of disc golfers who named him as a favorite and cited the brand their favorite disc golfers represent decreased by over 13%. My simple interpretation–he lost the Trilogy brand loyalists.

Our disc golf culture is fascinating isn’t it? Imagine Tiger Woods losing half of his fans because he changed the brand of clubs he played with. It just wouldn’t happen.

But let’s not forget, there was an overall significant decrease in how many people said that the brand their favorite disc golfers represent influence who their favorites are. I think that Paul and Ricky changing sponsors influenced that, and as the game grows and sponsorships change, I think we will continue to see that percentage decrease over the coming years as well.

So what do you think? Were there any other surprises that I failed to talk about? Am I taking this team culture thing too far? Let us know what you think in the comments!

4 Takeaways from the 2019 Las Vegas Challenge

February 27, 2019 Jace Smellie 2 comments

The Las Vegas Challenge is a wrap! And tomorrow the first Disc Golf Pro Tour event of 2019 kicks off in Arizona with the Memorial Championship Presented by Discraft. So the season has officially kicked off, and we wanted to take a look back at 4 takeaways from the LVC.

1. Calvin Heimberg—Remember My Name!

He isn’t Heisenberg, but he is going to still make sure you remember his name! Calvin Heimberg went into the final round with a 6 stroke lead on the field. After struggling on the front 9, he birdied 8 out of the 9 final holes of the tournament to comeback and win his first NT event by two strokes. Some of you may recognize his name from a handful of tour events last year including a top 3 finish at Maple Hill, but he has mostly stayed local in Florida. But now that he is done with school, it looks like he will be on tour full time this year, and if LVC was any indication, we may be seeing this 1041 rated 23 year old on the top of the podium a few times this year.

2. Paige Bjerkaas Shows She’s the World Champ for a Reason

Paige Bjerkaas may have surprised folks when she claimed the world championship in 2018, but her impressive performance at LVC shows that it isn’t a fluke. She has put in the work and shown that she is worthy to be in the conversation as one of the best women to play the game right now. She finished her final round tied with Catrina Allen for first place after missing a putt from inside the circle. Instead of shutting down mentally, she laced a beautiful drive on the first hole of the playoff that set her up with a 40 ft jump putt that she banged home for the birdie and the win. We are excited to see what she has in store for us for the rest of the year.

3.Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki Still Need to Adjust to New Discs…Maybe…

The McBeast and Raptor Ricky played their first tournament with brand new equipment from new product sponsors. Their first round on the Infinite Discs course was filmed by JoMez, and when you review the film, they both looked a bit shaky at times, especially on the putting greens. So naturally, the easy conclusion is they must be needing to get used to their new discs, right? Well, that might be true, but at the same time they both managed to finish in the top 10. If there was a struggle due to new discs, it wasn’t too significant, and both competitors should be 100% very soon.

4. An Improved and Competitive MPO Field=Soooo Much Fun to Watch

After a crazy final round that featured crazy comebacks from the likes of Eagle McMahon and Eric Oakley, folks who don’t have a horse in the race left LVC feeling very excited. These competitors have put in the work all offseason, and the competition up top is going to be stiff this year. Most will agree that Ricky and Paul are still in their own tier at the top, but after that, it gets messy and crowded. We are going to see some competitive disc golf this year with lots of disc golfers finishing tournaments just one or two strokes behind the weekend’s champion. We are excited to watch it all play out.

What did you all think of this year’s event? Are there any takeaways that we missed out on? Please let us know in the comments!

What Discs Did Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki Throw in the First Round on Tour With New Sponsors?

February 23, 2019 Jace Smellie 13 comments

The 2019 Las Vegas Challenge kicks off the 2019 tour, and The MPO and FPO divisions played their first round on the beautiful Infinite Discs Course at the Wildhorse Golf Club on Thursday. One of the feature cards of the MPO division was the “Champions Card” which featured four previous champions of this event–Philo Brathwaite, Paul McBeth, Ricky Wysocki, and Eagle McMahon. This card was filmed by JoMez Productions, and can be watched on their excellent YouTube channel that just reached over 100K subscribers.

This round was highly anticipated in the disc golf world, because it gave us our first chance to see the two best disc golfers in the world play disc golf for the first time on tour with discs from their new sponsors. Just in case you have lived under a rock over the last few months, Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki announced that they will be changing up their bags due to new sponsorship agreements. Paul McBeth is now sponsored by Discraft, and Ricky Wysocki is now sponsored by Innova.

So I have decided to collect some of the information that everyone is concerned about–what discs are they throwing now? Below is a breakdown of every disc that both Paul and Ricky threw during their first round on the Infinite Discs course. I personally am not at the event, so as you will see there were a handful of discs that I am not positive about. But if you know which discs they are, please let us know in the comments.

So here is the data!

Paul McBeth’s First Round at LVC on the Infinite Discs Course

Course Par: 59

Round Score: 50 (-9) (two penalty strokes)

Hole by Hole Breakdown:

Total Disc Molds used: 8

Most Used Disc Mold: Luna (50%)

Most Used Driver: Force (13% of total)

Most Used Midrange: Wasp, only thrown twice.

Round Overview:

Paul had a decent round overall. The disc I felt he was the most accurate with was his Forces. He didn’t have to break it our a ton, but he seems to have really figured that disc out already. The disc he struggled with the most was his putter, the Luna. It is common to see these pros need some time to adjust when they change up their bag, and that’s all I’m going to credit this to. There were several long runs that we’re used to seeing Paul hit or at least draw metal on, and it just wasn’t there this round.

Ricky Wysocki’s First Round at LVC on the Infinite Discs Course

Course Par: 59

Round Score: 48 (-11)

Hole by Hole Breakdown:

***updated from earlier post due to new info

Firebird, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (orange)
KC Roc, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (orange)
Destroyer, KC Aviar?? (not filmed), KC Aviar (orange)
Firebird, KC Aviar (white)
Monster, KC Aviar (white)
KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (white)
Firebird, KC Aviar (white)
Firebird, Pig, KC Aviar (white)
Destroyer, AviarX3, AviarX3 (tap in)
Firebird, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (white)
Firebird, Pig, Firebird (tap in)
Max, KC Aviar (white)
Firebird, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (orange)
Destroyer, KC Aviar (white)
Firebird, KC Aviar (orange)
Firebird, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (orange)
Firebird, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (white)
Destroyer, KC Aviar (white), KC Aviar (white)

Total Disc Molds used: 8

Most Used Disc Mold: KC Aviar (54%)

Most Used Driver: Firebird (23% of total)

Most Used Midrange: KC Roc, only thrown once.

Round Overview:

Ricky played a solid round overall. He seemed to be really comfortable with his green Champion Firebird that he was throwing off the tee all day. Similar to Paul, he seemed the most uncomfortable with his putter. He hit a few long putts, but he kept switching back and forth from a white putter to an orange putter. I am almost positive that they are both KC Aviars, but if I get news contrary I will update this post. He also fell victim to a vicious strong side spit out on hole 17 that may have impacted his confidence on an inside the circle putt on hole 18 that he left short.

All in all, it was just fun to watch disc golf again, and it is always fun watching these two professionals go at it on the course. I am excited to see how this event finishes out, and I am very excited to see these two get more accustomed to their new equipment throughout the season. I’m sure we are going to see some memorable moments from these two on this year’s tour.

What did you all take away from watching their first rounds? Did I make a mistake on my disc identifications? Please let me know in the comments!

Sales Impact of Paul McBeth Leaving Innova

November 1, 2018 Dylan Durrant 23 comments

We all heard the big announcement yesterday. Paul McBeth and Innova have parted ways for the 2019 season. Where will he go? It has not been confirmed yet, but the biggest speculation out there is that he will join the ranks of Team Discraft.

But, how does this effect sales? Let’s take a look! We snagged the sales data over the past week for Star Destroyers and the entire brand of Discraft to take a look. Let’s start off with Star Destroyers. (Like always, we cannot disclose exact sales numbers, but can show trends.)

Star Destroyer sales rocketed through the roof on Halloween after Innova’s announcement. People are stocking up on the McBeth stamped discs. We also saw higher trends in Roc3s, Thunderbirds, Novas, and even Kraits. While it is unknown how many of these discs remain at Innova’s warehouse, people aren’t taking any risks. Some people see these discs as an investment, and others as a piece of history.

Now let’s take a look at the Discraft sales for the week, just for fun.

Discraft did have a bump in sales after Halloween’s announcement, but not nearly as massive as the Star Destroyers. This is likely because it is not confirmed where McBeth will make his new home. However the rumors and speculation most often place him with Discraft.

Will these trends change going forward? We will see!