Student Disc Golf Survey Results

[rennic]

Several weeks ago I posted a short survey asking questions mainly about disc preference. I received hundreds of responses from this site alone. You guys exceeded the minimum number of responses I needed in a span of a few hours and the maximum number of allowed responses within only two days. Unfortunately, we were unable to transfer my survey into another instructor's survey account where I could include more than the first 100 responses, analyze relationships between sets of answers, and export the charts I can view on surveymonkey. Nonetheless, I'll type up the results as best I can. All the responses are from members of Disc Golf Course Review and here is how we answered:

What disc manufacturing company, if any, do you prefer most overall? (2 skipped
Innova – 44 (44.90%)
Discraft – 10 (10.20%)
Westside – 7 (7.14%)
Vibram – 6 (6.12%)
No preference – 5 (5.10%)
MVP – 5 (5.10%)
DD – 5 (5.10%)
Lat 64 – 5 (5.10%)
Legacy Discs – 4 (4.08%)
Axiom Discs – 2 (2.04%)
Discmania – 2 (2.04%)
Prodigy Discs – 1 (1.02%)
Prodiscus – 1 (1.02%)
DGA – 1 (1.02%)
(The rest received 0 votes.)

About how many discs have you lost in the last year (excluding discs that were returned to you)? (0 skipped)
0-5 – 75 (75%)
6-10 – 16 (16%)
11-15 – 7 (7%)
16-20 – 1 (1%)
21+ - 1 (1%)

Do you generally prefer a beaded or beadless putter for putting? (0 skipped)
Beaded – 40 (40%)
Beadless – 37 (37%)
No preference – 23 (23%)

Which of the following throwing styles do you generally use the most for both drives and approach shots? (0 skipped)
Backhand – 88 (88%)
Forehand/Sidearm – 12 (12%)
Overhand – 0 (0%)

Do you generally prefer discs with dome on top (flight plate bulging upwards) or with a flat top? (1 skipped)
Dome – 9 (9.09%)
Flat – 60 (60.61%)
No preference / Unsure – 30 (30.30%)

Which grade of plastic do you generally prefer for each of the following types of discs? (3 skipped)

Putting putter(s):
Baseline – 60 (61.86%)
Proline – 18 (18.56%)
Premium: Grip – 14 (14.43%)
Premium: Durability – 5 (5.15%)

Throwing putter(s):
Baseline – 27 (28.13%)
Proline – 20 (20.83%)
Premium: Grip – 27 (28.13%)
Premium: Durability – 22 (22.92%)

Mid-range(s):
Baseline – 11 (11.13%)
Proline – 20 (20.83%)
Premium: Grip – 33 (34.02%)
Premium: Durability – 39 (40.21%)

Fairway Driver(s):
Baseline – 2 (2.06%)
Proline – 2 (2.06%)
Premium: Grip – 50 (51.55%)
Premium: Durability – 43 (44.33%)

Distance Driver(s):
Baseline – 0
Proline – 0
Premium: Grip – 58 (59.79%)
Premium: Durability – 37 (38.14%)

When ultimately unable to find a lost disc, about how long have you usually spent looking for the lost disc before you've stopped looking? (0 skipped)
0-10 minutes – 20 (20%)
11-20 minutes – 45 (45%)
21-30 minutes – 23 (23%)
31+ minutes 12 (12%)

How do you most frequently purchase your discs? (1 skipped)
In person at a retail store – 27 (27.27%)
In person from an acquaintance – 3 (3.03%)
Online from a disc retail store – 50 (50.51%)
Online from a non-retail website – 11 (11.11%)
Other – 8 (8.08%)

How many years have you been playing disc golf for? (2 skipped)
0-1 Year – 6 (6.12%)
1-3 Years – 16 (16.33%)
3-5 Years – 24 (24.49%)
5-10 Years – 20 (20.41%)
10+ Years – 32 (32.65%)

What is your gender and current age group? (1 skipped)
Male 0-17 – 1 (1.01%)
Male 18-25 – 8 (8.08%)
Male 26-39 – 56 (56.57%)
Male 40-54 – 22 (22.22%)
Male 55+ - 12 (12.12%)
(There were no female or transgender responses!)


There you have it. Are you surprised by any of the answers? I was surprised champion-like plastic was chosen more for mids when we otherwise generally preferred a grippier plastic for other drivers. Maybe this speaks to the popularity of the Roc3, Shark3, and Mako3 when they were only available in champ plastic.

 

[jjtwinnova]

I'm the only one in one of the categories!

 

[HarkeyPuck]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[RFrance]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting results.

 

[ranger]

MVP and axiom shouldn't be separate IMO

Nitpicking

 

[rennic]

MVP and axiom shouldn't be separate IMO

Nitpicking

I was actually going to when I was first making the survey. It got confusing when it came to combining companies like Discmania and Innova and perhaps Discraft and DGA. I decided it was better to have every sub-set listed separately because it offers more ways to look at the results. In other words, seeing that MVP got 7% doesn't offer as much information as seeing that MVP got 5% and axiom got 2%. We can see what combing them may have gotten just by adding the two separate results together.

I think the major drawback of asking it this way is it may bias the results in some ways. For example, someone might prefer Innova over Westside, Lat 64, and DD in an individual comparison but prefer Trilogy as a whole over Innova. Then again, people who prefer Trilogy may have just picked their favorite among the three.

Would anyone who didn't pick a Trilogy company have picked Trilogy if it was an available option?

 

[ohtobediscing]

I'm the only one in one of the categories!

DGA lover? No wonder.

 

[filobedo]

The answers to the question below shocked me for sure. 80% of survey takers will spend > 11 minutes looking for a lost disc and 45% will spend up to 20 minutes searching. Last November I spent twenty minutes (the longest I have ever searched) searching for a yellow Pro Destroyer at Canaan Riverbend on the left side of # 14 past the opening of the gap during the drive which I had since the week they came out in 2007 or 2008.

When ultimately unable to find a lost disc, about how long have you usually spent looking for the lost disc before you've stopped looking? (0 skipped)
0-10 minutes – 20 (20%)
11-20 minutes – 45 (45%)
21-30 minutes – 23 (23%)
31+ minutes 12 (12%)

 

[wims]

I was actually going to when I was first making the survey. It got confusing when it came to combining companies like Discmania and Innova and perhaps Discraft and DGA. I decided it was better to have every sub-set listed separately because it offers more ways to look at the results. In other words, seeing that MVP got 7% doesn't offer as much information as seeing that MVP got 5% and axiom got 2%. We can see what combing them may have gotten just by adding the two separate results together.

I think the major drawback of asking it this way is it may bias the results in some ways. For example, someone might prefer Innova over Westside, Lat 64, and DD in an individual comparison but prefer Trilogy as a whole over Innova. Then again, people who prefer Trilogy may have just picked their favorite among the three.

Would anyone who didn't pick a Trilogy company have picked Trilogy if it was an available option?

Discmania, Innova and Millenium are separate companies with separate owners. Same for the Trilogy. Axiom and MVP have the same owners, Axiom is just their color brand

 

[prerube]

MVP and axiom shouldn't be separate IMO

Nitpicking

if thats the case then DD, Lat, and Westside should not be separate, The only people who care are MVP fan boys, just add the 2 together and you get the percentage.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

100 person sample size...? Meh'

 

[filobedo]

100 person sample size...? Meh'

I also noticed this.

 

[ranger]

if thats the case then DD, Lat, and Westside should not be separate, The only people who care are MVP fan boys, just add the 2 together and you get the percentage.

Nobody cares dummy. I said it was nitpicking but considering axiom different from MVP is odd to me.

But like I said, nitpicking...

 

[Reniger]

Innova, Discmania, Legacy?

Discraft, DGA?

So many sister companies.

Even Prodigy started from people who worked in the top two names... But there are still people who will ONLY throw Discmania, because their favorite does. (or because of certain "magical" molds) Or love Legacy because of Stevie. Pretty much any disc you love can be found in a similar flight from another manufacturer if you try.

Point is, I prefer certain brands because of my own self admitted falsies. I like Prodigy for being an underdog. I like Reptilian for being a tiny craft company that I can support their growth and they make a few rare discs with awesome artwork. I like Dynamic for cloning some Innova with better glide and not being "the" brand. I guess I'm just a tad hipster and like "off" brands. But, I'll never fight to the death trying to say someone else is wrong for throwing what works for them!

 

[Star Shark]

Innova, Discmania, Legacy?

Even Prodigy started from people who worked in the top two names... But there are still people who will ONLY throw Discmania, because their favorite does. (or because of certain "magical" molds) Or love Legacy because of Stevie. Pretty much any disc you love can be found in a similar flight from another manufacturer if you try.

Legacy has never had anything to do with Innova. They started from scratch out of their own pocket.

 

[donnyv]

Nice survey
Innova still dominates by a mile and the rest of us are fighting for Trumps table scraps. I'm a thrower of multiple brands so I have a few older ones in the bag. #2 on down mostly depends what region the surveyed are from. Discraft and MVP are big in MI but maybe not so much in other states