[Dynamic] Why is the Judge so popular?

[BuzzzChief]

What I see over time is that the Wizard guys largely still throw Wizards. A lot of the Judge guys throw a Warden or Crown or something else like that now; I don't see as many Judge throwers as I used to and it's essentially Trilogy competing with themselves. It seems like it would have been easier to just make Judges and leave it at that. :|

My experience here has been similar. I feel like 5 years ago if you were throwing DD, you putted Judges. Now I see way more Wardens.

The Judge feels fine, but I'm a Wizard lifer. There are a ton of discs out there that are close, but nothing is a true replacement.

 

[Keller]

Around my parts, the Judge was all the rage 5 years ago. Now, I only know one person who uses them.

I threw and putted with Judges for a year, not a bad disc, but I don't care for the unpredictable glide. Just not my style.

I'm a Yeti Aviar guy with Wizards as my change it up once in a while putter.

 

[SD86]

A lot of good reasons that I agree with have already been listed, so I'll just say that the Judge is a disc that just works, and works for a lot of people. It's a good putting putter and a good throwing putter.

If memory serves me correctly, it was DD's first putter, and so was picked up by a lot of people who like DD/Trilogy. Then they came out with other putters, and some of those people peeled off into the other discs (I'm one of those; I use the Marshal as my putting putter now). But the Judge is still pretty popular.

 

[F. Howl]

If the one guy I know who uses a Judge, chucked it into a random group of disc golfers in SoCal, chances are he'd hit someone who uses a Clutch.

 

[elmexdela]

they arent popular around me

 

[aphilso1]

For me it's a slightly shallower Wizard that I can find in more consistent plastic runs.

First post and this guy nailed it. :clap:

A lot of beaded putters feel too deep to me. Judge is relatively shallow. Also, it has so many plastic choices that are readily available. It's an easy disc to replace. I personally liked how Crowns putted better and they are super similar discs, so I never spent much time with the Judge. In hindsight I kind of wish I had gone with the Judge instead, since Crowns are harder to find in the wild.

 

[jaciche]

I used a pair of Yeti Aviars for about 5 years before switching to the judges. I loved my yetis and have 3 aces with those 2 discs, but the yetis drop faster (aka having less glide) while putting and approaching. I tried throwing a judge one day and was amazed how easy it was to throw it straight and far (for a putter). Even with my max power while fan gripping a putter, I can throw my judge 30-40 feet further than a yeti consistently.

The reason why I think the judges are so popular is because you can putt and throw them further with less effort, and they are neutrally stable. I think they are similar to a slightly less stable wizard, but I prefer the more shallow feel of the Judge.

 

[Casey 1988]

If the one guy I know who uses a Judge, chucked it into a random group of disc golfers in SoCal, chances are he'd hit someone who uses a Clutch.

Or an Innova Putter is the next best guess.

 

[rusch_bag]

I feel like DD has really fell off a cliff around here in regards to popularity. Everyone who got suckered into the trilogy bandwagon have gone full discraft now.

 

[Casey 1988]

Where I live most players use the Swedish Trilogy of whatever the Pro Justin Cournoyer From Rapid City uses for a putting putter. The Swedish Trilogy putting players Copied him with putter when the South Dakota State Disc Golf Championship happened in 2015 and 2016. But he has Been back this year for the 7th Annual Josh Wishard Memorial, so I bet more of the Trilogy Putters used his putter mold.

 

[Casey 1988]

I feel like DD has really fell off a cliff around here in regards to popularity. Everyone who got suckered into the trilogy bandwagon have gone full discraft now.

Well considering how similar a few of the molds are between the two brands I am not surprised.

 

[PMantle]

I feel like DD has really fell off a cliff around here in regards to popularity. Everyone who got suckered into the trilogy bandwagon have gone full discraft now.

This is ironically hilarious.

 

[Three Putt]

I feel like DD has really fell off a cliff around here in regards to popularity. Everyone who got suckered into the trilogy bandwagon have gone full discraft now.

It makes me worry about the business of selling discs and how fickle we are. We had A LOT of player go full Dynamic or all-Trilogy in the last five-six years that have quickly switched away from it. It's seems anecdotally like a massive market shift overnight based on...what exactly? Paul McBeth? It seems weird since Paul McBeth wasn't a Trilogy player, so the trilogy fanboys switched brand alliance to follow a player they were not following before? Weird. It seems like they would dump Discraft for some new flash in the pan in a few years. It's kinda hard to build a business based on a base of customers that are that fickle.

Edit: I guess I never understood what was attractive about the Trilogy thing in the first place, so I don't really understand how they gained the market share they had in the first place. Not understanding why people wanted to throw something to begin with makes it hard for me to understand why they are moving away from it.

 

[Streets]

It makes me worry about the business of selling discs and how fickle we are. We had A LOT of player go full Dynamic or all-Trilogy in the last five-six years that have quickly switched away from it. It's seems anecdotally like a massive market shift overnight based on...what exactly? Paul McBeth? It seems weird since Paul McBeth wasn't a Trilogy player, so the trilogy fanboys switched brand alliance to follow a player they were not following before? Weird. It seems like they would dump Discraft for some new flash in the pan in a few years. It's kinda hard to build a business based on a base of customers that are that fickle.

Edit: I guess I never understood what was attractive about the Trilogy thing in the first place, so I don't really understand how they gained the market share they had in the first place. Not understanding why people wanted to throw something to begin with makes it hard for me to understand why they are moving away from it.

It was probably a combination of things...new shiny plastic, DD already had a pretty big following, some moderate to big name pros went Trilogy in 2013 and then you have that ridiculous Team Trilogy nonsense that threw gas on the fire...and now that fire is getting pretty dim.

 

[tbird888]

I think everybody moved to Discraft because they'd spent all that time hating on Innova because they were "Team" Trilogy. When their hero went to Innova, they couldn't follow him. They probably also sold all the sweet runs of Innova they collected over the years to join a "Team" and can't fathom that new runs are still great.

 

[Three Putt]

I guess I never have understood the thing about throwing something just so you wouldn't be throwing something else. Back in the day it wasn't so much brand stuff, but there were always guys who wouldn't throw Rocs because everybody threw Rocs. So they would deliberately NOT try a disc that most people thought was the best disc for those shots just so they could be different. I mean we were already frolfing, how much more different did we need to get?

 

[slowplastic]

It makes me worry about the business of selling discs and how fickle we are. We had A LOT of player go full Dynamic or all-Trilogy in the last five-six years that have quickly switched away from it. It's seems anecdotally like a massive market shift overnight based on...what exactly? Paul McBeth? It seems weird since Paul McBeth wasn't a Trilogy player, so the trilogy fanboys switched brand alliance to follow a player they were not following before? Weird. It seems like they would dump Discraft for some new flash in the pan in a few years. It's kinda hard to build a business based on a base of customers that are that fickle.

Maybe it's best for players AND for manufacturers to keep trading top player sponsorships every 3 or so years. That way they have that instant hype when the player moves, have a couple years to build up a following, then when it starts going stale they get a new player to hype up their existing or older stuff and make a few new molds for.

I mean I throw what works well for my arm so it doesn't matter to me, but I can't believe the amount of Discraft I've seen on the course this year. And so many Kongs/Zeus already out there when many people don't have the arm for those or Destroyers. I mean the Zones/Buzzzes make sense for lots of bags but they have been around for so long without being so visible, and the Kongs really show the new driver marketing strength.

To be fair to the Judge, it does feel fantastic and it's super neutral for being a beaded putter. It makes sense why people jumped to it immediately just from a disc/mold standpoint.

 

[lines]

Next time ask, 'why is the Wizard so popular'? You'll get 100 replies in under an hour. Not one will mention the judge.

 

[Future_Primitive]

Edit: I guess I never understood what was attractive about the Trilogy thing in the first place, so I don't really understand how they gained the market share they had in the first place. Not understanding why people wanted to throw something to begin with makes it hard for me to understand why they are moving away from it.

It was probably a combination of things...new shiny plastic, DD already had a pretty big following, some moderate to big name pros went Trilogy in 2013 and then you have that ridiculous Team Trilogy nonsense that threw gas on the fire...and now that fire is getting pretty dim.

I think Streets hit on it pretty good. Combination of big name, some sort of team aspect and the growth of "fan boys". Seems like Discraft understood this and incorporated some of it, signing McBeth and then starting Discraft Underground brought a lot of new fans over to their side. Ditching their "old" plastic for the hottest new thing and going strictly one company for a chance to be on the team.

Know a few folks around here that are all or nothing when it comes to disc companies. Run into them and they are throwing all (insert brand) and then bump into them few months later and they now throw all (insert diff brand). Maybe the Team Trilogy thing didnt pan out for some players and with Rickey leaving and Discraft making moves decided to jump ship and hop on the next (band) wagon out of town.

 

[R-Ogre]

I think Streets hit on it pretty good. Combination of big name, some sort of team aspect and the growth of "fan boys". Seems like Discraft understood this and incorporated some of it, signing McBeth and then starting Discraft Underground brought a lot of new fans over to their side. Ditching their "old" plastic for the hottest new thing and going strictly one company for a chance to be on the team.

Know a few folks around here that are all or nothing when it comes to disc companies. Run into them and they are throwing all (insert brand) and then bump into them few months later and they now throw all (insert diff brand). Maybe the Team Trilogy thing didnt pan out for some players and with Rickey leaving and Discraft making moves decided to jump ship and hop on the next (band) wagon out of town.

I mean we do this for fun, and if that's what makes someone happy I'm not going to criticize (especially because it keeps the secondhand disc market vibrant) but I certainly don't get it, especially for rec players who 1. Probably don't have the arm to throw half of the pros bags anyway and 2. Are more limited by their own skill than by the plastic in the bag.