Are the Wizard's days as the official DGR putter over?

[Working Stiff]

When I first started lurking on this site, the Wizard was the golden child of putters. As time went on the glow of the Wizard covered the whole GDS putter line-up. It seemed that all the cool kids had a GDS putter in the bag.

Now, Vibram had the Ridge. MVP has the Ion. A lot of the cool kids are sportin' a Wizardless bag theses days. I found myself telling a friend who orders discs for a parks department that he needed to get on the Vibram bandwagon and check out some Ions while he was at it.

Realistically has the Wizard been significantly overshadowed by these new discs in your opinion? Or do you think it is still in the ballpark of these new discs and will end up back in a lot of players bags after the "new car smell" wears off these new putters?

 

[jdggna]

When I first started lurking on this site, the Wizard was the golden child of putters. As time went on the glow of the Wizard covered the whole GDS putter line-up. It seemed that all the cool kids had a GDS putter in the bag.

Now, Vibram had the Ridge. MVP has the Ion. A lot of the cool kids are sportin' a Wizardless bag theses days. I found myself telling a friend who orders discs for a parks department that he needed to get on the Vibram bandwagon and check out some Ions while he was at it.

Do you think this is a blip and everyone will go back to the Wizard after they get over the new car smell of the Ridge and Ion, or are the Wizard's days as the official DGR putter over?

I'm pretty sure that I won't be switching off of the Ion for a looooong time. As for the Vibram, we'll see if the attention passes or not. Some people love their overstable putters, and the VP fits that bill well. I was never a Wizard person, but I did stick with the Voodoo from the time it came out until I tried the Ion. GDS will stay a major contender, but some of the new companies are coming out swinging.

 

[Lithicon]

Pretty sure people will throw the Wizard back in. There are a lot of people around here (Locally) I've noticed that throw Wizards. I don't, but that's me. I'm sure after the new car smell wears off the others, it'll creep back in the bag like a lot of the stuff people just can't let go of.

 

[Aaron_D]

Brief stint with the ion...now back to wizzles. Couldnt stand the slippery plastic.

 

[rusch_bag]

I switched to the aviar driver mold for the time being.

 

[Timko]

My Wizard's aren't going anywhere. They've been in my bag longer than any disc I own, and when I'm having a bad driving day, they're what I reach for to get things moving in the right direction.

However, I don't think they're Blake's favorite putter anymore after a conversation we had about putting a while back...

I will admit I've been pondering what a dx BB Aviar would be like though when I'm having issues with putting.

 

[discspeed]

When I first started lurking on this site, the Wizard was the golden child of putters. As time went on the glow of the Wizard covered the whole GDS putter line-up. It seemed that all the cool kids had a GDS putter in the bag.

Now, Vibram had the Ridge. MVP has the Ion. A lot of the cool kids are sportin' a Wizardless bag theses days. I found myself telling a friend who orders discs for a parks department that he needed to get on the Vibram bandwagon and check out some Ions while he was at it.

Realistically has the Wizard been significantly overshadowed by these new discs in your opinion? Or do you think it is still in the ballpark of these new discs and will end up back in a lot of players bags after the "new car smell" wears off these new putters?

I think there are a couple of obvious reasons for this. In no particular order...

--Blake doesn't spend much time posting in the equipment section anymore why Wizards rule and all this new stuff sucks
--Lots of new choices showing greater variety than available in the past including more neutral stabilities and more comfortable grips

 

[Lithicon]

My Wizard's aren't going anywhere. They've been in my bag longer than any disc I own, and when I'm having a bad driving day, they're what I reach for to get things moving in the right direction.

However, I don't think they're Blake's favorite putter anymore after a conversation we had about putting a while back...

I will admit I've been pondering what a dx BB Aviar would be like though when I'm having issues with putting.

He and I had a conversation quite similar. He mentioned Warlocks. Which is what made me try them, and find out they are way too much like my Darts. So I seen no reason to switch. The Warlock driving, and putting in my hands were very close in my opinion.

 

[mike]

i think the wizard and ion are great discs. But for me, they are not interchangable. The wizard just feels soo much better putting whereas the ion just glides for upshots.

wizards in bag are 2-3 yrs old.
and
1st run ion...166g

 

[jsun3thousand]

 

[ShankShot]

Nah, man.



Nah.

 

[Jesse B 707]

only putters in my bag right now

 

[Working Stiff]

Basically as I was telling my friend to stock these new putters, he said he was maxed out on space so if he picked up something new, something had to go. Since I had stared out by saying the Vibram discs and the Ion had replaced the GDS putters as the hot new thing in putters, he asked if I though he should drop the GDS putters. At that point I said "Well, they aren't THAT hot."

It gets pretty hard from the retail end. It's pretty easy to say he should sell Ions, but where is he going to put them? What is he not going to sell so he has space for Ions? From that point of view, it gets to be a guessing game of what stays and what goes. I was just second guessing my guess that the GDS putters were worth keeping.

 

[Frank Delicious]

Ions and Vibram putters will be hotter seller than wizards and other GDS putters because they are new and shiny.

 

[Lithicon]

Well, at the tournament today the rep selling only had Innova disc of all sorts, and GDS putters. I'd be willing to say the majority there I seen used either Aviars or Wizards. I was quite surprised. But, yeah like Frank says, the new shiny thing takes over and people can't resist. Then you have people that will swear by it, and people that will hate it. It's like anything. You can only marginally judge an ever changing market.

 

[Mike C]

Haven't seen anyone throwing either locally. I'm happy with my Wizards. The Ions are nice but I prefer the Wizards, I can drive them further and they felt nicer to me for putts. Haven't tried out any of the Vibrams but the plastic feels nice from handling them in a store.

 

[rusch_bag]

I would still throw wizards, but I haven't been able to find a good one for awhile now so I gave up. The dx aviar driver is as close as I can get to a good wizard right now so that is what I have been throwing.

 

[Working Stiff]

Probably something that has an effect on my perception was that GDS had a buzz going about a putter for several years in a row. The Warlock was new in 2007, the Magic was new in 2008 and the Voodoo came out late in 2008 and had the "it's not approved, now it is" thing generating a buzz early in 2009. This year there wasn't a new putter, so there isn't any "new and shiny" buzz going on for a GDS putter for the first time in a long time. Add in the fact that there is a "new and shiny" buzz going for a couple of other products and it can alter your perception.

 

[Mike C]

Do you think GDS has any holes in their putter line-up? I haven't played with the Magic too extensively but it seems like they have the different stabilities covered pretty well.

 

[Working Stiff]

Do you think GDS has any holes in their putter line-up? I haven't played with the Magic too extensively but it seems like they have the different stabilities covered pretty well.

Yeah, they need a lid!

Seriously, that wasn't what I was talking about. I mean, how many years in a row can you come out with a new putter before you can't tell them apart? What I was getting at was that for three years GDS built a constant chatter around their putters because there was always a new one on the market. Now that largely seems to be gone. That's all perception, though. Reality is sales, so if the discs are selling the hangover from last years buzz is still working.