[Discraft] Discraft Hawk HD "High Durability Driver"

[eegor]

I bought a used Discraft Hawk HD "High Durability Driver" at Play It Again Sports in Lubbock TX this week. It's made from incredibly durable plastic (similar to an old Polaris LS I have). I have no idea how old this disc is, but aside from only one nick and some stains, the disc is in great shape.

I would really like to buy new discs made from this plastic. This disc could easily last decades playing on wooded courses.

Are any of you familiar with this plastic? It has raised letters on the bottom of the flight plate (similar to Innova) that reads "THE HAWK tm BY DISCRAFT INC. WALLED LAKE MI 48390"

 

[Three Putt]

It's Tournament Pro plastic. It has been out of production for seven or eight years now.

 

[Dfwdscglfr]

i saw one at the pias in carollton at first glance i wasnt impressed but i didnt investigate further

 

[Dfwdscglfr]

i heard that tp plastic was nice i havent tried any out yet

 

[Terry C]

The tournament pro plastic might be durable but the hawk mold sucks. I had a brand new hawk for a minute, threw it a couple times and traded it off. It doesent even come close to comparing to a Roc or Buzzz for a quality midrange disc.

 

[Three Putt]

Here is the stamp:

The Hawk was the only disc that Discraft made in both the Competition and Tournament Pro plastic at the same time. Now it is really common for discs to be available in more than one type of plastic, but in the mid 90's the Hawk really was the only discs where the same mold was run in different plastics.

Here is the Competition Hawk from back then:

Competition plastic was really similar to today's Pro D. Tournament Pro was kinda sorta but not really similar to Elite X. As far as the Hawks went, the Competition plastic Hawks were more stable. The HD Hawks were kinda domey and squirrely. I preferred the Competition Hawks when I threw them.

 

[Three Putt]

The tournament pro plastic might be durable but the hawk mold sucks. I had a brand new hawk for a minute, threw it a couple times and traded it off. It doesent even come close to comparing to a Roc or Buzzz for a quality midrange disc.

It really does not have the glide of a Buzzz or Roc. It's faster, though. To me it was kinda like a faster Shark.

 

[Three Putt]

Also, a little warning about Tournament Pro plastic. It is probably my favorite all-time plastic, but it can be deceiving. I know nothing about plastic composition, but it seemed to me that TP would damage internally rather than externally. Where a DX disc will get a big scrape or gouge, the TP disc would look undamaged. It wasn't. It was a little bit more durable than Pro D is today, but not a whole bunch. I'd say it was somewhere between Pro D and X on the durability scale. They just used to still look great even as they got beat up. So what you used to get was great looking discs that were beat flippy. You really could not judge a used TP disc by how it looked, you had to throw it and see how it flew. I've had Cyclones that looked like a 7 that flew like a 3.

 

[eegor]

It looks like the top picture, but stained. It flies very similar to the Aurora MS that I use (just a little less straight and less glide). I bought the disc out of curiosity because I haven't seen this type of plastic.

Thanks for the info... too bad they no longer make this plastic... it's awesome.

 

[Three Putt]

Thanks for the info... too bad they no longer make this plastic... it's awesome.

I loved that stuff. We called it "Cyclone plastic" becasue the Cyclone was the first disc introduced in that plastic. It was the best plastic around until Millennium plastic came out. Even then I preferred Cyclone plastic becasue it had such great grip. A lot of those discs (especially the blue and purple ones) had the resin streak on the top of the disc, which left a chalky residue on the disc. We called it "Cyclone dust." They looked fugly, but they had the best grip in cold and wet weather.

The only thing I didn't like was that they tended to split in half when you hit something when it got cold. The rule is that when your disc breaks you throw form the biggest chunk, which had to have been written by an Innova guy. The old Innova plastic shatters, so you would get 8-10 pieces and there usually was one clearly "biggest" chunk. Cyclone plastic would split the disc right in half, and both halves would look about the same so you would have to stand there and argue over which chunk you should throw from.

 

[Three Putt]

If you like TP, these are the stamps you should look out for:

TP Comet:

TP Vortex:

TP Stratus:

 

[Terry C]

I loved that stuff. We called it "Cyclone plastic" becasue the Cyclone was the first disc introduced in that plastic. It was the best plastic around until Millennium plastic came out. Even then I preferred Cyclone plastic becasue it had such great grip. A lot of those discs (especially the blue and purple ones) had the resin streak on the top of the disc, which left a chalky residue on the disc. We called it "Cyclone dust." They looked fugly, but they had the best grip in cold and wet weather.

The only thing I didn't like was that they tended to split in half when you hit something when it got cold. The rule is that when your disc breaks you throw form the biggest chunk, which had to have been written by an Innova guy. The old Innova plastic shatters, so you would get 8-10 pieces and there usually was one clearly "biggest" chunk. Cyclone plastic would split the disc right in half, and both halves would look about the same so you would have to stand there and argue over which chunk you should throw from.

Thats funny about guys arguing which the biggest chunk is, LOL. I played a tournament in November. It was about 35 degrees. A guy in my group launched a DX driver into a tree about ten feet in front of us and the disc exploded into about twenty pieces. I never saw that happen before and it was pretty funny (not for the guy who lost his disc and a stroke though).

 

[Three Putt]

TP Cyclone:

TP X-Clone (you can see the "Cyclone dust" on this one):

TP Cyclone 2:

 

[Terry C]

TP? TP for my bunghole?

 

[Three Putt]

TP Typhoon:

Some of the later Shadows might have been TP as well, but I don't know that for sure. Some of these stamps might also have been on the early Elite X runs (I know the Cyclone 2 was run in X with the same stamp) so it might not be 100%, but chances are if you see these stamps the discs are TP.

 

[Three Putt]

Thats funny about guys arguing which the biggest chunk is, LOL. I played a tournament in November. It was about 35 degrees. A guy in my group launched a DX driver into a tree about ten feet in front of us and the disc exploded into about twenty pieces. I never saw that happen before and it was pretty funny (not for the guy who lost his disc and a stroke though).

I still laugh even when it happens to me. Something about a golf disc coming apart like somebody just blasted it with a shotgun is just plain funny.

 

[craftsman]

My purple HD hawk left dust on my bag. It's not that stamp though, it's the triangle.
I have 95 great lakes open cyclone 2 or x but the plastic feels like elite pro, would/could elite pro be a safe assumption?
Also, if you would- what do you call the pre photon glow plastic?
Thanks

 

[craftsman]

As far as the hawks go, I do really like the HD grip, but flight wise I prefer the small stamp flat ones from two stamps ago iirc. I'll take the HD over all others besides the forementioned.

 

[Three Putt]

I have 95 great lakes open cyclone 2 or x but the plastic feels like elite pro, would/could elite pro be a safe assumption?

Elite Pro did not exist until '98. The earlier TP felt stiffer than the later TP, so I would say it's the early, stiffer version of TP.

Also, if you would- what do you call the pre photon glow plastic?

Uhh...Glow Plastic? They made TP Glow and Competition Glow. I threw glow Magnets, Hawks and Eclipse that were Glow Competition plastic and Cyclones, Comets, Stratus, and X-Clones that were Glow TP.

 

[Three Putt]

As far as the hawks go, I do really like the HD grip, but flight wise I prefer the small stamp flat ones from two stamps ago iirc. I'll take the HD over all others besides the forementioned.

A good Hawk is a flat Hawk.