We've already covered the best disc golf disc brands as selected by everyday disc golfers as well as learned the favorites in all countries and U.S. states as we continue to analyze the results from UDisc's annual survey. But we asked so much more than what companies you favored or which plastic you preferred that we couldn't just stop there. After all, with 10,000 responses from dedicated players using the UDisc app, this is an opportunity to share one of the most comprehensive overviews of disc golfers' tastes ever published. That's too much fun to pass up.
Here, then, are some additional trends and takeaways about how disc golfers play, what they bag, where they shop, and more. Think of it as a miniature version of the Disc Golf Growth Report – there's a little learning in here for everyone.
10% of disc golfers found the sport when they drove by a course.
That's the second most popular way new disc golfers enter the game, coming in behind only a family or friend's recommendation (78%). That means simply driving by a course brought in more new players in 2022 than YouTube videos (4%), an internet forum or social media (2%), and news coverage (less than 1%) combined. Want to grow the sport? Make it easy to see.
- Our take: This author rediscovered the sport when he drove by Ford Park in Redlands, California, a handful of eons ago and can think of several other courses in Southern California where baskets are visible from major thoroughfares, so the 10% result wasn't terribly surprising. What was gobsmacking, though, was that this method outperformed the all-powerful juggernaut that is JomezPro and the YouTube algorithm.
- The moral of the story? Stick a basket near the roadway.
More than half of people surveyed played disc golf multiple times per week.
The exact number was 56%.
- Our take: Could there be some selection bias at play here? Absolutely. This survey was linked directly from the UDisc app, after all, and people who play multiple times per week are probably more frequently looking for courses and keeping score. Still, this shows the powerful motivation disc golf can be for people to get outside regularly for healthy recreation.
58% of disc golfers carry 16-25 discs in their bag.
It's also more common to bag fewer discs than more, with only 8% of players hauling around 25 or more discs.
- Our take: Very reasonable. No notes.
88% of disc golfers own 15 or more discs.
That held pretty steady from 2021 and seems like the sweet spot for building a bag – with 15 or more discs you can cover most shots and have some backups of your faves. Or, in 9% of cases, several backups: That's the percentage of players who said they own 200 or more discs.
- Our take: Don’t worry disc hoarders. This is a safe space. We do recommend you look into some disc storage options so you can sleep on a mattress rather all those Tilts you’ll never throw, though.
The number of disc golfers who purchased 31 or more discs dropped by 5%.
So, yes, you all own a lot of discs, but you aren't gobbling them up at the same rabid pace you were in 2021. Instead, a majority of respondents (54%) were more comfortable in the 4-15 purchase range.
- Our take: This makes a ton of sense if you consider how many people got into disc golf at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Anecdotally speaking, new disc golfers are more likely to try new discs than established players as they learn the game and what suits their skills, ultimately settling into a bag after a couple years and becoming more judicious in their purchasing habits. Those COVID golfers are established players now, and their spending reflects that.
- Remember, these players aren't leaving the game – they are playing more, like we saw above. They're just getting comfortable and buying less.
Brick-and-mortar buying ▲ Online shopping ▼
The number of players who preferred shopping for discs online dropped from 59% to 55% while physical disc golf shops got a boost from 31% to 35%. While this isn't a change that's going to cause alarm among online sellers, it has to be encouraging for local mom-and-pop outfits or larger entities trying to spread their roots. A modest bump for in-person sales bodes well for these brick-and-mortar outlets.
- Our take: It'd be convenient to chalk this up to post-COVID reopenings, and no doubt that is a factor. But the addition of several manufacturers to the marketplace is more likely responsible as it's much easier to suss out a new brand the old-fashioned way: by touching all the plastic.
53% of players purchase a disc based on its advertised flight characteristics. 44% pick based on how it feels.
As we were saying. Note that this was a multi-selection question and players were allowed to choose up to three reasons why they buy (the third most popular reason was "other").
- Our take: If it feels good and covers a slot in your bag, it's go-time.
- Interestingly enough, for all the marketing push manufacturers put behind pro disc golfers, their influence isn't overly strong: Only 12% of respondents were most likely to purchase a disc because the sale supported a pro player, and even fewer (10%) were swayed by a pro's endorsement. On the bright side for the pros, those figures were up by 1% and 2%, respectively, from 2021.
Only 7% of disc golfers bag a single brand. 62% bag four or more.
Our take: Who can blame them? Variety is not only the spice of life, but it's at an all-time high in disc golf. Unless that one brand is your sponsor, why not play the field? That's definitely the philosophy of the 1% of respondents who bag 10 or more brands.
The Davids are coming for Goliath.
Innova Discs was the favorite brand of 33% of respondents in 2021, and that number fell to 27% in 2022. While much of that can be attributed to Discmania (up 2%) and Latitude 64 (up 3%) gaining in mindshare, upstart companies like Clash Discs (0.3% preferred) and Thought Space Athletics (up 0.5%) are helping chip away.
- Our take: Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and Innova still has a sizeable lead over Discraft (favored by 19% of respondents) as the number one brand in disc golf. But we wouldn't be surprised to see Innova flex some muscle in the European market soon.
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