Behind the Scenes

My relationship with disc golf…well, it’s complicated. We’ve made some changes during my 3 years at Cape Fear Games. Some changes were made voluntarily, others, not so much. When I first started, we would have a small selection of each mold and sell down to 1 or 2, then order more, but we started to build a little back stock, slowly. Then 2020 came along and killed that. I hated to be the guy hoarding toilet paper, but it seemed much less self-serving than it was taking care of our local disc golf crew by ordering a little more than we would need right away, just in case it might be awhile until we saw them again.

This past year provided even more challenges from the different brands. Here’s a little breakdown from the vendors you have come to look for at CFG.

Innova

We used to have about 60 discs in our overstock area in back, duplication of some DX Rocs, maybe some Champion Mako3s, a few star Valkyries, just a mix that kept the rack from being cluttered. It also allowed us to provide space for more molds that sold more slowly, but still loved by some, like a Condor, Vcobra, or a Star Mystere. We don't have that cushion at the moment.

As the game burst at the seams, the East Coast warehouse (in Rock Hill, SC) got very little in stock. As our primary supplier, that was a problem. The solution was ordering what they had available (with limits of 15 per mold per plastic) and then filling in the gaps from the West Coast warehouse (Rancho Cucamonga, CA,) with a full order disc count limit per month. I won’t say the number, but it forced me to make tough choices on molds and plastics. Some choices were made easier by the lack of I-Dye, Pro, XT, Blizzard and R-Pro plastic, plus sometimes I was having to order assorted weights, which were mixed pretty well, but there were some shipments with nothing but light weights in certain molds, which left more experienced players lacking the kind of selection we wanted to have.

All that said, here are the top 3 discs from Innova during 2021:

Innova Factory Store

I stayed away from the Factory Store for a long time. Honestly, it’s the place for you to go and order discs directly from Innova. I hated the thought of Tour Series discs being priced the way they were and I didn’t want to be “that guy.” There was a problem. You weren’t able to get those discs, because everywhere else, there were resellers just grabbing as much plastic as they could, and you couldn’t get them. Couple that with the fact that once you pay shipping, it costs more for you there than in our store, and you’re lucky if you get the color that you’re looking for, since that’s not even an option for some discs.

So I got over it. It became a mission to watch for drops, like 3 in the afternoon fighting for the last of the Sexton Firebirds or a Friday afternoon drop of Nathan Queen DGPT Champion Thunderbirds. Truthfully, I would have gotten Nathan’s discs anyway because he’s our guy. Here are the top disc from the Innova Factory Store for 2021 as you chose them:

Discraft

We haven’t ordered from Discraft since January of 2021. I spent the better half of the year feeling like Dante from “Clerks,” – “I assure you, we carry Discraft.” But that almost wasn’t the case. We tinkered with dropping Discraft entirely with their new-fangled process of, you don’t order, we send you stuff. Each “Cycle” we would get 25, 50 or 100 discs, (based on our qualifying level as a retailer) from a February survey. We started with 50 because we were unsure of what this system would look like and after getting 7 Soft Magnets in what was an otherwise decent first batch, the jury was still out on whether Discraft should be deciding what our disc golfers in Wilmington, NC should have access to through CFG. After a few cycles we raised to 100 discs after it was clear Discraft was at least trying to get us discs that were in demand and a fair assortment. Business decisions are often difficult, and we turned a negative into a positive.

We called them “Retailer Mystery Boxes” and live streamed on Twitch, sharing to our Facebook Disc Golf Group, plus I posted one to my YouTube Channel. It got to be too much though, as customers were showing up before the videos were over and the task of checking them all in still had to be completed. We later moved to Facebook Live shoots after this step and it made life easier.

In addition to our boxes, Discraft sent out Tour Series discs as an extra Cycle and often included new molds beyond our 100. Discs like the new Passion, Scorch and Big Z Hades arrived without taking away from having discs like the Buzzz, Zone, and other stock stamped plastic. And maybe Discraft is taking cues from MVP and Discmania, going to pre-orders of Special Editions as we already have an order for the Captain’s Raptor which will be released in early February.

Discraft was truly the master of their domain, sales reflect what was sent, since there were no orders placed. Here’s the top 3:

 

Dynamic Discs

While Innova and Discraft have enjoyed sales growth in our store since 2019 (134 and 143 percent, respectively,) Latitude 64 has produced more consistently during the pandemic. The Latitude 64 manufactured Trilogy brands of Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64 and Westside Disc have grown 407% in that same time frame. It’s easier to take them as a vendor and Dynamic is who we order through.

While the first two were a riddle, wrapped in mystery, inside an enigma, from DD we had published priority lists of molds from each brand, new release calendars, regular emails, and online ordering (as opposed to filling out spreadsheets.) And, oh yeah, Latitude 64 developed the Evolution Line for Discmania, helping them get established to now produce their own discs as well.

The hard part was that with web-based ordering, I had to be in front of a computer, ready to go, for a new release or restock drops. We even missed a couple of discs because items in my cart sold out before checkout…very competitive. We also had limits on the new stuff, usually 25 per disc. As I said in the last post, I ordered from my computer at CFG, my home at 6 am for restocks, and the teepad on 16 at Arrowhead (from my phone – I think that was the first Emac Judges.) Scrambling from off the fairway is my specialty.

With Latitude 64 discs being known for their glide (check out Ricky at 6:30 about adding distance) as well as their easy-to-throw series, it’s not surprising that the top 3 discs were from this part of the Trilogy family:

 

MVP Discs

We’re going to glaze over the Bendy James Volt from the MVP Pro Shop because it’s an anomaly. While the Innova Factory Store does have offerings for retailers, the MVP Pro Shop is for you to get cool discs directly from them, including Tour Series featuring their players. The fact that these packages were even offered is a testament to the way the game has grown, manufacturers have re-tooled business models, and players like James Conrad have shaped the game.

Most restocks were combined with some sort of new release or special edition stamped disc. Many of these were pre-orders with some long lead times, so if you were keeping up with MVP and the Soon™day  or Lab Reports, you knew what was coming next just about the same time as we did. Plus we had limits on some discs (again, 15 per mold per plastic,) while some discs had no limits on them. We were able to do so well this past year that we now qualify for the next tier, so our limit will be 30 on discs with those constraints.

I should also note that in 2020, we decided to go after the Black Hole Pro with Transit Bag as the best value basket for the widest range of disc golfers who wanted a little extra practice time, and that accounts or about 25% of MVP’s total sales in 2021, but new discs dominated the podium:

 

Discmania

2021 marks the beginning of Discmania as a manufacturer and not just a brand, which allowed them to be in control of what and when discs would get in your hands. Availability drove the bus here as with every other brand, because if we could get it, by and large, we got it. There were some limits here too, of course and they varied on quantity, but having control of their own destiny made it possible to get more than we had in the past, which has led to 885% growth from 2019 in-store sales.

Several pre-orders here and no surprise that 2 of the 3 fall into this category of new or special discs. Side note, the Active Soft and Evolution Starter Sets were first and third most sold of all starters during the year (68, 51.) P2s came back and the Cloud Breaker and Razor Claw returned…but what made the top 3 were:

 

Prodigy Discs

Worth noting that Prodigy Discs sales doubled in 2021 and we also got a nice selection of Signature Series Discs in featuring their team members. It’s a far cry from 2019 when we were phasing out Prodigy to now, having a nice variety of molds and plastics, with different stabilities. The ACE line has proven to be most popular, with one disc to rule them all (kinda):

Above Ground Level Discs

The struggle to get plastic in some sections of the rack has been real and we’re always looking for the next thing our players might enjoy checking out. AGL, produced by Gateway, has been a nice addition with a unique plastic feel and at least one very unique disc. It was a short year for this one, but here’s 3 that got a nice start:

Space, the final frontier

 As Covid essentially eliminated the need for play space with sanctioned events not running in 2020 and most of 2021, we were able to spread out, expand the rack and we made the most of it. Having the Sideboard area allowed Disc Golf to stay in place as well, as any events we could run happened there.

Moving forward, the goal is to take more Special Orders for many larger items, Zuca Carts and Backpacks or anything really, so that we can conserve space for the basics and fast-moving items. So, if you see something online, you can reach out to us via Facebook or email (info@capefeargames.com) and we'll see if it's something that is available to us. We place orders much more regularly than a couple of years ago and if we can get it, we can place that order for you so that you can just pop by when it arrives.

Limit One

Limits are for you, not us. If you want to flip your Meta Tilt, Cloud Breaker 3 or Sexton Firebird after you buy it from us, power to ya. But that's not what we're here for. We have people that want to throw a Tilt, a Paul McBeth Tour Series Luna, or their Firebird and that's what we try to do, get the plastic you want. We've had more than a few Limit 1s this past year to give as many people the chance to grab that hot plastic as we possibly can, including stock stamped Axiom Craves.

If there is a limit for us, we're going to probably have a limit for that first week to give everybody a chance. I know that doesn't help you completely if you want to bag a couple of Cloud Breakers, but we're doing our best to take care of as many people as we can. We did limit 2 per person on the P2s because we understand that matched pairs (or close to it) are preferable for practice and slowing the seasoning process for plastic.

Full Racks

We made some recent moves to make space as we needed to on the rack with that latest big MVP order, while trying to maintain as much consistency as possible. I mentioned earlier about having back stock for Innova and that we no longer have that much, plus we have no Discraft that's not on the rack, obviously, or AGL. We do have some discs that don't fit on the rack at the moment. I do try to keep matched pairs of putters available, and if I have, say, a yellow Star Teebird in the back, it's because I already have at least one out on the floor.

We do have some extras from the other brands (excluding AGL). MVP can be difficult with their range of color patterns, but we do always make the attempt to have a representation of every color and weight range in the molds we have in stock. And if you were surprised that Dynamic Discs sold so well this year because the rack always seemed to be full, that was no accident. Eclipse Insanity always there? That was an unlimited order. We got more than a few. We are constantly filling the rack when we have stock available.

We’re ready for 2022

I thought the last two years were a bit crazy, but this off-season for the Pros makes me wonder what 2022 has in store for us. The hardest part was the six months it took to get an account established with Bushnell for the Rangefinders, a special tool that I didn’t realize I would use as much as I have.

We’re certainly on the radar for these companies and they know what we’re looking for when they pull our orders, like staying away from red discs that are so easy to lose in the pine needles, or matched pairs of putters (I almost always order an even amount – and DD grabs them whether I put it in the instructions or not automatically now). We even got to sit in on the Retailer Zoom call with Discmania as they reinvented themselves and answered questions – which earned us a little bonus that you’ll be hearing about soon through the New Hanover Disc Golf Club.

There’s going to be lots of exciting things going on this year and I almost feel like I haven’t prepared enough, but again, I’m used to the Flippin’ scramble.