The Future of Professional Disc Golf 

I am a toolmaker/machinist. I work with CNC lathes and mills. I have also worked with injection molding machines. One of the things about the undercut on the inside rim of the disc, that is not possible with injection molding. Anything that is injection molded has to have draft or slight taper to release from the mold. The undercut on that rim would basically trap it in the mold. Just a little FYI. I love disc golf too and I enjoyed your video.

I think a collaboration with techdisc would be huge. Using the data to craft the disc you need for your arm speed, spin, etc. Not to mention the physical aspects of it being able to be designed for better handfeel. Awesome video.

This is so brilliant. I have been wondering why no one has done this and was contemplating finding someone to do this with. I have so many discs which were bought for a specific purpose and the flight numbers indicate that the disc should "probably" fly close to those numbers, but to have say a super overstable disc be very very understable.....well that was wasted money. So paying a bit extra to get a disc you will 100% certain fly in a specific manor is great. Save money (no more "wrong" discs) , save time, (know what i get), and most importantly way less frustration. personal example is i thought i had a horrible forehand. Kept turning over 4 brands, extremely overstable drivers.....(they were extremely understable, despite all the features of being Overstable). Shared them with some other players at clinics and everyone just laughs their lungs out. So, this CNC disc is definetly the future. Hope they will set up shop and ship/sell to Norway.

Honestly I don't think there is a channel out there with this type of deep diving. I love six sided discs, and this is the type of information I love to get. Thanks for the research!

See if you can get a prototype where they go nuts with that inside angle on the grip. A envision it as almost a hollow wing, it'll redefine weight distribution in drivers with premium plastic

Thes videos are absolutely amazing in how they are informative, approachable and entertaining at the same time. My biggest question with the custom disc service is the PDGA approvals. How fast can they get the approvals and is there any way that could be extended to these personalized variants? In addition to the approvals, I have a big concern with the cost. With CNC the cost is more or less fixed. Whether you make one or one million discs, it will still take that same x minutes to produce one, so there is no scaling. With molding, the starting costs are high but the more you produce the less of an impact the mold cost has on the product. If CNC companies start to pop up, it's going to be really easy for molding companies to discount their prices and still make profits. I bet one disc from molding will not cost more than 2$ to produce so there is a lot of air there. Finally the absolute accuracy is a bit misleading. Once you bag the disc, it will never be absolutely the same. Every single throw changes it so even if you start from the same point, you can't just replace the one you lost and think it will be now covered for years to come (unless you order a new one for every round). So having bunch of discs with some variation is actually what most players look for. In any case, this is a really interesting "invention" and looking forward to seeing where they end up.

Gateway reusing the cut material is awesome. Well done CNC/Gateway!

I pre-ordered the CNC- (slightly less stable version of the CNC) and have had it for a few months now. The hand feel is incredible. The lack of injection-mold-related imperfections was immediately apparent. For my very amateur self, the consistency is not worth the price. However, if I were frequenting the MPO category in tournaments, I imagine this would be a game changer.

This is really cool, have you heard from other manufacturers on whether they want to implement CNC production methods?

Your video is one of the best most organized and professional informative videos for disc golf I recently remember. For that ? You gained a subscriber. Well done and I agree 100% I’ve been saying it since I started disc golf CNC production of discs is the obvious answer to the best quality most consistent discs. But it’s going to be expensive

the problem with the custom cnc tooling is that it wouldnt be sanctioned approved. but this is really freaking sweet

Added this video to favorites. I was psyched when I saw this. I start following them when the CNC got approved. I'm not on the ambassador team. This is also my favorite RU-vid channel. It's a good day

I have an NSH 3D printed disc. I wonder how much faster/slower it is to 3D print vs CNC. 3D printers are pretty cheap. Impressive innovation!

I see 3D Printed discs become more common as I see this version of CNC having a flaw in needing to carve out disc molds from big pieces of plastic not really used by many companies making only recycled plastic except Trash Panda and one in Pasific Northwest USA who is Claiming to melt used shore plastic down for use in pellets. I do see some companies using ideas for quick tests before a mold is made in CNC using negative of disc dimensions. I see molds going CNC so a redo can be made again in exact specifications for a company. CNC is how Discmanina was able to make a very similar disc of all old molds they used from Innova only making just a hair off so mold flew the same but was not a clone waiting for a lawsuit. Mainly Issue came because of Innova unwilling to look for a new plastic company when Innova eventually had to get a new supplier for plastic because company Innova was using for plastics going into Champion/Glow Champion, Metal flake Champion, and Star/G-Star was no longer operating, shut down due to stress and Corona Virus in 2021.

Great breakdown of the manufacturing process, I didn’t expect that from this video! I have a CNC- and it is truly a great disc. The plastic has a great feel in the hand and my noodle arm can bomb it about 300ft. I will get the midrange when it comes out!

Thanks for sharing and making this video! Been playing disc golf for about 3 1/2 years now and finally, "runs" make more sense to me because of your explanation, so thank you for that, too!! This is pretty dang neat. I think there's certainly a future of disc golf where this becomes more prominent. Maybe a tad more expensive and not as widespread as injection molding, but I think it's so cool to be in a sport that's young enough that new things like this come along and can just add more complexity (and accuracy) to it.

If you buy the 3 pack with discount code it's like getting a free disc. $80 for all 3. Pretty cool..

In my opinion, the only way we'll see companies choose CNC over injection molding is if a CNC machine specifically designed for machining plastic parts comes to market, significantly reducing the initial cost. This way, similar to a 3D print farm, you could have multiple machines creating hundreds of discs or more per day.

How would customized disc dimensions work with PDGA approval? Would each new disc variation need to be approved before use in a sanctioned tournament?

I'm not sure if you mentioned surface finish. This might matter most to those of us who like to use a "fan" grip for some throws (I like to use a "fan" grip for putt, approach, and even some fairway shots). I think this could theoretically be done with injection molded discs also, but a CNC turned disc could have a different surface finish on different surfaces of the disc. At least different "zones" (as measured from the rotational axis of the disc) could have different surface finishes. And the top surface could have a different surface finish than the bottom surface.

I agree the idea of the same disc people will buy.

What about the tooling cost related to cutting the 2nd side?

This is of course very typical for many kinds of products. Simpler versions are produced cheaply in high volume for the average consumer, while high-end versions are produced in less volume using more time consuming and more flexible methods, like machining. The latter are higher quality, more precise, often custom made, but naturally costlier. Each method fills a space, but the challenge for the high-end alternative is typically to hit a marked big enough to make it commercially viable; usually the price needs to be higher than any marked is willing to pay. The customizability and wider design flexibility is certainly interesting, but I think what is more interesting is that if they avoid injection moulding completely and create the blanks another way, you open up a lot of other material choices.

13:35 this sounds like a great idea, but as the PDGA guidelines stand, it's impossible. For each minor change you make to a disc's dimensions, the manufacturer is going to have to get it approved for use in the PDGA. The idea sounds good in theory, but in practice, it's never going to be able to happen like that, and if it's a selling point the company is going for, it's going to fail, unless the PDGA significantly loosens their guidelines for approved discs.

Cool... but, well, CNC machines wear out too... so your machined copies aren't necessarily identical. That's where the time goes too: maintenance. Traditionally CNC is better suited for manufacturing complicated and costly objects than plastic plates that can be manufactured super cheaply using other processes. You could use CNC machines in combination with casting: cut that angle inside the rim and remove flashing. Less wasteful than cutting a disc completely out of some blank. I'm also wondering if some post heat shaping could be used for discs - because you can remove bumps at home with just hot water and some weights.

cant wait to see you guys tackle the 3d printed discs

Great stuff here! Keep up the excellent work. How about the plastic density?

Conceptually this is a huge game changer. If there aren't unforeseen issues. Combine this with the new disc throwing robot and we could have some seriously accurate flight numbers with seriously consistent performance from disc to disc. We'll see. I'd be happy to pay more to really know what I'm getting. These people should get in contact with the disc robot guy immediately.

I mean obviously it will have less variance than molding due to the process.

Greg you would be great in some kind of scientific tv show, like a How it’s made

I HATE buying the same disc, years later and have it fly completely different. It is one of my biggest agrivations with the sport. Makes loosing a disc you really like, doubley bad.

I see trashpanda having a great supply of good plastic!

This sounds like the future of big manufacturing prototypes

Outro music?

Great video!

The blanks will definitely vary, and removing a ton of material isn't gonna magically change that. They will vary from run to run just like other discs

Very similar to how a Professional Golfer has his irons, bent, weighted, lofted to his exact swing. I can 100% see pros at this level.

Hmm precision custom disc I was just going to affect the PDGA approval

Promo code aint working 💀

i do not think this is going to be the future of disc golf

I think you're right. I don't know if you mentioned this but CNC is a great way to prototype for a mold.

Combine this technology with the robot disc thrower from Simon's video, and TechDisc, and you can have an entire bag designed 100% to you.

as a person who works within the CNC industry, it's only a matter of time before the costs come down for them; we see things like crankshafts and tiny plastic connectors being mass produced from CNC machines all the time - once they figure out what "stock" discs are for them, how many they can reasonably mass produce (or outsource to a lower cost geography), and stand the durability test of time, I would think the only discs that stay at ~$40/disc are their special orders. It will take some time for those savings gained during the prototyping process to be passed to the customer. They may not be the ones to figure it all out, but I have no doubt someone will.

I bag a cnc neutral as my go to distance driver. Literally throw it on almost every long hole. I even bag a backup because they’re just that good. So, when I got it I wasn’t wild about it initially. Plastic feels a little weird after being cnc’d. Then I threw it. It feels amazing in the hand since they round over the finger edge. Honestly I’ll bag a cnc basically forever. They’re surprisingly worth the price.

The idea of a custom disc set to your dimensions is very appealing

It might be that CNC discs will become more prevalent over time but I think that it's more likely that using CNC during prototyping prior to molding in mass production is even more likely.

Hot take: discs are more interesting with the variability that exists in them. The fact that special, coveted runs of discs exists is a cool feature of the sport. If all discs were truly carbon copies of their intended mold, that might be a little more boring.

They might have overlooked something; if there are internal stresses in the blanks they are using, these stresses will be released when processed in a CNC machine, resulting in variations in the finished products

discs change so much during their lifespan, I just don't see the value in having a "perfectly" replicable disc.

I kept waiting to see the cost. As I suspected, these are substantially more expensive because you are adding an entire step into the process of making a disc. While it is true prototyping could be faster (which is where I really see them getting used), this slower production time would far outweigh the benefits in my opinion. This is exactly why I don't see them taking off. $20-25 is already a hard pill to swallow. $40 is pretty steep. I understand that costs could possibly work their way down with time but this is too much money discs. At the end of the day, most discs fly how I'm expecting them to fly (given their plastic type). While some companies seem to be more consistent than others, we have plenty of great options at the much cheaper price. With that said, I can see professionals using them. They aren't paying for their discs after all. Simon himself has said that he loses around 2-3 discs every time he plays Maple Hill for casual rounds. Players like him would love the consistency provided by this and the cost is a non-factor.

I love this for the game. I can't tell you how many times I have bought discs wanting an understable slot and what I received was beefier than my straight flyer spot. Due to a wrist injury I can't forehand further than about 100ft with about 300 rpm (according to techdisc) so I need different speed understable discs to give me that right turning shot that doesn't come back left. I have regularly spent $60 - $100 buying molds that their numbers say I should get what I'm looking for and do not get what I want. For example I have a Meteor that goes left harder than my Buzzz and Shark also my Shark flies much straighter than my Buzzz does despite the #s again not backing that up. This is also why I started watching the Flight Numbers Don't Matter series.

The customization is endless. Hopefully the PDGA doesn’t ruin the Fun

Does mould density change with cooling conditions? I would imagine that even though the shape and size of these CNC discs are consistent, the density of the disc will be different. But maybe this isn’t a big problem?

The reason why they can do the inverted rims and the injection molders can't is that the latter can't get the disc to pop out of the mold without significantly bending the disc outwards.

I preordered one of the prototypes about six months ago and asked them all to sign it. I of course wont throw that one but it does feel pretty dang good. My best description would be, it feels like a domy DX Destroyer. I want to buy a thrower, but a little worried about the durability at $40. Anyone else put this disc to a stress test? On a side note, I love that this company is right here in my home town, OKC. I wish them the best!

this might have already been asked, but what about getting them pdga approved? if you change that angle by 1 degree they would need to resubmit it wouldn't they?

Call me crazy but I think that run inconsistency is good for business

Imagine you walk into a store and they hand you a tech disc and say go throw this and tell us about the shots you like to throw, how big your hands are, what’s comfortable etc. You try out some examples, throw in a field a couple times. A computer or engineer then takes that data says thank you, your driver line up will be ready for you in a week. You go back and you have custom discs overstable understable neutral all feeling similar and exactly as you like, a forehand disc, and the speeds that you throw. And there’s a file with your name on it so they can recreate your discs whenever you need more.

Gonna say it right now: CNC is not the future of disc golf. It might be useful for rapid prototyping, but for mass production, injection molding wins every time. So I can't have a disc tailor-made for me. Oh, well. At least when I buy an injection molded disc, I'm not paying $40 for a gimmick.

As a process Engineer, very interesting but a few questions: Can you reduce cost by automating the CNC machines to build custom discs JIT (Just in time) to reduce excess material/production costs? Also, with the custom discs how does that get PDGA approval? Love the idea but to be competitive, need to reduce cost by doing something closer to JIT, therefore they only manufacture the discs ordered.

Damn... this does open up the possibility for some changes going forward. But I guess the bottom line is; will these CNC style discs actually give a player an edge over injection molded plastic? The human hand can adapt to various shapes of disc rims readily enough, so I don't think a CNC disc would be better due to shape. So, in my estimation, it would come down to flight and flight consistency. First flight, will they fly further? If they do somehow, which I don't think they will... well then they'd have an advantage but there is no way it could be that big of a difference. Now, flight consistency, that is kink of a slippery slope to me. Because if you're a top pro, you test out your plastic before every tournament... mainly because each disc changes a bit with time and wear and tear and various climate conditions at a different course. These CNC discs will change too... so consistency out of the box while nice, isn't necessarily a major factor for a Pro. No matter what, they will still want to test the disc before using it in a tournament. I don't think CNC is a gimmick but I don't think it will take more than 5% market share anytime soon.

also, the whole PDGA approved system will come into play here. you could have this company make a perfect copy of a destroyer, but it will not be legal. you can have a custom disc made, but it will not be legal. imagine paying 50 dollars for a CNC disc, and then also having to pay for 3 more of them, plus 300$ to have them approved.

Everything that I've seen with CNC is very expensive. I understand that a cast for injection molding is very expensive, but when mass producing, it is the cheapest form of manufacturing. Most CNC is with a solid material, with how soft and thin the plastic is on the flight plate, I'm not sure how CNC would be a cost effective option

I'm interested in the custom disc program, however, I still have a lot of questions. What about lighter discs, say I want a 165g or a 155g? Also, does a disc with different plastic blends, cut exactly the same, fly exactly the same? Or do the different plastics just cool slightly differently in the same mould therefore giving them different fly characteristics?

I bet that molds will be prototyped on CNC, but this isn't sustainable for mass production. There are a few things they can do w/ CNC that just can't be done with molds, which may be interesting, like the inverted rim, since it would not release from a mold, but I bet this never breaks into mainstream production. I wish them success in working with manufacturers to do prototypes before making molds however.

I'm surprised they can produce them for $40. And while molds cost money, CNC setup is very pricey. The other issue will be getting the pdga to sign off for use in competition. I think that could be done but would not some additional rules in the technical standards. That would likely impact custom discs produced onsite or in general.

I have been waiting for this discussion being that I play disc golf and work in the field of manual lathe and CNC production. Costs would be so expensive but if you want that new technology Taylor Made ball golf driver to boost your game you’re going to have to pay for it, right?

Big thanks for the video, learnt a lot from it! ps. Innova is perhaps the worst "offender" when it comes to mold stability. Albeit, Discraft comes as a close second (see e.g. all the damn versions of Flick around). I for one welcome this development.

I love them except for the price and super flexible flight plate. But my (maybe unnecessary for my arm speed ☹️) distance driver slots are set! Feel great and throw about how I can expect a distance driver to throw.

Man.... that wobble from offcentring their rough is appauling. ive seen crapshops making illegal stuff with much higher accuracy than this. lets hope they learn how to align the rough to the grip. i assume a suction solution is used as this is industry norm, this being the grounds for my comment. The product we see being fashioned by the overkill carbide will not be round. This due to several factors. such as material strength, tool choice, non planar alignment to the grip, clear hand-placement of the rough and more. these ppl need a loading jig STAT. i can make one for them if they fly over there ;) if this is the future im sure they will change their process to make that happen. then there is the nongreen bit here. just the additional co2 trial to make this compared to a regular disc is blow to the environment that we really dont need. its like a fridge with a camera and wifi..

I ordered from Protoflyte on the 20th after this video dropped. I have yet to receive a shipping notification or even a response to the email I sent requesting an update on my order. I do not recommend ordering from Protoflyte. Their communication is poor. I'll be requesting a chargeback if I don't get a shipping notification or response to my email by next week.

Code doesn’t work anymore. Ain’t no way I’m gonna pay 40 bucks for a disc. Was gonna buy one with the discount code.

Very cool, but I think you're still overselling the precision/accuracy a bit. Getting blanks from an injection mold will still lead to slight changes in the density of the plastic and even if cut to the exact same shape will fly slightly differently. They will also still beat in over time and change the flight characteristics. The customization is really the coolest thing imo

I am predicting it right now.. its not going to be :P atleast not from what is shown. if you take a look at around 4:48. you will see the disc on a lathel, with aloooot of wobble. unless you fine tune the disc.. this is going to be veeeeery uneven. more or less just like normally made discs. if you can however finetune it.. it would be awesome! this is easy on metal parts.. hard on plastic parts.

the future is additive, not subtractive. you can reproduce even more exact conditions with 3d printing. I have 4 3d printers, and also own some subtractive tools like a lathe and a mill. a 3d printer with a temperature-controlled enclosure is much more consistent.

You're not exactly right about the molding... there are molds that are made of softer metal so they can be easily and cheaply changed to make those small changes before final production. So the cost savings there aren't quite as high as you make it seem.

You sorta miss identified a cnc mill. Most mills have the spindle stay stationary only going up and down in Z axis, while the table holding the work piece moves in side to side in X and front to back in Y. This is waaay more stable and rigid.

Interesting gimmick. Great for prototyping but I don't see this as a meaningful competitor to typical manufacturing. Scale. Waste. Time.

At this point I cannot afford a disc at that price. But for new players this will be amazing. They wont have already sunk a ton of money into inconsistent discs.

Doubt this will work. Higher production cost will kill it, and all that consistency is out the window after 15 throws... there is the issue of different plastic densities which is not touched on.

great video. Just a correction. A lathe has a spinning block of material and the cutting tool moves as the video showed. A milling tool can have a moving cutting bit or it can be stationary and the object to be milled moves 6:21

This will take us into getting fitted for a bag of discs the way you do for a set of clubs. Super rad!

I like this I think jake wolff would be good for this company he’d be able to design his bag for all the crazy throws he does

feel like this would be a good line for disc manufacturers, like if i could get a cnc machined eagle from calvins beat in eagle, id pay a premium for it

Funny I was just talking about this with my buddy. Dint know a company was making them

Every company that does injection molding should use cnc for prototypeing.

Thank you for doing this video. I saw that CNC had molds on PDGA's approved disc site and was super curious!

I wonder if they'd be able to clone a disc. Maybe some sort of 3D scan and then cut to reproduce.

I proposed machining discs years ago and people told me I was crazy.

Time is money? Yeah, as long as nobody tells India or China :P

As someone who works in manufacturing and has worked in both of these industries, machined discs are not going to be popular because you cannot get the cost of a machined disc to be cheaper than something that is injection molded. From a cost and time standpoint you can manufacture a disc more quickly and overall more cheaply through that process than a machined product. I agree that a machined product will have higher repeatability and likely accuracy but that is also based on how frequently they are changing the tooling on the cnc machine etc. This is a cool concept but it's not very scalable when you are comparing apples to apples.

Custom will be a problem when it needs to be PDGA approved.

CNC machinist here, I would hate to see this become the go to way for discs to be made. The amount of plastic waste that likely wouldn’t be recycled is sooo much higher than injection molding.

I feel like this is a bad idea just because the amount of plastic waste

Are any of these approved for tournaments?

I assume they get understable when beat in like any disc.

I’ll pay $100 for a custom disc or consistency

How does this plastic hold up to elements and tree strikes?

good idea but no one is paying 40 dollars for a disc

Google says can’t find the web site for them