Before telling you of my background, I must make a disclaimer: I do not have any connections to any disc golf brands. I’m a recreational player, playing in MA3 in non-PDGA sanctioned local weeklies only. I do not get money from any disc golf related activities. I do spend it, though. I am old and do not throw far, and I don’t have any reason to claim I throw 500 feet, not even 400. 300 is my max distance, 330 if everything clicks.
As I started disc golf a couple of years ago, some of my first discs were from Axiom discs and MVP. The colour schemes, nerdy scientific naming, coloured rims and the nice feel of the discs lured me into the brand. And don’t get me wrong, some of their discs were a staple in my bag just a few weeks ago. The Crave, the Hex, the Range and Echo from Streamline discs…all excellent discs. Later on I also got my hands on some Innova discs and really like some of their molds as well, such as the Valkyrie and Teebird.
However, world has changed. There is a lot going on in the global landscape, and there are no guarantees that the US-made brands wouldn’t either cost a million or not be available here in Europe in the future, so I’d like to move on to using discs only made in Europe.
There are a lot of European brands. Discmania, Latitude64, Kastaplast are probably the biggest ones, with smaller brands like Westside discs, Prodiscus, Clash Discs and newcomers such as Gram discs adding to the selection.
I’ve also encountered some criticism towards the House of Discs, which has acquired the majority of the European brands. I guess this critique stems from the roots of the sport itself, which can be thought as just a bunch of laid back friends wondering in the forests, throwing plastic at woods. Venture capitalists can be seen as an evil force, coming to the market with only €€€/$$$ and profit in their sights.
The reality is that closing HoD out from the options would make bag building extremely difficult. The following image is taken from a Reddit post, credit to /u/overgolden for this:
The image is a bit outdated, as Discmania has also been acquired by the House of Discs.
From these brands, the following ones I deem European. Some of their ownership might be partially in the US, but at least their production is still in Europe:
Gram discs (missing from the picture)
Alfa discs (missing from the picture)
There might also be some smaller brands I’m not aware of.
This process is only just started, and I will start the journey by describing what my bag has included previously. I will later on plan to give updates on how I will try to replace the slots I have been throwing.