News

Our latest batch of artist series Alphas has a common thread in one of our founders: Guy "Taco" Boyan.

Before we explain the Taco nickname, we'll dive into the Icon Alpha artwork provided by his life long friend Cliff Franks. Featured as a mini stamp and also on the back of hoodies, this is the first of hopefully many collaborations with Cliff. Make sure to check out his portfolio at http://www.clifffranksart.com/ and maybe grab some extra art of his for your wall.

We couldn't be more proud of how our friends on Team MINT have started the year. If you missed it, we added 2 new players as well - Tim Escobedo Jr and Rick Muniz.

This weekend Tim showed why he's one of the best players in Texas with a win at the 2019 Victoria Open. This B-Tier is the usual starting point for the Texas season, just before the Pro Tour and A-Tier events in March and April. Tim averaged 1035 rated rounds to take down a field featuring 42 of the best players in Texas.

Here is what Tim had to say about his victory:

Got the win this weekend at 36th Victoria open!
Had a solid 3 rounds and a final 9! Thanks to my sponsor MINT DISCS, the nocturnal and skullboy flew great in the wet windy conditions. Battle some tough conditions and even tougher competition, a great win to get the year started!

Earlier this year in January the team picked up two wins - Stephanie Vincent won the Sugar Land Showdown & Matt Barajas won the Baytown Boomtown. Stephanie won by an impressive 7 strokes and Matt shot a hot final round that rated 1049 to win by a stroke against a deep field. 

Matt continued his podium finishes with a 3rd place finish at the 1st ever Lone Star Classic. This was the first PDGA held at the popular Austin course in years. Matt managed to rebound from a broken putter in round 2, to shoot a 1012 rated 3rd round. Renae Farr meanwhile took 2nd place in Advanced Women, losing a tough play off battle.

This weekend Matt, Mike Laitala and Zach Jansen played in the Flat Creek Winter Flight. Mike shot 1033 and 1038 golf to secure 2nd place, while Matt was just behind him in 3rd and Zach in 6th place.

Renae Farr and Andrew Wikert also took down Pro division win at the Love is in the Air doubles event at Moodys Disc Golf Course this weekend. 

Our 2018 Team MINT Player of the Year, Jamie Callis also came in 2nd place at the 6th Bob Classic.

Nothing but podium finishes so far for the team! Proud to have such amazing people 

At MINT Discs, one of our cornerstones will always be the Serial # on our stock discs. This Serial # helps us all categorize and reference your favorite and least favorite run's of each disc.. 

We took that concept further in the early days of MINT by releasing color flight charts per run to help add that extra layer of definition. This color flight chart worked because we had a limited sample size of color's and only one disc.

Now to be honest - the actual color itself has nothing to do with flight. Disc golf companies don't add blue to affect a disc's stability. It's like cooking, if you change a major ingredient or method in the recipe then your final product can be affected. So this makes every run unique, sometimes down to the exact color, as adjustments are made for each changing variable.

As MINT grows beyond just the Alpha, it admittedly will be a tall task to keep up with the color flight charts but that doesn't mean we plan to stop providing what information we can. In the past we would take 1-2 months to really test out each color for the chart, but since the Alpha has become so popular, we need to provide that data when we release a new run. Not 1-2 months down the line when it is already sold out.

So how do we do that without throwing every color/weight combination? We measure what we consider the 3 most important factors - Weight, Dome, and Parting Line Height.

Weight and Dome are the obvious ones to most people, because you can tangibly feel the difference. So then, what exactly is Parting Line Height(PLH)? This term PLH has been used in the collector market for years to help measure stability.

Lets first take a look at this mock disc profile to help you visually understand:

The Parting Line is the point on the nose(on the wing) of the disc where excess plastic(called flashing) leaks out of the mold during production. Most of this excess is eventually trimmed away so that it isn't uncomfortable to hold the disc.

If you haven't already stopped reading & grabbed a few discs, then you should stop after reading this run on sentence and go grab 2-3 of your favorite Alphas, ideally from different run's, plastics and weights.

Got your favorite Alphas? Ok, now set them on a flat surface and try to find the parting line on each disc. Line them up to side to side to see how they compare. Based on how high or low that line sits we can then start to paint a picture of a discs true stability. 

Why does this parting line move up or down? Why can't MINT just get it right every time? Well the concise answer goes back to our cooking recipe - if you change an ingredient or method, the result can be different. That difference is what we want to embrace at MINT. We know some run's might just fly completely different than another run and we start to measure it by looking at the PLH.

Let's next take a look at the variations that exist across some of the popular Alphas from 1st Run's to 4th - all categorized by Serial # and Color. 

The dotted line representing PLH is an estimated "Goldilocks zone". This line is the 0 turn & 2 fade that produces that straight initial flight, with a reliable late fade. The top of each color block represents the PLH of each color. As it goes up or down so does the wing of the disc, leading to a change in expected stability.

Now the first thing to make clear - these PLH measurements are 100% a generalization and based on the discs in our bags and collections. It might not describe your exact disc, and we honestly hope it doesn't. The goal here is to give you tools to understand why stability might change from run to run or plastic to plastic. 

We used 2 methods too compare:

• Tape Measure or Ruler - place disc(s) on flat surface and measure from surface to parting line.
• The Line-Up aka "Eyeball that sucker" - All kidding aside we just lined up the discs next to each other and organized them based on how the PLH sat in order from lowest to highest on each disc. 

Important Notes:  When comparing parting line, stick to one disc model. If you compare multiple models to each other, the results will obviously be different. Also if your parting line isn't visible, it might be worth measuring to something else like the bottom or top line of the nose on your disc.

If you know your Alphas - you should quickly be able to pick up on some well known details. Two of the most overstable runs to date have been the 3rd Run Sublime and 1st Run Nocturnal Glow. This is mainly because the parting line is so high up. You'll then see at the other end of the spectrum is one of the least stable(and most popular) Alphas - the 2nd Run Royal Blue Sublime. In between are popular colors from other run's, as well as a few choices from the recent runs of Apex, Eternal and Sublime.

Which brings us to the real reason anyone is probably reading this - how does this apply to the Apex 3rd Run, Eternal 4th Run and Sublime 4th run that was just released? Well we'll wrap up the blog with all of our findings on those run's below.

We encourage you to measure your own discs and see how they all line up. Most importantly make sure to throw your discs for the ultimate test of stability.

All the following colors were the most common shades/weights we could find, and may not represent your exact disc. We made a vast array of colors for y'all in these 3 run's, so we knew it wouldn't be possible to get every color recorded.

Stay tuned for Volume 2 in the coming weeks where we cover weight and dome.

What better way to start off a Team blog than congratulating Krissie Fountain and Neil Myers on their recent marriage that took place at Moodys Ranch and Disc Golf Course. We couldn't be happier for these 2 amazing people to start their next journey together on and off the disc the golf.

Krissie will be playing in the Texas Womens Championships this weekend, so make sure to cheer her on to victory! Neil just finished playing in the 2018 National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships where he finished 50th overall in individual play and his Texas A&M team finished in 2nd place overall! 

This past weekend as also the 2018 Texas State Disc Golf Championships. We had Matthew Barajas, Mike Laitala and Stephanie Vincent representing us for the tournament that took place in Houston(See PDGA Event here). Stephanie continued her strong play this spring with a 5th place finish in FPO, where she was in 2nd going into the final round.

Matthew finished 11th in MPO, shooting all 3 rounds over his rating with his highest being a 1021 Round 3. Mike finished right behind him in 15th place, shooting even par for the weekend on the technical Houston courses.

This weekend is also the Texas Womens Championships in Austin at Rivery Park. Krissie and Stephanie will battle it out in the Open field against some of the worlds best. Make sure to follow the action at the PDGA event page or go watch the action on Saturday and Sunday at the Rivery Course(1448 Rivery Blvd, Georgetown, TX 78626).

March has been a busy month in Central Texas! In addition to the Disc Golf Pro Tour Stop at Waco we had an A-Tier the following week at Flat Creek Winery.

DGPT @ WACO

Team Mint had 3 players competing. Despite a strong start by Kyle and Stephanie in the first round only Mike Laitala was able to cash on the weekend. Still a great showing and start to the season by all our MINT players who competed.

MINT Team Results from DGPT Waco - Full PDGA results here: WACO

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The Open @ Flat Creek

This was the first year "The Open" has been at Flat Creek. With a total of 118 combined players in MPO, FPO and Masters it looks to become one of the feature events in Texas in the coming years.

We had 6 MINT Team members competing. Mike Laitala and Kyle Barnhouse continued their hot play to cash in a 61 man Men's Open field that feature many of the top touring pros in the country. Stephanie Vincent also grabbed 6th place in the FPO field.

MINT Team Results from The Open - Full PDGA results here: The Open

Team MINT has come out swinging in the early Spring so far. Our recent addition Matthew Barajas (PDGA # 71050) won the 20th Annual Red Rock Show at Moodys DGC this past weekend. He shot -20 on the weekend to win by 7 over some notable touring pros. His hot round was 1047 rated with an average of 1025, nearly 40 points above his PDGA rating.

The DGPT is stopping in our neck of the woods for the Waco Annual Charity Open. Team MINT has 3 players competing - Stephanie Vincent, Kyle Barnhouse and Mike Laitala.

Kyle so far is sitting in tie for 16th place with 1016 rated -6 in his first round. Mike is at 29th with -4, and Stephanie is in 7th place in FPO after round one. Make sure to watch the live coverage on the DGPT website and track the scores for our players here https://udisclive.com/

2018 is already going by so fast! We kicked off the year with the addition of 2 new team members - Stephanie Vincent and Matthew Barajas. 

Stephanie, a PDGA member since 2006, has been instrumental in the continued growth of the women's side of the sport. As a founding member of Women Throwing Frisbees, winner of 20 PDGA events, and the PDGA Texas State Coordinator(South Region), she is one of the most important players in the game today for her work on and off the course. We are proud to welcome our fellow Texas State Bobcat to the team!

Matthew is one of the best up and coming pros in Texas.  As president of the Texas State University Disc Golf Team, he takes pride in growing the sport on his college campus. We look forward to his continued growth as a student and professional player in 2018.

February Tournament Recap:

Matthew and fellow teammate Kyle Barnhouse are featured in the latest Jomez Pro Final 9 at Roy G Guerrero DGC(Austin, TX). They made the top 5 out of 90 players to get featured on the Final 9 film card. Great shooting guys and thanks for representing MINT Discs! Kyle also provided the drone footage for the final 9 with his Max Flight Disc Golf video production company. Make sure to follow their Facebook page for more awesome videos in 2018.

Krissie Fountain moved up to Pro Women this year and took 3rd(of 10) in her first event of 2018 at the Cedar Hill Chill. Krissie and her fiance Neal also took First in Advanced Mixed Couples at the 5th Annual Love is in the Air Tournament.

Jimmy Zamora  and his wife Brandi also competed in the Love is in the Air tournament and took 1st place in Open Couples.

This last weekend, we had 3 pro players competing in the Flat Creek Winter Flight. Matthew tied for 2nd place, Mike Laitala took 4th place and Zach Jansen wrapped up final cash in 5th place. There was only a 4 stroke difference between 1st and 5th so it was great to see all our participating team members finish at the top with a chance to win it down the stretch.

 

The next run of Alpha is finally here!
(Release Date Feb 12, 2018)

Available only in Sublime plastic, with art design by Manuel Trujillo, this run stays true to the Power Fairway label of the Alpha. The print on the chain-hunting "Werewolf" Alpha features a 3-color foil design(predominately red, black and silver). 

With a defined dome, and predictable fade this run of Alpha will fit nicely next to the other runs. Throw it hard and trust it to do the work for you. A 3rd Run of Eternal and Apex will be released in the future. 

About The Artist - Manuel Trujillo:

Manuel “Empty” Trujillo is an artist originally out of Taos, NM where he began playing disc golf in 2004.  It was in 2008, after becoming part of the Mile High Disc Golf club that he realized he could apply his art to the sport he loved when he completed his first hot-stamp for the 2008 High Plains Challenge. Since then he has been doing artwork for clubs and events from California to Massachusetts, probably most notable being the portraits for all the VIBRAM/Maple Hill Open Champions. Currently, by day Manny is an animator in the video game industry and by night he continues to produce high quality disc golf art for hot stamps, fine art and apparel. 

You can find Manny(and his art) on Instagram(@art_of_empty),Twitter (@art_of_empty) or his website www.artofempty.com

 

With flatter domes, new colors and a slightly straighter flight at high speeds, the Second Run has meet all our expectations and then some. Highlighted by the amazing Skulboy Designs art on the Sublime Plastic, this run is turning out to be great for throwers and collectors alike. 

Now lets focus on what everyone has been asking for - the flight ratings by color. The Alpha has a base rating of Speed 8 / Glide 4 / Turn 0 / Fade 2. While those numbers are fairly arbitrary and an industry standard, we chose to not print those on the disc and instead kept it simple with "Power Fairway" to describe the flight.

We feel it is our duty to give you as much information as possible. The discs in your bag need to be exactly what you want. So with each run we'll gather feedback from staff, friends, team members and from the most important source - YOU.

Without further ado here are the MINT color ratings for the Second Run. Available in all 3 plastics, we saw some striking differences compared to the first run.

What stands out about the second run? For starters I think it helped us validate our thought to not put the ratings on the disc stamp. The Second Run Alpha saw straighter high speed turn across the board. This means you can expect these colors to be a little straighter and not resist your power/speed as much as the First Run.

There are also 3 colors that are flying with considerably more low speed fade than expected - Yellow Apex, Eternal Candy Pink, and Eternal Candy Green. The Yellow Apex has the most dome of any color while the Candy colors have a flat profile. All three of these colors came out with a stiffer feel as well.

Wait a second...what is Candy Eternal? If you have touched this amazing blend of Eternal then you know what we are talking about. This stiff clear blend has that Candy look so we decided to add that descriptor to the color shade. We also used the term Pearly because of the white metallic streaks that were going through some of the colors.

The other color of note is the sought after Royal Blue Sublime. Surprisingly in both runs we are seeing a lot of our fans buy up all of the straightest Alphas they can find. As a result the Royal Blue was the first color to sell out in the Second Run. While it isn't as high speed stable as we we would like, we think it fits nicely along side the other Alphas and should be great at working some lines a regular Alpha can't.

How did our fans rate the Second Run? A few weeks back we asked for your help rating the second run. For the most part the ratings line up with ours. Below are the most popular answers.

What should you take away from all this information? As we admit, each color for a variety of reasons can fly a little different. We want to share those differences with you. The variances in stability also allow you carry multiple Alphas based on stability. You can trust on one mold to fill almost an entire speed gap and give repeatable throws every time.

Thanks again to everyone that has been a part of MINT Discs so far. To our friends, family, team members, and anyone who has purchased a disc - we can't do this with out you.

Zach, Guy & Chris

MINT Discs

***Disclaimer: Flight ratings by color may not reflect your exact disc. This is not a guarantee of exact flight, simply a guide to help you find the one for you. Ratings may vary based on weight, disc profile, disc damage, and user skill level. If you are not satisfied with your flight please reach to Zach@mintdiscs.com. We'd love to hear your feedback.***

 

 

Playing his first PDGA event in 4 months, Jamie Callis had a little rust to shake off at the Rock Cities Open this past weekend. With 10 holes left to go in the tournament, and down by 5, most people would assume the lead was out of reach. Instead Jamie said he locked in and trusted his favorite mint green Alpha down the stretch to make up the gap and win by 3 strokes.

The week before we had one of the premier events in Austin, TX with the 2017 Outlaws at Old Settlers DGC. Kyle Barnhouse had a tall task ahead of him for the event, defend his Outlaws MPO title he earned the year before. Despite averaging 1000 rated golf over 3 rounds, Kyle ended up with a strong 4th place finish in a field of 30. Also rounding out cash was Jimmy Zamora with a 10th place finish. Kyle and Jimmy were on the lead card for the final round.

Congrats on the great tournament play guys! We can't wait to report a few more wins for Team MINT to close out 2017.

All entries in this survey through Setpember 24, 2017 will be entered to win a free second run Alpha. We will contact the winner by email. Thanks for your time!

Team MINT had 3 players competing in the Stoney Creek Open(PDGA C-Tier) this past weekend at the Northtown Disc Golf course and came away with 2 First Place finishes. The course had 4 additional temporary holes for a new 22-hole layout.

Mike "The Machine" Laitala shot a 61(1007 rated) 1st Round and 59(1018) 2nd Round to finish the weekend at -20 and take 1st Place in Mens Pro Open. Jimmy Zamora also placed in a solid 7th place, just short of cashing. 

Krissie Fountain won the Advanced Women with a sizzling second round 72 that was 11 strokes better than her first round 83. 

Congrats Krissie and Mike on the wins!

 

 

The 100 degree heat didn't slow down Team MINT member Kyle Barnhouse on Saturday as his hot round 53 propelled him into a tie for 4th at A Short Day at the G. The Roy G. Guerrero course demands a mix of distance and accuracy unparalleled to anything else in the Austin area. While it wasn't enough for the win, the 53 gave him a 1022 rated round and was 6 stroke improvement after his solid first round 59. Kyle looks to continue his scorching play next week at the 10th Annual Kyle Open(no pun intended).

We can't write this little blog without giving kudos to Tournament Director Chris Harris. He puts in countless hours of work on the course every week and continues to raise the bar for the Austin tournament scene. With a massive turnout for a C-Tier of 29 Professional Men, you can see how much the players appreciate the work he has done to maintain this gem in the heart of Texas. 

The MINT team has been hard at work this spring and summer with Krissie and Zach racking up wins these last 2 weekends at the tournaments around Central Texas.

Krissie Fountain - 1st Place Adv Women @ 4th Annual Crosstown Throwdown(B-Tier)

Zachery Jansen - 1st Place Open Mens @ 9th Gonzo Open(C-Tier)

Krissie won by a dominant 13 strokes over 3 rounds! Zach pulled out a playoff victory for his 3rd Gonzo Open title(all in the last 4 years). Congrats on the wins! Keep it up Team MINT!

MINT Discs is proud to bring a putting league back to south Austin. Every Thursday night at Disc Nation.

This July 6 will be a first run, where we test out the format and gauge feedback from you before we settle on a final format for the league that will start in the coming weeks. Check the link below for more details on the first run.

CLICK HERE FOR FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

Check out this great review from Disc Golf Nerd on the Alpha. We sent them an Eternal and Apex to test out.

 

We honestly weren't sure what to expect when we launched MINT Discs and debuted our first disc the Alpha nearly 2 months ago(April 21, 2017).  A couple weeks ago we sold out of the first run Sublime Alphas, and it looks like Apex plastic won't be far behind. For us it hasn't been about the sales though. We have cherished the kind words and true friends who have reached out to help us grow. It has a created a really good problem, we will most likely be sold out of the first run before the second run is ready to sell. 

What we hope to do near the end of each run is a breakdown of how each plastic and color is flying. We'll take feedback from our fans, friends and team to compile this breakdown. This will ideally give you the knowledge to find the flight you want. Above all else, we want to put that knowledge in your hand.

For now lets jump right into the Alpha and learn a little bit more about the the best new fairway driver in disc golf. 

We released the Alpha in 3 premium plastics: Eternal, Apex and Sublime. Across the plastics we saw a nice range of stability and settled on the following flight numbers: Speed 8 / Glide 4 / Turn 0 / Fade 2. This rating was meant to be a general flight characteristic so that we could give you a baseline of what to expect.

Below is a full breakdown of the flight ratings based on color and plastic. What do you think about our numbers for each color?