The #1 Swedish disc golf manufacturer Latitude 64 has just announce that they will discontinue making seven of their disc molds. The discontinued molds will be:
- Bryce
- Fuji
- Gobi
- Missilen
- Raketen
- Sarek
- Zion
These discs are their “gimmicky” discs that they made in effort do improve disc flight and performance. These retired discs will consist of their Hex and 2K molds.
Hex Disc Golf Molds
The Missilen and Raketen utilized Hex Technology to reduce drag and increase speed. Much like the dimples in a golf ball, Hex discs added dimples to the plastic mold.
While the dimples do increase speed, they reduce glide which resulted in no net benefit of distance gained — which is really what matters to disc golfers. After the initial fad where everyone wanted to try the dimpled discs, sales of the Missilen and Raketen have rapidly diminished.
2K Double Mold Discs
Following MVP’s success with double mold technology, Latitude 64 decided to delve into this market segment with the introduction of their 2K molds. They succeeded, producing the Bryce, Fuji, Gobi, Sarek and Zion, but found that the manufacturing process was much more difficult and produced more inconsistent discs. Besides being visually appealing, the 2K Molds didn’t provide flight benefits and it was determined that producing double mold discs wasn’t worth the additional cost and effort.
Hints at Future
In addition to the announcement of the retired molds, Latitude also hinted that they will soon release a monumental restructure plan that will effect the way they do business for the next decade. Could this perhaps involve the production of at least some of their discs in the USA? We will have to wait for the next bit of L64 news.
For more information on this announcement and the reasoning behind retiring the molds, read the official press release here: http://www.latitude64.se/latitude-64/latitude-64-retires-2k-and-hex-discs/
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