Heavier chains, "retro concept" for new Discraft basket.
February 18, 2018 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 0 comments
Next week at The Memorial Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona, Discraft will debut a new basket: the Chainstar Pro.
The basket features some substantial design changes from the Chainstar, including a new 2.75 inch advertising band on the top, an increase from 24 to 32 chains, and a tiered chain pattern with rings at three different levels.
The original Chainstar has been on courses since the early 2000s but came under scrutiny last year when there were a number of high-profile spit-outs at the Ledgestone Insurance Open, which featured Chainstars on the temporary Lake Eureka course.1
“The overall goal was to, one, fix the center spit-outs, and, two, stop the breakthroughs, and we feel like we accomplished that,” said Discraft Vice President Mike Wagner.
Wagner said that development on the Chainstar Pro has been ongoing for the last five years; Discraft has gone through seven prototypes and may make additional changes after gathering feedback from players after The Memorial, where they will be installed on the Vista Del Camino Park course, which will host the 2nd and 4th rounds of MPO and FPO competition.
A number of Discraft-sponsored players have already had a chance to test the Pro.
“I think that Discraft has done a really great job at creating a fair basket,” said Nate Doss. “It catches well in the center and is fair on the edges. As with anything new, only time will tell how the players will respond.”
Valarie Jenkins was also pleased with the basket.
“This design brings back a retro concept that is proven to catch really well,” she told Ultiworld Disc Golf. “This basket doesn’t need a certain style to make your putts stick, which is great for us veteran disc golfers that have developed our own signature style through years of practice.”
Wagner, the basket’s designer, was open about the fact that the original Chainstar had center pole spit-out problems, particularly on harder putts. He said Discraft used higher grade chain links to add some stickiness to the Pro’s catching ability: he called the chains “beefier” and a “little more stubborn.”
He said that the tiered chains also have the effect of creating a softer catch on the outside with the increasingly smaller inner chains helping to knock the disc down before it reaches the pole.
The Disc Golf Pro Tour has approved the baskets for use on the Pro Tour this year after getting positive feedback from trusted third parties. “All three people that used the basket said that it caught better than anything they’d ever tested,” said Disc Golf Pro Tour Director Steve Dodge.
The Chainstar Pro won’t be publicly released until late spring. Custom colors will be available for the band and basket. Wagner said Discraft hopes to get the price to around $430 at retail and $330 at wholesale, although final pricing has not been determined.
The original Chainstar, which may see some minor changes once the Pro rolls out, will remain available at a lower price point.
At Ledgestone, the course was using portable Chainstars, not permanently installed ones, that were later auctioned off for charity. ↩
