Unexpectedly, only two days after Christmas, Westside Discs announced that – effective immediately – they’d be parting ways with Nikko Locastro for the 2022 disc golf season.
Straight from the horse’s mouth, via Westside’s Instagram page:
"The turning of the new year will usher in a new chapter for Team Westside Discs. Westside Discs and Nikko have made the decision to part ways effective 2022. We would like to thank Nikko for his past two years on Team Westside Discs. Nikko has helped grow the Westside brand and has put on some amazing performances including two DGPT wins at The Preserve and WACO. Nikko is a hard working and passionate player and we wish him continued success as he moves onto the next chapter of his disc golf career."
This comes on the heels of Trilogy’s smallest brand signing Matt Orum to a two-year deal. The deal includes a monthly salary, bonus incentives and disc royalties, too. It was believed that Locastro and Orum would form a potent, one-two punch, though things have clearly fizzled.
Sooner or later, the reasons for Westside’s seemingly knee-jerk severing of its relationship with Locastro will come to light. The good news for disc golf fans is that – given Nikko’s fiery personality – he’ll likely be the one revealing those reasons …
This writer’s guess is that he won’t pull any punches, either.
Whatever Locastro’s next move, he won’t – or shouldn’t, at least – remain unemployed for long. Sure, Nikko is (probably) on the back-end of his career and might not be the easiest guy to share a card with, but the biggest loser in this pre-season bombshell is obvious …
It’s Westside – and here’s why:
Locastro is one of the game’s greats
Locastro turned professional way back in 2006. At the time, touring full-time was a rarity for adults, let alone 18-year-old kids fresh out of high school. To date, during his 15 years on tour, there’s not much Locastro hasn’t done in the sport:
- 1 USDGC title (2009)
- 2 third-place finishes at the PDGA World Championships (2013, 2016)
- 3 PDGA Male Player of the Year awards (2009, 2010 and 2011)
- 4 PDGA National Tour victories
- 100+ wins as a professional
Nikko’s a pioneer of disc golf.
Regardless of their reasoning, Westside let him walk.
Locastro is still capable of winning
Locastro spent two years with Westside Discs.
During those two seasons, he sprinkled in a couple of B- and C-tier wins and podium finishes. His greatest accomplishments came, however, when he took down the Preserve Championship in 2020 and the Waco Annual Charity Open in 2021 – two Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) victories.
And it’s not as if those were one-and-done performances. Nikko’s a regular on lead and chase cards in all kinds of tournament settings: bomber, ball golf, wooded, etc. Locastro was a walking billboard for Westside. Orum will have his work cut out for him picking up where Nikko left off.
Locastro favors overstable plastic
This might seem like a strange one, but let’s do a quick experiment:
- Go grab your bag.
- Group discs according to their stability.
- Count the number you’ve lumped in the “overstable” pile.
Unless you’re Michael Johansen, odds are high that your overstable plastic heavily outweighs the understandable stuff. And it makes sense: newbies (erroneously) buy overstable, amateurs lean overstable and, generally speaking, professionals prefer going the overstable route, as well.
Nikko’s bag is massively overstable; he’s become famous for flexing his way into amazing shots.
The guy bags the kinds of discs people tend to buy in droves. He also wins plenty with ‘em.
Locastro is polarizing
Disc golf’s not (yet) a household sport. And it’s got a ways to go to get there. But the leagues that do capture widespread attention are those that 1) provide a premium product, and 2) tell a story people care about. The NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL do an amazing job of this.
There are “good guys.” They go toe-to-toe with the “bad guys.” People tune-in to watch.
Love him or hate him, there’s something you probably don’t feel towards Nikko: indifference. Not everybody can be Paul McBeth, and Discraft locked him up for time and all eternity.
Why not swing the other way? Westside had a key character in disc golf – not anymore.
Just to reiterate, we don’t know why Locastro is leaving Westside. Whichever manufacturer or retailer (looking at you, Infinite Discs) signs him will have scored a real winner in terms of on-the-course production, plastic-moving power and brandability.
Clearly, this story is just beginning.
Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.
