Remember Naughty By Nature’s “OPP” from the early 90s?
If you want to know what it stands for, Google it yourself …
I’m not going there.
Thankfully, disc golf’s “OOP” stands for something WAY different:
Out of production.
You’ll sometimes hear it as “out of print,” but that’s pulled from the publishing world. Either way, it means a disc is no longer being produced by a manufacturer. And just in case you were wondering, it’s PDGA-legal to bag and throw an OOP mold during sanctioned tournament play.
The reasons for a disc manufacturer halting the production of a mold are numerous. The most common one has to do with a particular mold simply not selling well. If nobody’s buying it, why even bother? Furthermore, some molds are given OOP status, because a manufacturer wants to dedicate more room, personnel or hard resources to either brand-new or better-selling molds.
Less-common reasons include a manufacturer going out of business or focusing on something else, as was the case with Vibram years back. It’s also possible the PDGA disapproves of a previously approved mold, as you (tragically) witnessed with the Quest AT Turbo Putt.
Additionally, keep in mind this might not ONLY be a mold thing – plastics can very much become part of the picture, too. You might see a mold limited exclusively to certain polymer types. Or, a line of discs might get yanked, altogether. Innova’s StarLite line comes to mind.
To find out if a mold’s now of the OOP variety, your best bet is to take to the manufacturer’s site for information. If you can’t find anything there, Reddit or Disc Golf Course Review will know.
Lastly, if one of your bag’s workhorse molds goes OOP, I can’t recommend this enough …
Stock up.
Fight like mad to onboard as many of them as humanly possible. eBay is great for this. Manufacturer-specific pages for trading, buying and selling on Facebook are awesome, too.
Keep your eyes peeled, though. Occasionally, without warning, manufacturers will pump out small runs of OOP molds. Even better, they’re reasonably priced. Look to specialty retailers to claim these. For example, the Dynamic Discs Suspect has been OOP for years. You can pay an arm and a leg for ‘em on eBay. Or, you can buy them on the Team Idlewild website for cheap.
It’s a beautiful thing.
For me, the Champion Classic Roc is the crème de la crème of throwing putters. Because of this, I’ve got about 10 new and used backups I wouldn’t part with for the world. And don’t even think about asking how much I paid for them – it’s a secret I take to the grave. Of course, this isn’t entirely necessary. There are enough manufacturers and molds to find something similar.
But, man …
It’s nice to have a sizable stack of OOP molds to show off.
Happy hunting.
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