Why the ‘multi-purpose’ golf disc is great for disc golf

The first disc I ever owned was an orange Champion Beast. If you want to get technical with this, I suppose I didn’t actually “own” it. I found it at Hunter Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2005.

• I kept it.
• I used it.
• I loved it.

Nineteen years later, I write about disc golf daily.

Life’s funny.

Here’s another nutty factoid …

I also remember the second disc I ever owned. It was a DX Hydra. Incredibly, I still have it tucked away in my stash of plastic. To date, I throw it in hotel pools on family vacations.

See for yourself:

These days, the DX stamp is different on the Hydra, but not by much. Back when I first acquired my Hydra, the stamp labeled the golf frisbee a “multi-purpose” disc. The multi-purpose disc is a hybrid putter-midrange. In my experience, it usually has a good bit of glide on it for distance potential. On paper, at least, it’s intended to be the ideal candidate for a one-disc round.

Way back when, amongst others, the Shark, Cobra, Coyote and Stingray were all considered multi-purpose discs, as well. As of 2024, though, they’re “putt and approach” or “midrange” discs. Such is the sad state of the multi-purpose unit – little more than a fading memory.

Anyway, back to the DX Hydra …

At the time, here was my train of logic for buying it:

• Made from a baseline plastic, it was only a few measly bucks.
• I loved disc golf, but didn’t want to commit to a bunch of frisbees.
• The Hydra felt like a putter and midrange, but was marketed for everything.
• It could float in water. The closest course to my home had plenty of it to offer.

Yes, your seasoned disc golf brain can poke holes in my thinking. But it took you years of play and hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars to get to that point. Fresh-faced newbies interested in little more than loosely flirting with the sport aren’t anywhere near that kind of commitment …

Yet.

For example, I’m an inexperienced camper. With three small boys, I want to do more of it. As such, with some of the extra Christmas money we accumulated, my wife and I purchased some sleeping bags – middle-of-the-road sleeping bags, to be more specific. We didn’t want the stuff to survive the heat of the Sahara or do battle with the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Just simple, do-everything-good-enough sleeping bags to get our feet wet with the great outdoors. We’ve already used ‘em once, and guess what? They delivered on that promise.

THIS is the beauty of the multi-purpose disc.

In a sea of thousands of molds offered in a number of world-class polymers that claim to do a host of championship-level things on the course, the multi-purpose disc gives novice disc golfers a safe, simple place to begin. Even better, without realizing it, they start with slow frisbees.

Less Star Destroyer and more R-Pro Dart, to pull a page from Nate Sexton.

• They learn the game.
• They enjoy the game.
• They stick with the game.

And buy loads of 12- and 13-speed distance drivers, in the process.

Just later on.

Not long ago, I’d all but given up on the multi-purpose disc making a comeback. That was, until Rancho Cucamonga decided the disc golf world was ready for the Innova Alien in 2023.

Check it out:

*** Tear Streams Gracefully Down Cheek ***

Could the multi-purpose disc enter the mainstream, once again?

Probably not.

But for the sake of nostalgia and player development, I certainly hope so.

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