The pros are throwing something new this season.
June 5, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Opinion, Review
The UFA made headlines earlier this year when they announced a first-of-its-kind, three-year deal with Prodigy Disc, a prominent disc golf manufacturer, to be the league’s official disc provider. “I have to be honest, you can really feel it,” Boston star Tobe Decraene said in his video review of the Frisbee, “It really flies like a disc golf disc.”
A few weeks ago, I obtained a Pro Frisbee and played a full game with it with my local pickup group. Since then, I’ve thrown this disc over the last month in several different wind and weather conditions. Also, most players in the league have now played at least two games with the new disc and will be able to share their thoughts about how the disc affects games, not just practices. While the disc has its quirks and takes some getting used to as a thrower and receiver, it has qualities that help make the game more exciting without radically overhauling what a disc should be.
A Brief History
Through the 2023 season, the UFA used the Discraft UltraStar, the official disc of USA Ultimate, in addition to the Premier Ultimate League and the Western Ultimate League. Ahead of the 2024 season, the UFA took over production of the ARIA Uno (and licensed the name Frisbee from Wham-O) to make the league’s disc for the year. For the 2025 season, Prodigy will manufacture the Professional Frisbee, which has some notable differences to the ARIA disc.
“During the preseason when we first heard that we’d be getting another new Frisbee, I definitely think there was some frustration,” Salt Lake’s Jordan Kerr said. “All the guys had just spent the past season adjusting to a new Frisbee, and having to do that again seemed a little annoying…It’s only been a few months practicing and playing with this year’s Frisbee, and I can already say this year’s is quite the upgrade.”
I had heard a bit of frustration from players who got to throw with the disc before I got my hands on one, so I was skeptical when I first got the disc, just before the UFA season began. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed a lot of the characteristics of the new disc. It seems like a lot of the frustration was a natural response to trying something new and different than the USA Ultimate college and club divisions, rather than a negative review of the new disc on its own merits. “It’s pretty annoying to have to switch back and forth between two different discs, but the UFA one is fine in a vacuum,” New York’s Calvin Brown said.
The Changes
First of all, this disc absolutely flies! I can throw an UltraStar pretty far, but on a relatively windless day, I had to pull from the back half of my own end zone to keep the disc in bounds. On longer throws like hucks, I found that the disc reacts best to a shape similar to older Wham-O models, where flat or slightly OI throws hang in the air for a long time and glide to a smooth finish at the end of their flight. I had more trouble trying to recreate the familiar S-curve of an UltraStar with a slight IO release. The UFA Frisbee holds the inside edge (disc golf people will call this flight characteristic over-stable) so that discs do not flip over mid-flight the way the UltraStar does. “I’ve noticed that if you put a slight inside edge on the disc, it does not come flat. It’s going to stay inside all the way through your throw,” Decraene said.
Where UltraStar discs fall faster, this disc wants to sit on a shelf for a while and then glide to a catchable point. A lot of receivers I played with who were used to the typical flight pattern of the UltraStar misread the flight pattern of the new disc and undercut their expected catching spot. “It does fly farther faster which can be exciting and make for some cool plays,” Colorado’s Quinn Finer said. “Generally an UltraStar will hit a point in flight where it tails off. The new disc doesn’t tail off. It generally just goes straight till it hits the ground.”
The Professional Frisbee feels like it was meant for weaker throwers to be able to throw catchable hucks. The disc has a slight rise to it, and hucks tend to carry. For a thrower whose range tops out at half field, they might be able to extend their looks farther into their attacking territory. I also found that the disc recovered well from funky releases. I tried to throw some bladier hucks or over-the-top looks, and the disc fought to flatten out.1 For players with more basic throwing skills, this disc should give them an easier path to throwing a catchable huck, since it can take a wide, bladey release and flip the disc to a flatter position by the time a catch is viable. For throwers used to more edge control or with enough power to get an UltraStar wherever they wanted to throw it, this disc will take an adjustment, as not all of those shapes are available. I definitely was able to get more power out of just my arm and wrist (I did not need to step as much into my throws) with the Professional Ultimate Frisbee.
My biggest gripe about the Professional Frisbee is that it flies really slow. We saw this on the Oakland Spiders’ first offensive point in the opening game of the season where Leo Gordon threw a swing, and it hung up long enough for New York’s Shashank Alladi on defense to charge it and chase down the block.
In practice, swings will be more blockable, and any give-and-go moves will need stronger, sharper throws to keep the pace players are used to with an UltraStar. On the other hand, this does help to slow down the small-ball offenses that have propelled teams like DC and Carolina to such success. Rather than relying on coaches to scheme up defenses to stop an offense that few teams have a genuine answer to, the new Frisbee simply makes playing that way a bit harder.
I mentioned earlier that the disc wants to fly and glide. It wants to do that even on shorter, less powerful throws. Sometimes this leads to unexpected jumps or bounces in the throw that can make it harder to catch or defend.
As players get more reps with the new disc and get used to its quirks, it’s likely we’ll see more players able to meet the disc at the best point of attack, but in the early season it does seem like some players end up with the lucky bounces while others are left wishing their block attempt had been on an UltraStar. “Although it travels farther in the wind, it’s harder to predict. Seems like it pops and drops inconsistently,” Finer added.
The last thing I’ll share about the disc is that it has a heavier feel than the UltraStar or ARIA Uno. I attribute this to the extra force required to throw it with an appropriate amount of zip on shorter throws, since it seems to want to softly glide rather than race towards its target. While it takes less effort to throw it farther compared to the UltraStar, I really need to whip it to get a crisp, low release. That repeated effort while playing a small-ball style or just throwing with someone 15-20 yards away adds up and my arm felt sore after the pickup game and a few throwing sessions.
The rim of this disc also feels thicker than an UltraStar. It’s not quite as thick as the old Innova Pulsars for those familiar, but the extra grip strength needed to hold on to the bigger rim might contribute to the arm and wrist fatigue.
“It feels like it weighs closer to 200 grams than 175,” Finer said. “I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what it feels like. It could just be that the weight is distributed differently than an UltraStar, specifically around the rim. The rim feels deeper and wider. Also I’ve noticed elbow and wrist pain from throwing it a lot. It may just be how much I’m throwing it or my specific technique, but that’s my experience.”
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Final Thoughts
Overall, I am excited to see the disc in action, especially later in the season once the teams and players have enough time to properly adjust to a new disc. I understand the league’s impulse to encourage hucking and highlight plays with a disc that is easier to throw farther, flatter. I also think the discs’ slower flight could end up helping defenses catch up better to small ball movement and really make the margins on smaller-window throws thin.
We are just about halfway into the new Frisbee’s in-game action, so the jury is still out on its effectiveness. No matter what, it’s encouraging an entity in the sport is willing to experiment and try new things as our young sport continues to grow. I’m grateful for the players willing to go along with the experiment and share their experiences with the new disc as we all seek to understand how to better optimize the playing and viewing experience of Ultimate.
And for those UltraStar purists, the UFA is far from the only sporting entity to try and change the playing equipment. FIFA is known for commissioning a new ball for every World Cup, and various domestic soccer competitions or continental championships all use different balls. Major League Baseball and AAA baseball use a different ball than the lower level minor leagues, and MLB switched from Spalding to Rawlings about 40 years ago. For what it’s worth, the Japanese professional baseball league uses a slightly smaller ball. The NCAA, FIBA, WNBA, and NBA all use different basketballs. The NBA changed its ball in 1971, 1984, 2006, and 2021.
What the Pros Are Saying
“It just feels way better material wise. I’m not sure if they changed anything there, but it feels smoother, it flies smoother, and just feels more natural in my hands.” – Jordan Kerr, Salt Lake
“It holds inside edge way way more than any other frisbee I’ve thrown. That comes with pros and cons. My biggest gripe with it is I can’t shape it the same way I can an UltraStar. No matter what edge you put on it the disc will basically just travel forward. Throwing break side fades isn’t really possible sometimes…In general I think it allows more players to throw the disc farther and generally just easier for less traditionally skilled throwers…I wouldn’t say it’s better or worse, it’s just different. My preference is still an UltraStar because that’s what I’ve used my whole career. In my opinion at this point the UltraStar takes more skill to throw and has more variance and creativity to it. But that could change since the new frisbee is so young.” – Quinn Finer, Colorado
“Personally, I think it’s a good disc. It really only changes the game when you are throwing over 30 yards. Pulls are easier with it, and generally gives receivers more time to run onto a disc in front because of how much it sits on hucks.” – Paul Owens, Philadelphia
“I really like the UFA’s new Frisbee. I think it feels a little more stiff, which seems to result in less wobble coming off the hand. It’s also a little more stable, so it doesn’t turn over as easily. This allows it to be thrown farther and cut through the wind better. There is a slight learning curve; some throws that might normally have an outside-in shape end up flatter or tail off inside-out. However, after getting used to it, I’ve really come to like it.” – Austin Taylor, Atlanta
“The main thing I’ve noticed is that the Frisbee floats for a long time, especially late in the flight path on a huck. If the edge you put on the disc isn’t enough, it will get flat and then float for a long time on the way down. Another thing is that the Frisbee has a tendency to tail off with some [inside-out] edge if you don’t put enough edge on it to start. Finding the happy medium with regards to the amount of edge you put on the disc has been challenging.” – Jacques Nissen, DC
“There’s going to be some adjusting in the beginning of the season, but I think the switch between pro and club is going to be a lot easier. To be completely transparent, if I could still choose to take last year’s disc, I probably would because I’m used to it and I liked it a little better…we’ll just have to live with it and adjust.” – Tobe Decraene, Boston
See this example from Las Vegas’s Ryan Hiser ↩
