Baskets

Full disclosure: In 2017, Pyramids Disc Golf Course, home of the Marshall Street Pro Shop, switched all its baskets — 18 Discraft Chainstars and 18 Innova Discatchers — to 36 Dynamic Discs Veteran baskets. We couldn’t be happier.

The best basket debate heated up considerably when the DGA came out with its Mach X, a full sized permanent basket with interconnected chain strands, forming a more solid mass of center chains. The response was mixed; it seemed like people either loved them or hated them. And it seemed that very good players who putted with speed (putting with speed is a common trait among very good players) loved the Mach X. All the scared putting hacks like me, however, who putt slower because we’re afraid we’ll miss the whole basket and have to putt again, noticed that slow off-center putts were more often rejected.

Then we built 501 and sincerely believed at the time that the Prodigy T1s were the best basket, since they weren’t as unforgiving as the Mach X. Then it seemed that everyone turned against the Prodigy targets, claiming you have hit them dead center. If you’re a disc golfer you can understand why that’s less than endorsement.

After about six months, the general consensus is that the Veteran baskets catch the best. Even Maple Hill is switching from the Mach Xs to the MVP Portals, which certainly has something to do with MVP being the title sponsor in 2018 of the MVP Open at Maple Hill, Leicester’s annual Disc Golf Pro Tour event.

We’ll see how the MVP Portals hold up against the exacting expectations of the disc golf community.

As for practice baskets, we recommend the Chainstar Lite, a full-sized all metal target for $150. There are cheaper baskets, but this one is our current choice for best basket for your money.

Finally, we wound up not liking the Mach Lite and other collapsibles, basically because they bend easily, and generally wind up after a year or two in the scrap heap, since the nylon trapper falls apart as well.