Lightning

Back in the late 1980s, Lightning was one of the big three along with Discraft and Innova.

By today’s standards, Lightning discs are mostly putters and midranges and we could argue whether some of them reach Control Driver speed.

Except for the last disc it made, the Maxline 1, which was a Wraith knock-off, around Speed 11, approved in 2009, nine years after it’s previous new model, the #4 Driver.

Initially Lightning discs were named after fighter planes like the F14 Tomcat, and each bore a hot-stamp vintage airplane image, reflecting just one of founder Steve Howle’s eclectic interests.

These airplanes were gradually replaced with a more generic naming system that attempted to describe the disc’s flight: #1 Driver, #3 Hookshot, #2 Slice.

The interesting thing about Lightning’s Slice models is that they’re UNDERstable, and for me describe more of a hook — a flight that fades away from the side of the body the disc is released on. But Lightning Slice models are more inclined to turn rather than fade.

Maybe that’s why we have heizer and anheizer; we can’t agree what a slice would be in disc golf.