Disc Golf Information: Putter Flexibility

Here at Gateway we manufacture and market a wide range of flexibilities and surface grips for our putt and approach discs, the Wizard, Warlock and Magic. Our manufacturing techniques have come from over 10 years of extensive research and development producing the best polymer blends for golf discs in the industry. Hopefully we have produced something special that meets your needs as an individual customer.

If you are very particular or looking for something specific, the best case scenario is to get in front of a large selection and flex around on them a bit to find that perfect one. Everyone seems to like something different, which is why we make so many different types of putters. If Gateway putters are not available in your area, please ask your local dealer to contact us or contact us directly and we will try and get their location set up.

It is important to note that the marketing of our putter variations is not just based on flexibility, but also on surface complexion and surface hardness! Even though we only state four discrete flexibilities in our marketing materials, SSS (Super-Stupid-Soft), SS (SuperSoft), Soft and Medium, we actually produce runs that have a range of up to ten different flexibilities!

Here’s a rundown on the differences in putter flexibilities, on a scale of 1 to 10. A 1 is the softest surface and floppiest we make (think SSS), though realistically most SSS we make we shoot for are 2. A SuperSoft is a 4, a Soft is a 7 and a Medium is a 9 which wont really flex that much unless you really apply pressure (50% of the Mediums are probably closer to a 10 for players that just like firm discs).

There are many runs that fall in between these target numbers, like 1,3, 5, 6 and 8. Again - our marketing of Super-Stupid-Soft, SuperSoft, Soft and medium is not only flex, but surface complexion.

There are formulas that we use when, for example, shooting for a 4 (SuperSoft) and within in each class there is at least 1 polymer that is proprietary to that particular class. A Medium has a percentage of a talc-filled polypropylene (PP), a soft has a percentage of a regular PP, the SuperSoft has no PP and a Super-Stupid-Soft has no PP and a soft rubber thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) less than 70 A shore. (What does "70 A shore" mean?)

All recipes for production runs have 2 materials in common, a 90A shore TPV that is compounded with a mineral which is the “concentrate” that makes the discs heavy and a non mineral filled 80A shore TPV that weighs .93 that is the base.The concentrate weighs over 2.0 density and the target for a 175 putter would only be 1.4 density. PP weighs .90 and the talc filled pp weighs 1.7. The method of mixing each batch to get the right flex and weight is a very challenging task (a cross between math, science and art) and will always produce runs of discs in between the 2's,4's, 7's and 9's.

The one GREAT thing about dry blending our batches as opposed to having a master batch produced for us for each flex is the fact a dry blended match allows the softest of the materials to migrate to the surface of the part. In all 4 flexibilities, the softest material will migrate to the surface making for soft, tacky, grippy discs even if they are not that flexible. The Super-Stupid-Soft has no PP added and a rubber that is less than 70 a shore which not only makes it softer in the surface but the most flexible as well.

(Please read Wizard Hype for the design engineering of our putters and look for a new ORGANIC Eco-friendly line coming soon)