Hi all, I'm a four year player (casual for three years, serious this last year) who has been lurking here on the forums this whole summer. I finally decided to create an account and post here because I have fallen in love with Vibram discs!
This spring, my girlfriend and I decided to try out some toe shoes. I went for Fila skele-toes and she went for Five Fingers (side note: Skele-toes were a far inferior product and after ripping them to high hell, I switched to Five Fingers and am extremely satisfied with them). While researching the Five Fingers I stumbled upon Vibram discs, stumbled on this thread, and researched a ton about them. I just had to try them. About a month ago I ordered a Soft Ridge, medium Ibex, and medium Ascent. I liked them enough that the same week I bought a firm Trak and firm VP off of a player in my league. I finally rounded out the collection last week with a medium Obex, firm Summit, and medium Sole. I love all these discs and figured I'd give my thoughts on the discs here in this thread.
Some background on me as a player. I throw solely RHBH (except for flick and thumber rollers). I get fairways out to 325', midranges out to 275', and putters out to '225 (consistent, usable golf distances, not max D). I have taken distance drivers out of my bag but I can push Vikings and Valkyries out to 375' plus on their normal flight paths, and more over stable drivers on flex shots close to 400', just not consistently and probably not without some OAT. I'm very comfortable with my distances, fairly accurate and consistent, my mid range game is passable, I feel that upshots are the best part of my game, and I am definitely the definition of a streaky putter. I have only ever used Innova discs before this foray into Vibram.
So, on to the review, first I'll start with some general comments about the Xlink compound. Vibram does not lie, this material is extremely durable and extremely grippy! The main course I play is pretty heavily wooded and I find trees with my discs a lot more than I like. I've already drilled some trees with my Vibrams and the discs have yet to show any damage (except for my Ibex which got misshapen after a very solid impact and regained its original shape by the end of the same day, with no help from me!). The softs and mediums haven't lost any stability at all, but the firms (especially the trak) have beat in just a hair.
And as far as grip goes, these discs met all expectations. The grip is tacky and feels good. I've experienced none of the slick spots that others have commented about in this thread. I get a good clean release all the time, except for a few griplocks here and there, which I'm sure can be attributed to user error. Where the grip really shines though is in the rain, where I lose absolutely no confidence in my grip. Today in fact I played in light rain with some brief moments of downpour and shot even par, which is a great round for me at my home course. That round is what finally prompted me to register on here and post in this thread.
Finally, on to the disc reviews:
Ascent- I love this disc. My favorite innova mold was the TL plus and this disc flies extremely similar, with just a touch more fade. I get 315'+ golf distance consistently and this baby is accurate. Thrown flat it's a straight flyer with a quick, sharp, predictable fade right at the end. Put some hyzer on this disc and you can throw all sorts of hyzer lines with very minimal skip aways. Thrown with some anhyzer, this disc can shape some beautiful flex lines.
Trak- This disc is the best feeling driver I've ever gripped. It just feels good in my hand. And it has a beautiful flight path, straight for awhile into a nice, gentle turn and finishing with a good glide forward with a very slight fade. I can hyzer flip this disc for some added distance and shaping lines, but the hyzer flip is a weak part of my game so I'm not very consistent at it yet. But this baby is just as easy to control on turnover drives as a Leopard and I feel it rides the line to the ground even better!
This week, using this disc, I had the cleanest snap I've ever felt. It was on a turnover drive on a 350' uphill hole, with tree coverage that forces you to play a turnover or a flex shot the other way through the trees. The flex shot deals with a steeper part of the hill but the turnover shot, which gives you a much better run and approach at the basket, is complicated by a tree to front left of the tee box. You have to go straight ~250'' and then have a clean, fairly hard turn to the right. Normally, I can't snap well enough to get the disc to turn over that late and the tree by the box is always a threat with a long sweeping anhyzer, so I normally play the flex shot. On this shot though, I felt the hit better than I ever have and the disc rode the line beautifully until it disappeared from view behind the trees out in the middle. I walked up to find my disc straight at the pin from the tee box, about ten feet away. A great feeling disc that is extremely workable (especially on turnover drives).
Obex- This is probably my least favorite, and definitely my most inconsistent Vibram disc. It can be a meat hook for me, or I worm burn it straight. I've even turned/flipped it over from time to time. It has to be OAT on my part, or just plain unfamiliarity (I've had it less than a week and it took me at least that long to warm up to the Ibex). However, when I've tossed it clean it flies good, with more of a consistent gentle fade than a hard dive left. This disc is a good flick roller for recoveries and shorter roller lines. I think I really just need more time with this disc.
Ibex- THE line-shaper. At first I had issues, because this is a sensitive disc (if you have form issues or OAT, this disc will point it out!). I slowed down and smoothed out with this disc and now it shapes every line incredibly well. Hyzer, straight, turnover, small flex, you name it... This disc does it all. Plus I get great distance with it for a mid (for me). Before this disc, my comfortable mid distance topped out at 250' and was probably more like 225'. This disc consistently and accurately hits 275' for me. At my two home courses, there are a lot of holes between 250' and 300' that used to have me trying to power down a fairway or do too much with a mid. Now I just park them all with the Ibex.
VP- This disc probably takes the cake for my favorite Vibram. This disc is the master of approaches and an amazing windy day putter. This disc finds chains and attacks them. Flex putts, hyzer spikes... This disc does it all, heck, it's even a good short range flick roller. From outside the circle up to 100', this disc finds chains more than any other disc I've thrown. And this thing off the tee is amazing, the best putter I've ever drove with. It by itself pushed my putter driving distance from just under 200' to 225'. A good flight with a reliable sharp fade. And you can flex it for some extra distance and to hit lines.
Ridge- The softie of the bunch. To start, I will say this thing is horrid for putting, I hated putting inside the circle with it when I tried. But when I want to make a run at the basket and not worry about a huge blow by, this is the disc. This baby sits down and stays down. No skips, no rolling, no skidding, just a solid stick. The firm VP and Summit sit down well, but this disc glues itself to the ground. It is extremely workable and let's me run at the chains from any angle, regardless of any trouble lurking behind the pin.
Summit- The VP may be my favorite disc right now and the one that just finds chains like a machine, but after only a week I feel like this disc can make a run at both of those titles. I can't forehand at all, so I have a lot of situations where I anny-putt out of trouble. The Summit hits the right line, locks in and rides it right into the chains. My first round today, I had three 40-50' shots with trouble where I had to throw anhyzer to have a chance and I sank all three. This all black beauty is point and throw precise. And off the tee it is great, easily hitting the same distance as the VP for me. It can ride a nice fade straight to the ground. And despite my trouble hyzer-flipping, the last few rounds I've been doing it consistently and accurately to 250'+ with this disc.
Sole- My in the circle putter. I'm weird and have a putter that I only use in the circle, because I don't want to miss with it too often (Because the disc knows! And all discs can get confidence issues!). Before this disc it was a Dart and the Sole feels and acts extremely similarly. Great glide, feels good out of the hand, and I'm hitting the putts I should with it. *I haven't really tried it off the tee yet, so I'll refrain from commenting on that after just a handful of throws.
All in all, I am extremely happy with these discs! They are grippy and durable. The fairways are a more durable version of the TL+, Leopard combo I loved and in my opinion, a small improvement in both slots. The Obex is still sort of a mystery to me, but the Ibex is the most workable disc I've ever thrown and has added ~50' of comfortable golf distance to my mid slot. The VP and Summit are the perfect complement to each other off the tee and for upshots. Combined with the soft Ridge, these three discs are an amazing approach combo and have improved the strongest part of my game even more. The Sole is a good, traditional putter that does it's job in the circle.
To Mr. Dodge and Vibram, thank you so much for high quality products. Also, Mr. Dodge, from lurking here on this forum for awhile I have seen how involved you are in the community and how well you treat your customers and I am extremely impressed. Everyone over at Vibram, keep up the amazing work!
TL;DR- I have switched my whole bag to Vibram discs, I love them, and Vibram and Mr. Dodge have a new fan boy!
