All new molds are tested, and the rule states that manufacturers must send in the stiffest plastic they plan on producing that disc in. I still think it's a little silly to expect a tiny organization to test millions of discs every year. I haven't heard a good suggestion outside of people doing what is suggested by the PDGA: send in discs that they think are outside the tech specs so the PDGA can take action like they did on these wizards.
Maybe its the reporting that needs to change. I personally don't think it is my responsibility to send in three samples of a disc that is to firm. If all someone had to do was report it and the pdga would look into it that would be great. The response from the tech guy earlier in the thread made it sound like even that would be to hard for him to accomplish.
IMO, it sounds like a complete overhaul of the approval process is in order. Right now the PDGA is being to lenient during the approval process, as mashnut stated all NEW molds are tested and they must send in their stiffest plastic formulation. So basically, only new molds, not existing molds with new plastic.
I think granting an all encompassing PDGA Mold approval is a part of the problem. They should be testing the Mold and the Plastic formulation and granting PDGA approval to both, not just the Mold. For example...
Lat 64 River Mold + Opto line plastic meets PDGA guidelines - Approved.
Lat 64 River Mold + Gold Line plastic meets PDGA guidelines - Approved.
Lat 64 River Mold + Recycled plastic meets PDGA guidelines - *Pending*
so on and so on.
Right now, as I understand it, only the mold is approved not each specific type of plastic being run thru the mold. This gives the manufacturer room to tinker, experiment and manufacture whatever they want under the PDGA approved label because they are using an already approved mold.
By doing it this way it puts the manufacturer and consumer at risk of using an illegal product down the road should someone submit some samples for testing. This should be the exception to the rule, not the norm by which they do business. Manufacturers don't want to run 10,000 discs only to find they will be deemed illegal in 6 months. Customers dont want to buy a disc and maybe a few back-ups only to find out they will be outlawed in a year.
I think it is hilarious that the PDGA is putting all the work on everyone else, manufacturers after they ran the production run, consumers after they bought a disc stamped with PDGA APPROVED on it, and the TD's trying to run a tournament and prevent illegal discs from being used. Surely there has to be a better way to handle this, if only we had a real Professional Disc Golf Association.
