By P.J. Harmer — RattlingChains.com Staff

What started out as a way to make a few extra bucks after getting laid off from his job has turned into something a bit bigger for Craig Myers.

Myers is the owner and sole employee of Zing Mini Flyers, a company that has designed and created three different mini discs. These discs, which often are used by some as marker discs, are also used when playing mini disc golf.

A finished Zing mini Snipe.

But how would one get into something like this?

Myers said the company started as a need for extra income when he was laid off from an engineering plastics job in 2008. He took the severance package offered and invested into something he enjoyed — disc golf.

Since then, he’s been employed and laid off another time — he notes that engineers are often disposable — but the mini discs have always been a steady income supplement.

He said his experience goes back a ways in making mini discs as he owned another mini disc company, which he sold to a disc distributor located in Minnesota in the 1990s.

But why minis?

The 1956 hot stamp machine Myers uses. It’s an antique, but Myers says it runs great for minis.

“I love the sport of disc golf, and being a career plastics person, I felt the need to make something for the sport,” Myers said. “I like to produce mini discs. Everything about them is small. From the expense of designing and cutting the injection mold, the costs are much lower than larger discs.”

The lower costs can also be attributed to less plastic and smaller machined. Myers said it’s everything the bigger companies have, but on a smaller level. There’s no big warehouses to store them — just make them and ship them.

“Plus, I have a huge allegiance to the large disc manufacturers,” he said. “I just don’t want to compete with them. I’ll just stay happy in my mini world.”

With that in mind, Myers said he has no intentions of ever competing with larger discs or going into making his own large discs.

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By P.J. Harmer — RattlingChains.com Staff

I’ve noticed a trend recently in disc golf — the cry for sandbaggers to get out of the way of others.

But what’s a sandbagger?

Not too long ago, there was an entertaining discussion in my area about whether or not somebody was bagging because they wouldn’t move up.

The argument was based on the fact that a person won at Am 2 last year by 10 strokes. He was returning to play Am 2 this year.

So, people hollered for this player to move up. (Side note — the person did eventually move up).

According to Urban Dictionary, a sandbagger is:

A person who pads a handicap or acts as if he/she is at a lower skill level than he/she actually is so he/she can achieve better during competition that’s handicapped or by skill level.

In traditional golf, sandbagging has been done for years. I’ve played in tournaments where you know a person is way better than their handicap. However, with ball golf being more widespread, people can find ways of padding that handicap.

In disc golf, though possible, it seems a little less likely to me. There’s more of a reason for the screaming of “bagging,” in my eyes.

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