2026 PDGA Membership
Being a dad/parent while keeping up with this blog has been an incredible challenge. I’m realizing now that, with all the work the PDGA and I put in, I didn’t share that experience with the world willing to listen. I’ll lay out 2026’s PDGA Membership campaign, noting the obstacles and successes through the project. It’s been over a year; I plan to take a look back at my copious meeting notes and email chains to piece together the start-to-finish timeline. Here we go!
Reference Gathering /Conceptual Thumbnail Phase:
June 30th, 2025 PDGA Kickoff Brief: Kaitlyn Sapone (PDGA Brand Manager), Steve Timko (Senior Project Manager):
Back to the Roots! - Celebrating 50 years of the Professional Disc Golf Association by tying in a nostalgic 1970s-inspired campaign. “Disc Golf Finds Its Groove”. The idea is to show growth and celebration. Thematically tie Membership, Birdie, and Ace Club to work together. Pulling your first record and dropping the needle. The ultimate focus was to create an overarching tone of growth, flow, and celebration. Kaityln did an incredible job conceptualizing this theme before they even inquired about my availability and willingness to take on this project. Using both the PDGA-supplied briefing reference and a few images I personally gathered. Below are the first iPad sketches to flow from the initial PDGA kickoff. I was very familiar with the 70s cartoon aesthetic, but it was not something I practiced too often. These were conceptualized on a medium-to-dark background to simulate the R2 Neutron plastic slated for the Membership disc.
2026 Membership Disc -Axiom Tempo in R2 Neutron plastic:
The membership disc represented the “First Groove”/”Track One”. As Kaitlyn wrote: “This disc symbolizes a playerʼs introduction to the sport. Their first meaningful throw, their first sanctioned round, that first moment of connection. Like dropping the needle on your first record or your favorite album, itʼs intentional, personal, and filled with anticipation and nostalgia. The design may resemble a vinyl record with label-style artwork, stamped on black R2 plastic– is the PDGAʼs “Track One” in the story of disc golf.”
While I typically focus thumbnails toward that particular disc, sometimes a doodle from another concept fits better and helps the flow of the entire collection. That’s what happened here. We knew we wanted a record or record drop for the Membership. The straight-on 45 record that I had put in my notes as the initial idea won out for the black R2 Neutron disc. It allowed the available foil real estate to focus on the record grooves and overall stamp tonnage. I’m not a record expert, but I’ve been vinyl collecting for about 20 years. The middle of a 45 RPM record may have required an adaptor to play them on a standard turntable. I felt including this adaptor helped fill that empty center space and added nostalgia. It was also a concerted effort to tie into the Ace club design.
The main finessing work was the center label. Most retro labels do an excellent job with large areas of contrast. While the world globe and upper bold PDGA section did the job, we worked toward bringing music notes, elements, and a 76’ 50 years reference into the label design. We wrapped it up by committing to the groovy flow & putting a few Side A-themed tracks like “Steady-Eds Studio Sessions” and “Disc Golf Finds its Groove” in there. Kaityn did a great job with the drawovers if she was looking for something super specific and elements to keep. By moving the MVP logo toward the bottom of the record, it gave us plenty of space for those custom elements. My favorite parts of the final design are the foil choices. I especially love the grey and white matte for the groove/highlight section. Pair it with the bright light green metallic; it really pops off the plastic.
2026 PDGA Birdie Club Disc - Axiom Vanish in Fission™ plastic
“The Flow state”- Represents the player in perfect rhythm - Confident, calm, in the zone. Like a smooth, effortless throw, the design should evoke a sense of ease and focus and flow. - using organic line, retro patterns, groovy flower power vibes, and a vibrant 70s color palette.
Surprisingly, the initial plan for the Birdie Club disc was to put it on an Eclipse mold. Regardless, every layer on this stamp needed the ability to breathe. My initial cleaned-up sketch places a spinning disc in one of the main protagonists. I wanted to highlight the connection and shared love of the game between them. The style of the characters drifted away from an authentic 70s style. We were able to go back to the drawing board and use the some of the elements working in the original thumbnail, and add some 1976 tie-ins. This is one of my favorites. It’s bold and uniquely used a light pink matte to great effect.
2026 PDGA Ace Club Disc - MVP Inertia in Eclipse™ Glow plastic
“The Flow state”- Represents the player in perfect rhythm - Confident, calm, in the zone. Like a smooth, effortless throw, the design should evoke a sense of ease, focus, and flow. - Using organic lines, retro patterns, groovy flower power vibes, and a vibrant 70s color palette.
Ace Club was extremely tricky. I had many elements to navigate and balance. Typically, you’d approach a stamp with too much detail by stripping away unnecessary detail. Every element that made it into this final stamp was important to the story. Without the crowd, it would take away the velocity of the moment. Without the record player and spinning record, you wouldn’t keep the vinyl connection. Ace Club took a lot of effort to get correct, and I’m really excited about how it turned out. 80% of the crowd is readable and unique. It’s almost like a Where’s Waldo in retro comic form. I love that about it. It’s a complicated stamp with loads of detail, but it can still glow bright without large areas of foil. I call that a win.
The Final Countdown:
What a journey! I can’t mention enough how much Kaitlyn played a role in these gigantic endeavors. She’s a talented artist and has provided the most productive feedback on stamp design! She’s really spearheaded the idea of thematically pushing the bar every year. I respect her skills and took every ounce of feedback along the way with full optimism. We make a great team!
Finally, this storied blog comes to a close as I ventured up to MVP HQ for GYROpalooza. There they were, staged on pallets waiting to be perused. I spent a solid hour going through boxes. Kaitlyn came up with a few 50-year stickers to add to the PDGA Membership boxes. I thought that was a really great touch. I hope you all enjoyed this small peek inside developing the 2026 PDGA Membership discs! Please let me know what you all thought! What was your favorite part of this release?
