Review: Brixton Disc Golf trading cards

“Wonderful. Bizarre.”

That’s a good way to describe the history of sports trading cards.

They started off as shoddy advertisements for sporting goods stores. From there, they evolved into a creative way to protect cigarettes, of all things. And after that, “Sandlot-style,” in the age of yesteryear, they wound up stuck in bike spokes for kids all across the United States.

Today, they’re a multi-million-dollar industry.

Over the years, what started exclusively with baseball quickly expanded to basketball, football and hockey. Now, almost every major sport has its own trading cards – this includes disc golf.

The Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) began releasing sets of cards at its inception in 2016. This year, however, a new, disc golf-obsessed face threw its proverbial hat in the “trading-cards” ring …

Brixton Disc Golf.

Straight from Brixton, I recently received three of their “Hobby Boxes.”

Here’s what I made of ‘em:

Packaging and presentation

I love trading cards.

Because of it, my kids love trading cards, too.

So, when the USPS man showed up with three fresh boxes of cards, they were pumped. To add to the excitement, the packaging was clean and professional – nothing second-rate about it.

If I didn’t follow disc golf (and cards) religiously, nothing would’ve tipped me off to the fact that this was Brixton’s first attempt at sports memorabilia. The boxes mine came in featured a large, action photo of Paige Pierce. Each box was individually wrapped in cellophane, as well.

The shipping was fast. None of my 90 cards were damaged, either.

That’s a good sign.

The actual trading cards

Heads-up: These Brixton cards do NOT include all touring players on the DGPT.

Only players sponsored by OTB and/or clients of Shaffer Sports Management are featured. That means there are a possible 23 players (and one dog – I’ll get there) represented in each box set.

The base cards feature action shots of the players with a somewhat muted background. This allows the full-color player to “pop” off the card. The player’s name and hometown are listed on the front. On the back are career stats, as well as StatMando numbers from the 2021 season.

The base cards are a simple design, but are on par (pun intended) with other trading card layouts. The insert cards, especially the relic cards (Fabrix and Plastix) and signature cards, stand out.

And, unlike the DGPT trading cards that’ve existed for years, Brixton numbers their insert cards, helping card-collectors determine the rarity and worth of what they’ve pulled – it’s awesome.

There are eight different insert cards available with odds ranging from 1-2 and 1-183.

What I scored …

With so few players available to pull, we have duplicates of every base card in the set. As such, by far, the insert cards were the favorites of our “family rip.” Thankfully, every pack had at least one insert. In total, we pulled three Plastix cards: Tim Barham, Nate Perkins and Ezra Aderhold.

In addition to an action shot, Plastix cards include a LITERAL piece of a used disc in the card.

Similarly, we pulled three Fabrix cards: Paige Pierce, Thomas Gilbert, and Bradley Williams. Fabrix cards include a piece of the featured disc golfer’s clothing within the actual card.

The rarest of the lot, however, were the three signature cards we nabbed …

You don’t need to be a Rhodes Scholar to figure out what those are about.

If you ask my kids though, the card worth more than its weight in gold was the Hogan “smoke” card. Yes, believe it or not, Luke Humphries’ beloved traveling companion has a card …

And it’s amazing.

Pros vs. Cons

Most of my feedback on these cards is overwhelmingly positive …

Again, I’m a sucker for trading cards:

• Pro No. 1 – The cards are well-designed.
• Pro No. 2 – Each pack came with great inserts.
• Pro No. 3 – Clearly, these are made by fans for fans.

I DO have a few minor squabbles, though …

The limited number of golfers makes for a good bit of redundancy. I wish there would have been some alternate base cards to eliminate some of the duplicates. Furthermore, as a result of the limited number of players, only six women were represented in the entire set …

Brixton’s working to fix this.

The final verdict …

I have to admit …

I had some SERIOUS nervous energy opening these cards.

I’m kind of a trading-cards nerd who loves disc golf. I very much wanted these things to be respectable. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, I’d say I was pleasantly surprised.

As an avid fan and collector, I had a blast ripping these packs open. More importantly, as a father, it was a joy to share the experience with my kids. If you’re a fan of disc golf and trading cards, there’s no doubt in my mind Brixton will provide you with the same sort of adventure.

Brixton is new to trading cards …

Disc golf is, too.

But even with the company’s inexperience, it managed to put out a rock-solid product. While not everything was perfect with this first go-round, I see this project more as a proof of concept.

Brixton wasted no time in proving to fans, OTB and themselves that they’re capable of doing something new and exciting. Perhaps of greatest importance, however, is the demand they discovered along the way – their initial sets and Hobby Boxes sold out in mere minutes.

Even better, the boys at Brixton are already hard at work on their next project. The kids and I are pumped to see what the future holds. Based on what I’ve witnessed thus far, I have a fairly strong feeling my children won’t be shoving these cards in their bike spokes anytime soon …

Fingers crossed.

The Final Green Splatter Grade: A-

Editor’s Suggestions:

• The real difference in Simon Lizotte
• Disc golf: Beating a disc vs. Buying understable
• Disc golf: You’ve got to see Paul Oman’s walk-up

Real quick, if you happen to buy something through a link in this article, there’s a chance we’ll get a small share of the sale. It’s how we keep the lights on. To learn more, click here.