The Discraft Big Z Malta packs Paul McBeth's fourth signature mold into Discraft's shimmery Z blend, the plastic that survives years of cart path hits without going soft. This overstable, deep rimmed midrange carries driver distance with the trust of a Buzzz, and the Big Z run holds its shape longer than any other Malta plastic on the shelf.

Flight Numbers: 5 / 4 / 1 / 3

Big Z is stiff straight out of the bag and stays that way. It shrugs off tree strikes that would chip a softer blend, keeps its shimmer finish bright, and does not round out at the edges the way base plastic does after a summer of rounds. The tradeoff is grip: it takes a firmer hand and a few warm rounds before it feels broken in.

In hand the Malta runs a shade flatter than the box numbers, closer to 0.4 turn and 2.8 fade, so it holds a straight middle before the fade kicks in hard at the end. On a forehand release the stiff rim resists turning over even under a lot of spin, and on a backhand hyzer it finishes with authority into a headwind.

Forehand throwers get a midrange that will not fold under extra torque, and backhand players who beat in their ESP too fast get a plastic that lasts. It is the disc I grab on a tight, windy fairway hole where I need the flight to hold no matter how hard I throw it.

Want a softer, grippier version of this same flight? The Discraft ESP Malta is the same mold minus the stiffness. Curious about the disc it gets compared to most? The Discraft ESP Zone is the shorter, more overstable cousin. See the whole lineup in Big Z plastic.

Speed 5, glide 4, turn 1, fade 3. Diameter 21.3 cm, rim width 1.3 cm, max weight 176 g.