2015 United States Disc Golf Championship

[grodney]

Perhaps a better living, but not a better life.

I knew (of) these guys, I think from Georgia --- they would charge people to rake up pine straw for a month, bale it, then sell pine straw for a month, then drive around playing frisbee golf for 10 months on the money they made. That's livin, baby.

Man, who were those dudes? Maybe had something to do with the Crucible? Ahhhh, my memory sucks and I'm too proud to randomly google frisbee golfers from Georgia.

What were we talking about?


Edit: BOOM! New page if you're set at 40-posts-per!!!

 

[cjman]

Mcbeth made 100k in bonuses from Innova this year. He's loaded.

 

[filobedo]

All these impressionable kids these days fawning over pro players discs. In my day nobody gave two craps what some "pro" was throwing, We all knew KC Pro teebirds were the best.

Agreed, but I know 40 year olds that fit this description as well. There is a guy that is always telling me to try new molds outside of KC Pro Aviars, Leopards, Comets, Rocs, Firebirds, Sidewinders and Wraiths but can never give me a reason that I should switch to different molds. Just thought about this but did I just become a hipster?

 

[DiscgolfStu]

I knew (of) these guys, I think from Georgia --- they would charge people to rake up pine straw for a month, bale it, then sell pine straw for a month, then drive around playing frisbee golf for 10 months on the money they made. That's livin, baby.

Man, who were those dudes? Maybe had something to do with the Crucible? Ahhhh, my memory sucks and I'm too proud to randomly google frisbee golfers from Georgia.

What were we talking about?


Edit: BOOM! New page if you're set at 40-posts-per!!!

If I wasn't tied down I'd be selling grilled cheeses all across North America, huckin discs all day every day.

 

[Phil Esra]

Perhaps a better living, but not a better life.

Amen. Two very different and mostly incompatible concepts.

 

[Dana]

Is anybody really making any money on disc golf? A serious question. With prizes and sponsorships, what did a McBeth make this year, maybe $100k? (Just a guess.) Innova seems like the only legitimately medium-sized company in the entire business; how many people does it employ full time? This whole universe seems like awfully small potatoes, and staffed almost entirely by people who are in it because they are really into disc golf. I'd speculate that the vast majority of people who make a living off of disc golf could make a better living doing something else instead.

Until you can buy a Nike Air McBeth disc for $160, disc golf is getting exactly the coverage it deserves. Personally, I found the live feed of the top card on day 4 spellbinding. I went back and watched it a second time, skipping the Winthrop University commercials.

McBeth made a lot more than $100k this year.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Too bad he is basically the only disc golfer to do so lol.

 

[lyleoross]

The discussion of video attracting people to the sport is any interesting one. I just took a four year hiatus from the sport, kids, who know they took so much time, and having started playing again have noticed a very large change that has occurred. The number of people who want to be seen as knowing the sport, or knowing about the sport has increased exponentially. I'm not talking about guys playing, simply people in the street. The number of people, young and old, who comment on my gear is significant. Four years ago, very few noticed, now, pretty much every time I have something marked disc golf, someone asks or comments. Most typically, I get an, "oh yeah, I've played," comment. Especially with younger kids, high school and under. Some of it is true, a lot of summer camps in the South have added courses, for all the obvious reasons: cost, in the woods play, even out of shape kids can participate, easy to play, etc.

Whether that ties to video or not I don't know. The PDGA can make an argument that their EDGE program and their marketing has paid off, and I'd add in that the whole spread the game concept has probably had a bigger impact, that is, players wanting to spread the game would be more effective in my opinion.

The number of new warm bodies playing is huge; in the 10 years I played before taking a break, I knew most of the local players and the in and out movement wasn't that big. Also, the number of clear newbies is huge, based on what I see on the courses, relatively speaking. Clearly a sea change has happened, at least in Houston, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear it is a national trend.

 

[BionicRib]

I would tie the growth of the game in the last 5 years to the growth of courses. Parks departments are actively searching out course designers more now than ever. The days of the handful of local players having to push and push for a course in their area is and has been declining in the last 10 years.

 

[lyleoross]

I would tie the growth of the game in the last 5 years to the growth of courses. Parks departments are actively searching out course designers more now than ever. The days of the handful of local players having to push and push for a course in their area is and has been declining in the last 10 years.

The question is why? Why are parks departments doing this? I'd also argue that isn't the case here in Houston. Indeed, the parks have pulled a couple of courses in the last year or so.

1) The local club leadership, with club backing has worked very hard at promoting new and replacement courses. The number of players backing the effort is much higher than in the past.

2) I know for certain that Brian Grahm has worked parks departments and other recreational groups through national meetings to get the sport on the radar.

At some level it feels organic, a simple progression of growth. I'd have to attribute that to both players and to the PDGA, but I'm still not certain.

 

[DavidSauls]

At some level it feels organic, a simple progression of growth. I'd have to attribute that to both players and to the PDGA, but I'm still not certain.

I think so. I've been around 20 years, and each 5 years the sport had grown tremendously. And all along, I've been constantly amazed by how much more often people off the course know what disc golf is, ever year.

If I had to guess, the main force for growth is organic, and local. More people inviting friends, more locals campaigning for more courses, more courses so more non-players stumble into it. But I'm sure a lot of efforts, by a lot of people, contribute to the growth.

 

[araytx]

Is anybody really making any money on disc golf? A serious question. With prizes and sponsorships, what did a McBeth make this year, maybe $100k? (Just a guess.) Innova seems like the only legitimately medium-sized company in the entire business; how many people does it employ full time? This whole universe seems like awfully small potatoes, and staffed almost entirely by people who are in it because they are really into disc golf. I'd speculate that the vast majority of people who make a living off of disc golf could make a better living doing something else instead.

Until you can buy a Nike Air McBeth disc for $160, disc golf is getting exactly the coverage it deserves. Personally, I found the live feed of the top card on day 4 spellbinding. I went back and watched it a second time, skipping the Winthrop University commercials.

Discraft might have a bigger reach than Innova, due to their work in all three disc sports.

 

[lyleoross]

I think so. I've been around 20 years, and each 5 years the sport had grown tremendously. And all along, I've been constantly amazed by how much more often people off the course know what disc golf is, ever year.

If I had to guess, the main force for growth is organic, and local. More people inviting friends, more locals campaigning for more courses, more courses so more non-players stumble into it. But I'm sure a lot of efforts, by a lot of people, contribute to the growth.

Honestly, that is the way it appears to me too. Good on the community!

 

[lyleoross]

Discraft might have a bigger reach than Innova, due to their work in all three disc sports.

Not buying it. I also think Innova makes an Ultimate disc, but the truth is that I see a lot more Innova around than I do Discraft, and I like their product. Of course I'm stuck in Texas. I'm also amazed by the growth of the new entrants, especially Latitude.

 

[notroman]

Not buying it. I also think Innova makes an Ultimate disc, but the truth is that I see a lot more Innova around than I do Discraft, and I like their product. Of course I'm stuck in Texas. I'm also amazed by the growth of the new entrants, especially Latitude.

Innova does make an ultimate disc, but it is not approved for championship play. Pretty much all competitive ultimate events use the Ultrastar which is made by Discraft.

 

[JC17393]

Innova does make an ultimate disc, but it is not approved for championship play. Pretty much all competitive ultimate events use the Ultrastar which is made by Discraft.

Major League Ultimate exclusively uses the Innova Pulsar in its games.

 

[notroman]

Ha! Well, I got that wrong then. I assumed MLU followed the other competition guidelines. Now that you mention it I do remember Innova retooling the Pulsar for MLU. My bad.

 

[SD86]

I would tie the growth of the game in the last 5 years to the growth of courses. Parks departments are actively searching out course designers more now than ever. The days of the handful of local players having to push and push for a course in their area is and has been declining in the last 10 years.

Another way to say this is that Parks Departments are more amenable to DG courses being put into parks, and more willing to maintain them. It still generally takes some DG enthusiasts to attend the County meeting and put the bugs in their ears to make it happen, though.

I agree that the game has grown because more and more courses are being created and maintained.

 

[SD86]

Discraft might have a bigger reach than Innova, due to their work in all three disc sports.

Not seeing that. I go into Academy or other "big box" stores, and it's 95% Innova. The Play It Again Sports (PIAS) stores are getting a little bit better about other brands, but it's still majority Innova.

Until that changes, I'm not entertaining suggestions that Discraft's reach is bigger than Innova's, and I'll hold off for now on a dissertation of how much better Innova's Advertising and Marketing has been (and still is) than Discraft's..

 

[MikeK]

The question is why? Why are parks departments doing this? I'd also argue that isn't the case here in Houston. Indeed, the parks have pulled a couple of courses in the last year or so.

.

What courses got pulled from around Houston?