Disc Golf’s Popularity May Be Declining

[Peter S]

I live in south Florida. My local club Broward Disc Golf Association was established in 2012. I joined in 2014 and was member #163. Fast forward 2 more years and it is now the end of 2016 and BDGA is now at 326 members.

Now hold on while I dazzle you with my math skills. 163 x's 2 = 326. Wow, that is exactly double.

So based on this formula (over the past 4 years) I feel Participation in Disc Golf is growing exactly as fast as ever in my area.

Club growth aside I see more and more new players playing casually in the area. There was a very large group playing last weekend that appeared to be a bunch of dads that had sons with them. I see kids and parents quite often in this area so the future looks strong as well.

Also 6 courses have been added in Broward since 2013. Only 2 courses existed in Broward prior to 2013.

 

[JOwens]

My town has a population of 10k we added our 2nd course this year. The other major town in our county is adding one next year. I just started playing in July, and have walked numerous players through the course nearest my house since getting started. Some new and many from out of town. Whether it is growing or not is hard to say but it is definitely gaining social acceptance.

I would say this is largely due to initial start up costs both as a player and for a new course. For under 25k all equipment including extra bases for multiple pin locations can be had. Granted labor will be additional costs or as most of us know work parties can get a whole lot done.

 

[Parked Soc of DG]

Response to criticism

I caught heavy flak for writing this article ("Disc golf's popularity may be declining"). I recently collected some of the critiques and responded to them.

For a version of the article that includes some of the reactions and my responses, see:
https://parkeddiscgolfblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/disc-golfs-popularity-may-be-declining/

 

[DavidSauls]

But.....disc golf is obviously growing, by almost every measurement and by anecdotal evidence. Not just the PDGA side---number of courses, crowdedness of courses (anecdotal) despite the increasing number, school courses, retailer sales (even if they won't give you specific numbers), and so on. And, of course, all the PDGA stuff.

Facebook club group pages seems one of the least significant measures.

So we don't have hard facts to prove we're growing---but I dispute the notion that we need hard facts, to prove what is obvious. There's no value to us in being able to prove how many people play disc golf, and how that number's changing. Parks Departments aren't demanding it, and---for other reasons---we're not courting major sponsors.

 

[Jay Dub]

We're getting one or two new courses installed each year in my area. The popularity of the sport/activity is definitely growing.

 

[TAFL]

Facebook club group pages seems one of the least significant measures.

Anybody who thinks that is a significant measure hasn't been around online long enough to learn about the lifespans of discussion groups. Such pages going inactive has absolutely no meaning outside that group.

I'm the admin on some long-standing email lists that are also inactive. That they are inactive in no fashion means the people subscribed have no interest in the topics anymore. What little discussion we still have shows that to be false. The scarcity of discussion on those lists only indicates that folks are having more of their discussions elsewhere (as many have reported).

 

[Halcón]

we're not courting major sponsors.

You and I aren't, but the game's biggest movers and shakers might be.

 

[MikeK]

I caught heavy flak for writing this article ("Disc golf's popularity may be declining"). I recently collected some of the critiques and responded to them.

For a version of the article that includes some of the reactions and my responses, see:
https://parkeddiscgolfblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/disc-golfs-popularity-may-be-declining/

You seem like a nice enough guy, but perhaps you have a habit of jumping to conclusions. I note that you took my opinion as a personal attack. No, it was not a personal attack at all, rather an honest and blunt opinion of your article. I sincerely believe that a college professor should know better than to jump to conclusions based on such flimsy data. As others have said, Facebook groups come and go for many reasons other than "popularity". In just my city alone, at one time we had several facebook groups, but now nearly all players post on one group, as that group has won out in the "competition" for information. So yes, we once had 4 or 5 groups posting, but now only one, but the player count at our courses is growing substantially.

I took a few minutes to read another article of yours, and couldn't agree more with its conclusion, which was: "For now, the main takeaway is pretty clear. We need a large-scale disc golf survey based on reliable measurements and probability sampling techniques. Educated guesswork, even if well-intentioned, leads to contradiction and confusion."

Indeed. Your article was well-intentioned, but it's just wrong. I'm basing my opinion on 20+ years as a player, tournament director, course designer, PDGA member and club officer. I voted Libertarian by the way, and my post's disdain for your weak speculation had nothing to do with any election. If you are so naive about the nature of internet commentary, it is another reason to question your credentials in sociology. Again, not attacking you personally, just your opinions which I find very lacking.

 

[demon102]

Its still growing in DE with at least one public course if not more being mainly created, designed and maintained by about 90%+ volunteer work. I was working on it myself a lot before I even knew that the Facebook group had meetups to work on it to get it completed. I'd say groth of the club/torunament scene may be different then the growth of random players like me and my friends who just go get high and like to chuck discs. I don't care about the tourney scene or anything else like that..... I love this game cuz it's fun alone or with freinds and me and my buddies who are in their 30s can go out and get down to around high school weight and look awesome playing a great sport while enjoying the outdoors. I think for every tourney playere there are 10 players that go alone or with groups just goofing around and it's hard to count their growth.

The growth is in your face here tho cuz when I started 16 years ago I think the courses may have doubled if not more and I'm only talking a small radius. There are plenty of courses in a 1 hour drive that are around and who knows how long they have been around.

 

[Dr.Smooth]

still trending upwards. look at the number of courses. but still only a few top pros make a good living. and if the world crashes and disc golf falls into a terribly unpopular category I will celebrate. celebrate my friend that I'm not a lemming!!

 

[worldwide]

in my area participation is increasing quickly but new course development is severely lacking. tournaments are selling out in minutes with strong competition in most divisions.

 

[DavidSauls]

You and I aren't, but the game's biggest movers and shakers might be.

If they are, and if the sponsors are looking for harder numbers than we can provide with PDGA and course statistics to demonstrate disc golf's growth, then those movers and shakers can fund the proper, expensive survey that the O.P. thinks we "need".

I suspect the lack of confirmed statistics isn't the holdup.

 

[DavidSauls]

Facebook club group pages seems one of the least significant measures.

Had the Facebook club group page research produced the opposite result---had it been used to document that disc golf is growing---I'd be equally dismissive.

It's not the conclusion, but correlating facebook club group page usage with actual disc golf, that strikes me as suspect.

 

[BuzzSharpe]

This is a difficult, if not outright impossible question to answer definitively. If disc golf is still in a growth pattern, that may be attributed to such considerations as low participatory costs, especially in comparison to ball golf, as well as other sports; low installation and maintenance expense, along with minimal negative ecological impact, especially in comparison to most any other public park activity; and ease of inclusion of people of all levels of athleticism. If it is in decline, that may be attributable to such factors as over-commercialization, and politicalization, though some would assert that more commercialization is needed. The long standing, stereotypical, but largely unfair and inaccurate assessment that the sport is populated by drunks and dopers could be a reason for any decline, if such exists. It's always been my contention that there is no more drinking or smoking/toking on any disc golf course than there is on any given ball golf course, or recreational softball field.
Regardless, disc golf has always been, and shall always be an enclave, i.e. a small group (of disc golf players, purveyors and supporters) adhering to their own culture (of congenial camaraderie and collegial competition), while living among a larger group (of the general population). Either, or any way, I think that it is most important to remember, adhere to and impart Steady Ed's adage, that "he ('or she', to be contemporarily politically correct and factually accurate) who has the most fun wins." That would be the one, best way to keep the sport growing.

 

[Chaz58]

Tried to delete post