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Disc Golf in the News

Brodie Smith was on Friday's Pardon My Take podcast. He was ... interesting. Good for disc golf to get mainstream attention. Not sure he's the best spokesman for the sport. Let's just say Brodie's main goal was to promote Brodie and not disc golf.
 
DiscGolfCraig said:
Brodie Smith was on Friday's Pardon My Take podcast. He was ... interesting. Good for disc golf to get mainstream attention. Not sure he's the best spokesman for the sport. Let's just say Brodie's main goal was to promote Brodie and not disc golf.
Click to expand...

Don't know him, never met him, but somehow the underlined doesn't surprise me.
 
Not trying to shame marijuana smoking, or weigh the ethics of small town newspapers farming public arrest records for content. It was simply intriguing news to me (the report is from 2013), especially as modern Disc Golf as a Serious Sport wrestles with it's countercultural roots. What fodder for the stereotypes, right? The GOAT.
 
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SocraDeez said:
Not trying to shame marijuana smoking, or weigh the ethics of small town newspapers farming public arrest records for content. It was simply intriguing news to me (the report is from 2013), especially as modern Disc Golf as a Serious Sport wrestles with it's countercultural roots.
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Disc golf is not wrestling with it's counterculture roots. It's roots are in "The most fun wins", that was Ed Headricks dream for this and that's what it is.

If you mean pot smoking roots, I have never ever and never ever had anyone say to me anything about pot when i mention I play disc golf or Frisbee golf. And yeah I have been playing it for a long time.

I will never believe it happens as often as social media claims it happens.
 
Jay Dub said:
Disc golf is not wrestling with it's counterculture roots. It's roots are in "The most fun wins", that was Ed Headricks dream for this and that's what it is.

If you mean pot smoking roots, I have never ever and never ever had anyone say to me anything about pot when i mention I play disc golf or Frisbee golf. And yeah I have been playing it for a long time.

I will never believe it happens as often as social media claims it happens.
Click to expand...

Even if it does, no one cares anymore. It's not the 1990s.
 
Jay Dub said:
I have never ever and never ever had anyone say to me anything about pot when i mention I play disc golf or Frisbee golf.
Click to expand...

Man alive! I wish that this had also been my experience thus far.

Jay Dub said:
Disc golf is not wrestling with it's counterculture roots.
Click to expand...

I simply disagree, man:

Josh Woods, Sociology Prof. at WVU (highly recommend his Parked Disc Golf blog, by the way):

https://parkeddiscgolf.org/2019/09/23/has-frisbee-culture-delayed-the-rise-of-competitive-disc-golf/

Matthew Rothstein, in an article in Disc Golfer Magazine, begins his discussion of "A Decade In Disc Golf 2010 – 2019" by mentioning this tension.

http://www.omagdigital.com/publication/?i=640850&article_id=3556081&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5

Tom McRann (PDGA #32): "We didn't need rules, we played golf without rules. The original Frisbee spirit was totally cooperative: it was 70's counterculture generation, hippie, peace, love, happy, everyone's good, everyone helps each other". Can golf be played without rules? Would we watch competitive disc golf being played without rules?

Source: https://medium.com/@dudediscgolf2018/a-brief-look-at-norcal-disc-golf-roots-c827c6eada33

I think Disc Golf has struggled with this dichotomy since its very birth. Frisbee sales at Wham-O ballooned with the release of the Pro Model Frisbee (which had improved flight characteristics, making it more suitable for sport) and with Ed Headrick's genius decision to market the Frisbee more heavily as sport-worthy & not as an amusing toy.

Ed Headrick was calling Frisbee "an antidote to organized sport" while he sold Frisbees-as-sport to millions! And then, Ed left Wham-O when he found Rich Knerr & Spud Melin unwilling to devote resources to selling golf-played-with-Frisbees, Ed's new passion/hobby. Maybe the big cheeses at Wham-O failed to understand that the sporting aspect of the Frisbee, that is the Frisbee as more-than-toy, was critical to its incredible sales. (Thank, God!)

Either way, Steady Ed knew that he had the beautiful beginnings of a sport on his hands, and he wanted to give it a father's love. So he left - to nurture the organized (OK, semi-organized) sport of disc golf and to sell what would become the official targets of the sport.

I ask again, can golf be played without rules? Without official targets? When does the sheer volume of rules-begetting-rules cause a sport, originally conceived as an "antidote to organized sport", to question its very identity? As my therapist often tells me, sometimes it's OK to be all mixed up inside.
 
SocraDeez said:
Man alive! I wish that this had also been my experience thus far.



I simply disagree, man:

Josh Woods, Sociology Prof. at WVU (highly recommend his Parked Disc Golf blog, by the way):

https://parkeddiscgolf.org/2019/09/23/has-frisbee-culture-delayed-the-rise-of-competitive-disc-golf/

Matthew Rothstein, in an article in Disc Golfer Magazine, begins his discussion of "A Decade In Disc Golf 2010 – 2019" by mentioning this tension.

http://www.omagdigital.com/publication/?i=640850&article_id=3556081&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5

Tom McRann (PDGA #32): "We didn't need rules, we played golf without rules. The original Frisbee spirit was totally cooperative: it was 70's counterculture generation, hippie, peace, love, happy, everyone's good, everyone helps each other". Can golf be played without rules? Would we watch competitive disc golf being played without rules?

Source: https://medium.com/@dudediscgolf2018/a-brief-look-at-norcal-disc-golf-roots-c827c6eada33

I think Disc Golf has struggled with this dichotomy since its very birth. Frisbee sales at Wham-O ballooned with the release of the Pro Model Frisbee (which had improved flight characteristics, making it more suitable for sport) and with Ed Headrick's genius decision to market the Frisbee more heavily as sport-worthy & not as an amusing toy.

Ed Headrick was calling Frisbee "an antidote to organized sport" while he sold Frisbees-as-sport to millions! And then, Ed left Wham-O when he found Rich Knerr & Spud Melin unwilling to devote resources to selling golf-played-with-Frisbees, Ed's new passion/hobby. Maybe the big cheeses at Wham-O failed to understand that the sporting aspect of the Frisbee, that is the Frisbee as more-than-toy, was critical to its incredible sales. (Thank, God!)

Either way, Steady Ed knew that he had the beautiful beginnings of a sport on his hands, and he wanted to give it a father's love. So he left - to nurture the organized (OK, semi-organized) sport of disc golf and to sell what would become the official targets of the sport.

I ask again, can golf be played without rules? Without official targets? When does the sheer volume of rules-begetting-rules cause a sport, originally conceived as an "antidote to organized sport", to question its very identity? As my therapist often tells me, sometimes it's OK to be all mixed up inside.
Click to expand...
Never seen all this before, nor has anyone I know ever brought these sites up to me, that I didn't click on, btw. I did read the names on your links and again, never heard of them.

People say all the time as they are out in public and the topic of disc golf comes up the first thing they hear is about the pot culture. This is what I am calling BS on.

Those blogs, or whatever they are, mean nothing to me. No offense meant.

And your last paragraph seems to come out of no where. :gross:
 
SocraDeez said:
I ask again, can golf be played without rules? Without official targets? When does the sheer volume of rules-begetting-rules cause a sport, originally conceived as an "antidote to organized sport", to question its very identity? As my therapist often tells me, sometimes it's OK to be all mixed up inside.
Click to expand...

My advice - don't sweat it, man...
 
SocraDeez said:
I ask again, can golf be played without rules? Without official targets? When does the sheer volume of rules-begetting-rules cause a sport, originally conceived as an "antidote to organized sport", to question its very identity? As my therapist often tells me, sometimes it's OK to be all mixed up inside.
Click to expand...

Anyone can play their own version of golf, however they want, but it really isn't golf if they don't have rules. If they want to include other people though, there has to be rules and targets or its just guys throwing plastic into the air. Watch out, they hurt if they hit your head. :)

If you want to play in leagues or tournaments, you need to play by the official rules, though leagues are usually more forgiving on minor things. But things like OB, Hazards, lies, etiquitte, accurate scoring are integral parts of playing golf and disc golf. It use be thought that learning to play by the rules, built character and such.
 
Jay Dub said:
Disc golf is not wrestling with it's counterculture roots. It's roots are in "The most fun wins", that was Ed Headricks dream for this and that's what it is.

If you mean pot smoking roots, I have never ever and never ever had anyone say to me anything about pot when i mention I play disc golf or Frisbee golf. And yeah I have been playing it for a long time.

I will never believe it happens as often as social media claims it happens.
Click to expand...

Probably depends on where you play. Around here it's pretty intertwined. And ya might want to learn about Tom #32, the old original disc clubs, competitions/demonstrations, and their contributions to the game. Pretty interesting stuff.
 
hempies said:
Probably depends on where you play. Around here it's pretty intertwined. And ya might want to learn about Tom #32, the old original disc clubs, competitions/demonstrations, and their contributions to the game. Pretty interesting stuff.
Click to expand...

I know pot and disc golf are intertwined. That wasn't my point. I was talking about people who do not play and their view of it. I have never heard anyone outside of disc golf claim it was a "hippie sport" or all pot heads.
 
Your therapist has got you overanalyzing/fantasizing the issues (it does keep your money in his pocket, though). You should move to the West coast and toke up, man. :D :p

Honestly, I don't hear much about pot at the course or see it being used, either. Mostly its us old guys still smoking and throwing.
 
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Jay Dub said:
I know pot and disc golf are intertwined. That wasn't my point. I was talking about people who do not play and their view of it. I have never heard anyone outside of disc golf claim it was a "hippie sport" or all pot heads.
Click to expand...

Again, I'd imagine it's a regional thing. Bring up disc golf out here and most of the first takes from people mention pot or hippies.
 
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