Growing the Sport through Awareness

[sillybizz]

Smokey has spoken.

 

[Moose33]

I'm in Atlanta, a pretty good sized city with tons of green space. Inside the permiter there is one course that is public and decent. If you go slightly outside the are some good ones but for the most part, they are so spread out that our course land is getting beat to death by the erosion of year round(more or less) golf and no new courses in most areas.

There is one course within 10 miles of my house, and only one more in the next ten(other than a small private course that is unplayable for most). We could use a few more to take some pressure off.

I've even offered to take over care for one park that isn't even in my county and is 13 miles from me(great land, awesome potential, but no teepads signs and 4 missing/broken baskets) and parks and rec won't return my calls.

 

[discmeister]

Arrg

Will this nauseating subject ever end.

 

[AndyJB]

What if no one ever grew the sport? For years, no one did. Growth just happened, because most players cared about growing the GAME, not the SPORT. A.K.A. the fun side of disc golf, not the competitive, league-based side.
What if no one ever shared it with you? No one did. My dad played and I begged him to elt me play.
Has disc golf enriched your life? No. I have lots of hobbies. Saying it "enriched" my life in a significant way is a pretty big stretch.
I'd like to hear an argument why you would you not want to share disc golf with people? Because my local area, heck my whole state, is already packed full of douche canoes who take the SPORT of disc golf way too seriously, without focusing on the GAME or giving back on workdays, fundraisers and the like. Once any activity becomes mainstream, more and more of these types of people will come out of the woodwork.

.

I am in like with disc golf. Not in love. Feel free to curse my name and call me a grumpy old man, but this is how I feel. Putting in two new courses in Colorado Springs, while trying to preserve an extremely dangerous old course (by modifying the holes) has shown me how messed up sports become when they get big.

I like disc golf without the bureaucracy that is intrinsic in other sports. But without the player base growing, we won't have enough volunteers to put in new courses and do workdays.

So, I think, there's no right answer. As long as growth is done the right way: emphasizing fun and giving back to the community, there won't be an issue. Just watch out for the douchers.