Growing the Sport

[SmoothSailor]

Upon reading part 4 I think you're trying to sell memberships too hard. This should be a volunteer thing to show the sponsors just how into disc golf we all are. Have the city/parks dept pay for it, they have the money. Get local contractors (if needed) and other businesses to provide donations and volunteer time for improvements. Get the community involved with an ad in the paper about volunteer work and make it a family fun day of volunteering. Get your local news out there to cover the day of improvements and then the late afternoon round of golf on the sports section.

All of the amenities sound great. But I think these are things that we need our current DG companies to provide us with either in material or monetary donations. Get the local branch of a hotel/restaurant to sponsor an event and get their corporate offices involved so they can get a jump on other towns and tournaments.

I want to post more. But I want to go eat a bowl of cereal. I'll see where conversation heads before getting further into this.

 

[SmoothSailor]

Are you referring to the same DGA that sells Mach V's and Riptides and such? If so, that's completely not what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking of a group that is non-profit, and whose business is purely advocating for more disc golf. It may already exist, I don't know, bit if it's already out there, we should get behind it. And by we, I mean all of us folks on here, disc manufacturers, retailers, disc golf clubs, disc golf websites, etc.

Well, let's start our own... PM me and we'll get something rolling. We can contact A LOT of people.

 

[SmoothSailor]

I do like your ideas and admire your passion, but some of them are a little different and may not be feasible. I support your stance and hope it works, I will definitely be putting for as much of my efforts as I can and hope others do as well, but it is a tough thing to get some folks to come around to this kind of change.

 

[dodgeball]

Some of the major potential pro's and con's that come to my mind:

Pro's -
Increase in elite level courses
Larger quantity of courses
Increased media exposure (IMO this isn't really a pro, I could care less if I see disc golf on TV, but I hear it from a lot of people so I'll put it here)

Con's -
Exposure - TDs can no longer "fly under the radar" - events get vastly more expensive
Courses become profitable - Profitable courses will almost certainly mean increasingly expensive pay-to-play (but also likely only really awesome courses will be able to charge big rates)
Loss of our community - Do you have the same group connectedness in sports that have 'made it' like Ball Golf, Tennis, etc. - Traveling across the country to play disc golf, I'm always excited to meet up with new people and instantly feel like I'm among friends, family at a new course
Crowded courses - There isn't enough land in most metro areas to support our current growth let alone more! (Do I need to mention Tee times)

I'm sure there are a lot more on either side, but I haven't heard anything that has convinced me that growth on balance is a positive step for our sport. I'm open to possibility though...

This sums up a lot of this discussion very nicely! I read the first 2 parts of the article. I just don't buy the whole premise that trying to grow the sport with the masses or getting DG to be more 'accepted' is what's needed. I'm all for spreading the word about DG and what a great sport it is, but I think this will happen on its own, without trying to bring it to the general masses by making current courses more beginner friendly. Part of the attraction of DG for many people are exactly these unique and quirky courses that would never be PDGA approved like in your article. Furthermore, so much of the draw of the sport is just the idea of it itself. For those who truly take to the sport, they just love the idea of throwing discs to baskets (or other objects) in a natural setting. Simple as that. To me DG is right about where it should be. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

[SmoothSailor]

To me DG is right about where it should be. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

amen :hfive:

 

[AirMcNair]

I live in a town with a great amount of courses. Unfortunately it is also a college town. The courses get torn up and trashed by college d-bags. I have 4 courses within 3 miles of my house. I cant get a nice relaxing round at any of them. I also spend too much time picking up the d-bag's garbage. I love it when school is not in session. Other than that, I kinda have to wait till winter to be able to play in peace and quiet.

Would love to have ONE course that close to me. I have to drive 2 hours for the closest course. Before I moved I was in a college town and not far from you. Whenever I went up there I never saw any of that.

 

[Spatula Cornroll]

http://www.dgcoursereview.com/browse.php?partner=&cname=&designer=&coursetype[]=1&coursetype[]=2&holes=0&holetype=0&teetype=0&num_reviews=&rating_min=&rating_max=&yem=&yex=&cndtn=&terrain[]=1&terrain[]=2&terrain[]=3&landscape[]=1&landscape[]=2&landscape[]=3&mtees=&mpins=&private=1&paytoplay=1&country=1&city=bowling+green&state=21&zipcode=&zip_distance=

There is another course that just had the front 9 completed recently that is not listed. I moved here from grand rapids, MI. Another town that seems obsessed with disc golf. Love it.

 

[simpletwist]

I've read the first part but did so with some reservations.

First off, I have real mixed emotions about disc golf becoming main stream. I've always been attracted to the path less travelled. So disc golf was almost immediately attractive to me. I love the out of doors and I love competitive sports. And hell anyone can throw a frisbee. And for the most part after buying a few relatively inexpensive discs, ITS FREE!!! Coming from a ball golf perspective and I've had the priviledge to play some world class resort, very high end private courses, and championship courses as well as cheap-o cow pastures. I've played everything in between. But ball golf has been around for hundreds of years and the rules of play and ettiquite are quite weel established and even in the cheapest of courses fairly well adhered to.

Now I play disc golf. And for my area, WNY, disc golf is alive and well. Thriving in my view. And this mini explosion has become evident in the 3 short years I've been playing. Since I've started 2 new 18 hole courses have been established, one a championship caliber course and a cheesy 9 holer has been built too. In addition 2 new courses are being developed and should be installed by then end of next summer.

Now on the weekends unless I get up at the crack of dawn and get out while there is still dew on the grass its chuck and wait. Or have folks raining down plastic on me. Not fun at all. Not the kind of fun that hooked me in the first place. Fortunately WNY weather is such that in a month or 2 only the hardcore lovers of the sport will be out there. 4 feet of snow and minus temps do not deter this broken up 57 year old man.

Anywho if this sport IS to unfortunately become mainstream much needs to change.

I totally agree with the signage and standardization of course ratings. High quality signs are a must for the beginner and novice golfer. Starting with a sign detailing the entire course at the beginning to introduce newbies to the course. Also included on this big beautiful sign should be simple rules including proper ettiquite. Professional looking scorecards with an accurate map are a must. Other ammenities like benches, water coolers etc all say look at us, we are the real deal. Multiple tees are also a must. This makes most of the most challenging courses at least playable for people of many skill levels.

Now for the standards for the courses. Something similar to ball golf's course and slope ratings could work. I know for my level of ball golf play, I'll have a more competitive round on a course with a slope rating of 114 over a slope rating of 126.

For my money (and why the PDGA isn't getting it) they aren't doing enough to address the above.

2 other random thoughts about legitimizing the sport. Advertising & a hero.

Lets see Innova, Discraft, etc or even the PDGA come up with a commercial or magazine ad or 2. I'm not talking multi-million dollar time slots during the Super Bowl. Figure out your targeted demographic and put together an inexpensive ad, perhaps on a local level. Since many courses are in public parks perhaps get some involvement ($$$) from the public coffers advertising the park as well as the sport.

What was ball golf before Tiger Woods and what's becoming of ball golf since Tiger's fall from grace. Because of Tiger's invincibility ball golf became a household word and not just the interest of aging athletes and corporate bigwigs. Who would really know a thing about skateboarding as a legitimate sport without the likes of Tony Hawk? Find that charismatic disc golf pro and exploit the hell out of him or her.

Want it to become big time, and many of us don't, then you gotta roll up your sleeves and do something meaningfull, not just chat on message boards.

Now for part 2.

 

[gottafixit]

This makes me think of my local club, trying to grow the sport from the top down. Players don't start as tournament players and alot never become. The PDGA is great but no major org that is concerned with growing the sport from the bottom up is concerning. His points I think are mostly valid. Public courses should strive to maintain certain high standards so that when new players come out they really get a feel for what it should be like. First impressions are a big thing, so like he said if they show up at the worst course in your town as there first outting, one you don't even like playing can you blame them for not liking the sport. I have to agree that to grow the sport I think course standards and maintenance are key components.

 

[DavidSauls]

View from the Skeptics' Bench:

There's very little chance of disc golf ever becoming Bigtime or Mainstream, no matter what we do. It's a recreational sport, growing fast and likely to continue to grow, but only as a recreational sport. I wouldn't expect to ever see it on ESPN or ABC, except as a novelty, or to see rich professional players.

Signage and navigation have a negligible effect on the sport's growth. Very few people try disc golf by themself, wandering onto a course and trying it out. Virtually everyone tries disc golf at the invitation of an existing player, and after the first time or two around the course, signage doesn't matter. (It DOES matter to people who travel and play a lot of new courses, but that's another kettle of fish).

The PDGA tried a course evaluation system, and for all I know it still exists. It consisted of objective measurements of all sorts of features and amenities, and required some experience or training to input it. This site, with it's more subjective ratings and reviews, has pretty well supplanted it. Without a classification system, a beginner can easily find courses that are great or mediocre or full of briars or whatever they want.

It would be great if public courses would commit to quality, but the reality is that in many places it's hard to get courses at all---or even to keep the courses we have.

The growth of disc golf, as a recreation and a sport, is likely to remain largely a local, grassroots, volunteer-driven process.

 

[simpletwist]

I just read Part II. I agree with John Heaton's discerment thoughts wholeheartedly and I alluded to his standardization thoughts in my original diatribe.

On to Part III

 

[wkelly42]

The real benefit of having disc golf achieve more mainstream notoriety would be to have discs readily available in retail stores. The closest store to my house is about 35 miles away, and they only sell Innova. A few racks of discs, ONE basket, no bags. My only real option is online ordering, and I'd really like to be able to touch the discs I'm buying.

One thing I've noticed, especially in part 2, is that you're relying on the PDGA a lot. There are two organizations in ball golf; the PGA is strictly for professionals, and the USGA is for everyone. The PDGA is trying to do everything, and I think we can see that they can't do it all. Unfortunately, the money isn't really there for a USGA-type of organization for disc golf; that would be ideal, with the PDGA focusing on the professional tour and the USDGA focusing on the amateur tour, and both working on standards in equipment and course design.

The best thing we can do right now, I think, is promote via word of mouth. Let people know about the sport, and most importantly let them know where to play (and where to avoid). Local clubs and groups should be as proactive as they can in working with the powers that be to make courses more playable -- and the powers that be should be given the links to their course's page on here so they can read what people think about it. I know that would motivate ME to make improvements ....

Disc golf will ultimately rise and fall on the power of it's community. Community built the sport, community will grow the sport, and community must ultimately encourage needed improvements in disc golf.

 

[agent_peebody]

i think it would be cool if players who didn't win every competition were still able to live off of their earnings. if you get 10th in a PGA tourney, you bet your ace that you still get a FAT pay check

 

[wkelly42]

i think it would be cool if players who didn't win every competition were still able to live off of their earnings. if you get 10th in a PGA tourney, you bet your ace that you still get a FAT pay check

You can make a decent living just making the cut in PGA events, if you do it consistently, especially when you factor in endorsements. That's another thing that mainstream recognition would get us, I guess -- professionals who really are professional disc golfers.

 

[SmoothSailor]

I definitely want to see a USDGA or IDGA (International DGA) get formed. This would be something that would take stress off of the PDGA and open up new avenues of notariety and recognition.

I want to get together with someone and draw up a plan to present to chain stores to carry disc golf equipment in their stores (Dicks, Wal Mart, Target, KMart, etc.). I've already talked to the store manager at the Dick's in my area and he wants me to come back in a couple of weeks to talk more about it with his boss in the room. I think that would be a great start.

 

[bboykin]

I'm pretty happy with the sport right where it is. Like so many I discovered DG through friends who found it before me. I've certainly been to courses where I got a little lost but it never discouraged me from the course itself. Like anything people try you either get hooked or you don't. My home course has brambles and "shule" that would make Goliath cry but it is what it is.

I can only speak for myself and a few other disc golfers I know but for us it's not about tournaments and ratings or growing the sport. It's simply about fun and exercise. I've thought about joining the PDGA a couple of times but in all honesty I don't have time to travel around and play tournaments. I only care about improving my personal game and taking money from my friends (or giving it up to them).

I can see the sport going big time and I think it would be awesome but I don't think it's gonna happen anytime soon. It'll grow as it's supposed to. All we can do is work on a local level to make our courses as clean and fun as they can be given the resources we have.

 

[soladeos]

this sport will grow if every DGer invites his/her friends/family/coworkers to play a round with them. take them along a few times. show them the ropes. if they like it, they'll start playing.

i work with 1 other guy who plays regularly too. we started a monday afternoon group..inviting fellow employees.
we have had 8 different people show up at different times over the past month we've been doing it. 2 or 3 regulars. some bring along spouses & kids. thats a good start especially since my deptartment is only about 25 people. about the same amount of people have expressed interest but were unable to come for one reason or another.

we're just gonna keep playing and inviting. (it worked for Jesus and his followers:thmbup:.)

 

[medicinalfunk]

this sport will grow if every DGer invites his/her friends/family/coworkers to play a round with them. take them along a few times. show them the ropes. if they like it, they'll start playing.

i work with 1 other guy who plays regularly too. we started a monday afternoon group..inviting fellow employees.
we have had 8 different people show up at different times over the past month we've been doing it. 2 or 3 regulars. some bring along spouses & kids. thats a good start especially since my deptartment is only about 25 people. about the same amount of people have expressed interest but were unable to come for one reason or another.

we're just gonna keep playing and inviting. (it worked for Jesus and his followers:thmbup:.)

you should offer them some of your blood and flesh (it worked for jesus, people still eat/drink him every week)

 

[soladeos]

you should offer them some of your blood and flesh (it worked for jesus, people still eat/drink him every week)

metaphorically speaking, you are right. on the DG level and religious level.

 

[discRabbit]

I can see the sport going big time and I think it would be awesome

I'm still left with this nagging question, why would it be awesome if the sport "went big time"?

The best this thread has come up with is that discs would be stocked locally (a very slight improvement over the hundreds of online vendors) and that a few touring golfers could make money. Anything better out there?