The direction of Disc Golf

[Orioles_Lefty]

They put the basketball court over the ice.

...but aren't they changing golf courses to adapt it to disc golf. I played golf a long time and never encountered a disc golf basket on one.

The University of Louisville, back when it played basketball in Freedom Hall as did a minor league hockey team, had a game terminated due to the ice melting under the court resulting in condensation on the court. First, the refs decided they would not call traveling if the violation was due to floor condensation before ultimately deciding their was a real injury risk. Multi-sport arenas gone wrong!

 

[rocthecourse]

Stop thinking disc golf is more than what it is. It's a fringe sport and a great activity. Stop concentrating so much on the pro tour and keep the focus on the casual players.

Every sport was a fringe sport at one time.

 

[KniceZ]

i would like to see moar quality courses instead of quantity of courses

While it's not the OP question the crux of the question is what makes a quality course. It seems that one key component is variety. It can't be 18 wooded tunnel shots or 18 600+ ft bombers.

 

[John Rock]

The only thing I really don't like about the way things are moving as far as the growth of DG is the trend of moving onto ball golf courses. I know this is a personal opinion and a lot of people like this trend, but I will take a disc golf fairway over a ball golf fairway 98 out of 100 times. What other sport uses another sport's field to play their game on? I do realize we need to put courses where and when we have the opportunity. If they would just design DG holes on the BG course (I'm sure it can be done) I would be more on board with it. I'm talking about trees/natural obstacles.

Our local club has two 18-hole courses on a ball golf course. They're beautiful courses, but it's 1-4 wide open throws depending on length, then putt. Bores me beyond tears. I have 2 free passes and club members get one free day per month, but I never bother to play there. I just don't find it much fun. The only real challenge is distance. End/BG course rant.

Mountain bikers use ski areas.

 

[Jay Dub]

The votes are so close I think we should give this poll a few more days.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

What if we had raised baskets, but the baskets were smaller?

If all the baskets are the same height, it doesn't matter how high they are. They just need to be standardized.

 

[1978]

Courses are growing faster than education of the designers, park departments to maintain them and local club volunteers. If those dont catch up, you will have a boom then a sharp drop off. Covid brought many to the sport...many were introduced to disc golf by way of poor and unsafe designs, overgrown fairways and trash. For every player we gained...we lost a percentage that will never play again because of where they were introduced to the sport.

 

[Cgkdisc]

If all the baskets are the same height, it doesn't matter how high they are. They just need to be standardized.

Why? Ball golf greens are not standardized. Perhaps only our basket tray size needs to be standardized. Beyond that, we should allow creativity to produce all kinds of deflection devices and vary height. Too much standardization is boring for players and spectators. Standardization only develops a limited skill, not a diversity of skills and judgment. Diversity of golfing experience is the calling card of disc golf. It needs to be embraced even more than it has been already.

 

[zenbot]

x-posting here but smaller baskets? C'mon. Every hole is the same size in bolf.


*******************

A hush falls over the gallery as Paul McBeth sizes up the tiny basket to take the win.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Not sure if any PDGA insiders monitor threads like this on DGCR. But unless Covid has delayed plans, I believe the PDGA is or will be working on their next 5-year plan on where the PDGA and the sport will be heading.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I see all three aliases of that guy who wants small baskets has participated in this poll.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I believe nothing drastic needs to happen to the game itself. As mentioned, a Disc hitting chains is a euphoric thing to me and is an iconic sight and sound associated with our sacred game. Never, ever make it standard to remove chains, for the love of Climo.

We don't need smaller baskets so our scores look like ball golf scores. That has been covered ad nauseum in the worst thread in DGCR history. I think it's an overwhelmingly unpopular idea and for obvious reasons.

The reason ten times as many people have joined the PDGA from when I did half of the sport's existence ago just in 1998 is because it's both awesome and affordable/inclusive. I can't think of any other projectile sport that has what we have going for it and we have it in abundance. Our Discs are awesome. Our baskets are awesome. We have so many awesome courses now too. The game is tantalizing and addictive. Where we are in our sport's history right now is freaking amazing to observe! And it's happening because we're doing the right things.

If I'd change anything, I'd like to see our sport have a youth program with a size and scope on par with baseball/softball. Parents and grandparents flock to ball diamonds to watch their kids play and it's essentially been an American rite of passage to participate in these sports as a kid for over a lifetime. I see no reason why Disc Golf couldn't eventually attempt do the same. After all, we're a better game. My 5th grade son is into Disc Golf (and just fired his first sanctioned 800 rated round!!). It's way more fun to follow and watch him play this than it was to sit in a camping chair freezing our butts off in spring watching almost nothing happen on a little league baseball diamond for hours. And hours. And hours.

I can close my eyes and see it now, Disc Golf in every school across the land...

 

[Discraft Dad]

^As I read this, the music of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" became apparent in the background.
\

 

[oldmandiscer]

I believe nothing drastic needs to happen to the game itself. As mentioned, a Disc hitting chains is a euphoric thing to me and is an iconic sight and sound associated with our sacred game. Never, ever make it standard to remove chains, for the love of Climo.

We don't need smaller baskets so our scores look like ball golf scores. That has been covered ad nauseum in the worst thread in DGCR history. I think it's an overwhelmingly unpopular idea and for obvious reasons.

The reason ten times as many people have joined the PDGA from when I did half of the sport's existence ago just in 1998 is because it's both awesome and affordable/inclusive. I can't think of any other projectile sport that has what we have going for it and we have it in abundance. Our Discs are awesome. Our baskets are awesome. We have so many awesome courses now too. The game is tantalizing and addictive. Where we are in our sport's history right now is freaking amazing to observe! And it's happening because we're doing the right things.

If I'd change anything, I'd like to see our sport have a youth program with a size and scope on par with baseball/softball. Parents and grandparents flock to ball diamonds to watch their kids play and it's essentially been an American rite of passage to participate in these sports as a kid for over a lifetime. I see no reason why Disc Golf couldn't eventually attempt do the same. After all, we're a better game. My 5th grade son is into Disc Golf (and just fired his first sanctioned 800 rated round!!). It's way more fun to follow and watch him play this than it was to sit in a camping chair freezing our butts off in spring watching almost nothing happen on a little league baseball diamond for hours. And hours. And hours.

I can close my eyes and see it now, Disc Golf in every school across the land...

You misrepresent what a smaller basket means. It doesn't mean to make "disc golf like ball golf." It simply means to make putting a little more difficult. Let's take Eagles 88% C1X. A smaller target would reduce that to maybe 80%. So a little under 9/10 currently to 8/10 from say an avg of 25 feet (c1x). That IS NOT like ball golf. Ball golf is 40% from 10 feet. We would need a mail slot to make it that hard. That would be silly.

Second this poll isn't even the right question. The question at hand is raised baskets and artificial OB or smaller baskets and more specifically for the professional game and then over many years hopefully trickling down to most courses. The goal is to get rid of raised baskets and artificial OB. Not make disc golf like ball golf.

Because here is the problem. Players have been getting really good over the last 5-10 years. To counteract this artificial OB and raised baskets are being implemented to challenge the players. The OTHER option is to simply make the target harder and get rid of the other gimmicks as much as possible.

 

[zenbot]

You misrepresent what a smaller basket means. It doesn't mean to make "disc golf like ball golf." It simply means to make putting a little more difficult. Let's take Eagles 88% C1X. A smaller target would reduce that to maybe 80%. So a little under 9/10 currently to 8/10 from say an avg of 25 feet (c1x). That IS NOT like ball golf. Ball golf is 40% from 10 feet. We would need a mail slot to make it that hard. That would be silly.

Second this poll isn't even the right question. The question at hand is raised baskets and artificial OB or smaller baskets and more specifically for the professional game and then over many years hopefully trickling down to most courses. The goal is to get rid of raised baskets and artificial OB. Not make disc golf like ball golf.

Because here is the problem. Players have been getting really good over the last 5-10 years. To counteract this artificial OB and raised baskets are being implemented to challenge the players. The OTHER option is to simply make the target harder and get rid of the other gimmicks as much as possible.

Sounds pretty gimmicky, fam.

 

[oldmandiscer]

Sounds pretty gimmicky, fam.

Throwing frisbees in the woods is gimmicky. Any change or new thing could be considered a gimmick. If the basket was originally smaller do you think people would be asking for a bigger one? No, it would be what is normal. The large basket was designed for large discs which was normal in the 70's. The size should have changed with the times/disc evolution and skill level of the players.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Let's take Eagles 88% C1X. A smaller target would reduce that to maybe 80%.

So you are going to justify the expenditure of thousands of dollars per course to reduce a top pro's cx1 putting percentage by 8% while pissing of 100% of the ams who are the foundation of disc golf.

Been over this before but lets rehash the math AGAIN. Baskets are typically $300/ea. Let's say you retrofit each basket with your smaller basket which means replacing everything but the center pole so cheapest I can imagine is $250/ea. So for a 18 hole course thats $4500. What do you think the local municipality is going to say when I make that monetary request? What orifice you do propose I pull that out of? And that's just material cost. How 'bout all that labor it's going to take? All to reduce Eagles CX1 percentage by 8%.

Good luck with that.

 

[oldmandiscer]

So you are going to justify the expenditure of thousands of dollars per course to reduce a top pro's cx1 putting percentage by 8% while pissing of 100% of the ams who are the foundation of disc golf.

Been over this before but lets rehash the math AGAIN. Baskets are typically $300/ea. Let's say you retrofit each basket with your smaller basket which means replacing everything but the center pole so cheapest I can imagine is $250/ea. So for a 18 hole course thats $4500. What do you think the local municipality is going to say when I make that monetary request? What orifice you do propose I pull that out of? And that's just material cost. How 'bout all that labor it's going to take? All to reduce Eagles CX1 percentage by 8%.

Good luck with that.

Yeah that is the difference and NO you shouldn't change any basket in not need of replacing! You ONLY replace them when they NEED replacing or if a new course is getting installed.

Yes I know you say all your club members would want what the pro's use. Just say too bad, give me 5 grand and we can talk. We're not changing baskets that are in good condition.

 

[Streets]

Where's the "I wish it would shrink or slow down" option?

 

[txmxer]

If all the baskets are the same height, it doesn't matter how high they are. They just need to be standardized.

That seems like a very strange requirement and an unnecessary restriction on design.

I have provided a local example where I believe the tower basket is Placed excessively high, but a basket range of about 3' is not unreasonable IMO.