True Reason Why Disc Golf Isn't Becoming Main Stream

[youdidwell]

1. Professionalism, especially at the professional level. (This is the first step to get bigger sponsors in the game. Large companies want the face of their company to represent them well. )

Large companies want to make money. Trash TV gets plenty of sponsors.

Disc Golf is recreational sport.

 

[grotto]

I quit playing ball golf 8 yrs ago because it became "too" main stream. 6 hour rounds following Tiger wannabies killed the fun. Not to mention the expense paid to end up annoyed.

I think disc golf is moving along at a nice pace, enough high end pro's to keep it legitimate and enough lower end hobbyists/leisurests to keep it fun and accessible.

moving any sport/hobby/game ahead too fast will always kill it in the end. Plugging along seems to work best.

 

[randomatt]

I believe one of the biggest areas of growth for disc golf is awareness. You could break it down like this.

1. People who've never heard of disc golf. This represents the majority of people, like it or not. Remember - if you're on this forum chances are you belong to a social bubble where lots of your friends play dg. It's easy to forget how small that bubble really is.

2. People who have heard about it (or seen people playing) but never played. This is a critical point where we have lots of influence - since we can take out a newbie instead of playing with the friends we always do.

If you think back to how you were introduced to the sport, I'm guessing it sounds similar to "someone offered to take you, and let you use/gave you a couple discs".

 

[scotnt73]

I hope disc golf never becomes mainstream and I don't mean that in a negative way at all. Disc golf is a sport run by disc golfers for disc golfers. It has a very community feel to it that I enjoy. In dfw courses are sprouting up all the time or being updated. There's a tournament every weekend it seems like and you can drive about 20 miles in any direction and find a decent disc golf shop. I can pull up you tube and see all the latest disc golf action in high definition with better and better commentary.

My other hobby is ball golf. It is very popular. I have to reserve a tee time at most courses and even a casual round is similar to a tournament disc golf round in that there is a group on every hole that you are waiting to tee off behind. An 18 hole casual round takes about 3-4 hours. The nice courses cost 75$ dollars and up to play and my local weekend course is about 25$. Its so popular that you cant usually just play with 1 friend you have to play in groups of 4. The only positive I can think of for ball golf being popular is that it gets its own channel on TV which is cool and the pros make millions.

So from a casual disc golfer the ONLY perks of disc golf getting more popular is that I could see it on regular TV and the disc golf pros would make a better living. Both of those would be cool but don't really affect me. The negatives are all the ball golf stuff listed above. So I can understand pros and future pro wantabees wanting to grow the sport but not average Joe disc golfer or even intermediate weekend tournament warrior disc golfer.

 

[Mocheez]

1. Professionalism, especially at the professional level. (This is the first step to get bigger sponsors in the game. Large companies want the face of their company to represent them well. )

I disagree with this on some levels. You are right that sponsors want professional and well behaved players to represent their brand. On the other hand, watching a well behaved, professional athlete doesn't attract as many viewers compared to more controversial athletes. In the NFL, why does Johnny Manziel get so much more attention than Blake Bortles? Why was tennis so popular in the 80's? Why was heavyweight boxing so popular in the 80's and 90's? The actual sport itself isn't enough to attract interest... it's the personalities and the story lines that generate higher ratings and viewers. Finding a unique way to showcase the personalities in our sport is the best way to do this.

 

[BuzzzChief]

The real money in ball golf is in greens fees. It's something like 20 billion per year. We're never going to get big in this area, because we're already arguing over the value of paying 5 bucks for a day of disc golf. Bottom line, our current demographic is not paying to play in any significant volume.

Then, the apparel and equipment markets are big enough in ball golf that they draw big sponsors, who see value in pumping money into the sport for brand recognition and advertising. It's a sustainable system because there's a ton of money in golf balls and clothing. In our industry, very few people would pay extra for DG-specific soft goods, and the discs last too long for typical players.

It's just never going to be a huge industry. And that's okay.

 

[dysmike]

It's just never going to be a huge industry. And that's okay.

I agree, the people that I talk to who wish disc golf to become more 'mainstream' are those who wish to make money from it. That's fine too, but that's just not where I am. Right now, I see an availability of equipment like never before, and that is awesome. Otherwise, I really just do not need someone else to legitimize my hobbies, regardless of what they are.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

yeah surely no retailers make $ off those players.

:| :| :|

 

[Stankyjahnke]

I'd just like to be able to flip my tv on during the weekend and watch a tournament on some channel. I know and do watch the big ones on my computer. It'd be more convenient on the tv though. It might also help if everyone wasn't such a naysayer or so judgemental when anyone says anything on here.

 

[Mocheez]

I agree, the people that I talk to who wish disc golf to become more 'mainstream' are those who wish to make money from it. That's fine too, but that's just not where I am. Right now, I see an availability of equipment like never before, and that is awesome. Otherwise, I really just do not need someone else to legitimize my hobbies, regardless of what they are.

I don't want disc golf to become mainstream, but I would like to see it get to a point where a top fifteen rated pro doesn't have to sell off all his possessions so that he can afford to go on tour. It seems like payouts to the top pros has stagnated over the last 10 years while the sport has grown exponentially.

 

[Shamis]

Main stream sports get that way because people like to play and watch them. Spectators can tell that you are self conscious about how popular your sport is, and smelling that insecurity, they've become disinterested.

 

[WhiteyBear]

It seems like payouts to the top pros has stagnated over the last 30 years while the sport has decreased exponentially.

Fixed that for you...

1985 Worlds Winner (today's money): 10k-13k
2014: 5k (not including bonuses)

 

[dysmike]

I don't want disc golf to become mainstream, but I would like to see it get to a point where a top fifteen rated pro doesn't have to sell off all his possessions so that he can afford to go on tour. It seems like payouts to the top pros has stagnated over the last 10 years while the sport has grown exponentially.

With this, I'd agree. As it stands, we have limited pay outs and in fact difficulties for top tier pros to even register for NT events. Seems like poor planning in general to me, on both counts.

 

[AndyJB]

I disagree with this on some levels. You are right that sponsors want professional and well behaved players to represent their brand. On the other hand, watching a well behaved, professional athlete doesn't attract as many viewers compared to more controversial athletes. In the NFL, why does Johnny Manziel get so much more attention than Blake Bortles? Why was tennis so popular in the 80's? Why was heavyweight boxing so popular in the 80's and 90's? The actual sport itself isn't enough to attract interest... it's the personalities and the story lines that generate higher ratings and viewers. Finding a unique way to showcase the personalities in our sport is the best way to do this.

Exactly. All you have to do is look on these forums, a haven for the truly dedicated and involved players of this game, and see who gets the most mentions:

Nikko Locastro
Avery Jenkins

Those two take up almost all the pro mentions, and it's usually negative, stuff they have brought upon themselves. The other three I see the most mentions of are:

Paul McBeth
John E. McCray
Michael Johansen

Those three are the opposite ends of the spectrum, the "true professionals." Everyone else, i.e. the "normal"people, barely get a mention. Think about how much time was spent on the Ulubarris when that whole thing went down. Controversy creates cash, after all.

 

[The Hammer]

Frisbee sports will never be mainstream, because they are frisbee sports.

 

[sidewinder22]

When I start seeing guys sporting pink polo shirts and $300 shoes walking the courses, I wonder when they'll decide that the sport needs to be "cleaned up".

 

[donnyv]

Don't want to pile on ya (or to keep beating a dead horse) but just want to mention a couple things...

Mainstream means more courses (closest course to where i live is an hour and a half)

If it's a 3hr round-trip to the nearest course, maybe you could do some legwork and get a course installed at a park in your community. Not saying it's easy or a guaranteed slam dunk to get a course put in, but the effort might bring some perspective on what it takes to "get more & better courses" because they don't fall from the sky and just put themselves into the ground.

I would love more mainstream, better courses...

Would courses really be better if every town with a park tried to put one in? What would happen to all these courses when this "mainstream" fad cooled off? More doesn't always mean better.


...greater competition among manufacturers which creates innovation (better bags, or at least cheaper bags). Mainstream doesn't ruin sports, even if there were two golf courses in the world it would cost the same to run a golf course, so the prices would be the same if not higher. Mainstream usually means cheaper.

The competition and innovation part is a good thing but there are already quite a few manufacturers out there doing these things. Cheaper? Maybe, but they need to make money too, and I doubt the respective DG company owners like Dave, Jim, Steve, Chad, Brad (or even Ed) are rolling around in mountains of cash like Uncle Scrooge did in the Ducktales cartoons.

I for sure don't want to see DG companies start to pop up in China and flood the USA market with their crap and their "cheaper prices" to cater to the mainstream demographic who doesn't know any better or could care less about quality "Made in the USA" products and would just buy the cheap $5 Chinova Champion Edition knock-off's


What would make disc golf more expensive by going mainstream, would it cost more to maintain a course? I doubt it? You could maintain a course with one or two people with people paying $5 as an entry fee. Golf is so expensive because because you have metal clubs, Expensive course maintenance fees because of fertilizers and lawncare, and because of property taxes. Disc golf can still coexist in a city park or in the mountains, even if its Mainstream.

Maintaining a quality DG course isn't cheap (or easy) either. Volunteers? Better have a club with dedicated players who are willing to shed blood, sweat and tears so these mainstreamer's can come and trash the course.


IMO, Baby steps and steady growth are the way to go. Compared to what DG was in 1997 when I first played, it's already mainstream.

 

[DatRedDude]

I'd just like to be able to flip my tv on during the weekend and watch a tournament on some channel. I know and do watch the big ones on my computer. It'd be more convenient on the tv though. It might also help if everyone wasn't such a naysayer or so judgemental when anyone says anything on here.

Get a smart TV problem solved. If your computer has an HDMI output then you can also plug it into any TV sold in the last 10 years.

And is the last sentence saying this site is holding back the sport?

 

[luckless_pedestrian]

I think we're all pretty much agreeing. Payouts should be large enough to make touring worthwhile for top-tier pros. *We* would all like to watch more DG on tv (or whatever tv becomes).

As long as those don't interfere with the reasons we currently love disc golf -- it's cheap, easy, and fun -- then great. I think one way to do that would be to not have tournament coverage trying to mimic a ball golf tournament. Play up the personalities and the irreverence. Commentary by Ian and Kev - sideline reporting by Lamar Maughan. Man, now I'm wondering why some cable channel isn't already doing this.

 

[Phlick]

How do we fix 'it'? Be the change you want to see. If you want to see more money going to the pros - bring sponsors into the sport. If you want to see cleaner/better maintained courses - start volunteering at your local course and cleaning it up. If you want to see more/better courses - get involved and start planting some baskets and teepads. Start a youtube channel.

Here's the deal, Redbull/Nike/Prodigy is not going to drop in and save the day with millions of dollars. Wham-O tried that way back in the day (throwing $$) and it didn't work, and this as at the height of the Frisbee fad/craze.

As to the drugs issue... and let's get this very straight - alcohol is a 'drug' - you're never going to get drugs off the golf course. People like drugs, always have, always will. As to drugs scaring away sponsors... I don't think that's what's keeping the 'big sponsors' away. They came to skateboarding, they showed up for snowboarding... and drug companies (alcohol) sponsors all conventional big sports (football, baseball, soccer begrudgingly... ). It's just a matter of time before MJ is accepted as openly as beer.

As to TV Coverage... TV is quickly dying. Youtube is the future, and we're already seeing people step in to fill that void, it's only going to grow as big sponsors eventually wise up to the number of eyes that are landing on these community niche channels like CCDG and McFly.

Watching Thurs night football with the wife last night over dinner we had an interesting argument/conversation - are the pros playing football their for the pure love of the game, or are they drawn to the sport because that's where the $$ is at? I contend that if the big bucks were to be made playing golf, we would see more top athletes in the sport - playing disc golf instead of football or baseball. It's a chicken/egg scenario, and currently the big money sports are sports that are really no longer the sports that america LOVES to **PLAY**. Stop watching Monday night football and start a league.