Turning people on to disc golf

[Pymm]

So, after a couple of months hearing me rave about disc golf, one of my co-workers asked to borrow a couple of discs. She is taking her two sons this weekend. I loaned her an Aviar, a Wizard, a Leopard, and a Roadrunner. I could only loan her stuff I wasn't going to use this weekend. I gave her a few simple tips but didn't want to overload her with an info dump; most importantly, I told her to have fun! Hopefully, they enjoy themselves. Nice to see people evince interest in a sport I have quickly grown to love.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

So, after a couple of months hearing me rave about disc golf, one of my co-workers asked to borrow a couple of discs. She is taking her two sons this weekend. I loaned her an Aviar, a Wizard, a Leopard, and a Roadrunner. I could only loan her stuff I wasn't going to use this weekend. I gave her a few simple tips but didn't want to overload her with an info dump; most importantly, I told her to have fun! Hopefully, they enjoy themselves. Nice to see people evince interest in a sport I have quickly grown to love.

Be ready to explain where they can buy their own discs on Monday.......or replace the ones they borrowed from you and may have lost.

 

[Murky]

Absolutely!

I love seeing new folks realize what they've been missing. The other day I finished up my round, decided to practice putt a bit, and some children came up and asked me if they could play. I gave them a couple of putters and a few pointers. Those toddlers really took to the power grip I showed them. Started throwing the discs at each other, trying to get headshots. It brought a tear to my eye... Seriously though, they swarmed and started grabbing discs out of my bag without asking, and their mother had to come over and yell at them to give them back. I talked with her for a bit and told her about how cheap the game is to get into, and how they already knew where they could play. Felt good to introduce the game to six or seven kids (and their mother), even if it was just a curiosity at the time.

Over the years (mainly in college) friends asked what I went to play all the time, so I'd show them over a couple rounds and end up giving them sets of discs. Being in a college town, and playing mostly from the weeds, i'd find a lot of discs with no name or number, and end up collecting to give to other folks to start their adventure. It really is rewarding, especially if they stick with it. Now, after college, whenever I travel to see friends, they always want to play a round. It's a win-win!

The next step is to introduce them to these forums....

 

[sumo21]

My victims, er willing participants, are usually the people that I tutor in math/stats. Thank goodness I still have my old DX discs. They get to use those discs.

 

[Noill]

So, after a couple of months hearing me rave about disc golf, one of my co-workers asked to borrow a couple of discs. She is taking her two sons this weekend. I loaned her an Aviar, a Wizard, a Leopard, and a Roadrunner. I could only loan her stuff I wasn't going to use this weekend. I gave her a few simple tips but didn't want to overload her with an info dump; most importantly, I told her to have fun! Hopefully, they enjoy themselves. Nice to see people evince interest in a sport I have quickly grown to love.

Yay! Always fun to share this sport with others... I usually give a quick run-down on backhand and forehand forms... I try to encourage them to also just do stand-still throws as from my experience it is best to work backwards on that... think I learned that initially from Beato...

and if you play with the new person(s)... encourage encourage encourage... I almost always say, "in about 1/2 a round, you should start to see some serious improvement..." which almost always seems to be the case... once the new player starts to transition from catch and throw style to actual disc golf throws, they will see extra distance and smoother throws pretty rapidly... getting to the next progression will take more time, but just getting to the point where a new player can keep more in the fairway is huge and really can promote an appreciation of the sport

 

[Stable]

Be ready to explain where they can buy their own discs on Monday.......or replace the ones they borrowed from you and may have lost.

:hfive:

I refuse to loan discs to anyone. Too many times I've given plastic to people to encourage them to pick up the game and later find out the discs were 'lost' or 'misplaced'. Anything I have and don't care about go to PIAS for whatever I can get in return.

 

[Moose33]

I try to keep some base plastic mids around just for this. Instructions; take this Hawk/Stingray/Buzzz and play this short easy to navigate course.

Ask me questions when your done. It's worked so far, but I have given away a to. Of $7 discs lol.

 

[Reniger]

Best advice for new players; "Watch the disc until it hits the ground and stops moving."

I am shocked at how many 3+ year players in casual rounds, leagues, and even tournaments lose discs because they throw an errant shot, get upset, then turn around. This means your entire group has to wait for/help you search in the wrong spot because of irresponsibility. Newer players will be a lot less frustrated if they understand to watch the entire flight path, skip and/or roll and identify landmarks around their lie to find the discs.

Anyway, my pet peeves aside, it's always exciting to have people ask questions and start playing along with you or ask advice. I have boxes and boxes of spare discs and several cheap bags that I've found on crazy sales just to get people going as beginners. I usually tell them to contact me whenever they want to throw so I can help ease the frustration of usual entry errors, but at the least, I can give them direction on basics and some easy starter sets.

Getting friends, family, and casual meets into the sport is always exciting and personally - seeing their excitement gives as much pleasure as a great round.

Cheers.

 

[Kutueh]

I just took my mom out and went through 8 holes with her. When we swung by the bank she told the bank teller and the teller got interest and wrote it down to look into.

 

[Broken Shoulder]

Moms are so weird.

 

[jjtwinnova]

Moms are so weird.

But they are the reason we're here. Not much to complain about. In all seriousness though, moms are weird

 

[THUGNIFICENT763]

My mom is cool...

 

[Reniger]

Moms are so weird.

Yeah, but I'm thinking Kutueh is around high school age from what I've seen - which makes his mom ~mid 30s... Totally fine with that on the course. (no disrespect or vile intent meant towards Kut's mom)

 

[Broken Shoulder]

I never said weird was bad.

 

[Kutueh]

Yeah, but I'm thinking Kutueh is around high school age from what I've seen - which makes his mom ~mid 30s... Totally fine with that on the course. (no disrespect or vile intent meant towards Kut's mom)

i wish i was high school age, what makes ya think that?

my mom's almost 60, and needs something to do that doesn't involve too much active movement like other sports n exercise. I love my momma but she could def be on the weirder side

but let's not make this a mom post haha

 

[Broken Shoulder]

Yeah, I was skeptical about the age guess because of the whole "talked to the bank teller" part. That's almost getting to be a pretty old fashioned sentence.

 

[ohtobediscing]

i wish i was high school age, what makes ya think that?

my mom's almost 60, and needs something to do that doesn't involve too much active movement like other sports n exercise. I love my momma but she could def be on the weirder side

but let's not make this a mom post haha

If you get her discing she'll be even weirder. My mom died 1 1/2 years ago. I have some of her ashes, and I've been thinking of having them incorporated into a disc.

Too soon?

 

[specsman]

Moms are so weird.

Meh, I play disc golf with my mom every time I see her. We played 2 rounds on thanksgiving last year.

 

[Broken Shoulder]

I guess I shouldn't have been so subtle.

 

[joecoin]

My mom is cool...

You aint kiddin'.