Weekend experience & DG Image

[Hampstead]

Don't forget the background checks and 7 day waiting period before you can play a round.

 

[mashnut]

Tried to edit...

I guess i grew up in a different world with the go outside, no seatbelts or helmets mentality.
My parents were sure to inform me of the dangers i might have encountered so i had that view of parks even as a lil kid.

Very good point. Ill even admidt that myself and friends have had to fight the battle on the homefront with wives and gf's when we want to take the lil guys out

Those two posts are a perfect example of the disconnect. The majority of disc golfers are people who are fairly laid back and are perfectly happy to live and let live. That's me, and that describes my fiancé who plays all the time as well, neither of us are complaining when we happen to see someone peeing behind a bush or having a beer while they play, or any of the other things we see on the course all the time.

Disc golfers don't have to impress each other though, our image amongst ourselves is completely irrelevant. It's the image we present to soccer moms that ends up mattering most when it comes to getting kids out to try the sport or in getting a new course put in.

 

[Organicvoodoo]

And the $65 deposit to play a round.

 

[Hampstead]

I understand the need to keep up a reputable appearance, I really do, but we are trouble if we have to base our image upon impressing soccer moms.

 

[mashnut]

I understand the need to keep up a reputable appearance, I really do, but we are trouble if we have to base our image upon impressing soccer moms.

Then we're in trouble. Who do you think goes to city council and parks/recreation council meetings? Who serves on those councils? Who is going to take the time to call about what they saw in the park that day? If it was just about how people view the sport then it wouldn't matter all that much, but when that view impacts current courses and future courses we need to keep that in mind.

 

[AndyJB]

I understand the need to keep up a reputable appearance, I really do, but we are trouble if we have to base our image upon impressing soccer moms.

:doh:

It's not just "soccer moms" its the people in general. The majority of people. That's how the system works. We should consider ourselves extremely lucky if the public is kind enough to let us put a course on public lands at all...if they give us that, the least we can do is follow the rules so that they don't take that course away.

If I owned a massive tract of wooded property, I would put a course on it and let people play it as long as they didn't break anything, vandalize anything or burn the place down. But I don't. Not many of us do...and those that do usually charge a fee so they can maintain it and have stricter rules than public courses. I think it all boils down to respect...and DGers tend to have little respect for the favor granted them in form of a course.

It's not just DG, as I posted earlier in this thread. I've seen everything from basketball courses to softball fields to hiking trails to swimming pools get pulled for less than I see on an average day on the DG course. If anything, we benefit from beig so far out of the public conciousness that most people aren't looking. But the ones who are have just as much right to expect you to follow the laws/rules/common decency than you do to completley disregard it.

 

[Hampstead]

Of course I am aware of public perception. You guys are acting like everything has to be PG for fear of the wrath of the soccer moms. Yes, they have some clout, but they are not the only opinions that matter in this world. For the record, I am a responsible citizen. I clean up trash, don' t drink where it is illegal and avoid other criminal behaviors. I'm not advocating lawlessness but I also don't give two squirts of goose poop what some soccer mom thinks.

 

[craftsman]

Those two posts are a perfect example of the disconnect. The majority of disc golfers are people who are fairly laid back and are perfectly happy to live and let live. That's me, and that describes my fiancé who plays all the time as well, neither of us are complaining when we happen to see someone peeing behind a bush or having a beer while they play, or any of the other things we see on the course all the time.

Disc golfers don't have to impress each other though, our image amongst ourselves is completely irrelevant. It's the image we present to soccer moms that ends up mattering most when it comes to getting kids out to try the sport or in getting a new course put in.

Very good point and very well written. I fully understand your point aswell as your earlier hint about message boards.

I understand the need for discretion and i know many seem to lack common sense.
Agian, i am just growing tired of the us vs them mentality. Dg has always seemed to bring folks together, not apart.

 

[BrotherDave]

Somewhat ironic, if the OP had gone to Barber park which is decidedly in a more ghetto area of Greensboro, his daughter would have mostly seen older white people getting out of BMWs and Mercs to play tennis in the main building.

 

[DavidSauls]

Then we're in trouble. Who do you think goes to city council and parks/recreation council meetings? Who serves on those councils? Who is going to take the time to call about what they saw in the park that day? If it was just about how people view the sport then it wouldn't matter all that much, but when that view impacts current courses and future courses we need to keep that in mind.

Well said.

It's not just "soccer moms", but all of the other park constituents. One course I play a lot is tucked into a neighborhood, and the neighbors are protective of it---and very vocal with the city. Another backs up to two schools, and has a walking/biking trail wandering around it. The third in my regular play is a private course very much in the middle of nowhere. Disc golfer conduct carries different weight in these places.

 

[damagedLIVER]

So I can't take my shirt off on the disc golf course? AND tattoos are only on drunks and pot smokers? Why would anyone want to play disc golf if they are going to run into you guys on the course? Also, there are "beer leagues" in every sport.

 

[Terry 44]

Sorry about the breeders comment, meant to be more clever than derogatory. Simply a term applied to those who have children, but probably never should. Parents who are emotionally, financially and/or intellectually unprepared to bear offspring, then, when surprised at the commitment, think society should kick in and provide some assistance in the above arenas. Perhaps thread drift, not necessarily applying the idea to the OP, just an observation on peoples take of others behaviors and the impact on their children. Again apologies to an offence. Cool thread though.

I have only heard this term used by gay people. NOT that there is anything wrong with being gay. But I personally would not use this term. Breeders are anyone who CAN have kids..... that's why its a derogatory statement against straight people.

But please use it on the DG course, I'd like to giggle!

 

[DavidSauls]

So I can't take my shirt off on the disc golf course? AND tattoos are only on drunks and pot smokers? Why would anyone want to play disc golf if they are going to run into you guys on the course? Also, there are "beer leagues" in every sport.

Few if any of us here have said you can't take your shirt off, or have tattoos. It's behavior, not appearance, that is the big issue.

I'm not sure about "every sport"---are there beer leagues in basketball?---but I suspect most of these are in sport-specific facilities where alcohol is legal.

I'm not sure why anyone would avoid playing disc golf because they might run into other players wearing shirts, or keeping their profanities at low volume, or presumptuously obeying the law, or concerned about the existence and growth of disc golf.

 

[keltik]

Somewhat ironic, if the OP had gone to Barber park which is decidedly in a more ghetto area of Greensboro, his daughter would have mostly seen older white people getting out of BMWs and Mercs to play tennis in the main building.

Also ironic: Johnson Street park is in one of the more affluent areas of High Point.

 

[Daffron24]

People today are just to uptight and sensitive. It may seem like today's world is so much worse than in the past, but its just the availability to read/see/hear about something at a moments notice. Regardless of the sport there are going to be outliers whom many people will assume is the norm. That's life, get a helmet.