Whats the next evolution of the game?

[knettles]

To all those who brought up the inherent danger in speed golf, I thought of a few ideas. First, after you finish a hole, you take a break until everyone is ready to start the next hole at the same time. This way, you won't be putting on hole 6 while someone is starting their drive. Second, it will be a rule that anytime someone yells "fore", everyone has to duck and cover until the person yells "clear" (also to note that the person yelling "fore" isn't allowed to move until they yell "clear"). Third, for safety reasons, no one can use anything over speed 10. And because I think warp speed drivers are dumb.

 

[DerekTonn]

The next thing after the next thing: Course design will be absorbed into just one aspect of Landscape Architecture and done exclusively by big-money park planning consultants. More rigid adherence to more detailed standards, availability of college courses or technical training in design, and legal certification.

Man, I hope not. One of my favorite things about DG is the overwhelming diversity of courses/designs out there. Granted, for every one great (IMHO, as everyone's definition of fun/great is a little different) course, there are 4-5 stinkers (and 8-10 "yawn"). But I enjoy seeing/playing different people's visions for a hole/course. And not every parcel of land lends itself to PDGA Book of Everything, Volume 23, Chapter 806, sub-paragraph C, sub-sub-paragraph XII, line 463

I hope sanctioned HS and College (varsity/JV) competition is what's next. But if I had to guess? I'd say more in the area of technology and quants/stats. Such as the mapping of a disc's speed and flight path, as well as the storing of said data over dozens of throws, along with the simultaneous tracking of wind/weather conditions. Graduating FAR beyond those disc charts that show you what your average RHBH player can expect with a piece of plastic, while completely ignoring playing conditions, disc weights, the form of the thrower, et al (resulting in disc purchases that don't "fit" the player).

i.e. If I've thrown my Blizzard Boss 200 times this Spring, I could go back and quickly see how it handled (distance, flight path, etc.) in different temperatures and wind conditions. Basically, developing a "chart" of discs for me. Rather than "me" trying to guess what'll fit me via some "one size fits all" chart(s).

 

[Halcón]

Disc golf is the most diverse game there is. Nothing is standard, or uniform. Maybe that's the way it should always be.

 

[DanJon]

The collegiate disc golf experience/model is also where I see the game growing. Hopefully if that model is successful and continues to grow, it can be easier to set up something similar in high schools and middle schools.

 

[Steve West]

Man, I hope not. One of my favorite things about DG is the overwhelming diversity of courses/designs out there. Granted, for every one great (IMHO, as everyone's definition of fun/great is a little different) course, there are 4-5 stinkers (and 8-10 "yawn"). But I enjoy seeing/playing different people's visions for a hole/course. And not every parcel of land lends itself to PDGA Book of Everything, Volume 23, Chapter 806, sub-paragraph C, sub-sub-paragraph XII, line 463

It'll be OK. Think of the history children's play structures. You may not remember, but at one time they were built by plumbers who welded pipes together at right angles and set them in a concrete base. Some of those plumbers had some creative ideas, but we don't miss those days.

After safety standards for play structures were introduced, for a while all you saw was the same colored plastic slides and ladders over ground rubber bases.

But now, there are fiberglass molded structures that look like boats, treehouses, or mountains and have climbing walls and all sorts of things to target specific skills.

We've still got courses with tee pads that have a 6 inch drop off the front edge. We're in the metal pipes on concrete phase.

There may be a blandness phase, with blah designs coming from consultants that don't want to bring in a designer. But great courses will still be built because the enlightened consultants will bring in the top current designers.

There just won't be any more stinkers.

Also, the big money will enable things we don't do now, like earth-moving, massive plantings of native species, artificial turf for high-impact areas, sun and rain protection over the tee pads, cart paths, automatic disc return at driving ranges...

And the quantifying of the sport will lead to the insights that will allow the development of the tools needed to take course design to a whole new level. But that will require a formal structure to capture, teach and build upon the knowledge generated.

(By the way, I don't think it will be the PDGA that writes "the book" on truly professional course design.)

 

[zjones9]

Disc golf is the most diverse game there is. Nothing is standard, or uniform. Maybe that's the way it should always be.

If so, then it will stay a "game". In order for it to become a legitimate sport, there needs to be more standards, IMHO.

 

[mjoyce]

Disc golf is the most diverse game there is. Nothing is standard, or uniform. Maybe that's the way it should always be.

If so, then it will stay a "game". In order for it to become a legitimate sport, there needs to be more standards, IMHO.

I don't know that either of these things are mutually exclusive.

There are standards and uniformities. (disc diamater, weight ranges, PDGA approved discs, baskes have to meet certian specifications etc)

Just as two golfers could use different clubs with differing degrees of wedge or shaft length. Or different golf balls.

 

[sprintermatt]

Course design by a Righty/lefty team. Balance for all players.

Yeah right... I mean left.

 

[Halcón]

In disc golf, we have standards, but they are within certain parameters, which allow for too many variables. Putting on a Mach V is different than putting on a DISCatcher. In golf, I'm pretty sure the cup is an exact size, and the grass must be a certain length on every green. In disc golf we have hanging, and elevated baskets for crying out loud.

 

[Cgkdisc]

To truly have a 360 degree radially consistent basket similar to a hole in ball golf, the chains will have to go. The deflection device will need to be some sort of uniform surface like a better version of the early cone baskets... or blasphemy, no deflection device at all and just an open top basket!

 

[Halcón]

No chains? I'd still play, but boy would I miss that sweet "ching!"

 

[Cgkdisc]

Solar powered sound chip programmed with the sweet ching sound.

 

[joegraham]

To truly have a 360 degree radially consistent basket similar to a hole in ball golf, the chains will have to go. The deflection device will need to be some sort of uniform surface like a better version of the early cone baskets... or blasphemy, no deflection device at all and just an open top basket!

Chicken wire ground baskets like at Gennese Valley Park in Rochester!!! No doubt if it's in or not. We have come a long way from there. Golf balls lip out, discs spit out. It's gonna happen on any target. We need more Spider baskets and Vortexs!!

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

I would love to see the analog of a golf green for disc golf. Perhaps a "green" made of a surface of pea gravel, coarse sand, ground rubber, or other substance that would tend to inhibit a skip and/or rollout so that you could be fairly certain that if you hit the "green" on the fly the disc would likely come to rest on the green. This would also definitively mark the 10 meter circle.

 

[mjoyce]

In disc golf, we have standards, but they are within certain parameters, which allow for too many variables. Putting on a Mach V is different than putting on a DISCatcher. In golf, I'm pretty sure the cup is an exact size, and the grass must be a certain length on every green. In disc golf we have hanging, and elevated baskets for crying out loud.

Chicken wire ground baskets like at Gennese Valley Park in Rochester!!! No doubt if it's in or not. We have come a long way from there. Golf balls lip out, discs spit out. It's gonna happen on any target. We need more Spider baskets and Vortexs!!

While I agree that the targets are different. I don't see that big of a difference putting at them. If you hit a DISCatcher about center pole height in the middle of the chains the disc is staying, if you hit a Mach V center pole height in the middle of the chains the disc is staying.

Miss either one left or right the disc might spit out. You're right that the cup on a ball golf hole is the exact size. But you could lip out, rim out, hell you could bounce one in the cup and out from the fairway just as you could have a disc blow through the chains. I don't think the targets are the problem. And as has been stated in this thread. How would you deal with replacing all of the existing targets for the standard target?

 

[Halcón]

While I agree that the targets are different. I don't see that big of a difference putting at them. If you hit a DISCatcher about center pole height in the middle of the chains the disc is staying, if you hit a Mach V center pole height in the middle of the chains the disc is staying.

The Target Zone for the Mach V is 53 cm. The DISCatcher Pro is 51 cm. My putter always seems to catch that darn chastity belt. The DISCatcher has a wider deflection assembly though, meaning you're less likely to miss wide.

 

[wake911]

My input on baskets and why its good to have different styles.
Disc Golf, mirrors (Ball) Golf in many ways, one thing that Disc Golf does not follow is the concept of the green. Yea We have the 10 meter circle but it doesn't have that same feel. To get to my point, the one nice thing about having different styles of baskets, follow the concept of different styles of greens. Odds are if You play 3 (Ball) Golf courses You are going to find Yourself putting on one that is a slower/faster green then the others, You then have to change Your putting style for that 15 footer. Same thing with Disc Golf, I'm sure all of You who travel have been to a course that has had single chains or a low rim. You have to change Your putting style slightly so that they will stick.

Ok, that is enough rambling for now.

Great points. I putt quite softly, which inhibits my scoring in the wind, but when i play on older baskets, my putts rarely spit out. One of my buddies putts VERY hard, he is great in the wind and new baskets, but on old baskets he has MAJOR spit out issues. You have to react and mold your game to the course you are playing, including the putting style on the baskets.

 

[ScottyLove]

Solar powered sound chip programmed with the sweet ching sound.

Someone once said that our sport is one of the few with a very noticeable sounds that everyone knows... the sweet ching of the chains has been likened to the swish net snap of basketball. Very few sports have something so recognizable. Sure, the crack of a bat, stick on the ice, or titanium ping driver is good, but nothing so sweet as our signature sound.

 

[Johnny Depth]

People with shot guns in the rough getting to use our discs for trap and skeet

 

[Steve West]

How would you deal with replacing all of the existing targets for the standard target?

You don't have to. Just make sure all new targets comply. Most courses have yet to be installed, and those that exist will need new targets one of these years.

Or, once everyone comes around to realize that the new standard should be open-top baskets (the "tray" of current targets), just cut the pole off at the bottom of the tray.