The amount of skill development is so much higher (and rate of skill atrophication so much faster) in golf that they really aren't even comparable... And THAT is the point I was getting at, to why disc golf is a better hobby for young parents who have less leisure time.
Right conclusion, wrong reason, imo. To me the skill development and atrophy is NOT higher in ball golf, in fact I would say it is much higher in disc golf, it just occurs at a higher level than ball golf.
Ball golf is actually very easy to progress in skill, once you acquire the ability to properly strike the ball. Acquiring the ability to properly strike the ball at all is hard. To do it a majority of the time is incredibly hard. On the other hand, acquiring the ability to throw a disc is a non issue; EVERYONE can throw a disc from throw #1. And progressing up to ~350' isn't all that hard.
But once a golfer has the ability to strike the ball, everything else after that is just not that hard. With solid contact the club does the work for you. Your scores magically drop. A person can go from the 100s to the 80s in a relatively short amount of time once the proper strike clicks. Putting is the same way. Once a golfer discovers that the swing plane of the putter face actually makes putts hook and slice, all of a sudden they aren't 4 putting and missing 3' putts like they used to. Easy 5 strokes gone over night. Another thing happens when golfers make this jump, they splurge for a club fitting and it becomes even easier. Golf is a game of manipulating simple machines after all, and if your simple machines are better so are you!
Contrast this to our hapless disc golfer. He quickly shot up to 380' drive, and routinely misses 50% of his C1x putts and 95% of his C2 putts. From here on out the struggle is straight up hill. There is no easy fix for putting accuracy. The ball golfer can learn how to study greens and practice extremely simple putt plane drills. The disc golfer is in voodoo territory. How many disc golfers throw hundreds of practice putts a day and still cannot make any significant number of 30' putts? Meanwhile they are still out there throwing hours of field work trying to get their drive over 400'.
As for atrophy, I only have personal anecdotal experience with that. I found the hit a few years ago and was throwing up to 500'. Then one offseason I completely lost it. I still don't have it back, and I am actually regressing below 400' where now to be honest with myself I throw 390'. Putting seems to be the same way for most people. One month you have progress, then it all goes away.
Your conclusion is accurate though. Getting good enough to enjoy disc golf is a matter of minutes, while ball golf can take some time. Getting through to a truly proficient level, to me, is easier in ball golf. The machines (clubs) give me feedback which I can build on to get better. Disc golf has no feedback. Oh the disc went 380' this time. No idea why. Oh it went 410' this time. No idea why. Oh I grip locked this time. Still clueless. Keep throwing, keep throwing, never get better...