How did you find disc golf? What does it mean to you now? Where do you see it going?

[Wassfilleach]

I've been playing since the late 90s. Some friends and I played ultimate in a league we created while we simultaneously explored disc golf. I was fortunate enough to live in an area where there was an abundance of courses and a dedicated community in place. The faces of that community have changed over the years but it still very much - thriving.

Since then I have seen the sport steadily grow. I do have to say that what we are witnessing now is an absolute EXPLOSION in growth.

I'd like to hear your experience in finding the sport, what it means to you and where you see it going. Are you here for the long haul? Is it stepping stone for something else?

uno online​

 

[Casey 1988]

I was shown Via an uncle in 2003 (where I live now Pierre Pier South Dakota) who lives in an old meca of disc golf Very Western NY but a dead Meca when baskets were made until 1990 where he found in 1998 sport when he wanted to do more disc sports finding some old private courses, one now using Mach II.

I had seen a disc in 1990's when looking at a very old, possibly original Play It Again Sports in Madison Wisconsin was an old Desanty Disc Dimple Driver, a fairway disc now where speed would be when I was looking for a specific brand of level 2 Karate uniform used having brands logo on a blue uniform, before Karate of America Merged with/bought out by Blackbelt of America.

 

[MHaas]

Had a good friend in college who played ultimate introduce me to it, this would've been the fall of 1993. He took a few of us out to Grand Woods in Waverly, MI and I was at In Flight in East Lansing buying my first discs later that same day (purple Shark, orange Aviar). Played out at Grand Woods 3-4 times a week for the rest of my time at Michigan State.

 

[itsRudy]

Back in 2016, I went to a park, Upper Salford, just to walk to get in shape and lose weight. I saw these strange Pagan altars and had no clue what they were. They popped up again and again until I counted 9 of them in one visit. I reasoned they were for joggers to jingle as they passed by, like a milestone. They just made no sense but parks sometimes had weird stuff like those calisthenic installs so why not?

Then I drove by a now extinct course, the Cedars, that had one near the main street. I was just astounded to see another place have it in the wild. Later, I caught some type of Disc Golf clip on Youtube by chance and it all clicked. Maybe it was a Brodie Smith ace trick shot thing, memory is hazy there. After that got an innova starter pack and never looked back.

I love the game and am a regional bagger as my money and time allows. Was just back at Upper Salford yesterday, and from a course that 9 and no players most days, it was now 18 and had 6 groups of about 16 players just of who was before and after me.

I don't really care how the sport will go, aside from number of courses, but I have no real stake in it being ultra popular. I say that as someone who does a lot of niche things against the grain, rather than apathy.

 

[Casey 1988]

I was shown Via an uncle in 2003 (where I live now Pierre Pier South Dakota) who lives in an old meca of disc golf Very Western NY but a dead Meca when baskets were made until 1990 where he found in 1998 sport when he wanted to do more disc sports finding some old private courses, one now using Mach II.

I had seen a disc in 1990's when looking at a very old, possibly original Play It Again Sports in Madison Wisconsin was an old Desanty Disc Dimple Driver, a fairway disc now where speed would be when I was looking for a specific brand of level 2 Karate uniform used having brands logo on a blue uniform, before Karate of America Merged with/bought out by Blackbelt of America.

I just Found out earlier today my Cousin who was living with uncle in early high school at time in 2003 and helped me get into disc golf, he Passed away today in early hours at night.

 

[biscoe]

I just Found out earlier today my Cousin who was living with uncle in early high school at time in 2003 and helped me get into disc golf, he Passed away today in early hours at night.

Condolences to you and your family Casey.

 

[2naphish]

being a yard Frisbee player since 1965 (at 6 years old) as soon as a friend saw a disc golf course in 1981 and told me about it i was hooked. i benefitted from the fact that Steve Wisecup was our course pro and the daily players were Doug Thompson and Slate Paul (who i played with on his first few rounds and beat the crap out of me).

today it is a lifetime sport on my 43rd season.

i can see the Covid era players (which were a pain in the backside in general) falling away and the truly hooked people (mostly above 30) happily improving their skills and as interested as i was at their age as a positive.

hey , you asked.

 

[Casey 1988]

In cool News my Uncle (still living) Played a Round in a tournament, Same uncle who got me stared with a Disc he found, 166 gram Rubber Putter my mom has in her bag same as my brothers micro bead Classic Grid Aviar as her main putter as a secondary is a Classic Grid modern and a old Wham-O Putter basicaly from old , I lost on second disc a Stingeray course ever played a defunct sign course in my town.

 

[ChrisinFL]

I've been playing since the late 90s. Some friends and I played ultimate in a league we created while we simultaneously explored disc golf. I was fortunate enough to live in an area where there was an abundance of courses and a dedicated community in place. The faces of that community have changed over the years but it still very much - thriving.

Since then I have seen the sport steadily grow. I do have to say that what we are witnessing now is an absolute EXPLOSION in growth.

I'd like to hear your experience in finding the sport, what it means to you and where you see it going. Are you here for the long haul? Is it stepping stone for something else?

uno online​

My sons and I used to hike trails at Loyce Harpe Park. My older son moved away in the Navy, but my younger son and I stumbled across Hidden Oaks, I said do you want to try "frisbee golf", he said sure, so I bought two regular frisbees. First time we played, we figured out they weren't the right "frisbees", I went online, and bought two DG starter sets. That was one year ago this month. Two months later I started buying every disc I thought would help us improve - I now have over 200. I am 55, and my younger son is almost 17. We play mostly even with each other, even though he plays once a week on his day with me, and practices almost none, and I usually play 2-5 times/week and practice some too. Now we have a regular foursome - we play as a team against two other guys almost every Friday. We started out averaging maybe five shots per hole or more, took a couple lessons recently, and we now average pretty much par (individually), 3-4 under par as a team, usually playing a beginner friendly but not super easy course. There is a "pro" course in town (Holloway), that is long and nearly every shot has to land on a 20' fairway - I played there twice, and decided it is way too frustrating for us at this point, but we do fine at several other courses we have played. I see it as great fun, a relationship builder for my son and I, a fun way to reduce his screens time, and a sport I love and will play as long as my body allows me too. I wish we discovered it sooner!

 

[Thomashasfun]

I was playing Magic: The Gathering religiously in the late 90's/early 00's and the owner of the card shop I frequented invited me to play disc golf. I joined having never even thrown a frisbee before, he handed me a DX Viper and I proceeded to throw that thing 50 feet in front of me and 100 feet to the left of me. He laughed his ass off and we continued to play together for many months. I didn't really get into until I got my first birdie ever which was during the Super Bowl, the same one where Justin Timberlake ripped of a piece of Janet Jackson's shirt and the whole world lost its collective minds seeing a booby but I digress lol. When I got that birdie is when I consider that I started playing disc golf because after that it became my main hobby.

What it means to me now is a lot. I've met some my best friends playing disc golf (@discRabbit AKA cefire) and continue to meet people through the game. It's been a part of my weight loss goals, mental health, and also crippling debt lol no but seriously disc golf has been a big part of my life and one of my biggest regrets is having a 5 year gap in my time playing the game.

Where is disc golf going? IDK but grow the sport can eat the peanuts out of my turds.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Saw people throwing frisbees at baskets at Cass Benton, in Hines Park, and thought, "That might be fun to do with the kids."

That was in back in 2004.

 

[PastorofMuppets]

My parents sent me to church camp when I was like 12, probably more to get rid of me for a week than to get me into religion. lol And they had three old school Mach baskets on the property. They had like two horribly scarred up cheap beach frisbees you could check out at the Rec center to "play" with. No tee pads, no signs, no instructions and the "fun" lasted all of about 5 minutes before we moved on to other things more interesting, like the girls at the camp. No clue it was a sport, that there was a professional side, or that it was anything other than something to do in a park with a frisbee. And it faded into oblivion in my memories.

Flash forward 25 years and I walk/jog the local track in our park and notice these same style baskets being installed and concrete tees being poured. Peaked my interest so I inquired about it and am told a "disc golf" course is being installed. Being a ball golfer I kinda chuckled, remembered those 3 baskets and beat frisbees from my childhood and went on about exercising. Then one day at work my boss shows me a starter pack he had bought and some hilarious video clips of him trying it out, and he convinces me and another manager to buy one too and play a round with him. Due to previous injuries I had to throw opposite handed and I was god awful, but I had fun, and a little competitive part of me wanted to get just good enough to beat my coworkers. Plus I could walk and/or jog the course and continue my exercise routine without an added benefit of competing against my friends, the course, myself, previous scores etc. Loved finding disc golf, hated finding it so late in life.

 

[Countchunkula]

2003 - A friend took me and another friend out to the original Knock Knolls course in Naperville, IL. A buddy of his (who I've since played a ton of rounds with and is an all around good guy) had left a Jansport backpack with a dozen random discs in his car. The guy who brought us out had played maybe a handful of rounds and had no idea what he was doing. We were all terrible. It was a fun afternoon, but I didn't play again for a few years.

2006 - Lost my best friend in a car accident over memorial day weekend. I was in a pretty bad place; just wallowing in self pity. Come July, my girlfriend (now wife) buys her brother ("another friend" from above), her, and me a couple of discs each and we head out to the Oakbrook, IL course. Still terrible, but just getting out in the woods really helped everyone's state of mind. I worked a few blocks away, so I start heading out there every day after work and they would meet me up there. We'd play until it got too dark to find our discs. Rinse and repeat. Got some old school technique advice from the league players (pull in a straight line; just like starting a lawnmower). That worked ok, but we all got way more distance just throwing overstable discs forehand.

Next few years - I start really trying to learn backhand by watching better players and finding what I could online. This is when I discovered DGR and later DGCR. We start trying to play all the courses in the area and playing when we travel. Eventually my backhand gets better, but my forehand regresses. We're still playing as much as possible and play leagues and tournaments occasionally. Both are fun, but we could get in so many more holes per day just playing casual rounds.

Now - Life/responsibilities got in the way and I don't play near as much as I'd like. Still love it and will keep playing as long as I'm physically able.

 

[Pizza God]

So, I have ALWAYS thrown Frisbee's since I was a kid. My dad tought me how to "hook" around tree's on camping trips.

In the neighborhood we played "War" where we basically played a version of Guts (although we made it up) I remember as a kid at my grandparents house I would walk to the 5 and dime store throwing my frisbee from light poll to light poll.

My freshman year at NTSU (now UNT) I was walking though the Student Union and the Ultimate Team had a table set up. I made it to the first practice after that meeting.

So that would have been Spring of 1986, I played Ultimate with the North Texas team for a couple of years playing in tournaments not just in Denton, but Dallas, Austin, College Station, Albuquerque and Batton Rouge. One of the things the team did after Thursday night practice was to go drinking at Fry St (anyone from the area knows what I am talking about) At Midnight we would tee off and play the obstacle course across campus. (and yes, I still have a copy of the map)

While I was playing Ultimate, my mom cut out an article from the Plano paper about the new Frisbee Golf course in town. I did play a round with my Ultimate frisbee. I only remember playing one round and didn't think much about it.

So, in April of 1988, the Student Union ran a Frisbee Golf tournament on this obstacle course. My girlfriend and I (she also played Ultimate with me) joined. We were put on the card with the event organizer and 2 other guys. We had our 165 Ultimate Frisbee's. The event guy had another type of fastback frisbee and the other 2 guys had these little frisbee's I had never seen before. On the first hole I parked it. Then these guys threw just as far as I did with those discs. That is where I got introduced to the Aviar. These guys told me they had gotten them from DJ Sporting goods in Carrollton and there was a "Disc Golf" course a block away from there. BTW, I won that mini tournament, my girlfriend (now wife of 34 years) got 2nd.

So Sunday morning, I drove the 20 miles to Carrollton and purchased my first 2 discs, drove over to the course which was flooded into a lake because it was raining cats and dogs.

The next week I drove back down to Carrollton (Which was the closest course to Denton at the time) and played my first round with actual golf discs. I remember throwing my F15 300ft to the left, then my Lighting 300ft to the right. By the end of the round I was getting them to go where I wanted.

It didn't take me long to find the mini the local club ran at the course. From there I found out about a tournament in June. So just over 2 months after starting, I played my first tournament.

I was already hooked, I never really did play Ultimate again, I was full time Disc Golf. I played almost every day.

And yes, these are the actual first 2 discs I ever purchased. I Carried both in my bag for a while because the F15 Eagle floated and the Lighting was my roller disc till the Stingray came out.

 

[Casey 1988]

I was playing Magic: The Gathering religiously in the late 90's/early 00's and the owner of the card shop I frequented invited me to play disc golf. I joined having never even thrown a frisbee before, he handed me a DX Viper and I proceeded to throw that thing 50 feet in front of me and 100 feet to the left of me. He laughed his ass off and we continued to play together for many months. I didn't really get into until I got my first birdie ever which was during the Super Bowl, the same one where Justin Timberlake ripped of a piece of Janet Jackson's shirt and the whole world lost its collective minds seeing a booby but I digress lol. When I got that birdie is when I consider that I started playing disc golf because after that it became my main hobby.

What it means to me now is a lot. I've met some my best friends playing disc golf (@discRabbit AKA cefire) and continue to meet people through the game. It's been a part of my weight loss goals, mental health, and also crippling debt lol no but seriously disc golf has been a big part of my life and one of my biggest regrets is having a 5 year gap in my time playing the game.

Where is disc golf going? IDK but grow the sport can eat the peanuts out of my turds.

I was playing MTG since winter 2003 until early 2010s sets became so over powered people could no play old sets with new and now Mattel buying out Wisards of the coast, so nobody is playing only colleting odd tie in sets. even now
90% 2000's and 1990's were good as were hearing/reading good about 2020--2022 sets before Mattel buyout in 2023.

 

[HyzerRoc]

Two friends took me out to play with Frisbees at a local park that had these baskets. At first we played with cheap Frisbees that wouldnt like to fly very much, but one of the friends bought a crosslap starters pack soon after. We looked it up and that was 12 years ago. We occasionally played with that one and one of my friends scored multiple aces with it on 70 meter long holes. They also got some Nuke SS so from that point on we played with the rule that whoever scored the worst could choose their discs for the next hole. So whoever scored worst picked the pink Nuke SS in Z plastic, the other one got the blue Nuke SS and the third had to make do with the crappy players pack discs. We somehow went on like that for 4 years until I got my own 3 discs. At that point I got really into it but couldnt afford to ever get more than like 10 discs. I also got an Innova shoulder bag for the discs while one of my friends padded out an Aldi bag with styrofoam und used that one as his disc bag for a couple of years. At that point I also watched form videos and lurked around this forum, watching some Sidewinder vids as well.

I actually stopped playing for some time, then picked it up again before corona hit which closed the parks down and laid it off for a couple of years. Then online video games weren't fun anymore and I couldn't ride my bike because of a knee injury. Naturally this led to picking up discgolf again and ever since then I play my local 1-euro sunday league and got really obsessed with getting better. After a stressful day at work I got throw away my worries. It also helped me to connect to some locals as I moved across the country during corona which also meant it was really hard to make new friends in the new place. Now im starting to get more involved in the local club, going to tourneys and so on. So it means a lot for me.

 

[KillerKoala777]

In high school I think I played once with the youth group at my church. I don't really remember the specifics nor did I get hooked at that time. I went to college and joined the ultimate team for my 4 years there. There was a disc golf course there that I think I played once, but we would play random obstacle golf with the ultimate discs some nights. After I was out of college about a year (2016), my brother-in-law invited me to play and gave me an old Innova shoulder bag and 5 discs. I played a little with that equipment but wasn't totally hooked. I'm not sure how it happened, but in 2018, I fell in love with the game and I have been hooked ever since. I try to play at least once a week (as work, school and my child allow) and now try to bag as many courses and states as I can.

 

[Brychanus]

Height of COVID I was depressed. A colleague invited me out and I instantly felt in love with the new dopamine boost and fixation.

Couldn't throw 100'. Got hurt easily. Worked(ing) hard to get better.

To me it means new intellectual stimulation, literal breaths of fresh air, and an escape from things I enjoy less. New opportunities for connections and new puzzles to solve. Time with my 2 year old outside being silly. Getting to know my body better and find motivation to take care of it in a new way. Something accessible to many but still enjoyed by relatively few.

Hope I'm here for the long haul, can't really seem to step away. I just hope my body will put up with what I've put it through.

 

[Pizza God]

I just realized I didn't answer all the question, only about my journey into Disc Golf.

What does disc golf mean to me now.

Escape. I don't think about anything but the course I am playing. I really enjoy my day trips, specially the ones though all the small towns. Other than being on my feet working, it's the only exercise I get.

Where do I see it going?

Well, I LOVE seeing families out playing together. I think because of the cost and access to courses, this sports rec players will just keep growing and growing. More courses in the ground too. I do believe Disc Golf has lost a lot of the "Frisbee Family" it started with, but back in the 90's we never though anyone would make a living doing this.

As we get more rec players playing, money will keep coming into the sport from outside sponsors. That day will come.

 

[TiltedFlipCurves]

I knew about it as a kid, but other than a hole or two with frisbees I couldn't play the course before it got neglected and removed. Forgot about it until there was a point where my ex-brother in law took me, then my brother did, then I wanted to keep playing (and beat him eventually ) so he gave me some discs for Christmas, then I had nothing better to do so I started playing regularly January 2021 and tourneys September 2022. Am I any good? Nope. Still getting discs to fly right and miss all the trees, there's nothing like it.

Where is it going? Hard to say.

But if we don't get it into the Olympics alongside breakdance we have failed as a community