disc golf

disc golf, a creative variant of traditional golf in which players throw plastic flying discs on a course. The goal of disc golf is to land the disc in a series of basket targets and complete the course with the fewest number of throws. The sport arose spontaneously in many different locations soon after the introduction of the Frisbee disc in 1957 and has since become formalized, with more than 15,000 courses worldwide and attracting players of all ages for recreational play and professional tournaments. Competition includes all of the popular golf formats, such as singles, doubles, match, and team play. Like tennis, bowling, and traditional golf, disc golf is considered a “lifetime sport” that can be played even as one ages. In addition, many courses in the United States and elsewhere are free for public use and discs are relatively inexpensive, making the sport more accessible than those that require more equipment or exclusive facilities.

Equipment and rules of play

While early players used lightweight throw-and-catch discs, disc golf equipment has steadily evolved to the use of high-performance low-profile discs that fly much farther and can be artfully controlled by skilled throwers. Modern players typically use different types of discs for drives, fairway throws, approach shots, and putting, and most serious players carry from 10 to 30 different discs in backpacks or carts. Formally regulated by the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), most discs are 21 cm (8.3 inches) in diameter and typically range from 150 to 180 grams (5.3 to 6.3 ounces) in weight, though lighter weights are available. Discs come in a variety of plastics and molds and are designed to execute different flight paths when properly thrown. By 2024 the PDGA’s Technical Standards had approved more than 2,000 disc models for competitive play from about 200 different companies.

Disc golf courses usually have 9 or 18 “holes,” and the distance from the tee to the target typically ranges between 60 and 120 meters (roughly 200 to 400 feet). A player begins each hole by throwing a drive from a tee pad that is usually a flat hard surface, such as concrete or synthetic turf. The foot placement for the next throw is established where the disc from the previous throw came to rest. That spot, the lie, is directly behind the previously thrown disc. Most holes are par-three, meaning a player should be able to complete it in three throws: the initial drive, a fairway or approach shot, and the final putt at the target. A hole is completed when the disc comes to rest in the target. In modern disc golf, the target consists of a pole with an assembly of chains suspended above a lower tray. The chains are designed to catch the disc in flight and drop it down into the tray, or “basket” as it is often called. After each hole, players tally their scores and move on to the next hole.

To navigate the course, players use a variety of throwing techniques, primarily backhand and forehand (also known as sidearm) throws. Much of the strategy relies on controlling the fight of the disc, which can be curved in either direction, made to hover, skip, or roll on the ground. The most challenging courses require all of those skills, providing fairways that demand powerful precisely controlled flights. Top players often throw farther than 120 meters.

History, organization, and expansion

After the early years of scattered, informal play on makeshift “object courses” using trees, light posts, and similar targets, more organized competitive play began to coalesce in the mid-1970s. In 1974 two seminal events emerged that drew disc golf enthusiasts from across the United States. The first, held in May, was the Octad overall event in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which featured 18 holes that were played to trees marked by ribbons. That competition brought many of the earliest disc golfers together for the first time and set the stage for a much larger event later that year.

In early August 1974 Jim Palmeri and the Rochester Frisbee Club hosted the American Flying Disc Open at St. John Fisher College (now University) in Rochester, New York. Players were astonished to hear that the winner of the event would receive a new car: a Datsun B210. This tempting prize attracted some 60 players from across the U.S. who were keen to test their disc golfing skills. Palmeri felt that the game needed a more definitive conclusion to each hole than simply having the disc carom off of a marked object, so he developed a ground target that was a 15-cm (6-inch) high, 61-cm (2-foot) square cardboard box. After the success of that pivotal event, most competitions experimented with other ground targets such as larger wire cages.

In 1975 the first permanent disc golf course was established in Oak Grove Park (now called the Hahamongna Watershed Park) in Pasadena, California. The course, used for that year’s World Frisbee Championships (WFC), featured 18 pole targets and was designed by Ed Headrick, an executive at Wham-O, the company that manufactured Frisbee brand discs and sponsored the event. Not long after the championship, Headrick resigned from Wham-O and committed his efforts to the design of an improved target for the game. With the help of his son, Ken Headrick, the Disc Pole Hole was born. Their invention was quickly embraced by players and became the new standard for play. Thus, for the 1976 WFC, the new targets were in place on the Oak Grove course.

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That same summer, Ed Headrick founded the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) both to organize competitions and to promote adoption and sales of his new target. Early growth was slow but steady and was spread nationally in part by a popular series of events run by the International Frisbee Association (IFA) that served as qualifiers for the annual WFC. That series served to introduce the emerging set of disc golf rules and Headrick’s Disc Pole Hole to many new players and areas. That series also helped to drive the installation of more permanent courses, mainly in public parks.

In 1982 the PDGA hosted its first Disc Golf World Championships in Los Angeles. By then, there were about 120 courses with Disc Pole Holes in the ground across North America and momentum was building. Two years later Headrick handed over control of the PDGA to the players, and the organization relaunched as an independent association. Over the succeeding years, PDGA membership has steadily grown, as has the number of public and private courses. There are now many events at all levels, from local league play to world championships and a televised professional circuit run by the Disc Golf Pro Tour.

Although many formal events and leagues were canceled or postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the closure of gyms and other recreational outlets during that time actually generated a spike in interest in disc golf because the outdoor sport can be played solo or in socially distanced groups. As of 2024 the PDGA was annually sanctioning more than 9,000 events and close to 1,500 leagues. Registered membership was rapidly approaching 300,000, with more than 100,000 active memberships.

Especially rapid growth of the game has been seen throughout Europe and Asia, with top players emerging from those regions. Several professional players and organizations have also been active in growing the sport in Latin America and Africa. Enthusiasts look forward to a future of booming popularity with players of all ages, interscholastic and collegiate competition, disc golf resorts, and perhaps even Olympic glory.