Jun. 3—This article is the third and last story in a three-part series about Dennis Vahsholtz and the growth of the sport of disc golf.

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2020 saw a huge year of growth for disc golf. A couple of months after the COVID-19 pandemic shut downs occurred, some people picked up disc golf. According to a Professional Disc Golf Association Board of Directors meeting Jan 19, 2021, the sport saw 2,455 new players in January 2021. That was a 270.29 percent increase from January 2020 with 663 new players.

Dennis Vahsholtz has seen the sport grow since he started in the sport in 1985. Vahsholtz lives in Herington and is owner of Discs Unlimited, professional player and Hall of Fame member of the Kansas Flying Disc Association.

“It never really took off until the pandemic,” Vahsholtz said. “Disc golf is just a perfect sport for outdoor recreation, social distancing and is cheap. You don’t have any tee times. For the cost of one to three discs, you can have a bundle of fun for no cost.”

The growth can be seen in the PDGA member player numbers. Vahsholtz said his player number is 3592, which he received in 1988. Between 1983 and 1988, the player base grew by less than 500 players. When the pandemic began, Vahsholtz said the player number went up to the 90,000s. Now in 2022, the player numbers reach into the 200,000s.

Another personal example is the course Vahsholtz created in the Father Padilla Park in Herington. The course was the fourth course in the state of Kansas. Now, there are around 250 courses in the state.

Earlier this year, the team that owns UDisc, an app that has a map of all registered courses in the world, a score tracker, event tracker and other disc golf features, released statistics from the app to discover if the 2020 disc golf growth was a bubble or has continued…