Hotels have been packed and the City of Tyler has been bustling as the 2021 PDGA Texas State Championships kicks off the Professional Disc Golf Association tour.
Professionals and amateurs from all over the nation arrived earlier this week to start two days of practice at the Dogwood Course at Lindsey Park.
States are in Tyler this weekend.
Disc golf is like regular golf, except the disc looks like a Frisbee. The sport has been around since 1970, but has increased in popularity with the Disc Golf Network and players with sponsors and even their own trading cards.
The top professional men started the three-day tournament this morning and the women start around 2:30 p.m. They are looking to finish in the top 10 today and advance into the elite card. All golfers will be seeded after today’s round.
One of the top female disc golfers in the nation, Ohn Scoggins of Los Angeles, recently won a tune up for the national tour, the 2021 Memorial FPO.
She has been impressed with Tyler and the course.
“I really love the course because in California, we don’t have as many trees. It’s beautiful and the city and the people are very nice, friendly and wish us luck,” said Scoggins. “Everything has been perfect. And the weather is nice, so we love it.”
VIDEO with Steven Storrie, tournament director in Tyler and Local Pro John Willis from the Disc Golf Pro Tour YouTube page:
With close to 200,000 members in 54 countries, disc golf is taking off. There are over 8,000 courses nationwide and several in Tyler and Longview.
Disc golf’s popularity is rising with a television and YouTube shows and events as well as trading cards, merchandise and a magazine.
The last two years, we have had a big number of people playing and our membership is close to 200,000,” said Scoggins. “When Covid happened, people wondered what sport they could play and they tried this sport. We have no many new faces and memberships.”
Scoggins started playing for fun 10 years ago and turned the hobby into a professional career.
“I just played for fun. I had no idea I would be here today. Disc golf is crazy. It takes time to like it and when you like it, it’s additive and so much fun,” Scoggins said. “You will see so many throw long, some throw short, backhand, rollers … it’s so addictive. I can not stop. Plus I like to play sports that are outside.”
With the difficulty of the course in Tyler, Scoggins could be in for a five-hour round of disc golf today. The players have media obligations and there are several areas to buy merchandise.
“It feels good when people recognize me. People ask me to sign a picture and it makes me very proud,” Scoggins said. “I’ve been playing for many years and worked very hard to get into the top 10 of all the women in the sport. Finally, my hard work has paid off. People are recognizing me. “
A post from Innova Discs on Instagram after Ohn Scoggins won the FPO championships.
When wrist injuries and the pandemic robbed her of an outlet for her competitive spirit, Sarah Austin rediscovered disc golf. Austin, an Elon senior, now frequents local courses and tournaments as a proud professional disc golfer.
Disc golf, much like golf, is played on a course of nine to 18 holes. Each hole has a set par, or number of disc throws that is expected to get the disc in the basket. The object of the game is to complete the course in as few throws as possible for a higher ranking.
Though she was introduced to the sport as a child, playing once or twice a year with her family, Austin said she did not begin to take it seriously until early 2020.
Austin began hitting the course at least once a week, but when the pandemic arrived, it only pushed her play more.
“I played almost every single day,” Austin said. “Then by August of 2020, I decided I wanted to join the PDGA, which is the Professional Disc Golf Association, and I started playing competitively, and I’ve been playing competitively since then.”
The PDGA hosts and sponsors disc golf tournaments around the globe, including several within a short drive from Elon. Disc golf tournaments are similar to golf tournaments. They typically last two to four days, during which players compete in one round per day of 18 holes each.
Professionals and amateurs often play in the same tournaments at the local level, but pros pay a higher entry fee. The highest reward an amateur can hope for is store credit to the disc golf club or a local sports equipment store. As a pro, the reward for winning a tournament is cash.
Daniel Bascuñan-Wiley ’21, an amateur disc golfer, said there’s not much difference between professional and amateur tournaments, other than the value of the prize.
“You can still get a payout, but normally that in like a voucher for merch or swag or discs or whatever so I feel like the stakes might be a little bit lower,” Bascuñan-Wiley said. “It is not as serious as if you were playing pro, where you put a lot of money in and you have a lot at stake so you have to be really zoned in every time.”
For Austin, the high stakes sounded exciting, so after she had won her fair share of disc golf merchandise, she began looking for something more rewarding.
“After playing for a year and a half, I accumulated probably more than 150 discs,” Austin said. “I thought, ‘I’m done with being an amateur, I think I’m ready to go pro.’”
Austin submitted an application to the PDGA in November 2021 and paid the $75 annual membership fee, and she became a professional disc golfer.
“I’ve made about $600 in the past two months, and that’s just from playing in local tournaments in North Carolina,” Austin said. “That $600 came from four different tournaments, I believe, and I won all of them. I’m on a bit of a winning streak right now.”
Austin’s winning streak has taken her across the Southeast. Her latest tournament, the Alamance County Pro-Am, was hosted at Cedarock Park — only a 20-minute drive from Elon’s campus — but she has traveled as far as Florida for tournaments.
“I played in the amateur world championships last August, so I went and played in Orlando,” Austin said. “But I’d say typically I travel between 30 minutes and two hours for a normal weekend.”
Bascuñan-Wiley also competed at the Alamance County Pro-Am, playing in and winning the second amateur division. The Alamance County Pro-Am, like most disc golf tournaments, is divided into different divisions ranging from novice to professional, based on experience and PDGA membership.
Austin’s recent success has earned her a sponsorship deal with the Burlington franchise of Play It Again Sports.
“This is very exciting for me,” Austin said. “Play It Again Sports is a company I’ve been familiar with since I was young.”
The sponsorship, which began in January, had Austin promote Play It Again on her social media page and at tournaments, and the company gives her around $100 a month to fund tournament and equipment fees.
Sponsorships also interest Bascuñan-Wiley, but not just for himself. Bascuñan-Wiley runs ROBOT Disc Golf, a disc golf organization that posts tips and gives an inside look at PDGA tournaments, with his friend Matthew Mitten ’21. For now, ROBOT is just a way for Bascuñan-Wiley and Mitten to brand themselves on social media, but they have dreams of transforming it into a business, and offering sponsorship deals to professional disc golf players.
“We’re hoping to start sponsoring people,” Bascuñan-Wiley said. “Right now, we don’t know what that will look like. We’re thinking about doing social media content for people, sending out some merch, creating golf polos, and getting discs with our stamp on it.”
But Bascuñan-Wiley isn’t interested in becoming a professional himself quite yet.
“Maybe down the road. I think, for now, the skill set is not there. I think I’ve gotten a lot better, but not good enough to be winning cash,” Bascuñan-Wiley said.
For Austin, on the other hand, going pro and finding success did take effort, but she was able to manage the stress and pressure.
“Instead of saying, ‘Oh, it’s just for fun,’ now, it’s just for fun but there’s also $200 on the line,” Austin said. “It adds a little more pressure, but I remind myself that I do this for my mental health and for fun as my priority, and secondary is the money.”
Disc golf is a primarily male-dominated sport, according to Austin, but she said demographics are changing, making her excited for the future. In 2020, the PDGA reported that its membership was 93% men in an annual demographic report.
“It’s grown the past couple years, but it’s very skewed,” Austin said. “So it’s nice that they’re holding divisions for women to play against other women.”
Austin is looking for further success on the course as the professional disc golf season gets into full swing in the spring and summer.
The late Dr. Stancil Johnson, PDGA No. 009, was fond of quoting Michael Murphy’s 1972 classic, Golf in the Kingdom, which casts the sport as a contest between the golfer and the golf course; an effort to master one’s surroundings.
“Where other sports are combative in nature, force against force,” Johnson wrote in the Winter 1991 edition of Disc Golf World News. “Golf is an effort to harmonize with the ‘forces of the field’, as Murphy calls it. I would describe it as becoming one with nature. As such, a game of golf is a symbolic journey through life.”
On Wednesday in Emporia, through downpours, lightning strikes and the death of a beloved family member, mother nature proved to be a formidable foe.
The day began with tragic news of the sudden passing of Ricky Wysocki’s sister, Lauren Mayse, from complications caused by brain cancer.
Wysocki, a strong favorite to win his third-consecutive PDGA Elite Series event this week at the DDO, departed from Emporia on Tuesday after learning of Lauren’s condition and was questionable for his start until just before his 1:20 p.m. tee time.
When he did return in time to take his place alongside Paul McBeth, Nikko Locastro and Chris Clemons on the DGN live broadcast feature card, the usually-raucous atmosphere surrounding the first tee was replaced with an air of somber respect for the two-time PDGA World Champion.
The weight of life and death have a way of putting even the most illustrious sporting events in perspective.
It took the better part of an hour for Wysocki and McBeth to find their rhythm, and it wasn’t until hole 6 that both players found their way below par for good. Once they got rolling, however, it was a vintage battle as both players scorched the back nine to finish at 10-under par.
The hot scores of the day, however, came from Eagle McMahon and Calvin Heimburg, who were battling it out on 1:00 p.m. feature card.
McMahon got off to a tough start after throwing his second shot out of bounds on hole 1, only to hear the weather delay horn blow a few seconds after the red OB flag was waived.
“It was a weird start because I threw two shots and then they blew the horn,” McMahon said following his round. “On the second shot—as soon it left my hand the disc was going straight to OB. I had to sort myself out during the rain delay, and I just came back and told myself to play one hole at a time.”
The strategy appears to have worked, as McMahon rallied off a string of birdies that culminated with a 50-foot putt on hole 18 that just caught the bottom of the band and dropped in. It was a dramatic finish that left the 2018 Glass Blown Open champion with a smile on his face.
Following his bogie on hole 1, McMahon went 15-under through the remaining 17 holes to finish at 14-under par.
Heimburg completed his own 14-under demolition of the Jones Gold track in less dramatic fashion, dropping-in a ‘routine’ 27-footer for his birdie on hole 18. He matched McMahon by limiting himself to a single bogie on the day (hole 7) and bested him with 15 birdies on the day.
“I definitely didn’t expect to shoot a 14 when I saw the forecast with rain in play,” Heimburg, a two-time National Tour champion, said. “But luckily even though it rained on us it wasn’t pouring and the wind kept down for most of it. When the wind is down here, you have to shoot really hot to be competitive.”
Sitting just behind McMahon and Heimburg on the leaderboard at 13-under par are Ben Callaway and Andrew Presnell, who benefited from earlier tee times that were largely unaffected by the inclement weather, as well as 2020 USDGC Champion Chris Dickerson, who battled alongside the tournament leaders on the 1:00 p.m. feature card.
They’ll be joined by a tight grouping atop the MPO field which includes 17 players within four shots of the lead.
Players will return to Jones Gold for round 2, with the lead card teeing off at 1:20 p.m. CT live on the Disc Golf Network.
March 8, 2022 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with comments
Eagle McMahon at the 2021 Idlewild Open. Photo: DGPT
Eagle McMahon is the new top-rated player in the world after the March 2022 ratings update from the PDGA at 1055. It’s McMahon’s highest rating since last March, when he touched 1056, a career high.
McMahon took the top spot from Ricky Wysocki, whose rating ticked down one spot to 1053. Paul McBeth is in third place: his rating did not change in this update. His 1074-average performance through four rounds in a win at The Memorial was not included in this update because the ratings have yet to be finalized.
The biggest mover near the top of the MPO leaderboard was Gannon Buhr, who leapt 10 ratings points to 1037, a career high, after a 2nd place finish at the 2022 Las Vegas Challenge. It is his first time being rated above 1030. He is now the 11th highest rated touring pro. His rating has climbed 30 points since December 2020.
In FPO, Paige Pierce remains the highest rated player in the world at 980. She is just three points ahead of Kristin Tattar.
Eveliina Salonen and Catrina Allen saw the biggest upward moves in their rating among top 15 pros: a four-point increase. Henna Blomroos’ rating fell five points following a disappointing performance at the Las Vegas Challenge.
The pandemic has taken a toll on our physical and mental health, but now is the time to revive oneself and regain the lost energy for a better lifestyle. Sports and games can be a great help when it comes to taking care of the overall well-being of a person. They help us stay active and fit physically, mentally, and emotionally. In addition, playing sports and games helps us connect better to our friends and family, and strengthen our relationships. Any age group or gender can play the games together.
In this post, we will discuss a sport that will help you rejuvenate and regain your lost energies and guide you to become a professional player of the game—Disc Golf.
What is disc golf?
Disc golf is a flying disc sport in which players, who are also known as disc golfers, throw disc golf discs towards target holes in disc golf baskets. Disc golfers throw discs from a tee pad or lead towards the basket and throw again from where the disc from the previous throw landed. The ultimate goal is to put the discs into the baskets in the minimum throws. The disc golf field mostly contains 9 to 18 holes or baskets.
The sport is similar to golf and is played with similar rules, but disc golf is played with discs and baskets instead of balls and clubs.
Which material is used to make a disc golf disc?
Disc golf discs are made by heating and molding different types of plastics. But, mostly, they are made out of polypropylene plastic which is a thermoplastic polymer resin.
What is the history behind disc golf?
The sport was invented in the early 1900s, and the first game was played in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1927. However, modern disc golf was started in the early 1960s by multiple groups who played disc golf independently.
Who is the father of disc golf?
Ed Headrick, an American toy inventor, is known as the father of disc golf. He worked for Wham-O, a company that designed flying discs, and helped the company redesign the discs and called them Frisbee discs. He split from the company in 1975, and coined and trademarked the term “disc golf.” After that, he started his own company, the Disc Golf Association (DGA), which is also the first disc golf company. The company manufactured discs and targets/baskets, and paved a way to formalize the game. The baskets which are molded on Disc Pole Hole, DGA baskets, are designed by Headrick and his son, and are used in the majority of disc olf courses.
Can you play disc golf on a professional level?
The sport is not just limited to independent groups, but it is played at a professional level as there are various championships and tournaments held worldwide. The game is played in about 40 countries throughout the world. Therefore, there is a wide chance for you to become one of the professional disc golfers.
Is there any official body for the disc golf game?
Like other professional sports and games, there is a governing body for disc golf. The Professional Disc Golf Association, a non-profit, member-owned organization, is the governing body for the game. The main mission of the PDGA is the promotion and sustainable development of disc golf throughout the world. The international organization is formed to control the disc golf game; it organizes various tournaments, develops courses and rules, sets competitive standards, and promotes the game through media and sponsorships, public education, and outreach. As of September 1st, 2021, Nate Heinold (president), Elaine King (vice president), Treasurer David Scherff, Secretary Wilbur Wallis, Laura Nagtegaal, Geoff Hungerford, and Leah Tsinajinnie are the members of the current PDGA executive board.
How to learn disc golf game rules?
A set of standard Professional Disc Golf Association rules should be followed while playing the game. These rules provide a standard game framework for various professional tournaments and championships. But, when it comes to playing the game with your friends and family for rejuvenation, you can take the liberty of using only some basic rules.
Here are some of the basic rules to play disc golf for fun and recreation:
In any game, the security of the players is important; therefore, you should be aware of your surroundings and never throw a disc when other disc golfers or people are within the range, as they can get hurt by the disc.
We have to throw a disc from a tee pad towards a tee hole; thus, the tee throw must be completed within or behind the marked tee area.
When it comes to following the throwing order, the player with the least strokes on the previous holes gets the opportunity to throw first for the next hole.
There are different discs, such as putters, drivers, mid-range drivers, and fairway drivers, used to make different throws. You can learn more about the techniques used for different types of throws. For instance, fairway throws must be made directly behind the lie (the place on the playing surface from where the player takes a stance to throw), and the player should not move past the lie until the disc is at rest. You can learn about the different types of throws from Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) rules.
When a disc rests in the basket or chains, it counts as completing that hole.
Along with the PDGA rule book, you can visit various social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and others to watch videos and read content regarding the game; some premium disc golf stores offer informative content on their websites where you can learn the rules, tips, and tricks of the game.
What are the unsaid rules to be followed in the disc golf course?
When we enter a course or a field, we have to maintain a certain decorum in the space; therefore, there are certain unspoken rules that we should follow in the field:
Disc golfers should remain quiet and avoid unnecessary movement while throwing a disc.
When one disc golfer is throwing a disc, others should stand behind him/her until it is complete.
Keep the courses neat and clean, and do not litter.
Do not damage the vegetation such as trees and bushes around the courses.
Apart from these rules, every course has its set of rules, which you should follow during the play.
How can you make money through the game?
Since disc golf is played at a professional level, you can participate in a Disc Golf Pro Tour, champions cup, elite series events, and other different types of tournaments that offer great monetary prices. For instance, the DGOT tour championship offered a $20,000 top player prize, whereas the United States Disc Golf Championship offered a $10,000 top prize. Additionally, there are rewards for other positions and top rankers. Therefore, the game can help you increase your bank balance while keeping you fit and healthy.
You can also earn money through sponsorships and team salaries, just like top-ranked player Paul McBeth recently signed the highest sponsorship deal in the sport’s history. Therefore, professional disc golf has reached a level of other popular sports in fame and its monetary funds; it is a million-dollar game and is still growing. This is possible with professionals and Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA). You can subscribe to the membership of PDGA Disc Golf Network subscription to keep yourself updated regarding any upcoming tournament, elite series, Disc Golf Pro Tour, and specific state challenges such as the Las Vegas Challenge and many other championship cups.
Where to get durable and affordable disc golf equipment?
Buying equipment is as important as learning the game’s rules because any faulty equipment can hamper the game’s results. Therefore, cost and quality both play an important role in buying the equipment. Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) has standardized the dimensions of discs, baskets, and other gear used for the sport. Therefore, it is recommended to look for equipment approved by the PDGA. You can explore various disc golf stores online and select a premium store that offers premium equipment from popular brands such as Growthesport, Innova Champion Discs, and Discraft, which offer PDGA-approved equipment.
Conclusion:
Thus, you can start playing sports with your friends and family for recreation at various gatherings, and when you develop an interest in the game, you can step up towards a professional career. In addition, this game will help you regain your mental and physical strength and revive your bank balance.
So, by learning the rules and choosing a PDGA-approved disc golf basket, any category of women, men, or children stands a chance to go from an amateur to a professional.
After a three-year hiatus, Mitchell hosted a pro-amateur disc golf tournament over the weekend, which brought nearly 100 competitors and plenty of excitement to the Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course.
As one of the local professional disc golfers who has been a pioneer for the sport in Mitchell over the past decade, Cary Muilenburg was “beyond proud” of Saturday’s tournament. After all, it was the first time in Mitchell’s history that a sanctioned disc golf tournament had a full slate of competitors, capping out at 90.
“We’ve never had a tournament completely fill up in Mitchell yet. Our max was 59 competitors in 2014, and it was just awesome to see such a big turnout,” said Muilenburg, who is also the South Dakota Disc Golf state coordinator. “We haven’t hosted a tournament here since 2018, partly due to construction of the course and the drainage work along the course.”
Alex Beres, of Sioux Falls, winds up to throw a disc during Saturday’s pro-am disc golf tournament hosted at Mitchell’s Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. The PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament was the first to be hosted in Mitchell since 2018. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
Sioux Falls-based Albatross Disc Golf organized the event and tabbed Mitchell’s only 18-hole disc golf course that stretches along Dry Run Creek as the host site for Saturday’s tournament.
Mike Janish, owner of Albatross Disc Golf, raved about the condition and revamped layout of Mitchell’s Dry Run Creek course. While Janish typically hosts pro-am tournaments at Sioux Falls’ courses, he said Mitchell’s course has holes for “every type of shot.”
“It’s such a great course. It has every shot. It has technical shots and long shots,” Janish said of the Dry Run Creek course. “At the beginning of this year, my goal was to get some good courses recognized that haven’t had some tournaments lately. I heard a lot of good things about the setup of the course from people who competed as well, so it was a great tournament.”
Roughly seven years ago, the city of Mitchell’s Parks and Recreation Department shifted the holes to add more distance to the course. According to Muilenburg, the changes provided a more challenging course, while still keeping some shorter distance holes to bring more variety.
The changes have proven to be a success among the local disc golf community, along with catching the eyes of area disc golfers. Muilenburg said it’s becoming more common to see disc golfers trek from Sioux Falls and the surrounding area to play Mitchell’s 18-hole course.
The Mitchell tournament was part of Albatross’ series of summer sanctioned tournaments. Each tournament has a payout for the top finishers. To compete in Saturday’s tournament, pro disc golfers paid a $50 entry fee. It was also sanctioned by the Professional Disc Golf Association, meaning the scores of the pros and amateurs who competed will factor into their rankings.
Austin Jennings, of Mitchell, watches a disc golfer put during Saturday’s pro-am disc golf tournament hosted at Mitchell’s Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. The PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament was the first to be hosted in Mitchell since 2018. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
“You get points based on your standings, which are determined from how you do at the tournaments,” Janish said. “We added some incentive for people to compete and reward those who are playing well consistently.”
Among the 90 competitors who squared off in Saturday’s tournament, Mitchell had 11. Considering the brief tournament hiatus, Muilenburg said the number of Mitchell disc golfers who competed was encouraging to see.
The structure of the tournament included one pro division and four amateur divisions. In the pro division, there were 20 disc golfers who squared off on Saturday, while the four amateur divisions were made up of the remaining 70 players.
During Saturday’s tournament, disc golfers broke into groups of five to play two rounds of disc golf on the 18-hole course.
Sioux Falls’ Taylor Lupton finished on top of the pro division, throwing 16-under-par in the two 18-hole rounds of disc golf. Lupton managed to throw a score of 47 in the first round and 49 in the second round, equating to 16 under. Lupton also took home $360 in payouts for his first place finish.
Mitchell native Shawn Sudbeck narrowly trailed Lupton in the pro division, throwing 14-under-par on two rounds of disc golf. Sudbeck’s strong performance earned him a second place finish in the top division, helping him take home $200 in payouts.
While it was rare to see a tournament reach maximum capacity several years back, Janish and Muilenburg’s passion for disc golf has been rubbing off on many others in the state.
With a goal to grow the sport at the local and state level, Muilenburg said the strong turnouts at South Dakota’s tournaments this year signals there’s growing excitement around disc golfing.
Mike Janish, owner of Albatross Disc Golf, left, and Cary Muilenburg, of Mitchell, right, stand along a disc golf hole on Saturday following the pro-am tournament that was held in Mitchell at Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
“This year, almost every South Dakota tournament has been filling up, which is awesome to see,” Muilenburg said. “It was really nice to have a PDGA sanctioned tournament back in Mitchell, and Mike’s (Janish) tournaments are really helping grow the sport. I think this tournament will only help it grow more on the local level. We have a great disc golf course, and this tournament proved that.”
1/4: Alex Beres, of Sioux Falls, winds up to throw a disc during Saturday’s pro-am disc golf tournament hosted at Mitchell’s Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. The PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament was the first to be hosted in Mitchell since 2018. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
2/4: Austin Jennings, of Mitchell, watches a disc golfer put during Saturday’s pro-am disc golf tournament hosted at Mitchell’s Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. The PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament was the first to be hosted in Mitchell since 2018. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
3/4: Austin Jennings, of Mitchell, sinks a put during Saturday’s pro-am disc golf tournament hosted at Mitchell’s Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. The PDGA sanctioned disc golf tournament was the first to be hosted in Mitchell since 2018. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
4/4: Mike Janish, owner of Albatross Disc Golf, left, and Cary Muilenburg, of Mitchell, right, stand along a disc golf hole on Saturday following the pro-am tournament that was held in Mitchell at Dry Run Creek Disc Golf Course. (Sam Fosness / Republic)
March 4, 2022 by Andrew Fish in Analysis with comments
Barry Schultz (left) and Ken Climo at the 2003 USDGC. They’re both many time One True Champions but neither currently holds the title. Photo: USDGC.
As disc golf fans, we are always on the hunt for the answers to timeless questions: Who is the best disc golfer? Who had the best year? Was that year better than another player’s historical performance? Who is the GOAT? Who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of disc golf? Many well-informed (and many more poorly-informed) players and fans have shared their opinions on these topics without being swayed by compelling counterarguments.
This is not one of those articles.
XKCD
(via XKCD)
In this article, every PDGA-sanctioned tournament counts the same. There is no algorithm, ranking committee, or time frame of “one season” or “calendar year.” The title is earned simply by winning. Or, more specifically, by claiming it head-to-head from the reigning champion. The current reigning champion claimed it from the previous reigning champion, and so on, turtles all the way down to the winner from a selected tournament (“genesis event”) in the PDGA’s event archives, the 1982 PDGA Disc Golf World Championships for MPO, and the 1983 PDGA Disc Golf World Championships for FPO1.
These genesis events were selected because they’re big events (e.g. anyone who thought they were any good was there) and although PDGA staff and interns have busily transcribed old paper copies of tournament reports to digital formats, going back to the very first PDGA-sanctioned event appeared to result in some spotty data thereafter.2
And thus, we crown the One True Champion.
The current One True Champion3, as determined by StatMando, who researched the PDGA’s tournament archives for this project, is Paul McBeth in MPO (from his win at 2021 USDGC) and Heidi Laine in FPO (from her win at the 2021 Heinola) as of March 4, 2022. McBeth’s title is on the line at this weekend’s Memorial Championship, but he’s off to a good start to his title defense after shooting a 16-under 1108-rated first round.
Paul McBeth’s playoff victory at the 2021 USDGC is his most recent claim as the One True Champion. Photo: DGPT
The criteria, a word for the normal-person way of explaining a computer script, that StatMando explored to reach these conclusions involved:
Singles stroke play tournaments only; no leagues, doubles, match play, skins, distance or putting competitions, etc. Events with cuts (where all first-round entrants have the opportunity to advance to subsequent rounds) count, but events with byes (like DGPT Tour Championship) don’t.
Only MPO and FPO count. Without more reliable data to query, it’s uncertain whether other divisions may have played the same layouts.
Begin at the 1982 or 1983 PDGA Disc Golf World Championships and find the winners in each Open division. Let’s say player A won in FPO, becoming the One True Champion.
Look at the next PDGA-sanctioned tournament that player A entered. If player A won, the One True Champion title was defended, so again look at the next event player A entered. If player B won, then player B becomes the One True Champion, so look at the next event player B entered.
A reigning OTC must defend their title by entering another PDGA-sanctioned tournament within one calendar year. If player B essentially retired, then the most recent second-place finisher (say, player C) to the reigning OTC becomes a placeholder for the One True Champion. Then look at the next PDGA-sanctioned tournament that player C entered. As far as we can tell, a 1-year forfeit has never happened in MPO, but has occurred 7 times in FPO, most recently when Tuffi Dolan beat Michelle Wilson 4 in the 2004 Terrace Creek Open but didn’t play another event within the next year.
If two players tie for first place, but a tiebreaker goes unresolved (as may be policy for weather-shortened events or one-round flex start events in vogue in some regions), then refer to their previous mutual event. The higher place among them in that previous mutual event becomes the OTC for the event in which they tied.
Heidi Laine is the reigning One True Champion in FPO. Photo: Dynamic Discs player page.
The idea for this exercise loosely comes from the idea of a Transitive National Championship, a futile exercise popular in college football fandom when fans of a team make a spurious claim that because their team of choice beat another team that beat the national champion, they should have a share of the national championship. I had a strong suspicion that by now with elite players focusing most of their touring efforts around Majors and the Disc Golf Pro Tour, the tournaments involved would be concentrated, although I had a sneaking hope that there would be pockets where a player like Christian Dietrich5 would take it to an isolated region and basically sit on it, or that an elite international player like Birgitta Lagerholm, Markus Källström, or Manabu Kajiyama brought it overseas.
MPO One True Champions
Ken Climo
As it turns out, many of those things have happened, though not necessarily with those players – Kajiyama, despite a dominant career and well-loved mechanics, has never been a One True Champion. Ditto, surprisingly, KJ Nybo. By and large, the MPO One True Champion title has resided mostly in North America. Jesper Lundmark (by now, a forgotten great?) winning the 2008 Stockholm Open, then his next five tournaments until Markus Källström’s win at the 2009 Stockholm Open, is the only significant long-term run by a non-North American player, with Tomas Ekström (1997) and Källström (2007, 2009) each having 1-event runs as the One True Champion. Simon Lizotte has had just four OTC claims (including while his PDGA profile location was in Germany), but all were won and later lost in the US.6
There have been 694 total One True Champions, among 145 unique players, in MPO.
The MPO lineage of the One True Champion title is less concentrated than in FPO, but as you might expect, the dominant decade-long peak of Ken Climo results in his becoming or defending the OTC title the most of any MPO player. The Champ has the five longest title defense streaks, of 11, 9, 8, 7, and 6 (thrice) total events, with Jesper Lundmark the only other player to win 6 or more consecutively. Barry Schultz (twice), Paul McBeth, Ricky Wysocki (twice), and Joe Rovere have all held the title for five consecutive events. Climo’s typically southeast-based tournament schedule, compounded with Florida Triple Crown series events and a bountiful winter/spring calendar tended to result in a disproportionate number of events trading in Florida (100 of 694), with California (75) and Texas (43) the next-highest states represented by One True Champion tournaments in MPO.
Barry Schultz, Steve Rico, early-career Ricky Wysocki, and more recently Chris Dickerson have had several runs where they became the One True Champion and then returned to their home region for a bunch of B- and C-tiers and left the title with an underdog regional pro.
FPO One True Champions
Juliana Korver at the 2021 Masters Cup. Photo: PDGA
The FPO title got passed around fairly slowly to begin with – from 1983 through 1996, the maximum number of OTC exchanges was 10, including 6 years with only 1 or 2 events. There have been a total of 493 One True Champion (53 unique players) in FPO, with the number of events where a One True Champion is crowned approximately 25-30 times over the last decade, excluding 2020 and 2021.
Birgitta Lagerholm’s 2004 Pro Worlds win and subsequent schedule saw the FPO One True Champion pass among 5 other players in Sweden, Belgium, and Finland over the next two years until Des Reading reclaimed the title at 2006 Pro Worlds. Several excellent Japanese FPO players, including Rika Tsukamoto, Yuki Fukuhara, and Mayu Iwasaki spent nearly all of 2012-2014 trading the OTC title in tournaments held in Japan, after Chia-Fan Chen claimed it from Valarie Jenkins at the 2011 Asia Open in Taiwan.
If you’re relatively new to disc golf fandom, Juliana Korver might be fresh in your consciousness as an improbable 2021 DGPT Rookie of the Year. Most of the early-mid 1990s World titles, and plenty of other tournament wins, were hoarded by Elaine King. But beginning in about 1997, Korver unleashed a reign of terror on the rest of the division: over 5 years, she won 125 of 137 FPO singles events entered, including an astonishing 28 of 29 in 1999, 29 of 31 in 2000, and 28 of 29 in 2001. From the 1998 Kansas City Wide Open (June 1998) through the 2002 3rd Gentlemen’s Club Challenge (February 2002), in 105 OTC events, Korver held the One True Champion title for 98 of them, with King claiming it in the other seven over four stints.
Korver’s was a short run, but other multi-time World Champions, even those whose careers didn’t overlap significantly with Juliana’s, don’t come particularly close to matching her peak. Des Reading had an excellent sustained run in the early 2000s. Valarie Jenkins-Doss, Sarahs Hokom and Cunningham and, as noted earlier, a couple years in Japan bridged the generational gap until Paige Pierce and Catrina Allen began their own peaks – between Pierce’s first One True Champion claim at the 32nd Kansas City Wide Open in June 2014 until Eveliina Salonen’s first OTC claim at the 2018 Skellefteå Open, Pierce (45) and Allen (25) won the vast majority7 of the 95 events with the title on the line.
More recently, European FPO players have had a stranglehold on the title, beginning with Eveliina Salonen’s win at the 2018 Skellefteå Open. Paige Shue’s 2019 Las Vegas Challenge claim to the title was quickly erased by Salonen’s Memorial Championship win just a week later, after which Salonen returned to Europe. Paige Pierce reclaimed the title at the 2019 European Open and kept it for four events (2 Majors and 2 DGPTs) until Kristin Tattar won at the Canadian National DGC, ceded it for a week to Sarah Hokom at the Green Mountain Championships, then claimed it back at the 2019 USWDGC. Since then, disc golf has boomed while a global pandemic limited overseas travel, and the FPO OTC title has remained in Europe, with Tattar, Salonen, Henna Blomroos, and currently Heidi Laine trading the title around.
The Top All-Time One True Champions
The One True Champion method certainly shouldn’t be conflated with a “best player” declaration. It doesn’t say who wins the most, or performs best on big stages, because a forward-running simulation whose next step is largely dependent on the current holder’s self-selected schedule is subject to a lot of chaos when it gets claimed in an off-tour event, then kicks around rather than returning quickly to the elite series. That said, it might provide a credible proxy for dominance in an era. To wit, see the names at the top of the all-time One True Champion wins lists:
MPO Player
One True Champion Claims
% Total OTC Claims
Days Held
% Total Days Held
Ken Climo
108
15.56%
2503
17.31%
Paul McBeth
55
7.93%
921
6.38%
Ricky Wysocki
46
6.63%
665
4.60%
Barry Schultz
42
6.05%
553
3.82%
Dave Feldberg
21
3.03%
431
2.98%
Steve Wisecup
17
2.45%
358
2.48%
Nikko Locastro
15
2.16%
208
1.44%
Chris Dickerson
15
2.16%
153
1.06%
Calvin Heimburg
13
1.87%
182
1.26%
Ron Russell
12
1.73%
67
0.46%
Steve Rico
11
1.59%
218
1.51%
Avery Jenkins
10
1.44%
113
0.78%
Nate Doss
10
1.44%
183
1.27%
2 Tied
9 Each
1.3% Each
3 Tied
8 Each
1.15% Each
3 Tied
7 Each
1.01% Each
7 Tied
6 Each
0.86% Each
5 Tied
5 Each
0.72% Each
12 Tied
4 Each
0.58% Each
10 Tied
3 Each
0.43% Each
21 Tied
2 Each
0.29% Each
138 Tied
1 Each
0.14% Each
Total
694
14462
FPO Player
One True Champion Claims
% Total OTC Claims
Days Held
% Total Days Held
Juliana Korver
112
22.72%
1490
10.48%
Elaine King
54
10.95%
1430
10.05%
Des Reading
49
9.94%
743
5.22%
Paige Pierce
49
9.94%
518
3.64%
Valarie Jenkins Doss
35
7.10%
639
4.49%
Catrina Allen
25
5.07%
265
1.86%
Eveliina Salonen
14
2.84%
629
4.42%
Sarah Cunningham
13
2.64%
281
1.98%
Lesli Todd
9
1.83%
133
0.94%
Angela Tschiggfrie
9
1.83%
119
0.84%
Yuki Fukuhara
8
1.62%
246
1.73%
2 Tied
7 Each
1.42% Each
6 Tied
6 Each
1.22% Each
5 Tied
4 Each
0.81% Each
4 Tied
3 Each
0.61% Each
9 Tied
2 Each
0.41% Each
16 Tied
1 Each
0.2% Each
Total
493
14223
The cumulative percentage of each One True Champion’s reign of total days since the simulations began (until the current holders’ next scheduled events) was also included above. Bear in mind that winning and sitting on the OTC title for 364 days before competing again is theoretically allowed in the criteria, so some players who played well but infrequently may have a relatively high percentage in that column, even if they have only a few claims as One True Champion.
Notable OTC Stats
Some other odds and ends that don’t really fit elsewhere:
Highest PDGA Numbers among OTCs: Kyle Klein (#85132) and Kristin Tattar (#73986)
Lowest PDGA Numbers among OTCs: Steve Slasor (#55) and Tita Ugalde (#83)
Robert Jerez (#4662), Michael Sayre (#4665), Steve Rico (#4666), and Bamba Rico (#4667) have all been One True Champions.
Countries where a One True Champion (MPO or FPO) has ever been crowned, in descending order of total (1187 to date): United States (1058), Finland (34), Japan (29), Sweden (26), Canada (24), Czechia (3), Estonia (3), Switzerland (2), and 1 each for Australia, Belgium, Taiwan, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Countries where FPO has had a tournament to decide the One True Champion, but MPO never has: Australia, Belgium, Taiwan, Croatia, Denmark, Norway (1 each)
Countries where MPO has had a tournament to decide the One True Champion, but FPO never has: Germany, United Kingdom (1 each)
U.S. States that have never hosted a tournament that decided the One True Champion: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming.
Conclusion
You may ultimately decide that this is meaningless, arbitrary, and stupid. I refer you back to the first paragraph. Disc golf itself is a contrivance. A system where we can semi-credibly claim that Ronnie Huffman is or was objectively and transitively better than any living World, U.S., European, or other Major champion is deeply flawed but also deeply amusing.8
Perhaps if you’re really industrious, traveling trophies for the One True Champion should be made and passed along to subsequent OTCs9 to commemorate the achievement and maximize bragging rights.
Since StatMando has done the hard work of tracking the last forty years, they will be tracking and awarding future One True Champions on their website. They also plan to develop tools allowing users to determine their own “genesis event,” or the first event at which a One True Champion title would be awarded (and see where it might converge to other iterations) or limit other inputs like event location (who is the One True Champion of your state or country?) or event tier.
You can view the full lineages of the One True Champion for MPO and FPO from the genesis events identified above until the current holder as of March 4, 2022.
February 28, 2022 by Cameron Guidry in News, Recap with comments
Drew Gibson at the 2022 Las Vegas Challenge. Photo: DGPT
From the turn to halfway through the back nine of the final round of the 2022 Las Vegas Challenge, challengers for the lead were dropping like flies.
First went Adam Hammes, then Calvin Heimburg, then Scott Withers, as the spotlight continued to zero in on the lead card competitors. Even then, 16-year-old Gannon Buhr held a lead going into the final four holes — three strokes — that would be improbable to concede. To that point, Buhr had not only played excellent but gutsy, nailing jump putts throughout the early part of the round, including this standout 70 footer (DGN 1:28:24), picking up birdies to solidify his lead against those left in the hunt:
Buhr Putt
However, a late cold streak of pars reared its head–a rare airball just outside the circle here, an errant drive there–and the door creaked open for the only player still within striking distance, Drew Gibson.
Gibson, as he put it, had been “playing his butt off for the past two days,” but hadn’t been able to overcome an early deficit to catch Buhr. However, after four rounds, the moment finally presented itself. As Buhr went 1-under over the final 7 holes, Gibson shot 4-under in that same stretch, thanks to incredible accuracy off the tee. He seemed to know his advantage over Buhr was his distance, and he went to work making things easy for his short game. Gibson was clutch down the stretch, placing every putt right on the pole, putting every drive in a position to score. The pressure seemed to finally get to the leader.
On the dramatic hole 18, with Gibson down by a stroke but in perfect position to attack for birdie, Buhr changed up his game plan from earlier in the week and got aggressive, pulling out a driver to make his upshot a surety. He launched the disc but hung it out wide over the water below. As the disc dived back toward the thin strip of land between fairways, it caught the cart path just past the edge of the water and skipped toward the middle of the fairway. One sigh of relief later, and Buhr was left with a 279 foot upshot between him and the win. His approach hit right near the basket but slid just out of bounds, Gibson parked his upshot, Buhr cleaned up on his par save, and Gibson tapped in his birdie to force a playoff.
The first three holes were tense but not remarkable: both Buhr and Gibson refused to yield, and made makeable if nervy putts. The fourth — hole 7 — presented the first real challenge with a dangerous hazard by the green, and it was Buhr’s turn to tee off first. This proved to be a real strategic disadvantage, as he got aggressive off the tee, choosing a driver where he had previously went putter, and put his drive in the hazard with a circle’s edge putt awaiting him. Gibson, seeing the error, switched his game plan to grab a slow speed disc, laid up, and put his upshot next to the basket, forcing Buhr to hit the tough putt to continue the playoff.
Although putting had been his trump card all weekend, Buhr finally showed the slightest crack in his game and his steely demeanor, catching the band and immediately burying his face in frustration. Gibson quickly sank his putt and claimed his first Disc Golf Pro Tour Elite Series win since the 2019 Portland Open.
“To battle the way I did this weekend, to come back from 50th place, to end up winning the event against the best players in the world feels really good,” said Gibson.
Gibson walks away from the tournament with improved confidence, specifically in his putting game. It began to trend upwards all of last season, culminating in his stellar DGPT Championship performance, but a reputation for streakiness certainly still followed him. His putting in the playoff at LVC — and really throughout the entire event — was not a stretch of long jumpers. These were ice cold, dead center makes from medium range: no flukes, just cash. This will be confidence builders for the upcoming season and the big moments that surely await him.
“I finished last year on a really good note, had a chance at winning USDGC, had a chance at winning the Pro Tour Finals, so I just told myself to play every day,” said Gibson. “I was already on a pretty good trajectory with my game and the stuff I was working on, so I just didn’t really have an offseason. I played every single day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, just to try to keep that moment rolling, and here we are.”
Drew Gibson and Gannon Buhr embrace after the LVC playoff. Photo: DGPT.
For Buhr, there’s no way around it: this stings. However, his play this tournament and this lesson in finishing strong may do more for him long term than coasting to an easy finish. He played like a seasoned veteran throughout the event, laying up when necessary, calculating his potential misses, and nailing comeback putts after bad breaks. But the slightest mistakes down the stretch left too much room for a locked-in Gibson. For three and a half days of play, Buhr looked like one of the best in the world. His putting is world-class, and the consistency and accuracy will come with time.
“That’s some of the best disc golf I’ve ever seen or played against in my career so far,” Gibson said when asked about Buhr’s performance. “The kid made it from anywhere…To play against that level of competition from a 16 year old kid is unbelievable. I played my butt off the past three rounds, threw a perfect shot on every hole I felt like, and had to go into a 4-hole playoff just to win. I mean first off, that’s the future of disc golf right there. That kid is going to be a force to be reckoned with now, next year, and in ten years. The poise of the kid is unbelievable, and he’s a pleasure to play with.”
One additional point of interest heading into the final round: several players, including Tristan Tanner on the lead card, were penalized two penalty strokes for misplay (PDGA Rule 811), purportedly due to an error in playing the drop zone. The DGPT issued a rules clarification after play on Friday, and Tanner and several other players came forward and acknowledged their infraction. Tanner stayed on the lead card for the final round, and was in contention late but ran cold with a bogey and several pars.
Eagle McMahon and Calvin Heimburg at points looked like contenders for the LVC crown, but each struggled in a key area. For McMahon, his lack of a sidearm due to his shoulder injury seemed to hamper him at points, and down the stretch of the final round he no longer looked to be pushing with his full ability. He will be taking off the Texas swing of the tour, and looks to return at full strength and pick back up where he left off last year’s stellar campaign. For Heimburg, he came out firing again on Saturday (one of five players to shoot a 13-under) but was hamstrung by his play in round three where he missed four Circle 1 putts. He’ll take home third place, and will look to continue his strong final round momentum into his next event in Waco.
A day after announcing that Russian players could compete, the PDGA changed its mind.
March 3, 2022 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with comments
After yesterday announcing that Russian disc golfers could play in and host tournaments, the PDGA reversed its decision today and banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing in PDGA-sanctioned events.
The PDGA condemned Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and announced that the Russian Disc Golf Association would no longer have affiliation with the PDGA.
“The PDGA Board of Directors, in concert with the PDGA Europe Board of Directors, World Flying Disc Federation, PDGA Country Coordinators, National Associations, and other key Europe continental stakeholders, has voted to remove the affiliate country status of the Russian Disc Golf Association with the PDGA, suspend event sanctioning in Russia and Belarus, and prohibit members from those countries from participating in PDGA events and programs effective immediately,” the organization wrote in a statement.
The decision follows the World Flying Disc Federation’s ban of Russian and Belarusian players from its events. The WFDF and PDGA share oversight of international disc golf.
Yesterday, the PDGA said that it would continue to allow Russian players to compete in and run PDGA tournaments. The PDGA has 44 active members in Russia and another 88 players with expired memberships. There are no players registered from Belarus.
“As an international sports association with members in 70-plus countries, the PDGA remains supportive of our members in good standing regardless of decisions and actions made by their governments,” the organization wrote in a statement that has been removed from its website. “PDGA members in good standing are eligible to play in, and host, PDGA sanctioned events anywhere in the world. This applies to our active members in Russia who have worked very hard to grow the disc golf community in their country.”
PDGA Director of Marketing Danny Voss said that the reversal followed “continued discussion and alignment” with European stakeholders on the matter.
Sports organizations across the globe have barred Russian and Belarusian teams and athletes from competition. The International Olympic Committee recommended this week that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian competitors.
The Las Vegas sports market is about to explode with NASCAR races, a UFC fight show, five college basketball tournaments, and four MLB spring training games — plus more Vegas Golden Knights games in March.
But like many other growing niche sports that are smitten with Las Vegas, the Disc Golf Pro Tour is making a stop in the Las Vegas market at a disc golf course in Henderson later this week before the calendar turns to March 1.
LVSportsBiz.com caught up with the tour’s CEO, Jeff Spring, for our Five Questions Feature on the business of the Disc Golf Pro Tour.
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LVSportsBiz.com: Why did you pick Las Vegas for this event and how many competitors will be at the event?
Jeff Spring:The Las Vegas Challenge (LVC) presented by Innova Champion Disc has been an early season staple in the professional disc golf scene for years. We first partnered with them in 2021. Their professionalism and fantastic facility at the Wildhorse Disc Golf Course help bring in competitors from across the world. There will be 180 professional competitors and 360 amateur competitors for a total of well over 500 players.
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LVSB: What is the business model for the tour? What are the tour’s main sources of revenue and how much is the Las Vegas purse?
JS: The DGPT has strong revenue streams across media, partnerships and advertising, spectators, and retail and merchandise. The LVC purse is nearly $100,000 for the professionals, and the total value of the event is approximately $500,000.
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LVSB: Do the competitors compete on the tour full-time and what is the range of annual income?
JS: Yes, the DGPT has a Tour Card Program that allows 120 touring pros access to professional benefits and preferred event registration. There are thousands more hopeful, burgeoning pro disc golfers that are striving to qualify for the DGPT and who register for events through their PDGA rating, which is similar to a handicap in traditional golf. Most touring professionals have substantial sponsorship deals with disc manufacturers. The top pros have contracts that pay them more the $1,000,000/year. Additionally top professionals earn between $40,000 – $100,000 per year in earnings on tour based on their performance at events. The top amount won at a disc golf event is $30,000 for the 2021 DGPT Championship.
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LVSB: How do you try to grow the sport?
JS: We partner with media teams that provide free post-production coverage of all DGPT events. Find coverage on our partner’s pages: JomezPro, Gatekeeper Media, and GK Pro. We partner with nonprofits, like UPlay disc golf, to provide free clinics and equipment for kids at every tour stop. We provide live coverage of events via the Disc Golf Network, which anyone can subscribe to! We also produce coverage that is broadcast on ESPN2 and distributed nationally.
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LVSB: Do you think you will return to Las Vegas and how would you rate Las Vegas a disc golf market?
JS: The LVC is a long running event and will return for years to come. We hope to continue the partnership between the DGPT and the event.
amateur, disc, disc golf pro tour, golf, golfer, gripeq, headwinddiscgolf, innovadiscs, john willis, ohn scoggins, ohn scroggins, pdga, sport, steven storrie, tour, tournament, tyler
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