GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Last summer, Crandall Park became a battleground of a new kind. A path of 18 disc golf holes opened, tracing the perimeter of the park and drawing in hundreds of players over the course of the summer. This coming season, the city’s biggest park won’t be the only game in town anymore.
Professional disc golfers Jaimen Hume and Greg Hill came before the city recently with a plan. That plan is for Haviland’s Cove Park, located at the south end of a city neighborhood along the Hudson River, west of Glens Falls Hospital. The park is much smaller and more out of the way than Crandall Park – which is a big part of why it was chosen.
“There’s a bunch of little fire pits back in the woods, and high school kid hangouts; maybe even people staying out there in the wooded parts near the shoreline,” described Hill, who has been involved with growing and promoting the disc golf scene in Glens Falls. “I think running a course along the perimeter of the shoreline would help clean that area up, to be honest.”
Hill and Hume – the latter being the main designer of the Crandall Park course – are proposing a 9-hole course to be created at the park this spring and summer. This second course would be more beginner-friendly by contrast with the Crandall Park one, surrounded by fewer trees and obstacles. The Crandall Park course includes a hole that even makes use of a small wetland water hazard – the kind of thing that could create a discouraging end to a first day learning the ropes.
Hume says that another benefit to the Haviland Cove course would be to provide an easier place to play disc golf for families. Some courses aren’t easy for younger players, but he envisions this one being much more forgiving. A half-length course near a playground and community grill invites a full day for families.
By contrast, the Crandall Park course’s 18 holes travel through the park’s woodland, inviting challengers to try their luck hurling golf discs toward a chain basket. Last summer, the course saw hundreds of visitors per month.
Glens Falls Tourism and Development Director Amy Collins said 646 players were recorded in June 2021, when the course held its first official tournament. Over 150 players were signed up for the tournament alone. August saw 498 more. In September, the park hosted a second tournament benefitting the Ed Bartholomew Fund, a nonprofit named after the development director who had blazed the trail on getting the course made to begin with.
“We really want to bring investment back to our recreation areas,” Collins said last week, “because we noticed – especially during the pandemic – how critically important those rec areas are. Just being able to get out and do things safely. I think you can look at what happened with golf, because golf was one of few things that could operate safely, and I think disc golf may have seen similar growth.”
Hill agrees with that. In the world of professional disc golf, the COVID-19 pandemic was a period of growth for the sport, as a reason to get outdoors became ever-more attractive. Hill hosts a putting league at Northway Brewing Co. in Queensbury. Since getting it going, the number of visitors even there has doubled.
That enthusiasm for the sport has been echoed throughout the city, from the community to the folks in City Hall. That’s why, even though he hasn’t heard a set-in-stone “yes” from the city of Glens Falls yet, Hill is confident that the course is happening.
Not only do the golfers want more places to play, but the city sees Haviland’s Cove as a place in need of some new life. The city has previously considered adding an amphitheater or a dog park to the location by the river. What makes disc golf a better idea?
“Disc golf is extremely low-budget,” Hill said. “I think it would be a great way to beautify the park.”
Parks, and new forms of recreation therein, have been a big priority for the city for some time. The Crandall Park disc golf course was one of a trio of recently-unveiled additions to the park. The other two were a new set of pickleball courts, and a splash pad water feature unveiled last summer in the park’s playground.
Once the city gives the Haviland course the OK, the longest task ahead will be creating a path and setting up the individual holes that make up a disc golf trail. The hope is to get the course up and running sometime this summer.
Hill foresees potential disc golf growth elsewhere in the immediate area. West Mountain’s ski area has been expanding, with owners looking to create a full and proper ski resort with year-round attractions. Schenectady has adopted a disc golf course into its Central Park in recent years. It’s an easy-pickup sport with plenty more places to grow.
“We definitely have some lines of communications with other potential spots in the area,” said Hill. “I think Haviland’s Cove is the most promising.”
Professional golfer Jake LaPutka’s drive lands right where he was aiming, dead center in the fairway. He selects a midrange to get on the green. From there he uses his putter to close out the hole with a perfect putt into the basket.
Wait…basket?
Yes, basket. For LaPutka, 27, is a professional disc golfer. Just like regular golf, disc golfers strive for the lowest score to win. But instead of using clubs and a ball to aim for a hole on the green, disc golfers use varying styles of plastic discs to reach the basket.
And for the first time, LaPutka is one of only a handful of Utah professional disc golfers to play host to the best in the world. In late June the Professional Disc Golf Association’s world championships were held in Ogden, Utah.
“It’s kind of cool to be able to have them here,” LaPutka said. “We do have some challenging courses in Utah and this helps put us on the map.”
LaPutka, a checker at the Sandy Costco for his day job, spends much of his off time on local disc golf courses or working on different aspects of the sport.
“I am sponsored by Innova as an ambassador for the sport,” LaPutka said. “Ambassadors are all over the place in the sport, from players to tournament directors. Pretty much anyone who is doing good things for the sport. They moved me into the ambassador when I began doing more tournament directing as well as for my YouTube channel. I put some instructional work on that as well as other things I like in the sport.”
In addition to being a player, LaPutka does work as a tournament director and also has a YouTube channel where he shows different courses as well as how to play.
“My biggest YouTube video is actually a putting instructional video that kind of blew up,” LaPutka said. “But I want to get back into playing more tournaments and having the Worlds here is a great way to do that.”
LaPutka has taken some time off from tournament play over the years. Unlike other pro events, disc golf hasn’t had the following that makes for a lucrative career. Hence the day job.
“It is growing though,” LaPutka said. “The pandemic helped a lot as people could get out of their houses and go play disc golf and still keep social distancing.”
LaPutka’s journey into disc golf mostly began as a quest for a clothing style change. Although he had been introduced to the sport as a child, he didn’t really begin playing until he was about 15. He was attending Juan Diego High School as he learned to love the sport. But what he didn’t love was wearing the uniforms required at the private school. He wanted to wear hoodies, but they weren’t allowed. The only exception to the rule was teams and clubs that could wear approved team apparel.
“I found a couple buddies at school that played,” LaPutka said. “So we started a disc golf club at school. Part of the motivator for starting the club was so we could get hoodies that we could wear because they would be approved as a school club uniform.”
Forming the club gave LaPutka the opportunity to play more. This started to improve his skills and he started playing in tournaments.
Then came time to go to college. LaPutka chose the University of Oregon and he found out they had a disc golf team. So he joined.
Then in 2014 something magical happened that helped form LaPutka’s life goals. LaPutka entered the world amateur tournament as a relatively unknown player. He came out of it with name recognition, as the 2014 world amateur champion.
“It was insane because there were some really good players in that tournament,” LaPutka said. “There were players that would play on the pro circuit so they could get good. But as long as they didn’t take any cash prizes, they could still remain an amateur. So, here comes this unknown dude from the University of Oregon and wins the whole thing.”
The very next week he entered his pro tournament and he continues to play.
“It has been tough in the pro fields. I have some good finishes. Overall, I am still chasing that pro world championship because no amateur world champion has ever won the pro world championship,” LaPutka said. “I see it as an opportunity to be the first to break that curse, to be the first to hold both titles.”
Impossible as it may be to imagine given the gravity of the one-car crash he was in back in February 2021, a traumatic event that nearly caused him to have his right leg amputated, but just days before Masters week Tiger Woods remains in the field … until he says he’s not.
As of early Friday evening, with Woods still among the players listed in the official field to play at Augusta National, this appears to be his tack: Carry on as if business is usual.
Even though business in the world of Woods is never “usual.”
Though many waited to hear something definitive from Woods on Friday, either confirming his plan to play or announcing that he’s not yet physically able, Woods was publicly quiet three days after he set the golf world ablaze by turning up at Augusta National for a practice round on Tuesday.
Unlike a regular PGA Tour event, which has a Friday afternoon deadline for a player to commit, the Masters does not require that of a qualified participant. So, Woods didn’t need to announce his intentions Friday if he chose not to. And he apparently chose not to.
The 46-year-old Woods, a five-time winner of the green jacket (his last being that memorable 2019 triumph that seemingly capped his remarkable comeback from a micro-disc surgery on his back), will play in his 24th Masters next week unless he tells us he won’t play.
If he indeed plays, this one might be the most remarkable of all — even including his first one, in 1997, and his win in 2019 — because of how unlikely it appeared the chances were.
Woods suffered serious injuries to his right leg and right foot in the one-car crash on Feb. 23, 2021. The SUV he was driving crossed over two oncoming lanes, struck a curb and uprooted a tree on a downhill stretch of a steep road just outside Los Angeles.
Woods was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center by ambulance and had open fractures in the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula in his right leg. It all made for not only an unlikely return this soon, but possibly not likely at all.
But Woods, who’s been adamant about keeping the bar of expectations set low for his latest return to the sport from injury in the few times he’s spoken publicly since the crash, always has been highly motivated by defying the odds.
All along, a return to the Masters seemed difficult to imagine because of how difficult the walk is at Augusta National with its sharply-undulating hills. Woods said, when he spoke at the Hero World Challenge in November, that the golf-shots part of his recovery was not as difficult as merely the endurance it took to walk to the courses.
When he played in the PNC Championship father-son event with his son Charlie in December, Woods’ shot making and ball striking looked remarkably sharp given how soon it was since the crash, which left him in the hospital for weeks and confined to a wheelchair once he returned home to Florida.
Woods had emphasized that the father-son event, which he called “hits and giggles’’ golf, was not a proper barometer for PGA Tour tournament golf.
“I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again,” Woods said on Feb. 16 at the Genesis Invitational. “I want to know, but I don’t. My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well and hit short irons very well, but I haven’t done any long stuff seriously. I’m still working. I’m still working on the walking part.”
It always has felt like the British Open in July at St. Andrews — the 150th anniversary of the game’s oldest major championship — was the most obvious place for him to return to competition. Woods has won two Open Championships at St. Andrews and the course is very flat, making for a much easier walk than most courses.
But Woods appears to have made amazing strides physically in the quiet of his own workouts at home in Florida.
One sign was clear when he arrived to Augusta for that practice round on Tuesday: He wouldn’t have made that trip unless he believed his golf game was in a place that would allow him to compete for a sixth green jacket, which would tie Jack Nicklaus for the most in tournament history.
Woods’ reconnaissance trip was all about seeing how he handled the 18-hole walk physically on that day — and how his body recovered from it. Those were the questions Woods needed to answer before he could commit to play.
It has been some 500 days since Woods last played an official PGA Tour event. That last round played was the final round of the 2020 Masters, which was held in November that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He finished in a tie for 38th after shooting 4-over 76 in the final round.
Adding to the drama of the week: This is the 25th anniversary of Woods’ first Masters victory in 1997.
The most famous shot in the history of disc golf was thrown in Ogden, Utah, on June 26, 2021. James Conrad launched a disc an arcing 247 feet to the basket on his way to besting the five-time winner in the final round of the world championships.
What fans call “the Holy Shot” was the best and worst thing ever to happen to MVP Disc Sports, Mr. Conrad’s new sponsor and maker of the yellow-and-blue Electron Envy disc he threw that sunny Saturday.
“He made the shot, and all of us were like, ‘Yay!’ then, ‘We’re screwed,’ ” said Steve Hollaway, MVP marketing manager.
To understand the state of American business, look no further than disc golf, a niche sport that has blossomed into a real business with a cult following. There is the morphing disruption in the supply chain, the crush of the labor market, the constant competition. Companies must adjust to pandemic-driven shifts in behavior and the demands of consumers trained to want what they want when they want it.
The sport, which mimics traditional golf but is played with airborne discs, got a boost during the pandemic. It can be played by almost all ages and is socially distanced by definition. But companies in the market are finding it tough to take advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime, while navigating a business environment that is the most challenging of their lifetime.
Inventory has hovered at historic lows for months for disc makers, thanks to a more than doubling of the number of discs sold since the pandemic began. Disc golf is played with angular and dense discs that differ from the soft and rounded Frisbees or “catch discs” often seen at the park or beach.
Manufacturers are in a daily fight to find more plastic than they have ever ordered at a time when the polyurethane used in most discs is in high demand, including for medical equipment such as face masks.
Disc-golf companies are paying more than $20,000 for shipping containers that formerly cost $5,000 to haul branded metal baskets from China, only to have them stuck for months at the Port of Los Angeles. They are adding overnight and weekend shifts but struggling to staff them, especially during the outbreak of the Omicron variant.
A worker uses a mold machine to form discs at Discraft in Wixom, Mich.
Photo:
Sylvia Jarrus for The Wall Street Journal
The latest worry is the continued availability of crude oil, the key ingredient in polyurethane. The war in Ukraine has caused an increase in the cost of crude oil over concerns about sanctions, as Russia is one of the world’s dominant suppliers.
The average retail cost of a disc has risen to roughly $20 to $25 from $10 to $15, according to Infinite Discs, a leading online disc-golf retailer and publisher of a trade blog.
“It’s been a nightmare,” said MVP’s co-founder Chad Richardson, of the logistics snarls. “I don’t see it ending.”
Within days of the Holy Shot, the company began production of a commemorative disc at its factory in Michigan.
To ensure uniformity, disc-golf manufacturers typically use only one mold for each specific type of disc, meaning only one machine can make one commemorative Electron Envy model at a time, in a process that takes about a minute.
MVP ran the Envy machine 24 hours a day for three months but fell far behind demand thanks to the avalanche of orders. The cost of a commemorative disc on online resale sites rose to more than $50 when fans couldn’t find the disc for $20 at retail outlets.
The company eventually sold tens of thousands of the commemorative discs. Thousands more are still sitting on the shelves, though, said Todd Durrant, operations manager of Infinite Discs, the online retailer. “It would’ve been nice when he won to have it a couple weeks later, but when it arrived, it was like ‘Oh, OK, the hot moment has kind of passed,’ ” he said.
Chad Richardson, co-owner of MVP Disc Sports in Marlette, Mich., with a custom swirl disc. The company grew during the pandemic.
Photo:
Sylvia Jarrus for The Wall Street Journal
Discs inside the warehouse at MVP Disc Sports.
Photo:
Sylvia Jarrus for The Wall Street Journal
Meeting demand in a timely manner for discs of all types, the company says, is stressing out employees, frustrating retailers and angering fans. “They think MVP is this magic box” that discs come out of, said Brad Richardson, who co-founded the company in 2010 with his brother Chad when they were undergraduates.
MVP now represents a share of the disc-golf market that is in the high-single-digits after growing during the pandemic, according to an analysis of 2.7 million discs used by players on the UDisc scorekeeping app. MVP has 114 employees with more on the way, up from 20 pre-pandemic. Discraft Inc., also based in Michigan, is another prominent yet more established manufacturer, with the industry’s biggest player being Innova Champion Discs, based in Ontario, Calif.
Before the pandemic, MVP grew by taking share from the industry’s big players in a way reminiscent of how craft-beer makers took on Big Beer. It experimented with blends of plastic, cultivated relationships with small dealers and rolled out new models and novelty discs regularly.
The pandemic put a halt to most of those hallmarks, as MVP dropped production of all but its bestsellers to avoid losing time required to change molds and test new concepts. The brothers used the windfall of cash from selling out of inventory to buy 15 disc-making machines in the past two years, up from two machines at the start of 2020. They ordered seven of the machines in the wake of the Holy Shot.
MVP produced more discs in 2021 than it did in its previous 11 years combined. The company will have increased production 10-fold since early 2020 when the last of its new machines comes online in April.
“All our resources are in those machines,” Chad Richardson said, including one machine that was offline for months for lack of a replacement part. “It’s always on your mind, always on your mind.”
Mr. Hollaway, the marketing manager, recently took over MVP’s
Facebook
page from longtime fan moderators to address criticism about delays and the lack of new models. The company started a supply-chain newsletter to explain how the container ship stuck in the Suez Canal contributed to the lack of MVP swag at local tournaments.
“I’ve been trying as hard as I can to educate the market because the market’s angry,” Mr. Hollaway said.
Disc golf has its origins in the years after the late “Steady” Ed Headrick patented the Wham-O Frisbee in 1966. Fans across the U.S. made up games that involved launching a Frisbee at a target, frequently a utility pole.
(California-based Wham-O, now owned by Wham-O Holdings in Hong Kong, continues to make Frisbees but isn’t a major player in disc golf.)
In 1975, Mr. Headrick patented the “Disc Golf Pole Hole,” a metal basket with a ring of chains, to avoid disputes over whether a disc hit a pole, according to the Professional Disc Golf Association, also founded by Mr. Headrick.
Just like with “ball golf” or “stick golf,” which is what disc golfers call the regular version, players carry bags. They are lined with discs designed to perform differently when thrown: slow-spinning putters of tacky plastic meant to grip the basket’s chains; fairway drivers for middle-distance throws; and distance drivers with an angled edge that are designed to fly far and arc left or right around trees or water hazards.
Disc golfers carry an assortment of discs in their bags.
Photo:
Ronda Churchill for The Wall Street Journal
Players throw from concrete tee boxes on an 18-hole course and adhere to rules of etiquette, such as letting solo players play through or returning stray discs if there is a phone number on the back.
For decades, disc golf was dwarfed in popularity by ultimate, originally called ultimate Frisbee, a soccer-like team sport common on college campuses. As players aged out of ultimate’s physicality, many took up disc golf, contributing to an annual growth in players of roughly 10% a year in the late 1990s and 2000s, according to the PDGA.
The pace of disc golf’s growth accelerated in the 2010s, thanks to YouTube streams, fan blogs and the ability of obscure athletes to build a following on social media.
Then came the pandemic. New players from young families to locked-out gym rats flocked to an outdoor sport that was free to play on most courses. Many rookies ordered their first discs online early in lockdown around the same time ESPN2 began airing live matches to fill the void created by Covid-19 cancellations of major sports. The professional association, PDGA, recently reported membership has doubled since 2019 to 109,000 active members.
“I started playing 11 years ago and if I told people I played disc golf, they looked at me like I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about or they automatically assumed I was a stoner,” said Steve Hill, marketing director for UDisc, a scorekeeping app. “Now I say ‘disc golf’ and people know what it is.”
As with many pandemic booms, it isn’t clear if the sport’s popularity has staying power. Data released by UDisc in February showed the pace of growth in new players slowed in 2021 from 2020. But it also showed new players tended to play as often and be as enthusiastic as experienced players.
Disc golfers on the professional circuit such as James Conrad, pictured during season kickoff in Las Vegas, travel nearly weekly during the 8-month season, much like NASCAR drivers.
Branded baskets on disc-golf courses are critical to marketing but difficult to get with current supply-chain issues.
The sport has experienced a growing fanbase thanks to social media and the ability to stream games every weekend.
The rules of etiquette of disc golf mirror those of traditional golf. A hushed crowd watches as Paige Pierce, the dominant women’s player, throws.
UDisc, the app maker, says it has more than one million users and only captures a fraction of the millions of active players. The company estimates the sport is at least the size of pickleball, whose governing body recently announced had 4.8 million players. “I don’t begrudge pickleball,” Mr. Hill said. “I just need to find their PR rep.”
USA Pickleball’s Chief Executive Stu Upson laughed when asked for comment. “Tell them, ‘I’m sorry, we’re just doing our jobs,’ “ he said. “Seriously, there’s plenty of room for many emerging sports.”
The number of disc-golf courses is increasing at a rate of more than five a day, according to UDisc, many outside the sport’s traditional strongholds in the Midwest and the Sunbelt. There are 13,323 courses globally, with the most in the U.S., a 70% increase from 2017, according to UDisc. The majority of U.S. disc-golf courses are in public parks, with local governments quick to set up courses as they require little maintenance and can occupy odd-shaped, swampy or otherwise little-used tracts of land, including a park in Girdwood, Alaska, frequented by moose.
A turning point for disc golf, the Holy Shot was the number one play on ESPN’s SportCenter Top Ten and went viral online, exposing thousands of people to the sport and its stars.
“I was there in person and I’ve never experienced anything like it at a sporting event ever,” Mr. Hill said. “It was the most mind-boggling explosion where everyone collectively lost their mind.”
Mr. Conrad, a 31-year-old former warehouse worker who made the shot, said hitting the best shot of his life at the exact moment he needed to win “was like being in a sports movie.”
He said he is proud that the popularity of the shot brought new fans to disc golf, even though he was disappointed that he didn’t win any subsequent major tournaments.
“The remainder of the season wasn’t able to match what I did at the world’s, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to match that,” he said. “It’s a weird thought that maybe the coolest thing I’ll ever do, I’ve already done.”
James Conrad in Nevada before the start of the 2022 Disc Golf Pro Tour season in February.
Photo:
Ronda Churchill for The Wall Street Journal
The player he beat that day has been the sport’s dominant player for a decade: Paul McBeth, a 31-year-old from Huntington Beach, Calif. He said he was happy for Mr. Conrad, who he has been competing against since they were both 15 and who he sees nearly weekly during the eight-month season.
“I was on the losing end of that shot, but I still know what it means for the sport and for us as players,” Mr. McBeth said. “It’s a chance for growth, a chance for more eyes to see our sport on a professional level.”
Mr. McBeth’s sponsor, Discraft, thinks his star power will help the company grow. Discraft signed him to a new 10-year, $10 million contract last year, a figure designed to plant a flag in a sport where most professionals typically make roughly $20,000 a year in sponsorships and tournament winnings. As a signing bonus, Mr. McBeth got a McLaren supercar.
“It’s the
Nike
strategy,” said Bob Julio, Discraft’s team manager. “Sign the player and the fans will follow.”
Bob Julio and Mike Wagner with dog, Cooper, at the Discraft manufacturing facility in Wixom, Mich.
Photo:
Sylvia Jarrus for The Wall Street Journal
Tiny plastics used in recycled discs at Discraft.
Photo:
Sylvia Jarrus for The Wall Street Journal
When the pandemic hit, Discraft shifted machines that made Ultimate discs to make ones for disc golf. When plastic became scarce, Discraft bought an industrial recycling machine and churned up factory seconds and castoff discs to make plastic pellets that could be mixed in with new ones. “You can’t even tell it’s in there,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Wagner said.
The company has 90 employees, up from 40 before the pandemic. It has doubled its number of machines but is struggling to staff them at every shift. Mr. Wagner says he has tried everything from gift cards to attendance bonuses to entice workers to the factory floor.
Discraft has upped its disc-golf production 600% in the past two years but isn’t accepting new retail customers or rolling out new models. Instead, it is sending longtime vendors an allotment of whatever it makes, dominated by the Buzzz, a 2003 design with an even distribution of weight that makes it comparatively easy to throw for new players.
“I want to get a handle on the 600% [growth] we’ve got,” Mr. Wagner said. “You’ve got to have a manageable pace because a lot can go wrong.”
BANGOR – Disc golf is one of the fastest-growing sports out there these days, and the state of Maine is a particular hotbed. Now, one area group is seeking to introduce younger players to the game.
Maine Youth Disc Golf is the brainchild of Sam Betts, a local disc golfer who saw an opportunity to grow the game by reaching out to area high schools. Over the coming months, Betts – along with a bevy of volunteers from various courses (including the owner/operators of those courses) – will be operating weekly events in an effort to bring the game to as many new players as possible.
Beginning in April and running through May, every Sunday will feature a disc golf skills clinic at Orrington’s D.R. Disc Golf. In addition, numerous area courses will offer Friday afternoon rounds for program attendees. The list includes the two courses at D.R. in Orrington and their Orono course, along with Circle Two in Bradford, Hidden Acres in Old Town and Legacy Farms in Winterport. For details and more information, visit www.maineyouthdiscgolf.com or check out Maine Youth Disc Golf on Facebook.
I spoke to Betts about what prompted him to try and get this program off the ground, as well as why he chose high schoolers as his initial focus.
“Long story short, I want to help disc golf grow!” he said. “I’ve noticed in the Bangor area that there are not many young adults, high schoolers and kids playing disc golf! Personally, I did not know what disc golf was until I was in my twenties! I want to help change that. Being the first attempt, I wanted to target high schoolers.”
When asked about his plans for MYDG, Betts had a simple response.
“My vision for the program is just to introduce the sport to as many people as I can, make it as fun as possible and hope they continue to partake in the sport.”
Betts has made overtures to numerous local high schools regarding the program, reaching out to 10 different school administrators; the initial results have been a bit mixed – he’s heard back from five of the 10 schools so far – but he’s optimistic going forward.
“Early interest has been tough,” he said. “I personally do not know many high schoolers. I’ve reached out to as many parents as I know, and I’ve gotten word from 6 or 8 kids that they are willing to come out. I’m hoping I can get each youth to bring one friend to help double the numbers.”
While those early numbers might not be as high as Betts had hoped, there’s still time. And one thing is for certain – he’s got the area disc golf community behind him in his efforts, including the folks who own and run courses in the region.
“Local course owners have been amazing! Everyone is on board to help however they can,” said Betts. “Every disc golfer I’ve brought my idea to has been extremely supportive. It’s getting the word out to the youth that is the toughest part.”
Betts suggests that anyone interested in the program reach out – or have a parent reach out – and contact him through the MYDG website.
Participants in these early sessions can expect to learn the basics: different types of throws and grips and an understanding of the different types of discs – including the at-times-inscrutable-seeming numbers attached to them – and a breakdown of the fundamental rules of the game.
And of course, the most important part – having fun! Betts wants to make it clear that disc golf is a game with an extremely low barrier for entry, inexpensive and accessible for people of any age and skill level.
“It’s an activity for all,” he said. “It is a great way to be outside with peers, friends, and family; a nice way to get some laughs in at hitting trees all missing easy shots. It’s a good way to get some simple exercise in our beautiful Maine woods.”
For what it’s worth, I can vouch for that last bit. I started playing disc golf over 20 years ago, first learning the game at Trenton’s Hapana course and playing all over the state. While I have been and out of the scene in the years since – playing avidly for a few years, checking out for a few, picking the sport back up, lather, rinse repeat – I can state without hesitation that the area scene is as robust as it has ever been. And with dedicated disc golfers continuing to open new courses and refine existing ones, there’s no question that there has never been a better time to be a Maine disc golfer.
(Oh, and I’ve played on a card or two with Sam over the past couple of years – dude can play, just so you know.)
There’s real passion for the sport among its current adherents; what Sam Betts is trying to do is pass that passion on to the next generation of players. If you are a high school student with an interest in learning more about disc golf – or the parent of one – you should strongly consider taking advantage of this opportunity.
(Maine Youth Disc Golf’s initial offerings are scheduled to tee off the first weekend in April and run each weekend through the month of May. For updates or other information, you can visit the MYDG website at www.maineyouthdiscgolf.com or check out their Facebook page.)
When Tom Butler was a student at Arizona State University, he witnessed the beginning of disc golf in the Valley.
Courses were constructed at Tempe Beach Park and Vista Del Camino in Scottsdale in the 1980s as the game began getting traction alongside the popularity of ultimate frisbee. In disc golf, players throw a frisbee at a basket.
Over time, the game has steadily gained traction in the U.S., which is home to more than 7,000 courses – including roughly 75 in Arizona.
It is one of the fastest growing games in the country, according to AARP, which estimates 50 million rounds of disc golf have been played globally in 2021.
Now, Butler is campaigning to have Ahwatukee to have its own disc golf course at Sun Ray Park.
An Ahwatukee resident since 1987, Butler said he’s excited about that prospect for many reasons.
“One is my love for this game – it’s just so much fun,” he said. “Secondly, I am so excited to potentially be able to ride my bike two miles to a disc golf course and play whenever I want.”
Butler’s campaign for a course at Sun Ray Park started after he learned that Udisc – advertised as “The App for Disc Golfers” – showed that the closest course to Butler was 17 miles away at Vista Del Camino Park.
He decided to connect with the office Ahwatukee city Councilman Sal DiCiccio, whose office laid out the plan that residents must follow in order to try and get a pars amenity added in their community.
DiCiccio’s Chief of Staff Sam Stone said his office wants to support any person that comes in with an idea to add a disc golf course or similar outdoor activity venue. However, community support for the project is an important factor in deciding whether it will happen.
The same holds true for a campaign by Ahwatukee residents Carrie McNeish and Jill Ostendrop for pickleball courts at Desert Foothills Park. They too were told by Stone to gather evidence showing a demand in their neighborhood for a park.
The 3-year-old 16-court pickleball complex at Pecos Park is great, the two Ahwatukee women say, but unfortunately, a lot of other pickleball players think so too.
“The Pecos courts are always overwhelmed,” said Ostendorp, who has set up an email address – [email protected] – for residents to express their support at Desert Foothills Park, which the city never finished and which has room to accommodate pickleball courts.
Ostendorp brought their plea to the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board earlier this month, but didn’t get much reaction from it beyond a thank you.
She told the board they’ve already received 400 emails supporting the courts and that most of them were Ahwatukee residents living within two miles of Desert Foothills Park.
She asked the board what the next steps were. No one on the board answered.
Butler said a disc golf course at Sun Ray Park makes sense because there’s “room there to add something like this and not take away from existing uses of the park.”
Added Stone: “Our residents always appreciate new recreational opportunities, especially new outdoor recreational opportunities with everything that’s going on with COVID. This is another great thing that people can do outdoors in very safe circumstances.”
In June, Butler was notified by Albert Santana, city assistant parks director, that a nine-hole course, is moving forward.
City Parks and Recreation Department Gregg Bach said his department’s staff “is working with a group that expressed interest in adding a disc golf amenity to Sun Ray Park.
“The department plans to engage residents who live
in the neighborhood near
the park and evaluate community interest. After that process is completed, the department plans to take the item to the Parks and Recreation Board with a recommendation.”
Butler said parks officials asked him to do public fundraising for the baskets, which cost between $400-$500 apiece.
Butler hopes to bring his campaign to the Parks and Rec Board next month.
“I’ve started fundraising and I’ve got quite a response,” Butler said. “By the time this project gets approved by the parks board, we will have all the capital and we’ll be able to get the installation going as quickly as the city can move.”
Butler has set up a Facebook page, “Phoenix Sun Ray Park Disc Golf Course Project,” with updates on his campaign and advice on how community members can help.
He has also posted a proposed layout of the course on that page.
If the course moves forward to the design phase, Stone said the rec board will ask citizens to raise $5,000 to pay for it – “something that’s pretty doable,” he said.
Butler is looking forward to bringing a game that people of all ages can play to his local community.
“I have people in my immediate friend group, I have people that I’m meeting weekly who are very excited about the potential of the course because they’re familiar with the game,” he said, “but they know that there’s nowhere within 20 miles of our community here where they can play.”
MAURERTOWN — Shenandoah County recently unveiled its new disc golf complex at the county park in Maurertown, a three-course, 54-hole layout that one of the course’s designers said is setting a new standard for courses in the area.
The Limestone Ledges Disc Golf Complex, as the course is now called, replaced the former 18-hole Signal View Disc Golf Course and made its debut on Aug. 2. The brainchild of Woodstock resident Phil Theis and Nathan Hughes, of Stephens City, the new course is a complete overhaul of the former one designed to appeal to disc golfers of all skill levels.
Two 18-hole courses — dubbed “Upper Meadows” and “Lower Forest” — lie on either end of the county park, while the pro-level “Massanutten Monster” course incorporates baskets from both of the shorter courses and spans the entire park. With red, white, blue and gold tees and long and short pins on many holes, Hughes said the complex offers disc golfers the choice of playing 10 different layouts.
“With 10 layouts you get essentially 10 courses where one used to be,” Hughes, a 28-year-old disc golf professional, said on Friday afternoon. “And to me, it’s everything the pros wanted, or could ever ask for, but at the same time it’s not making the everyday guys just come out and beat themselves up.”
The drawback of the former Signal View course, said Jered Hoover, Shenandoah County’s parks and recreation director, was that it was too long for many players who did not want to traverse the entire park to play an 18-hole round of disc golf. Hughes noted that Theis at one point measured the distance from the basket of each hole to the red (beginner) tee of the next and discovered that the distance walked was greater than the distance that was actually being played.
It was Theis who initially approached Hughes and others last year about a new layout idea for the course, and Hughes, who said he’d recently helped design three other courses in the area, teamed up with Theis and Hoover to make the redesign at the county park happen. As Hughes said, that small committee “pulled the trigger, got things going and three months later we had three brand-new courses.”
“It all happened really fast,” Hughes added.
A complete overhaul of the course necessitated a new name, Hoover felt, and after a couple of months of tossing ideas around, they came upon “Limestone Ledges,” an ode to the rock formations that can be found in portions of the park.
While the 18 baskets from the original course were reused — and in most instances, moved to new locations — in the redesign, additional baskets were purchased and installed, as were new signs and signposts for each hole. The planned concrete tee pads have yet to be installed — there will be 58 of them, Hughes said — but should be soon, according to Hoover.
And, Hoover told Shenandoah County supervisors on Tuesday, not a single dollar of county money was spent on the project. As of Friday, Hoover said $26,005 in private donations had been made to help fund the makeover.
Hoover said that when he, Hughes and Theis first began seeking sponsors for each of the 18 holes that make up the Massanutten Monster course in order to determine if they could raise the funds necessary for a redesign, they quickly got 12 or 13 sponsors on board and chose to “go with it.” Hughes said they received verbal commitments for one-third of the total donations received within the first week of seeking sponsors.
“Our sponsors have been super great in supporting this,” Hoover said on Friday, “and some of them even want to landscape their holes they sponsor.”
Hoover added that the concrete tee pads have yet to be paid for and estimated they had about $8,000 in donations left available to put toward that part of the project, though he was unsure on Friday exactly what the total cost to install those would be.
He noted that there are still other improvements to be made to the course as well — such as additional landscaping, the addition of some different features around some of the baskets and the installation of color-coded flags and signage to make navigating the different courses easier — and said people wishing to donate can do so on the parks and recreation page of the county’s website (shenandoahcountyva.us/parks) or by calling the parks and rec office.
Limestone Ledges, by incorporating the two shorter courses into the larger pro-level course that likely would seem a daunting challenge to the casual player, alleviates one of the biggest hassles of longer disc golf courses — maintenance — through its design, Hughes said.
“The long course nobody wants to play, and if nobody’s playing it, nobody’s beating it in, and if nobody’s beating it in then we have to maintain it more,” Hughes explained. “If this (larger pro-level) course is focused inside of a small course, then we can say hey, let’s focus on this small course and by focusing on this small course, we’ve taken care of nine holes of the big course, and let’s have each course appeal to somebody new.”
The redesign also cut down on the instances in which disc golfers need to throw over the walking path that meanders throughout the park, and angled some holes away from fencing that separates the park from neighboring property in an effort to cut down on the likelihood of errant discs sailing into adjoining farmland.
Another bonus of the design, Hoover added, is that Theis and Hughes were able to incorporate places in the park that previously had not typically been used.
“We cleaned up probably four or five spots that were never touched before in however many years we’ve had this park,” Hoover said.
Disc golf is exactly what it sounds like — an offshoot of traditional golf that uses specialized discs instead of golf clubs and balls, and baskets in lieu of holes — and continues to rise in popularity. Hughes said the sport has grown rapidly in the region over the last year as people have sought out new outdoor recreational activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hoover informed supervisors earlier this week that county park usage went up an estimated 40% in 2020 and called disc golf the facility’s biggest draw. Hoover said over 75 disc golfers played on the new course the first day it opened.
Limestone Ledges will host its first big tournament — the Maurertown FLY — next Saturday and Sunday, which sold out within 24 hours and will feature over 200 players, Hoover said.
“In some people’s eyes we may have overreached,” Hughes said of the redesign. “Once we get the flags and everything is marked, totally visible, I think this course is gonna be — I say ‘set aside from all the other courses,’ but realistically I think it’s setting a brand-new standard.”
Though more people are taking up the deceptively difficult sport of
disc golf as a hobby, it has long been a way of life for pro disc
golfers, some of the best of whom participated in the recent
season-opening All-Star Weekend in Tucson.
“Everyone here is amazing,” said Lisa Fajkus, a competitor from Texas
who has earned more than $90,000 on the tour. “All the competitors are
good. Beyond good.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the sports landscape, it also
inspired some to seek new outdoor options. Disc golf was that for many.
Membership in the Pro Disc Golf Association increased from 53,366 in
2019 to 71,016 in 2020, according to the PDGA. And from 2010 to 2020, total prize money jumped almost $2 million to $4 million.
The sport is similar to golf. Participants start at a launchpad and
throw discs at a metal basket. Each hole is assigned a “par” number.
Opening the season with All-Star Weekend is unique to professional
disc golf. In most sports, the all-star competition typically takes
place midway through the season or near the end. The thinking behind the
placement of the disc golf tour event is that it serves as a kind of
trailer for the season, giving fans a glimpse of what they can expect
from their favorite disc throwers in future matches.
“It kind of gives me spring training vibes,” said Hunter Pickard, a
disc golf amateur. “You have these great players in one city, on one
field, basically, warming up for the season ahead. I think it encourages
more people to get into the sport because they see how competitively
fun it can be. It’s fantastic to watch and be a part of.”
Fans come from all over the country to attend live disc golf events,
including many who travel in renovated vans and buses from tournament to
tournament just like most of the players do.
One at All-Star Weekend was Bodhi, who is described in her Instagram
bio as a “toddler traveler.” She tours full time with her parents,
Stephanie and Taylor, in a “skoolie,” where they live and explore
different parts of the country, all while attending disc golf
tournaments.
Bodhi could be spotted in her plum-colored attire. Her bubbly and
rollicking personality was as hard to miss as her colorful wardrobe. She
held up a “Go Heather” homemade sign as she cheered on one of her
favorite pro disc golfers, Heather Young.
This year, the PDGA made the decision to spice things up and add a
snake draft to the mix for the very first time. The snake draft consists
of captains taking turns picking players to create teams. For the
women, team captains included Paige Pierce and Catrina Allen. Eagle
McMahon and Calvin Heimburg served as captains for the men.
The tournament lasted three days at El Conquistador Resort. Friday
consisted of a skills competition between teams. Doubles matches were
held Saturday, followed by singles matches on Sunday. Each event drew
intrigued fans who stood around and watched.
“You know, these fans are dedicated to watching and coming out each
season and to each tournament,” Disc Golf Pro Tour owner Todd Rainwater
said. “We want to give them the best experience possible. They’ve
traveled from all over to be here, and they deserve to have a good
time.”
Rainwater is banking on the fans returning home and talking to their
friends and families about the event. “That’s how the sport continues to
grow,” he said.
With tournaments all over the United States between February and
October, people have ample opportunities to take in a disc golf event –
either in person or through live streaming. All-Star Weekend was a
perfect example of the different ways to experience the event. Hundreds
of people of all ages surrounded the course and followed the players
from hole to hole. Those not able to physically attend streamed the
tournament online at DGPT.com. With improvements in technology, course
setups, and streaming, attendance is expected to continue to increase in
the coming years.
“We have a nice foundation,” said Rainwater, who added, “These
players put in so much work and are great at what they do. That needs to
be displayed for people to see and enjoy, whether that’s online or
in-person.”
Disc Golf is one of the fastest growing sports, according to Disc
Golf Mentor. With the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacting the sports
world in 2020, people looked for new ways to stay entertained. Suddenly,
disc golf became the new fad.
“It was never something I had even thought about, let alone doing,”
Pickard said. “When the pandemic hit, there was nothing going on.
Nothing was open, and if it was, there were so many safety regulations
and hour changes.
“So, I ventured to a park near my house to get some fresh air and
noticed the disc golf baskets. I figured, ‘Why not try it since I’m not
doing anything else?’”
Pickard is just one example out of the thousands of people who recently got into playing disc golf. According to Sabattus Disc Golf, approximately 50 million rounds were played in 2020, triple the number played the previous year.
All-Star Weekend was a big hit with the fans and competitors alike.
“Getting that text was so cool,” said Rebecca Cox, a pro disc golfer
and president and founder of Diversify Disc Golf. “It was a fun surprise
for me. …I got kind of lucky being an All-Star. I had to take advantage
of this opportunity.”
city planning, Crandall Park, Disc Golf, Glens Falls, Haviland's Cove Park, outdoor activities, park, professional, recreation, sports
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