Hey Old Timers...

[RUSSELL]

and i'm not old- just seasoned.

 

[Monocacy]

We had a 9-hole object Frisbee golf course in our neighborhood. Probably started playing around 1970, give or take. We signed out the Frisbees at the pool office.

The first disc golf course I played was Calvert Road, but we played with Frisbees. Sucks trying to throw far with Frisbees under a low tree canopy. One friend picked up Innova's hottest new distance driver – the Aviar – at a tournament. We couldn't believe how crazy overstable the Aviar was compared to our Frisbees, and how far the Aviar would go once we figured out how to throw it.

Later on discs were available at a local sporting goods store, but selection was pretty weak. It was fantastic when we could order any disc over the web. Shipping was pricey, so my friends and I would combine a big order once a year.

Obligatory "You kids get off my yard!"

 

[ill4mation]

I somewhat remember phone ordering from Flying Eye. I ordered all kinds of discs, stamps, and a Cadillac Bag. The bag was 80ish dollars and I remember it being the first bag with individual disc dividers. I always called the shops in Disc Golf World News to see what they had.

I also remember pulling into my local course (then it was ECU in Gville, NC) and upon seeing the "disc golf guy" there pulling out my wallet to see how much money I had. He always had a tailgate full of stuff, mainly lightning and innova. Then he ditched the Lightning and went with Discraft and Innova. I bought all kinds of stuff, Marauders, Cobras, Gazelles, Vipers, Cyclones, etc. I never bought the same disc twice except Cyclones.

Funny thing is back then I never worried about what would happen if I lost a disc and had to replace it. I almost looked forward to replacing anything I had, its DEF not like that now.

 

[Three Putt]

So I had to mail order discs and wait 4-6 weeks for them. I also got to see the Pixies when Kim Deal was still hot.

Push. :|

 

[Old Bassman]

In the early 80's we had one local shop that sold discs.

 

[Jensonian]

We used to get discs from a music store/headshop/cardshop called Face The Music in Rochester,MN. But when the internet got big they went right out of business. The only way to know what was new was by going there or meeting other groups on the course. And if some one had something you wanted to try you just had to hope it was in stock next time you went to Rochester. It kind of made disc buying a bit funner actually. I scored some beuties there. Typhoon, Marauder, Polecat, Wolf, the list goes on. Good times.

 

[Jimb]

I'm really enjoying this thread. Thanks, everyone. Sorry my input isn't totally on topic.

Technically, I guess that I've been playing DG for 30+ years, too. Starting around 1982 my best friend and I lived about a mile and a half apart on an old WV road and played object golf from his house to mine, etc. "Hit the pay phone pole at the store. Hit the fire hydrant at the school. Par 18... etc. I exclusively used a 141g Whamo. My friend had a bigger arm and could also flick with his 165. I remember hitting 80 yards on the practice football field, big time wind assisted, and being thrilled.

As far as buying discs, I'm sure that the Whamo came from whatever department store was here before WM ran them out of town. As far as my first golf discs, I can thank my wife and ebay for a starter set of DX Innovas... Aviar P & A, Roc and Valkyrie. I had no idea how to throw the Valk, and no idea how much my life was about to change!

 

[tombrinkman01]

Luckily, we had two sporting goods stores in my hometown of Missoula, MT that carried Innova, Discraft and Lightning. Bob Wards and Sportsmans Warehouse (Sportsman's just had Innova, but they had tons...and C.E. when it first came out!)

There were also a few savvy guys on the course who ordered from Discovering The World. Back then you would send them a letter and they would send you a ctalog every quarter with an order form. The catalog had really good descriptions of the discs and what they were designed to do.

In the late 90's you could get discs at that skate shop Board of Missoula. Oh, the memories.

 

[bjreagh]

The only place to buy discs I knew of when I started playing in the mid 90's was the park office at Cedars of Lebanon state park. They sold Lightning- I got a #1 Flyer and an Upshot Putter- started destroying my friends who were still using frisbees! Got most of my early discs finding lost discs on the course. I still remember my friends and I saying things like "ahhh sweet, a Cyclone (or Cheetah or Eagle)! I wonder what this does?" A few years later I found this thing called the internet and E-bay...

(Fun thread by the way) :thmbup:

 

[jeffmonty]

When I first started playing in the mid 90's, I was lucky as The Wright Life was located in my home town ( Ft Collins, Co,). I was living is SW Colorado at the time, but visited family often and always stopped in for discs. I still always stop in when i'm in town. I didn't even buy my first bag until i'd been playing for like 4 years, and just carried a handful of discs around like a noob, which I was.

 

[Three Putt]

In St. Louis they always sold discs out of the office in the ice rink warming room at Hazelwood, and the ice rink and disc golf course used the same parking lot so it was right there when you went to throw White Birch. They were selling discs there by 1979. I have a buddy that still has an original Innova Eagle in his bag. The first time I saw it we were at White Birch and I asked he where he got it. He pointed at the ice rink office.

 

[tbird888]

I also got to see the Pixies when Kim Deal was still hot.

Push. :|

Me too! :hfive: Still in my top 5 shows.

 

[biscoe]

Me too! :hfive: Still in my top 5 shows.

hilarious... she was big as a house when i saw them and chain smoked the whole show... still had that little girl voice though.

 

[biscoe]

I was reading through this and reminiscing and didn't expect a slap in the face.

are you denying your bagger-hood? didn't you win roughly 20 advanced tournaments that year?

 

[yangs1]

Back in 1995 when I started we were lucky enough to have a Camping/Hiking Oufitter Store in our town, Manhattan, KS, that carried a small selection of Innova Discs.

 

[grodney]

Some old "in the bag" thread from '95-'98:
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.sport.disc/He2Wyk4Ka6g/discussion
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.sport.disc/ofCsmdRz5IM/discussion
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.sport.disc/efHp_Eg125Y/discussion

Also, many of us Old-Timers also played before the basket patent had expired, so the vast majority of courses were Mach I and Mach III. No DISCatchers. No Chainstar. No nothing else, except home-made. I think the patent expired in '94, and here's a post saying "The production model of the Innova Disc Catcher is finally shipping" from Sept-95 (https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rec.sport.disc/LVBzapiUNtc/discussion). I bought a DISCatcher for home (on a plywood base) almost immediately, and it's still in my back yard (now in a sleeve).

As far as I'm concerned, rec.sport.disc was THE place for DG news on the internet in the mid-90s. I remember getting Worlds results from r.s.d and taking them to Monday night league in Des Moines just so people could hear who won -- 2 to 3 days after the event was over.

 

[chrishysell]

are you denying your bagger-hood? didn't you win roughly 20 advanced tournaments that year?

20? Either your memory or your math is fuzzy. It was only 8. 2 in each of these states. NC,SC,DE and VA. I had loot from my numerous 2nd place finishes.

 

[Guurn]

I really can't remember where I bought the first disc. I do remember buying a Stealth and after buying that I would find a disc almost every round I played. Probably because I was terrible and in the shule all the time. There were always guys selling discs around and near water hazards.

Now I almost never find a disc

 

[eaeastwood]

I started playing in 1995 in Normon, OK. I bought some new/used discs from the Play-it-Again sports and was off and throwing. When I moved to Knoxville, TN in 1997, I started buying from Pluto Sports on the strip which was a skateboard, snowboards, etc. shop and still sells similar equipment including discs today. Or at least last time I was there they did, but the store had moved out to west side of town. In 2002, I moved to Kansas City and was blessed to have Disc Golf World to shop in for all my disc golf needs. I still go there today, their selection is top notch. DD-KC is another good store in KC and I get some items from them too, but they host several tournaments and end up spending tourney winnings there. In my opinion, DD-KC has some stuff you can't easily get anywhere else but for standard items, DGW has a better selection.

 

[Olorin]

When I first played disc golf in 1979 we just used basic Wham-O catch frisbees. If they even had Ultimate lids I never saw one. They certainly were not weighed in grams because we did not use the metric system hardly at all. We invented a great object course that meandered through the grounds of the University of Virginia. On one hole you had to throw it in a window, then down a hall to hit the copy machine. The 18th hole finished by hitting the statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Rotunda.

Bags? There were none because you only had 1 frisbee each. After you threw it you didn't have anything in your hands.