Disc Golf in Finland

[JMeresmaa]

Disc Golf being the fastest growing sport in Finland, we decided to prepare a chart that shows the "state of Disc Golf" in Finland compared to the biggest Disc Golf states in US (that gives the best perspective between the two). Numbers have been pulled from PDGA.com (courses, members) and wikipedia (population). Finnish numbers are from national sources.

What makes this interesting is that number of courses established a year. Last year saw 80 courses and this year looks about the same. The growth rate is pretty crazy. My estimation is that in three years there are 200 courses more and 200,000 people play Disc Golf in Finland. That´s around 4% of the whole population.

 

[BirdieMachine]

That's amazing to get that sort of participation.

 

[Halcón]

Its been said before, but because of the cultural (and probably other) differences, the game is able to flourish over there. Its a level that grow-the-sporters can only dream of in the U.S.

 

[grotto]

why is Disc golf so popular in Finland? Whats been the drive and when did it take off?

 

[Kodachrome]

Probably because they have **** figured out. One of the very best countries to live in, happy people probably enjoy going outside and taking advantage of the beautiful resources and environment given to them.

 

[Qikly]

Jealous.

It makes me wish I had gone through with my fantasy to fly up there to play when I was Germany this past summer. Next time.

Looking at the map on here, it's insane to see the concentration of courses, especially in the south.

How long is the comfortable playing season over there. April through October?

 

[Apila]

The sport is extremely popular because it's cheap, very easy to get into, courses can be found all around and it's good exercise for anyone. On the courses you see people of all ages, ranging from 5-year-old kids to elderly in their 70s. People find it a fun game and get hooked. Every player is considered equal, no matter their skill level or age. The sport wouldn't be so big a thing here if it wasn't for Jussi & Innova. Some 5 years ago not so many people had even heard of the sport. Nowadays pretty much everyone knows what it is. They've done a great job building good quality courses all over the country in a short period of time.

 

[runningDoc]

it would be awesome if Finland turned into the Kenya of long distance running competitions where there was just this steady stream of super elite disc golf players winning all the major tournaments.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

what has been the contributing factor behind the exponential installation of courses there? Obviously it must be a group effort from the DG community but someone has to be stepping up with a "master plan" I would think.

Are private or public courses where most of the growth is happening?

 

[Halcón]

it would be awesome if Finland turned into the Kenya of long distance running competitions where there was just this steady stream of super elite disc golf players winning all the major tournaments.

No offense to the Finns, but I disagree. It would better if there was parity in our game.

 

[runningDoc]

No offense to the Finns, but I disagree. It would better if there was parity in our game.

more elite players = better product. We americans love the best stuff even if it means importing it.

think of it this way... look at baseball/basketball.... teams will look anywhere for better players eventually Dominican Republic/Japan became a pipeline of elite baseball players.

the kenyans don't actually have that much better runners per se, but sort of a team mentality (where they will unofficially/quasi legally will collude with their brethren in the major races and pull each other in groups towards a win). but they have that infrastructure to produce consistently great runners.

thats what I meant... it would be cool to see consistently elite players come out of that system.

 

[Halcón]

thats what I meant... it would be cool to see consistently elite players come out of that system.

This I can agree with. And I think it will happen eventually, not only from Finland, but from other countries as well.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

With the majority of courses being free it seems like the parks depts. must really be behind disc golf as well as educational avenues with younger and older groups of people. I also wonder how the real estate works there as its a pretty big country without very many people in it.

 

[steadyrockabilly]

the single biggest reason is that Finland is a relatively sparsely populated country with plenty of public land that isn't spoken for by any particular interest group. This means that it is relatively easy to convince the municipalities/local councils to put courses in the ground. Especially given how cheap it is.

 

[JMeresmaa]

Finland won 4 out of 6 European titles last year European Championships. There is a master plan for growth of DG in Europe. As a result of that, there will be 1,000 new DG courses until the end of 2019. US will be the top dog for at least another three years. After that our DG educational system (yes, it will be launched in few months) will take over. We try to be a "Germany of Disc Golf"

 

[Halcón]

^^ Wow, that's some goal. Look where disc golf has gone in the US over the last 40 years. Now look at Finland over the last 5-10 years. Good luck to you Jussi, in all you do over there.

 

[Dan Ensor]

Finland won 4 out of 6 European titles last year European Championships. There is a master plan for growth of DG in Europe. As a result of that, there will be 1,000 new DG courses until the end of 2019. US will be the top dog for at least another three years. After that our DG educational system (yes, it will be launched in few months) will take over. We try to be a "Germany of Disc Golf"

 

[archmage]

why is Disc golf so popular in Finland? Whats been the drive and when did it take off?

Because of JMeresmaa and his work to grow the sport. Really. Disc Golf in Finland wouldn't be where it is now if it wasn't for him.

 

[ElementZ]

Because of JMeresmaa and his work to grow the sport. Really. Disc Golf in Finland wouldn't be where it is now if it wasn't for him.

That's how I see it, too.

 

[Cgkdisc]

From what I understand, Seppo Niemenen should get a lot of credit for laying down the foundation for growth in Finland over the past 35 years.