Finland courses...

[Terry 44]

So I was looking at my profile and not surprisingly America has the most courses, but Finland also had quite a few and I was surprised. Has anyone played these, how many Finnish members do we have (actively) on the board who would like to chime in and talk about their homeland and general feel of the DG experience. I know Lat64 is Finnish, but how did it get so big there? and not other places in the world? Really this is for curiosity's sake, and who knows maybe a vacation someday.

 

[frasnow]

From latitude64.se:

Latitude 64° is the geographical location of the residential community Bergsbyn (meaning Mountain Village), outside the coastal city of Skellefteå, near the arctic circle in the north eastern part of Sweden.

It's westside.fi

 

[frasnow]

Would love to play some Finnish courses though. I can't get enough of lcgm8's videos on YouTube.

 

[Terry 44]

I will look those video's up. Oh and did mess up on the Lat64, didn't fact check my idiocy.....:wall:

 

[Valet]

Terry - in your signature line I think you (or whoever you're quoting) mean "lose".

 

[archmage]

Hi! I tend to lurk more than write, but that's how we Finns usually are, we don't speak unless we have something to say

I don't really know how it got so big here, but disc golf really is bigger in Finland than anywhere else in Europe. For example for Dutch Open there are almost twice as many Finns preregistered than actual Dutch. For a small country of barely over 5 million people we have huge amount of courses, 297 listed at fgr.fi, which is a Finnish course directory, and more courses are built all the time. And during summer time many of those courses are so full of players you have to queue to get to play. We also have many promising juniors up and coming, so watch out for some stiff competition coming from Finland in the coming years!

And about Finnish manufacturers, don't forget Prodiscus! Latitude 64 does the molding job in their factory in Sweden for Westside (using Westside's own molds), but Prodiscus does everything themselves in Finland.

If anyone happens to be here and wants to throw a round or a few at Oulu region at some time, feel free to shoot me a PM! (At the moment there's 2 feet of snow and below freezing temps, but that has never stopped us Finns )

 

[compn]

i never got why disc golf didnt make it in europe. at least its big in scandinavian countries.
aside from the lack of park space in some countries (uk).
but spain? france? germany? football rules them.

canada needs to step its game up.

 

[Heatseeker]

i never got why disc golf didnt make it in europe. at least its big in scandinavian countries.
aside from the lack of park space in some countries (uk).
but spain? france? germany? football rules them.

canada needs to step its game up.

If you build they will come. People probably just aren't aware of the sport in those countries. If there were more courses accessible and thus more visibility people would go and try and realize how addictive it can be to play disc golf. In my hometown there was big difference in amount of players when we had course bit further away in worser location than easily accessible near the city centre. I'm sure that as soon as those countries would start setting up courses the player base would boom fast. Now they just need some active people to make that happen.

In Finland the awareness of disc golf is pretty good. Even a bank clerk knew about disc golf when I mentioned it This is happening more and more and you don't have to explain anymore what disc golf is. We occasionally even have some small clips of disc golf basket and putting airing in between programs in our national broadcasting company's channels.

 

[Steve West]

...For a small country of barely over 5 million people we have huge amount of courses, 297 listed at fgr.fi, which is a Finnish course directory, and more courses are built all the time.

So, when do you expect to get those all entered here?

 

[BogeyNoMore]

...For a small country of barely over 5 million people we have huge amount of courses, 297 listed at fgr.fi, which is a Finnish course directory, and more courses are built all the time.

So, when do you expect to get those all entered here?

My thoughts exactly, Mr. West! Please archmage & Heatseeker - kindly add any courses you know of that aren't listed. Pix and reviews would be nice bonuses, but at least it's good to know of a course's existence and location. By all means provide a link to local or national DG sites. Would live to see more european participants on the forums as well! :thmbup:

 

[Terry 44]

Interesting, the whole build it they will come, but that's the whole chicken before the egg. How did it start? The courses would need to be justified before getting into the ground, is Finland just ahead of the curve?

Oh and Valet, fixed the signature, glad my wife didn't see that. She is an editor.:doh:

 

[Heatseeker]

Interesting, the whole build it they will come, but that's the whole chicken before the egg. How did it start? The courses would need to be justified before getting into the ground, is Finland just ahead of the curve?

You just need few active people to make it happen. Seppo Nieminen brought the disc golf in Finland around early 70's (here's the link to his site for more info, might not be perfectly up to date: http://www.amexpo.fi/site?node_id=2 and laid the groundwork and Jussi Meresmaa (owner of Discmania) really taking it to next level during past 10 years or so with more professionalism both at course design and promoting. I think these two are the biggest reasons why disc golf is today readily accessible in most (or atleast in very many) of the cities in Finland. Atleast in my opinion. And of course there are more and more active people locally promoting the sport even more.

I think currently biggest problems in Finland are matching the player base expecially in bigger cities (the courses are full on those summer days) and getting more people to start playing disc golf competetively and/or take part in local dg clubs and Finnish Frisbee Association.

Disc golf course itself shouldn't be too difficult to sell as an investment for cities. It's cheap to build and attend and brings joy to all ages.

 

[ElementZ]

i never got why disc golf didnt make it in europe. at least its big in scandinavian countries.
aside from the lack of park space in some countries (uk).
but spain? france? germany? football rules them.

canada needs to step its game up.

Let me speak for Germany when I say that the sport is absolutely exploding there right now. There's a clear exponential growth in number of courses. But not only that, the courses that are currently installed are being improved. In a few years, it will be as popular in Germany as it is here. There's no doubt in my mind.