How Did You Get Into Disc Golf?

Started playing because my tennis partner took it up. Now we play very little tennis but disc golf together all the time. Much easier on my knees as I push on into the twilight years... My first disc was a Panther, which I lost in a creek during fieldwork a few days after getting it.
 
About 13-14 years ago as a freshman in college. It was a big social thing since it was a religious uni and drinking, smoking, and general fun were outlawed. ;)

We had a course 2 miles away from our dorms and 5 more within a 15 minute drive, so it was pretty much a 3-4 times a week thing for a lot of us. We also had a nice big open field where more experienced guys would give instruction to us newbies. As a long time ball golfer, I instantly fell in love with the "cheaper" (in theory) and more relaxed sport and started wasting tons of money. Unfortunately, in Lansing, MI, there weren't any good disc golf specific stores in the early 2000s. The course right by our uni had a friendly old hippie who sold discs out of his pickup and always had good advice and about a thousand discs at all times, but no brick and mortars. I ended up getting an Innova Comp bag from the only store in the area, which was on Michigan State Uni's campus, but that place was pricey and not the most welcoming.

Anyway, 14 years later and the addiction has held. They ended up putting in a 9-hole course on my old campus and it plays as a pretty nice and decently challenging course that isn't overbearing for newer players. Good to see that those in charge are taking interest and helping to grow the sport.
 
I was 16 and a playground leader for the Goshen (IN) Parks and Recreation Department in 1989. It was a resume builder for me entering the education field in a couple of years.

Our boss was training us for a week before the summer playground program began (where neighborhood kids would come and go as they pleased and we'd have activities for them). Frisbee activities played a major role, and object Frisbee golf was one of the prominent ones. Although I'd played that many times as a youngster (my '82-ish Wheaties Fastback was my favorite), it was here where I was first introduced to actual Disc Golf with baskets when my boss told us we should check out the new course just installed at Oxbow Park.

So, like a lot of old-timers here, I set out to play my first basket round with my play-catch Wham-O and got lots of 8's and 10's. It was TOUGH. Narrow, twisting fairways with thick thorns, poison ivy, a river running parallel with a hole...They redesigned it to be easier for the '96 Worlds, as a matter of fact!

I'd run into the designer (PDGA #315) not long after I started playing in '89 and he sold me a Stingray out of his garage, my first real Golf Disc. It would be several years, though, before I'd move to a populated enough area that had pros and leagues and stuff, and it was there (Grand Woods Park, Lansing, MI, 1996) where I saw people play who knew what they were doing. That's where the obsession started. Prior to that I only could throw a RHFH with the Stingray for maybe 150'-200' because it was all self-taught and I never saw good players from whom I could emulate.
 
The winter of 2015 I was at a local park and saw a sign that claimed that the Disc Golf World Championships were being held there. I didn't think much of it until that July, decided to pick up some discs and played a few rounds. Went to Worlds after doing some more research and I have been hooked ever since! Pittsburgh for Life!
 
Evolution:

Toss and catch
Guts
Object golf course at CSUN
Ed puts targets in Oak Grove, Mark gets alla kind of golf frizzles at DTWorld
Life is good.
 
I've been throwing frisbees most of my life. Played object golf without realizing actual courses existed. In HS, a friend took me out to the local course. Had fun. A few years later some coworkers asked me to go with them. Was still using a frisbee, thought their discs were goofy looking. Eventually learned to accept the goofy looking discs and have been playing ever since.
 
Overy 10 years ago I started a heavy schedule of walking to correct health conditions due to a sedentary life style. I achieved success in weight reduction and improving my health but began to get bored of the walking. I started to notice the people enjoying disc golf at the local park where I would routinely walk and decided to give it a try. It serves the same purpose as my walking for exercise and is so much more fun. I have become an addict to the game. Wish I had started playing 20 years ago.
 
The year was 2007, I had just sat down to play my billionth game of Wii bowling when I had the sudden urge to play something different. Played a few rounds of ball golf, eh to boring. Then I stumbled upon "frisbee golf" and loved it! Played it for awhile and put it down and forgot about it for the next 7 years.

Fast forward to the year 2014: I start a new job at a software company that promotes playing games during breaks. Me and some co-workers start playing "frisbee golf" everyday at lunch. The obsession begins to grow...We make plans to try disc golf during a weekend get together but it falls through.


Fast forward to November 2015: Me and the wife decide to take the kids to a park we don't usual visit. Upon walking the trail I discover disc golf baskets. I tell her about my lunch breaks and how I've always wanted to try it. Sure enough, Christmas rolls around and I find a Discraft starter set under the tree.

Jan 1, 2016 I played my first game of disc golf at the park I had just visited with my wife and kids.



tl;dr / Cliff Notes Edition:

Nintendo Wii + Wife + Xmas + Discraft Starter Set = Origin Story
 
I got my first Frisbee in '67 when I was 8. Eventually throwing at the beach led to playing on an ultimate team at community college.
In '79 I went to a university that had both an ultimate team and a 9-basket course on a piece of recreation property the university owned. Because that property was 10 miles from campus, we also had a 9-hole object course, with the first tee less than 50 yards from my dorm. I played every day after classes, and placed 2nd in our one tournament that year.
In '83 I played at a Frisbee-sponsred event (including distance, accuracy, MTL, TRC, etc) that had an 18-holler set up with temp baskets, though I was still heaving the lid at the time.
Then a long stretch where, again, I mostly threw at the beach, until
In '02, I found myself idle that fall after wildfire season. I'd just read about the disc course going in at Pier Park, so I found a course already open at Dabney and went to check it out. Found a few uninked discs (Lightning!) and had a few given to me, and was addicted within days.

I have bags/discs permanently residing in 3 different states, and a hundred or so loose discs ready to jump in when a brother falls or goes missing.
 
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Had a new roommate that took me and another roomie out one day after work. I knew about the sport since there was course right across from my brother's high school but I was too 'cool' for that stuff in 89-90.
I was totally hooked by the 6th hole or so. I had never really done much outdoors and was carrying lots of extra weight so I started playing every so often. Then when my work contract ended I found myself with lots of time and it was an unseasonably nice fall and winter that year so I played 3-4 rounds a day for about 8 months.

Now I even pack a couple discs when I have to leave town for a funeral...
 
Punishment for sins in a past life. I still remember the deep booming voice. "You must be punished for past sins! I condemn you to eternal frustration, missed fairways, discs in the bayou, fire ant piles, and poisen ivy in the schule. All your putters will hit the chastidy belt, and if not that, the basket. Now go into the woods, get on thine hairsuit shirt and suffer. But always remember, play nice."
 
picked up a disc off my coworkers desk and asked "what the heck is this...?"

He said, "you've never played frisbee golf? Come play after work!"

Took one round and I was hooked!!!
 
My brother (who I work with) started posting with one of our coworker friends. They would always talk about it at work and want me to go post. I finally caved in, thinking it would be boring. It's funny, because I distinctly remember telling my wife, "I'm only gonna post once and probably never post again." :D

Perverted that for you. :p

I wonder if you have posted more times than you have thrown a disc on the course in a round?

4 throws x 18 holes = 72 throws per round.
9875 posts divided by 72 throws = 137 rounds.
137 rounds divided by 5.3 years of playing = 25.8 rounds per year.

Tell the truth. :D
 
I was looking for a hobby that costed less money than hockey and though DG might be a good fit. Oddly enough, I saw some people playing a year or two prior while I was rollerblading and remembered thinking that DG was probably just a fad that would die out.
 
made-up object golf with frisbees around the neighborhood until a course was installed at Winton Woods in 1980
 
1) I always like playing catch with a frisbee
2) I enjoyed recreational ultimate and was reasonably effective throwing an Ultrastar
3) A college buddy had 2-3 discs and we had a few courses nearby
4) I bought 2-3 discs for myself, and had a few "disc golf obsessed" months over a few years in college
5) Ten years later, I was reminded of those courses and brought out the old Z Cyclone, Z Predator, D Hawk, and X Challenger because my wife had some classmates who play and mentioned that we should go! (little did she know what would happen...)
6) 40-50 discs later, and after playing/throwing on a weekly basis, I'm officially addicted

A shoutout to CCDG in particular, as their 2014 Worlds videos in particular got me totally hooked, showing such beautiful courses, great disc golfers, and helpful commentary guiding me through the holes and the throws. Thanks guys!

I still haven't played a tournament, but hopefully that will change soon.
 
Back in 1992 when I was courting my sweetheart, now wife, we would go out to Columbia Park in Kennewick, WA for walks and talks. We saw guys hucking discs and figured it was a game, and it looked like fun, but didn't know anything about it. Flash forward 22 years to 2014, a hot Sunday at the end of August. I was feeling house bound and asked the missus if she wanted to take a walk. She didn't, so I drove to the park and walked alone. There were the guys with frisbees again, and I noticed for the first time the strange deer feeders they were using as targets. That was it - I made up my mind to try it. I went home and looked the sport up and got excited. I emailed some friends to see if they wanted to give it a try with me - three replied in the positive. A friend at work, when I told her, said her son plays and she told me where the local pro-shop was (inside a little grocery store I'd never been in before). One round at somewhere near 30 over par and I was hooked. Only two of those friends I got together to try it got the same bug, and only one is as hooked as I am. We meet most weekdays in decent weather before work, just as the sun is rising, to start our day with 18 holes. I'm 48 by the way, and hope to play till I'm too dead to stop.
 
In 2008 my middle son was a rising senior at college and my youngest was a rising Sophomore.
We were looking for some way to spend some quality time together that wouldn't break the bank.
My grown children got me into disc golf, and they rarely play anymore.
 
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