True Reason Why Disc Golf Isn't Becoming Main Stream

[luckless_pedestrian]

and currently the big money sports are sports that are really no longer the sports that america LOVES to **PLAY**. Stop watching Monday night football and start a league.

Agree mostly. Except I think that even if the carrot of a huge NFL payday were removed you'd still have tons of high school kids playing the game. I'd still play in the yard with my kids.

But if the weather is nice, I'd rather go out and throw frisbees rather than watch most NFL games.

 

[discgman]

Disc Golf may never become mainstream in my lifetime and that's ok with me. I will still support tournaments, volunteer, promote new courses, new leagues and teach to get more people interested in this sport. The junior golfers today will push this sport into the future. I like how the European PDGA and events are coming together. They will be the first to get major sponsorship and higher payouts. Here in the states we are still fighting the stigma of drugs and hippies playing our sport.

The future is bright for us though. Ball golf is losing its luster due to a new generation that doesn't care about the sport. Its too pricey, time consuming and not very inclusive. Public golf courses are losing money and will seek cheaper alternatives, that's were we will come in. Think of it like snowboarding in the late 80's. No ski resorts would allow snowboarders at first. They had a reputation of being jerks and drug use. Eventually a few resorts started allowing separate runs for just the boarders. Eventually the kids grew up snowboarding. Then came the x games and the Olympics, now the sport is as big as ever. It happened quicker for snowboarding, but there is more money to make in the equipment and ski resorts. Our biggest weakness is how cheap it is to play and buy discs. Plus there are hardly any greens fees.

 

[disctildeath]

I'm not sure where the OP gets the idea that more private courses will eliminate drugs and/or alcohol, private courses get quite a bit of their traffic because they have looser rules regarding behavior like that.

 

[WhiteyBear]

Frisbee sports will never be mainstream, because they are frisbee sports.

Except like....in the 70's and early 80's, when Wham-O, Coopertone, and Bud/Coors were sponsoring them. You could honestly think that DG killed frisbee touring.

 

[JeremyKShort]

US mainstream sports are going to be anything thats played at the college level. Where do colleges get thier players? High School. There has to be something happening with disc golf at the high school (and lower school) level for it to go anywhere.

There also needs to be outside money going into tournaments. Somebody that's not in the disc golf business has to want to sponsor an event. Right now there is no interest. Every advertiser on this site (excluding the forum ads) is disc golf related, that's a symptom of the same problem. As to what's stopping outside sponsors from coming in, that's another debate.

 

[Mr. Butlertron]

If disc golf becomes even more popular there's bound to be lots of people that will eventually become better than me. How am I going to look my wife and our cat in the eyes when I come home without winning my division? I'm against any more mainstreaming

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

Think of it like snowboarding in the late 80's. No ski resorts would allow snowboarders at first. They had a reputation of being jerks and drug use. Eventually a few resorts started allowing separate runs for just the boarders. Eventually the kids grew up snowboarding. Then came the x games and the Olympics, now the sport is as big as ever. It happened quicker for snowboarding, but there is more money to make in the equipment and ski resorts. Our biggest weakness is how cheap it is to play and buy discs. Plus there are hardly any greens fees.

Snowboarding does have a bit more "wow factor" that gave it a boost.

 

[reposado]

Agree mostly. Except I think that even if the carrot of a huge NFL payday were removed you'd still have tons of high school kids playing the game. I'd still play in the yard with my kids.

But if the weather is nice, I'd rather go out and throw frisbees rather than watch most NFL games.

Sure. Some people here have reversed the causality. People dont grow up playing the major sports because of the payday......there is a big payday because people grow up playing them

 

[mashnut]

Sure. Some people here have reversed the causality. People dont grow up playing the major sports because of the payday......there is a big payday because people grow up playing them

Maybe, but without the big payday you'd see a lot fewer kids "going to college", never going to class and expecting to get rich without any kind of education. People would still play the sport, but I think less would have it be the only focus of their lives.

 

[youdidwell]

The ceiling for Disc Golf is the prestige of Bowling. Strive for it people.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Snowboarding does have a bit more "wow factor" that gave it a boost.

Chicks dig snow boarding and snowboarders. That certainly helped snowborading grow.
Chicks dig the long ball... baseball seems pretty popular. :|
Chicks dig big, tough guys... football seems to thrive.

As a relative % of the female popoulation: chicks don't dig DG or DG'ers.:\

Wanna grow the sport? Make the sport more appealing to chicks.

*drops mike*

 

[DiscgolfStu]

There also needs to be outside money going into tournaments. Somebody that's not in the disc golf business has to want to sponsor an event. Right now there is no interest. Every advertiser on this site (excluding the forum ads) is disc golf related, that's a symptom of the same problem. As to what's stopping outside sponsors from coming in, that's another debate.

Ledgestone and Keen might feel differently about that.
http://lisopen.com/
http://blog.keenfootwear.com/blog/tag/disc-golf/

And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the overwhelming aversion to "growing the game" on this site. Other than it being an annoyingly over used term (which I totally get, but watchagonnado?), who doesn't want things to be better? I'd also argue that the game is developing at a half decent pace, despite claims to the opposite. You've got studies showing it's one the fastest growing activities in North America, new courses going in all the time, a plethora of maunfacturers, disc golf on ball golf courses, pay to play courses, outside sponsorships (Ledgestone, Keen), major events filling up in record times and an explosion of (quality) DG videos.

Yup, nothing to see here folks, just a bunch of stoners throwing frisbees in a park.

 

[ru4por]

Ledgestone and Keen might feel differently about that.
http://lisopen.com/
http://blog.keenfootwear.com/blog/tag/disc-golf/

And I'm still trying to wrap my head around the overwhelming aversion to "growing the game" on this site. Other than it being an annoyingly over used term (which I totally get, but watchagonnado?), who doesn't want things to be better? I'd also argue that the game is developing at a half decent pace, despite claims to the opposite. You've got studies showing it's one the fastest growing activities in North America, new courses going in all the time, a plethora of maunfacturers, disc golf on ball golf courses, pay to play courses, outside sponsorships (Ledgestone, Keen), major events filling up in record times and an explosion of (quality) DG videos.

Yup, nothing to see here folks, just a bunch of stoners throwing frisbees in a park.

The aversion is likely that "growing the game" does not necessarily mean things will be better. I am not saying it does not, but in the process of the "grow" things could go many different ways.

 

[ru4por]

I will even give an example. I am a big rally fan. Off road racing through the woods and deserts. I have been into it for years, watching, volunteering, attending races. Several years ago, the X Gamers got into it. Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra......brought huge money with them. Big sponsored teams, SOBE, Red Bull, Monster..... Big teams, great cars, huge mobile homes and dominated the American rally scene. By the way side fell the scads of mom and pop teams that proliferated the sport for years, and many of the small and local sponsorship dollars. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a cost. Not too long after the X Games boys moved on with their big dollars and grew the sport into indoor RallyCross. A hybrid indoor stadium truck racing/rally car race, with a jump, of course. It left the sport decimated for years. The small time sponsorship, the independent race teams were gone. As the sport rebuilds itself in this country,(never anything but a niche sport anyway), I am guessing most involved were not happy with the sport "growth".

 

[JeremyKShort]

Ledgestone and Keen might feel differently about that.
http://lisopen.com/
http://blog.keenfootwear.com/blog/tag/disc-golf/

I think those are the minority that are getting involved, we still don't have very many. And Keen is actively marketing thier product to disc golfers, so they're not an outside advertiser.

 

[mashnut]

The ceiling for Disc Golf is the prestige of Bowling. Strive for it people.

I think Adult Softball is a better comparison. Tons of people play it, there's a field in just about every park, everybody's heard of it and nobody wants to watch it on TV. To me that's exactly where Disc Golf is headed on our current trajectory and I have a hard time seeing that as a bad thing.

 

[DG_Before_Breakfast]

Chicks dig snow boarding and snowboarders. That certainly helped snowborading grow.
Chicks dig the long ball... baseball seems pretty popular. :|
Chicks dig big, tough guys... football seems to thrive.

As a relative % of the female popoulation: chicks don't dig DG or DG'ers.:\

Wanna grow the sport? Make the sport more appealing to chicks.

*drops mike*

That would certainly help. We need more hot guys in the sport playing with their shirt off? And Holly popularizing Disc Golf Fashion as an up and coming style? DG Bohemian? Disc Couture?

But honestly, I think it is going pretty well for Disc Golf. So many courses out there, and so many people enjoying the sport. I am certainly in the boat of people that would worry the sport would be less fun if too many people knew about it.

I remember the first time I went to Kauai with the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook and found all these cool, near-empty locals beaches and such. Next time I went, those beaches weren't so empty. Now days they aren't locals beaches anymore. People that live in or travel frequently to Kauai don't like the authors of the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook so much.

But I promise when I win $100 million in the Lottery, I will invest at least $5 million in the sport.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

I think Adult Softball is a better comparison. Tons of people play it, there's a field in just about every park, everybody's heard of it and nobody wants to watch it on TV. To me that's exactly where Disc Golf is headed on our current trajectory and I have a hard time seeing that as a bad thing.

Softball to Baseball

Disc Golf to Ball Golf

I agree! Maybe we should call it SoftGolf

 

[allinpflop]

I think Adult Softball is a better comparison. Tons of people play it, there's a field in just about every park, everybody's heard of it and nobody wants to watch it on TV. To me that's exactly where Disc Golf is headed on our current trajectory and I have a hard time seeing that as a bad thing.

Probably the best analogy I have heard yet.......

 

[youdidwell]

I think Adult Softball is a better comparison. Tons of people play it, there's a field in just about every park, everybody's heard of it and nobody wants to watch it on TV. To me that's exactly where Disc Golf is headed on our current trajectory and I have a hard time seeing that as a bad thing.

We're basically on the same page. I don't mind where it is headed either but, just be split hairs and be an internet tool, I don't think I've ever seen an Adult softball park. Usually they share it with little leagues, youth baseball/softball, etc.

Imagine if we did see more pay courses, it'd be pretty close to bowling. Like most players are either playing unorganized or within a league setting. A smaller population does tournaments, even fewer travel far for tournaments. Nobody watches bowling either. Most sponsors are companies in the business. They just make more money, so they can pay their Pros more. Sounds like Disc Golf to me.