What is the 'identity' of disc golf?

[NOStheBOSS]

I personally would love for the PDGA to be the next PGA, on a smaller scale. I would LOVE to come home from Sunday lunch in 20 years and turn on CBS to watch the final round of an NT. I have the luxury of living in Bowling Green, with 11 courses within a 30 minute drive, but I know there are communities out there with one main course that would get overcrowded with more exposure.

I would say right now, in BG to say the least, disc golf is still very much unknown to the non players, and played very casually by the majority of disc golfers. I wouldn't say it is viewed as a "hippy" sport, but definitely a casual game palyed by beer-drinking chuckers

(not saying all people who drink on the course are chuckers)

 

[GripEnemy]

Say we take the athletic route. Now you go to the course and there are dozens more people decked out with full bags, walking off shots, checking the wind on each throw, and taking a good amount of time to make sure they shoot well because now we're a competitive sport. Casual rounds become exercises in dodging groups and just trying to get a round in. The courses host tournaments much more often so casual play gets limited by contant practice, tournaments, and then more practice for the next one.

Won't chop up the whole paragraph, and I only read pages 1 and 2, but the bolded portion is what it has been to me recently. Sure if I can squeeze a round in during the day during the week I'm for the most part by myself (or with my group), but after the 9-5ers are done work, and especially the weekends/weekenders, it's a game just to try and play a quick 18.

 

[ReinZ_96]

That's what everyone sees but i reality it's more

The Family Man - - The Guy Who Wants To Lose Weight - - The DG Addict - - The Minority (hippes, rednecks, etc.)

That's talking about people who actually play DG, people who go to the course just to fck off and cause problems, well you've got it down pretty good

 

[Flip it Flat]

After reading through all the posts so far I'm just wondering why some people are so preoccupied about the image of disc golf and how is it going to be viewed by others and what image do we want to promote.

I've been playing for over 12 years now and I have seen it change a lot, there are a lot more people playing now and that has it's good and bad traits for me. There's more good and bad people on the courses now and that comes with an ever growing popularity. The bad thing for me is that there are just more people to fill the courses I want to play and that annoys me because I like to have a little solitude but that's me.

I can really care less about how people view me as a disc golfer when I tell them what I do in my spare time. I've had family members and work associates make questioning remarks about it and allude to a hippie culture of pot heads and punks but anything and everything can be made to appear in a negative light. That being said you can talk about the pretentiousness of ball golf, the violence of football or rugby, the excessive gambling with poker, the hunter that sits all day in a perch to kill a deer for sport. (all things that I have done and still do to certain extents)

Almost anything can be described in a bad way and a stereotype can develop based upon something you do and enjoy. To take this so seriously that you question this so intently I think it has begun to affect your identity as a disc golfer. I could give a $&#* what these people think. Furthermore, if more people come into the game and are recreational players the game will grow in numbers & will increase and slowly reflect the values of mainstream culture and society but it still will be a culture in of itself that will draw from it's origins and likely will always have a pseudo hippie vibe to it and so what, does that really detract from it.

Do I think a day will come when it's televised, hell yeah it will be. Just think about skateboarding, when I was kid and it was booming in popularity we never thought for a moment it would be televised let alone most of the X games sports. To think about the amount of revenue that is generated on the X-Games alone and to contrast it with it's origins as a punk past time who cares really when the money is rolling in. To be frank and honest, I don't think it really is a concern in the grand scheme of things to be worried or concerned about the identity of disc golf. It didn't bother skateboarders, they created their own subculture and propagated that to the rest of America and in turn generated a ton of revenue and legitimized it.

I don't think DG is a hard to sell as a low impact sport that most people can play. I convinced my father and uncle to play it and these are 2 of the stodgiest old sob's ever and they liked it enough to play once in while now and consider in a fun time and a good way to get a nice productive hike.

I never thought of defending DG as a sport or the image that is conjured up in peoples minds. People will believe what they want to believe sometimes and nobody is going to change their minds. Do people really think poker is a sport or bowling, table tennis or pool, some do and those that do play those activities might think of them as a sport... The identity is what it is and what you think it is, if you got to question it and where it's going your ultimately gonna question yourself and why you play it and how you fit into this identity overall. My feeling is if you genuinely love it, why question it really???

 

[New013]

Disc Golf is...... Jason Bourne

 

[bucky926]

I wasn't trying to start an argument about how I view myself as a disc golfer. I'm in the same boat of those who just don't care. I play, so what, let's move on.

What I'm interested in is when the sport/hobby/game is televised and people start taking notice, how will that change our courses and clubs. I think disc golf is at the tipping point of breaking into the mainstream. Hell, it should have broken into the mainstream awhile ago but that's another issue. When it does, what changes? The 'identity' I'm speaking of is what will shape the sport.

It would be a wonderful thing to just not care because it would never have an impact, but it will.

 

[bholy08]

First, I don't see why disc golf has to be either a recreational hobby or a serious sport. There's no reason it can't be both.

When you posted this a little light clicked in my head. People compare disc golf to either ball golf or bowling a lot. I think it's more like volleyball in some respects. It's a game that's easy to play but requires a setup that's not feasible for most private properties yet is inexpensive to maintain in public parks. You can play it well anywhere from your preteen years up to your 70's, assuming you maintain fitness (that's where the lifetime sport caught my attention). And there are serious athletes that aren't household names that play the sport very well. So volleyball isn't either a serious sport that's represented in the Olympics, played world wide and has a pro tour, or a sport that's played by beach bums while drinking and hanging out with friends, it's both. It's not like golf where it's a bunch of rich guys playing or like bowling where the pros are the butt of jokes. The serious players are viewed as athletes but the normal guy can play cheaply at many parks and rec centers.

Disc golf can be the same way. Local parks can continue to maintain very good courses like they do now for not much less than it takes to maintain a park anyway. Private clubs can open extremely well maintained courses with lots of amenities and they can coexist as long as the sport is popular enough.

thank you for expressing what I was struggling to organize in my own jet lagged brain!

 

[mjoyce]

I think it's hard to identify something that seems as if it has multiple personality disorder. There are generally three types of people that play disc golf. The people who take it pretty seriously (most of us on DGCR), The casual players. These guys that go out and throw after work or on the weekends with their friends. Maybe they have a few beers maybe not. One disc chuckers who are going "disc golfing" as an excuse to partake in illegal activities.

A lot of serious players start out as casual players. It's exactly how I started. A couple friends introduced me to the game. We would play nearly every weekend. Sometimes we'd play glow and drink a few beers (pack it in pack it out). The friend that introduced me started playing in the local league, he talked me into going to leagues. Now I play in leagues and take it more seriously. Can I still go out for a casual round on a Saturday morning/afternoon? Yes, Sometimes I prefer it. Do I take those rounds more seriously than when I started? Hell yes I do. Not too serious but I want to play well.

I think the identity you want comes from the casual and serious to semi serious players. One thing that I think is very important in the grand scheme of disc golf is that it remains beginner friendly. It makes it easier to keep coming back if your first time out is an enjoyable experience. Even if you don't score well. If you have fun with the people you're playing with you're more likely to come back.

Also, the inclusive nature of disc golf helps these casual/rec players improve and keep coming back. Just last week at leagues I was on a card with two friends and a guy who was at his second night at leagues. He wasn't very good but you could tell he liked the game. How serious will he become? Only time will tell. But I think it helped that after the round when he was asking questions or asking for advice that we were as helpful as possible and friendly.

I guess what I think the identity of disc golf should be is welcoming. I don't know if that's a real identity but I think it's one of the most important things we have.

 

[simpletwist]

Except for the DB designation I think the picture encompasses most of the folks I see out there. But All of those stereotypes is very broad based.

I think disc golf is at the point of a serious breakthrough. From my view there is an explosion of manufacturers of discs making scores of new products. There are cottage industries popping up everywhere selling all manner of accessories. New courses are going in the ground everywhere. Schools and colleges are getting involved.

Like the "stoner hoodlum" culture that once was skateboarding disc golf just needs that big break. What the PDGA needs to do is to court some big pocket sponsors, beer, fitness drinks, maybe get hooked up with a car company looking to appeal to a young market and produce ball golf like quality video. Also the PDGA needs to take a more ball golf approach to course quality. And the PDGA needs to look long and hard at getting a celebrity or two endorsing the sport.

The fusion of skateboarding and ball golf is how I identify with disc golf. Its a idle pastime for some, a family recreation for others. Its a time to drink and smoke up with your friends for many. And its a serious competitive sport for a lot of folks. For me, its all of the above.

 

[Jedi-D85]

You REALLY don't want it to become mainstream.

Showing up at your fav course to play a round with just your buds? Gone.
Having a choice of which free course to play? Gone.

You lost all respectability when you used the word "mainstream". Pitch and plays will always be there with city courses. But I would like to see more courses with higher respectability in it.

You say mainstream like it's a bad thing. NBA is extremely popular and we all know there isn't anywhere you can just go play with your buddies any where on a public court.......

 

[chris deitzel]

I feel like I'm the only long-hair on the course these days. Things have changed a lot over the last 15 years........

Lets not forget the "I'm gonna break this tree and write on this bench" group

 

[McFer]

I'd much rather see disc golf grow from the grass roots, like it's growing now. Local popularity is the key to growth, and that's something that we're all responsible for. Kids' clinics, player-organized leagues, adult noob clinics, and the like get people out there throwing discs, and it's the throwing that is the hook. Kids are key. You get more kids on the course and more families on the course, and it starts to change the culture.

And those events don't have to happen from the top-down. Local disc junkies can organize with their local park and rec office, it's much easier than people think, typically park and rec officials are desperate for community involvement and they'll typically support quality ideas. They can promote your idea, and they often have some funds available to help out with small expenses. Also, getting the parks involved opens the door to local business sponsorships that can provide other amenities to help stage events. Schools are another major venue. Local phys ed teachers would be very welcoming of a short disc golf demonstration and activity for their classes if they're not already using disc golf in their curriculum. For those seeking "legitimatize" disc golf, that's the way to go.

If disc golf grows in popularity at the local levels, eventually it will become big enough that the monied interests will take notice, though that's not that appealing of a thing to me.

 

[Pwingles]

You lost all respectability when you used the word "mainstream". Pitch and plays will always be there with city courses. But I would like to see more courses with higher respectability in it.

You say mainstream like it's a bad thing. NBA is extremely popular and we all know there isn't anywhere you can just go play with your buddies any where on a public court.......

Omg. This ^^

the people that are against disc golf becoming more recognized and more "mainstream", organized or w/e are the ones who that very thing will affect the least.

I dont see how having more private courses, dress codes in tournaments, sponsors, television coverage, more competetive golfers playing for a reasonable amount of money, stops you from going to your local nine holer and (ahem) partaking, throwing seven frisbees at every hole and mob golfing with your friends ???

Explain to me how that hanges anything for you?

 

[MrHighlandPark]

It definitely needs to lose the hippie/stoner connection before it can really grow from a grass roots level. I recently played a PDGA tournament where virtually everyone I encountered was getting high during the tournament rounds.

I don't have any strong views on drug use, and everyone I met was cool and respectful, but most parents would see this as a non-starter in terms of letting their kids get involved.

 

[Flip it Flat]

I feel like I'm the only long-hair on the course these days. Things have changed a lot over the last 15 years........

Lets not forget the "I'm gonna break this tree and write on this bench" group

I still play with some of my friends that all have long hair, in many ways it has changed.

I'm the guy that looks like the typical mean bad cop ex-marine type(I'm not but everyone tells me this and I laugh) this has produced a favorable reaction for me.

On a busy course at 5:00 pm I can show up and walk around and you'll start seeing all the young partiers fleeing like rats off a sinking ship thinking I'm a cop. It's a great way to clear up the course for me and all my long haired friends that show up later. We all get a laugh out of this and reflect on the times we were just like them.

 

[IHearChains]

It definitely needs to lose the hippie/stoner connection before it can really grow from a grass roots level.... but most parents would see this as a non-starter in terms of letting their kids get involved.

I don't really care whether disc golf grows or not. But I'd prefer if that "connection" were to fade into the background. I'd like to take my kids to the disc golf course more often, but there too many morons who don't give a sh!t about being discreet with their personal activities.

Disc golf is a great "lifetime sport" as somebody said upthread. I'm also into semi-competitive basketball but as I get older I am realizing my days of running in full-court pickup games are numbered. Disc golf will give me solid exercise, along with a competitive outlet, long into the future.

 

[mjoyce]

Omg. This ^^

the people that are against disc golf becoming more recognized and more "mainstream", organized or w/e are the ones who that very thing will affect the least.

I dont see how having more private courses, dress codes in tournaments, sponsors, television coverage, more competetive golfers playing for a reasonable amount of money, stops you from going to your local nine holer and (ahem) partaking, throwing seven frisbees at every hole and mob golfing with your friends ???

Explain to me how that hanges anything for you?

While I would like disc golf to become more recognized so that it's easier to explain what I'm doing and so less people decide to picnic under baskets and on tees. I don't know that I want more private courses, dress codes in tournaments, and the like.

I believe what the point the poster you quoted was trying to make was: the more recognized disc golf becomes and the more players it attracts the more crowded the local courses will be. Therefore you'll have to pay to play the good courses and you won't be able to just go play a couple quick rounds with your buddies on a Saturday at the decent local course.

Also all of these things sound like golf (ball) elitism/snobbery stereotypes. I don't think disc golf needs to be a country club sport. If it evolves into one whatever I'll still play but I don't see anything wrong with disc golf taken seriously as it is now without (ahem partaking in any illicit substances)

I mean taken seriously by a player. I don't need a dress code or pay to play courses to try to play my best in a league round, a casual round, or a tournament round.

I think those things make disc golf less inclusive.

 

[Jedi-D85]

I don't want the elite country club feel, I don't think it really can become like that liek golf is. But I would like to really see an improvement within. Having our big tournaments be more credible and prestigous with bigger sponsors won't be a bad thing for the sport. Also by having this it will bring more respectable people into the mold. I mean why do we really want the crowd who brings a sharpie, draws picutres of genitalia, marijuana symplos, "420", tags and everything else on the signs/benches/ baskets.
Also the ones who smach their bud lite bottles nest to the tee pad, half way down the fairways and on the baskets. There is a reason I am buying season passes now beucase of this and I don't want to bring new people to a park that gets destroyed with all of this.

 

[simpletwist]

Like it or not the best place for disc golf to go is private and public pay to play. This will go a long way to eliminate vandalism, DBs, groups of 10, extremely slow play, littering. When I first started playing just a few short years ago many of the courses around here had very light use even on weekends. But the sport has in my view exploded in the Western NY area. New courses, more businesses carrying discs and accessories. Now on weekends most courses are getting pretty full.

Now if you know me, even though I spent almost 28 years in the military, I hate regulations and rules. That said some monitoring & control of the masses flocking to the courses is in order. I'm certain public course at least in the near term won't dedicate a "ranger" to monitor course traffic. But on a well run private pay to play course you should get and expect the same type of experience as you would get from a private ball golf course. Currently a private course is being built in this area. At this point on this course there is 18 holes of standard golf, and an 18 basket mini course. The owners are adding another 18 holes as well. In the near future they will be charging to play. And I for one can't wait.

 

[discmeister]

Why fix something that is not broken? The sport is growing; don't homogenize it.