I’m old enough to remember when the PDGA nabbing 100,000 members was a big deal. There was a similar reaction within disc golf when JomezPro hit that same number in the subscribers department on YouTube. Thankfully, these weren’t the only signs of disc golf’s arrival …
There were others:
- Weeks-old Pro Tour coverage airing on CBS.
- The booming growth of the game during the pandemic.
- Insane aces and throw-ins making the cut on SportsCenter.
Such is the state of disc golf.
We get pumped over relatively small, insignificant things.
And you know what?
I love it.
The downside, though, is that I’ve perhaps tricked myself into believing disc golf is a bigger deal than it actually is – that it’s made it into the mainstream, earning the respect I feel it’s always deserved. However, one clip was all it took for my excitement levels to crash and burn.
This find comes courtesy of the “Tour Life” podcast with Brodie Smith and Paul Ulibarri. Recently, Niklas Anttila joined the show to talk about his takedown of the 2024 Open at Austin.
The baby-faced assassin managed to card a forehand ace during the first round of the tournament on the 10th hole. Better yet, it was impressive enough to satisfy the third and final bullet point on the above list, coming in at No. six on SporsCenter’s “Top-10” segment that very same evening.
Normally, this’d be cause for celebration. SportsCenter has happened before; SportsCenter will happen again. Still, each time it does, it’s epic. Things didn’t quite shake out how Jeff Spring would’ve liked this time around, though. Check out the groin-kick ESPN gave disc golf …
It’s brutal.
Salt, meet Wound.
For me, the stabbing (and subsequent twisting) of the dagger comes from the comments of long-time SportsCenter anchors, Linda Cohn and Stan Verrett. In three painful parts, to be exact.
Linda first jabs the knife:
“What the heck is this?”
She then forces it deeper:
“It’s like the pickleball of golf.”
And finally, Stan turns it a few times, for good measure:
“Just don’t take up any real golf courses.”
In the eyes of the public, assuming somebody even knows what those “metal thingies” are, disc golf doesn’t hold a candle to big-brother ball golf. But I’ve always felt disc golf was comfortably on-par with pickleball – maybe even bigger. Certainly not subservient to it, by any means.
I get that courses are crowded on the weekends. Online retailers seem unable to keep the most popular frisbee molds in stock for more than 15 minutes. And there’s even (pipe-dream) talk of disc golf one day having a real shot at cracking the ranks of the Summer Olympic Games.
My advice, though?
Think smaller.
WAY smaller.
I’m confident disc golf will get there …
But she’s got a ways to go.
Thanks for the (harsh) reminder, ESPN.
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Editor’s Suggestions:
- Wildly inconsistent disc runs aren’t unique to Innova
- Pro Tour spectators: Leave your disc golf bags at home
- Not being an annoying disc golfer is an on-the-books rule
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Disc golf will keep growing. But also, throwing a disc 400 feet is a lot more physical than hitting a golf ball down the fairway. I’m waiting/expecting that kind of recognition to percolate through the sports punditry world.
Ideally, disc golf will eventually overtake ball-golf. Jack Nicklaus once said of traditional golf that it’s “too hard, takes too long, and costs too much.” Since disc golf courses take up less acreage, and you can get right out and start throwing a round, I’m hoping it keeps catching on.
Thanks for sharing, Steve!
That’s a pretty cool quote from Jack …
I’d never heard / read that before.
It feels like a long-shot that disc golf would ever overtake ball golf …
Like, I have to believe that’ll never happen.
Get closer? Yes.
Overtake? Ideally, sure – but, man …
Unlikely.
Ditto
Lucas, my friend! They’ve got it all wrong. Ball golf sucks and it’s a relic of the past.
The future is disc golf! And if you didn’t know we’re living in the future.
Ball golf is an expensive elitist sport. Disc golf has got to be the most egalitarian sport.. The biggest barrier is lack of courses and exposure. But it’s a lot easier to build a disc golf course than a ball golf course. Even at it’s simplest form you can take a stack of frisbees to anywhere in the world and play to trees or an object.
Ball golf is dying. There’s a reason they’re ADDING disc golf baskets to ball golf courses all over the U.S. and Canada. Disc golf is only going to continue to explode meanwhile Golf’s best days are in the rearview mirror.
Kurt, I hope you’re right …
But man, when you see those winner purses at PGA events, it’s hard to see things that way.
(still, your point is a good one)
That’s going to take time to catch up. Disc golf is the better golf. I wouldn’t say it’s “easier” but it’s definitely more accessible. The sport is going to experience exponential growth pains as more kids pick up the sport or are raised in it.
Just look at Udisc’s reports on the growth of our sport. Its trajectory is only going up.
I really couldn’t care less what sports center thinks about disc golf. New courses are going in all over the globe everyday.
I’m gonna go do my part- visiting family in Canada next week and bringing a couple of specially picked out discs for my nephew and niece who have never played disc golf. Should be fun!
I remember watching Canadian Nationals a few years back – I think it was Sexton who won.
Don’t recall the name of the course, but woah, Nelly …
It was BEAUTIFUL.
I’m sure it’s not the case, but in my head, all Canadian disc golf looks like that.
It is MUCH easier. Now to compete, I would agree, at that point not much easier. But certainly much easier to become a competent player. And I’d have to push back on ball golf declining in popularity. True there is lull in patronage atm, but that is simply due the fact EVERYTHING is going up tremendously other than salaries. Heck we have Golden Bear designed courses in our metro park system in Nashville. I believe 7 or 8 full 18’s. And I believe there are now over 200 in the Valley out in Phoenix. ( A lot of which are par 3 pitch and putt and executive courses).
All that said, I’ve been playing DG for 6 months and I am full blow addicted. We have some amazing tracks in our area so that definitely adds to my excitement. I was immediately playing 6 days a week lol. While I do hope the sport grows, I hope it does so nice and slow and steady. I just got let in the club. Kinda wanna be part of the crowd for a while before waiting 20-30 mins between pads ya know.
Well, it would be nice if it happened…
All we can do is our part, eh, Steve-O?
Fingers crossed 🙂
For me at least I hope the sport does not get anywhere near the level of ball golf or the Olympics. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a catch 22. With greater exposure and number of people playing inevitably brings greed and increased expense. I think one of the real attractions of disc golf is that after a fairly small initial investment the sport is pretty much free. We’ve already seen a marked increase in number of pay to play courses and the cost of plastic has dramatically increased in the last few years due to demand. I play five or six rounds per week. At a paltry price of even three or four dollars per round it gets very expensive very quickly. Pay to play typically limits the number of people on those courses which is great but it also drives them to the free courses which then makes the playing experience much less enjoyable because of the masses. Unfortunately human nature is such that if there is enjoyment in something people are going to find a way to monetize that enjoyment which kind of contradicts what disc golf is really all about
Just out of curiosity, Joseph …
How many “pay-to-play” rounds do you play a week?
There are a few in my home state, but they’re really far away, so I rarely play ’em.
I don’t play many pay to play each week. But that’s kind of my point. With more people involved more courses will become ptp because there is then a large enough demand where municipalities or private owners will see the value in charging. Now having said that in 2 weeks I’m going to new worlds in Florida and paying to play. I do frequent etowah which is a ptp and also the idgc. Played Lula recently also a PtP. To be fair I don’t mind paying for the occasional course. But the reality is if there is 800 people a day that want to play a local course at some point someone is going to find a way to tax that. It kind of flies under the radar now because people think it’s Fringe. Of course I could be wrong but I think with national mainstream exposure it will have at least some of the effect that I’m describing. Can you go to a local football field or baseball field with team in tow and just start playing? Around here you can’t. Mainstream sports you pay for. For now disc golf and pickleball are still free
Great stuff, Joe!
I’ve written about this before …
About whether you should REALLY want disc golf to grow.
At the end of the day, I do, but I’m not naive about the “baggage” it’ll come with, either.
Have fun at New World, BTW!
1. Bet neither one of them has ever even playe pickle ball.
2. Let’s see them try and throw DD on even a 310 ft hole.
🙂
Should I ever see them in real life, maybe I’ll invite ’em out to the course … haha.