What is there to lose?

Disc golf is a game which you can enjoy for your entire life. Some sports like football and basketball can be played for your entire life, but you may not perform at a high level when you get to be 40 years old. As a young boy, I dreamed of playing a professional sport, but now that I am almost graduating college, I have realized that dream is unreachable. Most people enjoy playing sports for the competitive nature of it as well as the fun of the game. So, even though you may lose your athletic skills as you get older, disc golf is something you can compete in and enjoy at an older age.

Ball golf is similar to disc golf because you can play the sport at any age, but can you play for free? Most disc golf courses cost no money to play and you can play as many rounds as you want too. The cost of buying discs is typically the only money you will spend playing and during a round you may find lost discs! Any person, especially college students, love to hear the word "free," so what do you have to lose?

Keeping a healthy lifestyle and exercising on a regular basis is important; however, sometimes this may cost some money. Disc golf is a great way to get exercise and it does not cost very much to play. There are sports such as basketball and soccer which give you more of an aerobic workout, but disc golf is not tiring and it will help keep you more active. Sometimes people do not enjoy working out or exercising by themselves. So, disc golf gives you an opportunity to get exercise with your friends and have fun while you do it.

Video of the week

Disc golf is a fun recreational activity that everyone of all ages can enjoy. The best part about disc golf is that it costs no money to play because most courses reside in parks. However, people in the disc community may not realize the importance of maintaining the course as well as the surrounding area of the park. In this edition of video of the week, I found a video about a disc golf course, in Austin, which may be in trouble.

Pease Park is a popular disc golf course in Austin. The course offers a fair challenge to players and people in the surrounding area enjoy coming to the park to do more than play disc golf. Recently, there has been a problem with the maintenance of the course and the city has a plan to shutdown the disc golf course. The ground is getting torn a part and people have been complaining about hard the dirt around each hole's basket. Also, many trees are getting worn down because discs keeping hitting them. Since the park has not been maintained properly, the city is forcing the park to shut down the course and improve the grounds.

Many people do not think of these issues because they do not work for park districts and maintain disc golf courses. Therefore, it is important for the disc golf community to take this problem seriously and help maintain the park surrounding disc golf courses.

Women in Disc Golf

There are many aspects of disc golf which I want to teach my followers, however, there are some topics which may not get much hype. For example, women in the sport. The purpose of this post is to explain how and why there are few women in disc golf. Also, I want to tell you about a top female player in the sport.

A PDGA survey announced that only 8% of its members are women, which totals about 900 out 11,000. Even though there are more women than men, the Women's Disc Golf Association was created to arrange women's tournaments and encourage women to play the sport. Several top brands in disc golf, such as Innova, designed sections of their web site to help get more women involved with the sport. Also, there are companies whose only focus is women's disc golf products. Disc-Diva is a company which gears all of its products, discs and accessories, toward women and they like to use catch phrases that intrigue women.

Elaine King is a 5-time disc golf world champion. As a disc golfer, King has made major contributions to the sport and helped increase the number of women playing. In addition to the multiple tournaments she has won, King became PDGA commissioner in 1990 during a critical period in the sport. She has been recognized for her play as well as her gracious personality. In 1997, King was inducted into the disc golf hall of fame.

Getting Out of Trouble

During a round of disc golf you may find yourself in trouble. Whether you have played the game for a long time, or just starting out, it is important to save strokes by getting out of trouble. There are many situations on a course where you may think it is impossible to escape the hole with a par. However, here are a few techniques which may help you from those daunting situations.

Lets say you tee off and your disc goes way to the right. As you approach your disc, you find it lying right next to a tree and it seems impossible to get your disc close to the basket. First, practice your throwing motion and see if you can make a clean backhand or sidearm toss. It would not be a good idea to throw the disc next to the tree and swing your arm into it, and seriously injure yourself. So, rather than throwing the disc right next to the tree you should take a long stride, to the right or left, and see if you can freely swing your arm. This way you can avoid injury and have more power with your shot.

Another common situation where you may find yourself in trouble is not being able to see the basket from the fairway. If you cannot see the basket, pick a target in front of you which will help you aim your disc. By picking a target, you will be more accurate with your toss. Sometimes you may not be able to see the basket because it is too far left or right, and there may be something in the way. Therefore, you may throw the disc as a roller. This means depending on the way you grip the disc, as well as angle it, you will be able to avoid the objects and get your disc closer to the basket.

Disc Golf Hall of Fame

Similar to most sports, disc golf has its own official hall of fame. In 1993, Laverne Wolfe founded the hall of fame and he was the chairman of the first board of directors. Wolfe also created a collection of memorabilia, called the hall of fame museum, which describes the history of the sport. The museum is displayed at many major tournaments, but in the future it will have a permanent home at the Augusta National Disc Golf Center.

To be inducted into the disc golf hall of fame, existing members of the hall of fame nominate members of the disc golf community. Disc golf fans have the opportunity to vote for a nominee on the final ballot through the People's Choice Nomination Selection. Hall of fame inductees are judged by their favorable standing and having an honorable reputation within the disc golf community. To be eligible as a nominee for the disc golf hall of fame, you must have at least 15 years of service to the PDGA. Probably the most recognized member of the disc golf hall of fame is Ed Headrick. After all, he did invent the flying disc as well as the pole hole.

Currently, Al Guerrero is managing the hall of fame and authorized this web site which has a lot of information about the disc golf hall of fame. 2004 inductee, Marty Hapner, hosts the site too. If you are a true disc golf fan, you would appreciate all the hard work the disc golf hall of fame has done to preserve the history of the sport and recognize those people who have made an impact on the disc golf community.

Video of the Week

I found this video the other day of Ed Headrick, the father of disc golf, on the Johnny Carson Show. For those of you who may not know who Johnny Carson is, he was the man who started late night talk shows. He was famous for not only his late night talk show, but he would go overseas and tell jokes to our troops. So, if someone was on Johnny Carson's show back in the day, it was a big deal.

Headrick was not only the creator of disc golf, but he also created many other toys such as the supernal and the wheel bar. His most well-known invention, of course, was the frisbee. This old video footage shows Headrick explaining to Carson how to throw the frisbee. They have a few laughs when Headrick throws the frisbee at the drummer and the drummer is not able to throw the frisbee back with much accuracy.

I was surprised to see this video because I never thought Headrick got much credit for his creation of disc golf; more so, he got his dues for his toys. This was a good step in the right direction for disc golf because Headrick was now more recognizable for his appearance on Carson's talk show.

I feel like disc golf needs a leader, or some kind of figure to make the sport more popular. As of right now, there are many professional disc golfers that try to promote the sport to the rest of the world. But, disc golf does not have a person like Tiger Woods, who may be recognized on other planets in our solar system. Ken Climo is a famous professional disc golfer, and is probably the best the game has ever seen, but he is a lot older and does not play very often. Therefore, the disc golf community and the PDGA should step up and improve the popularity of disc golf.

Eat, Sleep, and Breathe Disc Golf

Most of my blog posts have been geared toward the beginning or average disc golfer. However, I want to write this post for the more experienced disc golfer, or professional. For those of you who sign up for out of state tournaments and enjoy going on tour, you understand how tiring and time consuming it can be. Therefore, it is important to be well-prepared before you go on tour because it may cost you during the tournament.

To be well-prepared means having your clothes, toiletries, and equipment packed and ready to go before you leave. By having all your belongings ensures that all your focus will be on disc golf and thinking about the strategies you will have during the round. Make sure to have all your discs and bag because you may lose a disc during a round and not having all your discs could be costly.

Another tip to keep in mind is go home! If you go on tour often, make sure you have a home base, somewhere you can recover from all the stress and effort you put into the tournament. Going home to see your loved ones makes everything better, so no matter how you finish in the tournament, your family will always love you. Also, most professional disc golfers go home because they need a source of income and having a job is important. When you go on tour you spend a lot of money and it is crucial to be able to support yourself as well as your family by having a job at home.

When you go on tour, see if others are going too. Its good to plan ahead and see if your friends other disc golfers you know are going to the same tournament. This could save money on gas as well as spending the night in a hotel. Rather than travelling a thousand miles for every tournament. Maybe you and your friends could plan on playing tournaments that are centrally located or closer to your home. This benefits you as well as your family too.