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I was wondering about something.  I do not know if this has ever been a discussion before but here goes.


If I am not mistaken, Ball Golf was created first.  Correct??

Then there was Disc Golf.

I have played both and I prefer Disc Golf because the players are more down to earth.


Which game has grown the MOST ??

Has anyone ever did a study on Disc Golf versus Ball Golf ??

Which sport has the most people playing ??

Which sport has the most members ??

Which sport has the most fields ??


In my opinion (have not done any studies, so it is my opinion)

Disc golf seems to have the most players or is the most popular here in Florida.  We have the perfect weather for the sport.

So my final question is "Why doesn't Disc Golf have the same coverage as Ball Golf ??"

I have not seen advertisements, postings in newspapers or T.V. news like Ball Golf !!!


Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer are famous here in Florida.  Why doesn't Ken Climo have the same coverage ??  After all he has been the World Champion how many times ??  And I didn't even know what he looked like until I played in the 2011 Barnett Championships.  Even then, I just saw the back of his head.  Then there is Gregg Hosfeld.  I have met and talked with him.  Both men have had an impressive life.  Now I admit the two have been the brunt of one of my "Humor" jokes. 

If I offended..............


Anyway why doesn't Disc Golf have the same respect as Ball Golf ??


I know I have asked a lot of questions with this discussion, but I am hoping that DiscGolfersR.Us world will understand what I am trying to say.


Does anyone feel what I am saying ??

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Hmm not sure if that was sarcasm in those questions or not, so I'll answer anyway.

Ball golf was started Way before discgolf. That is one of the main issues on why you see less coverage. Disc golf is about 25 years old as far as being a known sport. It's grown very fast over the years, from what many say, it's the fastest growing sport. The biggest issue with it not being seen on tv is the general public see's it as a hippy sport. Mostly because that's how it was started. So all that being said, there are way more ball golfers and because of that way more ball golf members. Think of it this way, within a 2 hour loop of your house, how many ball golf courses are there and how many disc golf courses are there.

I do believe in the next 5-10 years you will start seeing some event on the sports shows.

I did not mean to sound sacastic.  I am being serious.  All in all, why doesn't Disc Golf have the coverage that I feel that it should have.  Now I have heard that there are programs to get schools involved in the sport.  That is great.  Teach future players while they are young.

Back to the subject.  Coverage.  In our local news, they cover sports.  Even High school sports (even though they may be brief segments) are covered. 

As far as the two hour loop is concerned, I'll have to look that up and get back to you.

Money, and a lot fewer people even know what disc golf is.I never heard of it and at age 47 a friend suggested we give it a try.Now, I can't get enough of it.

I play both, and I love playing both.


But  I don't watch any golf on TV, can't stand it, and honestly don't think I would ever watch disc golf either.  They are great to play, but watching on TV is just plain boring.


As for the number of courses, in Utah where I live, there are 29 disc golf courses (19 public, 10 private).

And there are 124 public golf courses.

Thats a little over 4 to 1 ratio.


O.K.  Within two hours from me.

Disc Golf Courses

* Debary

* Daytona area (3)

* Orlando (4)

* Mount Dora (1)

* Apopka (One on the way)



Too many.  Stopped counting.


O.K. Is there anything that we can do to promote our sport.  Could we contact our local news channels and have them do a segment when there is a major Torny ??? 

Ball golf is a rich mans sport. Equipment, pay to play, and just overall demenor. I have done a little research and ball golf conducted itself in the same way as disc golf does now with the tournaments and the local club scene. Each started off small and began to grow. The difference is that rich people have always played ball golf and disc golf is free. That has always been the difference and will always be the difference.

With all due respect, I resent the statement that ball golf is a 'rich man's sport'--there are very reasonable public courses where lower and middle class golfers can enjoy plenty of rounds; I used to play for $1.00 per round at my home course growing up. The 'Country Club' stereotype has led us to belive that golf is rich-mans sport--but anyone can play if they plan for it in their budget (which is a common practice in my house). I still believe that when disc golf courses are primarily private, well taken care of pay to play properties, it will take a step in the right direction and attract more attention.


The game of golf, whether it was started in the Netherlands around 1297 or popularized in Scotland around 1421, has a major head start on disc golf. Another consideration is that the generation running the country (and the media) are from a generation when everyone golfed. Its a generational difference; disc golf is still seen as a 'counter-culture' or 'hippie' game. And that brings us to negative stereotypes--if the 'country club' stereotype has labeled golf as a rich mans game, the 'hippies game' stereotype has labeled disc golf as one for vagrant young men who want to smoke pot and throw fly-dye frisbees. This stereotype, as long as it persists, will keep disc golf off the major networks.


They are two completly different games, but golf has sponsorship money and major revenue from courses, restaruants, resorts, pro shops, TV contracts, and equipment. Until disc golf can match the revenue generation, we won't see much major coverage of our beloved game.


But that's OK--Disc Golf Planet TV is doing a great job!

Ball golf started centuries ago and was always the sport of the rich and the noble.  Because of this, it's always been expensive.  There was already money to be made on people buying clothing and equipment and memberships to clubs.  When a professional circuit was developed, it did take a few years to develop coverage but there was already plenty of money there for the potential sponsors to make money off of.


Disc Golf, on the other hand has always been a cheap sport.  Most courses are free to play and discs cost 7-18 bucks a piece brand new.  You can play an entire course with only one disc.  Because of that, there's not really alot of money to be made by advertising to the very small and traditionally broke or cheap disc golf market.  This is where we have sponsorship problems.  Add in the fact that 99% of the time, we don't own our courses.  They're public parks and can't be scheduled necessarily when we want them.  This makes setting up an organized tour very difficult.  DG is also quite a bit harder to film because it's generally through wooded courses and setting up cameras in such conditions can be difficult.  Also, because of the lack of money, we don't have 36 manned cameras to set up the way a PGA event would.

Disc golf can never grow to people until a handicap system is created, thats what made ball golf so popular is that pros could be beaten by ams, this made more people want to play the sport.  My experience is that most pros want it to be so that they win all the time.  Secondly disc golf tournaments (most of the time) are not well organized, I once played in a tournament where I clearly won the CTP, but didnt get my prize because the last group forgot to get the flag and the tournament director was too lazy to get it himself (as long as events like this continue then the sport wont budge)  SANDBAGGERS!  this is in every sport but disc golf especially because there is no way of getting rid of them, if there was a handicap the sandbaggers would get beat and either move up like they are supposed to or just quit the sport (like they should)  the sport has a long way to go, we need to get rid of the people who light up joints at events and not have people litter the landscape with cigerette butts and beer cans, make the sport more formal like golf so people dont look at it as a trashy game.      

100% agree!!!


I don't have any problem with people smoking or drinking, but a tournament is a different story. Only trash that should be left on the course is a lost disc.


Now if you look at the last 3 years, there has been a huge growth of advertisement. EA Sports put disc golf on the Tiger Woods video game, Wii Sports Resort, and PS3 Sports Champions. I have seen a few hits the sports shows. There has been disc golf on some local broadcasting stations. 


I think its going to take the right person, holding a huge even (exp. PDGA pro tour), and being able to talk Espn into a broadcast deal. I mean somebody talked them into doing the ax throwing and log cutting events. I bet there is alot less pro ax throwers then disc golfers lol.

The problem with that is that 95% of disc golfers don't play tournament golf and aren't interested in watching others play.  That's why our galleries tend to be fairly small.  Most DGers would rather be playing.   Getting ESPN to carry a tournament would be damn difficult because who would they say their market is to the sponsors.

True, but its all about timing. Look at sports like Curling, very few people ever heard of that until they put it on television. Same with alot of other sports at one time, we can always hope.


Another thing that is growing very fast is Geo caching, I never heard of such a thing until somebody showed me one. Come to find out there everywhere. All you do is use GPS to find hidden objects around the world. Im sure theres atleast one in your town and you never knew it (if you have never heard of it). I thought it was silly, and much like disc golf started going more and more. 


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