Disc Golf Overview

By: Alex Borelli

It’s a sport that can be played with a relatively inexpensive piece of “equipment” on courses that more often than not don’t charge a penny for use of their property. This, coupled with the game’s easy-to-learn rules and age-inclusive nature (anyone from 7 to 67 can - and does - play!), have led to disc golf exploding in popularity in the United States in recent years. More and more Americans are joining the disc golf craze while disc golf courses continue to be built at a dizzying rate. This trend isn’t limited to just the States, though. Players in countries like Finland and Estonia are taking to the disc golf courses in droves and making headlines at professional disc golf tournaments around the world. Look out, pickleball - disc golf is coming for you!

Disc golf mania is a phenomenon almost 60 years in the making, starting with an idea a California-based recreation class instructor had in the mid-1960s.

In 1965 George Sappenfield had the idea to incorporate Frisbees into a modified version of golf he would play with the kids he was employed to entertain. A few years later, while Parks and Recreation supervisor for The City of Thousand Oaks in California, Sappenfield reached out to Wham-O, the holder of the Frisbee patent, for their support of a disc golf tournament he was planning. The tournament piqued the toy company’s interest and they offered Sappenfield a job as a part-time promotions assistant position at the company. What followed was “the widespread promotion of Frisbee golf, which played a pivotal role in the establishment of disc golf as an organized sport in 1974,” according to Disc Golf Pro, a site dedicated to the promotion of the sport.

Today, disc golf is a sport that has been played by millions of Americans and whose professional governing body counts tens of thousands of active members on its roster as of 2020. The sport has low barriers to entry which is a factor that has likely contributed to its widespread - and rapid - adoption by disc golf fans.

The Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), the sport’s governing body, was founded in 1976 by “Steady” Ed Headrick, the creator of both the Frisbee and the disc golf pole, the latter of which is described as the “genesis of modern disc golf targets” according to Sonia Coleman at Disc Golf Pro. As of 2020 the PDGA sanctions over 3,500 events annually, with more than 80,000 PDGA members around the world participating in such events each year. What’s more, the PDGA estimates that between eight million and twelve million people in the United States alone have played the sport, with half a million Americans heading out to a disc golf course on the regular. 

Disc golf can be played by anyone from children to senior citizens and although on the professional level players use different discs  - distance driver, putter, etc. - 

 based on where they are on a hole, during a casual game a single disc, which costs just $10 to $25 each, suffices. These factors, along with the fact that 90% of disc golf courses are free to use according to UDisc, have likely factored into the sport’s rise in popularity. Furthermore, the sport’s rules are quite easy to learn. The basic rules are as follows: 

Each hole is most often represented by a distinctive metal basket into which the player’s disc is thrown. 

Each throw must be made from the spot where the previous throw landed and throw order is determined by the location of each player’s disc. Whichever player’s disc is farthest away gets to throw first; whichever player’s disc is second-farthest away throws second, and so on.

When a player’s “putt” lands in the basket the hole is over for that player.

Scoring in disc golf is similar to traditional golf. For example, a hole’s par tells you how many throws you can take without “earning” a penalty. If a player successfully completes a hole with a throw count one below par he or she is said to have gotten a birdie. If the player completes the hole one throws over par he or she records a bogey for that hole.

Cordillera Ranch’s disc golf offerings include a nine-hole course located at Swede Creek Park and a second course, also consisting of nine holes, to be located along Panther Creek in The Springs.

To enable owners to partake in this growing, family-friendly sport Cordillera Ranch’s administration decided to install two disc golf courses - one, already completed, at Bald Cypress-lined Swede Creek Park and another planned course to be installed along Panther Creek in the Springs section of the Ranch. The Swede Creek Park course was designed to blend into its surroundings and, like its future Panther Creek companion course, features tee pads and disc catcher baskets. No discs of your own? No problem - property owners can rent discs from the Ranch’s Outfitter Center. Come on out and enjoy a round of disc golf while taking in Cordillera Ranch’s beautiful Hill Country views!