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.