What is disc golf?

Disc Golf Wanaka Inc's Martin Galley explains why disc golf is one of the worlds fastest growing sports!

It’s golf for the 21st century and beyond!

Disc Golf retains all the mental and physical challenges of ball golf, but dispenses with the club, the expense, and to a large degree, the ecological impact.

Disc Golf involves throwing discs (discs that have evolved from recreational frisbees) from teepads into standardised metal baskets as targets, on specially designed disc golf courses.

Like ball golf the winner is the person who completes the course in the lowest number of throws, with the total number of throws counted towards a total against a course par.

Disc golf “holes” are typically much shorter than ball golf holes, and much less space is required for a disc golf course.

Disc golf has the additional challenge of creating true flying shapes in the air to achieve the desired lie, with many different types of discs available and many different types of shot possible.

So, while disc golf is more complex than ball golf, it is far easier to learn, because we are effectively holding the ball!

Typically, disc golf courses wind their way around the fringes of public parks across the globe, and is growing at a massive rate, while ball golf course numbers steadily decline.

A game of disc golf for four people typically takes around 90 minutes. New golfers should expect to throw par on a Par 54 course within a year if they study the game.

Did you know?

2018 will see 40 years of National Disc Golf Championships held in New Zealand.

OK BUT WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT IT?

You asked for it, so here goes...!

A single paragraph can’t ever hope to begin to address this complex question!

It is the perfect gentle exercise a body needs to stay healthy and active, and is thus truly a "Sport For Life", with players remaining competitive right into the Senior Grand Masters (60+) age bracket. It can be played as soon as a child can walk.

It is getting out into nature, and enjoying it.

It can variously be family fun, a leisure activity, a team game, a pastime, and a competitive sport, all at the same time, all on the same course. It is a very safe and social sport.

It is free to play (there are no green fees like there are in ball golf), and there is no cheaper sporting equipment available. A premium quality golf disc costs just $25.

There is something special about what disc golfers call The Flight Of The Disc. It is truly addictive. And nothing in sport is more satisfying than visualising the flight shape you need to create, selecting the right disc to do it, throwing it perfectly, and then watching it fly that exact set of curves, and settle right where you wanted it to land.

All disc golfers love all other disc golfers – across the globe! Perhaps there is a similarity of mind where people who love The Flight Of The Disc are naturally drawn to each other, and are pre-disposed to like other disc golfers – no one really knows!

The physical and mental challenges run deep, and disc golf is a metaphor for life: you only ever get out of it, what you put in. There is very little success without hard work. The best players win. You can always improve. And... things could always be worse!