Infinite Discs Blog

The Cost of Disc Golf

March 31, 2016 Dylan Durrant 10 comments

Disc Golf is often praised as a low cost sport- all you have to do is buy some discs and you’re good to go! Most disc golf courses are free to play, where as in “Ball” Golf you have to pay per round, and often for a cart as well. However, Disc Golf isn’t always “free” for a lot of players. We wanted to take a look and see how much people spend on Disc Golf outside of disc purchases. Once you’ve purchased your first set, what is the game going to cost?

Most additional costs will come from joining and playing in a weekly league. Some people will play skins, or other money related games with their friends while they play. Pay to Play courses are slowly gaining popularity as well- and what will that cost per round? Let’s look at some stats on Disc Golf related costs.

First we’ll look at how much people spend on joining a league. leaguecost

Right away we see that the highest bar on the graph is the $0 response. While I haven’t been in a “free to join” league myself, I could see how that might be an easy going and fun approach. However, I can see club funds being low or even nonexistent. The local club near Infinite Discs costs $10 to join, and that gets you a Bag Tag which adds some (usually) friendly competition to the league rounds. It also allows you to play for a CTP prize each week, which is paid for from the Club Funds.

The next highest response was the $16-$20 answer, with most other clubs just above or below that price range. These fees are usually once per year, which makes them very affordable. If you’re not part of a league, it is a fun experience to have! The costs do go up, though. Let’s take a look on weekly club costs.

How much do people spend at league on a weekly basis?
weeklycost

Most people pay between $4-$6 a week to play with their club. At our local club, the cost is $5 with an optional Ace Pot and an optional Cash CTP. This makes the cost $7 a week if you’re all in. Of course, if you play well you can win some of this money back, if not more. To some, this may be affordable and fun, to others, they may prefer to play with their buddies for free.

Pay to Play courses are popping up more around the country as well. These courses are usually well groomed, quality 18 hole courses (often built on ball golf courses) that you pay a small fee to play each time. In the survey we asked, “What is the most you are willing to pay to play a round of 18 holes at a quality disc golf course?” Here are the results:

paytoplay

While some people said that they wouldn’t pay to play disc golf, the overall response was positive towards paying to play. $4-5 and $9-10 peaked together, with the other price ranges getting a good amount of votes as well. Based on this data, we can predict that pay to play courses may continue to become more popular. People are willing to pay to have a good experience on the course!

Other costs to Disc Golf include becoming a PDGA member for $50/year, as well as the costs of registering to play in tournaments. These costs allow the player to be more competitive by obtaining a PDGA number and rating, and competing against others to raise their rating.

In summary, we see that there are costs associated with Disc Golf aside from the purchasing of discs. However, they aren’t required costs, and that is what makes the sport so appealing to such a variety of people. You have the option to grab some discs and play for free on your local course as often as you want. For those that are wanting to get deeper into the game and culture, there are loads of options available to pay a little extra and play more competitively. Altogether, Disc Golf can put a dent in your pocketbook, but compared to many other “mainstream” sports, the cost is still relatively low.

More Demographics – Who played the most courses?

March 29, 2016 Alan 3 comments

In this blog we will continue to look at who is the average disc golfer. Married? Educated? Club member? Travel to play? It’s fun to look at the statistical average numbers and see how many of the categories we and our buddies belong to. In future blogs we’ll build on these and other statistics to examine certain aspects of our sport (such as, tournaments, attitudes about DG, etc.)

Average Joe

According to the survey results we are married, Intermediate disc golfers, have a Bachelor’s Degree, belong to a club but not the PDGA, are employed for wages, and play a lot of disc golf! Here is a breakdown of the data:

I Do

According to several sources, the marriage rate among all adults in the U.S. hovers around 50%, so these numbers show that we are close to the national average.

Marital Status

We’ve got skills

With majority of us self-identifying as Intermediate golfers, it’s important to point out that the requirements for divisions are not uniform across the sport. Locally, most people who sign up for a tournament play in higher divisions than at major tournaments. For example, if someone’s PDGA rating approaches 900, they usually play in the Advanced division, and as their rating climbs past 900, there is a good chance they’ll play in the Open (Pro) division. I see that happen a lot. Using the PDGA standard for ratings, the same person could play in Intermediate all the way up to a 935 rating.

This isn’t a commentary about which division people should sign up for with certain PDGA rating, it is just a possible explanation for the survey results. One other statistic that may shed light on the number of Intermediate players is the fact that less than half of us indicated that our PDGA membership is either current, or will be for 2016. That means more than half of us simply believe that our skill level is in the Intermediate range, without the benefit of having an official rating.

Skill Level

Degree or Not Degree

Keeping in mind that approximately 8% of us aren’t old enough to have finished college, our degree achievement numbers are slightly higher than the national average. For example, nationally (in the U.S.) 32% of the population over 25 has a Bachelor’s Degree. In the disc golf community, 36% of us have a Bachelor’s. (I deducted the approximate number of respondents who are under 25).

Education

In Da Club

To me, one of the big benefits of playing disc golf is the social aspect of the sport. Being part of a club helps me realize those benefits. Apparently, most of us enjoy the camaraderie that comes with being part of a group, because well over half of us currently belong to a club. More of us belong to a club than belong to the PDGA. We’ll explore some of the reasons why people do, or do not, belong to the PDGA in another post.

Club

Off to Work We Go

Things are looking good for disc golfers on the employment front. Only a tiny percent of us are looking for work. The rest of us are employed, retired, and either can’t or don’t need to work. Shout out to our military brothers and sisters who share our sport! Infinite Discs has shipped product the people overseas in the service. We’re glad to help keep you huckin’!

Employment

Where Do You Play?

A fun part of this sport is playing a variety of courses. Over half of us have between 1-3 courses within a 10-mile radius of our house. A small group of us have to travel more than 10 miles to get to the closest one. An even smaller group (171), but much luckier, has 10+ courses within 10 miles! However, I think this number might be slightly off. When I first looked at that survey result, I wanted to find out where these places are that have so many courses. I figured there would be a couple of locations in Michigan, Texas, and a few other states that were flush with places to play. After cross referencing the question with the location of the participant, I found that there are 25 states and one other country that allegedly have that wonderful disc golf density. I’m skeptical as to that number, too, since one of the states is Utah. I live in Utah and I know for a fact there aren’t ANY points that have 10 or more permanent courses within 10 miles. Perhaps people’s distance estimating skills are to blame?

I’d like to see people comment about specific locations that really have 10+ courses in a 10-mile radius. You don’t have to list the courses, just the location. Let’s see how many there really are.

Also, a little more than a fourth of us saw at least one new course installed within 10 miles.

10 miles

new 10 miles

Hittin’ the Road

Since nearly all of us (95%) live in places that have 9 or fewer courses within a 10-mile radius, it is apparent by our responses that we like to travel to play other courses. Over half of us played 10 or more different courses last year. The largest group was the 10-15 range, with nearly a third of us falling into that category. Happily, everyone who responded to the survey played at least one course last year!

One adventurous soul indicated he played 200+ courses last year. Curious and insanely jealous, I had to investigate this number to learn more about his other responses. The follow-up questions asked about how often we played during certain times of the year and his responses to these questions led me to believe the 200+ answer was a mistake. Or maybe a fantasy. Still, eight people indicated they played between 100-200 courses. Even if they are all on the low end of that scale, it sure sounds awesome!

courses played

For the next blog we’ll look at our responses to questions about tournaments.

What is a Disc Golfer?

March 28, 2016 Dylan Durrant 3 comments

What is a Disc Golfer?

Disc golf has become a huge part of many peoples’ lives, and will continue to do so as the years progress- but what does this mean? Many of us closely identify ourselves with the sport, maybe writing about disc golf in our social media bios, or talking about our incredible putts at work. Do these things make you a disc golfer? Like everything in life, the question of how to classify somebody is not as simple or binary as “yes, you’re a real disc golfer because you’ve collected over a thousand discs” or “no, I’m sorry, you are not a true disc golfer because you didn’t buy the new DGWT DUDE hoodie”. Most likely this kind of conversation concerning being a disc golfer will never end with a simple definition.

As the snow melts around the country, and the days get longer, you might be so fortunate as to find yourself on the course more often. Whether you took some time off during the winter months, or you managed to keep your driving distance up all season (props to you!), hopefully you had a chance to reflect on 2015, and thought about what you wanted to do in 2016. I know I did, and right on top of my goals for the year is “give my good friend Dylan a run for his money at the Trilogy Challenge this year.” (On a side note, who else is super excited for the new Trilogy Challenge discs: the Falchion, Marshal, and Sling?) Whether your aspirations for the year included disc golf or not, you probably did get the chance to think about things you wanted to do.

What do your plans or other commitments say about you though? My personal goals range from disc golf to a biology research project. In this community we have a huge variety of people, from vastly different walks of life. We are fathers, mothers, daughters, brothers, and grandparents. We are accountants, web developers, machinists, drifters, and potters. It is this variety that ultimately defines the sport, at least for me. I don’t think of the group as a bunch of disc golfers, but rather, a huge ecosystem of diverse and amazing people who all enjoy throwing plastic and rubber at metal baskets.

Again, these are just my thoughts concerning this topic. What really makes it a conversation is the sharing of thoughts. Asking others involved in the sport about what they thought it meant to be a disc golfer wrought responses like “one word: friendships” from twitter user @TheWiffle24 and “camaraderie amongst generations” from Robert Lair. Please let us know what you think it means to be a disc golfer, so that we can keep growing the discussion. Thank you for being you, it really is our diverse set of perspectives that makes this sport so awesome to be a part of.

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New Discmania Discs

March 16, 2016 Jace Smellie Leave a comment

Last week, we announced on Facebook that our disc of the week was the very popular Discmania FD. As part of our giveaway, we asked our Facebook family to tell us their favorite Discmania molds. As the responses came in, we were surprised by how many people said that they haven’t thrown any Discmania yet. Discmania is the primary sponsor of the Disc Golf World Tour that kicked off last weekend in La Mirada, California, and they have been doing a lot over the years to help grow the sport.

Also last week, we got in a huge Discmania restock featuring a handful of discs in new plastics that we have not had available before. We wanted to provide for everyone a list of all the new Discmania discs in new plastics that we just got in. If you haven’t tried out Discmania before, now would be a great time. We have a huge selection available, with a lot of different colors and weights. Here are all the discs that are now available in new plastic types.

All new Discmania Discs:

G-Line MD3

G-Line PD2

G-Line P2–Crush LOVE Series

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New Disc Golf Bags of Early 2016

March 14, 2016 Spencer Perry Leave a comment

It is only March and disc golf season is in full swing, or shall I say flight? Recently a series of bag releases has us excited around the office. New innovative bag offerings from both Dynamic Discs, Innova, and Prodigy are poised to add many new options to the already rapidly growing disc golf bag scene.

Dynamic Discs Ranger H2O

Dynamic Discs released their Ranger H2.0 and Sniper Backpacks two weeks ago, and after a few test rounds with each we are extremely impressed with these new designs. The Ranger H2.0’s disc notches in the bottom of the heavy duty weather ready bag are truly very nice innovations, as discs stay anchored in their spots as the wearer moves around to their lie. New features like this combined with things like the rain hood and water proof material making up the bottom of the bag definitely come together into a backpack loaded with value, without adding much of any weight to the original Ranger Backpack.

Dynamic Discs Sniper Backpack

The new line of Sniper Backpacks from Dynamic are no less impressive, coming in at a $69.99 price point without sacrificing the comfort that is a huge selling point of larger backpack bags. The Sniper is still tall enough that it does not look like a child’s backpack, like some other low-cost backpacks seem to. With a capacity of 16 discs in the main compartment the user has plenty of options while on the course. The Sniper keeps to Dynamic’s tradition of bags that hold plenty of discs within a comfortable and non-encumbering profile.

Innova Heropack

Much like the Dynamic Discs Sniper Backpack, the Innova Heropack comes in at a low price point, right at $89.99. The Heropack is a wider backpack that can hold 25 discs in the main compartment, and it features two easy to access putter pockets as well. Notably, the Heropack comes in a very wide variety of colors and patterns, the fan favorite so far being the green plaid option. The Heropack is a great option for anyone looking for a high-capacity low-cost backpack.

Prodigy Pro BP-1

Prodigy’s Pro BP-1 has just been revamped in time for the Spring 2016 season, featuring new colors and a rain cover for the early season rain. Keeping with the idea of bags to keep you prepared, Prodigy also released their Practice Bag, a large duffel-like bag that holds 45 drivers or 30 putters. This bag is perfect for carrying around large quantities of discs for field throwing or just casual practice rounds.

Dynamic Discs Commander Backpack

Most recently, Dynamic officially released their newest member to their growing family of high-quality bags, the Commander Backpack. Coming in at a price point right between the Ranger H2.0 and the Sniper, the Commander is a wider backpack that can hold 20 discs in its main disc compartment, and comes with all of the convenient pockets and putter holders. For $119.99, this bag is the ultimate combination of quality and affordability.

These are all great options if you are looking to upgrade your bag as the season picks up. You can stick with your current bag manufacturer, or try something new out. All that really matters is that you go play!

Top 10 Words Used to Describe Disc Golf Game

March 10, 2016 Dylan Durrant Leave a comment

While our monkeys are crunching away to bring you more 2016 State of Disc Golf Survey results, I slipped away to show you guys some fun data. In a recent giveaway over on our Facebook Page, we asked people to enter by commenting ONE word that described their Disc Golf Game.

We had 330 responses with a wide variety of answers. I enjoyed reading those comments so much that I put together a little chart to show you the top 10 most used words in the Facebook comments, plus some fun runner ups.

The number one most used word was “Improving”, which I love to see! I feel the same way about my game and it’s great to see other people succeed. However, I think a lot of us can relate to the second most used word, “Inconsistent”. My guess is that we can all relate to each of these words at some point during our game.

It was also interesting to see the balance of Positive vs. Negative responses. I realize that spur-of-the-moment words used to enter a giveaway aren’t the best data points that can be gathered, as some people may put certain answers just to be funny or unique. But perhaps this will give us a little insight to what people think about their Disc Golf game in general.

I painstakingly went through every word and marked it as “Positive” “Negative” or “Neutral” and made this Disc-Chart to show you the results:

I was glad to see that most people view their game in positive light, especially when thinking of a quick word to use. I myself might have been caught up in the “Treenied” or the “Strugglebus” category, but luckily I didn’t have to answer for myself. We do know from our friends over at Zen Disc Golf that being positive is key! Let’s just remember that everybody who answered this Giveaway question was trying to win a free disc, so obviously they love the game and want to play more.

If I had to pick a word now, it would definitely be “Passion”. (That way I can still hit trees and be inconsistent- passionately inconsistent.)

After the top 10, these were the runner-up words:

Consistent 4

Beginner 4

Grow 4

Meh 4

Newbie 3

Sporadic 3

Noodle 3

Rough 2

Lefty 2

Promising 2

And some of my favorites:

Epic (Mhmm)

Bodacious (Mmmhmm)

Sexxxy (Mmmmmhmmm!)

Infinitely-Good (Are they really that good, or just trying to get some brownie points?)

Poetic (Beautiful)

Splendiferious (I didn’t know that was a word until I googled it)

Frontrimbanger (Technically three words that describe my putts all too well.)

Hellacious (adjective: very great, bad, or overwhelming. I guess that goes either way!)

Ambidextrous (Okay, now I’m just jealous)

And the rest displayed in a nice word cloud:

Well that wraps up today’s word-stats! Hope you enjoyed reading this very important article! Now get out there and tear it up on the course!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, and now SNAPCHAT to be up to date on exclusive Giveaways and Discount Codes! Our username on all platforms is InfiniteDiscs.

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Disc Golfer Demographics: Location, Age, Gender and Brand Preference

March 4, 2016 Alan 5 comments

For this blog post we want to continue to look at who we are, and comparing that with our favorite brands. Our goal is to see if there are certain segments among us that favor certain brands. Then we can see how those opinions change over time.

Where Do We Live?

It’s nice to have disc golfers from all over the world respond to the survey. While most of us live in the U.S., the percentage of us that live outside the country increased a tiny bit to 9%. With Major tournaments, some of the top players, and a few manufacturers in other countries, ours is truly a world sport. That is great news to the 78% of us who want the sport to become mainstream, but not so good for the 4% who don’t (18% have no preference). As the sport grows, it will mean more courses, clubs, tournaments, and products. Toward that end, we are encouraged by survey participation around the world. With that in mind, we will begin by looking at graphs from survey results that show where in the world we are from.

Gender Make Up

Past surveys have shown that a majority of us are male and around 30 years old. This year was no different. The percentage of female respondents fell slightly, with 4% of disc golfers filling out the survey being female, versus 6% last year.

Age

In some areas of the country, such as college towns, the average age of disc golfers will vary slightly from the rest of the country. The club I belong to fits that description. However, when I look at the clubs outside of my immediate area, their member’s ages align better with survey results. According to the survey, the average age of all disc golfers falls in the 30-35 year range. Same with last year. Perhaps at that age people are more established in their careers and feel like they have more time to play disc golf. Most of the time families have been started by then and are either getting to an age where they can join a parent on the course, or are at least more independent, allowing the disc golfer more opportunity to play. Whatever the reason, that age group continues to lead the survey.

It will be interesting to see how that group ages and if they keep playing in large numbers. With cries of ’60 is the new 40’, maybe we will see current members of that age group continue to play, and older groups have the largest number of members. I hope so. I also hope the younger age groups balloon. It is great to see such talent coming from young golfers. Think about Eagle McMahon, or last year’s Amateur World Championships. Not only is it impressive to watch such talented young people, it will help our sport continue to grow.

Summary?

As was mentioned in the opening paragraph, in addition to finding out more about who we are, another goal of this blog was to break down the demographics and find out what groups favored which brands. Our hope was that we could find some interesting data, such as finding certain groups (age, experience, geographic location) that favored certain brands. Let’s just say that the results were underwhelming. Not that I have a problem with nearly every state, region, age, gender, and experience level choosing Innova as their favorite brand. It just becomes so redundant to write about. So, let’s just look at the few locations that didn’t choose Innova as their favorite. (Or tied with them).

Location    Total Respondents     Favorite
Arkansas    28          Dynamic Discs
Asia           12       Discraft
Australia/New Zealand 10                  Discmania
Hawaii           5            Discraft/Innova
New Mexico                                 20                                          Discraft/Innova/MVP
Vermont                                        7                                            Innova/Westside

And there you have it. With less than half of all respondents choosing Innova as their favorite brand, we hoped there would be more groups that would favor another brand. While that aspect of the blog didn’t turn out like we thought, at least we can learn about us as a group along the way.

For the next blog we will continue to find out more about us, such as education, occupation, etc., and about our disc golf habits.

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Top 10 Tournament Moments of 2015 Disc Golf Season

March 1, 2016 Jace Smellie One comment

The 2016 disc golf tournament season is right around the corner! With the 2016 Memorial Championship in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona just one day away, we decided to take a look back on last season and some of the top moments from a very memorable year of disc golf.

10. PDGA World Championships–McBeth Dynasty

2015 was Paul McBeth’s year in many regards. Taking home his fourth consecutive world title played a big part in that. While the final nine wasn’t nearly as dramatic as 2014, Paul still had to fight for this championship. McBeth was eight strokes off the lead after two rounds, but bounced back with two lights out rounds to take a commanding eight stroke lead going into the final day of play. Some say we are witnessing the establishment of a new Dynasty in the sport of disc golf. Whatever your feelings, McBeth clearly is once again the man to beat as we enter the 2016 season.

9. Johansen wins first NT in playoff–Hall of Fame Classic

Closing out the 2015 National Tour was the Hall of Fame Classic down in the woods of Georgia. This tournament featured tough courses that tested the top pros and made for close match-ups throughout the event. Both Michael Johansen and Paul McBeth carded Birdies on their final hole to push them one stroke ahead of JohnE McCray and force (another) NT playoff. Both players fought hard and played evenly for the first three holes of the event, but Hole 4 proved to be the difference maker. After finding some trees on his second shot, McBeth had to run a long 70 foot uphill putt to try and extend the playoff. The shot was on target, but just too high. It bounced off the top of the basket, leaving Johansen with a twenty footer that he made good on to claim his first ever NT title.

8. Lizotte wins first NT–Largest purse in disc golf history

The 2015 Ledgestone Insurance Open was already slated to be an historic event. Tournament Director Nate Heinold worked hard to provide players with the largest purse in the history of disc golf (with a little help from sponsors like Infinite Discs…). Also, he and the entire LIO team put in a lot of hours to set up difficult layouts on courses that made this one of the most difficult and unforgiving events in disc golf. World Distance Record holder Simon Lizotte came into the final nine two strokes behind Paul McBeth. Throughout those final holes, Simon looked as calm and focused as he may have ever looked playing the game. The Lake Eureka temp course was a fierce course that cost a lot of pros a lot of stokes throughout the week, and even some of the fellow competitors in that final nine. But Simon stayed strong. He played smart, conservative, and consistent golf to walk away with a giant check and his first ever National Tour title. This also was the first National Tour event ever won by a European disc golfer.

7. Ricky gets revenge at Maple Hill

Do you remember the heartbreaking ending to the Maple Hill Open in 2014? Ricky Wysocki does, and he had every intention of making the 2015 Maple Hill Open a better memory. He came into the final round two strokes behind Paul McBeth and four strokes in front of Gregg Barsby. After a long day of battling the fierce competition as well as the rainy and windy conditions, Wysocki stepped onto Hole 18’s tee pad with a two stroke lead. In 2014 he stood on that same tee pad with a one stroke lead that was lost by an unlucky rollaway on his approach shot that landed his disc just out of bounds. But that wouldn’t be the case this year. Ricky held strong to the last stroke, and was crowned with his first win at Maple Hill.

6. PDGA Amateur World Championships–Final 9.

Hey, let’s not forget the Ams! This year’s Amateur World Championships had maybe the most dramatic finish in Am Worlds history. 15 year old Anthony Barela and 14 year old Izak McDonald went into the final 9 holes tied for the lead. Those final holes saw seven lead changes, including one on the final hole. McDonald took back a one stroke lead after Hole 7 with an insane 100+ foot putt for an eagle. Barela still trailed as they made their way to the long downhill final hole. McDonald teed off first, and unfortunately turned his disc over to the right where it carried out of bounds. AB seized the moment, by parking his drive just 20 feet from the pin. Maybe this was the first chapter of a big-stage rivalry between these two young guns, and if it was, then we are all excited to watch the rest of the story unfold over the next few years.

5. Another Dramatic finish at the USDGC–Winthrop Gold Hole 17

Hole 17 at Winthrop Gold is proving itself as one of the most infamous holes in disc golf. After spoiling JohnE McCray’s 4 stroke lead in 2014, we all were well aware of what this short island hole was capable of as Ricky Wysocki and Paul McBeth made their way to the tee in 2015 tied for the lead. Paul had just hit a fifty foot par save on Hole 16 to stop Ricky from taking the lead with his birdie. Ricky was the first to throw. His first drive carried just too long, bouncing out of bounds. Drive number two came up just short of the boundary, leaving the door wide open for McBeth. He stepped up, and threw a near perfect drive landing about 20 feet from the basket. This moment tugged on our hearts in many ways. We saw another mishap stop Ricky from picking up a big win, but we also saw the doors open for Paul to get the one tournament that has always escaped him.

4. Nate Doss SCTop10

Here is a moment that some may argue was the most important for disc golf as a whole. On the first hole of his final round in the 2015 Memorial Championship, Nate Doss canned a beautiful Ace at the gorgeous Fountain Hills Park Disc Golf Course. The shot was caught on camera, and for the first time ever, disc golf appeared on national television, making Sports Center’s Top 10 plays. This turned out to be just the start, with aces throughout the year from Bobby Engle, Nate Doss, Philo Brathwaite, Dave Feldberg, and Paige Pierce (who even earned the #1 spot on the Top 10) all receiving attention from ESPN. Many hope that this was an important first step toward national television coverage for disc golf, and we are all excited to see what the future holds for disc golf coverage.

3. 2015 Memorial Championship–Final Round Hole 18

I’ll be honest, as a fan of the sport, this is probably my personal favorite moment ever. There was a lot of–for lack of a better term–sports drama playing out throughout the event. It was the first big tournament of the year, the scores were close all week long, and the defending champion Paul McBeth had his bag and all the discs in that bag stolen halfway through the tournament. After a handful of lead changes, Jeremy Koling and Paul McBeth walked to the 18th tee tied for the lead. Koling teed off first with a drive that came up about 70 feet short of the pin. Paul’s drive wasn’t a lot better, but it put the pressure on Big Jerm. I’ll never forget where I was when I saw what happened next. Jeremy lined up his putt, and after what felt like an eternity, he drained it. Now the pressure was on McBeth, who still had about 30-40 feet to force a playoff. But of course, with ice in his veins he stepped up to the challenge, and answered. The playoff would only last one hole with McBeth driving out of bounds and Big Jerm parking it. But from an objective perspective, it didn’t really matter who came out on top after Hole 18. The dramatic finish on Hole 18 was more than any disc golf fan could have asked for. With the 28th Memorial Championship teeing off in just a few days, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is craving to see what this year’s event will offer us.

2. McGrand Slam

Again, 2015 was definitely the year of the McBeast. We knew it had been that kind of year no matter how the 2015 United States Disc Golf Championship would finish out, but that would never be enough for Paul McBeth. He wanted this tournament, and he has wanted it for a very long time. The stage couldn’t have been set more perfectly either, with disc golf’s first Grand Slam on the line. The USDGC had been called his Kryptonite, and early in the tournament it became clear that he would have to fight back to get this win. But I also don’t think anyone ever counted him out of it. If anyone has proven his tenacity and capacity in coming back from behind, Paul McBeth has. As we watched him finish out the final hole at Winthrop, we knew we had just witnessed something special. Paul McBeth had clinched all five PDGA majors of 2015: Aussie Open, Scandinavian Open, European Open, World Championships, and USDGC.

1. Women’s PDGA World Championships

Unlike the other moments on this list, I think this is one that we all can agree that we wish it never happened.

On her way to the fifth round of the PDGA Women’s World Championships in Pittsburgh, leader Sarah Hokom was rear ended at a stoplight, pushing her car into oncoming traffic. Her car was totaled, but thankfully she escaped without any major injuries. Naturally, Hokom was late to her tee time. She joined up with her group after they had already played two holes. As per PDGA rules, she was given a score of par plus 4 for each hole missed. This turned her 5 stroke lead into a 4 stroke deficit.

Sarah would battle throughout the rest of the tournament, and entered the final nine tied for the lead with Paige Pierce. Watching the final 9 was almost a somber event. It was impossible to ignore the emotions on Paige Pierce’s face as she played a fantastic final round. Pierce entered the final hole with a one stroke lead, and after Hokom missed a putt to force a playoff, the pain of the moment was evident as Pierce stepped up to sink the putt that would crown her the World Champion.

Later that evening at the trophy ceremony, Paige Pierce showed one of the greatest expressions of sportsmanship that the sport has ever seen. After being announced as the winner, she graciously called Sarah up and gave her the first place trophy.

With a few new tours announced for this season and hundreds of new players and courses every year, it is hard to say for certain where our sport is heading, but if this number one moment is any indication, then I’d say we are heading in the right direction.

All pictures courtesy the PDGA: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pdga/sets/

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