Grip It and Rip It: The Growth of Disc Golf

Cory Eno

HIST/557: History and Popular Culture

Jon Carleton
4/27/13

Eno 2
Golf has become a pervasive American pastime. Since its inception around 1878,
the golf course has become a ubiquitous feature of both business culture and community. It has
become mature in its technology, and accessible to diverse subsets of the population. In fact,
George Kirsch began his concise narrative and social history of golf by quoting Thomas L.
Friedmans 2005 Golf Digest claim that golf is the sport that most deeply reflects the American
character.1 Kirsch contended that the growth of golf could be attributed to suburbanization,
business culture, boosterism, individual achievements, television, and even the motorized golf
cart.2 The sport was slow to grow, however. Its first forty years saw one thousand courses. It
saw booms in the 1920s and the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. True democratization took place at
this point; the game having matured a century.3 Indeed, the history of golf is distinguished by
remarkable class, race, and gender barriers that have only recently begun to be dismantled.
Since 1975, a unique spin on golf has taken root at a remarkable rate. Disc golf has seen
over 4000 courses built in its first 40 years; over four times the speed at which traditional golf
diffused.4 This growth has primarily been the result of two major forces: (1) increased public interest in healthy, natural, and more authentic lifestyles, and (2) a lack of deliberate racial, genderspecific, and socio-economic barriers. In comparison to the diffusion of traditional golf, disc golf
has also benefitted from the internet and increased leisure time for the average American when
compared to the 1880-1920 window that saw the birth of the former as a mainstream sport.
1

Kirsch, George B.. Golf in America (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009), ix.

Ibid, x.

OLDAKOWSKI, RAY, and JOHN W. MCEWEN. 2013. "Diffusion of Disc Golf Courses in the United
States." (Geographical Review 103, no. 3. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost accessed April 26,
2014) 359.
4

"2013 PDGA Year End Demographics." Home. http://www.pdga.com/pdga-documents/demographicscurrent/2013-pdga-year-end-demographics (accessed April 27, 2014).

Eno 3
With a subculture immersed in egalitarian and anti-establishment themes, yet increasingly
loud calls for legitimacy, disc golf attempts to both subvert and emulate its predecessor. That
subculture was bred in the social tumult of the late 1960s, and developed out of a flourishing Ultimate frisbee culture. Disc golf parallels golf in its layout (tees, holes, fairways, doglegs, etc.),
objective (par, shortest number of throws), and etiquette (tee honors, allowing faster players or
groups to play through, yelling Fore!). Players drive, and putt. Disc golf begins to diverge
with its equipment and execution. Today, players throw highly specialized discs (see figure 1)
and a running throw is quite different from a golf drive.

Figure 1. Mid-Range disc, for approach and long fairway shots (Image: discgolfbasketstore.com.)
The contrast does not end there. While traditional golf courses conjure up images of pristine, manicured, and manipulated environments, disc golf courses aim to have a minimally disruptive and minimally invasive effect on the existing environment.5 Players generally take solace and pride in success in a natural environment. Courses offer varying degrees of elevation,
technicality, water, wind, and woods. A tee might graze the edges of a wooded ridge, and the
basket might provide an uphill challenge (see Figure 2).

Oldakowski & McEwen 358.

Eno 4

Figure 2. Typical disc golf terrain, basket at right. Maumelle, AR. (Photo: Cory Eno)

Finally, disc golf draws on the social structure associated with golf in a few ways,
like league play, tournaments, and the social bonding that occurs in group play. However, its
unique culture bristles at the elitism still identified with country clubs cliques and upper class
sensibilities. In some ways disc golf culture began as a late reaction to traditional golfs first century. Because golf became popular first among the privileged members of the country club
set, Americans were slow to recognize a sport that offered little accessibility.6 Disc golf is built
on accessibility. This is in large part due to the fact that over 90 percent of all disc courses in the
United States are public courses.7 Its accessibility is limited only by the speed at which courses
can be built.

Kirsch, ix.

Oldakowski & McEwen, 356.

Eno 5
Ostensibly, one might assume that the egalitarian nature of disc golf was a meaningless
construct. While there are no deliberate barriers to disc golf, one look at the demographics at
most courses would seem to indicate hypocrisy, or at the least: failure to achieve those egalitarian
ends. Most players are white males, regardless of the region. The Professional Disc Golf Association does not represent all of disc golf culture, but it does provide some of the most reliable data
for tracking the growth of the sport. Its Year-End Demographics for 2013 indicated that males
made up almost 93% of its membership totals (see figure 3).

Figure 3. 2012, 2013 Year-End Demographics (pdga.com)

Daniel Funk and his colleagues labeled the stages of engagement with recreational golf in
a 2011 study:Awareness, Attraction, Attachment, Allegiance.8 Perception of disc golfers, and particularly first impressions matter. As Oldakowski put it, If one sees only whites playing golf,
they may not feel that the sport is welcoming to others.9 But this is discrimination that disc golf
players cannot quite control. They can reach out to diverse groups and individuals in their communities, but they cannot change this perception overnight. In fact, field studies have shown disc

Daniel C. Funk, Anthony Beaton, and Mark Pritchard, "The Stage-Based Development of Physically Active Leisure: A Recreational Golf Context," Journal of Leisure Research 43, no. 2 (2011), http://www.questia.com/read/1G1-258725611.
9

Oldakowski & McEwen, 361.

Eno 6
golfers to be a rather open and inviting group once you engage them. Sylvia Trendafilovas
2011 study included field notes that are worth including in their entirety:

There were 15 players who all appeared Caucasian, except for one who appeared to be Hispanic, and 12
of them were not wearing shirts. Some wore denim or khaki shorts, others wore denim jeans. It seemed
like they did not care much about their appearance since some of them had their shorts and/or jeans
pulled down quite a lot. They were all males, and some had cans of beer in their hands, while a few others were smoking. They appeared to be in their early- and mid-twenties. Some were talking loudly and
even using foul language that I could hear from where I was sitting. There was not a single female player
out there. Each player had a bag with disc golf equipment and more than half of them carried a cooler.
Some wore tennis shoes, some wore hiking shoes, and some simply wore flip-flops.10

Any disc golfer will tell you that this description is par for the course. Dress codes and
decorum are norms that get little enforcement; social or otherwise. The presence of alcohol and
tobacco do not distinguish disc golf courses from traditional golf courses, though the use of marijuana by segments of the disc golfing population arguably does. Regardless, the above behavior
can be seen as intimidating to outsiders considering mainstream cultural norms. Fully 93% of
tournament participants surveyed in 2013 admitted to consuming, witness[ing] others consume,
or smell[ing] others consume marijuana.11 In fact, disc golfers can run into the same problems in
their public parks that turn of the century Victorian Americans ran into when navigating city
parks managed by elites and cultural conservatives.12 What Trendafilova found was that disc
golfers were quite approachable and friendly regardless of whether the researcher was there to
simply watch them play or she wanted to learn the game. In general, players were coopera-

10

Trendafilova, S. "Sport subcultures and their potential for addressing environmental problems: the illustrative case of disc golf." LARNet-The Cyber Journal of Applied Leisure and Recreation Research 13, no.
1 (2011).
11

Zinner, George. "A descriptive study of disc golf tournament players." PhD diss., (Cal State: Sacramento, 2013), 25.
12

Fisher, Colin. "Nature in the City: Urban Environmental History and Central Park." OAH Magazine Of
History 25, no. 4 (October 2011): 29.

Eno 7
tive and eager to provide the information.13 Such was the case with five-time womens open
world champion Juliana Korver. When interviewed in 2013, she indicated that the players were
and culture were very inviting, but the stigma around the sport due to the culturally diverse and
somewhat unruly masses holds the sport back.14 This shows that disc golfers have a willingness
to embrace the egalitarian spirit; welcoming new players and inquirers. While this grassroots diffusion method certainly played a role, it is clear that regardless of its differences from traditional
golf, disc golf suffers from the same perceptions of white male dominance that inhibited its predecessor. In addition, it suffers from its association with the counterculture, drug use, and the
imposing masculinity of groups of young men.
Regardless of its limitations, disc golf has spread and spread fast. It had a similar
growth pattern to golf, with contagious diffusion occurring in acute regions between individuals
and spreading outward.15 As one researcher put it, Rather than one man starting a flame that
quickly spread across the continent from Scotland, golf spread in the United States more like the
seeds blown from a dandelion. Some withered and died, and others slowly took root.16 Disc
Golf took flight in 1975, and by 1990 there were 250 courses. By 2000 there were 800 courses,

13

Trendafilova, 5.

14

Zinner.,18.

15

Oldakowski & McEwen, 368.

16

Knott, Richard. "The Myth of First Origin: The Growth of Golf in Nineteenth-Century America." Bethel
College. http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/NASSH_Proceedings/NP2000/NP2000zzf.pdf (accessed
April 22, 2014), 2.

Eno 8
and by 2010 there were 2,716 (see figure 4).17 More incredible is the fact that nearly 1,300 more

courses registered with the PDGA in the last four years.18

Figure 4. Total Courses Year-to-Year 1975-2010, Contiguous 48 States. (Oldakowski

& McEwen 2011)
This growth has been exciting for the games enthusiasts, but what factors have
contributed to this boom? The first and perhaps most obvious answer is the internet age itself.
Because disc golf still relies on grassroots diffusion, the internet has no doubt provided a medium for socialization, instruction, organization, and information not to mention commerce.
Players follow disc manufacturers and connect with local leagues and tournaments on social media, watch how-tos and professional tips on Youtube, and shop for discs and equipment through

17

Oldakowski & McEwen, 359.

18

PDGA 2013, 2.

Eno 9
countless online storefronts.19 20 21 Perhaps most importantly, like with just about everything else
in American life, the internet provides directories to inform players on where they can play. Mobile apps incorporate this data, and finding the nearest course is a click away. Part of the growth
of the last ten or so years has been due to players who clicked, only to find out that the nearest
course was too far out of reach.
The next reason that disc golf has seen a faster rise than traditional golf is the addition of
leisure time to the schedule of more Americans. From 1890 to present, cumulative lifetime
leisure hours have risen steadily. Average weekly leisure time rose sharply between 1890 and
1920, plateaued, and began to rise again in the 1970s.22 The golf boom of the 1920s thus parallels the advent and growth of disc golf in terms of leisure time. One other factor: age. Young
men, and less educated men, have more leisure time than older, more educated men. In fact, the
working class core of disc golf players who had twelve or less years of education are one of the
groups that have seen the largest increases in leisure time since 1965.23 Not everyone has seen an
increase in leisure time, though, as the highest educated American men have less downtime than
theyve had in 50 years.24 While they do not make up the majority of disc golfers, college edu-

19

"Cape Cod Disc Golf Club." Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cape-Cod-Disc-Golf-Club/

137641362974680 (accessed April 28, 2014).
20

YouTube. "Discraft Disc Golf Clinic: Distance Driving Techniques." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=_NRd5SuT4ow (accessed April 28, 2014).
21

"Disc Golf Vendors." NWDiscGolfNews.com. http://www.nwdiscgolfnews.com/vendors.php (accessed

April 28, 2014).
22

Thompson, Derek. "How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful?." The Atlantic. http://
www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/how-did-work-life-balance-in-the-us-get-so-awful/276336/
(accessed April 28, 2014).
23

Ibid.

24

Ibid.

Eno 10
cated men do account for almost a third of the players in some regions.25 Thus leisure time must
be considered as a factor in the disc golf boom, but it must not be over-emphasized. One question
for further research in the area of leisure time is whether or not domestic equality and equal partnership in terms of child-rearing and other roles in the domestic sphere have had a significant
impact on the amount of time either gender spends on leisure activities outside of the home.
So, the internet and increases in leisure time have helped to answer how disc golf has
grown so much since its inception nearly forty years ago. The more pressing question is of
course: Why has the sport found a foothold in American recreational culture? The first cultural
factor is a part of a larger movement in American society. In her essay, The Terror Within: Obesity in Post 9/11 Life, Charlotte Biltekoff explored the connections between the war on terror and
the war on obesity. She argued that a culture of fear about terror, obesity, and other similarly
hyped threats given considerable media attention provided the necessary alibi for post-9/11 adjustments to social life.26 Further, she posited that the national health campaign provides a focus for national unity and communal effort that the war on terror lacks.27 Two world wars in the
twentieth century provided just that kind of focus, and the Cold War provided a perpetual threat,
however real, that lent to deeper probing of American society. In this turmoil was a further democratization of American culture. Art, music, and lifestyles sprouted in a thousand directions.
Countercultures and expressions like the Black Power movement challenged social norms. Diversity began to slowly root itself in the American lexicon. Rachel Carsons Silent Spring helped

25

Oldakowski & McEwen, 367.

26

Biltekoff, Charlotte. "The Terror Within: Obesity in Post 9/11 U.S. Life." (American Studies 48, no. 3,
2007), 31.
27

Ibid.

Eno 11
ignite a new era of consumer, health, nutritional, and environmental education. Physical fitness
became both an increasingly sophisticated science and maturing art. Carson herself articulated
a holistic worldview, having declared that the earths vegetation is part of a web of life.28 The
environmentalism that has settled into the mainstream of American life grew out of this perspective, and while disc golf incubated in this cultural milieu, its greatest boom coincided with the
increased awareness of what is now known as the obesity epidemic. Researchers have tracked
the most dramatic increases among young adults to around 2000 (1999-2002).29 Thus the
increased American attention on healthy, natural lifestyles [arguably among mostly white, middle
class Americans] has made disc golf an appealing option for a recreational activity. The emphasis
on conservation at most disc golf courses is admirable, though not always effective, as player
education and awareness varies.30 Disc golf provides both a natural, often cathartic environment
and a frequently rigorous physical challenge for the player. The health benefits of even fast paced
walking in leisure time are well-documented.31 In an increasingly digital age, post-9/11 Americans have sought authenticity in experience. Alternative sports are particularly prone to drawing
lines in the sand against conformity and contrived notions of leisure.32 Golf became increasingly

28

Linda Sargent Wood, A More Perfect Union: Holistic Worldviews and the Transformation of American
Culture after World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 4, http://www.questia.com/read/
121551202.
29

Lee, Hedwig, Dohoon Lee, Guang Guo, and Kathleen Mullan Harris. "Trends in Body Mass Index in
Adolescence and Young Adulthood in the United States: 19592002." (Journal of Adolescent Health 49,
no. 6 2011), 603.
30

Trendafilova, 5.

31

Morris, Jeremiah N., D. G. Clayton, M. G. Everitt, A. M. Semmence, and E. H. Burgess. "Exercise in

leisure time: coronary attack and death rates." British heart journal 63, no. 6 (1990): 325-334.
32

Wheaton, Belinda, and Becky Beal. "Keeping It Real'Subcultural Media and the Discourses of Authenticity in Alternative Sport." International Review for the Sociology of Sport 38, no. 2 (2003): 155-176.

Eno 12
associated with resorts and the conquest of cast tracts for their existence. In contrast, disc golf
seems to provide its players with a less contrived, minimally invasive opportunity for a game that
follows much of the same format. In a way disc golfers have co-opted golf and turned it into a
sport that fits their generational and cultural sensibilities. The sport is a what golf cannot be. It is
informal. It is taxing. It is environmentally conscious. It is a product of its best decade to date.
That boom would not be possible, if not for the lack of significant barriers contagious diffusion that so often marks the sports transfer. Oldakowski found that over 80% of disc golfers
they surveyed had learned about the sport from a friend.33 Disc golfers acceptance of their
roles as ambassadors of the game have made accessibility a primary concern. Course cleanup
and improvement is an ongoing project in most areas, and the work is either shared between public disc golf clubs and municipalities, or taken up completely by the clubs. This active stewardship is a large part of disc golfs spread. Because most courses are public, clubs work hard to
make good press for the sport and the parks it is played in. This positive image is then parlayed
into a dialogue about new course possibilities in the area.
Oldakowskis 2011 survey solicited non-players, of which 88% were black and 36% were
women. Their results do not reveal a purposeful restriction of access to the game, but rather
point to cultural disconnects through the repeatedly used phrase, not my kind of game [42% of
respondents].34 For now disc golf may be a white male-dominated game in its demographics,
but the PDGA numbers point to higher growth rates in the past two years for female member totals as compared to males. Women are a growing part of the game, and racial barriers seem to be
largely perceived (though that does nothing to dampen their impact). Age is not a barrier either.

33

Oldakowski & McEwen, 368.

34

Ibid, 369.

Eno 13
Players who have been playing since the 1970s are still active members of leagues and clubs,
providing cross-generational link that connects on issues of culture and history. Players over
forty make up as much as a third of disc golfers.35 While the age of most disc golfers provides
them more leisure time to play, the presence of elder statesmen and women in the game indicates
a lifelong character in the sport.
Perhaps the most important barrier that disc golf has dodged is an economic one. As opposed to golf, equipment is cheap. Discs sell for as low as $10 new, and a player can get started
with a bundle that will only set them back $30-40 for a driver, mid-range, and a putter. Even better, there are no greens fees. A limited number of courses are on the grounds of state parks that
charge an entry fee. Other than those, most public courses are free. An accessible, local form of
recreation that does not inhibit the player financially is infinitely more feasible to spread than
sports such as traditional golf. Time is also an economic concern. The average disc golf game for
a foursome consumes about half the time that traditional golf does. A focus for further research
in the near future might be the relationship between the US economic downturn that started in
2008 and the growth of disc golf in that time period.
Conceived in egalitarian principles and dedicated to environmental consciousness, disc
golf has grown out of a reemergence of health and exercise fads coinciding with the obesity epidemic. Further, lack of significant barriers to accessibility for female and non-white participants
along with low cost and investment. As the sport gains legitimacy and recognition, its face will
change, but whether its ethos is altered will be for time to tell.

35

Oldakowski & McEwen, 367.

Eno 14
Bibliography
"2013 PDGA Year End Demographics." Home. http://www.pdga.com/pdga-documents/
demographics-current/2013-pdga-year-end-demographics (accessed April 27,
2014).
Biltekoff, Charlotte. "The Terror Within: Obesity in Post 9/11 U.S. Life." American Studies 48, no. 3 (2007): 29-48.
"Cape Cod Disc Golf Club." Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cape-CodDisc-Golf-Club/137641362974680 (accessed April 28, 2014).
"Disc Golf Vendors." NWDiscGolfNews.com. http://www.nwdiscgolfnews.com/vendors.php (accessed April 28, 2014).
Daniel C. Funk, Anthony Beaton, and Mark Pritchard, "The Stage-Based Development
of Physically Active Leisure: A Recreational Golf Context," Journal of Leisure
Research 43, no. 2 (2011), http://www.questia.com/read/1G1-258725611.
Fisher, Colin. "Nature in the City: Urban Environmental History and Central Park." OAH
Magazine Of History 25, no. 4 (October 2011): 27-31.
Kirsch, George B.. Golf in America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
Knott, Richard. "The Myth of First Origin: The Growth of Golf in Nineteenth-Century
America." Bethel College. http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/NASSH_Proceedings/NP2000/NP2000zzf.pdf (accessed April 22, 2014).
Lee, Hedwig, Dohoon Lee, Guang Guo, and Kathleen Mullan Harris. "Trends in Body
Mass Index in Adolescence and Young Adulthood in the United States: 1959
2002." Journal of Adolescent Health 49, no. 6 (2011): 601-608.
Morris, J N, D G Clayton, M G Everitt, A M Semmence, and E H Burgess. "Exercise in
leisure time: coronary attack and death rates.." Heart 63, no. 6 (1990): 325-334.
Ray Oldakowski and John W. McEwen, "Diffusion of Disc Golf Courses in the United
States," The Geographical Review 103, no. 3 (2013), http://www.questia.com/
read/1G1-344287675.
Siniscalchi, Jason. "The Personal and Community Benefits of Disc Golf to Rural America (and Beyond) ." PDGA. http://www.pdga.com/files/BenefitsOfDiscGolf-Siniscalchi_1.pdf (accessed April 26, 2014).
Thompson, Derek. "How Did Work-Life Balance in the U.S. Get So Awful?." The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/how-did-work-lifebalance-in-the-us-get-so-awful/276336/ (accessed April 28, 2014).

Eno 15

Trendafilova, S. "Sport subcultures and their potential for addressing environmental

problems: the illustrative case of disc golf." LARNet-The Cyber Journal of Applied Leisure and Recreation Research 13, no. 1 (2011).
Wheaton, Belinda, and Becky Beal. "`Keeping It Real': Subcultural Media and the Discourses of Authenticity in Alternative Sport." International Review for the Sociology of Sport 38, no. 2 (2003): 155-176.
Wood, Linda Sargent. A more perfect union: holistic worldviews and the transformation
of American culture after World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
YouTube. "Discraft Disc Golf Clinic: Distance Driving Techniques." YouTube. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NRd5SuT4ow (accessed April 28, 2014).
Zinner, George. "A descriptive study of disc golf tournament players." PhD diss., (Cal
State: Sacramento, 2013).