Grow the sport? No thanks.

[Apathy]

I'm not the least interested in whether or not the sport grows. I don't care if it's ever televised, or if Nike or Hyundai ever sign on as sponsors. The sport now is plenty entertaining and competitive, tournaments are abundant and fill up often. What is the big drawing point for growing the sport? I can see why pros would want it with higher payouts but why should the vast majority of us give a shit?

Don't get me wrong. I am ecstatic to see more courses getting built, but the sport seems to be doing plenty well off to sustain itself and it's growth. I just don't want to see disc golf lose its niche as it becomes main stream.

[Frank Delicious]

cool

[Leopard]

bunch of tall socks hating the fact that they're balls-deep in a counterculture game. your heroes smoke w*ed; my condolences tall socks.

[Apathy]

bunch of tall socks hating the fact that they're balls-deep in a counterculture game. your heroes smoke w*ed; my condolences tall socks.

Your post makes it sound like I support grow the sport, or am I not tall socks?

[Leopard]

you're not tall socks

[Apathy]

you're not tall socks

Thats the nicest thing anyone on these forums has ever said to me.

[bergdawg]

That's totally tight butt hole. Sillybizz banned me for saying that on DGCR. It's from Workaholics and not a gay bash. Sorry you don't have refined tastes and aren't cultured enough to watch it.

[JHern]

I don't think you're alone in this sentiment. And I think the sport is appealing in part because it hasn't grown too much, and a lot of us like that. Many see growth of the sport in the future as a threat, and believe that significant growth would cause:
1) More crowding of courses
2) A wall of separation between top pros and the rest of us
3) Discs made in China instead of our home countries (baskets are already mostly made in China)
4) Higher proportion of douche bags playing disc golf
5) Etc..

What are some potential positives to growth in the sport?
1) Higher pro payouts (as already noted), properly rewarding skill and dedication
2) Better courses
3) Better TV and media coverage
4) Better technology and consistency in discs
5) Etc.

I think the sport is probably going to grow, no matter what we do...but it will grow at its own pace, from the ground-up. I don't think there is a magic bullet for rapid growth, like so many have been hoping to see. Rapid growth isn't always lasting. Remember that disc sports witnessed a dramatic expansion in popularity in the 1970s, but it fizzled just as fast. Easy come, easy go. I say let it be, and allow it to take its own course.

[turso]

Yeah, kinda not sure if I want the sport to grow. On the other hand better quality courses, but probably pay-for-play as well, probably more consistent discs at some point, more players, tee times...I get that enough with golf. Future'll show if it'll join the big boy leagues.

[JR]

Overcrowding is already a problem in the largest cities with established DG culture and i hear the same about some spots in the US. Pros of getting more money is to be able to sustain existing courses and creating mind blowing new courses that are unfeasible to build now. In fact even current level no amenities courses are a problem to build in urban areas in Finland right now. Almost each course is on public land and nobody has the money to purchase land and make a privately owned and operated course. Unless they already own land and would lose the profits of what they are doing on that land now. Actually i know of one privately owned course in Finland. There are some pay for play courses with sports institutes and hotels but they are worse than regular courses. Meh. The situation here is that we need more courses desperately for urban areas to relieve the crowding. Player count has doubled or more in 3 years. You will wait at most hours of the day and competition players lack training space.

Driving fields are a problem. There are none so we need to crowd other sports fields. And for me Blizzzard technology created a new problem. Had my 155 Boss not been stopped in the final foot of the field i would have knocked it out of the park in my tertiary practice field into a sidewalk or even onto a road filled with cars during rush hour. Finland at least needs the sport to grow and gain more influence so that we can get more courses to even keep up with the rapidly growing player base. Let alone relieving crowds. We need pay for play courses now to allow competition players to practice unhampered and to relieve crowding. On top of the existing free to play courses. From what i understand many areas in the States are in the same situation and luckily for some areas pay for play courses exist already.

[bergdawg]

Edited by moderator: You're going to get me fired.

[Pwingles]

I honestly dont understand the draw back(s) to Disc Golf becoming more popular.
I realize that a lot of you guys are more in love with the idea of getting stoned in a public park in the middle of the day and occasionally throwing frisbees at targets, but what i dont understand is how DG getting more mainstream would change your ability to do that?

I guess i dont identify with this notion that disc golf being an underground, niche, counter culture thing, is a good thing.
Im going to guess that the majority of the people that dislike the idea of DG being more mainstream were never into athletics or at least not since childhood, it seems like a lot of the people who are ok with it come from a background of competetive activities. Obviously this isnt going to be 100% true acrossed the board but i believe it to be accurate.

So is that the appeal...? The thought of you doing this thing you enjoy and you dont want anyone else coming along and enjoying it too?


I will never be able to understand people who think like this.

[jubuttib]

I honestly dont understand the draw back(s) to Disc Golf becoming more popular.

Depends on how it happens. If new courses are installed at a fast enough rate so that you can actually play, then no problem. For reference we have one 18 hole course in our city. Other than that the nearest one is around 50 km away, the nearest after that is 142 km away, and I don't even know how far you'd have to go after that... If disc golf became mainstream but a lot of new courses weren't built in the area tee times and pay and play would have to be implemented to keep the courses functioning even a bit.

And for me the main attraction of disc golf (apart from being a great game) is that it's cheap and you can basically go play anytime you want. Pay and play and tee times would ruin both.

[A buzzz and a beer]

The sport is growing. More and more people are playing all the time, tournaments are filling faster, and people are getting better. As a competitive person I want it to continue to grow. I want more people to play against and with more people comes better people.

If your courses are too busy to even be able to play that is a good reason/time to go talk to your city about getting another one built.

I do however think it will never be as big as some want. Its not gonna get televised. The reason I say this is that its not fun for people to watch that don't play. I have shown many friends videos of disc golf and with in 1 minute they are bored and don't want to watch it.

[Mark Ellis]

Some kinds of growth are more than good, they are great.

Fine new courses and talented, motivated competitive players are two examples. But ever larger groups of roving casuals who have no respect for the game, the course or other players will not improve my enjoyment of the sport. As the sport continues to gain popularity there will be no avoiding casuals during peak hours and seasons in many public parks.

I live in the center of disc golf mecca. The discgolfscene website has a course finder which allows you to check how many courses are close to you. According to that site there are 3 courses within 1 mile of my home, 38 courses within 25 miles, 82 courses within 50 miles and 151 courses within 100 miles. Oh, and there are a bunch of private courses not listed on the site at all. Still, with all those courses I stopped playing leagues on public courses during summer week nights 5 years ago. It is hard to take the game seriously when you are surrounded by mobs of others who do not.

So I am ready for pay to play courses. If it costs a few bucks so be it. There is a nice course about a half hour south of me (Rolling Hills in Ypsilanti) that does not charge to play but the park entrance fee for non-residents is $9 per car. This keeps the course much more playable and attracts more serious players. I am all for this trend.

My home course of Kensington Metropark charges $5 for park entry and $2 to play for the day (you can purchase annual passes for each at $25 and $50, respectively). When the pay to play went into effect a couple years ago it kept the attendance down a bit. No more. It is packed again in any nice weather by the afternoon. It is time to raise the fees. When courses get too busy vandalism, littering and general rowdiness get out of hand.