49 Fun Facts About Disc Golf

Under what space-age name did Wham-O first sell the Frisbee in 1957?

Pluto Platter was the name on the disc Wham-O bought in January 1957; by June the firm had added the word Frisbee, which college students in the Northeast were already using.

How did Ed Headrick earn the nickname 'Steady Ed'?

His accuracy hitting targets with a Frisbee earned the nickname: Headrick, his son Ken and friends dared each other to hit signs and trees, the target games that grew into disc golf.

Where did Ed Headrick install the first official disc golf course in 1975?

Oak Grove Park, Pasadena got the first official course in 1975; its targets were bare poles set in the ground, because the chain basket had not yet been invented.

Which nickname for Frisbee golf did George Costanza use on Seinfeld?

Frolf, a blend of Frisbee and golf, was on George's to-do list in the 1997 episode 'The Summer of George', right after reading a book from beginning to end.

What is the forehand throw in disc golf commonly called?

Flick is the usual name for the forehand or sidearm throw; it spins the opposite way to a backhand, so the disc fades in the other direction.

Which chain-and-basket target did Headrick patent in 1977?

The Disc Pole Hole hung chains above a basket so a disc striking them dropped in; the patent was granted in 1977, and the chain-and-basket layout became standard for course targets.

What happened to Ed Headrick's ashes after his death in 2002?

They were moulded into discs and sold, as Headrick had requested, with the proceeds going toward a memorial museum at the International Disc Golf Center.

What did Ed Headrick add to the top of the Frisbee in the redesign he patented in the 1960s?

Raised concentric rings, soon nicknamed after Headrick, disturb the air flowing over the disc; his patent said this cut drag and steadied the flight, making throws easier to learn.

Who invented the flying disc that became the Frisbee, selling the rights to Wham-O in 1957?

Walter F. Morrison and his future wife Lucile tossed a popcorn-can lid after Thanksgiving dinner in 1937, then found beachgoers would pay 25 cents for the cake pans they threw instead.

The name 'Frisbee' was borrowed from a Connecticut company that made what?

Pies from the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut came in tins that New England college students took to tossing; Wham-O borrowed their name for the game, respelled, for its disc.

Why do governing bodies avoid the word 'Frisbee' in names such as 'disc golf' and 'ultimate'?

It is a registered trademark: Wham-O registered 'Frisbee' in 1959, so governing bodies avoid the brand and use the generic 'flying disc' or simply 'disc' in their sport names.

Which manufacturer makes the Destroyer distance driver?

Innova makes the Destroyer; the company arrived in 1983 with Dave Dunipace's Eagle, a disc designed for golf rather than for games of catch.

Which country has the second-most disc golf courses after the United States?

Finland trailed only the United States in counts from around 2020; its towns have built so many free public courses that disc golf courses there outnumber traditional golf courses.

Which company, based in Skellefteå, makes the River and Saint fairway drivers?

Latitude 64 designs and makes its discs in Skellefteå, Sweden; in 2021 it signed Estonian star Kristin Tattar to a four-year deal worth around $500,000.

What does the PDGA call its top tier of events, including the World Championships?

Majors sit at the top of the PDGA's tiers, above the Elite Series; the old National Tour, once the rung below, was merged away in 2022.

How many holes do most disc golf courses have?

9 or 18 holes is the norm because the sport copies the shape of a round of ball golf, with a tee and a target on every hole.

What does WFDF, the international governing body for disc sports, stand for?

World Flying Disc Federation is the full name; national associations set it up in the mid-1980s after Wham-O was sold and its International Frisbee Association was closed down.

On a course sign, what does a 'mando' tell you?

A required flight path past a line is what a mandatory sets: the disc must pass the marked side of a tree or pole, and missing it costs a penalty throw.

Under PDGA rules, where must a disc come to rest to finish a basket hole?

In the tray or the chains, below the chain support, is where the disc must rest; one perched on top of the basket does not count, however good the throw.

In disc golf, who by tradition throws first from the tee?

The lowest scorer on the previous hole tees first, and ties keep the earlier order; once everyone has thrown, the player farthest from the target goes next.

What are the three general categories of disc golf disc?

Drivers, mid-range discs and putters make up the three families: drivers carry a sharp bevelled rim with mass pushed outward for distance, mid-range discs fly straighter for approaches, and putters fly slow and stable.

What do players call the marker disc they set down where a throw landed?

A mini, short for mini marker disc, is placed touching the front of the thrown disc, which can then be picked up and thrown again from behind the marker.

For a right-handed backhand throw, an overstable disc tends to curve which way?

To the left is where an overstable disc turns throughout its flight for a right-handed backhand, which makes such discs hard for beginners; an understable one drifts right when thrown fast.

In the four flight numbers printed on most golf discs, what does the first one rate?

Speed comes first, on a scale of 1 to 14; faster discs need more power to fly properly, so high-speed drivers are a poor choice for beginners.

What is the term for releasing a disc with its outer edge tilted downward?

Hyzer tilts the outer edge down at release, so the disc curves the way it naturally falls; an anhyzer tilts the edge up and fights that pull.

Why does a flying disc predictably fade at the end of its flight?

Spin persists while velocity drops: the slowing disc loses lift and its nose pitches, and gyroscopic precession turns that pitch into a roll toward the fade side.

Who threw a disc golf disc a world-record 1,108.92 feet in the Nevada desert in 2016?

David Wiggins Jr. threw 1,108.92 feet, about 338 metres, in winds of around 40 mph, beating a 903.9-foot record that had stood for only two days.

In the PDGA rating system, what rating does a player who averages the courses' Scratch Scoring Average get?

1000 is the rating of a 'scratch' player, one who averages a course's Scratch Scoring Average; each throw better or worse than that moves a round's rating by roughly ten points.

Which series, launched in 2016, became the PDGA's official top circuit in 2022?

Disc Golf Pro Tour became the single top circuit when the PDGA folded its own National Tour, which it had run since 2003, into the newer series.

Which player, nicknamed 'The Champ', won twelve PDGA world titles between 1990 and 2006?

Ken Climo won nine in a row from 1990, then kept coming back: after Barry Schultz and Nate Doss had taken the title, he reclaimed it in 2006 for his twelfth.

What do disc golfers call the putting area within 10 metres of the basket?

Circle 1 is the 10-metre putting area; inside it a player must show full balance behind the marker before stepping forward, or take a penalty throw.

At which 2018 tournament did Paul McBeth shoot a course-record 18-under-par round?

Great Lakes Open crowds saw McBeth birdie every hole but two: an eagle on the 2nd made up for his lone par, and a 50-foot putt on the 18th sealed the 18-under round.

In 2021 McBeth signed a 10-year, $10 million deal with which manufacturer?

Discraft had lured McBeth from his long-time sponsor with a four-year, $1 million deal at the end of 2018, then replaced it two seasons later with the eight-figure contract.

Where is Paul McBeth from?

Huntington Beach, California is McBeth's home town; born there in 1990, he turned professional as a teenager and became the face of the sport in the 2010s.

Who ended Paul McBeth's run of four straight world titles by winning in 2016 and 2017?

Ricky Wysocki, runner-up to McBeth three times in the four years before, won by six throws in 2016 and kept the title a year later.

Which American won the women's world title in every odd-numbered year from 2011 to 2019?

Paige Pierce never won it two years running: a different rival took each even year between, Sarah Hokom in 2012, Catrina Allen in 2014, Valarie Jenkins in 2016 and Paige Shue in 2018.

Kristin Tattar, the 2022 women's world champion, competed in which sport before disc golf?

Cross-country skiing was Tattar's sport through her school years; she quit after high school because hard training had worn her body down, then found disc golf in her twenties.

The United States Disc Golf Championship at Winthrop University is played in which state?

South Carolina has hosted it at Winthrop University in Rock Hill since 1999; in 2016 Hurricane Matthew wiped out the final round, so the third-round leader was declared champion.

The US company behind the Ultra-Star ultimate disc was actually founded in 1978 in which country?

Canada was the birthplace: Jim Kenner and Gail McColl started the company in London, Ontario, then moved it across the border to Michigan, where it is still based.

Whose 'Holy Shot' throw-in forced a playoff at the 2021 PDGA World Championships?

James Conrad holed a 247-foot throw-in on the final hole at Ogden, Utah to tie Paul McBeth, then won the playoff; the shot was quickly dubbed the 'Holy Shot'.

In disc golf scoring, what is a hole finished three throws under par called?

Albatross is three under par, as in ball golf, while a condor is four under; pro Philo Brathwaite's 2016 albatross at the Beaver State Fling became one of the sport's most shared clips.

Who set the 863.5-foot distance record in October 2014 that stood until 2016?

Simon Lizotte, the German pro, threw 863.5 feet in October 2014, then beat his own mark in March 2016 with the first throw past 900 feet, a record that lasted just two days.

Under PDGA rules, what does a player receive for a first excessive-time violation in a round?

A warning comes first, and any later excessive-time call in the round costs one penalty throw; the clock starts only once the player has reached the lie and the area is clear.

What do disc golfers call a hole-in-one?

An ace can reach a national audience: Nate Doss's at the 2015 Memorial Championship landed among the Top 10 plays on ESPN's SportsCenter.

On some holes, a throw that lands out of bounds is replayed from which marked area?

The drop zone is a marked spot where play resumes; a tournament director may even let players skip a risky shot and go straight there for two penalty throws.

The International Disc Golf Center and Hall of Fame sit on Clarks Hill Lake in which state?

Georgia is home to the centre, at Wildwood Park in Appling; the PDGA, long run from its director's house in Toronto, moved its headquarters there.

Which colour marks the top PDGA skill band, for players rated 970 and above?

Gold is the top band, for ratings of 970 and above, with Blue, White, Red and Green below; the PDGA tells designers to build courses for elite Open fields to the Gold standard.

Smugglers' Notch, where Gregg Barsby won the 2018 PDGA World Championship, is a resort in which US state?

Vermont's Smugglers' Notch hosted the 2018 Worlds, where Barsby trailed Paul McBeth by two throws after two rounds and beat him by two for his only world title.

Which YouTube trick-shot star and former AUDL ultimate player turned to disc golf in 2020?

Brodie Smith won two college ultimate titles at Florida and raced around the world on The Amazing Race in 2016 before turning professional in disc golf in 2020.