49 Fun Facts About Disc Golf

Who is regarded as the father of both the modern Frisbee and the sport of disc golf?

'Steady' Ed Headrick ran Wham-O's Frisbee business as general manager, patented the modern disc's raised-rim design, and later founded both the PDGA and the target-maker DGA.

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

His accuracy hitting targets with a Frisbee earned the nickname; Headrick, Wham-O's general manager in the 1960s, was known for consistent, repeatable throws, and the 'Steady' tag followed him into disc golf.

Where did Headrick design and install the first disc golf course in 1975?

Oak Grove Park, Pasadena got the first permanent course in 1975; the park now forms part of Hahamongna Watershed Park in the Arroyo Seco, and the course is regarded as the birthplace of the sport.

In which year did Headrick found the Professional Disc Golf Association?

1976 was the year Headrick founded the PDGA, alongside his Disc Golf Association company that made discs and targets; the PDGA became the sport's governing and sanctioning body.

What is the forehand throw in disc golf commonly called?

Flick is the usual name for the forehand or sidearm throw, released palm-up with a snap of the wrist; it spins opposite to a backhand, so the disc fades the other way.

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.

Headrick's redesign of the Frisbee received a US patent in which year?

1967 is the year of Headrick's patent 3,359,678 for the Wham-O Pro model; reworking the Pluto Platter mould, he removed the planet names and thickened the rim, and its raised rings became known as 'Lines of Headrick'.

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; the idea became the 1955 Pluto Platter, which Wham-O bought in 1957 and soon renamed.

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 Yale students tossed around, shouting 'Frisbie'; Wham-O adopted the sound, respelled, for its disc.

Why do organised sports say 'disc golf' and 'ultimate' rather than using Wham-O's brand?

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, founded in California in 1983 by Dave Dunipace and partners, makes the Destroyer, a distance driver that became one of the most thrown discs on the professional tours.

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

Finland holds roughly 7 percent of the world's courses, second only to the United States with about three-quarters, and well ahead of any other European country.

Which company, founded in Skellefteå in 2005, makes the River and Saint fairway drivers?

Latitude 64 was founded in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, in 2005 and moulds the River and Saint fairway drivers along with the Pure putter; its factory also produces the Dynamic Discs and Westside lines.

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

Majors sit at the top of the PDGA tier system, above A-, B- and C-Tiers; the World Championships, the United States Disc Golf Championship and the European Open are among them.

How many holes do most disc golf courses have?

9 or 18 holes is the norm, mirroring ball golf, with par usually 3 on each; smaller parks often fit nine targets while championship courses run eighteen.

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

World Flying Disc Federation is the WFDF, founded in 1985 and granted full International Olympic Committee recognition in 2015; it governs ultimate and other disc sports and works with the PDGA on disc golf.

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 from a drop zone.

Under PDGA rules, how must the disc finish for a basket hole to count?

Resting in the tray or the chains below the support is the rule: a disc sitting on top of the basket or wedged into the outside of the cage does not count, which is why chain-outs sting.

By tradition, who throws first from the tee?

The lowest scorer on the previous hole takes 'honours' and tees first, as in ball golf; after the tee, the player farthest from the target throws 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.

PDGA standards cap disc weight at 8.3 grams per centimetre, up to what absolute maximum?

200 grams is the ceiling in the PDGA technical standards, which also limit weight to 8.3 grams per centimetre of diameter; a typical 21-centimetre golf disc therefore tops out near 175 grams.

For a right-handed backhand throw, an overstable disc tends to track in which direction?

An understable disc drifts right; manufacturers rate this as 'turn' and 'fade'.

In Innova's flight ratings, 'turn' is scored on what scale?

+1 to -5 is the turn scale, describing how much a disc drifts right at high speed for a right-hand backhand; +1 resists turning and -5 turns most.

What is the term for a throw released with the disc angled to follow its natural fall?

Hyzer means the outer edge of the disc is tilted down at release, so the flight curves in the direction of its natural fade; an anhyzer tilts the edge up and fights that fade.

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 set the world record for the longest disc golf throw in 2016?

David Wiggins Jr. threw 1,108.92 feet, about 338 metres, at a distance event in Primm, Nevada in March 2016, beating the previous mark of 863.5 feet by some 245 feet.

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

Those players are considered 'scratch players'; averaging under the SSA pushes a rating above 1000.

In which year were the PDGA World Championships first held?

1982 saw the first PDGA World Championships, held in Irvine, California, where Harold Duvall took the open title; the event has crowned champions in multiple divisions in nearly every year since.

Ken 'The Champ' Climo won how many PDGA World Championship titles?

Twelve world titles is Climo's tally: nine straight from 1990 to 1998, then 2000, 2002 and 2006, a record that earned him the nickname 'The Champ'.

How many PDGA World Championships had Paul McBeth won by the end of 2022?

Six by then: four straight from 2012 to 2015, then 2019 in Peoria, Illinois and 2022 in Emporia, Kansas.

In July 2018 Paul McBeth shot what historic score for 18 holes at the Great Lakes Open?

18 under par, a 45 on the par-63 Toboggan course at Kensington Metropark in Michigan, came in the second round and was hailed as the best round in the sport's history.

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

He had left Innova for a four-year Discraft deal at the end of 2018.

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.

Ricky Wysocki beat McBeth to the world title in which two consecutive years?

2016 and 2017 were Wysocki's back-to-back world titles, with McBeth runner-up each time; Wysocki, nicknamed 'Sockibomb', is known for his sidearm-heavy game.

How many World Championships had Paige Pierce won by the end of 2019?

Five came in that span: 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, every odd year, making Pierce the dominant woman in the sport through the decade.

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

Cross-country skiing was Tattar's first sport, where she won national youth titles; she switched to disc golf and went on to win the world championship in 2022 and again in 2023.

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

South Carolina hosts it at Winthrop University in Rock Hill; the championship began in 1999 and is one of the sport's premier invitational events, played on long holes hemmed in by out-of-bounds rope.

The company that makes the Ultra-Star ultimate disc was founded in 1978 in which country?

Canada was the birthplace: Jim Kenner and Gail McColl started the company in London, Ontario in 1978 and moved it to Michigan the next year; the Ultra-Star followed in 1981.

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-born pro, threw 863.5 feet in October 2014; the mark was smashed 17 months later by a throw of more than 1,100 feet in the Nevada desert.

Under PDGA rules, how long does a player have to throw once it is their turn?

30 seconds is the PDGA's excessive-time limit: once a player has reached the lie and the area is clear, a throw must follow within that window, with a warning first and a penalty throw after that.

Students at which Texas university held tournaments using trees as targets as early as 1964?

Rice students in Houston were playing tournaments with trees as targets from 1964; other groups played independently through the decade, including Santa Barbara teenagers who used lamp posts and fountains as holes.

Early-1960s players at Augusta's Pendleton King Park tossed Frisbees into what as targets?

50-gallon barrel trash cans were designated as the targets; the chain basket that replaced such improvised holes did not arrive until the mid-1970s.

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

Georgia is home to the centre, which opened in 2007 at Wildwood Park in Appling, Columbia County; its clubhouse houses the Ed Headrick Memorial Museum and the sport's hall of fame.

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; below it run Blue, White, Red and Green, and tournament tiers are often colour-matched to the difficulty of the course layout.

Gregg Barsby won the 2018 PDGA World Championship in which US state?

Vermont's Smugglers' Notch resort hosted the 2018 Worlds, where Barsby sealed his first world title with a throw-in birdie on the final hole.

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

Brodie Smith, who played AUDL ultimate and built a huge YouTube following with trick-shot videos, switched to disc golf in January 2020 and began playing Disc Golf Pro Tour events that year.