Benefits of Competitive Disc Golf

Recreational disc golf play is quite fun and rewarding but there are also many benefits to playing disc golf in a more competitive setting. Competing in organized tournaments help to build a sense of camaraderie with other players and helps to gain appreciation and inspiration of other player’s styles and techniques.

Playing in a tournament setting helps to raise the significance of each throw, which enables players to increase their focus and attention to each shot. Participants develop strategic thinking by navigating obstacles on a course. Learning how to take calculated risks leads to taking responsibility for one’s success or failure.

A mental shift happens when competing against a field of other players. There is a distinct feeling of accountability. This feeling usually functions as a motivating factor to improve one’s skillset. It heightens the awareness of how one executes throws and inspires participants to perform better.

There are many benefits to competitive disc golf. The Amateur Disc Golf organization has created a format that allows all amateur players to be able to compete, improve their game and have fun.

The Time is Right

The awareness of the sport of disc golf is at an all time high and continues to grow with every passing week. People can now purchase disc golf equipment in major national sporting goods stores like Dick’s, Modell’s, Eastern Mountain Sports, Play It Again Sports, etc. Just the visibility alone in these national chain stores has helped tremendously to build awareness of the sport. Many schools and summer camps have adopted disc golf programs.

The Professional Disc Golf Association – PDGA has accomplished many goals in helping to create a professional tour and has made great strides in legitimizing the sport but has struggled to adequately provide for the active growth of amateur and recreational players. Our hope is that Amateur Disc Golf events will work to build a base for future professional and advanced disc golfers.

Disc golf clubs and organizations all across the country and around the world have created “mini” format tournaments for singles and doubles play. Amateur Disc Golf is designed to give a consistent structure to “mini” tournaments and create ones that focus on amateur only events.

The time is right for a new organization consisting of hundreds of experienced tournament directors across the country to come together and establish an effective method for fun tournament play and to better promote the sport of disc golf for novice and amateur players. The Amateur Disc Golf organization will do just that.

ABOUT US

The creator of the Amateur Disc Golf organization is Marc Kaplan. Marc was first introduced to the sport of disc golf over thirty years ago when he went out to San Diego to visit his mother. He played at a course in San Diego called Morley Field, where Snapper Pierson was the course pro. Snapper sold Marc a DGA Soft Touch flying disc to replace his 141gram Wham-O Frisbee that he was using. That new disc made specifically for disc golf changed everything in Marc’s ability to negotiate the obstacles on the course adding distance and accuracy.

Marc purchased his first Champion-Innova Aviar, Aero and an Aviar-XD at Sedgley Woods course in Philadelphia. Marc competed in his first sanctioned tournament at the 1986 OCTAD. This event inspired Marc to actively compete in disc golf tournaments in the hopes of some day playing in the open division as a pro, which he did a year later after moving to San Diego.

Marc retired from professional play in the early nineties but continued to play as amateur and has never lost his enthusiasm and passion for the sport. He now competes as an advanced grandmaster living in Atlanta, GA.

Jennie Lynn, Marc’s wife, was introduced to the sport of disc golf in February of 2017. She is a great lover of the outdoors and an avid hiker. She loves the way that disc golf courses are designed in beautiful park settings and that the designers strive to not disturb the natural environment.

Jennie enjoys traveling and playing many great courses with Marc. She has truly been bitten by the “Disc Golf Bug” and looks forward to playing regularly after work and on weekends. Jennie had her first clinic and tournament experience at the “Throw Pink Clinic” in Rock Hill, SC, on Saturday morning before the USDGC. She loved the format of traveling from station-to-station getting instruction on various techniques to improve her game.

Jennie believes that clinics like Throw Pink will greatly help to introduce new players to the game. She and Marc have worked together to create a well thought out format for the Amateur Disc Golf – ADG and future throwing technique clinics.

Our Passion

My wife Jennie and I love seeking out new courses to play every chance we get. Every new park and private course we play offers new challenges and scenic settings. We both love being outdoors, hiking trails and taking part in moderately physical activities. Disc Golf has provided us with a chance to commune with nature and at the same time challenge our ability to negotiate throwing discs through natural obstacles to achieve a common goal, completing the hole in as few of throws as possible.

There is nothing quite like playing disc golf. It has some similarities to traditional golf in that it is played mostly on 18-hole courses and you count strokes to finishing a hole. Otherwise, disc golf offers a huge array of potential shots, a large variety in course design, huge selection of discs to choose from, and all kinds of throwing techniques. There is just something very special about hurling a great drive through the air, finessing a difficult approach shot or hitting a well placed putt.

Disc Golf offers us and other participants to have a rare opportunity to challenge themselves with mental focus, physical coordination, the thrill of flight, and a chance to commune with natural environments. We appreciate that it is a sport that is open to a huge variety of skill levels and age groups.

Every week we witness more and more people getting bitten by the “Disc Golf Bug.” It is a sport that can be played alone or in groups. Novice and beginner players are out on the course having fun in a very short period of time. Learning the basics happens quickly, refining skills happens every time you play another hole or practice your swing.

Advancing the sport of disc golf is great passion for Jen and I. We have created the Amateur Disc Golf organization so that we can share the sport we love with new players.