National Disc Golf Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Disc Golf

National Disc Golf Day is on August 5 this year. The sport is enjoyable and gaining in popularity. This day is observed annually on the first Saturday of August to recognise the sport of disc golf. This sport utilises the same general principles and etiquette as golf, but requires a disc to play. Not only has its popularity exploded in India, but it is also the world’s fastest-growing sport!

The background of National Disc Golf Day

Nobody knows when or who devised this sport, nor who played it first. People have played golf with a soaring disc, according to varying accounts spanning decades, but these accounts are separated by years. According to all accounts, each of these incidents occurred in isolation.

A group of children allegedly hurled tin lids at circular ‘targets’ drawn in the sand on the playground of Bladworth Elementary School in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the early 19th century. People believe that this precedes the contemporary sport. While the modern version of this sport returned to Canada in the late 19th century, people in the United States had been playing it since the 1960s, according to legend, and it became an official sport a decade later.

During one such instance, college student George Sappenfield began working as a recreation counsellor during a university vacation. He did not anticipate that this would lead him to create a new (for him) sport. As he played golf one afternoon, he pondered whether the children in his courtyard would also be interested in playing with Frisbees. Indeed, they did. A year later, when he discovered that his recreation class instructor, Kevin Donnelly, had also promoted Frisbee golf for children, he discovered a kindred spirit. As Sappenfield completed college, he sought support from the American toy company Wham-O in order to promote a Frisbee golf tournament. Wham-O was impressed, offered Sappenfield a position, and he proceeded to promote this sport all over the world. As a result of a change in Wham-O’s promotional strategies, this momentum diminished.

Sappenfield introduced his associate Ed Headrick to this sport while at Wham-O. In the United States, Headrick is regarded as the ‘father of disc golf’ due to his significant contributions to this discipline. He established the first legitimate disc golf course, invented (and patented) the Frisbee that would be used for a long time in this game, and established a number of organisations to develop and promote this sport. More on this to come.

Since 1970, Jim Palmeri, his brother, and a small group of people had also been playing competitive disc golf in New York and Rochester. They were surprised to learn of the International Frisbee Association (IFA), which was founded by Ed Headrick and Wham-O, and sought to determine how many Americans played this sport. They established a competition known as the American Flying Disc Open (AFDO) and offered a brand-new 1974 Datsun B210 as a prize.

The year 1975 was a pivotal year for disc golf. As an executive at Wham-O at the time, Headrick recognised the sport’s potential and reevaluated the value disc golf brought to the company. In the same year, he introduced disc golf to the World Frisbee Championships to great success. The following year, Headrick resigned from his position at Wham-O and founded the Disc Golf Association. Soon after, he established the first version of the Professional Disc Golf Association, a non-profit organisation that presently governs the sport internationally. In addition to developing the game’s official regulations, he also invented and patented the chain-and-basket target for disc golf.

Wham-O continued to sponsor the World Frisbee Championship, a move that helped spread disc golf throughout the United States and Canada.

While Jim Palmeri and company were playing, the Berkeley Frisbee Group and the University of Michigan independently designed golf courses on their respective campuses.

Six years ago, ESPN’s Top 10 Plays on Sportscenter helped revitalise interest in this sport.

The day was conceived by Minnesota PDGA State Coordinator Jason Wilder and co-founder of the non-profit Throw Pink, Sara Nicholson. In addition, they consulted disc golf legends Dan “Stork” Roddick, Jim Palmeri, and Tom Monroe regarding the date, resolving on August for two reasons. The illustrious American Flying Disc Open began this month, and Ed Headrick patented the first disc golf course design, which is now standard for all disc golf courses. Since its approval five years ago, the United States has observed this day.

5 Interesting Facts About Disc Golf

This sport is so well-liked that there are 11,300 courses worldwide.

75% of all disc golf courses are in the United States; 8,000 of the total 11,300 courses in the globe (even in Antarctica!) are in the United States alone.

In August 2015, the International Olympic Committee granted this sport full recognition, providing it with a global platform.

According to legend, when a group of Canadian children first began playing a variant of disc golf, they threw tin containers at targets, hence the name.

Sara Nicholson and Jason Wilder initially worked on separate concepts to promote this sport; a mutual acquaintance recognised this and introduced them.

NATIONAL DISC GOLF DAY DATES