Intro

Disc golf is played much like golf. Instead of a ball and clubs, though, players use a flying disc or Frisbee. The sport was formalized in the 1970s and shares with golf the object of completing each hole in the fewest strokes (or, in the case of disc golf, fewest throws).

A golf disc is thrown from a tee area to a target, which is the "hole." The hole can be one of a number of disc golf targets; the most common is an elevated metal basket. As a player progresses down the fairway, he or she must make each consecutive throw from the spot where the previous throw landed. The trees, shrubs, and terrain changes located in and around the fairways provide challenging obstacles for the golfer. Finally, the "putt" lands in the basket and the hole is completed.

Disc golf shares the same joys and frustrations of golf, whether it's sinking a long putt or hitting a tree halfway down the fairway. There are a few differences, though: Disc golf is often free to play in public parks, although pay-to-play courses are trending upward; you probably won't need to rent a cart, but converted golf course layouts are also on the rise; and your "tee time" will usually come during tournament competition, not casual play.

History

“Steady” Ed Headrick #001 is considered the Father of Disc Golf. Of his dozens of patented inventions, two of them hold infinite importance to our sport. The first was the Frisbee (U.S. Patent #3359678) in 1966 as an employee at Wham-O. The second was the basis of all disc golf targets today, the Disc Golf Pole Hole (U.S. Patent #4039189) in 1975.

The concept of disc golf itself however has a long and blurry history. Even a question as simple as “Who first played disc golf?” has no clear and concise answer. In his Brief History of Disc Golf on PDGA.com, Disc Golf Hall of Fame member Jim Palmeri #23 responds to that question as follows:

“Sorry, but this turns out to be impossible to answer. There are many historical accounts of people playing golf with a flying disc, some of which pre-date the advent of the plastic flying discs by many years. Each account was an isolated instance of recreational disc golf play, and none of the participants knew of anyone else playing disc golf. Indeed, most of these instances were isolated not only geographically, but also isolated in time, so they couldn't have known about each other.”

In 1965, George Sappenfield #376 worked as a recreation counselor during his summer break from Fresno State University. While playing golf one afternoon, he thought that perhaps the kids on his playground could play golf using Frisbees. The kids liked the idea. In 1966, George found out that his recreation class instructor, Kevin Donnelly, had also promoted Frisbee golf for children a few years earlier. Sappenfield and Donnelly became friends and shared their ideas about golfing with Frisbees.

When Sappenfield finished college in 1968 and became the Parks and Recreation supervisor for Thousand Oaks, California, he sought support from Wham-O for a Frisbee golf tournament that he planned to promote. Wham-O was impressed with George’s efforts, and offered him a part-time job as a promotions consultant. One of the first things he did was to convince "Steady" Ed Headrick that it would be a good idea to include a Frisbee golf event in the big All Comers Frisbee Meet that Wham-O was in the process of planning.

Sappenfield went on to work full time for Wham-O until the company was sold in 1985. The combination of Donnelly’s — and especially Sappenfield's — early promotion of Frisbee golf was an important factor that led to the emergence of disc golf as an organized sport in 1974.

Unfortunately, that was the last significant mention of Frisbee golf by Wham-O for over seven years. Goldy Norton was Wham-O’s west coast publicist. In 1972, he wrote the very first book on the emerging sport, “The Official Frisbee Handbook” in which he described the wide range of activities and events that could be played with a Frisbee. Surprisingly, there was only a very brief mention of the concept of Frisbee golf, and that was buried in a section titled “the obstacle course.” There was no further description of Frisbee golf anywhere else in the book. Apparently, for some reason, at that time, disc golf didn't fit into the promotional plans that Wham-O had for its Frisbee brand flying discs.

But, the game of disc golf did indeed exist. Despite having never heard of the International Frisbee Association (IFA) that Ed and Wham-O had put together, or ever seeing a copy of the IFA Newsletter, Jim Palmeri, his brother, and a small group of people from Rochester, NY, had been playing disc golf as a competitive sport on a regular basis since August of 1970, including tournaments and weekly league play. By 1973, they had even promoted two City of Rochester Disc Frisbee Championship events which featured disc golf as the main event.

In 1973, this avid group of disc golfers first happened upon a copy of the IFA newsletter. They were amazed to hear of the Frisbee culture that existed well beyond their little sphere of activity. They decided to make the 1974 City of Rochester Disc Golf Championship a national tournament to find out just how many other people around the country were playing disc golf. They called the event the American Flying Disc Open (AFDO), and to attract the attention of the Frisbee community, they put up a brand new 1974 Datsun B210 to be awarded to the winner.

The burgeoning interest in the game of disc golf that grew rapidly among Frisbee players and IFA members during the rest of 1974, and in the summer of 1975, grabbed “Steady” Ed’s attention. As an executive at Wham-O, he began to reassess the value that disc golf might hold for their business.

Ed created a new Sports Promotion Department at Wham-O and hired the winner of that 1974 AFDO, Dan “Stork” Roddick, to be its director. With feedback from Stork, George Sappenfield, and the fledgling but rapidly growing disc golf community in general, Ed decided to include disc golf as an event in Wham-O’s upcoming 1975 World Frisbee Championships.