Lifetime Activities
Disc Golf
Miss Wagner
History
The early history of disc golf is closely tied to the history of the recreational flying disc (especially as
popularized by the trademarked Frisbee) and may have been invented in the early 1900s.The first known
instance of anyone playing golf with a flying disc occurred in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada in
1926. Ronald Gibson and a group of his Bladworth Elementary School buddies played a game throwing
tin plates at targets such as trees and fence posts. They called the game Tin Lid Golf and played on a
fairly regular basis on a disc golf course they laid out on their school grounds. But, after they grew older
and went their separate ways, the game came to an end. Modern disc golf started in the early 1960s,
when it seems to have been invented in many places and by many people independently. Students at
Rice University in Houston, Texas, for example, held tournaments with trees as targets as early as 1963,
and in the early 1960s players in Pendleton King Park in Augusta, Georgia would toss Frisbees in 50gallon barrel trash cans designated as targets.
The true pioneer of the sport of Frisbee Golf is Kevin Donnelly, who, until 2011, was unknown for his
accomplishment. Kevin began playing a form of Frisbee golf in 1959 called Street Frisbee Golf. In
1961, while a Recreation Leader and then Recreation Supervisor for the City of Newport Beach,
California, he formulated and then began organizing Frisbee golf tournaments at nine of the city's
playgrounds he supervised. This culminated in 1965 with a fully documented, Wham-O sponsored, citywide Frisbee Golf tournament. This highly publicized tournament included hula hoops as holes, with
published rules, hole lengths, pars, and penalties, Wham-O prizes and, an event in which Fred Morrison,
the Frisbee inventor, was in attendance. In 1967, two years after conducting the first-ever organized
Frisbee Golf Tournament, Kevin, then the Coordinator of the Parks and Recreation Section at Fresno
State College, California, organized and then taught the first ever college level Frisbee Golf activity
course, in which George Sappenfield was registered.
Two of the best-known figures in the sport are "Steady Ed" Headrick, who introduced the first formal
disc golf target with chains and a basket, and Dave Dunipace who invented the modern golf disc in
1983, and was one of the founders of Innova. In 1975, Headrick formed the first disc golf association,
the PDGA, which now officiates the standard rules of play for the sport. The sport has grown at a rate of
12-15 percent annually for more than the past decade, with nearly 3000 courses in the US and more than
4000 globally. The game is now played in more than 40 countries worldwide, primarily in North
America, Central and Western Europe, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.
Rules of Disc Golf
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One stroke is counted each time a disc is thrown and each time a penalty is incurred.
Typical par for an 18-hole course is 54. Par on each hole is 3.
The object of disc golf is to acquire the lowest score.
Your lie is the spot where your previous throw landed.
Your lie is marked by turning over the thrown disc.
You must throw from behind your lie.
A hole is completed when your disc comes to rest inside the basket or target.
Doubles play best shot – both partners throw a disc, but play from the throw closest to the target
Terminology
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Ace - known as a hole in one in ball golf. An ace occurs when a player makes their first shot, or drive,
into the basket.
Albatross (double-eagle) – three throws under par.
Birdie – Completing a hole one stroke under par.
Bogey – one throw more than par
Drive - any throw off of the tee pad, or a throw from the fairway designed for maximum distance.
Double bogey – two throws over par
Eagle (double-birdie) – two throws under par
Lie - the spot where the disc comes to rest. This is often marked by a mini-disc marker.
Par - like in ball golf, each disc golf hole has a posted par. The par is the desired number of strokes that
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a player would need to complete the hole. To the competitive disc golfer, every hole is a par three,
making the total par for 18 holes always 54. This serves to simplify the game.
Pole hole or basket – The target for catching the disc.
Tee Pad - The location or designated area in which the first throw of the golf hole is supposed to take
place from. Tee Pads are typically be made of concrete or rubber. A portion of a side walk or a utility
marker flag or spray painted box may also be used as a tee pad.
Throw - The act of advancing the disc towards the basket. This can be accomplished by many different
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throwing styles; Backhand, Forehand, Rollers. Each throw is counted towards the player’s score.\
Triple Bogey – three throws over par
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