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PDGA Awards

PDGA Awards

The PDGA Board of Directors and Staff have announced several annual award winners for the 2023 season.

PDGA annual awards are typically announced during the summer following a calendar year, after nomination and selection processes have concluded. The award winners represent not only excellence on and off the disc golf course, they also personify many of the qualities and values championed by the PDGA.

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2023 Volunteer of the Year: Maria Luisa Bartolome – Courtesy Photo

A Grand Slam, a season at the top of the leaderboard and breakout performances defined the 2023 PDGA Player and Rookie of the Year honors.

Kristin Tattar turned in one of the most dominant seasons in disc golf history in 2023, grabbing titles at all four PDGA Majors, including her second-straight PDGA World Championship. On the Elite Series, Tattar won five times on the Disc Golf Pro Tour and didn’t finish outside of sixth place. She added three more A-Tier wins, including the 2023 European Disc Golf Championship.

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Taking down PDGA Majors and rising through the ranks defined the 2022 PDGA Player and Rookie of the Year winners.

Going step-for-step through their storied careers together, Paul McBeth and Paige Pierce both ended 2022 with 17 PDGA Major titles* in their careers — McBeth winning his sixth PDGA World Championship and Pierce winning two majors this year, the inaugural PDGA Champions Cup and the European Open.

E.D.G.E. founding members Jay "Yeti" Reading and Des Reading with Rob McLeod (center) after receiving the award in October 2022 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The annual E.D.G.E./PDGA Educational Award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of disc golf education. The Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) determines candidates and awardees in partnership with the PDGA. The Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) is a nationally-recognized 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to reaching and teaching youth the great lifetime activity of disc golf, utilizing age appropriate equipment and a standards-based curriculum.

Paul Ulibarri is the 2021 Bob West Memorial Sportsmanship Award recipient.

The PDGA Board of Directors and Staff have announced several annual award winners for the 2021 season.

PDGA annual awards are typically announced during the summer following a calendar year, after nomination and selection processes have concluded. The award winners represent not only excellence on and off the disc golf course, they also personify many of the qualities and values championed by the PDGA.

Derek Sahr is the 2020 Bob West Memorial Award for Sportsmanship winner.

Derek Sahr has been a pillar of the Minnesota disc golf community for well over a decade.

His impact, both on and off course, has had a profound impact on those around him and with that, Sahr has been voted as the recipient of the 2020 Bob West Memorial Award for Sportsmanship.

The testimonials for Sahr just kept rolling in.

“Derek has shown amazing leadership and dedication in his Disc Golf career and the furthering of the love of this sport for others.”

Listed below are the different awards that are given out each year.

Click on any of the awards below, or simply scroll down the page.

Christine Jennings and Luke Humphries took home the 2019 PDGA Rookie of the Year crowns. Photos: Alyssa Van Lanen

Grind is a major word used these days in professional disc golf.

It means that players, in a stacked and growing talent pool of competitors, must put in the work, hit the road and excel.

The word exemplifies this past season for Luke Humphries and Christine Jennings, who were recently named the 2019 PDGA Rookies of the Year. Both topped a competitive field of players that promise to be household names soon, if they're not already.

PDGA Europe Players of the Year

PDGA Europe Player of the Year is an individual competition governed by PDGA Europe to recognize the overall best European player performance in disc golf in a calendar year.

2018 PDGA Rookies of the Year: Mason Ford (left) and Lauren Butler (right). Photos: Joni Floyd Smith, Alyssa Van Lanen

While many are content with competing as an amateur for their entire disc golf career, there are those with the desire to not only play as a professional but to thrive as one. That path can sometimes be a rocky one -- especially during the first year -- but there are always a handful of rookies that traverse the trail better than anyone else, with the most successful earning the title of PDGA Rookie of the Year.

From left: Ricky Wysocki, Paige Pierce, Sandi Hendel, and Grady Shue. Photos: Alyssa Van Lanen

Ron Russell. Des Reading. Paul McBeth. Catrina Allen.

Before they became some of disc golf’s greatest champions, they started as PDGA Rookies of the Year. Now, it’s time to add two more names to the list.

Left to right: Des Reading, Brian Graham, and John Bird.

Disc Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2016

PDGA Awards

2015 PDGA Points Awards

Division Player PDGA #
Open Paul Ulibarri 27171
Open Women Paige Pierce 29190
Masters Patrick Brown 25713
Masters Women Nina Kiminky 47923
Grandmasters

Introduction

The Professional Disc Golf Association, founded in 1976, held the first PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships in Los Angeles in 1982. The title of World Champion is still the most coveted in the sport today, with hundreds of the best male and female competitors on the planet attempting to add their name to the list of PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Champions each and every year.

Each year during the PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships a very special awards banquet is held. It's a ceremony filled with some of the most important and influential names and faces in the history of our beloved sport. The event is put on by the PDGA with the purpose of inducting the newest members to the Disc Golf Hall of Fame, as well as to give out the annual PDGA Awards.