5 Fun Facts About National Disc Golf Day
5 Fun Facts About National Disc Golf Day
How are you celebrating the best day of the year?
Get out and throw today. Photo: PDGA
We know what you’re thinking: “How is today National Disc Golf Day when every day is National Disc Golf Day in my heart?”
While we don’t disagree with the sentiment, we still want to recognize the significance of disc golf appearing on the National Day Calendar. For the third time since 2016, the first Saturday in August has been recognized to celebrate the sport we all cherish, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Throw Pink Co-founder Sara Nicholson and Minnesota PDGA State Coordinator Jason Wilder, the brains behind getting disc golf recognized nationwide. So before you go out to make plastic connect with metal, here are a few tidbits about National Disc Golf Day you can share on the putting green or use to make small talk as you saunter down the fairway today.
1) Nicholson and Wilder didn’t work together on National Disc Golf day…at first. They were working on it separately, though. Nicholson had crammed on the idea for months, interfacing with disc golf luminaries like Dan “Stork” Roddick (#003), Jim Palmeri (#023), and Tom Monroe (#033) to try and come up with a date. Wilder had tossed around the idea and ran it by PDGA Director of Operations Mike Downes, who connected Wilder with Nicholson. And the rest, as they say, is history.
2) The August date traces its East Coast roots back to 1974… New York’s Greater Rochester Disc Golf Club decided their annual city championship needed to be bigger so they could try to gauge just how many people nationwide were playing disc golf. From August 4-5, Palmeri and crew put on the American Flying Disc Open, where they gave away a new Datsun B210 to champion Roddick.
3) …and planted its West Coast roots in 1977. The AFDO isn’t the only marker of historical importance for National Disc Golf Day. On August 12, 1977, “Steady” Ed Headrick was granted the first patent (#4,039,189) for a chain-based disc catching device, paving the way for the baskets you’ll be putting on today.
4) It’s not the only National Day being celebrated. As much as we’d love to hog the calendar to ourselves, there are a handful of other occasions being commemorated today. So to anyone who serves the country and ensures our maritime safety (National Coast Guard Day), we salute you with our longest and loudest putts. And before we hit the course, we’ll be sure to fuel up with an empanada-like delicacy (National Jamaican Patty Day), which we could top with our favorite yellow condiment (National Mustard Day) if we were feeling frisky. Afterward, we’ll celebrate our chain smashing with dessert (National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day), and perhaps wash it down with an old-time fermented beverage (National Mead Day).
5) National Disc Golf Day belongs to no one. Because of that, it belongs to everyone. “Just like any other holiday, no one person or company owns or directs National Disc Golf Day,” Wilder said. “We all share it and we all celebrate it in our own way.”
We want to see how you’re celebrating the best day of the year. Use #nationaldiscgolfday on social media, and we’ll be picking two golfers from the lot to receive a PDGA membership. From all of us here at the organization, Happy National Disc Golf Day!
Comments
I love national disc golf day
I love national disc golf day. But I've come to a conundrum with it. It's only 1 day. I'd like to move to change it to national disc golf weekend as alot of players work and miss the day. Can we make it happen for next year?
Yours truly Justin Stephen Mead