A group of women from the women-only virtual putting league (along with some touring pros who were invited to join in on the photo) got together during the 2025 USWDGC to meet up and witness an in-person tie breaking putt-off

Ever have an idea that keeps gnawing at you? That's what happened to Tracy Heyd. She and her boyfriend were playing disc golf and talking about how they need to practice putting, which led to tossing around the idea of starting a putting league.

He likely long forgot, but she kept thinking about it. 

All summer, this idea of a putting league was in the back of Tracy's mind. She had heard about a local disc golfer who had a small virtual putting league for their friends during COVID, so she reached out to them to see how they ran it, to get more ideas, and flesh out her own plan. After talking with them, she really felt like this was something she could do. She kept asking herself questions like: How would this run? What are the rules? How would we score it? How could we keep it fair?

Very quickly, Tracy found the answers to all of those questions and what started as a random idea came to fruition.

Now, the Women-Only Virtual Putting League is ready to begin its fifth season and you're invited to join.

In 2021, Tracy Heyd had a vision that would, unbeknownst to her, bring hundreds of women around the world together.

Why Women-Only?

Tracy debated back and forth but she noticed that both herself and other women hadn't gone to the local putting league. Having always felt shy when playing around men, and hearing that other women felt the same, she wanted to create a space specifically for women. A space where women could feel comfortable and not judged.

"You don't have to worry about what you're wearing or who's watching. It's just women. Who cares if you just got home from work or rolled out of bed? It doesn't matter. I just felt like that was a safe space."

Why Virtual?

Starting in 2021, there was still some concern about getting together because of COVID. There were also concerns about finding a place that could host it, folks working different shifts, people having different days off work. Finding a time that worked for everyone who wanted to participate was a challenge. Virtual felt like the perfect solution because then the participants could just do it on their own schedule. 

A side-effect of having the virtual putting league is that people from anywhere could join in, which has made it a truly global group. Tracy is in New York but members span the United States and Canada; women are even putting as far as Asia and Europe.

Getting the League Started

In the fall of 2021, Tracy had all the details figured out and posted in several women's disc golf groups on Facebook, inviting folks to join. She created a private Facebook group for the league. For that first league (Winter 2022), 20 signed up.

The graphic from the first time Tracy posted about sign ups

To keep the safe space just that, Tracy's group is women-only. If a profile trying to join is obviously a man's profile, she'll message them to ask if they are the parent or guardian of a junior player. The group is where folks can keep up with sign ups and everything going on with the league, and just offer general support to one another.

We'll get into how scores and winners and all that fun stuff works in the "how the league works" section below.

Growth and Support

The league has mostly grown from word of mouth from the first session. Ladies who were part of the putting league would just be out playing on the course and would run into people they knew, and start talking about league. It really started to snowball. Women would keep signing up in the group and for the last few years, Tracy hasn't really publicized it or posted anywhere other than in the Facebook group itself.

A big key for Tracy is keeping things consistent and fair. For instance, Tracy doesn't take late sign-ups. It's the hardest thing for her, not bending the rules that she's set, even for the women who've putt since that first session. It's important to Tracy to be sure to keep things fair for everyone who is there.

A collage Tracy made of some of the participants putting in the snow

After the first session, Tracy added in a couple weeks that were a little different: forced straddle putting, and wild card. 

"And I hated that idea [forced straddle putting], but… I also loved it. We started doing that and I think it's the thing everyone loves to complain about like, "Oh my God, straddle week is this week. I hate it." But then those are the stories I think everyone is most proud of: when they circle back and they're like, "Hey, I was at such and such playing today and I nailed this 25 foot putt, straddled around a tree."

Quite a few ladies who never thought straddle putting could be their thing realized they were more accurate, more confident. 

Tracy describes the group as very supportive. When a woman is struggling and she gets really frustrated, they commiserate. The women are quick to give tips, things to think about. Tracy herself may chime in with stats, "Hey, I know you're feeling down about how you're doing, but let's look at where you started and see like how well you're actually doing."

"It's been a really welcoming and friendly community, which is one of the coolest things. Everyone is so positive and helpful to everyone else in the group."

A collage Tracy made of participants putting inside during the winter

Members of the group started making posts when they would travel for big tournaments like USWDGC and they would meet up. One of the coolest things that has happened in league so far, according to Tracy, was this past spring, there was a tie breaker needed in the top pool between two women. and so they decided amongst themselves to do a live in-person putt off, since the two participants would be there that week, plus some of the other participants. One of the participants was the camera operator, and then the two women were putting against each other, all the while rooting each other on. 

Coincidentally, the 2026 Amateur Worlds will be in Buffalo, where Tracy lives. Because of that, she's been tossing around the idea of hosting some get togethers for the putting ladies. 

The success stories are Tracy's favorite part about league. Women post in the group about the big putts they've made at tournaments, getting pars on holes they've never parred before, big straddle putts, etc. That's the best part for Tracy.

Tracy also finds watching the Juniors is a lot of fun. They have several junior world champions in the group (Hayden Harper, Genevieve Davis, MJ Gager). Hayden's dad shared with the group a montage of all the straddle putts Hayden was making during USWDGC, crediting the league for the extra practice.

What's Next for the Women's Only Virtual Putting League

The next fall session is going to start in October, so sign-ups are going on now. If you're interested in joining in, get in the Facebook group and sign up!

What Tracy is mostly looking forward to right now, though, is the winter 2026 session (which starts in January) because that'll be the fifth year for the league. She would love to have a lot of prizes and raffles for everyone. She wants prizes that people can win no matter what pool they are in, no matter how good they are, just to make it fun for everyone and make it a big celebration. There isn't a permanent sponsor for the league, and that's something she is really hoping for as the 5th year celebration gets closer.

A collage Tracy made of participants putting at home

Tracy's Advice

When asked what advice Tracy would give to someone who has an idea for something similar is to try to think out and plan out every possible scenario and come up with a solution before you even start. She acknowledges that this is hard because some things come up that you've never imagined possible (like she never thought there would be ties). Remember, she spent a whole summer thinking of all the possibilities and fleshing out how her league would work. One of the hardest parts is to not bend the rules for people and to treat everyone the same.

"I'm just really proud of the little community that we've built. And that's down to probably those first 20 women that signed up that first session who spread the word and got all their lady disc golf friends to join… and it's just gone from there. Everybody is supportive and encouraging, and that's really cool to see."

Want to Join In? 

Tracy is currently holding sign-ups for the upcoming fall league. You can join the group and get started in October. Going live can be scary, but Tracy said it's good practice for tournament pressure. 

A collage Tracy made of some of the participants putting

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How the League Works

For the first league session, there were just two pools. Later, a third pool was added because Tracy noticed more and more beginner players and juniors were joining. The pools then became: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Tracy runs three sessions per year. It's 100% payout from what the players pay in. The winter session, which is the first session in the calendar year, starts in January and runs eight weeks long. The fee for that session is $25, because it is a couple weeks longer (normally it's more like $15). Next is the spring session which is six weeks long. The fall session Tracy tries to time so that it starts at the beginning of October and ends before Thanksgiving so that participants don't have to worry about how it will conflict with the holidays.

Normally Tracy takes the summer off of putting league, but last year, she ran a couple of spontaneous double elimination putting leagues with two pools and a very small buy-in of $10. She did a bracket and everything.

Each session, there are two weeks of qualifications. For the qualification weeks, everyone does 10 putts each at 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet, and 30 feet. A score is tabulated from that and if you have a PDGA rating, that is taken in account as well. Other things considered are consistency at 10 and 15 foot putts, did they make all their putts at 20, most at 25. If the player is rated over 850, there's an assumption that they are at least at an intermediate level. If they've been in the league before and how they did is also a good guide. All of this is taken into account as Tracy assigns pools. She says it's not an exact science, but her method works well.

Playing the League

Once the actual putting league begins, there are different distances for the different pools. Beginners putt 10 times at 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet, and then back to 20 feet. The intermediate pool putts 10 times at 10 feet, 15 feet, 25 feet, 20 feet, and again at 25 feet. With the advanced pool, 10 feet is skipped altogether. The advanced pool starts at 15 feet, then 25 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet and then 30 feet.

Each putting distance has a different point value. 10 and 15 foot putts are worth one point, 20 foot putts are worth two points, 25 foot putts are worth three points, and 30 foot putts are worth four points. That's how the score is calculated each week, and then each week is added up to give you a final score at the end of the session.

After the first league session,, Tracy added in a couple weeks that were a little different: forced straddle putting, and wild card. Forced straddle putting is just that, the participants have to putt from a straddle position each time. With wild card week, every woman has 50 putts that she can spend in increments of five at any of the putting distances at league (even if your pool doesn't normally play from that distance). Wild card week is risk/reward and helps everyone figure out where their comfort zone is. 

Score Verification

Participants measure their distances out beforehand. Using a tape measure, the participant will measure and mark each distance with a mini, a disc, a rock, a stick, etc. (it just has to be clearly marked).

The participant then goes live and the first thing they do on the live video is show the measurements and the marks and then they just start putting. Tracy encourages everyone to practice beforehand because Facebook Live videos can be kind of quirky.

The basket, the tray, the cage of the basket, and plant foot should all be in frame; that's the submission. As a participant, you'll go live, show the measurements, do the putts, and then you shut it off. You'll watch your own video, count up how many putts you made at each of the distances, do the math, and add it up. Then, the partner assigned to you watches the video and verifies your score. Tracy used to do all the verification herself, watching each video each week, but it became too much for just one person to do, so that's when she started assigning partners.

Stats and Payout

Tracy does stats for each participant so that each participant can see how they progressed through the session. The participant can see what distances they should work on and it can build confidence at the distances they do well at too. This gives them the opportunity to also compare sessions to see their growth.

Each participant pays for registration through PayPal to Tracy and then she allocates it based on how many women are in each pool. If ten women are in C pool, and the registration fee is $15, all $150 goes back to that pool as payout. 

For the 2025 session, Tracy's putting league had so many participants that there was $1300 in payouts.