KANSAS CITY, MO (May 10, 2023) – Visit Quad Cities was honored by Sports ETA as Event Partnership of the Year, population under 500,000 category, for the Professional Disc Golf Association’s Tim Selinske U.S. Masters Championship event. Visit Quad Cities was one of 10 awardees honored today among the 600 Sports ETA member organizations.
From fresh air, physical activity to the community aspect of the sport, disc golf provides a wide-ranging list of mental health benefits.
Some called it nature therapy, a chance to get outside in the fresh air away from the stresses of daily life. Others enjoyed setting attainable goals and working to achieve them, an outlet to channel energy. It’s been a way for some to socialize, to join a community with at least one thing in common: the joy of flight.
The simple joy of flight was one mental health benefit of disc golf.
If it's useful and commemorative, then that is what competitors want most in the player’s packs at tournaments that they are attending.
We asked a simple question: Besides discs and shirts, what are your favorite player pack items?
Towels led the charge in the responses on the PDGA's Facebook and Twitter.
While custom-stamped discs and shirts are standards in most packs, players said that useful items, such as towels, water bottles, minis, umbrellas and socks, were among their favorites to receive.
Here’s an interesting idea that serves a few purposes:
The PDGA Senior Committee is looking to expand compeition opportunities. Photo: PDGA
The PDGA Senior Committee was created to promote disc golf among Masters (40-plus) and older players, a demographic that has reached the golden moment where we can shoot our own age.
Through surveys, the Senior Committee has found that the top issue among most members is finding opportunities to compete within their own peer group.
This year, a number of players who have picked up the sport of disc golf for the first time are venturing out to tournaments to give the competitive side of the game a try for the first time.
Last week, we asked a question on the PDGA's social media channels a question: If you could go back and give yourself some advice before your first tournament round, what would it be?
A few weeks ago, we asked a simple question on the PDGA's social media channels: What was the moment where you knew that disc golf was the one for you?
The responses were too good not to share.
I was recovering from a shoulder surgery. I had to get out of the house. So I went down to the local park with a great course, got the free to use driver and putter. Luckily my good shoulder is my throwing arm. After I finished the course I walked across the street to the second hand store that sold disc and bought my first two disc. I then called my buddy up and said we have a new game to play. Never looked back. Love! – Scott N.
Glow golf gives you the opportunity to get in a much-needed midweek round. Photo: PDGA
Let's take a moment to think of all the new players that have taken up disc golf this year that are currently experiencing their first time change.
We all remember when we first started, disc golf was all we wanted to do. But then, all of a sudden and with little warning, the days started getting shorter and then bam, the time changed (for most of us) and the sun was gone by 5:30 p.m.
There's one way to cure that desire to get a midweek round in: Glow golf.
Over 500 players spread across over 15 events and a continent will set out Saturday to compete amongst themselves and see how they match up with their fellow competitors.
Those two components — community and competition — highlight the 2020 Aussie Disc Golf Day, a PDGA virtual tournament, meaning that results from across the country will be ranked according to the average PDGA round rating from each player's rounds that day.
The winners will receive a prize and, on top of a day of disc golf within the entire Australian disc community, a few bragging rights.
Those discs have a way of finding the craziest places to land out on the course.
There's a hole in a tree or a gap in a rock? Yep, the disc can find it.
And the tacos. Oh, the tacos.
We recently asked followers over on PDGA Twitter to share the craziest lies they've seen on the course and their responses were both awesome and downright puzzling.
Rebecca Cox lines up a putt during the 2019 Jonesboro Open, which treated players to unexpected snow. Photo: Alyssa Van Lanen / DGPT
Winter is coming and, for some parts of the country, has already arrived.
But that can't stop the disc golf, right?
As we head into the colder months, we asked our Facebook followers a simple question this past week: What is your advice for playing in the cold and wintry months?
The responses and tips were fantastic.
(Yes, Florida people, we understand that the weather is perfect there.)
So when you feel the itch to play but the weather is snowy, icy and cold, check out these tips to help stay warm on the course:
The Professional Disc Golf Association is pleased to announce the winning applicants for the June 2012 round of innovation grants.
Steve Mentrek: Disc Golf Clinics for Special Olympics Athletes - This project is geared towards introducing local Special Olympic athletes to the sport of disc golf. Through the use of local volunteers, we can create an inclusive opportunity for individuals with disabilities to see more of what their community has to offer.
The 2012 World Championships will put the spotlight on established, world-class courses like Hornet’s Nest and Renaissance, and give players the chance to experience newer courses such as Nevin, R.L. Smith and Bradford, which are bristling with challenges.
All 14 courses used are in our home county and within 30 minutes of The Blake, the host hotel located in uptown Charlotte. Most Pro divisions will play three courses twice in preliminary rounds, with most Amateur players playing five different courses.
Kicking off with The Memorial Championship in Arizona, the 2012 PDGA National Tour Elite Series presented by Vibram Disc Golf looks to raise the bar for our marquis events.
Appling, Georgia--The Professional Disc Golf Association, along with presenting sponsor Vibram Disc Golf, is pleased to announce its 2012 PDGA National Tour Elite Series schedule and the Drive for the Championship. Celebrating its tenth season, the PDGA National Tour looks to present the players, PDGA members, and the rest of the country with the highest caliber events our sport has to offer. The 2012 schedule features six events starting with The Memorial Championship at the end of February and culminates in mid-August at the Vibram Open.
Congratulations to Evan McKee, PDGA #28702, for winning the Motel 6 contest!
Tournament Director Evan McKee was one of 54 event entrants who will be taking home the prize of 2 complimentary nights at a Motel 6 and a $100 American Express gift card. McKee was able to attain 10 room reservations at Motel 6 from competitors at his August event, Hell on the Border, in Fort Smith, AK. Congratulations to you, Evan!
All tournament directors are encouraged to enter. It’s simple:
The 2010 PDGA National Tour turns toward the homestretch this week in Leicester, Massachusetts, where the best disc golfers in the world will assemble for the Vibram Open at Maple Hill.
With seven NT events and the 2010 PDGA World Championships now in the books, players are running out of opportunities to move up the Woodchuck Cider Drive for the Championship points standings. The standings for the top 25 women and top 100 men are available at www.pdga.com/national-tour.
As July moves through the calendar quickly, the Woodchuck Cider Drive for the Championship is gaining in intrigue. Our top players have been jockeying for position on the PDGA National Tour through the first seven events, but the next stop on “the Drive” is the World Championships, where players in the hunt will not have the option to swap out a better showing.
Coming from nearby Hinckley, Ohio, Valarie Jenkins has some early memories of the Brent Hambrick Memorial, but not necessarily from the course.
“Living in Ohio, these are the tournaments my parents would go to all the time,” Jenkins remembered. “And I would just sit in the car reading magazines. I didn’t even care.”
Valarie Jenkins used finesse in the woods and power on the open holes to capture her first Brent Hambrick Memorial Open Title
Nate Doss and Valarie Jenkins Take Leads into Final Day at Brent Hambrick Memorial in Columbus, Ohio, as players find two extremely different experiences on the two courses at the Hoover Dam disc golf complex.
Renowned sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella has written one of the seminal treatise on the sport that forces us to resign ourselves to the fact that Golf is Not a Game of Perfect.
And while the women’s lead group would surely admit that their first round efforts were far from perfect, all but Valarie Jenkins must have been begging to the disc golf gods, “Can you at least throw me a bone here?” during their second rounds at the Brent Hambrick Memorial National Tour event in Columbus, Ohio.
Carr Captures Crown at Beaver State Fling; Paige Pierce Finds Favor at Milo McIver to Finish Second
When Liz Carr came off the 16th green at the Milo McIver East Course during Sunday's final round at the 2010 Beaver State Fling, she was not going to let the six she just carded deter her from giving it her all during the last two holes. She was still pursuing Des Reading, who had a one throw advantage, as well as trying to hold off the over-achieving teenager from Texas, Paige Pierce, whose 911 rating belies her true disc golf talent.
Dietrich Outlasts Locastro, Wins Beaver State Fling
When Christian Dietrich was asked what the difference was on this Sunday afternoon in Estacada, Oregon that lead to his win at the 2010 Beaver State Fling, he sagely offered that he came into the Finals with the lead.
