Disc Golf Advice

Winter Throwing

2010-12-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

Check out any of the many Disc Golf forums online and you'll find lots of players talking about playing in the cold and snow. When I was growing and throwing in the snow belt it was a certain thing that friends and I would play Disc Golf the first snowfall of the year.

It was always a lot of fun including time spent looking for discs in the snow, picking up pieces of broken discs that had shattered against trees and trying to find the best way to throw in the cold and snow.

Years of playing cold and snow Disc Golf has led me to two things that work for throwing in the cold. The first is to buy receiver gloves...the kinds that NFL players wear. You don't need to spend a fortune on these gloves...a cheaper pair will do just fine...unless you plan on playing everyday. If you want to go a bit different route, try putting latex gloves over cotton gloves. Both work well.

Understand one thing right away...neither will let you play as well as you do on a 70 degree spring or summer day but both will give you decent grip while allowing to keep hands a fingers a little warmer than if you were throwing without protection.

Mental Prep

2010-01-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

It's the off season for most of us...unless you live in the warmer southern climate or like playing in the cold and snow. I like to use the off season to mentally prepare myself for the upcoming season.

Taking time away from the sport is healthy. It can lead to burnout if you don't take a mental break from the game. I normally sit my discs in the storage shed mid November and don't take them out till mid to late January. This year my I stopped playing in September and have only played once since.

Now that the new year is here and plans are being made to host two tournaments and attend several others, I begin to get my mind mentally prepared. I do this by reading Disc Golf articles online and in old publications along with watching some disc golf videos. The videos are instructional videos. It helps me to hear from top players didn't things that have helped them improve their game.

I also spend sometime mentally walking through courses I play regularly. I work on seeing myself throw the perfect throw when needed and envision my game taking the next step.

The mental game is my biggest obstacle to playing. As I get older, I realize that I can't throw as far as I once could (I've been playing 30+ years) and that I can't walk longer courses four rounds in a weekend on a longer course. Reminding myself of those changes in my abilities help me focus my energy and allows me to focus on the course and tournaments that I'm better able to compete and enjoy.

Disc Golf on Wii

2010-01-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Wii has five different Disc Golf games now available. We'll talk about a couple of them

The first is Tiger Woods' 2010. It includes Disc Golf with Innova style baskets. The controls are a bit cumbersome but they get the job done. You're able to throw backhand, sidearm and overhead. I never did get the roller shot down. It is easier to hit a 70' putt than a 5' putt. The graphics are great.

The second is Wii Sports Resort's Frisbee Golf. The Sports Resort comes with 12 game options and each game has several different variations. The Frisbee game includes disc golf and golf.

The flight of the disc is better than any-other disc golf game on the Wii so far. The discs do everything but an 'S' curve. The biggest draw back seems to be the column of light you putt at instead of a basket. While the graphics are cartoonish...more so than Tiger Woods', the overall playing enjoyment is much more than Tiger Woods.

Their is also a Neighborhood Sports game that has a golf game where you throw Frisbees around a traditional neighborhood. You have to hit trees, mailboxes, garbage cans and other items in and around the neighborhood. Each time you play, the obstacles and the flow of the course will change based on where cars are parker and who is mowing their lawn or cooking out. A very fun 'old school' disc golf game.

Wintertime Disc Golf

2009-12-28T22:19:00.000-08:00

Playing in the winter...cold, snow and ice is always a fun time...even more so when you understand how to play winter rules. Winter rules make the difference between fun and losing or breaking many, many discs.

Rule #1: Don't throw white discs. White discs are hard to find in the snow.

Rule #2: Don't throw old school or DX plastic. Old school platic will break when hitting a tree at a high rate of speed. Don't run the risk of breaking that nice ROC.

Rule #3: Play for fun. No use is being too competitive in the winter months...specially if there is snow on the ground.

Rule #4: Learn to read the tracks in the snow. If your disc hits fresh snow at a high rate of speed...it can travel 20 feet or more under the snow. KNow where to look.

Rule #5: Follow the tracks of others that played before you. The less tracks through the course the easier it will be to locate or find your disc. This is a hard lesson for most to understand.

Rule #6: Play for fun.

Make Disc Golf Fun

2009-11-24T05:10:00.000-08:00

When hosting a Disc Golf league, random draw doubles or a tournament, make sure you do enough to allow the newer players to organized competition to walk away having had fun and enough for the seasoned players to have felt it was worth their time...even if they didn't cash.

Encouraging new players could include giving them a disc, t-shirt, mini or something for them playing in their first organized event. Paying out as much as possible or as deep as possible helps with the seasoned players.

Over the years, I've learned doing little things during tournaments make a difference. Having plenty of water on the course and have free fresh fruit (specially in the middle of summer) at the mid point of the course helps. Asking a local produce stand or hometown grocery store might be willing to give a good price on fruit and/or free bottles of water.

As tournament or league directors, we've taken on the responsibility of encouraging competitive play, building a grass roots organization in our community and making our sport more visible to those that haven't discovered the joys of Disc Golf yet.

Disc Golf Travel

2009-11-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

With the Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas holiday coming up, I'm reminded of the great trips I used to take years ago to play courses in other states. If you don't have any big plans and aren't tied to doing some family outing, consider a Disc Golf road trip over the holidays.

Years ago I used to take a few holidays over the years to travel to play Disc Golf. One Thanksgiving back in 1993 friends and I traveled to Indianapolis to play disc golf. We traveled one way 8 hours to play. We ended up playing several great courses in Indianapolis and two course in Peru, just north of Indianapolis. Another year we traveled to Kentucky and played several courses in and around Bowling Green and Louisville.

Those trips only last four or five days and both includes several courses. It's a great way to spend a long weekend with friends.

Choose Golf Discs Wisely

2009-11-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

When deciding which golf discs to buy, especially when you're a beginner, is one of the most important decisions you'll make regarding your new hobby. Really.

A lot of players will give advice that you just don't need. Because a particular player loves throwing a Buzz or Wraith doesn't mean you need to be throwing the same discs. As a beginner you should pick out discs that are easier for beginners to throw. As a beginner you should consider starting with nothing longer than a fairway driver. No big distance discs to start.

A nice fairway driver or a mid range disc. You won't throw as far of the tee no matter what disc you throw when a beginner. But you will throw straighter with a mid range than you will with a distance driver.

Post Disc Golf Tournament Results Right-A-Way

2009-11-16T07:46:00.000-08:00

If you're running a sectioned event one of your best bets to build long term commitments is to post results on the PDGA website as soon as possible. That means if you're running a two day event, get first day results up following day 1 action and get the final results up as soon as possible following the finals.

Lots of players, whether they're tournament players or not, check to see how their friends or others are doing in your tournament. It's frustrating when going to check results and not knowing. If you can become on of those tournaments that players can check online and see results right away you're positioning yourself above the competition.

I don't play many events. I do check the results of events my friends play in. I like to plug on my local club's website how our members are doing. Most of our members don't play many events outside of our local club events but they do follow how well club members do in events.

If possible, utilize Myspace, Facebook and Twitter to update tournament results. It's usually faster to see results posted at those sites or a tournament site.

Easy Sponsors

2009-11-13T06:29:00.000-08:00

Getting businesses to sponsor a Disc Golf tournament is a daunting task for most TDs. The main reason, in my opinion, is mostly to do with face to face cold call selling isn't easy for most. It's not even that easy for seasoned sales reps. I've been selling and doing cold calling for the last ten years and I speak from first hand experience.

What is a TD to do? Start with a business or businesses that are easier to sell. Restaurants. Restaurants are one of the easiest businesses to sell sponsorship. You can break the restaurants into three categories. Lunch time, player party time and awards time.

Get a list of all the fast food and quick and easy lunch spots that surround you tournament location. The places that players will go to between the morning and afternoon rounds of the tournament. Set up a meeting with a manager or owner of these restaurants. Tell them about the tournament and that you'll have up to 90 players at your event. If they're willing to sponsor the tournament for $25 or $50 (hole sponsorship) you'll include directions to their restaurant in the players info and at the players meeting you'll plug their restaurants. Most disc golf players are more than happy to visit businesses that help support their sport. A success rate of about 50 percent is what I've experienced when I've done this very thing.

If you're having a two-day event. Get a restaurant to agree to hosting a players-party. Ask for a $100 or more sponsorship for the players party. Work in some drink specials and food specials and include in the players pack directions and a start time for the party. Make sure you include some putting comps or mini tournament as part of the players party. When I've done this with for my two-day events, I've averaged about 70% of the players attend and I'm always surprised at how many out of town players bring spouses and children with them. A restaurant that was our players party sponsored recently for $100 ended up have a $2,000 night due to the players. Most if all wouldn't have been there that night if it wasn't for sponsoring the tournament. You can bet that restaurant will always support our tournaments in the future.

Awards. Find a restaurant that is close by the course, serves quickly and has an inexpensive menu. A lot of players travel a long way to play your event and they want to get on the road. You don't want them to go anywhere that has slow service or an expensive menu. When you get to the restaurant you want to make sure you're ready to go...some players will only be there to collect their winnings while others will stay and enjoy dinner.

The above approaches might not bring in tons of money for your event but it does add some creditability to your event and it also gets those businesses seeing the impact that Disc Golf can have on a community.

Tournaments are Tourism

2009-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Tournaments are considered tourism. Most players travel from out of town to play in your tournament. If you play tournaments, the likelihood is you travel to other towns to play events. When you travel to play, you’re considered a tourist.

So what does that mean? It means that your event may be eligible to receive grant monies to help run, advertise or bring people in for your event. A small grant can go a long way to making your tournament bigger that it currently is now.

Where to start?

I’d start by contacting your local government. Call the city and county administrative offices. They should know or be aware of any tourism grants available in your community. They might administrator the grants themselves. Either way, they’ll know.

Next get a copy of the grant application. Normally they range from one page to three pages. Require information on your organization, the event itself and how it will impact local tourism.

Some communities only award grant money once a year. Some do it biannually and others do it quarterly. It’s best to get your information you need lined up well ahead of time. In some cases, after you submit your application, you’ll get some follow up questions and might even be requested to answer questions in front of the group or committee that makes the final decision or recommendation.

The first time I was awarded a grant for a tournament, it can with strings attached. I was only allowed to use it for merchandise with logos of the tournament, advertising and trophies. They awarded me $2,000. That allowed for really nice trophies and a great players pack.

For more information on how local tourism grants work, leave a comment or question and I’ll make sure to get in contact with you or address your question in an upcoming post.