3x World Champion Johnny Sias #1700 (1986 - Open, 2012 - Grandmasters, 2013 - Sr. Grandmasters). Photo courtesy of Innova Champion Discs. Story by Bill Griffith #7917.

Like it or not, if you are over 50, you are considered a senior. Just ask AARP, the National Senior Games, and now the PDGA. Just like when you were a 17/18 year old high school senior, being a senior was cool then and it’s cool now too!

When you were a senior, high school that is, you were about to enter into a new major phase of your life. You could decide to stay in your parents’ basement and drive that ’54 Nash Rambler you saved from the boneyard, or you could take charge of your life and take it in a new and exciting direction. That is where the 50+ disc golfing seniors are today. We are at that new crossroad.

As we crossed into the new millennium, there were just 339 PDGA members 50 years of age or older. A decade later In 2010, that number jumped to 1,085. In 2015, there were 4,142 50+ members with another 5,166 Masters-age players heading in that direction.

The PDGA created the Senior Committee in 2010, staffed by volunteers with no established budget. With the guidance and support of our disc golf elders, we have been moving forward at great speed. Most of what we have in the works are still in the idea phase, all with a passion for the sport and a desire to grow it for our age bracket. However, we have already accomplished some great things and passed a few milestones. They are as follows:

• Created the framework for the PDGA Senior Committee.
• Hosted disc golf demonstration events in the 2013 and again in 2015 at the National Senior Games (Olympics).
• Created the 50+ Disc Golf Club, a free disc golf PDGA Affiliate Club for all disc golfers 50 and older, PDGA members and non-members alike.
• Developed the rough draft for a PDGA Senior Tour.
• Developed a rough draft for a program we’re calling “Play 50”, a grassroots effort to introduce more seniors to the sport.

To continue to grow, we need to get disc golf into more State Senior Games, create more age restricted events for the Senior Tour, and take the Play 50 program out of the draft phase and into the real world. The easiest way that you can contribute if you are a 50+ year old disc golfer is to become a member of the 50+ Disc Golf Club. The more numbers we have, the more new members and potential sponsors we can reach.

As excited as we are to continue down this road, we are at a point where we need your help! A few people working at the top cannot make these next crucial steps happen by themselves. If you want to help, get out of your parents’ basement and get involved with one of the programs! We are always interested in new opinions and new ideas, so please contact us if and when you have them.

The 50+ Disc Golf Club

On April 15th, 2016, the 50+ Disc Golf Club was formed for all disc golfers 50 and over. It is a PDGA Affiliate Club that any 50+ disc golfer, PDGA member or not, is eligible to join free of charge.

The purpose of the club is to serve the interests of senior players by:

• Developing and promoting 50+ disc golf programs and events
• Promoting and expanding 50+ disc golf play
• Increasing the PDGA membership of 50+ disc golfers
• Developing partnerships to financially support 50+ disc golf programs
• Encouraging 50+ disc golfers to become more involved
• Giving a voice to 50+ disc golfers concerns and ideas

As a member of 50+ DGC, you will be eligible for all of the benefits afforded to any PDGA Affiliate Club member, including a five dollar discount on your annual PDGA membership dues, PDGA Store discounts, and other benefits as they are created.

Joining the 50+ DGC is as simple and easy as it is free. Contact us directly for more information.

There are 50+ DGC discussion boards on the PDGA Affiliate Club website and on The Disc Golf Scene as well. You can also contact the 50+DGC by emailing us and/or by following us on Facebook for updates.

Take the 50+ Disc Golf Club Online Survey

The 50+ DGC plans to develop more programs and benefits and needs your help to identify what 50+ disc golfers are most interested in seeing developed. We have created a short survey to get your input and ideas on Survey Monkey. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey.

Bill Griffith #7917; author of this article and Chairman of the Senior Committee.

PDGA Senior Tour

One of our core objectives is to promote more opportunities for 50+ players to compete in age-restricted competitions, much like the PGA has done with their Senior Tour. These competitions can include Masters-aged (40+) players as well, meaning these events helps promote the next wave of senior disc golfers. Age-restricted events help with leveling the playing field while at the same time providing quality competition opportunities.

Initially, we are looking for events for Masters divisions and beyond that are already being offered, e.g. the “No Kids Allowed” event in Dayton, Ohio that took place in late July of this year. We are also looking for individuals who would consider starting up an age-restricted event.

One PDGA Senior Tour goal is to eventually create a number of quality events that could eventually become qualifiers for a National Invitational Senior Championship. There is already the Tim Selinski US Masters Championship and now the new Professional Masters Disc Golf Championships starting in 2017, but that doesn’t mean that having another championship that rivals the significance and importance of a PDGA National Tour event for example, wouldn’t be worth the effort. It would be wonderful to have these Senior Tour qualifier events as well as a championship for the more competitive players that want to add something else to the A-Tier, B-Tier, and C-Tier events that they already compete in each year.

An established series of these age-restricted events should create momentum for more events, meaning more opportunities to push the program out to potential sponsors who are looking at marketing to our demographic. It is our belief that there needs to be a solid tour program in place to pique the interest of any serious suitors.

If you have an existing age-restricted, Masters and older event or would be interested in starting one, please contact the 50+ DGC and we will help in any way that we can.

Once we have a list of events, we can start publishing them in DiscGolfer Magazine to help give your events more exposure. Unfortunately, we (50+ DGC) don’t have the resources to fund events at this point as the sole entity, but we know that day is coming soon.

Play 50

One of the other core objectives of the PDGA Senior Committee is to develop a grassroots program to grow the sport among older players. Play 50 is a program that encourages seniors that have never have played disc golf to get out on the course and give it a try. And equally important, a program to get former disc golfers back on the courses that have quit playing since taking on senior status.

Play 50’s approach is two-fold. First, we will push for local disc golf clubs to create a new position, “Senior Club Representative”, to represent and encourage 50+ disc golfer programs and events. In smaller clubs or those with a younger demographic, they could include 40+ players as well.

The Senior Club Representative’s primary responsibility would be to represent the interests of 50+ disc golfers. Among things that could be done would be to create age-restricted events such as leagues, scrambles, clinics, and tournaments (PDGA-sanctioned or non-sanctioned alike). Many older, occasional disc golfers are intimidated by the younger players that can throw 400’-500’. With an even playing field, we believe that said golfers would be more likely to come out, and come out more often.

The second approach is to generate a database of “Senior Disc Golf Ambassadors”. Ambassadors would agree to meet new players or beginners for a round of disc golf to help them get started or to help improve their already existing game. Furthermore, these Ambassadors would not be restricted to working with only senior players.

With this database established, new players could quickly and easily look up a local ambassador in their area. This role would be entirely voluntary and an Ambassador would not be obligated to accept every request.

The Senior Disc Golf Ambassador program is not set up at this time, as it may be determined that it is more appropriate to coordinate the program through the local Senior Club Representative when there is one available. Stay tuned for more information, and feel free to drop us a line if you have an idea on how to help implement this program, or simply to improve upon it.

As disc golf continues to grow at an exponential pace, so does the number of senior disc golfers. We look forward to seeing your responses on the survey. Please pass the word along to other senior disc golfers in your area and online.