The Commons at Microsoft - Summer Frisbee Day

The Professional Disc Golf Association, in partnership with The Commons at Microsoft, invites you to join us as we celebrate Summer Frisbee Day – part of the Summer of One Program – on Tuesday, August 11.

Disc golf is the perfect solution for anyone feeling cabin fever while working from home this year: It's a healthy, inexpensive recreational activity that employees, alumni, and their families can enjoy together outdoors. We’d like to help you and your family get out to the course with this brief introduction to disc golf: what it’s all about, how to find a course near you, and what you’ll need to get started.

What is disc golf?

Disc golf is played much like golf except that, instead of a ball and clubs, players use a flying disc. The sport was formalized in the 1970s and shares with golf the object of completing each hole in the fewest strokes (or, in the case of disc golf, fewest throws). Learn more and read about the early history of disc golf.

A disc golf hole begins from a tee area and ends at a target, the most common of which is an elevated metal basket. As a player progresses down the fairway, he or she must make each consecutive throw from the spot where the previous throw landed. The trees, shrubs, and terrain changes located in and around the fairways provide challenging obstacles for the golfer. Finally, the "putt" lands in the basket and the hole is complete.

Disc golf shares the same joys and frustrations of golf, whether it's sinking a long putt or hitting a tree halfway down the fairway. Unlike golf, though, disc golf is usually free to play in public parks, and takes about half as long to complete a round.

It has been estimated that 8 to 12 million Americans have played disc golf and that over half a million play regularly. The majority of these players participate at the amateur and recreational level, although the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) oversees a professional tour that sustains a growing field of full-time players and an active membership base of more than 53,000 competitive disc golfers from 43 nations around the world.

What you'll need

The only thing you need to play disc golf is a disc. That’s it! You don’t even really need an established disc golf course – you can take your disc to practically any uncrowded open space and turn it into a disc golf course of your own. (More on finding a disc golf course below.)

Discs are inexpensive, ranging from about $10 to $25 depending on the quality of the plastic and other features like custom designs and stamps. They can be purchased from most brick and mortar sporting goods stores as well as a wide selection of online disc golf retailers.

• PDGA Store

Many disc manufacturers offer a starter pack, which usually consists of one each of the three primary types of disc golf discs: a putter, mid-range, and high-speed driver.

Types of disc golf discs

By the time they try disc golf for the first time, most people have already had at least some experience throwing a Frisbee. This is a great place to start when thinking about disc golf disc because a golf disc is, more or less, a modified Frisbee, just with a smaller diameter, shallower depth, and sharper edges designed to cut through the air more efficiently. When compared to a Frisbee, a golf disc travels faster and farther but may be more difficult to control. For this reason, beginning players are encouraged to start with putters, which are the most similar to traditional Frisbees, and then to move up from there to mid-ranges and, eventually, high-speed drivers.

Three types of disc golf discs (from top to bottom): Putter, Mid-Range, and High-Speed Driver

Putters:

These discs are the most similar to a traditional Frisbee in both shape and flight. They fly at lower speeds and are easier to control than mid-ranges or high-speed drivers and are used for both throwing and putting.

Mid-ranges:

These have a slightly sharper edge than putters and are used for controlled shots where more speed and distance are needed than can be achieved with a putter.

High-speed driver:

These are the fastest-flying, sharpest-edged discs in the disc golfer’s bag and require the most advanced technique to throw properly. Beginners are generally advised to avoid these discs until they have become proficient at throwing putters and mid-ranges.

How to play

There are innumerable ways to throw a disc golf disc – and, indeed, the creative possibilities presented with each shot are a big part of the sport’s charm. The most popular throwing technique in disc golf, however, is the backhand. This is the technique most people think of when they think of throwing a Frisbee and is the most natural way to impart the speed and spin required to make the disc fly. Other throwing styles include forehand, overhand, and even rolling shots that hit the ground soon after release and are intended to traverse most of their distance on the ground.

There are many excellent tutorials for beginning throwers on YouTube. Here are a few of our favorites

• Nate Sexton Beginner Tutorial
• Jeremy Koling Forehand Tutorial
• Paige Pierce / Ricky Wysocki Putting Clinic

Rules and etiquette

The PDGA Rules Committee publishes a comprehensive guide to rules of play, but beginning players need not concern themselves with the all of the official rules just yet. Following a few basics, though, will help keep your rounds fair and fun: throw each shot from just behind where the previous shot landed (when possible) and allow the person farthest away from the basket to throw next while keeping bystanders (especially children) well behind the line of play. If a disc gets lost, everyone in the group should help look for it.

Where to play

With more than 7,000 disc golf courses in the United States and over 10,000 worldwide – most of which are free to play – there is almost certainly a course near you.  The PDGA course directory can help you find a course that is right for you and your family. For beginning players, especially those playing with families and young children, we recommend filtering courses by length so that you can begin playing on a short course that is beginner-friendly. Easy courses will have an average hole length of 250 feet or less. When calculating the average hole length, make sure to check the number of holes on the course, as not all courses have 18 holes.

We’d also suggest downloading course maps when available and checking to make sure that the course has amenities like bathrooms, course signage, ADA accessibility, or anything else that you need to have an enjoyable time.

How to get more involved

If you try disc golf and love it (and we expect that you will!), we hope that you will get more involved with the sport by joining a local disc golf club (search "your town + disc golf" on Facebook), subscribing to disc golf media providers on YouTube such as Jomez Pro, and joining the PDGA to participate in one of the thousands of professional and amateur events held each year. Discovoer the benefits of PDGA membership!