As a college student I've always wondered if the PDGA has ever considered running a Collegiate Tour? What I mean is that you would have several colleges in different divisions compete to be the top disc golf college team in the country. Has it been brought up, and if not do you think its a good idea? If its a good idea, and happens in the future you can name it after me, LOL.

It's already underway with the Collegiate championship next April in Georgia. Contact Matt Gillis at the PDGA office for details: mgillis@pdga.com

It is also happening with the Michigan Intercollegiate Disc Golf series.

And North Cackalack.

http://www.wncdiscgolf.com/intercollegiate.htm

In Mississippi PRCC has a disc golf class and a schlorship.

Stephen F Austin state university in Nacogdoches,TX has disc golf as part of their "Greek Week".

My college, WKU, also runs a few tournaments but I'm talking about PDGA certified tournaments. This would be the disc golf equivalent to the NCAA.

JD, whats happenin...
WKU does sponsor a few tournaments every year, some nice ones I might add, as does Vanderbilt, Valporaiso, and the University of Illinois (where I reside). Just recently does it seem to be getting more attention, most recently with Dave McCormack adn Gateway really helping out back in October with an Intercollegiate Tournament at Centralia, IL. I believe this is could be a very valuable resource for our sport. We stay in contact with several schools but have heard nothing from the PDGA about a collegiate tournament in Georgia. And we are all members. Who needs to be contacted? Check out our website
www.frolfingillini.com (http://www.frolfingillini.com)
Peace
Chad

Yo Chad, what's going on? How'd you do at our last tourney? I wasnt able to finish out. So, if the PDGA doesnt have one then that means I call dibs so legally it gets named after me! YES!!!! :D

A major issue seems to be that in a university's eyes disc golf doesn't generate any revenue for the school. Students will attend different colleges b/c they get track, baseball, soccer, etc. scholarships. The colleges will then dump money into theses facilities and programs to keep turning a profit. There are enough colleges in Texas with courses on their campuses to have teams that could compete against one another.

The most effective way to introduce disc golf to the University setting is to approach the student activities department and not the athletics department. To be successful, it will require that students form a club and have it officially recognized by the University. Once this has been accomplished, a proposal from the official school club to the student activites department, requesting a course can be made. Keep in mind that the PDGA and the Disc Golf Foundation has a matching baskets program for schools and universities that can be used as an incentive in the proposal. Fraternities and sororities can be approached to sponsor a hole on the course. There are also many other creative ways to fund a course if funding is an issue with the school.

Epicenter Disc Golf Services has successfully used this method to get a course installed at East Georgia College through the matching baskets program. Patrick May, son of PDGA Board member Pete May, is currently in the process of forming a disc golf club at Georgia Southern University. Epicenter and Innova Discs, through a 2006 Pro Worlds donation, will be donating an 18-hole course to GSU once the club has been officially recognized and all of the hurdles have been crossed.

The key to success is that the request must come from students and be made to the student activities department.

Once we have a disc golf course on or near every campus and get lots of students playing, it will become feasible for the athletics department to get involved , but this will take time. Pete May and Matt Gillis are currently working on behalf of the PDGA to host the first College National Championships, which is tentatively planned for late April 2007 at the Hippodrome's new 27-hole blue course in North Augusta, South Carolina.

The ball is rolling!

how do i get in contact with matt gillis i e-mail him a couple of months ago with no reply :confused: :confused:

myself and another are working on a club team for the university of oklahoma. this things sounds cool but i would love to know the details!

When I talked with him the other day, he's busy getting a website together with Pete May for the college plans. In addition, he's also overseeing the tree and stump removal on the other two courses while the weather is good so he's hardly in the office.

These arent scholarship based competitions. The PDGA has the National Tour, and I believe they should sponsor a Collegiate Tour. Each school recieves so many points for their wins until an overall school winner is declared at the end of the year. It wont be every college against each other, but in divisions, like these state schools against those state schools.

The most effective way to introduce disc golf to the University setting is to approach the student activities department and not the athletics department. To be successful, it will require that students form a club and have it officially recognized by the University.



This is exactly how Dana Haake and I did it at NC State in '99. We asked one of the physical athletic teachers to be our advisor, and with that simple step, we became a club. We become the second largest club sport at the university in two weeks! We set up a basket and discs for people to try out in the brickyard (where the most students gather for lunch), and asked them to sign up with the club if they were interested. We had over 80 signatures that day, and our first meeting was attended by about 25-30 people. We set up a disc golf tournament between us and UNC (and crushed them BTW) in the first year. We both graduated the following year and left the club in active students hands. It fizzled for a year or two, but I think that they have picked it back up in recent years. The university gave us $250 for the first year to do with as we pleased, and promised more in the future if we proved to stand the test of time. I'm not sure what they are receiving now, but they are still a functioning club, so I am sure they are getting something.

College disc golf is a great idea, and I hope it flourishes...

Iowa Western Community College has a Midwest Collegiate Championship. IWCC is a few minutes from Omaha, Nebraska.

The IWCC disc golf web page (http://instructor.iwcc.cc.ia.us/mwulbecker/discgolf/webcovertcdgc.htm) has more information.

Since the tourney run by Matt and Pete would not be NCAA sanctioned, would it be open to students in graduate and doctoral programs?