After seeing the thread and discussion about the player of the decade and reading the FABULOUS decade in review article in DiscGolfer, I thought about what was the story of the decade.

So, what are your thoughts?

IMHO, here are the 10 biggest.

1. The USDGC starts and is now the biggest and most popular event in disc golf.
2. Cam Todd, virtually an unknown outside the tour, comes from no where to win the 2001 World Championship
3. After a heat stroke at 2002 am world championships, Steady Ed passes away.
4. Christian Sandstrom throws a Valkyrie 250 Meters and sets the Distance world record. To this day, it is possibly the most famous record in our sport.
5. Barry Schultz and Ken Climo have an epic 10 hole playoff for the US Championship. Both players birdied the first 9 holes of the playoff and Ken's par on the 10th still wasn't good enough.
6. Iowa features the greatest worlds ever with 911 players. This worlds features Barry Schultz becoming only the 3rd player ever to win multiple open world titles, an 18 year old kid named Justin Jernigan winning Am by a record (And still record) 19 shots and a 9 year old named Dave Wiggins, Jr. wins under 10 by 99 strokes.
7. Nate Doss wins 2 world titles becoming the 4th player to accomplish this feat.
8. The IDGC is created and the PDGA moves to Georgia under new ED, Brian Graham.
9. Brian Skinner shoots a 41 at The Darkside in Spotslyvania, VA in the third round of the Virginia Open. The round, rated 1117, is still the highest rated round ever (now tied - exactly at 1117) and was the first ever 1100 rated round. Since then, there have only been 6 more (to my knowledge).
10. The Vibram Open is featured on an article on ESPN.com. The article has photos, interviews and estimates that 1 million people have played disc golf.

So what out of this list, do you pick? What do you think I should have included? What do you think I should have left out?

My pick is the start of the USDGC. This is hands down our premier event in the sport and is about the only event where a player can earn a 5 digit paycheck.

My favorite was AM Worlds in 2002 when the <16 top four was Myles Harding, Gregg Barsby, Matt Orum, and the 12 year old Garrett Gurthie.

The top three in the Kid's division would have all taken top 10 in ADV with Myles' rounds being good enough to have won MA1.

anthon shooting -15 at USDGC?
Feldberg wins 2008 worlds by 14 strokes?

Posted by Matt Hall (the Kid)
"My favorite was AM Worlds in 2002 when the <16 top four was Myles Harding, Gregg Barsby, Matt Orum, and the 12 year old Garrett Gurthie.

The top three in the Kid's division would have all taken top 10 in ADV with Myles' rounds being good enough to have won MA1."


Indeed a great group, BUT the juniors only played the courses at Amelia the same and at Kendall played different pads.

At Amelia those guys DID have lower scores than the top ADV players while playing the same courses.

I think the stories are different depending on the focus. For example, I agree with MTL that the USDGC is the biggest story for the world of competitive disc golf. Everyone aspires to eventually compete there including up and coming ams. I think the IDGC is the biggest story for the PDGA overall.

I believe the biggest story of the decade for our sport overall is the impact of the Internet aiding the growth and commercialization of our sport by fostering DG organization websites, Discussion Boards, online disc and merch sales, online results/scores/ratings/course directories, and all kinds of educational, event and oddball creative DG videos online. This growth and commercialization, accelerated by the Internet, has now triggered more DG product manufacturers, better and more pay-for play courses and now live internet coverage for events.

1999 was the inaugural year of the USDGC.

While that's true, the initial course was not the monster roped layout that came into play in the 2000s. I just noticed that more historical PDGA event info is now getting online. The total USDGC purse in 2000 was about $20,000 and jumped to around $55,000 in 2001. Perhaps a better title for the top story would be the ascendancy of the USDGC in this decade.

How about the multi-hole playoff for the MPO title at the 2009 PDGA WDGC?

At the same time as ball golf severely shrank, disc golf exploded to where one in four rounds of golf played this year will be a round of disc golf. That's what I think the story is.

At the same time as ball golf severely shrank, disc golf exploded to where one in four rounds of golf played this year will be a round of disc golf. That's what I think the story is.

Agreed. Check out this video, and watch how the bar on the left accelerates as we hit the 2000's. Growth of the sport is the story.
http://www.pdga.com/course-development

How about the multi-hole playoff for the MPO title at the 2009 PDGA WDGC?

Biased, and we had more people than Iowa...other than the rain the opening day weather was almost perfect for the worlds here last year....but that sudden death playoff was awesome....Avery held tight, and if it werent for a little bit off, Josh put up one of the toughest battles to date. Rates up there with Barry and Kenny at the USDGC for sure....After a week of the battles of the worlds to have it go to sudden death, and then over and over again was a blast.

I think that Chuck has some good points, but that same information is helping other sports grow as well. It is a part of evolution not only in our sport, but our society as well.

With Cam, he came on strong, vanished, then showed up again last year, lets see where that goes.....

I also feel as though the International partners of our sport have increased drastically over the last decade. I think that Team Sweden should be known for sticking together more so than any other group (Japan may be excluded, close tie), it seemed to me that all the Swedes were pulling and rooting for each other in all divisions last year more so than any other contingent. Our sport has grown greatly outside of our island, for that we will all win!

I believe the biggest story of the decade for our sport overall is the impact of the Internet aiding the growth and commercialization of our sport by fostering DG organization websites, Discussion Boards, online disc and merch sales, online results/scores/ratings/course directories, and all kinds of educational, event and oddball creative DG videos online. This growth and commercialization, accelerated by the Internet, has now triggered more DG product manufacturers, better and more pay-for play courses and now live internet coverage for events.

Chuck

Interesting you point out the internet and the growth of the sport -
course reviews, DG stores, regional organizations with their own
discussion boards, videos and online registration, all good things.
It is a shame the pDGA discussion bored has shriveled into a site
void of thought outside the company line.
Few are complaining, they have found other sites to voice their ideas.

So the "love it or leave" attitude that LaGrassa sings
is effective.
Big story, little coverage

steve timm

If your top 10 is going to include some AMs winnig a title or 2 by many shots I think it must include Peter Shive winning 8 World Titles in Grand Masters and Senior Grand Masters.

It is a shame the pDGA discussion bored has shriveled into a site void of thought outside the company line.


Glad to read that you have finally come over to the dark side, since if the site is void of thought outside the co. line, that must include you as well, NOLA man.:D

At the same time as ball golf severely shrank, disc golf exploded to where one in four rounds of golf played this year will be a round of disc golf. That's what I think the story is.

terry, where did you get this number? not doubting it- just curious. thanks.

At the same time as ball golf severely shrank, disc golf exploded to where one in four rounds of golf played this year will be a round of disc golf. That's what I think the story is.

Point of fact: golf did not shrink, it barely grew, but the number of courses grew by a lot more (there are more golf courses than there are McDonald's), so each golf course is having more trouble. See the last Parks and Recreation magazine.

good thread. i hope droopy dog and doctor hatesmith have their ears on. this is real talk by people who live the sport because they love it. my favorite would either be the socialism of disc golf or the wraith.

terry, where did you get this number? not doubting it- just curious. thanks.

I got it from some reports by the National Golf Foundation. Can't take the time to find the precise publication right now, sorry. Access to most of them them is by subscription only, but if you Google around it you can get some substance from its pages. It's very hard to find anything with hard numbers, often the best you can find is percentages increased or decreased per year.

One news item in it that I read had the number of "rounds of golf played" shrinking from over 600,000,000 from 1999 to under 480,000,000 in 2006 or 2007. My estimates, done in two ways, are close to 100,000,000 rounds of disc golf last year, not counting countless totally recreational and newbie rounds.

This report - http://www.waggleroom.com/2009/2/9/754131/us-golf-rounds-drop-most-i - talks a bit about "losing" 4,000,000 golfers in the early part of the decade. It also notes: "The article correctly cites our data showing that the number of Core golfers (those playing eight or more rounds per year) has fallen from 17.7 million in 2000 to 15 million in 2006."

If you register as a guest at the NGF you can download some reports here: http://www.ngf.org/cgi/researchreports.asp

I don't have time to dig right now, day job is BUSY!

terry, where did you get this number? not doubting it- just curious. thanks.

D'oh, now I see your real question, John.

I did this two ways and, of course, it's rough:

(a) 3,000 disc golf courses and 17,000 golf courses, roughly 5-6:1, extrapolate in more rounds per disc golf course as they can handle more players a day; and

(b) A did a survey of the (at the time) 6,500 DGRUS members about how many rounds they played a year, then using some proprietary numbers from a large online retailer about how many customers are PDGA members versus not (3 percent were), extrapolated the DGRUS average out to a core disc golfer cadre that is roughly 33x the size of PDGA membership.

I know, I know, it's rough, but I don't know of anything better . . . yet.

that's some fuzzy math with a sample bias. dgrus members are likely a lot more active than your average disc golfer. simply because disc golf courses can handle more rounds per day doesn't mean they do. in my experience, ball golf courses are always a lot more busy than disc golf courses (even in winter). if that wasn't the case, pay for play disc golf courses would be popping up left and right. i'd bet it's more 1 in 10 and that even seems like a stretch. if we make it worldwide the number shrinks considerably.

then there's the whole money thing. it's probably more accurate to say that for everyone $1 spent in disc golf $3,000 (conservatively) is spent in golf. or you could say for every 100 people willing to spend $3,000 annually in country club dues, there is a municipality unwilling to spend $3,000 to install or maintain a disc golf course.

it is nice to imagine though.

I like the Cam Todd story.

The internet has been huge for everything
including disc golf.

Terry, I play disc golf twice a week and I play ball
golf about once a week in the summertime.

Point of fact: golf did not shrink, it barely grew, but the number of courses grew by a lot more (there are more golf courses than there are McDonald's), so each golf course is having more trouble. See the last Parks and Recreation magazine.


Something I've noticed recently is noticable growth in the number of used golf cart lots. No doubt that golf courses are getting rid of their unused carts in an attempt to stay afloat.

that's some fuzzy math with a sample bias. dgrus members are likely a lot more active than your average disc golfer. simply because disc golf courses can handle more rounds per day doesn't mean they do. in my experience, ball golf courses are always a lot more busy than disc golf courses (even in winter). if that wasn't the case, pay for play disc golf courses would be popping up left and right. i'd bet it's more 1 in 10 and that even seems like a stretch. if we make it worldwide the number shrinks considerably.

then there's the whole money thing. it's probably more accurate to say that for everyone $1 spent in disc golf $3,000 (conservatively) is spent in golf. or you could say for every 100 people willing to spend $3,000 annually in country club dues, there is a municipality unwilling to spend $3,000 to install or maintain a disc golf course.

it is nice to imagine though.

Of course it is fuzzy math; and, with regard to marketing and promotion, it's "fluff." However, while I agree that DGRUS members are probably more intense about disc golf, on average, than most disc golfers. They're certainly not as avid as PDGA members. And the extrapolation to the larger group was based on being addicted enough to buy disc golf stuff at an online store :)

And, wow, I don't know where you are from, but some of the disc golf courses around here are FAR busier than ball golf courses. (Bet you never see a 12-some on a ball golf course!) Not to mention that the ball golf courses only get used in "good" weather. (See sammyshaheen's post, above.)

It's an impressive number to throw around, which I find useful, and until there is a better estimate, I'm sticking with it! :)

Something I've noticed recently is noticable growth in the number of used golf cart lots. No doubt that golf courses are getting rid of their unused carts in an attempt to stay afloat.
Fortunately, there are more and more baby boomers ready to get their cart for zipping around Sun City...

Another contender for story of the decade would have to be the creation of the Educational Disc Golf Experience (http://www.edgediscgolf.org).

EDGE was developed by a group of World Champion disc golfers and subject matter experts to give educators and youth organization leaders the tools for teaching a fun, easy-to-learn lifetime sport to young people.

Although these efforts may not be fully realized in the competitive realm until this next decade and beyond the immediate impact is HUGE.

EDGE is getting our youth outdoors again and helping lead the charge in fighting our nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity. It is also giving families a great form of inexpensive family recreation.

You can join the seventy tournaments this year that are impacting their own local areas by getting your events partnered with the EDGE Tournament Charity Program. Details can be found here (http://www.edgediscgolf.org/files/EDGE_Tournament_Charity_Info.pdf).

EDGE did make it into the article, just not MTLs top 10 list.