Grant Zellner PDGA:
Jeff Hungerford is PDGA number six eight eight. Jeff is also a previous board of directors member, a former secretary on the board of directors has worked as a liaison to the senior committee and the medical committees. And Jeff Hungerford is now running for reelection in the twenty twenty three PDGA board of director elections. Jeff, thanks for joining me today. How are you? What's going on in your neck of the woods?

geoff hungerford:
I'm doing well, Grant. Thanks for having me. Well, I've been playing a little disc golf, which is good. I'm not traveling as much because I hate to travel. And I'm working on my project, which you can see behind me, motion simulation, virtual reality, and AI, which is what I do in retirement. It's a self-funded development. And of course, disc golf is my main meal, but I have to have something to keep me busy when I'm home alone.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
And for those that don't know you very well, where are you coming to us from today? And tell us a little bit about what you do there in your local disc golf community.

geoff hungerford:
Well, I live in Louisville, Colorado, which is essentially Boulder, Colorado. And I first moved here in 1973. Uh, in 19, in the summer of 1974, my seventh grade teacher, Jim Palmieri wanted to put on a large Frisbee golf tournament. No one had ever heard of it. And so that summer of 1974 is when I really got enthusiastic and I competed in that rather large event. It was for a brand new car. And I headed back to Boulder as a sophomore in college. And I laid out a Frisbee golf course on the college campus and got a group going called the Chinook Frisbee group. And we, uh, hosted, uh, disc golf events in the Boulder area for quite a few years. Um, until I, um, uh, went on to another chapter of my life. I wound up in England and then, uh, I did much of the same things in England. Although there wasn't a lot going on in the early eighties. Um, when I returned here, uh, in 1988, I started up with disc golf in America again and started up an organization called the Colorado disc sports association, which was a five Oh one C four nonprofit. And that got a lot of traction before the internet because our emphasis there was on communication with disc golfers and tournament directors in Colorado. And we held a tournament competition series. And then eventually I had to let that go in the late 90s because I was a single dad and really focused on that for about 10 years. And then reappeared again in 2007 as a player and with a lot of passion. And again, got involved with the local disc golf community, served on the Mile High Disc Golf Club. I've served... on the board of directors for the national amateur disc golf tour. I had to resign that position to accept a offer as a director for the PDGA. I've also worked with the Paul McBeth Foundation, set up a course in Guatemala and then also in Columbia. And so you'll figure this out as we go along. I have a tremendous passion for international growth of the sport. and I still do and that's one of the reasons that I'm running for election is... 

geoff hungerford:
one of the reasons I'm running for re-election is I do have a passion for the international growth of the sport and to see the PDGA expand its horizons to include pretty much the entire world. And you'll notice that's one of these strategic objectives that we have, we have a five-year plan. And I support every one of those objectives and I was one of the people that helped to find what they are. So that takes you from the beginning until now.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
That's a perfect summary. And I think it's a great diving off point into some specifics about your candidacy for this upcoming election. We'll just dive into that membership question, since membership is obviously a core focus of the PDGA, and there are several facets to it. To sum up, we're trying to, of course, increase membership all the time. We want more and more people into the disc golf community. We also want to retain. members, once they join, we want them to stay, we want them to stay active. And then those members can come from lots of different places, including globally and including different underserved demographics or just youth in general, right? We need the next generation to start playing. That's a whole lot to cover here, but can you talk to us a little bit about how you intend personally to contribute to this objective, your ideas, your focal points, should you be re-elected to the board?

geoff hungerford:
Well, what you mentioned as far as increasing membership is a desirable thing. It is actually not on our list of seven strategic priorities. However, it's tremendously important. We don't really even have to list it there. And my vision is that the PDGA offers value to our members. And as time goes on, we offer more value. And that's what attracts members. We're a professional organization. Just like if you were an electrical engineer, you would join the IEEE, or if you're a professional golfer, you would join the PGA. So we regulate the sport, we offer our members certain advantages as far as communication and establishing standards, not only for competitions, but for the equipment that we use, the discs and baskets. If you join the PDGA, typically you're interested in competing in PDGA sanctioned events. And so those are really the bread and butter of the PDGA. And improving those events and improving our competition experience is what I think will attract more members.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
You mentioned international growth and that being a passion of yours. What are your priorities there? What do you want to see done in the near future as a board member?

geoff hungerford:
Well, I have two or three priorities when it comes to international growth. Oh, the top one is establishing disc golf courses in underserved areas. And that really is the first domino when it comes to disc golf. You have a disc golf course and then the tracks players. Now you might have a lot of players and they're interested in disc golf, but if you don't have a disc golf course, it's not much you can do. Right. So. So that's the number one priority. When I've traveled quite a bit around the world, I've lived outside of the United States, and you'll find right away that there's a lot of pressure on land. And so it's a little easier in America. We do have a lot of land, especially in Colorado.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
Yeah.

geoff hungerford:
In Europe, if you look at a piece of land and you want to put a disc golf course there, it's been owned by somebody for 1,000 years. So it's more difficult. So anyway, courses. players on the courses and then the third priority would be PDGA sanctioned competitions. And those are the big three when it comes to international growth.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
How can we both domestically in the US where the PDGA is headquartered and globally, which the PDGA has authority, how can we increase the number of events and the quality of those events around the world?

geoff hungerford:
Well, I believe it's happening on its own, but one of the things that keeps coming up is that the economics in the United States is very different than the economics in let's say Columbia or Thailand. People don't have as much expendable income. And so there are barriers that have come up. I'll mention a specific one. When I was in Columbia a couple of years ago, I talked to the guys who made, who had made the original disc golf baskets and they planned on making 18 more for a course that was going in in Medellin and they wanted to get them PDJ approved and our current rules are that they have to ship that basket to the United States, pay for the shipping and the duty and then sacrifice that basket because Jeff Hamburg is going to keep it. He has a place for those baskets. And they said that that barrier was. was far too expensive and it was really significant. So I would like to see that, that's one of my personal interests. I would like to see our basket approval process for Southeast Asia, Colombia, Africa, perhaps not involve that expense because, for us shipping a basket, what's that? Six, 800 bucks, I don't know what it would be, maybe a thousand bucks to ship over the ocean. To them, that's a lot of money. That's the... That's a show stopper. So there are considerations like that where we don't really think too much about paying 50 bucks for an annual membership, but that number is really large if you live in Southeast Asia. So these are some of the kind of considerations I think that we need to work through to really expand globally.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
Good point, very good points. You mentioned a little bit ago, multiple priorities, some of which, if not all of which, you helped to actually set. I think you said there were seven. I assume maybe we've touched on a few of them, but are there any that we haven't touched on that you feel like are worth mentioning as they are obviously priorities for you personally?

geoff hungerford:
Yeah, I'm going to read them off. These are from the summit from one year ago. At the top of the list was to increase the number of competitive opportunities for members. Second on the list is further develop youth and education programs. And then we go on with education and training of term and directors and members. Enhance affiliate club programs, which most people know about. Increase participation in underserved demographics, which we've talked about. enhance our majors and world championships. I wanna park on this for a second

Grant Zellner PDGA:
Okay, good.

geoff hungerford:
because it's not only my feeling, but it is also the feeling of the PDJ staff and every single board member that we would host eventually the world championships outside the United States. And we had an opportunity in 2024, there were some details that couldn't be worked out, but that is really a top priority for me. I don't. I don't even feel good about calling it a world championship if it's hosted in America. It's just been here every single year since I've been part of Disc Golf and I would like to see it in other parts of the world. The very last item on my list from that summit a year ago has to do with international growth programs and services and I think we covered that pretty well. Those are the seven strategic priorities for the upcoming five years. And there are other things on the list, like what you mentioned, increasing membership that are sort of baked in. We don't really need to list those as a strategic priority.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
So are there any amongst what you just read, other than you just mentioned worlds and a drive to try to get a worlds hosted outside of the United States, are there any other priorities on that list you'd like to touch on by way of, you're sort of telling the voter, if you vote for me, you can rest assured that this is something I, Jeff Hungerford, am going to try to accomplish on your behalf. Are there any anything like that that you'd like to let the voters know right now in an effort to win their vote?

geoff hungerford:
Okay, I'll jump in. Every one of these priorities is important to me, but keep in mind that it's not the board of directors that makes it happen, it's the PDGA staff. And my experience in the last two and a half years is that the PDGA staff is the most impressive collection of subject matter experts on Disc Golf that has ever been assembled. And my commitment as a director is to support that staff. I'm not here to argue with them. I'm not here to change their direction. They have their assignment and anything I can do on the board of directors to make their job easier, that's my priority. So if you vote for me, you are voting for someone who strongly supports the PDGA staff and is absolutely overwhelmed with their competence and their experience.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
Well, thank you for those kind words.

geoff hungerford:
They're true.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
When it when it comes to mixing yourself into the greater picture of the PDGA board, right, because there are several that come from different backgrounds, different skill sets, different educations, different countries. Can you talk a little bit more about your own personal, your personal knowledge, your skill set, you know, professionally speaking and what it is that you add to that mix at the board? Is it is it? finance, is it management, is it technology, is it, you know, can you give us one final little overview of those those aspects of you as a member of the greater team?

geoff hungerford:
Yeah, I've had quite a bit of business experience. My bachelor's in chemical engineering, master's and PhDs in material science. I taught physics for a while, and then I went on to get a master's in business administration, international finance. And so I've used those skills in the world of business. I've been a first line manager on a number of occasions, especially in the world of engineering and new product development. And that is a very awkward role. You know, sometimes they talk about, it's like herding cats. You're in an environment of tremendously intelligent individuals who are absolutely diabolical to manage. So the PDGA is not unlike that situation. And I've also been involved with disc golf and frisbee sports my entire life. organizing events on some occasions, managing organizations on other occasions. And so I have a lot of experience with sporting events, especially Frisbee events, disc golf, and also high-end management. Now, let me add this to the mix because I think listeners may be interested. One of the initiatives that I championed recently was this idea of a board governance and nomination committee. And I initially sent Nate Heinold a proposal in late December. We escalated that to Joe Chargiloff, the executive director. We refined it. And eventually we got a group of volunteers to screen the candidates that are running for a director position. And the reason we did that is that the professional disc golf association, it is no longer a frisbee club. We are talking about. $12 million in annual income, tremendous assets. Our sport is transitioning into a major sport. We are gonna take our place with the major sports. And we need good sound business management. We need people that can deal with millions of dollars. This is not fun times anymore. So when we screen our directors, we are looking for a specific skill set, which was published by the PDGA. And I realize some people may feel like they were maybe excluded unfairly, but the competition right now is tremendously stiff. And we did have a lot of people apply.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
Okay, good information for the voters to consider. Before I let you go, Jeff, I want to make sure that you have a final opportunity to cover anything we may have missed in this fast and far-reaching conversation. Again, this is by way of you sort of campaigning for yourself, so to speak. Maybe by way of a final statement, a final charge to the voter, what they can expect should they hunger for their vote.

geoff hungerford:
Okay, I got one. Has to do with division eligibility, in particular the female division. And in the course of the last year and a half, it's actually been almost two years, I have advocated that we adhere to the International Olympic Committee framework on fairness, inclusion, and non-discrimination. And that is a process defined by the IOC to make a determination about gender eligibility for athletic competitions. I will continue to adhere to that IOC process and that is an evidence-based approach. Having said that, I do look forward to a time in the future when the PDJA will recognize athletic competitions among women that are consistent with local laws and regional cultures. And that means as we grow internationally, you'll find that there are countries that have a very exclusive view on female competitions. And there are other countries that are incredibly inclusive. Anybody who identifies as female can be considered. And my hope is that the PDGA will recognize competitions from all these areas and allow the local tournament directors the freedom to make a choice regarding eligibility that is appropriate and respects their local laws and their local culture. Now that is my vision. But in the short term, I will continue to adhere to the IOC framework.

Grant Zellner PDGA:
Okay, Jeff, very good information from you there. Thank you very much for how specific you've been and how candid that you've been about your thoughts. He's Jeff Hungerford, he's PDGA number 688, a three digit PDGA number running for reelection in the 2023 PDGA Board of Directors elections, which will begin in July. Jeff. Thanks so much for your time, and I say this sincerely, best of luck when it comes to your re-election efforts.

geoff hungerford:
Thanks, Graham.