The PDGA Board of Directors and Staff have announced several annual award winners for the 2023 season.
PDGA annual awards are typically announced during the summer following a calendar year, after nomination and selection processes have concluded. The award winners represent not only excellence on and off the disc golf course, they also personify many of the qualities and values championed by the PDGA.
2023 Volunteer of the Year: Maria Luisa Bartolome – Courtesy Photo
Kristin Tattar turned in one of the most dominant seasons in disc golf history in 2023, grabbing titles at all four PDGA Majors, including her second-straight PDGA World Championship. On the Elite Series, Tattar won five times on the Disc Golf Pro Tour and didn’t finish outside of sixth place. She added three more A-Tier wins, including the 2023 European Disc Golf Championship.
E.D.G.E. founding members Jay "Yeti" Reading and Des Reading with Rob McLeod (center) after receiving the award in October 2022 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
The annual E.D.G.E./PDGA Educational Award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of disc golf education. The Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) determines candidates and awardees in partnership with the PDGA. The Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) is a nationally-recognized 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to reaching and teaching youth the great lifetime activity of disc golf, utilizing age appropriate equipment and a standards-based curriculum.
Paul Ulibarri is the 2021 Bob West Memorial Sportsmanship Award recipient.
The PDGA Board of Directors and Staff have announced several annual award winners for the 2021 season.
PDGA annual awards are typically announced during the summer following a calendar year, after nomination and selection processes have concluded. The award winners represent not only excellence on and off the disc golf course, they also personify many of the qualities and values championed by the PDGA.
Derek Sahr is the 2020 Bob West Memorial Award for Sportsmanship winner.
Derek Sahr has been a pillar of the Minnesota disc golf community for well over a decade.
His impact, both on and off course, has had a profound impact on those around him and with that, Sahr has been voted as the recipient of the 2020 Bob West Memorial Award for Sportsmanship.
PDGA Europe Player of the Year is an individual competition governed by PDGA Europe to recognize the overall best European player performance in disc golf in a calendar year.
2018 PDGA Rookies of the Year: Mason Ford (left) and Lauren Butler (right). Photos: Joni Floyd Smith, Alyssa Van Lanen
While many are content with competing as an amateur for their entire disc golf career, there are those with the desire to not only play as a professional but to thrive as one. That path can sometimes be a rocky one -- especially during the first year -- but there are always a handful of rookies that traverse the trail better than anyone else, with the most successful earning the title of PDGA Rookie of the Year.
Each year during the PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships a very special awards banquet is held. It's a ceremony filled with some of the most important and influential names and faces in the history of our beloved sport. The event is put on by the PDGA with the purpose of inducting the newest members to the Disc Golf Hall of Fame, as well as to give out the annual PDGA Awards.
