Disc Golf the Rodney Dangerfield of Sports: No Respect

Unfortunately we (disc golfers) are a select group.

Limited in numbers by most standards, but growing; have to acknowledge that.

Where is the future is it money... not right now it isn't when compared to other mainstream sports.

Will we ever be free of lack of respect from the general public?

 

[Bruce Brakel]

Not us.  Maybe a subsequent generation with more mainstream values.

[Boom Boom Dino]

just watched on our TSN   Canada's top 100 ball golf courses, all ranked as to which are the best courses .... they looked tremendous as compared to what we have to play on .... maybe it's a visual thing ... perhaps we need to take over a few 18 hole executive ball courses and install baskets, make them like PS3 Disc Golf ...... no wonder we're not taken seriously the big boys who have been playing golf for 400 years look at what we do and say ... who'd want to do that? .... we just may want to pick it up a bit ..... make some real fine courses in dedicated state parks and rec areas and step it up,   I'm just saying maybe that is what it needs.

[Ron Suir]

there's one problem with nice, big, overly manicured courses.. green fees. are we really ready for $30-$60 for a round? I for one am not. call me cheap, I don't care.  I don't like the pretentiousness that comes with it either. our sport thrives on community. in most cases its our community that helps upkeep the courses, we grow our sport thru friendly guidance and word of mouth. the "hippy" spirit that started the sport is one of the greatest things about our sport in it's open, giving, ideals, while at the same time it's the bane of our sport in that it's often overlooked and looked down upon by the mainstream sports community as a hippy offshoot of "legitimate" ball golf. everyone's heard of it, but noone knows of the expertise and finesse required to play the game at it's competitive level. 

no I don't think facilities are the answer.. education is.

[Hootie]

Very well said, hear hear.

[Super Dave Elliott]

Exactly. DG'ers are "cheap, thrifty, frugal",  or whatever adjective you want to describe, by nature. This happened in literally my own back yard last summer. The OP has probably been there. Two 18 hole courses installed on a ball golf course. Pro shop in golf clubhouse, adult beverages, golf carts, everything we think we want. The greens fees are part of why no one plays. Another might be the dress code

Rock Springs Ridge Disc Golf

[Jim Coonradt]

Looks kind of cool. And if I could legally drink my adult beverage that would be cool as well. $3 to $5 for a round isn't too bad.

[Disc Player Sports]

I live an hour or so away from there, it's distance.

2 courses close to home..... Tuscawilla & Reed Canal

[Ghost]

Ball golf courses for DG are dicey.  They look nice but they're very open and not a huge challenge in that regard.  If you have an arm, you can do well there.  We're a different sport than regular golf.  Tight wooded shots are what makes our game a challenge.  I think most people are unaware of this and the distances involved so they view DG as wandering around an open field tossing a freestyle lid.  It's hard to get the word about our sport out when coverage is difficult to get at least in terms of the mainstream media.  The internet is a huge help to this.  The average joe can get on youtube and type in disc golf and get a really clear idea of what we're all about.  I don't know that we need to become more like ball golf but just become better within our own context. 

[Nate Nasty]

I like to think of disc golf as the Chevy Chase of sports. 

[Scott Miller]

I see allot of tournaments, and none of them are put into the news papers in the local area. Most News papers will publish your tournaments free of charge. We put on a charity tournament, and called the local paper and not only did we get a spread in the sports page, we also got a small pice on the local news channel on T.V. We collected $250 from disc golfers, we also got $500 from people who sent in money. We paid the electric bill for the local teen club in a small town.

So in short. We need to advertise to get noticed in the right way.

[in the face disc golf club]

This sport would take off if Innova would just pay to be on a nascar hood!

[Scott Miller]

People need to know what it is before they do that. People will not look it up to see what Innova stands for. Up untill 6 months ago I thought you still played disc golf with an ultimate Frisbee by Whaamo.