Start With This
PDGA pros will be dressed in golf shirts, visors, and shoulder bags loaded with a variety of discs. Don’t let that intimidate you. This is the only piece of gear you need to get started. The Aero is Innova’s “straightest” disc. It’s a versatile disc that’s easy to keep on the fairway.
How To: Throw a Disc
Steven Riley is an active PDGA player who travels all over the east playing tournaments every weekend. He’s also the president of the Blue Ridge Disc Golf Club. We asked him to explain the mechanics of a good disc golf drive.
The more spin you generate, the farther and straighter the disc will travel. It’s about arm speed and form, not power. Bring your arm back level across your chest and keep it level as you whip the disc forward. The key to a long, straight drive is the “snap.” If it’s a good throw, you’ll hear a “snap” when the disc leaves your hand.
I Am Iron Man
Think disc golf isn’t an endurance sport? Check out the Ironman Tournament, which has players knocking out three back-to-back rounds of disc golf in a single day in Virginia. This year, the first round will be played at the Green County Course, and then two more will be played at Walnut Creek, outside of Charlottesville. “It’s a lot of throwing,” says Donald Smith, one of the organizers of the tournament. “By the third round, the Ironmen are indeed separated from the boys.”
Disc Golf By the Numbers
2,799
Number of disc golf courses in the U.S. in 2010. Scandinavia has the next highest number of courses at 212
15,451
Professional Disc Golf Association membership in 2010
1,215
Number of PDGA events in 2010
$2,215,967
Total prize purse distributed at those events in 2010
97
Number of courses in North Carolina, the highest concentration in the South
$75,000
Cash purse at the US National Championships, held in Rock Hill, South Carolina every year
