Disc golf, formerly known as frisbee golf, is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf.
A frisbee, also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly 20 to 25 centimetres in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitively for throwing and catching, as in flying disc games. The shape of the disc is an airfoil in cross-section which allows it to fly by reducing the drag and increasing lift as it moves through the air, compared to a flat plate. Spinning the disc imparts a stabilizing gyroscopic force, allowing it to be both aimed with accuracy and thrown for distance.
An Aerobie is a flying ring used in a manner similar to a chakram or flying disc (Frisbee), for recreational catches between two or more individuals. Its ring shape of only about 3 mm (0.12 in) thickness makes the Aerobie lighter and more stable in flight than a disc. It can be bent to tune it for straighter flight. Since it has very low drag and good stability, it can be thrown much farther than a flying disc. The Aerobie was used to set two former world records for thrown objects.
A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage they are often interchanged, while in technical usage they may sometimes be differentiated as shown in the image at right. A bevel is typically used to soften the edge of a piece for the sake of safety, wear resistance, or aesthetics; or to facilitate mating with another piece.
Ken "The Champ" Climo is a professional disc golfer considered by some to be the best professional disc golfer of all time. Climo has claimed Twelve PDGA World Championship titles, including nine in as many years from 1990 to 1998.. Harold Duvall, Barry Schultz (2003–2004), Nate Doss, Paul McBeth and Richard Wysocki are the only other golfers with more than one open world title. In addition to his world titles, Climo has an unequalled record in the United States Disc Golf Championship, holding five titles. Named seven times as the PDGA player of the year, Ken Climo was inducted into the PDGA Hall of Fame in 1995.
Discraft is a manufacturing company producing flying discs for the sports of ultimate, disc golf and freestyle founded in 1978 in London, Ontario, Canada. Created by a group of disc-sport enthusiasts, including Jim Kenner, Gail McColl, Chris, Mary Greenwood, and Wallace Kenny. In 1979, Jim Kenner and Gail McColl moved to Michigan and started what is now Discraft, Inc. Originally in Westland, Michigan, now located in Wixom, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The company sells discs to resellers and wholesalers worldwide.
Indian Airlines Flight 605 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Bombay to Bangalore. On 14 February 1990, an Airbus A320-231 registered as VT-EPN, crashed onto a golf course while attempting to land at Bangalore, killing 92 of 146 people on board.
Nathan Sexton is an American professional disc golfer currently sponsored by Innova Champion Discs. Among his most notable accomplishments are his 2003 Junior I Boys PDGA World Championship and his 2017 United States Disc Golf Championship win, which is his first PDGA Major title as a professional. He registered as a professional with the PDGA in 2004, but has only been touring full-time since 2013.
Barry Schultz is a professional disc golfer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has played disc golf since the early 1980s, and has been a professional since 1992. He is on the Innova Champion Discs Hall of Fame Team. For a number of years, he was one of the most dominant players on tour. From 2003-2009, he held the single season earnings record of $40,896, which was finally surpassed by Nikko Locastro in 2010. He is one of six men to win more than one World Championship. He is also a three time United States Disc Golf Champion, one of only four people who have won the event more than once, the others being Ken Climo, Will Schusterick and Paul McBeth. Schultz additionally holds two Masters World Championships. He and Climo are the only two men to earn both an Open and Masters world title. Schultz was inducted into the PDGA Hall of Fame in 2013.
Paul McBeth is an American professional disc golfer from Huntington Beach, California. He won the PDGA World Championships four times in a row and again in 2019 and 2022, making him a six-time champion. He did not finish outside the top 2 at a World championship between 2012 and 2022. McBeth was the top rated player of the PDGA in 2015, 2017, 2018, and again in 2019. He is widely considered to be the best disc golfer of the modern era.
Simon Peter Lizotte is a professional disc golfer based in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, United States. Lizotte was born in Bremen, Germany but also holds Canadian citizenship through his father. He has won six Elite Series titles in the last two years on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, with career tournament winnings of $273,907. 2022 was his most successful season to date, with four Elite Series wins, as well as five other top ten finishes. In January 2023 he signed a ten-year sponsorship deal with MVP Discs, reported to be worth more than $1M per year; for the previous ten years he had been sponsored by Discmania Discs. Lizotte has acquired a significant following for his disc golf-related videos on YouTube, with 190,000 subscribers in August 2023. He is also noted for holding the disc golf distance world record on several occasions.
Jeremy Koling is a professional disc golfer from Charlotte, North Carolina. He competes on the sport's North American tour: the Disc Golf Pro Tour, and competed on the PDGA National Tour until its last season in 2021. Among his most notable accomplishments are his 2008 PDGA Amateur World Championship win and his 2016 United States Disc Golf Championship win. Koling is the only male player to win the PDGA Amateur World Championships and earn the PDGA Male Rookie of the Year Award in back-to-back years.
Avery Jenkins is an American professional disc golfer from Hinckley, Ohio. He is a former World Champion and three-time US distance champion. In 2016, Jenkins served as commentator for the inaugural Disc Golf World Tour
Alex Geisinger is a former American professional disc golfer from Lakeville, Minnesota. He has 26 career professional wins, including the 2014 and 2015 Minnesota Majestic. Geisinger was the 19th ranked player in the PDGA World Rankings at the end of 2016.
Steve Brinster is an American professional disc golfer from Warwick, New York, and United States Disc Golf Champion. He joined the Professional Disc Golf Association in 1996 and became a professional in 1997.
Modern disc golf started in the early 1960s, but there is debate over who came up with the idea first. The consensus is that multiple groups of people played independently throughout the 1960s. Students at Rice University in Houston, Texas, for example, held tournaments with trees as targets as early as 1964, and in the early 1960s, players in Pendleton King Park in Augusta, Georgia would toss Frisbees into 50-gallon barrel trash cans designated as targets. In 1968 Frisbee Golf was also played in Alameda Park in Santa Barbara, California by teenagers in the Anacapa and Sola street areas. Gazebos, water fountains, lamp posts, and trees were all part of the course. This took place for several years and an Alameda Park collectors edition disc still exists, though rare, as few were made. Clifford Towne from this group went on to hold a National Time Aloft record.
This is a basic glossary of disc golf terms that includes both technical terminology and jargon developed over the years in the sport of disc golf. Where noted, some terms are used only in American English (US), only in British English (UK), or are regional to a particular part of the world, such as Australia (AU).
Eagle Wynne McMahon is an American professional disc golfer from Boulder, Colorado. He has 53 career wins and has been one of the highest rated players in the world for several years. At the end of the 2022 season he was ranked third in the world by UDisc.
Disc golf is a popular sport in Estonia, where it is played at the recreational, club, and international competition levels.
Andrew Marwede is an American professional disc golfer from Alpena, Michigan, currently competing on the PDGA National Tour and Disc Golf Pro Tour. He Joined the Professional Disc Golf Association in 2015 and became a professional in 2016.
