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. Most disc golf discs are made out of polypropylene plastic, otherwise known as polypropene, which is a thermoplastic polymer resin used in a wide variety of applications. Discs are also made using a variety of other plastic types that are heated and molded into individual discs. The sport is usually played on a course with 9 or 18 holes (baskets). Players complete a hole by throwing a disc from a tee pad or area toward a target, known as a basket, throwing again from where the previous throw landed, until the basket is reached. The baskets are formed by wire with hanging chains above the basket, designed to catch the incoming discs, which then fall into the basket. Usually, the number of throws a player uses to reach each basket is tallied, and players seek to complete each hole in the lowest number of total throws. Par is the number of strokes an expert player is expected to make for a given hole or a group of holes.
The Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and sustainable growth of disc golf. The PDGA is the global governing body of disc golf. The organization promotes the sport through tournament development, course development, rules and competitive standards, media and sponsor relations, and public education and outreach.
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.
The PDGA World Championship is one of several major championships in the sport of disc golf, along with the United States Disc Golf Championship. Held annually since 1982, the event crowns world champions in several divisions in the professional disc golf fields. Since 1983, male and female competitors have played at the same venue every year.
Nate Doss is a former professional disc golfer who won three world championships. With his win in 2011, Doss became only the second person with three MPO world championships, after Ken Climo's 12. In addition to his three world championships, Doss became the first Discraft sponsored player to win Disc Golf's other prestigious event, the United States Disc Golf Championship, in 2008. After retiring from the game in 2018 he, along with his wife Valarie Jenkins, began a new career as a brewer, launching Bevel Craft Brewing. Doss also provides live color commentary on the Disc Golf Network.
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.
Nikko Locastro is a professional disc golf player from St. Louis, Missouri. He has been playing the sport professionally since 2006. As of May 2023, Locastro is ranked 54th in the world, and has the 40th highest rating, currently at 1027 .
Holly Finley is a professional disc golfer who was named the 2013 PDGA Rookie of the Year. Finley is sponsored by Innova Champion Discs. In 2013, Finley was the only woman to compete in the sport's most prestigious event, the United States Disc Golf Championship Performance Edition. She placed seventh and earned an invitation back for the 2014 USDGC Performance Edition.
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.
Paige Pierce is a professional disc golfer from Plano, Texas. She has won 5 World Championships and 15 total Major Championships, and has been consistently ranked among the top professional women since 2011. In 2018 she broke the record for the highest PDGA player rating a woman had ever achieved at 978. Since then she has broken her own record several times, most recently at 996 rated in March 2021. Her current rating as of June 2022 is 980. She is currently sponsored by Discraft and Grip Equipment.
Catrina Allen is an American professional disc golfer. She is a US Champion and 2 time World Champion, and has been ranked among the top four women in the world between 2012 and 2019.
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.
Sarah Hokom is an American professional disc golfer. She is a former World Champion and 2-time US Women’s Champion. Hokom is known best for her sidearm drives.
Eric McCabe is an American professional disc golfer, tournament director, and course designer from Emporia, Kansas. He won the PDGA Professional World Championships in 2010.
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.
Disc golf is a popular sport in the United States played at the recreational, club, and international competition levels.
Eagle Wynne McMahon is an American professional disc golfer from Boulder, Colorado, sponsored by Discmania Golf Discs. 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.
James Conrad is a professional disc golfer from Blacksburg, Virginia, currently competing on the PDGA National Tour, and Disc Golf Pro Tour. He Joined the Professional Disc Golf Association in 2000 and became a professional in 2006. Conrad has won both the PDGA World Championships, in 2021, and the United States Disc Golf Championship, in 2019.
Kristin Tattar is an Estonian professional disc golfer and former competitive cross-country skier. Tattar is Estonia’s most successful disc golfer of all time, and in 2022 she achieved the highest PDGA rating of any Estonian female. In 2022 she became the female disc golf world champion for the first time.
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