Hi there. I'm Steve Carson from Stumptown Disc Golf, and we're here at Leverage Park in Vancouver Washington, USA to talk about the history of disc golf. I've been playing disc golf since the late 70s, but disc golf has been around a lot longer than that. Ever since the invention of the flying disc, enthusiasts have been playing disc golf. Early disc golfers used Pluto platters, flying saucers, sky saucers, and eventually Frisbees to play the game by throwing their discs at trees, picnic tables, trash cans, around parks and campuses throughout the United States. In the 60s, George Sappenfield organized disc golf activities for youth as a recreational supervisor in southern California. In the 70s, Steady Ed Headrick patented a design for a disc golf pole hole, which created a consistent design for disc golfers to shoot at. His design has been improved on over the years, but the pole hole is remarkable unchanged from the designs of the 70s. That same year, the first permanent disc golf course was created in Oak Grove Park in La Canada, California. Since that time, many other manufacturers have created discs specifically for the sport of disc golf. Companies like DisCraft, Gateway, Innova, Lightning, Millennium, and many more, have tried to fill a gap as the market leader Whammo has failed to consistently sell a Frisbee for disc golf players. The number of disc golf courses has grown astronomically over the past thirty years, from just over 100 courses in 1980, worldwide, to a thousand courses in 2000, and more than 2700 courses in 2009. There will easily be more than three thousand courses by the year 2010. In 2008, over seventy thousand entrants participated in over a thousand PDGA sanctioned tournaments. The pros played for over two million dollars in prize money last year. It is interesting to note that while The New York Times reports that regular ball golfers have declined approximately by a third recently, disc golf is on a double digit rise in popularity, with over a half million regular disc golfer. Whether you are a fair weather disc golfer, or a die-hard year round player, one thing is for sure: disc golf is growing sport.
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