Disc Golf Obsessed
We all have that friend. Their Instagram or Facebook feeds are full of little frisbees (sorry, discs!) and their weekends are spent out in parks where they play their courses.
Many disc golf courses are actually on public land in Mecklenburg county — 14 are located in county parks — and as such, they are free to use. The courses are dotted all over the city and cater to a variety of skill levels.
Pay to Play?
This trend isn’t unique to Charlotte, either. Most cities and towns across the United States have several disc golf courses, and according to Disc Golf Now, approximately 90% of disc golf courses are free to use while only 10% are pay-to-play.
This means disc golf is a whole lot more democratic than regular golf which can cost $10-$15 to play on the cheapest courses all the way up through hundreds of dollars for more expensive ones, not to mention the equipment and if you’d like any extras while you play.
Like any sport, disc golf gear can get expensive, but the entry fee is pretty low in terms of getting started. A “good” starter kit from a well-known disk brand runs around $20-$30, so getting into the game is pretty affordable.
The History
Disc golf is also a lot older than people imagine, although it has really only risen to fame in the past 20 years or so. The first instances of someone “playing golf with a flying disk” was in Canada in 1926, according to the Deaf Disc Golf Association.
What we know as disc golf today, especially the competitive sport, got started in the 1960s on a few university campuses in what seems to be an independent, parallel way.
Today there are over 3,000 courses across the US and 4,000 more world-wide. The sport is played in several countries, including Australia, Japan and South Korea, as well as across Europe.
One of the most unique things about disc golf, though, is that is has nearly always had this public, low-cost nature. Early courses were developed by college students and parents, and later, by Parks and Recreation departments in cities in the Midwest. So, disc golf has always been a relatively democratic, easy-to-get into sport.
