Did you know that there are over 4,000,000 active disc golfers? Yep, according to Innova’s post here, disc golf is becoming a widely popular sport.
But why? Why is disc golf so popular and why should you check it out? Simple. Here are 5 of the best reasons to try out disc golf this year!
The 5 Best Reasons to Try Out Disc Golf This Year!
1. It’s super cheap!
One of the reasons why I truly love disc golf is because of how inexpensive it can be. Now, don’t get me wrong here. Because you can spend A LOT of money on discs, bags, shoes, and all kinds of other gear. But I kept playing disc golf because of how cheap it was for me.
I’m a guy that doesn’t like spending a lot of money, but also wanted a fun hobby that I could continue doing for as cheap as possible. I found that in disc golf.
In order to start playing, you’ll only need to buy a few discs – including a putter, a mid-range disc, and a control driver – which shouldn’t run you any more than $40 bucks. You can also just grab a starter set, which are less than $30, and a cheap bag for less than $20. That whole set up is less than $50 bucks and gets you everything you need to play.
Oh, and the courses? Almost all of them are free to play. After you’ve got your gear, there are almost no other costs to play disc golf other than snacks and gas to get to the course. Because most courses are either public parks or public disc golf courses run by the city. So there are no tee times, greens fees, or cart fees (you do have to walk, though, but the courses are fairly short). All of that means almost no cost to play.
Overall, that initial $40-50 dollar investment can get you months and months of rounds for almost no cost. Eventually, you’ll have to buy more discs, because the cheap discs get beat up fairly easily, but new discs will only run you $10-20 dollars. So over time, it won’t cost you much to replace discs and add new ones to your bag.
With all that being said, check out the resources below to start playing disc golf today:
Disc Golf 101: A Step by Step Beginner’s Guide
How to Choose Disc Golf Discs for Beginners: Quick Guide
7 All-Time Best and Easiest Disc Golf Discs for Beginners!
The 17 Best Disc Golf Starter Sets for Beginners!
2. It’s insanely fun!
Disc golf is, hands down, one of the most fun sports you could ever play. It’s also one of the most challenging. Most players try it out because either a friend or family member takes them out or they hear about how awesome it is.
Once you get out to the course, you’ll experience something very foreign but fun. Learning how to throw a disc will almost seem weird, but think of it like throwing a frisbee. Then laugh at yourself when your disc flies 37 feet or into a tree. Don’t worry, you will get better.
For now, focus on having fun, enjoying beautiful days out on the course, and learning a little bit about disc golf (hint: it’s similar to ball golf, just played with discs and a basket instead of clubs and balls).
3. It’s easy to find courses!
Here’s a fun fact for you – as of January 2024, there are 15,196 disc golf courses in the world (according to this UDisc article here). That means, you’re sure to have a course nearby…unless you live somewhere extremely rural. Even so, the majority of people in first world countries will have at least 1 course within an hour or two.
So the super easy part about trying disc golf is that it’s insanely easy to find courses! If you’re in the United States, you have access to over half of that 15,000 course total. There are A LOT of courses here in America.
The easiest way to find courses is to search in Google for “disc golf courses near me.” That should show you a variety of courses or whatever you’ve got nearby. That’s probably the easiest way to find a few.
You can also check out Discgolfscene.com’s course locator here. This course search is epic and once you find a course near you, Discgolfscene.com will show you all the details about that course (including reviews and other courses nearby).
4. Anyone can play it!
Even though disc golf is enjoyed mostly by players in their teens and twenties, disc golf can be as easy or as intense as you want it to be – meaning anyone can play. No matter what age you are, what your activity level is, or how physically strong you are, you can play disc golf.
Now I will add a word of caution here: in order to play, you should be able to walk at least a half mile long trail, have at least decent health, and be physically able to throw a frisbee 40-50 feet or more with moderate effort. If you’re sick, have major medical issues, or can’t meet any of the health requirements I listed above, you might not want to try disc golf. If you think you can handle it, by all means, please try it out!!
Disc golf is part physical performance, part learning the technique, and part strategy. That means it takes more than just being a freak athlete to play. Most disc golfers are just regular people who want to have some fun. That could be you, too!
5. Less time than ball golf!
There are a lot of differences between ball golf and disc golf. I even wrote a post about why I thought disc golf was better than ball golf. Read that here – Here’s Why Disc Golf is Better Than Ball Golf!
But one of the best reasons to try disc golf is because it takes less time to play than ball golf.
Disc golf courses are much shorter than ball golf courses, so walking them doesn’t take a whole lot of time. Because of the shorter distance, It also doesn’t take as much time to get yourself disc from the tee box to the basket. And since disc golf is free to play, you can choose to play however you want.
I love this because I often hit the course for a quick 9 holes that usually takes me a decent 45 minutes. With friends, 18 holes can take anywhere from 2-3 hours. In my experience, 18 holes of ball golf is almost always 4 hours.
So save yourself some time and money and check out disc golf!
Finally
If you’ve decided to try out disc golf, that’s awesome! It’s a super fun, fairly inexpensive, very challenging sport that anyone can play. It’s easy to find courses and usually doesn’t take anywhere near as long as ball golf to play.
If so, what’re you waiting for? Check out the resources for new players below and then get out to the course to give disc golf a go! Thanks for reading, everyone!
Related content
New to Disc Golf? Here Are 7 Things Beginners Need to Know!
The Top 5 Best Disc Golf Tips for New Players!
Top 5 Disc Golf Beginner Mistakes (Avoid These at All Costs!)
The Top 5 Best Disc Golf Putting Tips for Beginners!
Don’t forget to check out the book!
If you’re looking for more tips and tricks on how to play disc golf, check out my book, “The Disc Golf Player’s Manual.” This ultimate beginner’s guide is loaded with over 200 pages of content, helping you to improve your game AND lower score on the disc golf course. Check it out here on my site.