With apologies to Paul Mcbeth and his impressive ESPN coverage in the past year, local disc golf clubs still get my vote as the MVP (most valuable part) of disc golf’s inexorable expansion. It’s as simple as 1-2-3:
- The increased visibility of our pro tours and the increase of disc golf-related businesses (more companies, more disc models, etc.) is due to a strong, steady rise in the number of people who play the sport.
- The steady rise in the number of people who play the sport is mostly due to a steady rise in the number of places where disc golf can be played. New courses, in other words.
- A large majority of disc golf courses in the world today exist only because a club lobbied for its installation and did/does the heavy lifting/grunt work- for example, the fundraising, maintenance, and community relations.
The chapter of The Disc Golf Revolution titled “Disc Golf’s Organic, Grassroots Growth offers dozens of examples, but this post focuses on one that is unfolding right now.
In Sandwich, which is part of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the #CapeCodDiscGolfClub is going above and beyond (which is typical behavior for a disc golf club) to get a new course installed on the Boyden Farm Conservation Lands. According to Tao Woolfe’s excellent reporting, the club submitted a proposal a year ago but pulled its request because the environmental impact report wasn’t completed in time. But when it was finally completed, results backed disc golf in a big way.
“The study ultimately showed that disc golf would not hurt wildlife or forested habitats. Natural Resources Director David J. DeConto said at that time that the environment would actually benefit from the new course.” –Tao Woolfe, The Sandwich Enterprise
Andrew McManus, president of CCDGC, submitted a plan promising the club would “prune the course annually, clean up any storm damage, design and create the course through the trees—keeping and maintaining the existing mature trees and thinning the underbrush.” It went on to say that volunteers (would) also clean up litter, help enforce park rules, and place signage and an information kiosk, and host golf clinics to teach people how to play.” Woolfe’s story added the fact that the club has performed similar volunteer maintenance at Burgess Park in Marstons Mills since 2011.
The people who lead disc golf clubs and push to get new courses installed don’t do it for personal gain. To me, that makes their sport’s grassroots growth not only more special and pure, if you will, but also less likely to taper off. They put in the hours and raise the funds because they want more opportunities to do something they love, as evidenced in the photo above. They want it for themselves, to be sure, but they are also eager to share the experience with others.