by John Houck
In baseball, where your goal is to get on base, you get three chances every time you come up to bat. If you swing and miss the first time, you still get two more opportunities.
In basketball, where your goal is to put the ball in the hoop, you can miss, get the rebound, and try again.
Now imagine if you swung and missed once, and the umpire made you sit down. Imagine if you got an offensive rebound, but the ref wouldn’t let you take a second shot.
That’s what some of our course designers and Tournament Directors are turning disc golf into. As disc golfers, our goal, almost always, is to get a birdie. But if you go OB on your drive halfway up the fairway, the TD says “No birdie for you!” In a lot of disc golf tournaments, it’s one strike and you’re out.
Traditional golf, which has a 400-year head start on us, has had a lot of time to figure out the best way to do some of these things. In golf, if you make a small mistake and miss the fairway, you’re in the first cut of rough. You can still get your birdie – it’s just a little harder for you, and a little easier for the guy who stayed in the fairway. But you both have a chance. I think golf got that one right.
We’ve always wanted to make our courses “harder” and “more demanding.” I get that. But we also want to make our courses fair, and one part of being fair is to give players the chance to make up for their mistakes. Redemption. Recovery. Hitting the curveball after missing the fastball. Putting in the bank shot after missing the jumper. Nailing the long iron after shanking the driver. Let’s make tournament disc golf more friendly, more fair, and more exciting.
It IS possible to have it all.
Below are three recent podcast interviews on which I discuss this topic and more.
Staggered Stance Podcast. September 16, 2024
Smashboxx, September 3, 2024
Disc Golf Daily, August 30, 2024
I watched a video of a pro golfer playing a local course down the road from me (I don't normally watch golf, but I saw the video was of a local course) He hit one of his drives INTO the parking lot. His next shot was FROM the parking lot, that cracked me up. Hole 9 at about 17:30 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rc37QkkbGg&ab_channel=BrysonDeChambeau
Very interesting! I always learn something from you, John. You write, "We’ve always wanted to make our courses “harder” and “more demanding. I get that." I think this is correct for A and B Tiers and above, but for C and X Tiers, leagues and good old-fashioned rec courses - the vast majority - I believe we should make our courses more FUN. That's what keeps the kids and families coming back for more.