Disc Golf History

“I saw something flying towards me. I couldn’t see what it was, and then it hit me.” 🙂

Disc Golf Using Tin Lids was Played in Canada in 1926.

According to The Complete Book of Frisbee, disc golf’s earliest recorded history was in 1926 in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ronald Gibson and a group of his Bladworth Elementary School buddies played a game of throwing tin lids into 4-foot-wide circles drawn into sandy patches on their school grounds. They played Tin Lid Golf regularly until they grew older and went their separate ways, causing the game to end. We don’t have the historical connecting moments from Tin Lid Golf 1926 to the beginning of modern disc golf, but it doesn’t mean they were not there. For all we know, someone from Bladworth Tin Lid Golf may have moved to the East Coast of the U.S. for whatever reason and started the pie tin tossing at Yale and other Ivy League universities; we just don’t know. – 1950s Pie Tin Tossing at Yale.

Like ultimate frisbee, disc golf, originally known as frisbee golf, was not invented. People have been throwing Frisbees at trees and lamp posts since the Frisbee’s invention. In the 1960s, groups of athletes started using a Frisbee instead of traditional balls for various sports. Students at Rice University in Houston, Texas, held tournaments with trees as targets as early as 1964. In the early 1960s, players in Pendleton King Park in Augusta, Georgia, would toss Frisbees into 50-gallon barrel trash cans designated as targets. In 1968, frisbee golf was played in Alameda Park in Santa Barbara, California, by teenagers in the Anacapa and Sola street areas.

Pre-Modern Frisbee Golf History.

Two early coordinators of frisbee golf as recreation are George Sappenfield and Kevin Donnelly. Through similar backgrounds in children’s recreation and the help of Wham-O, they were able to spread Frisbee golf in their California cities. Donnelly started playing a version of Frisbee golf in 1959 known as Street Frisbee Golf.

In 1961, George Sappenfield, a recreation leader and then recreation supervisor for the City of Newport Beach, California, formulated and began organizing Frisbee golf for children at nine of the city’s playgrounds he supervised. This culminated in 1965 with a fully documented, Wham-O-sponsored, citywide frisbee golf event. This highly publicized tournament included hula hoops as holes, with published rules, hole lengths, pars, and prizes; it was an event in which Walter Frederick Morrison, the Frisbee inventor, attended.

Pioneers of Modern Disc Golf, 1970.

“Great players make the finals, but a little luck has almost always made the winner.”

Like other modern disc sports, disc golf evolved from the creativity of ball-minded athletes. They modified the rules and gameplay of similar ball sports by replacing the ball with a flying disc.

john_and_jim_palmeri (2) — John and Jim Palmeri, disc golf pioneers. Rochester, NY, the 1970s.

This section discusses the pioneers of disc golf who produced early courses and the first organized competitions that began modern disc golf.

Despite having never heard of the International Frisbee Association (IFA) that Ed Headrick and Wham-O had put together, or even seeing a copy of the IFA Newsletter, Jim Palmeri, his brother John, and a small group from Rochester, NY, had been playing disc golf as a competitive sport regularly since August 1970, including tournaments and weekly league play. By 1973, they had even promoted two City of Rochester Disc Frisbee Championship events, which featured disc golf as the main event.

Jim Kenner, the founder of Discraft, and Ken Westerfield played Frisbee golf using random objects as target holes in Michigan parks. They moved to Toronto in 1970 and designed an object-hole disc golf course in Queen’s Park. Ken and Jim included disc golf as an event at their Canadian Open Frisbee Championships, held in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada. History of Disc Golf in Canada

In 1970, after attending a Frisbee golf event using Hula Hoops as targets at the All-Comers Meet in Brookside Park, Pasadena, the Berkeley Frisbee Group established their own object-hole disc golf course on the UC Berkeley Campus in California.

These courses were created independently, before national disc sports competitions. By the mid-1970s, the introduction of national events brought widespread recognition to the history of these pioneers and their early courses.

putt2 — Juliana Korver, Hall of Fame, World Disc Golf Champion.

In 1976, the standardized disc golf target was introduced with the first players’ association. Ed Headrick of Wham-O wasn’t the first disc golfer, and others were already promoting and playing disc golf competitions. Despite this, Ed became one of the most significant figures in modern disc golf history. Ed introduced the formal disc golf target with chains and a basket called the disc pole hole. Also in 1976, Headrick formed the Disc Golf Association (DGA), then later the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA). Headrick abandoned his trademark on the term “Disc Golf ” and turned over control and administration of the PDGA to the growing body of disc golf players. “Steady Ed” Headrick began thinking about the sport at Wham-O Toys, where he designed and patented a Frisbee for sport. Headrick designed and installed the first standardized target course in what was then known as Oak Grove Park in La Cañada Flintridge, California. (Today, the park is known as Hahamongna Watershed Park). Ed founded “The International Frisbee Association (IFA)”. Headrick coined and trademarked “Disc Golf” when formalizing the sport and patented the Disc Pole Hole, the first disc golf target to incorporate chains and a basket on a pole.

“The most important shot is always the next one.”

Disc golf competitions using object-target holes were introduced in Canada during the 1970s at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships held in Toronto and Vancouver. In 1980, the Toronto Islands installed the first 18-disc pole holes in Canada. History of Disc Golf in Canada.

In 1979, Wham-O’s $50,000 Disc Golf Tournament, held in Huntington Beach, California, was a significant turning point for disc golf. The tournament was groundbreaking because of the cash involved, with its massive payout stated in the title. Also, the competitors had to qualify for an invitation. 72 qualifying events were established, bringing in the best disc golfers across the United States. Also, in 1979, the Wham-O World Disc Golf Championships became the first disc golf world championships to be filmed.

Ted Smethers took over the PDGA in 1982, establishing it to be run independently and officiating the standard rules of play.

Ed-Headrick-pic1 — Ed Headrick, Hall of Fame, Disc Golf, and Frisbee Pioneer.

Ed Headrick died in 2002 at the age of 78. As per Ed’s wishes, his ashes were incorporated into a limited number of discs. These memorial discs were given to friends and family. The limited remaining discs are for sale, with all proceeds going to fund the “Steady” Ed Memorial Disc Golf Museum at the PDGA International Disc Golf Center in Columbia County, Georgia.

Modern Disc Golf Events Timeline.

1970–The first “Frisbee Club” was formed in Rochester, New York.
1970–The first object-hole disc golf courses were in Rochester, NY; Berkeley, CA; the UC campus in California; and Queen’s Park, Toronto, Canada.
1972–Rochester, New York, becomes the first municipality in the world to hold an Annual City Disc Golf Championship.
1974–Dan Roddick wins a brand new 1974 Datsun B-210 at the disc golf portion of the American Flying Disc Open in Rochester.
1975–Oak Grove Disc Golf Course, located within Hahamonga Watershed Park in Pasadena, California, becomes the world’s first permanent disc golf course.
1976–Ed Headrick patents the modern chain-style target he called the “Disc Pole Hole” and begins the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA).
1976–The first disc golf competitions began in Canada using object holes at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships in Toronto and Vancouver, BC.
1977–The first PDGA tournaments are held in Mobile, AL, and Northern New Jersey.
1980–The first 18 18-Disc Pole Hole course in Canada was installed on the Toronto Islands.
1982–The PDGA becomes a player-run organization to formalize the rules of play and begin a disc golf tour.
1984–Disc Golf World News begins publication. This is the first magazine for Disc Golf. The same year, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) was established to promote disc golf and Ultimate Frisbee events worldwide.
1985–The World Flying Disc Federation organizes the first “World Championships” held outside of the United States, in Helsingborg, Sweden.
1987–Disc Golf World News (later shortened to Disc Golf World), the longest-running magazine in the history of disc sports, began publishing in March of 1987. The last issue came out in January 2008. All told, there were 84 issues.
1987–First PDGA World Championships held outside of the US. Toronto, Canada.
1992–World’s Biggest Disc Golf Meet features over 12,000 players participating on 200 courses around the world on the same day.
1993–The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports accepts flying disc sports as a new category for the Presidential Sports Award.
1993–The Disc Golf Hall of Fame, established in Huntsville, Alabama, becomes the World Disc Golf Hall of Fame.
2001–The number of permanent disc golf courses in the United States surpassed 1,000.
Disc golf became a featured event, and Ultimate became a medal sport at the World Games in Akita, Japan.

disc-golf-hof — World Disc Golf Hall of Fame, Appling, GA.

The World Disc Golf Hall of Fame is an independent organization dedicated to promoting disc golf, its premier pioneers, and its players. It was founded in 1993 by Lavonne Wolfe of Huntsville, AL. Lavonne also created what is now known as the Headrick Memorial Museum. A collection of memorabilia that helps describe the history of our sport is now housed at the International Disc Golf Center in Appling, GA.

World Disc Golf Hall of Fame.

Disc golf today is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

Discraft Great Lakes Open. — Spectators at the final round of the Discraft Great Lakes Open, Michigan, 2022.

Official sites: WFDF | PDGA

whoTM — Tom Monroe, Hall of Fame and disc golf legend.

Freestyle Frisbee History
Guts Frisbee History
History of Ultimate Frisbee
Home Page: The History of Frisbee and Disc Sports

Note: This information was referenced and time-lined from disc sport historical and biographical articles, including U.S. and Canadian Disc Sports Hall of Fame inductions, Disc Sports Player Federations, and other historical resources. This article was researched, written, and compiled by Frisbee and disc sports historians. The history in this document may change as events and people are added. For more information contact: discsports@hotmail.com

Linking or reproduction in whole or in part with properly linked crediting is permitted. discsportshistory.com

Top featured photo: Golden Gate Disc Golf Park, San Francisco, California.

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