Disc Golf History

“I saw something flying towards me, I couldn’t see what it was, then it hits me.” – Frisbee joke.

Disc Golf Using Tin Lids is Played in Canada 1926.

According to The Complete Book of Frisbee, disc golf’s earliest recorded history was in Bladworth, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1926. 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 called the game Tin Lid Golf and played on a fairly regular basis. However, after they grew older and went their separate ways, the game ended. We don’t have the historical connecting dots from Tin Lid Golf 1926 to the beginning of modern disc golf, but it doesn’t mean that 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.

Pre-Modern Frisbee Golf History.

Two early coordinators of Frisbee golf as recreation are George Sappenfield and Kevin Donnelly, who, through similar backgrounds and the help of Wham-O, were able to spread Frisbee golf in their California cities. Donnelly began playing a form of Frisbee golf in 1959 called Street Frisbee Golf. In 1961, while a recreation leader and then recreation supervisor for the City of Newport Beach, California, he formulated and then 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; an event in which Walter Frederick Morrison, Frisbee inventor, attended.

Modern Disc Golf Pioneers First Courses in the US and Canada.

“Winning always comes with some luck. The more you practice, the luckier you get.”

No one invented disc golf, like ultimate Frisbee, disc golf evolved from ball-minded athletes slightly altering rules and the play of similar ball sports that replaced the ball with a flying disc.

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

This article is about early disc golf pioneers and recorded first play that began organized competitions and the beginning of 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 (Discraft founder) and Ken Westerfield, even before the idea of disc golf played Frisbee golf using objects as holes in Michigan parks. After moving to Canada in 1970, they developed and played on an object-hole disc golf course they designed in Queen’s Park, Toronto. During this period, Ken and Jim added disc golf to the other events at their Canadian Open Frisbee Championships in Toronto and Vancouver, BC.

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

None of these disc sports pioneers knew one another or were aware of each other’s disc golf courses. These courses were created independently. It wasn’t until disc sports national events began, that the history of these courses became known.

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 disc golf competitions was already being promoted and played by others, but he 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 during his time at Wham-O Toys where he designed and patented the modern-day Frisbee. 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 the term “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.”

In 1976, the first disc golf competitions in Canada begin using object-target holes, adding to the other events at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships in Toronto and Vancouver. In 1980, the first 18 Disc Pole Hole course in Canada was installed on Toronto Islands. (See: History of Disc Golf in Canada).

In 1979, Wham-O’s $50,000 Disc Golf Tournament was a significant turning point for disc golf. Held in Huntington Beach, California. The tournament was groundbreaking because of the cash involved, and its massive payout right in the title, but also because the competitors had to qualify for an invitation. 72 qualifying events were established around the country, bringing in the best disc golfers from across the United States.

Ted Smethers took over the PDGA in 1982 to be run independently and to officiate the standard rules of play for the sport.

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, made by Discraft, 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” is formed in Rochester, New York. Object disc golf is played regularly on the first object hole courses, in Rochester, NY, Berkeley UC campus in California, and Queen’s Park, Toronto.
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 begin in Canada using object holes, adding to the other events at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships in Toronto and Vancouver. In 1980, the first 18 Disc Pole Hole course in Canada was installed on Toronto Islands.
1977–The first PDGA tournaments are held in Mobile, AL, and Northern New Jersey.
1982–The PDGA becomes a player-run organization to formalize the rules of play, and begin a disc golf tour. (For a more complete timeline of disc golf in the U.S.)

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

The Disc Golf Hall of Fame is an independent organization dedicated to the promotion of 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 help describe the history of our sport is now housed at the International Disc Golf Center in Appling, GA.

Disc Golf Hall of Fame.

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

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

History and awards: Decade Awards
Instruction: Scott Stokely | 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

Canada
History of Frisbee and Disc Sports in Canada
History of Disc Golf in Canada
Ultimate Frisbee History in Canada

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. Linking or reproduction in whole or part with proper linked crediting is permitted (discsportshistory.com). For more information, contact: discsports@hotmail.com

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

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