I love disc golf. It's kind of a new hobby for me. I suck. The pros are amazing. My guess is, some of you forum readers love disc golf, too. So I'm starting a thread to see if it gains some traction.



Paul McBeth is the defending and five-time world champion. He has two rounds of -18 (called the "perfect" rounds) in his pro career, including the one above last year. He's recovering from a foot/ankle injury and probably won't be on tour until the Memorial at the end of this month.



James Conrad (he of the long, flowing hair) is the defending United States champion, which was his first major title. The final round of last year's USDGC was a bloodbath, probably the most pressure-influenced round I have watched. Nobody played all that great and Conrad basically just survived. Conrad is a fan-favorite and throws really far shots even through tight woods.

Other guys to watch:

Eagle McMahon is already a star and all that's missing from his résumé is a major championship. It's going to come sooner or later. Will this be the year? (Also, please don't break your hand in frustration this year!)

Ricky Wysocki is a two-time world champ (winning back-to-back in 2016-17 to snap McBeth's four-year run), and when his putter gets hot, look out.

Calvin Heimburg has (IMO) the best nickname in disc golf (the Heimborg) and I absolutely love his game. He plays a lot like Conrad, actually.

Simon Lizotte (the other half of the "Crush Boys" along with McMahon) has been around for quite a while and is always a threat to do insane things.

Kevin Jones hasn't won a big one yet, but he's always lurking.

Adam Hammes has already won this year, played great in last year's Worlds and is a guy who is quickly making a name for himself.

When Chris Dickerson (the Robot Chicken) plays, he's usually near the top of the leaderboard. He's the two-time defending Tour Championship winner.

2020 Disc Golf schedule
(Professional men's events, A tier and above, unless otherwise noted)
Already completed
Shelly Sharpe Memorial — Jan. 10-12, Scottsdale, Ariz. (A)
Top 3: Adam Hammes -23 (1052); Drew Gibson -17 (1036); Joshua Anthon -16 (1033)

Samui Swine Classic VII — Jan. 31-Feb. 2, Koh Samui, Thailand (A)
Top 3: Philo Braithwaite -40 (1045), James Conrad -31 (1018), Nate Perkins -30 (1015)

Upcoming
Wintertime Open — Feb. 14-16, La Canada Flintridge, Calif. (A)
Defending champion: Adam Hammes

Las Vegas Challenge — Feb. 20-23, Henderson, Nev. (A)
Defending champion: Calvin Heimburg (NT)

Memorial Championship — Feb. 27-March 1, Scottsdale, Ariz. (DGPT)
Defending champion: Eagle McMahon

WACO Annual Charity Open — March 13-15, Waco, Texas (DGPT)
Defending champion: Paul McBeth

Throw Down the Mountain VIII — March 20-22, Brooksville, Fla. (DGPT SS)
Defending champion: Paul McBeth

St. Patrick's Classic — March 20-22, Orangevale, Calif. (A)
Defending champion: Josh Anthon

The Open at Belton — March 20-22, Belton, Texas (A)
Defending champion: Paul Ulibarri

City of Mobile Championships — March 21-22, Mobile, Ala. (A)
Defending champion: Cameron Colglazier

Texas State Championships — March 26-29, Tyler, Texas (NT)
Defending champion: Ricky Wysocki)

Jacksonville Open — March 27-29, Jacksonville, Fla. (A)
Defending champion: Calvin Heimburg

I should note for those unfamiliar with the sport: The four-digit (usually) number in parenthesis after a player's score is his rating for the tournament. Basically, a 1000 rating is meat to imply "scratch" golf (even par). The higher the number, the better the performance (obviously), and the numbers can help compare performances across events and give a better indication than straight par scores (since course difficulties vary pretty significantly).

McBeth has the top overall rating at a record 1060 right now.

They do a sick job of editing and having high production value for their broadcasts on YouTube - I just can't get into the sport. Doesn't help that I'm terrible at it.

Just doesn’t seem right to play frisbee golf unless you’re under 18 and baked.

La Mirada Regional Park forever!

frolf is fun

What type of purses do these things have?

The big events usually give a couple thousand to the winner, maybe as much as $5,000 for the majors. The top pros have made about $40,000 to $50,000 in earnings per year in recent years. I have no idea what kind of money they make in sponsorships.

In other words, not big money. There's players out there who are good enough to tour nationally, but the money isn't good enough for them to do so. Probably only 40-50 guys travel extensively.

At some point, I firmly believe some TV network will give disc golf a shot. Then the money may get bigger.

As someone mentioned, the JomezPro Youtube coverage is pretty great. SpinTV, Central Coast Disk Golf and a couple others do well, too.

I was entertained by this.

The Foundation Disc Golf guys have other pretty entertaining/funny videos (some with McBeth) on Youtube.

Handmade knitted hemp.

Austin has a disc course inside Zilker Park that has a few holes than run next to the street. One day I was driving by and saw my buddy Doug playing with some other people that I didn't know. Most of them had long hair. So I stopped my car got out and yelled

"Get a job you ****ing hippies".

A couple of the guys in his group dropped their **** and started walking angrily towards my car. I got in and drove off. Doug said he couldn't stop laughing the rest of the round, and a couple of guys in the group were pissed the rest of the round.

Of course they were upset, because they were hipsters not hippies.

I must admit, I did get recommended a video on YouTube and ended up watching 5 or 6 back to back.

Brodie Smith's Youtube videos chronicling his just starting out in disc golf are pretty good. It says something about how difficult the sport is at the top levels, that a four-time Ultimate world champion isn't making the transition look like a total breeze (although he's still worlds better than most players already). My guess is he's about a 925 rating, which is good recreationally but would get eaten alive in A-tier tournaments. I'm very curious to see how long it takes him to get to 1000 (I believe he will get there, but it probably won't be in one year).

i lol'd

Turns out Paul McBeth will play this weekend's Wintertime Open.

Central Coast Disc Golf is once again doing the next-day videos, so look for those Saturday through Monday on Youtube.

McBeth is a big favorite but will almost certainly not be 100 percent. Other significant names are defending champion Adam Hammes, Garrett Gurthie, Cale Leiviska, Austin Hannum, Seppo Paju, Philo Braithwaite and Nate Perkins.

I've got Brodie as 1000 rated by the end of the year. He's got good distance already and McBeth can teach him the rest.

Wintertime Open videos by Central Coast.

So much for the questions about McBeth's ankle. He absolutely shredded this tournament, to the tune of a 1063 rating. I'm impressed by Philo Braithwaite, he's a long-time pro best known for this insane albatross shot. He won the A-tier event in Thailand and now ties for second with Adam Hammes on his home course here. Good stuff from him.

Next up is this weekend's Las Vegas Challenge, which is on a more open, long ball golf course that rewards big bombers. McBeth isn't playing. Guys like Calvin Heimburg, Garrett Gurthie, Simon Lizotte, Seppo Paju and even Nikko Locastro should love letting rip here. Ricky Wysocki will play for the first time since getting Lyme's Disease.

Brodie Smith's latest Youtube videos (playing at Oak Grove) have me thinking he may very well get to/above 1000 by the end of the year, as well.

Nate Sexton (2018 USDGC winner, fantastic commentator on most JomezPro videos and the Champs vs. Chumps series Central Coast does) fired a 1072-rated round of 13-under to lead in Las Vegas after the first round. He's not the guy one would expect to shoot that number on a bombers course. Heimburg, Alex Russell and two guys I've never heard of are at -11. Lizotte and Braithwaite are at -10. Gurthie, Wysocki and Emerson Keith are at -9.

Riding the struggle bus (copywright Brodie Smith) are Kevin Jones (-5, which isn't terrible but under 1000-rated) and Seppo Paju (-1, way way worse than I would have expected from him).

There's a lot more Las Vegas Challenge coverage on Youtube than I knew about beforehand, so I'm not going to post everything here. Thediscgolfguy has women's pro coverage, GK Productions has posted a first-round card and Central Coast will probably post the first-round feature card within the next couple hours.

I didn't realize until checking today's second-round scores that they played a different course today. Apparently it's more difficult than Thursday's layout.

Nate Sexton is still smashing, shooting a 1063-rated 9-under to lead by three at -24. The hot rounds were 1071-rated 10-under efforts by Garrett Gurthie (alone in second) and Kevin Jones, who moved all the way up into a tie for ninth at -17 and within striking range.

Ricky Wysocki (9-under for the round) and relative unknown Tristan Tanner (8-under for the round) are tied for third at -20 and will join Sexton and Gurthie on Saturday's third-round lead card.

Saturday's chase card of Emerson Keith, Sias Elmore, Philo Braithwaite and Calvin Heimburg should be a great one. They are all at -18 after two strong rounds by each of them, and will look to make a move.

Alex Russell and Simon Lizotte were Friday's main riders of the struggle bus, each shooting only 2-under rounds. Russell is at -15, Lizotte at -14.

This is from the first round. Didn't realize it until I watched this, but Nate Sexton actually went -10 on the front nine. Don't see that too often (I know Paul McBeth did it on one of his "perfect" rounds).

This isn't disc golf but I like Brodie's golf videos

Third-round update:

Nate Sexton shot a 9-under 53 (1042-rated) on the third different course used in the tournament to stay in the lead by one. That actually tied for the worst round among the top five on the leaderboard heading into the final round.

In other words, a bunch of guys brought their A game.

Garrett Gurthie shot an 11-under 51 (1059-rated) to move up into second at 32-under. Tristan Tanner is impressing me by remaining in contention, as the fourth-year pro shot a 10-under 52 to sit alone in third at -30. Eric Oakley gets the final spot on the final round lead card after shooting the hot round Saturday, a 13-under 49 (1076-rated) that got him to -29. Ricky Wysocki also sits at -29 after shooting a 9-under 53 and will try to rally to victory from the chase card.

If Kevin Jones hadn't struggled in the first round, he would probably be in the lead. He shot a 51 on Saturday and is now in contention at -28, having shot -23 over the last two rounds. Calvin Heimburg shot a 53 and is at -27 (and on the chase card), Philo Braithwaite is at -26 after a 54, Simon Lizotte fired a nice 51 to get to -25, and Emerson Keith also is at -25 after a 55 that I'm sure he's a bit disappointed by.

I think we will get fireworks in the final round. A chase card with Wysocki, Jones and Heimburg on it is terrifying. The odds are either Sexton or Gurthie will pull it out, but anything can happen here.

I just realized I screwed up my second round report. For some reason I thought Sexton shot -15 in the first round when writing that. So all the second-round scores I gave were two shots better (to par) than I wrote. Sorry about that.

Speaking of the second round, that happened.