On the first Saturday in August, sports enthusiasts around the country celebrate National Disc Golf Day. With more than 10,000 courses spread across the country, there are plenty of places to join in the fun.
Most disc golf courses are on public land in parks and forests, and everyone is welcome to try their hand at the game. Players launch a disc from a tee area and try to land it in a hanging basket “hole” in as few throws as possible. With trees, shrubs, ponds, rivers and even dramatic elevation variations along the way, this is no simple task.
While traditional golfers tote heavy bags of expensive clubs, disc golfers gear up with discs designed for different throws and conditions. Professionals carry a variety of discs, but the sport only takes one disc for basic play.
“It’s pretty cheap to get into,” says Paul Stiller, founder of Caliber Disc Golf Course in Idaho. “A lot of places are free to play. You can pick up a disc for about $8, and you’re off and going and having fun in the park and getting exercise.”
Keith Lionetti, co-founder of Kayak Point Disc Golf Resort in Washington, says it’s all about accessibility.
“It’s fairly easy to pick up, and if not, we give lessons,” he says. “If you’ve thrown a Frisbee, you can play disc golf.”
For many players, the sport becomes a healthy addiction.
“You can get into it,” Keith says. “You can challenge yourself, whether it’s the actual course and the disc itself, or competing and socializing with others. And you’re outside. It’s got all the good things.”
Keith was reluctant to try the sport.
“I thought it was kind of weird at first,” he says. “I was—and am still—kind of an introvert.”
Finally, he thought, “You know what, I’m going to try this.”
A friend took him out to play a round, and Keith was hooked.
“I just fell in love with it,” he says. “It’s something cool to do to get out and walk around and try to throw a disk of plastic at shiny things.”
The History
Though some say similar games were played as early as the 1920s in Canada, the sport as it’s known today took flight in 1975, thanks to the father of disc golf, former Wham-O Vice President Ed Headrick.
Working in the toy business, Ed saw endless potential for flying discs. As a guest on “The Tonight Show” he introduced Johnny Carson to the Frisbee and played catch with Ed McMahon. He explained the toy was inspired by Princeton students who tossed around lids from the Frisbie Pie Company’s cookie jars.
Ed is credited with refining the Frisbee for competitive play, inventing the target baskets still used today and installing the first standardized disc golf course. He also trademarked the name disc golf and formed the Disc Golf Association and the Professional Disc Golf Association.
The sport meant so much to Ed that after he died in 2002, his family carried out his wishes and had his ashes incorporated into a limited-edition press of 4,000 Discraft flying discs. Most of the discs were given to friends and family, but some were sold to benefit a nonprofit memorial museum.
Disc Golf Today
The sport Ed launched continues to grow with courses popping up all over the world.
The Pacific Northwest, West Coast and Intermountain West are home to some of the highest-rated courses on the planet. Paul’s course, Caliber Disc Golf Course, was ranked fifth in the world on the 2025 list by disc golfer app UDisc. It ranked in the top eight each of the last four years. The top three courses on the list are in Norway, Sweden and Finland, where Paul says the sport is revered.
“When I invest in my course it’s tens of thousands,” he says. “When they invest it’s hundreds of thousands or millions.”
Other regional courses to make the top 100 include BuckSnort in Pine, Colorado, which came in at 16. Beaver Ranch Disc Golf Course in Conifer, Colorado, ranked 20th; and Bear Mountain in Bailey, Colorado, at 32. One of Keith’s courses, the up-and-coming Kayak Point Disc Golf Resort Red Course, made the list at 53.
Others in the region to crack the top 100 include Wilderness Ranch in Show Low, Arizona, 73; Milo McIver (East) in Estacada, Oregon, 85; DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course in Santa Cruz, California, 88; Base Camp Adventure in Moab, Utah, 91; Whistler’s Bend in Roseburg, Oregon, 93; and Makoshika State Park-Buccaneer Flats in Glendive, Montana, 98.
Many of the highest ranked players in the world hail from the area, too. Women from the region breaking into the top 20 in the world include Ohh Scaggins, of Los Angeles, who is ranked No. 4; Ella Hansen, of Seattle, at fifth; Hanna Huynh, of Spokane, Washington, at 12th; and Jessica Weese, of Grass Valley, California at 20th.
On the men’s side, Anthony Barela, of Scottsdale, Arizona, is ranked No. 2. Anthony broke into the professional ranks as a 17-year-old playing alongside his idols in the Beaver State Fling. Richard Wysocki, also of Scottsdale, is ranked fourth; and Eagle McMahon, of Boulder, Colorado, is 16th.
Turning Pro
But can you make a living playing disc golf?
“This is what’s crazy,” Keith says. “Nowadays you can. There are players that that’s all they do, and they make a decent living.”
Paul says some are making big money.
“There’s guys who sign contracts for five years, $5 million; 10 years, $10 million, and that’s not even other sponsorships,” he says. “That’s just to throw discs for those companies. And then you get the shoes, and you get the clothes, and you go win the tournaments. It’s growing. Someday we’ll be as popular as bowling, and guys will be making $40,000 or $50,000 a win. But they’re working up into the $20,000 and $30,000 range, which is good compared to 10 years ago when it was $1,200.
“If you are a top player, and you can excel, there’s definitely a future for you,” Keith says. “The challenge is, that field is very competitive.”
To be competitive, Keith says core muscle building and practice are helpful.
“But you don’t need a lot of muscle tone,” he says. “Size isn’t necessarily a factor,” he points out.
One of the best women in the world, he says, is maybe 5 feet tall and 100 pounds and able to outplay men who tower over her.
Keith says luck is part of the play, but only to a point.
“To be consistently good you’ve got to work at it or just be a natural,” he says. “Some people are just naturals. It’s incredible how the younger generations just keep getting better and better.”
A Disc Golf Lover’s Dream
Course owners tee up challenges for players
Kayak Point Disc Golf Resort in Stanwood, Washington, was a dream project years in the making. Co-founder Keith Lionetti ran a pro shop inside a public park for 15 years. As the sport grew, so did the number of visitors to the park.
“Every summer, the crowds kept getting bigger,” he says.
He longed for a dedicated space “out in the middle of nowhere.”
“I had been bugging the parks department,” Keith says. “Just one property, one disc golf course, didn’t matter if it was nine holes, doesn’t have to be 18 holes, could have been three holes, 1 acre, didn’t matter. I just kept bugging them.”
The local tourism bureau pushed, too, hoping to draw visitors to the area. Keith was scoping out another property when the county approached him about Kayak Point.
The 300 acres Kayak Point operates on was bought in the early ’70s by the Recreational Conservation Organization out of Olympia, Washington, and turned over to Snohomish County Parks & Recreation with the stipulation the land be used for golf.
For years it was used for “ball golf,” as Keith calls it.
“You know I’m a total disc golf nerd if I call it ball golf, right?” he jokingly asks.
With the traditional golf course operators struggling and the land overgrown, the parks and rec department considered tearing down buildings on the property.
“But the reality is it can’t be used for anything other than golf,” Keith says. “We were sweating bullets thinking, ‘Do you consider disc golf golf?’ And they did.”
That was in 2020. Since then, Keith and his team, including co-owner Eric Edgerton, built the course into a destination that ranks 20th in the country with a restaurant, pro shop and education building. Kayak Point’s courses routinely occupy three of the top five spots on the udisc.com top course list for Washington.
Kayak Point offers a mix of challenging courses for players of all skill levels. The Purple Course, catered to true beginners, is built on the bones of an old putting course with natural obstacles, ponds and even a lazy river along the way. The 18 holes wrap around the clubhouse and are free to play.
“My kids play it and have played it since they were 5,” says Keith, whose children are now 11 and 17. “If you’re a top touring pro, you could try to get an ace on every hole. It’s still not easy.”
The driving range, with its practice baskets, is also open for free use during hours of operation.
Tee times and passes are required to access the remaining courses. The Green Course caters to novice players, the Red Course and soon-to-be completed White Course are intermediate, the Blue Course is advanced, and the Gold Course is designed for professionals.
An Idyllic Course in Idaho
Idaho’s Caliber Disc Golf Course and founder Paul Stiller’s new 18-hole course, Motherlode Disc Golf Course, are unique in that they’re built on private land, which eliminates some of the risks of developing on loaned or leased land.
“You know the story of disc golf is you get some land, a bunch of guys get together, they build a course, and then the piece of land gets taken away either by the county or the city or the donor of the land,” Paul says. “So, the only way to really go for it is to own your own property and do it. I just turned myself loose and said, ‘OK, honey, this is the last cockamamie idea I’ll have, but it’s going to work.’”
And it did work if Caliber’s ranking as the fifth-best course in the world is any indication.
Paul says his wife and three children have been supportive, even though he literally never leaves work. Neither do they—the family lives there in a house he’s thinking of turning into a clubhouse.
“It has views looking at five or six disc golf holes,” Paul says. “So, when you have tournaments it’s pretty big fun.”
Getting the course open each spring is challenging with all the tree litter cleanup. After it’s open, Paul says maintaining it is easier. In fact, he even gets a chance to play a few rounds a week.
Growing up in Ohio, Paul played traditional golf. He picked up disc golf in 1986 and played in Alaska, Oregon and Idaho. He doesn’t see much of a rivalry between ball and disc golfers. He knows others who play both sports, but most people pick one.
“I know disc golfers who are like, ‘Nah, I’m never going to swing a club,’ and I know golfers who would never stoop so low as to throw a disc,” he says. “But we get a lot of converts because golf is tough.”
So is disc golf, Paul adds, but he’s having fun.
“I never knew I was going to be doing this 10 years ago,” he says. “But I couldn’t see it any other way now. You know how sometimes you get a curveball, and you just have to go with it.”