By Kari Toivonen ~
The European Open was held in Nokia, Finland a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic battle between the best players in the world, but the comeback victory of Paul McBeth was not the only thing that made people gasp. Continue reading “Now it is Official – Disc Golf is Enormously Popular in Finland”
Is Disc Golf a Business or a Social Movement?
Josh Woods ~
How do small sports become big ones?
When answering this question, most commentators point to the economics of sports and media. Sports grow when major media outlets pay attention to them. Increased media coverage attracts more participants and consumers, which entice even bigger media companies and corporate sponsors, which then foster stronger sport institutions. Continue reading “Disc Golf’s Two Paths Forward”
Josh Woods ~
I am terrible at cocktail parties. I rarely say the right thing when meeting new people.
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not someone who looks down on small talk. I can chat about sports, the weather and Caribbean vacations all day long.
The problem is, when encountering strangers, the topics of careers and hobbies invariably arise.
“What keeps you busy?” Someone might ask.
For me, there’s really no way to answer this question truthfully without staring into a blank, confused face. Continue reading “The Sociology of Disc Golf? Yep, that’s a Thing”
By Josh Woods ~
One of my best friends almost died from a disc-golf addiction.
He and I had recently discovered disc golf and were still in the honeymoon stage. Some days we’d play three rounds in the high hills of West Virginia under the hot summer sun.
Old men trying to relive their childhoods rarely ends well. This was no exception. Continue reading “Who Gets Hooked? The Demographics of Disc Golf Involvement”
Six examples of gender bias on the disc golf course.
By Josh Woods, PhD ~
The M in MPO stands for “male,” right?
MPO is an abbreviation for “male pro open,” a PDGA tournament division for professional male disc golfers. I walked around with this idea for months. Walked around knowing, without question, what the M means.
Of course, I was wrong. The M stands for “mixed,” not male. Both men and women can compete in a PDGA division that has M in the code. There is no men’s division in disc golf. Continue reading “Gender Divides in the Language of Disc Golf”
Results from the 2017 Parked Facebook Study – Part 1.
By Josh Woods, PhD ~
In early 2017, we collected the first large-scale random sample of disc golfers and estimated the size and characteristics of the organized disc golfer population in the United States. The results discussed in this post will appear in the International Journal of Sport Communication early next year.
If you haven’t read my last two posts, consider taking a look at the theory behind this study and the method we used to explore it before plunging into the findings below. Continue reading “A Demographic Portrait of Disc Golf Land”
A brief look into the psychology and sociology of disc golf.
By Josh Woods ~
The other day my seven-year-old daughter asked me, “Why do people get married?”
I gazed into her curious brown eyes, knowing that my answer would not satisfy her. “Because they want to,” I said.
“Why do they want to?” She chirped, of course.
“Because it makes them happy,” I said.
“Why does it make them happy?”
I tried to explain that people get married for different reasons, that not everyone wants to, and that the reasons for getting married usually depend on where people live, when they live, and what the people around them think about marriage.
“I’m going to be a zombie bride for Halloween,” she said. And that was that. Continue reading “Why Do People Play Disc Golf?”
By Josh Woods ~
I have a confession. It’s terrible. I’m not kidding. It’s really bad. But here goes: At times, I’m a lazy, uninformed voter.
For one reason or another, I almost always make it to the voting booth, even for most local elections. But I rarely feel optimally educated on the candidates before casting my votes. Yep, I’m that annoying guy who’s holding up the voting line, because he’s doing last-minute research on his cell phone.
But, with the 2018 PDGA board elections coming this July, I thought I’d part ways with habit and start my research early. Continue reading “31 Interesting Things about the 2018 PDGA Board Elections”
Women represent an underserved group in the disc golfer population. Per the PDGA, between 1999 and 2015, the share of women among PDGA members has stayed within a range of 6.9 percent to 7.7 percent. A few surveys drawn from PDGA-centric populations have reported similar or lower estimates of the number of women who play disc golf. Continue reading “Women, Men and Disc Golf: An interview with Valarie Jenkins”
The work of coordinating a local disc golf league is difficult, time consuming, potentially frustrating, and breathtakingly unprofitable. For this reason, the idea of organizing not one, but several leagues across four states seems bold, forward-thinking and, yes, a little crazy. Continue reading “Women’s disc golf network takes root in Wisconsin: An interview with Jenny San Filippo”
Parked 