Tag: Geography

The Sociology of Disc Golf? Yep, that’s a Thing

by Parked, posted in Culture, Gender, Race/Ethnicity

Josh Woods ~

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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” →

UDisc Blog “Release Point” Doesn’t Disappoint

by Parked, posted in Opinion

By Josh Woods ~

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UDisc launched its blog Release Point in summer 2018 and began publishing articles regularly just two months ago. Drawing on unique data from UDisc app users and offering compelling commentary, Release Point is providing new insight on disc golf courses, communities and culture.

Continue reading “UDisc Blog “Release Point” Doesn’t Disappoint” →

A Demographic Portrait of Disc Golf Land

by Parked, posted in Gender, Race/Ethnicity

Results from the 2017 Parked Facebook Study – Part 1.

By Josh Woods, PhD ~Cover art

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” →

What We Know and Don’t Know about Disc Golf

by Parked, posted in Grow the Sport

A new method for studying the sport

By Josh Woods ~

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I’m not a fan of phrases like “close, but no cigar” and “close only counts in horseshoes.”

They make it sound like close is a bad thing. As if anything short of first place, anything other than perfection, anything besides certainty is a grave defeat.

Even Reese Bobby’s celebrated absurdity – “If you ain’t first, you’re last” – was debunked by Reese himself at the end of Talladega Nights.

Black-and-white thinking doesn’t work well as a sports mentality, and it’s even worse for science. Scientific research never leads us out of the grey, not entirely. At best, we merely increase our confidence in fundamentally questionable propositions. Continue reading “What We Know and Don’t Know about Disc Golf” →

Why Do People Play Disc Golf?

by Parked, posted in Gender, Race/Ethnicity

A brief look into the psychology and sociology of disc golf.

By Josh Woods ~

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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?” →