In 2022, disc golf entered a new phase of growth. To put the current state of play into perspective, let's borrow an analogy from another athletic pursuit: running.

In 2020 and 2021, disc golf was a sprinter surging out of the blocks. Today, it's training for a marathon.

And how do you train for a marathon? By pounding the pavement and laying down the foundation. By putting in the time and discipline. And by transforming from speedy to sustainable.

This year's Disc Golf Growth Report shows how the sport is doing just that, with key facts and figures on courses, players, and other industry trends that show it's primed for the long haul.

More people than ever are playing disc golf

Busy courses aren't just a rumor: The number of people using UDisc and the number of unique UDisc account holders who scored a round in 2022 both increased by 10% over 2021's figures.

• ⬆️ 1.2 million disc golfers used UDisc in 2022.
• 📈 548,000 of them scored at least one round.
• 🥏 19 million rounds were scored with the app last year.
• 📅 56% of UDisc players score at least one round a month.

While the total number of people using UDisc to find courses and keep score is up, the average number of rounds scored per person dropped slightly – an expected development as some people returned to the office or other activities.

Yes, but: We’re still seeing rates well above pre-pandemic levels – 19 million rounds is a heck of a lot of disc golf being played.

90% of disc golf courses

are free to play

This rate has remained relatively steady since 2020. Even as costs have skyrocketed for households worldwide, disc golf remains a reliable source of low-cost, high-value recreation due to the overwhelming majority of venues not requiring greens fees or membership dues. Outside of a modest increase in equipment prices, access remains resistant to inflation.

• 🏆 However, the world's best courses tend to be pay-to-play. 

• ⛳ Golf courses also continue to add disc golf as an attractive source of revenue.

If you're not as close to a course as you’d like, why not get to work building one yourself? That's how the world's best free disc golf course, Faylor Lake DiscGolfPark, came to be in 2021.

Lee Zimmerman had played disc golf a handful of times since finding the sport in 2014, but with the closest course an hour away from his home in Central Pennsylvania he was mostly relegated to throwing discs in the yard for practice.

In 2020, he moved to Beaver Springs and found himself two miles from Faylor Lake, a gorgeous 750-acre recreation area bursting with natural beauty. Seeing an opportunity to get a course near him, he connected with his county's commissioners, which set off a chain of events that includes:

• ❌ A failed contest entry
• 🤑 A $500 gamble
• 🦅 A bald eagle

Featuring both an accessible red layout and a demanding championship-level configuration, Faylor Lake has quickly gained a positive reputation as a not-so-hidden gem and vaulted into the list of 20 best courses in the world.

• Players from 40 states visited the course in 2022, demonstrating that the build accomplished the county's goal of driving tourism to the region.

The full origin story of Pennsylvania's best course is a must-read. Check it out at UDisc's Release Point blog.

The number of courses at schools and universities

grew by 20%

It's a testament to the fact that disc golf is a lifelong activity. The sport is regularly being added to P.E. curricula, and a growing university club scene provides an outlet for competition and community among young adults.

Public parks are still the lifeblood of the sport – you can find a disc golf course in more than 5,400 parks around the world. But there are several other venues where you'll find baskets, too. Here's a non-exhaustive breakdown from UDisc's course directory:

• 🌳 Public parks: 5,425
• 🎓 Schools/universities: 1,558
• ⛺ Camps: 673
• ⛳ Golf courses: 442
• ⛷️ Ski areas: 379
• 🛐 Places of worship: 376
• 🛏️ Hotels: 321
• 🪖 Military facilities: 161
• 🍺 Breweries/wineries: 107

Norway no longer has the world's most popular course

– here's why that's important

Ekeberg Frisbeegolfbane in Oslo regularly ranks in the top 10 for busiest courses in the world, and in 2020 and 2021 was the most popular place to score a round.

In disc golf, though, winning the popularity contest isn't always ideal. More traffic on the course means longer wait times, and while it's easily accessible to Oslo's 634,000 residents, Ekeberg needed help.

Oslo disc golfers have answered.

• 10 new courses have been installed within 25 miles of the capital city since 2021.
• That doesn't include a handful of shorter school courses.

The result? Ekeberg was knocked off the top of the most-played podium in 2022, coming in at number three in the world (behind Valbyparken Disc Golf in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Morley Field in San Diego, California). That's one contest Norwegians are, more than likely, quite happy to lose.

This is just a localized example of how organizers in Norway have worked to satisfy the explosive demand for disc golf. More players has meant they need more courses, and the Northern European country has been a shining example of how to grow the sport, quietly outpacing Sweden and Finland.

Leiv Aspén, a prominent Norwegian organizer and event director who is helping run this year's national championship (among several other tournaments), attributed the growth to increased interest in local disc golf clubs. He estimated there are upwards of 120 in the country, with overall membership jumping more than 200% since 2019.

• Clubs have also started to focus on youth outreach, which has helped further professionalize disc golf's image and demonstrate it is accessible to more people.

• Communication between clubs and municipalities has been enhanced, as has organized training and media outreach.

All of that has made it easier to explain and sell the sport.

• "Before, I was the weirdo for liking disc golf. Now I'm the cool guy," Aspén joked.

• When he's seeking new partners, they now know what the sport is: "I don't hear 'disco golf, what's that?' Now they know it because they are out playing with their friends and co-workers."

Pandemic players are more than pandemic players –

they are disc golfers

The influx of new participants in 2020 and 2021 found disc golf manufacturers scaling up their production to meet unprecedented demand. Courses were packed, so organizers lobbied their cities for more. Tournaments filled in record time.

All of the positivity, though, was accompanied by serious concern from the disc golf industry.

• 🤷 What if these new players don't stick around? What if, when the world "opens back up," they all go back to the hobbies they had before, leaving disc golf to pick up the pieces?

Based on play with UDisc, this new audience is sticking around.

• Looking at two years after their first UDisc round, players who started in 2020 continued playing at a higher rate than those who started in 2017.

• Players who started in 2020 and 2021 reported in an October 2022 survey that they are just as enthusiastic about disc golf as players who found the sport before the pandemic.

Among the players who came on board during the height of the pandemic is Katie Abrahamson, a former ultimate player from Fort Collins, Colorado. A dedicated competitor since her sophomore year in college, Abrahamson met her husband through the sport and had made the roster for the Utah Wild, a professional women's team in the Western Ultimate League.

• "We originally had the mindset of, 'We're not gonna play disc golf,'" Abrahamson said.

Then the pandemic shutdowns put the WUL on hold and she and her husband found themselves living in a new apartment that butted up to Edora Park, Fort Collins' most popular course.

That gave them the push to try the sport, and they were both smitten.

• 🔓 "You unlock different levels at certain times, and that's what kind of hooks you in," Abrahamson said. "We've been playing and learning since then."

One of the advantages disc golf has over ultimate and other team sports? You don't need 10 other people to get a round started.

• "It's way easier to coordinate in terms of who you're gonna play with – you just put your bag in the car and say, 'Hey, meet me at the park at 2,'" Abrahamson said. "You can go by yourself at lunch during your workday. You can practice by yourself and get different pieces of your game involved by yourself. But it is fun to play with a group."

Disc golfers spent

32.6 million hours on the course

in 2022

That's like watching the year's top-grossing film at the box office, Avatar: The Way of Water, a staggering 10.2 million times. Get your popcorn.

• ☝️ Keep in mind: This is just among players on UDisc.

Why does time spent on the course matter? It demonstrates that disc golf can provide valuable recreation hours to a community.

• When it's time to fund a new project, municipalities aren't just worried about the bang for their buck. They also want to know their citizens will be well-served. 

• A single tennis court or pickleball court can only support 4 players at a time. A disc golf course can have that many people on a single hole, meaning more than 70 people can enjoy an 18-hole facility at a time.

• With a round at an average 18-hole course on UDisc taking only 1 hour and 54 minutes to play, that means more throughput – especially during the long days of summer – and more people in your community who will benefit.

📖 Go deeper: Validate disc golf by showing how many people a course can serve

Ben Smith, a course designer and tournament director in Prince Edward Island, Canada, said that demonstrating "constant usage" is crucial to convincing local stakeholders to invest in the sport.

• "Use per week or use per month – that's the one stat we use most," Smith said. "There's not a lot of things in Canada where you can show 12-month outdoor play."

• 💰This stat doesn't hurt, either: The Canadian National Championships that Smith and his team ran on PEI in 2022 brought in $425,000 for the local economy in just one week.

Disc golf is

still growing

Sure, it’s likely the sport won’t ever experience another sprint like it did in 2020 and 2021. But instead of coasting to the water cooler, it’s crucial to continue building on the momentum to keep disc golf on the steady upward trajectory it was riding prior to this recent surge in interest. After all, that’s how this accessible, affordable pastime will be able to make its way into more parks and schools, more cities and countries.

It's how we'll finish the marathon – and then move on to ultras.

Thankfully, the Disc Golf Growth Report shows the bones are well in place for the sport to do just that. Organizers are fueling the boom, with more courses going in the ground every day, while the player base remains enthusiastic to bring new players into the fold and stick around for the long term. That's when they start to forge out on their own, exploring new areas and spreading the sport's roots around the world.

• Want to help? Be part of the 90% of players who share the love of disc golf with someone else. Download the fact sheet and share it with your community.

Indeed, disc golf is thriving, but we can aim higher. Nearly every town supports golf courses, tennis courts, football fields, and pickleball courts. In 2023, let’s work toward a future where every city can also add disc golf to that list.

👀 Get a closer look: Zoom in to see where disc golf is in your area – and where it can go.

Sources

The vast majority of the statistics in this report were derived from UDisc's course directory, scoring records, surveys, and interviews. Other information came from the following sources:

• NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
• Tennis Industry Association
• National Golf Foundation
• USA Pickleball
• Dunkin'