We are the podcast that gets you caught up with Disc Golf News and growth in about 10 minutes, saving you time and effort. If you want to dive deeper into any story, links are in the show notes. Today we talk about PDGA growth and the Pro Tour standings, but first the news. Our first story today, the US Army Corps of Engineers grows Disc Golf. This comes to us from the UDisc blog release point. The US Army Corps of Engineers is known for managing dams and military infrastructure, but they also focus on environmental stewardship, sustainability, and recreation. The Corps manages park-like areas offering activities like camping, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and now, Disc Golf. Recognizing the potential for Disc Golf, they've installed courses nationwide to attract more visitors. Why are Army Corps of Engineers sites perfect for Disc Golf? They feature stunning views, water, elevation changes, and diverse terrains ideal for Disc Golf, along with amenities like parking and restrooms. Super important. The Kooky Nusa Disc Golf Course in Montana's Seuss Gulch, my apologies on pronunciation, might be sous, but I doubt it, offers a scenic, challenging hike without crowds. Scott Graham, a park ranger at Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania, notes that while the Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency, it has unique missions per site. Their properties combine natural beauty, infrastructure, and dedicated rangers focused on recreation. In 2008, Kyle Brookard, a natural resources manager with the Corps, aimed to attract new visitors to Perry Lake Project in Kansas. Despite not being a Disc Golfer, he saw the potential our sport had for their park. Brookard found that Perry Lake's cool topography and mature timber made it perfect for Disc Golf. With approval from his supervisor, he dedicated personal countless hours to prepare the property. Focusing on environment of stewardship, by selectively clearing dead trees and brush. Collaborating with a local club, Brookard designed the Longview Disc Golf Course which features multiple baskets per hole, dedicated to different skill levels. After transferring to Clinton Lake, Brookard quickly installed Bloomington Disc Golf Course. The popularity of both courses is evident in Udisc's play summaries. One thing that sets Disc Golf apart from many other recreational activities is the wide variety of landscapes in which we can play. Popular Disc Golf courses have been built on Christmas tree farms, ski slopes, breweries, even in abandoned towns. We can play anywhere. This is a Brookard says, "The variability of Disc Golf was really appealing. It could provide a new outlet for existing campers, is accessible to a wide range age range, and will hopefully draw in a new demographic of visitors as well." And he means visitors to the Army Corps lands. Every US Army Corps of Engineers project has different priorities. No single approach is optimal at every site, but at every site there is an optimal approach. As with any community based project, it is essential to meet and talk with the right people, the most important contacts to make, and impress are the Army Corps of Engineers Properties Recreation Manager. That is the person you should ask for. If your local Army Corps of Engineers project site is agreeable to a course, funding is often the biggest secondary hurdle, but also something that the Army Corps of Engineers can frequently help with. "Handshake partnerships is good verbiage for clubs and builders to use when they approach a lead ranger or project manager." This past year, six out of eight applicants were provided, "Handshake funding. We are trying to educate and encourage more sites and users to apply for handshake funding. It is a huge jumping off point to get a project started. Find out what the mission of your local US Army Corps is and see how Disc Golf can fit into that mission. They may be able to give your local group of Disc Golf for some starting money to get a course in the ground. Building more courses is the easiest way to grow the sport at the grassroots level. Thank you, you Disc, and Release Point for giving us another outlet in which to build courses. Our number two news story, Disc Golf, the perfect spur of the moment sport. This comes to us from Green Splatter. They've got a really fun article with yet another reason Disc Golf beats our older brother traditional golf. They don't take it that far, but it would definitely happen and being able to take a couple hours out of your day pretty much any day and go play makes Disc Golf so much better than ball golf. The Disc Golf bag is pretty much always ready to go. The water bottle fills up really fast. You can invite friends or even cool strangers via Pure to join you, but if no one does, a solo round is still a great way to enjoy the outdoors. Lucas closes with the following quote, "Our sport is the epitome of spur of the moment. It's brilliant." Well said Lucas and to everybody else, get out there and enjoy. All right, on to PDGA growth and who's on top of the Pro Tour standings. All right, we will start with PDGA approvals. At this point in 2023, there had been 177 baskets and/or discs approved. At this point in 2024, 129, a drop of 27%. That is not as bad as it seems. It used to be 50% and then 40 and 30. Now we're down to 27. The way we're trending, this number should end up between 20 to 25% down by the end of the year. PDGA event growth. At this point in 2023, we'd had 5,895 tournaments. In 2024, we've had 5,987 tournaments and we're in July. We're in early July. That is crazy. We're one and a half percent above last year's rate. However, the number of PDGA rounds played this year has actually fallen off by about 8% even with the more tournaments. So overall, bad news for attendance at PDGA events. With PDGA membership so far, this number keeps slipping. I'm afraid we might end up about 5% below flat from last year. We're headed towards 131,276 members at the end of the year, which would represent a 4.18% drop in overall membership of the PDGA. Where is that happening? It is happening primarily in estimated member retention. Our goal would be 83.5%. We are trending just below 80% and that is where we're losing most of our PDGA membership and why the PDGA is currently doing a COVID reset. All right, now let's talk about pro-tour standings. Ganon Burr remains on top heading into the European swing. He's at 9.40. Nikki Wysocki is at 8.40. Anthony Burella with the win at Des Moines jumps up to 3rd. He is at 8.26. A full point ahead of Nicholas Antela who is at 8.25. Calvin Heimberg, 7.67, followed by Kyle Klein, Ezra Robinson, Matt Orem, Gavin Rathbun and Isaac Robinson. And those are your top 10 men in the pro-tour standings. Jumping over to the women's side, we all know how close this has been. It maintains that closeness, if that's a word. Missy Ganon, 10.47, Owen Scoggins, 10.43, Holland Handley, 10.28, Evelina Solomon, 10.25, Ella Hanson, 8.52. Those top four are basically neck and neck. Natalie Ryan, Kristen Tatar, Rebecca Cox, Henna Blomruce and Hady Lina, round out the top 10. That does it for us today. We hope you have a great day. If you have any thoughts, news or opinions, shoot us an email, discoffdaily@aol.com. Have fun, throw them straight and hit the thin gap. [MUSIC PLAYING]
