Abstract
Disc golf has, proportionally speaking, grown tremendously in the past decade. Like many other sports and activities, disc golf provides its participants with the means to belong to a social group and take part in regular social interactions. This thesis examines disc golfer’s current issues, subculture, and identity through the sport. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the sport of disc golf, current trends, and subculture. This study seeks to add to relevant literature about the sport. For this study, disc golfers who competed in the NorCal Series Championship Tournament on October 20-21, 2012 were asked to answer questions on a survey related to current trends in the sport of disc golf. The results of the survey were totaled in order to identify current issues and themes in disc golf. The questions on the survey were developed by the researcher based on his experiences and observations of disc golf over the past 10 years. The original purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the issues facing the sport of disc golf, current trends, and subculture. However, the results of this study were more descriptive of the experiences of one group of disc golf players during a tournament in October, 2012. Sources of Data The literature cited in this thesis contains a variety of peer-reviewed journals as sources of information. In addition, books, magazines, and a variety of web-related sources were used to provide secondary support to the literature. This survey was descriptive of a group of disc golf tournament players in October, 2012. Many of the findings of this study were consistent with my observations of disc golf. According to this study, most disc golfers were white males. They enjoyed disc golf for its many benefits. Participants struggled to define a subculture within disc golf. Alcohol and drug use was common place in the sport. Participants were relatively new to the sport. They played often. Courses were perceived to be very crowded. Disc golfers in this study spent a great deal of money participating in the sport. They played tournaments often. They were willing to pay to play local courses and travel to diversify their disc golf experiences. Overall, the participants in this study were found to be very committed to the sport of disc golf, saw continued growth in the sport, and enjoyed the sport for its many physical and social benefits.