The following excerpt comes from an article published on ESPN.com nearly 1 year ago. We are sharing it for those who missed it because it offers great exposure and shows that the media giants, like ESPN, are paying attention.

Disc golf has a pro tour, and momentum

Jack McCluskey

LEICESTER, Mass. — In many ways, Avery Jenkins and disc golf have grown up together.

His parents picked up the sport in the ’80s, planned family vacations to places where they could catch a tournament on the weekends and bought disc golf baskets for the backyard. Now Jenkins, 31, is closing in on his 10th year of traveling on the pro disc golf tour, making a living playing the sport.

“[Most] kids grow up playing basketball in the backyard,” Jenkins said. “I was in the backyard shooting at disc golf baskets.”

This past weekend, Jenkins and his sister, Valarie, were two of 177 pros entered in the Vibram Open, the final stop on the Professional Disc Golf Association National Tour. With a total payout of almost $50,000, the Vibram Open is also one of the richest tournaments in disc golf. As defending champions, Avery and Valarie stood to pocket $2,500 and $1,500, respectively, if they could pull off repeats in Leicester

Instead of using a club, just pull your arm back and let 'er rip.

So although it was the middle of August, this Christmas tree farm — the Maple Hill course is closed from Thanksgiving to Christmas so that people can cut and cart their own trees — was bustling with activity. With the mercury climbing close to 90 degrees, and the sky high and cloudless, a group of about 20 people gathered at the top of a hill and waited for the clock to strike noon.

Standing on the crest of the hill, backs to the trees lining the road, the spectators watched a red disc zip over rows of still-young pine trees and a green swath of grass sloping down the hill toward a medium-sized, lily-pad-dotted pond. They murmured approvingly as the disc settled softly onto the ground on the far side of the pond, just inside an overgrown, rutted cart path, in a landing zone marked with wood chips.

It was a fine first shot for the man in the lime green shirt, Barry Schultz, who came into the final day of the three-round tournament at an astounding 18 under par. Schultz shot a 49 on the first day of play at the par-62 course, breaking the year-old course record of 51 set by, surprise surprise, Avery Jenkins. And he would go on to win the tournament in a runaway, finishing with a 25-under 161, 7 shots ahead of the rest of the field.

His second shot would take him past the cart path, over more rows of young pines and into some open space lined with wood chips just before the tree-line proper. Past that open space was a square swatch that had been cleared from the full-grown woods and boxed in with planking.

In the center of that swatch stood the pin, complete with a blue cloth flag with a white number 1 on it, flapping in the breeze. The only difference between this and a traditional golf pin is, on the pole hangs a metal basket, and hanging above the basket are a number of metal chains. This is the first disc golf basket, or Pole Hole. And it stood a mere 760 feet away from the tee box.

For Schultz and the other top pros teeing off on the final card at noon, the distance isn’t the hard part. A good driver will take care of the distance. It’s making a good shot, avoiding the rows of trees, setting up a makable putt and, maybe most of all, keeping dry.

After all, this is disc golf. And as Schultz said, holding up a driver disc, “Throw this in the water, you just lost your driver.”

Read the full article on Disc Golf from ESPN

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