What’s up guys, this week we are going to be talking about one of the most dominant performances by a company’s players in the first 3 events of the Disc Golf Pro Tour. Discmania scooping 2 of the first 3 stops on the schedule is already ground-breaking enough, but even more amazing is the ages of the winners. At 24, 18, and 22, these winners are by far the most unprecedentedly young in disc golf history, and it seems like there is finally a “changing of the guard” going on in the sport.

Most sports are dominated by younger players; at 23 for NBA, 26 for NFL, and 28 for MLB, most major sports are domine\ately by the younger field in the middle of their athletic prime. However, up until this year disc golf has been a sport dominated by the middle-aged.

Although this graph is for the entire player base, the same trend continues on the pro tour! You have guys like Gregg Barsby, Paul Ulibarri, and Jeremy Koling in their late 30’s and early 40’s still winning pro-tour tournaments, and it seems like disc golf is a sport dominated by the “older” generation. One of the most standout professionals is JohnE McCray, who has been taking down tournaments for the past 30 years at a whopping 50 years of age (this is a professional athlete we’re talking about!). 

Sure, I can admit that Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki, known as “GOATS” of the sport were dominant in their early 20’s as well, but it’s a dominance that followed them to the ages that they are now; 30 and 33. Until arguably this season, it was still 100% possible to see a 40 or 50 year-old hoisting a trophy over hundreds of 20 year olds that they beat fair and square. However, I think that this older dominance is coming to an end in the wake of new talent, and this year has been the prime debut of that fact.

^ Paul McBeth Shaking Anthony Barela’s Hand After his 2024 Chess.com Open Victory (Caption wasn’t working for some reason)

There are several reasons that I argue that this year is the beginning of a new, younger era of disc golf. For one, courses are getting longer, forcing bomber shots on most holes to shoot under par. Throwing far is a feat accomplished by any age, but it’s a simple fact that the strain caused from throwing far affects older professionals much more than it affects the younger crowd. Another reason for these bomber holes is that disc golf as a sport is maturing and form is slowly being perfected. We’re still a long way from discovering “perfect” form, but the newer players are playing with a smoother form learned through older players’ mistakes and it’s showing.

Secondly, with more popularity as a sport comes more influence from younger audiences , an example being the 700 college kids playing in a tournament next week. I myself am traveling to Charlotte for the tournament, and I’m not even very good! It’s just showing how much disc golf is being ingrained in the younger generation’s minds as an actual sport, and the growing college scene is serving as an effective boost towards playing at a professional level.

Lastly, the results from the first 3 tournaments backs both of my ideas up. I mean, all you need to do is look at the results from the most recent Pro Tour stop.

This may not look like much to you, but the ages of this top 6 are as follows; 22, 21, 27, 24, 18, and 18. Only one out of the top 6 is above the age of 25. If this doesn’t prove that youth = strength for this upcoming season, I don’t know how else to show it to you.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts on the new young talent rapidly encroaching the professional disc golf scene, I hope you enjoyed!