Flying Saucers

It's spin city. On courses throughout the country--and, for that matter, throughout the world--disc golfers are turning up interest in a sport heretofore largely undetected on the national radar screen. Somewhat reminiscent of traditional golf, disc golf is built around the notion of getting a frisbee disc to land in a metal basket perched atop a pole on what's generally an 18-hole course.

"It's not as easy as it looks," contends Rick Rothstein, publisher of Disc Golf World News magazine. "It simulates golf in terms of the concentration [needed]."

According to a recent survey by the Professional Disc Golf Association, the number of fully equipped disc golf courses worldwide has jumped from 250 eight years ago to more than 750 now, the majority of which are located in the United States. Some 50,000 people--93 percent of whom are male--are believed to play disc golf on a regular basis.

"It's cool to play disc golf," raves Rothstein, who points to the sport's exposure on ultra-cool MTV. "A lot of the growth in the country is coming from [young people]."

Fun to watch, fun to play, disc golf could ultimately make flying-saucer watchers of us all. Spin city, indeed.

This article was originally published in the December 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Flying Saucers.