They haven’t played for long as a team, but four guys from Anderson University had a top-ranked performance at the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) Nationals.
The team consisted of Micah Jones, Nate Harvey, Alec Pryor and Reade Ward.
“It blew all the expectations we had,” Jones said of the team placing ninth in Division III at the tournament, held at Marion, North Carolina. “I was hoping we could end up somewhere in the top half and maybe some the top 10 for singles, but we ended up in the top 10 for the teams category and then I actually had a comeback finish to win the singles, which is really exciting.”
“I kept my expectations for myself pretty low. I didn’t know how it compared in a field of 160 players, but I think it went super well,” Harvey said. “I actually got the pleasure of playing with Micah that last day where he made that comeback, and just to see where we were compared to everybody else, it gave me a lot of confidence that we could consistently do this. If next year we get into a higher division it would be wonderful. As a team, both of the other guys, Alec Pryor and Reid Ward, both of them played wonderfully. They kind of surprised us that first day. All of us made the cut to get into the championship round, which was not the goal in the beginning. Just to see us all play together as a team and we started to click towards the end—it was just wonderful to see everybody play well together.”
“I am so proud of the team for their great finish in the National Disc Golf DIII Championships. Not only was their performance impressive, the fact that they raised all of their own funds to get there showed their passion and commitment to grow disc golf at Anderson University,” said Jordan Painter, director of intramural sports. “I am excited they are trying to get officially recognized as a club sport and represented our great University.”
“My hope is that if we get more funding from the school we can send two teams, which would be eight people and hold more tryouts,” Jones said. “A lot of people reached out to me saying they’d love to compete and they’re interested. I wish we could have sent more people this year, but I think the goal is definitely to have two teams and maybe even a women’s team next year.”
Jones also hopes that they can compete in Division I by the time he graduates.
“It’s interesting how it works, because like most college sports, there’s D I, D II and D III, but it’s not relevant to what your school is, it’s relevant to what you can qualify for. So typically you’ll play qualifying tournaments all seasons long trying to qualify for D I,” Jones said.
View the complete standings on the PDGA website.
Getting Disc Golf Off the Ground
While playing over spring break with a friend who happened to be a top-ranked disc golf player, Jones fell in love with the sport. When he came to Anderson University, he sought out like-minded students with the goal of establishing a disc golf team. Harvey was into Ultimate Frisbee when a friend texted him that he was going to try disc golf and asked him to come along.
“It was COVID, so we couldn’t really be near each other,” Harvey recalled. “I played it once, got hooked and ended up buying 10-11 discs in the first month. I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Jones points out that disc golf costs far less to enter than a lot of other sports, citing inexpensive sets of discs and an abundance of free courses to play on.
Harvey is grateful to Painter for believing in disc golf and working to improve the playing experience on Anderson University’s course. With help and donations from former designer David Bartfield, Jacob Nix and Anderson University, the disc golf course was able to get a new look and layout this year. Jordan is grateful to Stone City, Inc. of Greenville for the donation of the rocks used for many of the tee pads. He hopes disc golf will continue to grow at Anderson University and is excited about what the future holds.
Students interested in disc golf can sign up for the disc golf class to be taught by David Bartfield at Anderson University in the Fall 2023 semester.
Disc Golf is one of many intramural offerings found in the Campus Recreation Program at Anderson University. Go online to find out about the variety of activities that promote character, physical fitness and team building.
The Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) is a membership-based organization boasting more than 200,000 lifetime members across 54 countries. The PDGA is also the governing body for the sport and sanctions competitive events for players of every skill level. There are more than 9,800 disc golf courses worldwide, with more being installed every day.