Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on disc golf
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to disc golf across the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Throughout the world and to varying degrees, leagues and competitions have been cancelled or postponed. Some public disc golf courses saw their baskets pulled out temporarily, as part of national, regional, and municipal containment measures such as quarantines and curfews.
During the pandemic, there was an increased interest in the sport, partly due to the fact that many disc golf courses remained open – unlike most sports facilities – and partly because outside tournaments and league play, disc golf is a socially distant sport.
Timeline (2020)
March
On 6 March, five days before the World Health Organization classified the spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the Professional Disc Golf Association issued its first statement about the COVID-19 outbreak to announce that it was "evaluating its potential impact on membership across 43 countries on six continents, as well as disc golfers everywhere" and encouraged tournament directors to follow the directives of local authorities when making decisions related to their events.On 11 March 2020, The College Disc Golf National Championship, a PDGA Major competition set to take place from 1-4 April at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, was one of the first major disc golf events to be postponed indefinitely.
On 13 March, the PDGA announced that PDGA-sanctioned tournaments will still be allowed in areas where they have not been banned
On 18 March 2020 the International Disc Golf Center, serving as the PDGA headquarters, was closed to both staff and visitors until 6 April 2020, together with its three adjacent disc golf courses and pro shop. The next day, the PDGA amended temporarily section 1.03 "Withdrawals and Refunds" of the PDGA Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events to guarantee fair cancellations for both organizers and participants.
On 19 March 2020, Release Point reached out to Robert Jonas, professor at Texas Lutheran University, and published an article endorsing the continuation of play: The article also answered safety questions and made sanitation recommendations for disc golfers who, in light of the pandemic, found themselves with more free time than usual for playing disc golf.
The following day, disc golf think tank Parked tackled the issue of baskets, which were thought to be a transmission vector for the virus, based on a new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine about the virus's decay rate on various surfaces, such as metal baskets and plastic discs.
On 23 March 2020, the PDGA asked its members and the entire disc golf community to avoid going to disc golf courses. The next day, the association launched a social media campaign asking its members to "Skip The Course. Stay Home." It also encouraged the disc golf community to share pictures and videos of homemade baskets and practice throws online using the "#discgolffromhome" hashtag. Prominent professional disc golfers including Simon Lizotte also participated.
April
By 16 April 2020, the PDGA had temporarily furloughed more than half of its staff members and contract support in response to the pandemic. The remaining staff worked remotely and prioritized COVID-19 coordination efforts.On 17 April 2020, the PDGA suspended event sanctioning through 31 May. All PDGA Major and PDGA National Tour events originally scheduled through July 31, 2020 were postponed.
May
On 6 May 2020, the PDGA reverted its stance staying home altogether. Board of Directors president Justin Menickelli posted a "Letter on Responsible Recreation" with guidelines for "returning to the course for casual play," since sanctioned events were still postponed until 31 May. In his letter, he stressed the importance of following recommendations from local health authorities, and reminded players to adhere to common sense measures to prevent the spread of the virus.On 14 May, the PDGA announced that it would begin phasing in event sanctioning on a regional basis using a five-step process. As a result, all events scheduled after 14 May 2020 were placed into reserved status with sanctioning pending, and would later be allowed to run "as soon as local directives permit organized, competitive sporting events to resume". The same day, Arkansas, Iceland, and Norway were the first regions to resume tournament sanctioning.
Market
noted an increase in sales during the pandemic and struggled to maintain its inventory levels because of disruptions in the supply chain caused by the crisis. Sales of disc golf baskets, discs, and other equipment increased during the epidemic, and many portable disc golf baskets were out of stock. The Discmania Store's Summer 2020 Mystery Box release was delayed for a month. Most disc golf retailers turned to online sales exclusively when they were forced to close their brick-and-mortar locations and operations.By country
Australia
The 2020 Australian Disc Golf Championships were cancelled as a result of COVID-19. On 18 March 2020, Australian Disc Golf suspended all ADG-sanctioned events, including all A, B, C and X tier tournaments and league, until 18 May 2020.Canada
Poland
On 20 March 2020, in light of a national lockdown, the Liga Latających Talerzy postponed its regular meetings and competitions, and considered organizing remote tournaments, whereby players would play individually and trust other players to keep track of their own score. With the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, events resumed on 24 May 2020. On 21 May 2020, Disc Golf Poland posted a notice deploring the state of the COVID-19 situation and how the government's response impacted disc golf in Poland.Sweden
The virus was confirmed to have reached Sweden on 31 January 2020, when a woman returning from Wuhan tested positive. The first death was reported on 11 March in Stockholm. Unlike many other countries, Sweden did not impose a generalized lockdown. Nevertheless, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the government agency responsible for managing the pandemic, issued several bans, as the crisis evolved.On 27 March 2020, the Swedish government announced a ban on public gatherings and public events with more than 50 participants. On 29 May 2020, the Swedish Disc Golf Association made official recommendations based on directives by the Swedish Sports Confederation and the Swedish Police Authority.
Switzerland
On 16 April 2020, the Federal Council announced that businesses referred to in article 6, al. 3, of Order 2 COVID-19 would be authorized to reopen starting 27 April 2020, provided that they draft a COVID-19 protection plan. On 26 April 2020, the Swiss Disc Golf Association published the German-language version of its COVID-19 protection plan, and a French-language translation by Disc Golf Genève President Yannick Fernandez and Vice-President Emile Barbe followed suit a week later.On 29 May 2020, the Swiss Federal Office of Sport, the Federal Office of Public Health, and the Swiss Olympic Association published updated graphics in German and French with new directives for resuming competitions in Switzerland, effective 6 June 2020. Per the new directives, sporting events were capped to 300 people, attendance lists were required for facilitating contact tracing, players were required to keep of social distancing when possible, and sick players were banned from training and competitions.
United States
The Junior Disc Golf Association amended its rulebook by adding Section 7.1, which includes rules pertaining to COVID-19 safety. Per the new rules, all matches and events will take place outdoors, high fives and disc sharing are forbidden, and cards will be limited to 5 people, with officials ideally aiming for 3 people. Players with a fever above are forbidden from play, and parents must report to a J.D.G.A official if a player is diagnosed with COVID-19.Events
On 13 March, the 2020 Dynamic Discs Glass Blown Open was officially cancelled. The organizers later announced that the event would unfold from 28 April to 2 May per the initial schedule, but as a virtual event instead.On 20 May 2020, a week after four out of six PDGA National Tour events were postponed or cancelled, the PDGA announced that the last two events of tour will be cancelled. The Tour itself was delayed until 2021 amid uncertainty regarding sanctioning and minimal staff. Four of the PDGA Euro Tour's tournaments were cancelled, and one was postponed. The Disc Golf Pro Tour resumed after a hiatus on 13 March.