The Seattle Times reported today that 10-time world disc-golf champion and local Frisbee legend, Ralph Williamson recently passed away following a battle with cancer. Mr. Williamson picked up the sport in the late 1960s and at one point took a year off of work at Boeing to compete around the world! He has a public museum of some 4,000 flying dics in his Seattle area home.
Frisbee golf uses the basics of golf, but the only equipment needed is a Frisbee or other flying disc. (However, the more experienced players have different discs for different shots just as a golfer has different clubs.) The 'holes' are metal chain baskets as pictured above. There are two courses within the Seattle city limits that are busy around the year. There are about 24 courses within an hour's drive of the city. This picture is of hole 12, (a short par 3 with significant elevation gain) at the Terrace Park course located north of Seattle in Mountlake Terrace. Courses can cover as little as a few acres of land to some that sprawl across over a hundred acres. Par three holes are typically 200-300 feet There is reportedly some 2,400 courses nationwide.
A market for flying discs, originally a pie tin, were sold as toys as early as the late 1930s. Following WWII models utilizing plastics began to emerge. These early models had names such as "Flying-Saucer", "Whirlo-Way" or "Pluto Platter". The patent was sold to Wham-O in 1957 and in a marketing ploy the name was changed to "Frisbee", as college students were already calling their Pluto Platters by that name. The name Frisbee originated from the Frisbie Pie Company. While flying discs started as a toy, in the early 1960s a sport soon evolved around the discs and their popularity soared. The International Frisbee Association (IFA) was formed and governed standards for competitions such as freestyle, distance, and guts. When the founder of the IFA passed away his remains were cremated and incorporated into the materials of frisbees and given away to family and friends.
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