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Before the disc golf course was installed at Tourist Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1978 "catch" was the only game in town. Accuracy was an important part of a good game of catch. I went from the Pro and All American to Wham-O's World Class Frisbee, which was the most accurate disc I could buy at the time. The Frisbee had finally evolved from a toy into a sport disc. The most popular World Class Frisbees were the 165, 141, and 119. These numbers represented their weight in grams. The size of the disc was relative to its weight. The 165 was the largest disc at 28cm and the 119 the smallest at 23.5 cm.
When I first started to play disc golf, I used one disc, the 141 World Class, which was 25.5 cm. The 141 was also my favorite Frisbee for playing catch. It had never crossed my mine to carry more than one disc while playing disc golf. However, as I continued to play, I realized the 165, because of its weight, was better for drives, and the smaller 119 was better for putting. The 141 was the best for accurate approach shots. It became apparent that different discs were needed for different aspects of the game. An actual "golf disc" needed to be heavier but smaller than the 165, which was designed for Ultimate and Freestyle.
Hole #1Tourist Park Cedar Falls, Iowa was the first hole of disc golf I ever played with a real target commercially made for the game. This, however is a recent picture. The single chain Mach I basket now has a MachII conversion kit and a MachIII basket. I believe the number sign and pipe are still original.
This is a simulation I made using the original disc I played disc golf with at Tourist Park in Cedar Falls, IA 1978. The disc is a 1975 World Class 141 Frisbee. It bears the signatures of the 1978 all around World Frisbee Champions Krae Van Sickle and Laura Engel. Because the disc has a small crack in the flight plate, I decided to hang it up and buy a new one. It was the only disc I had like it that survived. It is the first disc in my collection above.
The favorite disc used by recreational players was the Humphrey Flyer. The Humphrey Flyer was a very understable fastback disc. It was light and made cheaply for the purpose of advertising products,services,and events. A more "Frisbee" like disc was the Colt and Dumont Discus,which I have in my collection. It was also manufactured for the same reason. These discs were popular because a lot businesses and organizations would give them away free. Some players would glue quarters to the bottom of these discs to give them more weight. When the Humphrey Flyer was thrown hard it would immediately turn over on its edge and roll away in the wind. As discs became heavier, "rolling" became an important part of disc golf.
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1978 -1980
Disc Golf Collections
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History
History
Innova
Lightning.
