Disc Jockeys

A downturn in the oil industry in 2018 made for slow days at Lone Star Molding, a family-owned business in Conroe. But as injection molding orders for gaskets and seals from oil field companies dried up, brothers Travis and Synjin Dillard and their sister, Britney Ochoa, had an idea.

They begged their father, Terry, to try making some golf discs, thinking that would be fun, if nothing else. The brothers had been playing disc golf since they were in middle school.

“Things were slow, so my dad said, ‘We’ll try it,’ ” Ochoa says.

It soon soared.

Ochoa, who started playing the sport two years ago, says Lone Star Disc now uses about 60 molds and nine types of plastic to make discs in just about every color combination that range from “stiffer to softer, more flexible and heavier to lighter.” LSD says it’s the only company supplying the world with discs made, stamped and shipped in Texas—selling thousands annually.

The family had tapped into something big. Even decades after it first came to Texas, disc golf—one of the most inexpensive and easiest sports to learn—is still landing new players, from kids to older adults.

Among more than 16,200 disc golf courses in 91 countries, Texas has more than any other state—720—according to UDisc, a mobile scoring app popular among players. The courses are in state and city parks and on private land. Some are owned by churches, breweries and universities. Worldwide, 89% of disc golf courses are free to play.

The sport is a great way to get outdoors, move around and get those steps. That’s one of the appeals for pro player Emily Weatherman of Abilene.

“Disc golf is for everyone,” she says. “It’s a good source of exercise. Get outside, grab a disc, and have fun and always believe in yourself.”

Weatherman has good reason to believe in herself. She won her first Disc Golf Pro Tour event at age 18 and was named the tour’s female rookie of the year in 2024. She says that honor “means so much to me, to be recognized like that.”

Now in her second year as a touring pro, one of the sport’s brightest young stars has played in tournaments all over the U.S. and in New Zealand.

She got started when her parents put a disc in her hand when she was about 5. By 2018, when she was 12, she started playing competitively.

“My dad had played for a long time. He started teaching my brother, my mother and me to play. It was a family activity we did together,” Weatherman says. “I like the competitive aspect of it. I’ve always been competitive. It’s not a team sport, so I didn’t have to depend on anyone else.”

Like the other golf, disc golf involves players moving from hole to hole on a course. But instead of hitting a ball with various clubs, advancing it closer to and into a hole, players throw discs. And the hole is actually an elevated basket of hanging chains. The player with the fewest total throws in a round, generally nine or 18 holes, wins.

Putting—throwing the disc into the basket from about 10 yards or less—is the most challenging part for Weatherman. Even expert players can be challenged by the wind, she says. “You can never stop learning in disc golf.”

One of Weatherman’s favorite courses is at Will Hair Park in her hometown. She says she enjoys encountering kids on the course and helping them or giving them some encouragement. “I love watching kids get excited about learning a new skill,” she says.

Disc golf has relatively little history, much of which can be traced to the Frisbee, a toy invented in 1958 by Fred Morrison and reshaped as the disc we know today by “Steady” Ed Headrick in 1967.Headrick opened the first official disc golf course, in Pasadena, California, in 1975 and patented the “pole hole,” which has become a course standard, in 1977. Texas’ oldest known surviving course, at Bartholomew Park in East Austin, was built in 1982.

UDisc says its 1.26 million global users logged more than 20 million rounds in 2024—a tally that can’t account for untold numbers of casual players. College students are a big part of the sport’s growth.

Texas A&M University’s men’s and women’s disc golf teams consistently rank among the top 25 U.S. collegiate teams, 285 of which compete through College Disc Golf, founded in 2007. There are 13 other Texas schools with disc golf teams or club programs, including the universities of Texas and North Texas, and Texas Tech and Texas State universities.

But almost no one is too young or old or far from a course to give it a throw.

Michael Lambert and his family, members of Pedernales Electric Cooperative, own the Flying Armadillo Disc Golf Club in San Marcos. The club has an 18-hole course and a shorter minicourse for kids and beginners that was once ranked No. 34 in the world on UDisc.

On a regular course, the holes are 100 yards apart, he says. The shorter course is a third of that distance. “There’s an obstacle or a whimsical something on every hole, so the course is shorter and more engaging,” he says. “It’s huge with youth and kids.”

Lambert started playing disc golf with family as a teenager, about 20 years ago. About 11 years ago, he bought 25 acres flush with woods, cactuses and three plywood deer stands. The family spent two years turning the property into the disc golf club.

His favorite part of owning Flying Armadillo is seeing kids having fun. He says church groups, scout troops and other youth groups come to play. For many kids, such outings are their introduction to the game.

UDisc reports 1,165 disc golf courses were built in 2024—the fifth straight year with more than 1,000 new courses, perhaps helped along by the pandemic, when a lot of folks were looking for more socially distanced outdoor activities.

Lambert says the challenging parts of disc golf are “getting your form correct and learning to throw the different types of discs.” There are three main types—drivers, midrange and putters. An experienced player might carry 15–20 discs.

He thinks that people who’ve never played a round of disc golf would be surprised “at how beneficial it can be, physically and mentally.” And really, all you need to start is one disc, but as the family in Conroe has learned over the years, golfers like to have options.

“We learned that everyone is different,” Ochoa says. “People like different colors or different pictures or designs. That was our biggest hurdle.”

The family business’ discs run $8–$30, but any disc will do if you’re just looking for a relaxing round on the links.

“I don’t typically enjoy lifting weights or jogging, but I can go all day playing disc golf,” Lambert says. “It’s a great leisure exercise. You can enjoy spending time with friends and family. It’s a mental break if you’re playing by yourself.”