A good friend, Chris Himing (Australian-born, adopted-Texan), continues to advance the visibility, image, and participation in disc golf tournament play.

First, Chris brought us the Texas 10 Charity Tour, which is the largest Disc Golf tournament series in the nation. The Texas 10 Charity Tour consistently boasts some of the largest tournament fields, introduces countless new players to the sport (including the largest Ladies divisions anywhere), and generously donates a large portion of the procedes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation (~$40K last year alone).

If you were to ask any of the top Disc Golf Professionals, Tournament Directors, or fellow PDGA memebers as to what disc golf most needed to take our sport to the next level, they would all talk about increased media exposure and bigger purses (the top-earning PDGA Pro in 2004, Barry Schultz, only won $37, 889 in tournament winnings).

The biggest news in Disc Golf in 2004 might have been the announcement of the $30,000 hole-in-one at the Texas 10 Finale in Lewisville. But Chris has always had bigger visions for the growth and direction of our sport.

And on April 16th, Chris will again raise the awareness of disc golf to another level with the Golf vs. Disc Golf Charity Challenge, benefitting the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

22 disc golf teams and 44 golf teams–ball golf as it’s called in the disc golf community–(2 players per team) will compete head-to-head in a scramble format at The Golf Club at Circle C in Austin,Texas (disc golf baskets will be placed near each green).

The Charity Challenge includes a $25,000 disc golf hole-in-one, and a $1,000,000 ball golf hole-in-0ne. (with over $10,000 in additional CTP prizes).

The title sponsor of this giant event is KLBJ 93.7 in Austin, which should help drum up a lot of additional media exposure.

If you are a disc golf or ball golf enthusiast, plan on attending the Charity Challenge on April 16th.

I’ll list more information (like a list of players and teams) as it becomes available.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Tuesday, February 8th, 2005 | Trackback |